Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Lemondrop Hops SMaSH Beer Tasting

On September 20, 2017

When a hop variety is named with such a blatant descriptor, the question we ask, “Does the aroma and the flavor live up to its name?” We try to figure that out by brewing a Lemondrop Hops SMaSH beer and tasting to see if it indeed has that flavor characteristic in it.

Hop Evaluation

So for this hop, I didn’t tell Mike the name of it. I didn’t want to give away the name of the hop for this reason. I was interested to see if “lemon” really was an aspect of its aroma and flavor without it being telegraphed.

Mike’s first choice was “white peach” even though he came to that conclusion saying that the fruit had an orange color to it.

Given the multiple choices of strawberry, lemon or watermelon, he said it wasn’t lemon because it didn’t scream that flavor and that’s when I stopped him. He thought there was a lime zest component to it but it was really subtle.

Final Thoughts

From the standpoint of brewing with these hops to get a lemon aspect to your beer, we feel like you would be disappointed. The citrus notes were subtle and not lemony. I think you’d be better off with brewing a beer with Sorachi Ace hops instead to get a strong lemon note.

Looking around the internet, it looks like we are not the only ones who have had the same experience with this hop. The name is a misnomer – which is too bad especially if one is brewing based on name alone. That’s probably a bad idea but hopefully there is enough information out there to help people out.

Lastly, it is a true battle with your brain to pull flavors out objectively when you are being affected by other factors such as names that influence your thinking. I am glad that we didn’t say “Oh yeah, totally lemon” based on the name. This hop didn’t express that to us so it was great that we told it like it was, rather than just hitch on to the idea of what it was supposed to be.

Brew ON!

Vic Secret Hops SMaSH Beer Tasting

By John Krochune

On September 13, 2017

In Hops, Videos

We love brewing SMaSH beers to get to know a particular hops’ aroma and flavor. This post showcases our review of a Vic Secret Hops SMaSH beer. Watch this video to get our thoughts and learn more about this variety.

SMaSH Process For This Beer

The SMaSH beer recipe formula is tried, true, and fairly simple. I like to brew a one gallon batches using two pounds of English pale malt and 1 ounce of hops. After mashing the grains in a bag, I boil two gallons of wort to get my one gallon batch.

Lately, I have been varying up my hops schedule, especially with these varieties that are known for their aroma and flavor properties. I don’t add a lot to the beginning of the boil as I feel like that has been a mistake in the past. When I add a good bittering charge (0.25 ounces at 60 minutes to go in my gallon batch) with these aroma hops, I believe it throws off our evaluation. Many flavors that wouldn’t normally present themselves do after a long boil so our descriptors are different from what is posted online.

Anyway, lesson learned and we keep improving. I added just a smidgen of Vic Secret hops to the beginning of the boil and the majority of the pellets I added at the end of the boil and during fermentation.

Now, on to the notes!

Tasting Notes

Mike took a big whiff and he picked up what he called a “big green hop bag” aroma. He described that as the smell you get when you open up a bag of any hops. Then, he said he detected pineapple and green mango aromas with some subtle peach and tangerine notes.

In the flavor, he said it had a lot of tropical fruit flavors up front with some Cascade flavors in the background.

The two descriptors that we didn’t detect were notes of pine and/or passion fruit, but we are not experts in that fruit’s flavor.

Overall, we felt like this hop was like a Galaxy light. It would be a good substitution for that hop variety if you could not find it at your local homebrew shop.

Lastly, Vic Secret can be blended with other hops to make an great NE IPA. Give them a try, won’t you?

Brew on!

Brew Dudes Homebrew Swap – Exchange #20

By John Krochune

On September 6, 2017

In Homebrew Club, Videos

Our homebrew swap/exchange program hits the big 2-0 as we take a look and a taste of a beer from a guy named Chris from Montana.

True Celt Irish Red

You may know this guy from the comments section on our YouTube channel. His handle is the The True Celt and he is a regular contributor to our video output. It was an honor to get a beer from him. Here are the particulars that we got from him on this beer.

Irish Red Ale – BJCP category 15A

Brewed in June 2017
Bottled in July 2017
10.5 gallon batch

Grain Bill:

90% Maris Otter Pale Malt
3.3% Crystal 40°L
3.3% Crystal 120°L
3.3% Roasted Barley

Hops:

3 ounces East Kent Goldings – 4% alpha acids – added with 60 minutes to go in the boil.

Yeast: Wyeast London Ale III

Details:
Mash was at 153° F for 60 minutes
Mashing out 168° F for 15 minutes

Boil was fort 60 minutes
Original Gravity: 1.060

Fermented in primary at 72° F for 10 days
Racked to Secondary and conditioned at 65° F for 8 days

Bottle conditioned and sent to us.

Tasting Notes

Mike stated the beer had a big doughy, bready aroma with hints of graham cracker or molasses. It also have a subtle yeast character. The flavor was smooth and had a very nice, dry finish. The mouthfeel was medium-bodied, not too full for the high-ish gravity. Our overall impression was that this beer was well balanced and hit the right notes for the style.

Some of our thoughts for next time included bringing down the carbonation a bit. A softer carbonation would bring out the malts a bit more. The other thought we had was in regards to the roast character. We felt like if Chris pulled back on the roasted barley, either by using a lower Lovibond roasted barley or by bringing down the amount in the grain bill, it would lighten the roasted quality and potentially make the red color pop a little more.

A great beer and a welcome swap to taste for our 20th exchange.

Cheers and brew on!

Sour Beer Blending Process – Bringing Together 3 Years of Beers

By John Krochune

On August 30, 2017

In Experiments, Style Profiles, Videos

Back in June of 2014, I brewed my first sour beer. I was going for the lambic style and even though I couldn’t really call it a lambic cuz I was brewing at my house and not in particular region of Belgium, I had good intentions that I could brew a few of these beers so I could bring them together and have a gueuze. After a long wait, that day came and we brought a video camera. Take a look at how we came up with our own sour beer blending process to bring together three years of beers.

The Long Journey of Sour Beer Blending

What can I tell you – you have to have patience and a plan to get to this point. Part of the plan is to have the equipment and space to store beer for years. I had to acquire multiple five gallon carboys that I could transfer beers and hold beers when they were done fermenting (after one year).

Purchasing these carboys were important because they needed to be separate from my other brewing activities. Not only because they would be out of rotation for years but also because they were going to be used for sour beers and I didn’t want them contaminating my non-sour brewing.

I have a utility closet in my basement that made for a good place to store (and hide) these beers. The temperature stayed fairly constant throughout the day – it did warm with the seasons but not that much – and it helped me to keep them out of sight and mind. If you don’t practice patience, you will be messing with them way too often or too soon. Keep them away.

The Blending Process

The first step in our process was to taste a commercial gueuze. Sadly, I think the bottle I grabbed had been on the shelf for too long because it tasted skunky. We gathered as much intel as we could from it but it was hard based on the issues the beer had.

The second step in our process was to taste each of the three beers and understand what they were all about and what we liked and didn’t like about them. We were looking for sourness, funkiness, and any other qualities that we thought would help us to plan what the mix of the beers should be. Some of the thoughts I had were as follows

3 year old – well balanced flavor – not too sour – not offensive – nice complexity
2 year old – strong sour flavor – maybe a bit acetic – could be used in a small dose
1 year old – a more sour version of the 3 year old beer – has some barnyard notes

Once we got our notes together, we gave blending them a try. We chose a unit of measure (a part), which in our case was a teaspoon, and started to bring the beers together. We tried a 2 parts of the 3 year old, 2 parts of the 1 year old, and 1 part of the 2 year old blend first. This blend brought too much of the 2 years strong flavor to the front.

The next blend brought the 2 year part down and it worked for us. We blended 4 parts of the 3 year old, 4 parts of the 1 year old, and 1 part of the 2 year old and it tasted great.

When it came to translating that to the blend at a larger scale, I worked with half gallons.

I used 4 half gallons or 2 gallons of the three and one year old sour beers and blended that with a half gallon of the two year old beers. Once I had this quantity together, I added priming sugar and bottled the beer in thick champagne bottles, topped with a cork and cage.

Now we wait again as the beer ages some more. It’s been a rewarding experience even if it has taken a long time.

See how this gueuze turned out on this post!

Brew ON!

Brewing A Kolsch And An Alt From The Same Yeast Pitch

By John Krochune

On August 23, 2017

In Brew Log, Experiments, Videos

We love pitching fresh wort onto yeast cakes from beers we just brewed. You need to prepare a little bit more than you would for a single brew session but if you take the time, your effort will be rewarded. The trick is to find two beer styles that can be brewed with the same yeast strain. This technique can be employed with great results in lagers but can also be used for ales or hybrid beers as we learn with Mike’s latest creations: a Kolsch and an Alt. Watch this video to learn how he brewed two beers using the same yeast strain:

Kolsch and Alt Together Again For The First Time

If you haven’t brewed either of these styles before, you should especially if you are a homebrewer that doesn’t have the capabilities (fridge with a temp controller) to brew lager beers. Both Kolschs and Alts have lager-like qualities and are easy to perfect in cold basement temperatures. If you brew in climates where you have cold winters, these may be the styles for you.

Kolsch is a super clean pale ale that uses noble hops. The yeast strain produces a very crisp beer and it makes for a great tasting brew that pairs well with summer afternoons.

Alt beer is great malt bomb. It satisfies your need for maltiness without any roasty flavors. I comment on Mike’s beer that it has an essence of molasses to it and it tastes like what Wheaties would taste like without the sweetness.

Both beers finish clean and have a wonderful balanced flavor with the hops.

The Magic of Repitching Yeast

Besides brewing these styles, the technique of repitching yeast; that is, pitching yeast that has gone through a recent fermentation, will lead to excellent results. If you keep your process clean, the second beer tends to be cleaner and more refined in its taste. With some planning, you too can master this process.

When I have brewed two beers close together, I transfer the first beer into a secondary fermentor and then I move my chilled wort right onto the yeast cake. Fermentation starts right away and it is vigorous as you can imagine.

Give it a try in a future brew session.

Brew on.