Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Tasting a Six Year Old Melomel

On June 10, 2020

Mike went to the deepest corner of his basement and he found a 6 year old mixed berry mead also known as a melomel. We tasted this one before, not on camera, a few years ago. Mike didn’t know if he was going to keep it. I told him that he should let it age and we’ll make a judgment later. Later is now and we cracked open a bottle and talked about it in this video.

Tasting Notes

Mead can take a long time to mellow out. We homebrewers need to understand that more if we haven’t already. In its sixth year of existence, this melomel has certainly mellowed out into a tasty beverage.

After it was first poured, the aroma had strong notes of solvent. Once it breathed a bit, the aromas were more berry like. The flavor had bold fruit with nice honey notes and finished with a pleasant tannic dryness.

The body was medium-light which was confusing on my palate. I was expecting this beer to be less sweet than it was because of its body but the flavor was rich, sweet, and complex. It was a nice surprise.

I know that mead may not be your thing but if you’re looking for making something new and easy, mead is a great choice. There are a good number of recipes and resources to get you started. You can even find a kit to make it easy on yourself.

Mead On!

Apollo Hops SMaSH Beer Review

By John Krochune

On June 3, 2020

In Hops, Videos

We had a few viewers/fans/followers suggest we brew a SMaSH beer with Apollo hops. Since we aim to be a good opinion about these sort of things and to be helpful, we bought an ounce of pellets of this variety and then brewed up a 1 US gallon batch. See what we thought about this hop:

Tasting Notes

Aroma: Mike picked up some peach and mint notes. He went on to say it had a lychee fruit quality – canned lychee fruit to be specific.

Flavor: Some of the fruit aromas we picked up pulled through into the flavor. It definitely had a distinct white citrus pith characteristic. Although the commercial descriptors state this hop brings dank, cannabis-like flavors to the beer, we felt it was more of a straight up, pith-like flavor.

Mike believes this hop would pair well with Nelson Sauvin or Huell Melon hops. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

BREW ON!

Brew Dudes Homebrew Swap – Exchange #39

By John Krochune

On May 27, 2020

In Homebrew Club, Videos

It’s been a while since we have exchanged beers with anyone outside of our dyad but this week, we got some beer from Brent in Missouri that he wanted to share. He sent us two beers and we tried his American Cream Ale since we think we know a thing or two about the style. In this video, we taste his beer and discuss the things we like and some thoughts about adjusting for next time.

Tasting Notes

This video marks the first time in a while that we’re back together again in the same frame. Hey, being outside in the evening and drinking homebrew is one of life’s simple pleasures – even during a pandemic.

Brent shipped us a couple of his beers. One was a Saison-y thang and the other was an American Cream Ale. These two beers were his first attempts at all grain batches.

We decided to taste the cream ale since that was the style we feel like we have brewed the most and feel confident on our knowledge of the style.

His beer was great – its clarity was outstanding for a beer that traveled halfway across the country. The color was in line with our expectation – a straw color that you’d expect from the malt he used.

Lastly, the taste had soft malt qualities of a pilsner with some of the fruitiness of an ale. We felt the hop character needed a boost and the amount of flaked maize in the recipe needed to be pulled back.

Overall, this beer was great and one that Mike would enjoy in large quantities. For his 20th or so fermentation, Brent hit the mark well.

Cheers and brew on!

Summer Brewing – American Blonde Ale

By John Krochune

On May 20, 2020

In Style Profiles, Videos

The summer months are coming up here in the old Northern Hemisphere and it’s time to brew beers appropriate to the season. Check out this video about brewing an American Blonde Ale for the summertime!

Recipe

Batch Size: 5.5 US gallons

Ingredients

12 pounds of Rahr Pilsner malt
.5 pounds of German Munich Type 1 malt

1 oz Columbus hops added with 30 minutes left to go in the boil
1 oz X09326 Experimental hop added with 10 minutes left to go in the boil

Fermented with Lallamand New England American East Coast Ale

Fermented for 2 weeks – started at 65 degrees and then warmed it up to finish it out.

Tasting Notes

Light, soft body. The color was spot on and the clarity was getting there. This was one of Mike’s best versions of the style. It was light and fruity in the flavor and crisp in the aftertaste.

It went great with tacos.

BREW ON!

Muntons Brewery In A Bag Pale Ale Tasting

By John Krochune

On May 13, 2020

In Beginner, Equipment, Videos

Ok – here’s the moment you may or may not have been waiting for. Mike showed you how to brew by just adding water. Then, he did a check-in to show us that the bag hadn’t exploded. Now the beer is ready and it’s time to drink it. Here is the Muntons Brewery In A Bag Pale Ale Tasting!

How Did It Taste?

For starters, we knew the beer would be like a cask-conditioned brew. The carbonation was light and the head was pretty non-existent. The color was a nice dark copper to amber. The aroma had some bready notes but also had some notes of green apple.

The bready notes were in the flavor along with the green apple flavor like a Jolly Rancher candy. We thought that this flavor was coming from Acetaldehyde in the beer, probably because the fermentation was incomplete.

Other than that, the beer was drinkable and would be cool to crush with your friends watching a sporting event (if they ever get back to playing professional sports in these COVID days). It’s simplicity and it all-in-one set up makes it a cool gift for someone trying to brew beer at home.

BREW ON!