November Rain - Czech Pilsener 14Nov2009

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bosium
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Re: November Rain - Czech Pilsener 14Nov2009

Post by bosium » Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:58 am

I couldn't help myself and had a taste last night. It's slightly carbed and absolutely crystal clear.

Well, I can only describe the flavour as strongly fruity. Maybe this is just what large amounts of late Saaz tastes like?
I guess I should really learn to develop my brewers palate a bit better. It did go down pretty smoothly though, it wasn't unpleasant just not quite what I expected.

Watch this space.

mysterio

Re: November Rain - Czech Pilsener 14Nov2009

Post by mysterio » Wed Dec 16, 2009 5:05 pm

I drew a half pint of mine and it has a strong ripe fruit taste too. I can taste the underlying 'lager' flavour if I take small sip and let it roll around. I think it's just the Saaz. It calms down. I was hoping to serve this at Christmas but I think it will need two - three weeks to mellow out. When I tasted it, it reminded me instantly of Schumacher Altbier fresh from the brewery tap. I wonder if they use Saaz ?

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bosium
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Re: November Rain - Czech Pilsener 14Nov2009

Post by bosium » Wed Dec 16, 2009 5:42 pm

I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that, I thought I had cocked something up somewhere - maybe underpitched or underaerated or something. But I agree it must be the hops, because the taste is one-dimensional and very apparent, not like the hint of an ester, it's really strong and in the foreground. Ripe fruit over a clean lager taste is *exactly* what I taste too. There is no way you underpitched with 10x packets of yeast!

Hmm, will probably leave mine well alone for the next month or so. I've got my sam adams clone fermenting wildly at the mo but in a couple of weeks I'll keg it and the two lagers can lager together until the new year. I'm not in a hurry for mine at all, I'll just keep adding to the pipeline in the meanwhile.

mysterio

Re: November Rain - Czech Pilsener 14Nov2009

Post by mysterio » Wed Dec 16, 2009 6:26 pm

one-dimensional and very apparent, not like the hint of an ester, it's really strong and in the foreground.
Yes, it almost hits different parts of the tongue than esters do, if that makes sense. It's not acetaldehyde which you smell before you taste and sticks out like a sore thumb.

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bosium
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Re: November Rain - Czech Pilsener 14Nov2009

Post by bosium » Thu Jan 07, 2010 2:45 pm

Well it's several weeks on now - to recap, since primary finished (4 weeks in primary), I kegged it and kept it at 10C for another week, then put outside my back door at about 1 or so for two weeks, and now I have the keg in the fridge set to -1.5C.

I drew a small sample last night (couldn't sleep so fussed with my beer instead). The fruity taste is almost completely gone, the flavours are melding together beautifully. I have to say that it is delicious. It's got a great head on it too that stays on the beer which is what I was going for, and doesn't seem to be too dry, as I had originally feared.

The only thing is the clarity. It's not bad at all, almost totally clear but not quite. Obviously, what with this being such a pale beer, it really shows up any chill haze. I suspect that the keg may have statified, so the top part is probably clearer and of course I'm drawing from about 1cm off the bottom (shorter dip tube). I guess I'd have to rack it to really see any proper inprovement, but I'll leave it a few more weeks. I may just polyclar it, that's supposed to give bright beer, no?

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Re: November Rain - Czech Pilsener 14Nov2009

Post by bosium » Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:16 am

Well a few weeks on now, and the beer is now crystal clear. I fined my Boston Lager with Polyclar, but I decided to leave my Pilsner unfined, and I'm glad I did. I'm not really an impatient brewer, and it's good to know that with a bit of time at low temps, my beer will eventually drop clear.

The taste is really good - it has a good base-malt sweetness, almost candy-like, with plenty of hop flavour and aroma. The fruity green-Saaz character has really settled down and it's starting to look and taste polished. The next time I brew this, I will probably double the munich to make it a bit toastier, and maybe ease up on the Saaz flavour addition just a tad.

I am serving straight out of the lagering fridge at -2, so it was a little hard to get the glass totally condensation free:
Image

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Re: November Rain - Czech Pilsener 14Nov2009

Post by bosium » Wed Jun 22, 2011 1:26 pm

In my opinion, this is probably the best lager I've brewed to date, or at least the one I've enjoyed drinking the most. I've tried quite a few variations on the recipe but I haven't yet improved on it.

With this in mind, I've just ordered the ingredients I need for another 10 gallons (with very slight tweaks) - this will be the first time I've brewed the same recipe more than one, so it should be interesting to see how close it resembles the original :)

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