Blending Beer

[canarytim]

Hi

I'm not sure this should go in Extract, but it doesn't seem to fit the All Grain Forum either. Anyway.

I recently brewed by first All Grain beer. Came out very well. Apart from two things.

One: I didn't use a bottling bucket, simply added my priming fluid to the secondary FV and stirred. Despite leaving it for 30 min, I still got a lot of sediment in each bottle.

Two: The resulting beer (East Kent TNT, 5.7%) is fine in itself. Nothing intrinsingly wrong with it but it's distinctly unhoppy,to the extend of being not really bitter at all. I suppose I could put it down to experience but an idea has come to me.

My next brew on is a light summery hoppy extract beer, OG 1032, currently 1006 going into secondary. I estimate it will come out about 3.2 to 3.7 % depending on final gravity and amount of sugar used for priming. Very hoppy it is too.

All of which is a long-winded introduction to question: What about blending the East Kent TNT with the Summery Hoppy Beer. How would one go about blending the two? And would it be a good idea?

My current plan is to use two FVs: fill each half-and-half with both beers, then bottle (after adding some more priming sugar). Pour each bottle of the TNT carefully (to leave the sediment and avoid too much air).

Is that about the size of it? I could also dry hop the Summery Hoppy Ale in secondary to get even more hoppy aroma into it prior to blending.

Has anyone else tried blending?

[mshergold]

I've never blended beer, but know it is possible.

Pour each bottle of the TNT carefully (to leave the sediment and avoid too much air).

I'd say that you wouldn't be able to pour the beer carefully enough to avoid disturbing the sediment. How about using a length of syphon tube with a stop on it to prevent it picking up the sediment? The only downside (well not really) is that you might end up swallowing loads of beer when getting the syphon going. The sediment might not even matter (someone more experienced would be able to answer that one).

[DaveyT]

One concern I would raise about mixing them in an FV would be oxidation. You don't want to expose either of them to too much oxygen or they'll start tasting of sherry.
My mate's dad mixes them as he drinks them.