Hoddy’s Brewing Odyssey

[Hoddy]

Cheers for the feedback dude. That beer did get 2nd (by one point) in the last pale ale HB comp so it can’t be that bad [emoji6] although it is one I can’t but help to think it could be better. V2 will have to go into the brew schedule for later in the year as I like what the Azzaca does with its candy like character.

Out if interest what was the carb like? Fascinated to see how it worked out after the first use of the new beer gun [emoji6]






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[dan125]

Cheers for the feedback dude. That beer did get 2nd (by one point) in the last pale ale HB comp so it can’t be that bad [emoji6] although it is one I can’t but help to think it could be better. V2 will have to go into the brew schedule for later in the year as I like what the Azzaca does with its candy like character.

Out if interest what was the carb like? Fascinated to see how it worked out after the first use of the new beer gun [emoji6]

The carb was fine mate - although it probably could have done with a bit longer in the fridge to get all the co2 back into solution as it opened with a big hiss

 

[Hoddy]

So tonight I thought it should be about time I cracked open a kveik Russian Imperial Stout @BeerCat sent me a few months back.

It’s had 6 weeks to carb and then another 4 weeks in the cold to condition. Here goes.....

Well this is just a joy. I can’t remember what the ABV is but to be honest I can’t tell. Although I know it’s most likely north of 7%.

It’s a smooth liquorish happiness in a glass. It’s really nicely balanced and exactly what I would expect from any commercial RIS, only better. Carb is spot on and I think having that cold conditioning time has made all the difference.

To be honest if this had been in the dark beers comp I judged a few months back this would have been right near the top.

If I’m honest I “think” I can pick out the kveik yeast. Only Just. But I thinks that’s all you need. I reckon it’s the yeast that helps balance this beer out and make it so good. There’s a slight tartness the kveik brings that stops that RIS dark malt bitterness you get in allot of these beers.

This beer is a triumph which is always hard with a RIS. I’m lucky enough to have a vial of @BeerCat kveik in the fridge he sent me. I’m working on a recipe that would do it justice.

A great beer [emoji1303]




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[BeerCat]

Thanks Hoddy glad you enjoyed. Was fun to brew and drink. After reading this i will definitely condition it in the fridge for a while. I have drunk mine long ago apart from the oaked ones i need to leave for a long time i would imagine lol. FG was 1034 and ABV 8.8%.
Cheers for the feedback.

 

[Manxnorton]

NICE ONE PAL.
enjoyed ya oddyse or what ever its called hahaha!!
Bri

 

[dan125]

I got round to your Rosemary brew last night mate and very nice it was too.
Although my nose isn't working to its usual low standard thanks to hayfever, I thought the grapefuity cascade came through in the aroma.
It had quite a malty flavour for its colour with a bit of a floral aftertaste. I didn't get as much of the rosemary or simcoe pineyness coming through as I remember from the last incarnation of this brew, although this did increase a bit as it warmed.
I liked it alot, but I think the last version was better & more unique - maybe simplicity is the key with this beer to let the main flavour ingredients shine through??
The carb was a bit lower than the Azzacca brew by the way.
How much late/dry hops did you put in this one? I've been a little bit dissappointed with the effect of large dry hop additions in the FS.
:cheers7:

 

[Leon103]

sorry for the late post.

had the mosaic/Azzaca on Saturday afternoon during a break from packing everything in the garage.

went down really well in the heat.

It was a lovely refresing drop. excellent balance between malt and hops, no need to change the grain bill at all. got a lovely pineapple aroma and a sweet finish. plenty of flavour and aroma and right up my street. will try the other bottle on Friday

 

[Hoddy]

I got round to your Rosemary brew last night mate and very nice it was too.
Although my nose isn't working to its usual low standard thanks to hayfever, I thought the grapefuity cascade came through in the aroma.
It had quite a malty flavour for its colour with a bit of a floral aftertaste. I didn't get as much of the rosemary or simcoe pineyness coming through as I remember from the last incarnation of this brew, although this did increase a bit as it warmed.
I liked it alot, but I think the last version was better & more unique - maybe simplicity is the key with this beer to let the main flavour ingredients shine through??
The carb was a bit lower than the Azzacca brew by the way.
How much late/dry hops did you put in this one? I've been a little bit dissappointed with the effect of large dry hop additions in the FS.
:cheers7:

Thanks for the feedback dude. It’s pretty much how I feel about this one. The malt character doesn’t work as well as the original clean recipe.

In v3 i tried some golden promise as the base malt, Vienna and crystal 60.

Interestingly this was a 60/40 simcoe/cascade split in the kettle and dry hop additions. Up to 100g dry hop.

I think I’m going to go right back to the original simple recipe and then try and improve that. Maybe up hopping rates at different points if the process. Maybe with a 80/20 simcoe/cascade ratio.


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[Hoddy]

sorry for the late post.

had the mosaic/Azzaca on Saturday afternoon during a break from packing everything in the garage.

went down really well in the heat.

It was a lovely refresing drop. excellent balance between malt and hops, no need to change the grain bill at all. got a lovely pineapple aroma and a sweet finish. plenty of flavour and aroma and right up my street. will try the other bottle on Friday

Yeah this is an interesting one. I think you might be right on this beer as I think I’ve got the general spirit of the beer right, and it’s roughly where I wanted it, but I think I can make it better. I’ve never really got Azzaca hops to work properly before until this beer. So I’ve got an idea how to use them and make them shine better.

I also think it’s a bit of a marmite beer too as I’ve had some people love it, and some people really not like it. Again I think some of that is down to the Azzaca hops.

Always nice to see a beer in the sun, overlooking fields [emoji1303]


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[Leon103]

Tonight I drank the Simcoe, cascade and rosemary pale.
Lovely pint. It wasn't carbed much and poured with little head. Nevertheless it was a lovely drop, darker than the previous version and perhaps more malty. The cascase outshone the simcoe but I had a nice taste of the rosemary. I agree with others, the original is better, for me this beer is and should be all about the rosemary and how it works with the piney simcoe.

 

[Hoddy]

Tonight I drank the Simcoe, cascade and rosemary pale.
Lovely pint. It wasn't carbed much and poured with little head. Nevertheless it was a lovely drop, darker than the previous version and perhaps more malty. The cascase outshone the simcoe but I had a nice taste of the rosemary. I agree with others, the original is better, for me this beer is and should be all about the rosemary and how it works with the piney simcoe.

Yup this does seem to be the consensus on this version. And I tend to agree. But you’ve gotta test out your theory’s and sometimes you end up back where you started.

Also my first attempt at using the beer gun so I wondered if it would be a touch under carbonated.

Thanks for the feedback dude [emoji1303]


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[Hoddy]

So here I was lucky enough to test out a APA from @dan125

Dan gave a few areas that he wanted assessing with this beer :

As its meant to be a 'to style' APA I'd be especially interested to hear your thoughts on:

Body - is there enough/too much?? I would say with this beer the body was right for a APA. It was just dry enough, but retained body. I would say however it did remind me of an English APA rather than an American pale. If that’s the malt combo with your water treatment I don’t know.

Likewise bitterness & hoppiness - hops were restraint. But on a few occasions I thought I did just pick out some piney/citrus hops in there. But there was a general noble/English hop flavour running through the beer. Not in a bad way at all. And actually it was a really nice middle of the road hop profile. Not too in your face for the uninitiated.

Any off flavours, esp booziness.?? None at all. Perfectly clean and clear. A really well executed beer that I couldn’t find any “faults” with. Even the beer gun bottling was really good with a good amount of carbonation in the bottle.

All in all a real nice beer. I would have said this was an English APA rather than an “all American” one if I didn’t know anything about it. And not a hint of booze, what was the ABV?

A great demonstration of brewing skills [emoji1303]


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[dan125]

Dan gave a few areas that he wanted assessing with this beer :

As its meant to be a 'to style' APA I'd be especially interested to hear your thoughts on:

Body - is there enough/too much?? I would say with this beer the body was right for a APA. It was just dry enough, but retained body. I would say however it did remind me of an English APA rather than an American pale. If that’s the malt combo with your water treatment I don’t know.

Likewise bitterness & hoppiness - hops were restraint. But on a few occasions I thought I did just pick out some piney/citrus hops in there. But there was a general noble/English hop flavour running through the beer. Not in a bad way at all. And actually it was a really nice middle of the road hop profile. Not too in your face for the uninitiated.

Any off flavours, esp booziness.?? None at all. Perfectly clean and clear. A really well executed beer that I couldn’t find any “faults” with. Even the beer gun bottling was really good with a good amount of carbonation in the bottle.

All in all a real nice beer. I would have said this was an English APA rather than an “all American” one if I didn’t know anything about it. And not a hint of booze, what was the ABV?

A great demonstration of brewing skills [emoji1303]

Thanks Hoddy
It came in at 5.0%. Interesting that you thought it was Englishy, I used only cascade, chinook & simcoe hops, but the hop flavour/aroma isn't as strong as I hoped, despite a >6g/L dry hop - maybe the malt is coming through more, giving it more of a English vibe??
Gonna dry hop my latest brew today, and think I'll do it with the bottle off the HS, to keep them in contact with the bulk of the beer better.

 

[Hoddy]

Thanks Hoddy
It came in at 5.0%. Interesting that you thought it was Englishy, I used only cascade, chinook & simcoe hops, but the hop flavour/aroma isn't as strong as I hoped, despite a >6g/L dry hop - maybe the malt is coming through more, giving it more of a English vibe??
Gonna dry hop my latest brew today, and think I'll do it with the bottle off the HS, to keep them in contact with the bulk of the beer better.

Yeah that’s interesting isn’t it. I’ve not dry hopped using the bottle once and I’ve just dumped it in the top to try and get as much contact as you say.

I think it was the malt combo pushing through with the restraint hops that gave it an English’y nature. You would be surprised there are quite a few English ales that use american hops in an English malt bill.

Ah ha, maybe that’s it. I think this beer reminds me of naked ladies by twickenham brewery. That has a real big late addition of chinook in it.


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[dan125]

Yeah that’s interesting isn’t it. I’ve not dry hopped using the bottle once and I’ve just dumped it in the top to try and get as much contact as you say.

I think it was the malt combo pushing through with the restraint hops that gave it an English’y nature. You would be surprised there are quite a few English ales that use american hops in an English malt bill.

Ah ha, maybe that’s it. I think this beer reminds me of naked ladies by twickenham brewery. That has a real big late addition of chinook in it.

I've been dry hoping through the top, but before I've always had the bottle attached & the valve open & they all settle out into the bottle pretty quickly, so this time the valve is shut to keep the hops in the main vessel.
Maybe MO as a base malt is too flavourful for this style.

 

[Hoddy]

Managed to squeeze in another brew back-to-back of kegging the previous hoppy pale with an farmhouse Saison. I’m brewing back to back to have a few kegs ready for a mates 40th birthday party in about 5 weeks.

Brew day went quite well. Really well in fact, so well the efficiency went through the roof and I over produced and overshot my OG target by 2 litres and 6 pts. I ended up topping the system up by 2 litres but will end up being a FG and ABV of 5.4% rather than 5.1%.

Ended up having to use gravity to fill my fermentasaurus as the pump emptying attachment didn’t seem to work and seemed blocked.

Gonna have to look into this and work out why it’s happening.

Needless to say I relaxed with a BBQ and a pint of a previous batch of farmhouse Saison. Lovely.....

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[Hoddy]

Needless to say this yeast (WLP3711) is a total beast and less that 24hrs after pitching it's going like a train.

I did however have to sub out the caramunich in time recipe for caramalt. So I think it will be interesting to see how this one comes out.

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[Hoddy]

Today was an ad hoc brew day after my fermentation fridge packed up while we are in 30oC heat.

So that was a NEIPA out of the question. So it was time to test out that Kveik yeast I had been given.

Being able to brew outside all afternoon and into the evening is just great.

Managed to overshoot the target SG so had to top up with a litre in the fermenter.

Using lemon drop and cascade hops in this one with the kveik yeast. Gonna try the underpitch and 30oC fermentation approach to get the most out of the citrus/orange character out the yeast.

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[Hoddy]

Well this Kveik yeast is living up to its reputation.

Pitched an undersized cultivated starter at 9am (a 1 litre starter instead of the recommended 1.8L) and at 6pm it’s going like a train.

Needless to say I’m giving it the warm temps I’m told it likes

I hope it’s ok. This high temp thing just freaks me out


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[dan125]

Would freak me out too - what kveik yeast did you use?