Reviews of Member's Homebrew

[mysterio]

I'll be up for a swap Calum once i've brewed some more beer, i'm almost dry

[Calum]

Cheers Wez/Mysterio.

I'll pm you both.

[J_P]

I'll throw my cap / beer into the ring again, I'll be bottling tonight.

[Vossy1]

I'm up for it too C

FWIW, if we are going to be sending multiple bottles to and fro it's worth using Pay Per Drop as seen on E-bay and as recommended by Reaper to me.

It's £4.99 for 1-2 day delivery up to 30kg in weight....DHL are the carrier and I've found them to be very good so far

Linky

[Aleman]

It lookas as though I need to get through a lot more keg shandy At 35p a bottle for Brown PET Bottles its a good route.

I'm up for this but I'm not sure when I'll be in a state to ship stuff out. The last three weeks has seen 'the brat' excluded from school on three occasions

I've currently got three beers on the go, Quaffale, Black Wheat and Historic Mild

[Aleman]

Funny you should say that at the last UK homebrew flocculation we designated Des and his pal as "Brew Bitch" when we made 2.5 BBL of 1885 (?) Fullers IPA.

It wouldn't work with 'The Brat' though as one of his co morbid conditions is Oppositional Defiance Disorder - He says no as a point of principal!

[mysterio]

I was delighted to get my last swap during a brew session this afternoon. Wez went to the trouble of sending JP and myself not one, but three bottles of beer! So thanks very much to Wez.

First up is Grumpy Bum, and the first non-stout/porter i've received from this round of swapping. Wez's other two beers are still conditioning so i'm storing them away until next month.



This beer poured with slight carbonation, and a tightly beaded head formed a layer on top. Very reminiscent of the 'type' of head I get on my beer when I use cara-pils. The trade-mark haze was present and correct . Just kidding, it was no hazier than any beer i've brewed. The colour was as in the photo, orangey-amber. Unfortunately my nose is a bit blocked so I probably wasn't getting the full effect but there was a hoppy, slightly lemony aroma coming through. It had a nice, dextrinous, smooth mouthfeel. There was a slight tannic note in the mouthfeel too, not astringent but a dryness between my tongue and the roof of my mouth. Flavour was slightly fruity with some toffee flavours and Styrian golding hop notes. Very nice quaffing beer Wez, cheers for sending it . Can't wait to open the other two on the basis of this.

[Vossy1]

The trade-mark haze was present and correct

...I better not laugh too much....cough

I too have the Wez trio, GB in the fridge...waiting for me to pick MrsV up from work, and then it's doomed

[Wez]

Old Grumpy by Calum - 5.4%

Firstly thanks to Calum for sending this beer so quickly, it has been sat in the garage since late last week, tonight after a quick check it appeared clear so the bottle opener was brandished!

The bottle opened with a slight hiss followed by a big citrus hop aroma.

It poured with a 1/2 inch of tightly beaded head, this gave way to a thin film of small bubbles after 5 minutes which lasted to the bottom of the glass.

The beer is a warm/burnt orange colour when held up to the light, there was a slight haze although this could be due to lack of settling time on my part, I would be interested to see a photo from Calum of a well settled example. (My photo doesn't really do the beer justice and will have to be added in later due to camera battery issues )

Carbonation is quite high, at first it 'bit' a little but this soon mellowed and I certainly wouldn't want it changing

When you drink this beer you get a lovely cirtus aroma at first then a mouthful of complex hop flavours - one thing i've noticed from trying to review beer is that I can't pinpoint flavours as I'd hoped I would be able to but I got lots of orange here.

The finish is big, a huge bitter zesty/floral/citrus aftertaste - it's almost as bitter as some IPA's that i've had - this is no bad thing at all, I really liked it.

Perhaps Calum could post the recipe here, i'm interested in the EBU's - I am starting to question my own utilisation (maybe)

Very happy with this beer, I was left wanting another! - I would pick this up from a supermarket shelf.

Good work Calum!

(pic to follow)

[Vossy1]

You've made me thirsty Wez...this beer sounds right up my street...I wonder if my bottles settled

[Aleman]

I wonder if my bottles settled

I Wonder if mine has arrived at work

[Calum]

Thanks for the generous review Wez. It was a bit like waiting for an exam result. I'm glad you enjoyed it, its a perfect warmer for this time of year. I was thinking about adding some crushed coriander in for the next one.

You have also made my night as I was planning on having a night on a wagon but as you asked for a photo I was hardly going to keep my public waiting.

Here it was just opened and poured (it was crystal clear). The journey down south must have been a shugely one.


And now half way down the glass.


Finally the recipe (from my own spreadsheet). As you will notice, I managed to get a bit better efficiency than I had planned for. Oh, and apologies about the curtains and if they have put anyone off their beer tonight.

[mysterio]

Where are you getting Simcoe from, Calum?

[steve_flack]

I've got some from MoreBeer in the past (and still have some in the freezer) but they're pretty much out of hops at the moment. Ross at craftbrewer in Oz has them in - 90g for $7 AUD.

[Calum]

Where are you getting Simcoe from, Calum?

I got them from one of the SCB guys. He had used them in a couple of brews and gave me some to try out.