Category: Big Batch Brewing

What’s that Flavor?! Bottle-Conditioned vs Force-Carbonated Part 2

So, I outlined the experiment I am doing on carbonation flavors here.

The Brew Day

Menomonie Homebrewer's Big BrewSo, May 5th rolled around and the Big Brew for the Menomonie Homebrewers’ Club happened. Great fun was had, much beer was consumed and we won’t speak of the atrocities perpetrated on some grilled hot dogs which were still consumed.

Andy got his batch of Janet’s Brown Ale going as the first brew of the day while a local reporter was talking to us. We were still in the process of unloading some stuff and getting set up. No beer had been consumed by this point, so I think we were coherent. We may not have made sense, with all our talk of mashing, sparging, fermenting, carbonating, blah blah blah.

You can insert standard homebrew geek enthusiasm, excitement and babbling here.

Wrapping up in the rain
Never let a little rain ruin your brew day!

After Andy got his batch wrapped up, I realized I better get a fire going under my kettle. Just before reaching a boil, rain started falling. So we set up another burner under the shelter and spent the next hour watching my wort boil.

We got everything into the fermenter without incident, but by the time we got everything loaded we were soaked. The only remedy was visiting Das Bierhaus to warm up. Their Alt Bier was delicious.

Check back for our next installment!

 

What’s that Flavor?! Bottle-Conditioned vs Force-Carbonated Part 1

So, some time last year, the president of the Menomonie Homebrewers’ club, Andy Gibson, was talking to a relatively new brewer. They were discussing a common flavor in this brewer’s beers. Over the course of the conversation, Andy made the commend he wished he could find someone who brews with extract but kegs their beer. He has always wondered if “yeast bite” might be a flavor some people find  objectionable, and if what some people think is extract twang is actually just yeast flavors.

This question has been rattling around inside my skull ever since. I brewed a few batches over the winter, but not as much as I’d like.

When our club starting planning for the 2012 Big Brew, I approached Andy about a collaboration project. He has a kegging system and I bottle-condition my beer. I figured we could tackle this question in a reasonably scientific way.

  1. We each brew 5 gallons of the same recipe.
  2. We ferment both batches together in one of my 15-gallon fermenters.
  3. We keg 5 gallons and bottle the rest on the same day.

Andy liked the idea, so we settled on the recipe for Janet’s Brown Ale from Brewing Classic Styles.

Stay tuned for updates!