Tonight, a coworker of mine who is very new to the hobby, offered me two bottles of his inaugural brew: Brewer's Best Irish Stout. This is where I think everyone cuts their teeth. Get a few kits under your belt, then go bonkers. (At least, that's what I did.)
He expressed concern that his brew was under carbonated. When I got home, I immediately set forth to open a bottle that was the PERFECT temperature--just about 55 degrees.
Fzzt! Sounded about right to me.
The stout poured a thin black into my glass, and built a very fast tan head that quickly dissipated (see my previous post for similar conditions). I held it to the light and could clearly see through the beer--it wasn't easy but it was possible. So, at that point I'd call it a porter. It was just not opaque enough. I read the instructions and have some issues with their description, calling it deep brown. It should be black. Even the BJCP guidelines say "jet black (to deep brown)". Seems like BB is missing one whole part of the spectrum...oh well.
(I did look at the bottle and in the bottle afterward--I was shocked to see that there was only a trace amount of yeast on the bottom of this bottle. Somewhere in his process he was able to either get this yeast to drop out, and not transfer it between fermenters, or has some voodoo-like filtration skills.)
The aroma seemed spot-on: heavy coffee/roasted notes. Not any hops presence, and no detectable grains (boo). I sniffed and sniffed and sniffed. There was something else going on in here. And I can't pin point it, yet. When I open the other bottle, I'll post a comment to this one to identify what it was I smelled.
Tasting the beer was fun, because it's someone who is new to the hobby, eager to learn and willing to try their hand at being a janitor. I found the flavor to be really thin and found a note of fusel alcohol--probably from fermenting in the mid to high 70's (F).
I'm going to pass judgement on this beer, given it a first try, and these kits aren't exact. This stage of the game is familiarizing yourself with the concept of brewing. Getting your equipment together. Finding kits that interest you. Then dialing it in.
The first thing I learned about brewing with a kit is to not trust the yeast that comes with the kit, as you really don't know the age of the packet; I would go with a vial of While Labs or pack of Wyeast instead.
When I post tomorrow's comment, perhaps I will have enough information to give some additional suggestions.
Until then, dial it in!
2 comments:
Nick, I enjoyed reading this post as I too imbibed the only-two-brews-behind-me beginner's beer. It was helpful to read your description of the smells and flavors to put words to them. Unfortunately I am stuffy due to a day of cleaning but was able to come to some of the same conclusions you did. I feel that this is quite different from how my version of the same kit turned out, of which there is one remaining bottle of. Also noticed the lack of sediment as I cleaned the bottle!
I do not have the highly tuned taste buds you do but I can say that I enjoyed this beer, which is more than I can say about my IPA.
Second round: stunningly devoid of any flavor. I'm shocked, really; the pour was the same, the aroma was lacking and the bottle, again, had no yeast present- but still fizzed when I opened it!
I'm going to need to talk with him tomorrow, and perhaps try brewing this kit myself.
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