Secret Santa Reviews 2024

[Justin Dean]

Sorry for the late posting as I too have had the lurgy.

First up a Citra Golden ale, very nice too, not overpowering on the Citra, had a slight haze with a nice head that lasted to the end.

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Next up a Hopfenweiss which is a new one on me, it had an aftertaste that I couldn’t quite place (coriander perhaps), it will be interesting to see what hops are in it. Another beer I really enjoyed. Thanks for sharing.

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No apologies still got both of mine to drink.

 

[Justin Dean]

Wow now this is a lovely pint with nice balance of Christmas orange pepper and light coriander spices that gently build and then gently fade. Carbonation is for me a touch high as little carb bite at end with the bitterness but nothing is perfect of course. Thank you for this beer. Never easy to get spices levels right and this is close

 

[SMP Brewery]

@brewhaha & @Stu I’m glad you liked my cold IPA, it was a new one on me too so it started off as a user upper and turned out to one of my favourite brews. I think it was past its very best but still a nice beer.

Mash​

Strike Temp — 69.2 °C
Temperature — 65 °C — 60 min
Mash Out — 75 °C — 10 min

Malts (5 kg)​

4 kg (80%) — Lager Malt
1 kg (20%) — Corn, Flaked

Hops (250 g)​

25 g (11 IBU) Mount Hood Boil 60 min
25 g (3 IBU) Belma 20 min hopstand
25 g (2 IBU) Mount Hood 20 min hopstand
25 g (5 IBU) Sabro 20 min hopstand
60 g — Mount Hood Dry Hop — day 7
45 g — Belma Dry Hop — day 7
45 g — Sabro Dry Hop — day 7

Hopstand at 80 °C
Whirlpool/Hopstand Time: 20 min

Miscs​

2.81 g — Gypsum (CaSO4) — Mash
9 ml — Lactic Acid 80% — Mash
1.39 g — Gypsum (CaSO4) — Sparge
0.5 items — Whirlfloc — Boil — 15 min
1 tsp — Yeast Nutrients — Boil — 15 min

Yeast​

2 pkg Fermentis W-34/70 Saflager Lager

Fermentation​

Primary — 11 °C — 18 days
Primary — 15 °C — 3 days

Water Profile​

Ca2+109 Mg2+48 Na+63 Cl-77 SO42-119 HCO3-240

The Red Rye IPA had issues when trying to transfer to the Pet bottle from the keg, It just wouldn’t pressurise properly so probably why there was a lack of carbonation.

 

[Begbie]

Thanks to @Justin Dean and @starseeker for your great reviews of my Saison! Very happy brewer here!

I was worried about the carbonation being too low, as i bottled these from the keg, but I needn't have worried at all.

The recipe is a tweak of the Jon Finche Saison recipe. I increased the quantities of black peppercorn, coriander and orange peel as I thought that previous versions (which were also tweaked) were lacking in those flavours. I think I've reached the optimal quantities.

Cheers!

 

[starseeker]

Thanks to @Justin Dean and @starseeker for your great reviews of my Saison! Very happy brewer here!

I was worried about the carbonation being too low, as i bottled these from the keg, but I needn't have worried at all.

The recipe is a tweak of the Jon Finche Saison recipe. I increased the quantities of black peppercorn, coriander and orange peel as I thought that previous versions (which were also tweaked) were lacking in those flavours. I think I've reached the optimal quantities.

Cheers!

It was lovely :)

 

[Libigage]

@Nucbrewer and @brewhaha
Thank you for your kind reviews. I must admit I used too much water in the dark rock all grain kit, the yeast is the new pomona yeast. As for the home grown cascade. I was pleased with it this year( year 3) ended up with about 380g dried. Previous years have been hit and miss. First year I did late additions and dry hopped. It must have got an infection as it was undrinkable, but I kept it and after about 6 months it was just about OK. Second year I wet hopped all of it in a late addition and it wasn't too bad. This year is definitely the best yet. I was worried on using too much, so I only used 133g dried in late additions.i have 156g dried left for another try. I'm not sure on what to do different. The yeast was also pomona so I was quite surprised it was so clear. Thank you ,glad you enjoyed

 

[Nottsbeer]

@nickjdavis and @allotment_fox - many thanks for your reviews of my beers: Big Lamp bitter and the Black IPA. I'm glad you liked them, and cheers for the kind words. Allotmet_fox - I'm impressed you thought I have treated my water, but I haven't attempted to go down that road yet. These beers were made with tap water that was treated with a campden tablet overnight. I'm based on the western side of Nottingham - although probably c.30 miles from Burton, I guess my water profile is quite kind for a bitter. The recipe for the Big lamp bitter is here: https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/notts-beers-days.95266/post-1297865 As noted on the brew day for this one, I also had a few bottles that were not dry hopped. I'd definitely recommend dry-hopping if you try to make this one. The recipe was originally from the Graham Wheeler book which I have made a couple of slight changes to. If i ever go down the keg route it'll be interesting to see if this also tastes as good. The black IPA was from an AG kit - another I am very impressed with and will definitely make that one again as well.

@Alastair70 - many, many thanks for arranging the Santa swap again. I love this one and really enjoyed the beers my secret Santa's sent to me.

 

[nickjdavis]

@nickjdavis and @allotment_fox - many thanks for your reviews of my beers: Big Lamp bitter and the Black IPA. I'm glad you liked them, and cheers for the kind words. Allotmet_fox - I'm impressed you thought I have treated my water, but I haven't attempted to go down that road yet. These beers were made with tap water that was treated with a campden tablet overnight. I'm based on the western side of Nottingham - although probably c.30 miles from Burton, I guess my water profile is quite kind for a bitter. The recipe for the Big lamp bitter is here: https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/notts-beers-days.95266/post-1297865 As noted on the brew day for this one, I also had a few bottles that were not dry hopped. I'd definitely recommend dry-hopping if you try to make this one. The recipe was originally from the Graham Wheeler book which I have made a couple of slight changes to. If i ever go down the keg route it'll be interesting to see if this also tastes as good. The black IPA was from an AG kit - another I am very impressed with and will definitely make that one again as well.

@Alastair70 - many, many thanks for arranging the Santa swap again. I love this one and really enjoyed the beers my secret Santa's sent to me.

I am sorry that i have omitted my review of your Black IPA...unfortunately the bottle got buried in amongst all of the other beer/wine/spirits/liqueurs that got bought for Christmas and only surfaced last night!!!

I did drink it....just need to dig out my notes and formulate them into some sort of proper feedback!!

 

[nickjdavis]

So...the missing Black IPA...

Poured an opaque black with a fluffy tan coloured head. The retention was excellent and lasted all the way to the finish.

The aroma was dominated by dark fruits with some toffee and caramel and a bready malt backbone, this was replicated in the flavour which also brought some low level notes off coffee to the profile, which was still dominated by dark (damson, blackcurrant) fruit flavours.

bitterness levels were moderate, maybe could have been a touch higher to help offset the fruit profile. In the background some earthy hop notes were also perceived.

Body was medium with moderate levels of carbonation, no alcohol warmth was present.

Overall another enjoyable beer and my perception of dark fruits, rather than the more usual citrus and stone fruit aromas, might have been off...but it made an interesting variant to the style....just needed a touch more bitterness in my opinion to provide balance. Thank you brewer.

 

[Nottsbeer]

So...the missing Black IPA...

Poured an opaque black with a fluffy tan coloured head. The retention was excellent and lasted all the way to the finish.

The aroma was dominated by dark fruits with some toffee and caramel and a bready malt backbone, this was replicated in the flavour which also brought some low level notes off coffee to the profile, which was still dominated by dark (damson, blackcurrant) fruit flavours.

bitterness levels were moderate, maybe could have been a touch higher to help offset the fruit profile. In the background some earthy hop notes were also perceived.

Body was medium with moderate levels of carbonation, no alcohol warmth was present.

Overall another enjoyable beer and my perception of dark fruits, rather than the more usual citrus and stone fruit aromas, might have been off...but it made an interesting variant to the style....just needed a touch more bitterness in my opinion to provide balance. Thank you brewer.

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Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the nice review