20 years and finally, AG#1

[Spapro]

I'm already loving it :-D.
My fave beer of recent times is called 'Amarillo'; obviously the main hop addition. I have no recipe tied down for an Amarillo brew yet, but I think I need to quickly head in the direction, more in the direction of my preferred tipples.

If you haven;t already got it, well worth getting hold of a copy of Greg Hughes book. Has lots of recipes in it including a single hop Amarillo.

looks like £5.80 from third parties but fulfilled by Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1409331768/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[MyQul]

Made by Perle, quite a small local Alsatian brewery that supply local stores with bottles. I'd be surprised if you had heard of them. I dug into their site, http://www.biereperle.com/archives/category/bieres. It looks like they have a beer named "hop", and they rotate the hop... "celebration of the hop where each brew explores a new variety". Currently Simcoe, so likely my Amarillo is now history :sad:.

I also note they say "held cold for a long period", so likely lager yeast then. Still, worth me searching out an Amarillo recipe, as I already know I like the hop.

Come to think of it, this Perle hop beer will be a good way for me to try out the different hops before I opt to brew with them.

As Clibit says it does sound like its lagered but it is a possibility this it could be that it's conditioned cold for a long period of time but fermented using an ale yeast

 

[Fore]

If you haven;t already got it, well worth getting hold of a copy of Greg Hughes book.

Thanks. I guess it's an easy option for family when it comes to birthday & Christmas, so I already have 3 books. I bought Graham Wheeler's Real Ale myself, but I think my interests will lie elsewhere. I was bought Booze by John Wright. That is about all types of booze with very little on beer that doesn't contain nettles or something. Then I have The Homebrew Handbook by Dave Law+1. I understand that that book has lots of errors in the recipes, I see them already, but it does have a good selection of recipes for inspiration. Chapter 1 is Belgian Beers, with 20 recipes. There will be at least a few from there that will keep me going a while.

Is it normal that Belgian styles often contain hops one would normally associate with lager, like Saaz and Hellertauer?

 

[Fore]

AG#1 is on tap now. It's really not that nice. I'd be quite disappointed if this was a kit. A combination of a few things that contributed I think... I don't think I'd be a fan of Bateman's Best. I think I mashed at low temp so have quite a watery finish. And I think my boiler still has an engineering smell which has come through in the beer.

Family commented that it tastes like the hops have a fungus. Not sure about that; more inclined to think that that's the boiler. It does have a touch of that taste you get in corked wine, but that must be coincidence, it can't be off.

Oh well, you live and learn. Higher hopes for AG#2, to be kegged this weekend. From here on in I need to tie down preferred recipes and get a handle on my system measurements.