Batch 85 Vienna tasting notes

Cold

Pours golden orange, healthy even yellow head that stays and laces, clear with almost imperceptible haze.

Aroma nice spicy hops up front, vanilla, nearly ripe pears, malt.

Mouth feel clean bitter but also somewhat toothy balanced by lively carbonation.

Flavor bitter hop spice up front, malt is very subdued, light sweetness in the background near the end.

Finish lingering pleasant hop bitterness.

Overall this is more of a toothy pils than a Vienna, hops are too dominant.  Halve the bittering hops, go all vienna and munich malt.  Pleasant beer.

Batch 84 Witbier tasting notes

Taste cold

Pours light gold, slight haze, big white head uneven but just right

Aroma malt with phenolic and bitter citrus peel, very mild stone fruit background cherries

Mouth feel, very light, carb level good, good cleansing balance

Flavor orange peel first, like pith, makes it too bitter and not well balanced.  Malt is subdued but ok, hops are buried under the orange.

Finish orange peel bitter, hard to distinguish from hop bitterness, cleansing and refreshing, summery.

Overall, very good beer except too much orange peel.  Maybe only at priming, not in the boil.

Batch 89 Stout

3 gallons

4.5 lbs golden promise
1 lb bm dark Munich
8 oz flaked wheat
6 oz MFB caramel120
6 oz briess roast barley
1/4 tsp soda

Also, cold steep 8 oz briess roast barley on the side, add at lauter

Mash 150 df 40 mins, 154 df 20 mins

Boil 90 mins

75 mins 7 gr Columbus @ 15 aa%, 23 IBUs
30 mins 7 gr nugget @ 13.5 aa%, 15 IBUs
15 mins 1 oz homegrown Willamette, 8 IBUs

46 IBUs

Add 60 gr lactose at pitch (boiled briefly)

OG into fermenter with lactose 1.054, 3.4 gals, 70% bhe

Pitch at 72 df with w1469 in 1 qt starter, put in 72 df chamber.

Rack to secondary 10/27, leave at 72 df.  Not black, brown.

Bottle 11/9 with 60 gr table sugar, yield 372 oz, 2.3 vols co2.

Batch 83 Belgian Blond tasting notes

Cellar temp

Pours clear gold, almost bright, big white effervescent head, big bubbles, laces, hangs around some.

Big yeasty aroma, sweet malt, earth/spice hops, tart stone fruit mostly

Mouth feel big carbonation, toothy but light to moderate body, sweet but not clingy

Flavor banana and plum, nice earth hop flavor, all over sweet malt.

Finish nice balance, a little clingy sweet but bitterness balances OK, want more.

Overall a lot like a tripel without the kick, still strong though.  Could bring down ferm temps a bit, a little more spicy hops towards the end.  Hersbrucker is very good though.

Notes from Brixtoberfest Judging 29.7 avg 3 judges, 2 bjcp judges avg 31.  Esters too heavy, needs crisper finish, body too heavy.

Batch 81 Baltic Porter tasting notes

Way over carbed, 12 oz fills qt jar with foam.  2nd pour, still cold:

Very dark brown, light tan head, laces and stays

Aroma licorice, coffee, sweet malt

Mouth feel pleasant, light body, slight tooth at end

Flavor sweet toasty without astringent at first, coffee and licorice, bitterness is just right, hop bite at end followed by slight stringency

Finish sweet with hop bitterness, cleans up nicely.

Overall, too bad on the carbonation, otherwise this is righteous in terms of a subtle porter.  The roast/malt/hop balance is spot on with the sweetness.  I guess maybe try it again with a solid diacetyl rest before lagering, drop the OG a bit.

Pending brew sessions

Stout next.

Then a Belgian.

Then a Wit.

Running low on inventory - need to go once per week for a while.

Batch 88 Nut Brown

3 gallons

2.75 lbs Munton's Maris Otter
2 lbs TFS Golden Promise
8 oz MFB caramel 120
4 oz MFB kiln amber
2 oz Dingemann's chocolate
no salts

SRM 18

Mash 10 mins 130 df, 60 mins 146 df, pH 5.0

Boil 75 mins
60 mins 3 gr nugget 13.5%aa, 10 IBUs
15 mins 1/2 tsp Irish moss
10 mins 1/2 oz homegrown Willamette, 5 IBUs

15 IBUs

OG into fermenter 1.046, 71% bhe (3.2 gallons)

Abv 5.0%

Pitch at 72 df with reclaimed US-05 in 1 qt starter, leave at 64 df, primary runs at 65 df.

Rack to secondary 10/19, leave at 64 df.

10/23 fg 1.008, bottle with 55 gr table sugar, yield 348 oz , 2.2 vols co2.

Batch 80 Tripel tasting notes

Room temp, 68 df

Pours clear golden, white uneven head with big bubbles, hangs around, nice lacing

Aroma butterscotch bitter, stone fruit, slight alcohol, light spicy hops

Mouth feel, airy, coats pleasantly, sweet but not cloying

Flavor big butterscotch, vanilla, plum followed by stone fruit, warm but not boozy, mild deep bittering but no hop flavor, nice balance

Finish, dry, malty, slight hop bitterness, even and good.

Overall, fine example of style, I think chimay yeast is better.  Something dishraggy in the aroma, very slight.

Batch 79 Nut Brown tasting notes

Cellar temp, 68 df

Overcarbed, giant head demands slow pour, billows.  Orange brown, tan head.  Reasonably clear, but too dark to really tell.

Aroma - soapy hops, biscuity malt with a touch of roast

Mouth feel - moderate tooth, sweet and clingy, slight unpleasant sour edge

Flavor - soap, dishraggy, slight biscuit underneath, nuts are the furthest thing from my mind right now, hint of roast perhaps, some sour fruit very little.

Finish - there's the nut, some mild sweetness, mild unpleasant bittering from hops, not cleansing though.

Overall, disaster, this is dramatically worse than the last one, hop aromas are all wrong, malt is edgy in a bad way, yeast runs verrrrry slow, at the end needs more sweetness.  Yuck.  Drink as cold as possible.

Batch 78 Stout tasting notes

Room temp

Pours - black, clear, slight orange around edges, effervescent tan head that stays to the bottom, but no lacing.

Aroma - roasty malt with edgy/chalky earthy hop somewhat forward.  Slight chocolate / sweet coffee.

Mouthfeel - thick toothy with big carb cleansing, cleans up nicely.

Flavor - sweet goodness, nice very dark roast on top, licorice, nice bitterness at end, slight tar.  Good balance, pleasant, filling.  Slight warmth at end.

Finish - dries out at finish, hop tar comes out, but mostly refreshing, sweetness doesn't cling or cloy.

Overall - this is about as good as a stout can be.  Log this recipe, maybe reduce carb a touch, less earth in the hops.  Yeast is a winner for this style, but takes forever to finish.

Also, got notes at Brixies in-house contest, entered as sweet stout, 30.1 avg score, complaints of dry/astringent at end, too dry for sweet stout, looking for more hop character and more body.  Sample was under-carbed.