The only podcast I listen to.

Don't worry you won't get any advice here. This is no longer a beer drinking thread, its a homebrewing thread now

Sam Smith Imperial Stout is kinda the reference standard awesome one to try.

Most of their beers are good

Also try Fullers ESB.

I'll dl and listen to that one soon. I actually recently bought the iphone app of the BN and have been listening. It seems pretty informative but whoever the douche is that burps 100x a show really puts me on life tilt. Rawr!

Should we move the homebrewing discussion to a new thread? I think it's come up a few times in the past and it seems people thought it could remain here.

Wraths - you were correct, I did find some sources (including Palmer) that do verify excess formation of diacetyl as another possible result of pitching too warm.

I think not getting advice on that question would be more a function of the people who follow this thread that live in Britain are probably not many. I'm always happy to talk about commercial beers if I know what I am talking about at least .

Jbrochu - I am still in the process of trying to hunt down an economical fermentation chamber build. The Red Bull cooler sold already and now I am hunting around for a new one.

For reference this is what I as going to do:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/red-...erator-232130/

Jbrochu - just got your beers. Got some friends coming over tonight, gonna do a drinking and reviewing session when they get here. Thanks a lot again!

A- golden caramel color, little head

S- not much on smell tbh, light malt aroma, very light grassy hop nose

T- crisp finish, no alc bite, a bit grassy, not the hop bite I was expecting when i saw the ingredients, very smooth American pale.. def can be a session beer

M- the body is very very smooth, this ale is like butter.. leaves a sweet hoppy aftertaste, very pleasant overall mouthfeel

O- I loved it, a very nice american ipa, not as sharp as SN or Lagunitas offerings but, an excellent session hop beer that isn't a "hop bomb" or a beer to accompany some good Indian or Mexican food 4 of 5 stars or an A-/B+

The only thing holding this from 5 stars is the hop attack but, thats due to personal pref. I love hop bombish IPA's.. but, seriously impressed with the smoothness and drinkability of it. Not harsh or acidic at all.. highly recommend, would buy.

I made one in EDF because I didn't know it was discussed in here, feel free to merge and put wherever it fits.

Kevroc, thanks for the review.

I popped a bottle tonight too and thought the aroma was less pronounced than when served directly from the keg. The head was also a nice creamy 2 to 3 finger head when poured from the keg, but I can see in your photo and by your comments that the head somehow suffered from being bottled.

I'll have to evaluate my bottling technique and see if I can improve on my process. I used a Blickman Beer Gun to bottle this directly from the keg.

Maybe next batch I'll take some of the first wort hops and use them as a 60 minute addition, which should give it a bit more "bite" while still being relatively smooth. I could also try more sulfate in my water which should bring out the hops more.

I could add another ounce of dry hop for the aroma.

This recipe is definetely intended to be a hop bomb so I'll await Wraths review and then make some tweaks for the next batch.

I'll send a couple more bottles when the next batch is ready but we maybe should switch to PM or email so as not too irritate people itt.

Thanks again for taking the time to give a thorough review.

If you get it to attenuate a little more not only the increased dryness will accentuate the hops, but also the thinning of the body a bit.

Get some pacman for the next batch, thatll surely attenuate plenty. I just used it on a 2 Hearted clone, dry hopping i a corny right now 1.010 FG possibly too dry. jbrochu I have 6 mason jars of washed Pacman in my fridge right now if youre interested I could ship you some...

I gotta get a beer gun soon, Id' love to trade some brews with people itt. We tried to do it once but it kind of fizzled out.

I actually think it's attenuated quite well. Starting gravity was 1.063 (targeted 1.067 but missed by little) and it finished at 1.012 using Safale US-05. It's got 5% crystal 30L and 3% dextrine so shouldn't be a ton of unfermentables either. The hop bursting seems to give it a sense of a fuller body and a creamyness so the dextrine could possibly be eliminated.

I would definetely try the Pacman yeast. Thanks for the offer. It will be about 6 to 8 weeks before I have any brews to swap but I'll have a kolsch and either an APA or a rye pale (brewing tomorrow haven't decided which) at that point.

Thanks again jbrochu. I only had 2 other friends try it after I told them how I received it. My future mother in law kept telling everyone that we were gonna die etc...Anyhow, here is my review.

A - Murky, hazy, orange. Good 2 finger head that lingers for quite the while.

S - Really good hop aroma here. Smells very flora-y and fruity.

T - Not as bitter as I was expecting. Floral hops are definitely present here and their sweetness with the malt's sweetness is just a bit too much for me. I get a weird aftertaste every couple sips and it's not desirable but I can't figure it out.

M - Smooth and creamy. Carbonation was very well done.

D - A bit too sweet for me to drink a ton of. But overall a good beer.

look: 3 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

GRADE: B

Been out of town so I couldn't comment earlier, but I really have to emphasize this. I was pitching most of my beers at 75-80F and bringing them down to temp for the longest time because I didn't know any better. Certain yeast strains (especially Nottingham...which is weird bc it's generally so neutral) would create all kinds of pear/apple flavors that weren't desirable in the style.

The same thing happened w/ a barleywine I pitched onto a cake too warm. It was a hot alcohol/fusel bomb and even after almost 2 years conditioning, we ended up having to dump it.

Not saying your beer won't be ok Wraths (I mean beer is usually pretty forgiving), but do absolutely whatever you can to keep pitch temps at (or below as Jbroch mentioned) fermentation temp.

Edit: BTW Wraths I just got your PM. I'll try answer back within the next day or two.

Thanks for the review Wraths.

I've got a good idea now with several reviews of how I want to tweak the next batch.

- Swap the 1/2 pound dextrine with 1/2 pound wheat (Should reduce the sweetness in the finish but retain the head)
- Swap some of the FWH for a 60 minute addition or increase the FWH's a bit
- Try either Pacman or Chico yeast (Chico is liquid version of US-05 but many people say they prefer it to 05)


I mashed this at about 150-152 and don't really want to go any lower than that and risk thinning the body too much. I'm also going to make sure my thermometer is still accurate at mash temps and double check my hydrometer.

Few photos from brew day @ St Somewhere yesterday...

The unique pump system being used to recirculate wort before sparging:


First hop addition of 2.5lbs each, EKG & Strisselspalt:


Not-so-secret Saison Athene herb (fresh rosemary) and spice (ground black pepper) additions:


I also was lucky enough to be the first to sample his newest offering, "Caitlin," which is his most drinkable yet. It actually is very close to a collaboration beer we made in January of 2010 for the anniversary of the place I was managing back then, but this is definitely better. Very light in color and body along with a little hop kick, courtesy of Citra hops - pretty unusual to find in a Saison but the whole thing is very balanced. I joked with him all day saying, "St. Somewhere session beer - what's next, Imperial IPA?"

All those pictures are awesome for different reasons. I haven't tried a St. Somewhere beer yet but my local store has a lot of them. Which one should I try first?

I prefer the Lectio Divina, hybrid Abbey Dubbel/Saison, but the Saison Athene has been growing on me, especially since it was released on draft this Spring. Honestly, I haven't given the Pays du Soleil a very fair shake since trying it when it was first released - maybe Spring 2010? I should try it again soon.

Bob has a batch of Saison Athene that didn't come out quite right. I actually prefer it to the "regular" version, but it's definitely different, which was the reason he decided not to sell it. That's fine - I leave with a couple of bottles every time I'm there, so win-win, ya know?

The new Caitlin (draft-only) probably won't make it too far out of JJ Taylor's territory, at least not this batch. Where do you live again?

I'm in the Cocoa Beach or Orlando area depending on the time of the year (school).

O-town is definitely not JJ territory. Florida Micro Beverage might sell St. Somewhere your way. Ask your local store who they get it from and I'll let you know if it's ever coming your way.

I'm brewing 1bbl of American Pale Ale and .5bbl of a Belgian Blonde at my house tomorrow. Gonna be quite a day.

I'm pretty sure I've seen their bottles (hard to mistake them )at my local craft beer store. It's actually a pretty cool store. http://sunseedfoodcoop.com/ You become a member for 50$ year/volunteer 4hrs/month and receive a 30% discount on all items. It's also awesome because they have a large selection of hard to find beers. On top of that they have a ton of organic veggies/fruits which are fabulous.

Pics of your rig/brewday tomorrow would be cool.

Looking forward to tonight..



Yet to try that Stone offering but, the green flash west coast IPA is

We brewed a rye saison with sorachi ace, and couldn't get any the next batch, so I decided to sub in some citra, and it was pretty good.

I'm going out to SF next week and I'm definitely going to try to round up some Pliny to bring back, along with green flash and... any other suggestions? I may take a drive up to Russian River one day and just hang out for a while, maybe see if any of the brewers are around and not too busy to show me around.