I recently had a bottle of brew #2, ostensibly my "Christmas Ale." It's a decent ale, but needs to sit in the bottles for a bit longer, to smooth out the taste a bit. But here's the thing: it's not very Christmasy. The spices (which were wrong to begin with) didn't do a whole lot for the brew, and it's still a bit more hoppy than I'd like, but I'm guessing that I can figure that out eventually.
The last bottle of the Irish Red got taken over to a friend's house yesterday, although I have two large bottles of it still in the fridge. Now here's the thing, and perhaps other brewers can help me out with this: The most recent bottle of it I had was slightly more fizzy, and significantly smoother than any of the others I had. It almost tasted like a different beer. It was in a thinner bottle, and had been sitting there longer than any others I had drunk, but not that much longer. My thought is A) more oxygen had gotten into this bottle than usual, therefore mellowing it a bit more, B) the bottle was thinner than usual, and therefore aged differently than bottles with more depth to them, C) I had a bottle of the sorta-Christmas-ale that hadn't been marked, and I just didn't realize it. The more I think about it, the more I think it's C, but does anybody more knowledgeable in brewing have any insights into the other possibilities?
Also, I tend to prefer less bitter and more mellow or smooth beers. So far, I've made somewhat bitter beers, that taste a little harsh. Any input on what I might be doing wrong?
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3 comments:
In general, what I would suggest is joining a brewing forum like the Home Brew Digest (HBD), AHA tech talk, BathTubBrewers, and so on. Those are the best places to ask questions.
To try and answer your questions, why the beer was so much different is hard to say. Beer will change over time and the environment that they are stored. I'm not sure that the actual bottle thickness will make much of a difference unless it was exposed to light.
The second question about brewing less bitter, less harsh, more smooth beer has a few possible solutions.
First, bitterness has to do with hops. The bittering potential of a hop is measured in Alpha Acids, which should be printed on the hop packet. The lower the alpha acids, the less bittering power.
Also, the hop schedule will make a difference. The early hop additions to the boil will isomerize more of the alpha acids, adding more bitterness.
I also do not care for American hops, like Cacade hops. To me, they are quite harsh and citrusy. I prefer European noble hops.
Smoothness is something different entirely. A beer can be bitter and still smooth: Bohemian pilsners, for example. When I think smooth, I think lagers. To me, smoothness means less fruity esters.
Here's what I'm thinking: The mellow Irish Red Ale actually was an unmarked Christmas Ale. The harsh-ish Christmas ale was actually an accidentally marked Irish Red Ale. That's my theory, and I'm going to stick with it.
I'm thinking I might have had the bittering hops in the boil too long for the first one. It's a guess, but I'll say it's right because it's my beer.
But yeah, I thought about posting on AHA tech talk, and I should join HBD.
Another possibility for unpleasant bitterness is the sulfate levels in your water. If the sulfate is too high in your local water supply, it can make hop bitterness seem astringent. The sulfate levels would have to be over 400 ppm for this to happen though.
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