Joey's Tripel

We bottled Joey's Tripel today, and although it's kind of hard to tell in the photo, it is very very clear. We cold crashed it for a total of 7 days (instead of our normal 3 days) to make sure it was very clear. Because it is so light in color any cloudiness would be very noticable, and while I think we'll have some haziness, it should be clear otherwise. I think we fermented it a little warm as I am noticing some bubblegum-y type aromas, but it tastes pretty good so far. We'll see how it turns out in the Fall.

Brewed: 3/29/11
OG: 1090
FG: 1012
Alcohol: 10.23%

Biere de Garde and Biere de Brett

After tasting the Biere de Garde (BdG) a couple of weeks ago and not being happy with it we only bottled 1 gallon (10 bottles) of the 5 today. We then bottled the 2 gallons of 100% Brett B beer and added the remaining 4 gallons of BdG on top of the Brett yeast cake. Hopefully after 2-3 months the Brett will "funk" it up a little bit so that it isn't so 1-dimensional and boring. Ideally, we are shooting for something similar to New Belgium's Biere de Mars which is bottle conditioned with Brett yeast.


Brewed 3/21/2011
Biere de Garde
OG 1060
FG 1016
Alcohol: 5.75%

Biere de Brett
OG 1060
FG 1012
Alcohol: 6.3%

Tasting: Anniversary Barleywine '10

In honor of finding out about Cooper today, I thought I'd crack another BW to sip on tonight. Here are some previous posts about the beer: anniversary and brewing in case anyone wants to look back on where the beer came from.

Brewed: 1/3/2010
OG: 1125
FG: 1030
Alcohol: 12.54%

Appearance: no carbonation, no head; very red and dense looking

Aroma: very sweet, some alcohol, fruity esters but a very "smooth" overall aroma

Taste: a lot of body, pretty sweet, nice and malty, some fruity esters, strong bitterness which balances the malt very nicely and is classic for an American BW. It hides the 12.6% alcohol very well, making it suprisingly easy to drink.

Overall: I dont think the flavor is that much different from the last time I had one, but that was about 2 months ago and in the overall age of the beer (~15 months), 2 months isnt that much. This is a very good BW in my opinion. We've got about 10 bottles left (including the 4 that are saved for 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015) and since I dont like drinking it by myself very much, hopefully there will be a good amount left for Elise and I to enjoy together. I wish it would have carbonated, but hopefully we can figure that out with the next batch.

Tasting: Belgian Pale Ale

Tasting notes for our second attempt at the Belgian Pale Ale.
Brewed 12/29/10
OG 1056
FG 1011
5.9% ABV

Appearance: nice golden color, good head retention, very clear. Color is a little ligher than in the picture.

Aroma: malty sweet, some clove and esters

Flavor: sweet, clove, low esters, some hop bitterness

Overall: OK attempt, not as good as the origonal. Higher fermentation temperatures needed to impart more yeast characteristics. Next time we might sub some of the base malt for some sugar to try it out a little bit more.

Tasting: Batch #3, Winter Spiced Strong Ale

After bottling the RIS today I had to make some room in the beer closet in the garage. I found some old Winter Spiced Ales in the back and since we brewed an all-grain version of the same recipe last fall, I decided to pour out the 14 bottles we had left. This was the 3rd overall batch we have ever made and it contained brown sugar, honey, sweet orange peel, and a spice mixture made of cinnamon, ginger, clove, and nutmeg. It was bottled on 10/5/2009 and finished at 8% alcohol. We can remember when we tried drinking the beer around Christmas time that the beer was so sweet we couldn't drink it cold. We had to let it warm up a little bit to be able to get it down. This is the oldest beer we have in the house, and the 18 months have done it well. From the picture you can see how clear it is and the mouth-feel is greatly improved since we last had it over a year ago.

Aroma: Spices, "christmas," cinnamon, , warm sugar, slight alcohol

Flavor: dry, slightly sweet (much less than before), no longer cloying sweet, some spicey-ness but much less than before. Fairly dry considering the higher FG (1023), medium carbonation; finish lasts well in mouth after swallowing

Overall: this one has really grown up since we first started drinking it. It is very similar to the AG version we brewed last fall, but it is very spice foward still. On a cold dark winter night a pint of this would be good, but the spice-foward flavors make it somewhat difficult to drink all night.

Bottling Month

We bottled the Raspberry Russian Imperial Stout today and yielded a full 2-cases. We lef the raspberries on the beer for 7 days and then cold-crashed (instead of the initial plan of 10 days) as I wanted to make sure the raspberry flavor didnt become too intense. I did not get a chance to taste the beer today, but it did smell really really good. We wont be drinking this beer until at the earliest September, but likely later when Elise can enjoy one with everyone else.

On Saturday we'll bottle the Anniversary BW which of course will not be opened until Jan 3 2012. We plan on wax-dipping the bottles again and hopefully this will be done sooner than we did last year. We havent decided what to do about the wax color. We still have plenty of the red on hand, but then it will be hard to differntiate between vintages if they are all red unless we make some more marks on them. We'll see.

The following week we will be bottling the Biere de Garde. I tasted it early last week and was not very pleased with the beer. It is pretty boring, just kinda sweet and light. Because of this we are only going to bottle 1 gallon of the 5, and then bottle 1 gallon (of the 2) of the 100% Brett B beer. The remaining 4 gallons of Biere de Garde will then be added to the 1 gallon of Brett B to blend them. We'll let that sit for 2-3 months so the brett can work on the Biere de Garde and then we will bottle. I'm very excited about this blend as it should taste like New Belgium's Biere de Marrs which is a Biere de Garde that has some very nice funky brett characteristics to it.

The last week of the month we will bottle the Tripel. As of last week it was at 9.97% alcohol and hopefully during the next couple of weeks it will drop a little a few more points so the beer is nice and dry. This once again, will require several months in the bottle before it is ready to drink. We have a decent amount of beer on hand right now and we are making a pale ale next month, so hopefully we dont run out of beer to drink while all the big brews are aging.

I am going to start trying to post tasting reviews along with pictures of the finished brews as I realize once the beer is bottled, no one really hears from it again. Our newest versions of the brown ale and IPA are ready, so those, along with our porter, will likely be first.