We are tasting homebrew from our wonderful subscribers again! This week its two beers from Andy Podnar in Arizona. We sample his Weizenbeer and a Pilsner-esque Ale. SWEET!!!

Two beers came in from Arizona, the first we tasted was a Weizen style (recipe below).

This beer was medium to low body. The color was yellow with slight haze. The carbonation was spot on and good for the style. This beer presented clean and tasted great. The abundance of German variety malts and hops in the recipe makes me think that a German Wheat was being targeted. John however felt that the overall yeast profile was more subdued and suggested more of an American Wheat result. In the end it was still a great beer. It would be interesting to see how the beer would do entered into both the Weizen and the American Wheat categories of a competition.

Second beer up was a Pilsner inspired ale recipe. This beer again presented with slight haze. It had an gold ro off copper hue to it. Very nice appearance. The carbonation was about the same as the Weizen beer. This beer had a definite malt forward backbone. The use of some Vienna and a generous hand of C60L is certainly driving the flavor profile. The was a touch of flaked maize in this beer which had us thinking. There as a bit more than expect of an corn aroma in the beer and in the flavor. I wonder if it was a weak finish to the ferment or a premature ferment that went to secondary. A day after shooting this video I began to also consider the idea that while the beer shipped warm across the country it is possible that some diacetyl formed along the trip. That can happen in the packaging even if it doesn’t present during bottling. A good test would be to leave a bottle in the Arizona warm room temperature climate for a few days. Then chill it and sample. I’d be interested to hear if the beer didn’t present as corn like prior to shipping.

Thanks so much to Andy (Gila River Brewer) for sharing his beers with us. Hopefully he enjoys the Nordic Ale I send him (got to get on that).

CHEERS!

Recipes:
Weizen
6 Lbs. German Malted Wheat
3 Lbs. Briess Bavarian Wheat DME
2ozs. Hallertau hop pellets
Safale K-97/ Single stage unfiltered
Mashed grains at 152-155F for 1 hr.
Sparged grain with 1 gal. at 160F
Boiled 60 min.
1oz Hallertau for 60 min.
.5oz Hallertau for 15 min.
.5oz Hallertau for 5 min.

Pils Ale
2.5 Gal./ 60 min. Extract with Specialty Grain
Bottled 5/27/16
OG 1.058
FG 1.013
5.9 ABV

3 Lbs. Briess Pilsen DME
.5 Lbs. Crystal 60L
.25 Lbs. Flaked Maize
.25 Lbs. Vienna Malted
1oz. Tettnang hop pellets
1oz. Hallertau hop pellets
“Yes… I am very fond of Hallertau.”
Safale US-05/ Single stage unfiltered
Mashed grains at 155F for 30 min.
1oz. Tettnang for 60 min
1oz. Hallertau for 5 min