Cider Series: English Ale Yeast

So here is one more in my line-up of Cider Experiments. This time I used 30 mL of yeast from my Best Bitter. So as always I poured out about 20 oz into a 22 oz bottle and capped it (Here is a secret that I forgot this time, put it in the fridge). It appeared to ferment a bit so I had to buy some Martinelli apple juice that I will use to back-sweeten.









With the fresh yeast out of the Bitter the cider had active fermentation within 12 hours. Cider krausens aren't as explosive as beer. It kept actively fermenting for a week at 68 degrees. The beer finished at 1.002.

Then I bottled the cider by force carbing the cider to 3 volumes. (I like sparkling cider). Then using a sanitized measuring cup I added 1.5 oz of the fresh apple juice to each bottle before filling. I found that this amount adds just enough apple flavor and sweetness back. My previous batches I used 2 oz and I find that it is too sweet and much closer to the commercial versions like Wyder's.








I like to cold age this for quite a while for a couple reasons.
1) It makes sure that the yeast won't ferment your backsweetened cider (you can also use campden tabs)
2) It really helps to round out the flavors and the apple flavor seems to become more pronounced.

So look for a tasting in a few months.

Pub Crawl: Las Vegas

For me, it is getting into Bachelor Party Season. Which for me living in Southern California means . . . VEGAS.

I put this pub crawl together for a friend's party last year. We didn't follow the plan, but anyone that has been to Las Vegas they know how easily it is for things to get off track. We did still end up hitting most of these places. See the map below.


View Larger Map

I recommend that you start with dinner at Hofbrauhaus. Get yourself a giant sausage and das boot, (get reservations for dinner so you can be in the main hall) then see where the night takes you. Then, the next 2 stops are in good stumbling distance across the UNLV campus. I can't give reviews on those 2 places because we decided to head straight to the strip but they seem to be the only sorta real beer bars in Vegas. From here your best bet is to take a taxi over to the South End of the strip (save your energy because you still have 6 more stops and several miles).









The rest of the places are nothing fantastic for the good beer lover but they are a great way to see the strip and still find good beer with exception of Burger Bar. We actually went to Burger Bar on our way home from "swimming" at Mandalay Bay and it is one of my favorite places period. The burgers were great and it had a pretty decent tap and bottle list.













We had a group that wasn't into the clubs but still wanted to walk from casino to casino. The random dance parties and pictures that the dressed-up groom has to take while on the sidewalk of the strip is the whole reason to come to Vegas.













Here are some graphics if you want to make a little package for the Pub Crawl like this nerd did.

Also if I'm missing any places let me know. I know there are other beer places in Vegas, but they were not in walking distance.

Homebrew Tasting: Belgian Golden Strong

This review is a bit more involved than most tastings. The reason is because when this beer fermented out it went down to 1.002! I planned this beer to dry out by mashing in at 149 and this beer is all Pilsner with .5 lb of Flaked Barley. The starting gravity was 1.078 with 20% coming from the table and Turbinado sugar (maybe a bit high but I wanted to make sure it would dry out). At first I thought I had a Brett infection, but the beer tastes pretty clean (for a Belgian). The big concerning point was that it has a ton of alcohol warmth because it is now a 10% beer instead of 7.5%.

I asked around my brew club, QUAFF, and most of the experienced homebrewers and pro brewers said that this is pretty normal and just to let it age out. Actually, some of our clubs best brewers try to finish in the 1.004-1.006 range for their Golden Strongs.
Jim Crute from Lightning Brewery commented, "...age and waiting makes nearly all beers taste better, to a point.  You should loose a lot of the fusel taste (alcoholic/warming character) as the residual yeast takes up the longer chain alcohols and uses them as a low-grad carbon source.
My impression is that most Belgian breweries blend their beer, so you could brew another batch, have it finish less dry and blend.  Although I don't do it, I have heard from a number of reliable sources that blending is the way to win medals."

I think my inexperience with big beers like this made me nervous about the beer having so much alcohol warmth. So against better judgment I decided to blend with wort to sweeten and dilute the alcohol. I did bottle some of the beer without dilution (not enough in hindsight) then I diluted 8 bottles with 2 oz 1.045 Pilsner wort down to 8% and F.G. 1.009 and another 8 bottles with 1 oz of 1.090 wort down to 9% and F.G. 1.009. I also put a gallon into a carboy with a couple pounds of "champagne" grapes (which are not used in Champagne but usually appear next to them in pictures).

Now, fast forward 5 months and I decided to taste the different versions before entering one into America's Finest Homebrew Contest put on by QUAFF. I poured the 4 versions during the brew session for the Scottish 60/-. Wow, the difference between the versions is remarkable. So here are some quick notes about each and then I'll let you see what the experts said (see score sheets below).

8% - cloying sweet with a big sweet banana aroma/flavor but also very easy to drink. No alcohol warmth.

9% - pretty sweet still and a bit more complex. Still a sweet banana aroma/flavor but some spicy phenols to help balance. Because of the sweetness it would fit the Tripel style much better than Golden Strong. Very little to no alcohol warmth.

10% or Original - Nicely complex aroma with many different fruits (pear, banana, apple) and a touch of spicy phenol. And still a bit of sweetness (this must be alcohol sweetness and not from residual sugars). And the alcohol warmth is barely noticeable. With even a little more age this beer could be fantastic.

Grape - Big grape aroma/flavor like Welch's not as in wine. The gravity is down to 1.002 but it still has sweetness. The grape flavor really hasn't melded with the other fruit flavors. This beer might need more age or I might need to spike it with some Brett