Homebrew company English pale ale is on

[GHW]

Had to move my pb this morning as I've got the builders in this week (stop it).

Obviously this meant I needed to check a) it was carbing up ok in the barrel and b) that it tasted ok

It still looked like swamp water but then it's only been in the barrel a week and it's a bottom tap, so no concerns there.

It smelled like a strong boddingtons, and tasted even more like a strong boddingtons. Promising, though mildly annoying as I am planning a boddies clone. That's going to be much more of a 10L batch of session beer though so I'm not too concerned.

The hbc pale has got another week in the house then out to the shed for another two before I get into it proper. More to follow then.

 

[clibit]

Hmm, a 6.2% Boddington's! Any sort of Boddington's would do me.

 

[GHW]

Had another snifter of this before I moved it into the shed this morning. Its cleared well since the last test. It's not as boddies like as I previously thought. It smells like it, but on tasting it's a very different beast. You can tell it's strong, it's rich, fruity and slightly treacly with surprising lingering bitterness. As I said before, stronger than I would normally drink but a nice brew.

 

[GHW]

Nuts. After banging on about how reliable my PBs have been on another thread, I've gone to have a taste test of this tonight and found that the barrel has no pressure. Weird as it was fine last weekend when I had the last test. I'm assuming it built up pressure while the priming sugar was being eaten up, but that co2 has been slowly leaking out.

Given it a shot from a bulb to stop any oxidation but will need to get the lid off and reprime. What a PITA.

Taste wise it's got a grassy note I hadn't picked up before,not unpleasant but necessarily something you'd strive for. A bit like my LP extract brew I did last year. They both have challenger hops I so I'm wondering if that's the culprit?

Anyway, it's still cloudy (suspect it's break material as I cooled in the fv) but nice. Definitely getting the buttery flavours the bumf promised. Could perhaps do with a little more sweetness but perfectly drinkable brew,

 

[GHW]

Ah, just googled grassy notes and john Palmer reckons it's down to poorly stored ingredients which might explain it as I did leave this kit in the cupboard a while before brewing. Can't say the same about the LP brew, but maybe the extract wasn't that fresh?

Hey, it's beer, and it's perfectly drinkable.