Woot, but I am pleased to be drinking this one. I had had a few misses with the "golden cloud ale" recipe formulation. I knew if I could get it right, I'd find something really good and refreshing. Success finally came with an American Hefeweizen style.
This beer was brewed as much to develop a yeast culture that I could harvest as it was for the beer itself. I wanted a light, simple beer that would create an excellent yeast starter for the next brews when I washed the happy, unstressed yeast.
Call it a Pale Golden Cloud, or a Wheaten Cluster Beatdown, or whatever you call it. Just be sure to brace yourself for the vigorous (for a hefe!) hopping that provides a fruity and slightly spicy flavor to fill the mouth with vigorous, American hoppiness.
This is a Hefeweizen for the hop head inside you, and a lawnmower light beer for the Torpedo enthusiast! It's almost like a Smash of 2-row and Cluster, but with the added sweetness of wheat and oats to balance the bitter hops.
Next time, I believe the beer would be enhanced by toasting some of the base malt lightly, to add a little more complexity to the light-bodied beer.
OG 1.014
FG 1.012
20 IBU
3 Gallon Batch
2 pounds 4 ounces American 2-Row
2 pounds 4 ounces American Red Wheat
2 ounces Flaked Oats
@60 minutes .25 ounces of Cluster
@10 minutes .5 ounces of Cluster
Dry hop in secondary on .25 ounces of Cluster
Danstar Nottingham
I fermented on an autumnal porch out here in San Antonio, where the temperature was fluctuating between about 50 and about 70. I kept it in the shade, on the cooler side of the porch. I love the idea of letting yeast take on the teroir of the natural temperatures, doing their thing and doing it a little different every time depending on the influence of the natural winds and time. (Naturally, I don't love the idea of letting beer ferment outside, in San Antonio, in the summer, but when the weather is in the right range, I say let godisgreat experience the whims of god!)
4.8% ABW, and 158 calories, it's still going to have a few calories for a light beer, but with this much flavor in their glass I don't think anyone will complain.
The one place this beer is really distinct is in the color and cloudiness in the glass. It's like a cloud has infused a beer, with oats and wheats and yeasts creating this appearance that is definitely not clear, but still oddly appealing. The Hefeweizen style is supposed to be cloudy and foamy. The oats seem to really enhance that, and bring the cloudiness to a whole new level of funkiness. Not everyone will appreciate a beer that is intentionally cloudy like this, but I am not a clear beer snob when i know adding oats to the brew will taste great, and wheat beers seem to benefit from haze from my experiences with commercial beers in Germany and France. Haze is good if the taste is good!
The body is light and refreshing, with sweetness from the oats and wheat to try and balance the huge flavor of delicious Cluster hops. As it ages, I will be curious to see what it tastes like as the hops fade into the back of the flavor.
Next time I crack one open, I'm going to have to snap a picture.
Showing posts with label Golden Promises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Golden Promises. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
Golden Cloud Ale? Maybe. Emerald Forest Ale? Soon. First, the Prologue.
Hello world, and welcome to the new blog journal of my homebrewing adventures. For nearly two years, now, I've dabbled in homebrewing. I made mead, first. I made mistakes, first. I made things I would never make again, though they weren't unpleasant to drink. My motto, as one will learn, is drink (and/or eat) the evidence! I do not like to recreate exactly one or two things over and over again, and I treat recipes and/or kits as a place to start the brewing, not a place to keep the brewing. Experiment. Adjust. Make things different every time. Drink the evidence!
Today, I made a meteoric shift in my homebrewing. It began simply enough: I decided five gallon batches were vastly more beer than I could realistically and safely consume while maintaining employment, and I enjoyed trying out things, experimenting, iterating. Also, my wife and I are not rich. In fact, I'd say we're pretty deeply in debt to the student loan people, quite a lot, and more on that later. Basically, I can't afford to drink the beer I'd like, and I must resort to making my own. Amortizing the cost of equipment over numerous batches, one could easily produce very enjoyable beer, as good as anything expensive in the craft section, for close to the price of the very cheap beer. Particularly, all-grain, brew-in-a-bag brewing requires little equipment, but still allows for the bulk grain buys that lead to cost-effective beer!
I have, today, crossed over.
My voyage to all grain was slow. We've moved a lot these last few years. Every six months, we were somewhere new. I had no desire to buy even small new equipment when I was uncertain if we would have to be piling all we owned into a U-Haul and carrying it across town or across state or anywhere, at all.
We live in a house, now, that is owned, not rented. We can settle a little, and try to prepare the systems of our lives around our space.
In the days and weeks to come, I shall be posting my homebrewing adventures, with photos where possible, and stories of the day, always.
As my wife and I are up to our eyeballs in student loan debt (I have a Master's Degree, and she graduated from a private Art School without parental aid...) I will also be including links to things that will kick back a few dollars into my kitty, via affiliate links. I will also gladly sell you or your brewing-related company ad-space, with reasonable rates that might include free t-shirts or products. At the moment, though, I doubt with great seriousness anyone would sponsor a new blog on the tried and true subject of homebrewing.
I will also include other gastronomic discoveries from time to time, related to beer and beer brewing. For instance, have you ever made bread from your spent grains? (I have!) Have you ever made Vegan Ice Cream flavored with your beer or mead? (I have plans)
What do these things taste like? What do they look like?
Hopefully, soon, the world will find out.
Next entry: Grizzly Grain Mill, Round 1!
Today, I made a meteoric shift in my homebrewing. It began simply enough: I decided five gallon batches were vastly more beer than I could realistically and safely consume while maintaining employment, and I enjoyed trying out things, experimenting, iterating. Also, my wife and I are not rich. In fact, I'd say we're pretty deeply in debt to the student loan people, quite a lot, and more on that later. Basically, I can't afford to drink the beer I'd like, and I must resort to making my own. Amortizing the cost of equipment over numerous batches, one could easily produce very enjoyable beer, as good as anything expensive in the craft section, for close to the price of the very cheap beer. Particularly, all-grain, brew-in-a-bag brewing requires little equipment, but still allows for the bulk grain buys that lead to cost-effective beer!
I have, today, crossed over.
My voyage to all grain was slow. We've moved a lot these last few years. Every six months, we were somewhere new. I had no desire to buy even small new equipment when I was uncertain if we would have to be piling all we owned into a U-Haul and carrying it across town or across state or anywhere, at all.
We live in a house, now, that is owned, not rented. We can settle a little, and try to prepare the systems of our lives around our space.
In the days and weeks to come, I shall be posting my homebrewing adventures, with photos where possible, and stories of the day, always.
As my wife and I are up to our eyeballs in student loan debt (I have a Master's Degree, and she graduated from a private Art School without parental aid...) I will also be including links to things that will kick back a few dollars into my kitty, via affiliate links. I will also gladly sell you or your brewing-related company ad-space, with reasonable rates that might include free t-shirts or products. At the moment, though, I doubt with great seriousness anyone would sponsor a new blog on the tried and true subject of homebrewing.
I will also include other gastronomic discoveries from time to time, related to beer and beer brewing. For instance, have you ever made bread from your spent grains? (I have!) Have you ever made Vegan Ice Cream flavored with your beer or mead? (I have plans)
What do these things taste like? What do they look like?
Hopefully, soon, the world will find out.
Next entry: Grizzly Grain Mill, Round 1!
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