Vital Statistics:
|
Recipe: 9 lb 2-row pale malt 8 oz crystal 60°L 6 AAU (13g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 60 8 AAU (28g @ 8% AA) Northern Brewer @ 15 8 AAU (28g @ 8% AA) Northern Brewer @ 5 Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 Wyeast 2112 - California Lager | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
General Notes: First lager. First attempt to control fermentation temperature. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tasting Notes: Tasting notes taken 12 November 2010. Dispensed from chilled keg into a Pilsner glass. Appearance: poured three fingers of pillowy ivory head which dissipated down to two in a couple of minutes. Head leaves a pretty attractive lacing. Body is quite clear with just a little hint of haze and a little bit of apparent effervescence. Color is a tawny, rich golden color which is bordering on very light brown. Overall, I really like the look. (4) Smell: aroma is of slightly piney, slightly minty hops atop a somewhat biscuity, dry malt character. Balance is almost perfect, actually, although ideally I'd dial back the biscuit a bit. Still, I quite like it. (4) Taste: biscuity, bready malt with a nicely balanced bitterness and some more of that earthy, resiny hop flavor. Malt flavors are in ascendance, though, and I actually quite like this beer a lot. (4) Mouthfeel: carbonation is pretty good but I have to say it does lack enough body to do much with the carbonation. Body is on the light side of medium-light, whatever that means. I may need to start employing some kind of Cara-Pils malt or something in my recipes. (3.5) Drinkability: this is a damn refreshing beer. It's got enough bitterness to keep the palate on its toes, but it also maintains a good, drinkable balance. Mouthfeel isn't perfect but the fizziness is nice and tingly, contributing to drinkability. Good stuff. (4) Overall score 3.95 (B+). This beer is really rather good and I'm highly impressed with this first attempt at a lager. Fermentation temperature control definitely paid off in the clean flavor of this beer. Improvements here really just need to be made to the body and texture; clarity might make the appearance very good and a hint less biscuit might improve the flavor and aroma. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hops Table
|