brew

A Solo Cop would be the proper glassware

The bland yellow water style! It’s a tiny little beer – perhaps the smallest we’ve made. The grains were just under 6# of American two row malt and 1.5# of flaked rice – making this the St. Louis variation as opposed to the Milwaukee variety. As a clean style it needed the requisite longer, lower temperature mash but only called for a 60 minute boil. The only hop addition was 0.60 oz of Hallertau at 60. Our mash was too efficient and came in at 1.046 OG. American Lager (WLP 840) was the yeast of choice.

I’m afraid this is going to taste like nothing; I’m also worried that we screwed up and it won’t taste like nothing. There is a fairly substantial grain aroma that is reasonably reminiscent of macro lagers. The flavor is pretty damn mild. Sweetness is mostly absent and there’s no trace of hops. The biggest flavor might be acidity – it tasted carbonated. The beer had a slight buttery note directly out of the fermenter but that seems to have cleared up nicely. I don’t know if rice contributes much flavor but something about the finish does remind me of Bud Light. The color is great and it’s perfectly clear. It’s a beer that would fit in just fine at a keg party, but taken in moderation the operative word is boring.

Hops Britannia

Styles with heavy hops are proving to be few and far between, so I was looking forward to this one. This recipe used 1.5 oz of Northdown hops at 60 minutes as well as both classic English hops: 1.5 oz of Fuggles at 10 minutes and 1.5 oz of East Kent Goldings at flame out. The grain bill included a base of 9.5# of Maris Otter, 9 oz each of wheat malt, biscuit malt, and caramel 40, plus 6 oz of caramel 120. A standard mash yielded a starting gravity of 1.050. We used London Ale Yeast (WLP 013) for fermentation.

This one pours a beautiful orange color. It has an earthy aroma rather than the bright citrus of many well-hopped beers. The flavor is nicely balanced with equal amounts of sweet and bitter. The bitterness is pure for lack of a better term. It begins sharp and assertive then fades into a dry finish. There aren’t a lot of extraneous descriptors of fruits or flowers to go with this; it’s simply bitter – but not in a bad way. The lack of overpowering hops means the malt can actually come through rather than being completely buried. I still prefer a big, bold American style IPA but the English approach has serious merit, too. The balance makes for an altogether different experience.

Cloudy with a chance of rye

This seemed like a style with a choice to make; I expect the rye and non-rye interpretations of the style could be distinctly different. We chose the rye version. Ours used 3# of wheat malt and 2.5# of rye malt for style characteristics and just under 5# of American two row to fill out the grain bill. Hopping was mild: 1 oz of Willamette at 60 minutes and 0.3 oz each of Willamette and Centennial at flame out. The recipe called for a surprisingly standard mash schedule without a protein rest or any modifications to deal with the large quantities of non-barley malt. A 1.044 OG was under target but acceptable. WLP’s American Hefe (#320) was the yeast of choice.

The color is a nice cloudy yellow and the aroma is very mild. I can smell more grain than spicy or yeasty notes. The flavors don’t quite match the nose. The yeast comes through almost completely as banana; I don’t get any clove spice at all. The rye is definitely present but not in a way that I typically think of it. The word I keep coming back to is rounder in comparison to the sharp, spicy flavor in the typical rye IPA. I think it’s the combination of rye and large amounts of wheat. Hops contribute little to nothing. If I was doing this one again I’d want more classic, citrusy American hops. German wheat beers beat the pants off this in yeast flavors; I’d prefer a differently flavorful American version instead of just a milder version.

A glass of maize

Now here’s the wheelhouse. Cream Ale has been a summer homebrew staple for us. The glass gives off an aggressive aroma without a hint of hops in the picture. This is all about the grain. Hops are equally relegated to the background in flavor. It’s more grainy than malty and the presence of corn is quite prominent in the sweetness. The bright yellow is just the shade I’d expect with excellent clarity. The slight sweet taste is the main notable taste and otherwise it’s either very clean or somewhat bland depending on your perspective. For what it’s supposed to be I’d go with nice and refreshing.

Our cream ale used an equal split of pilsner and American two row: 3.75# each. Three quarters of a pound of flaked corn added character without any specialty malts. We also added 9 oz of dextrose to the boil to shoot for a very dry finish. Both hops additions were Liberty; one ounce at 60 minutes and another half ounce a minute before flame out. We used the typical mild, clean beer approach with a longer, cooler mash and 90 minute boil. Starting gravity came in under target but within style at 1.044. We fermented with trusty WLP 001 yeast and finished as planned at a very dry 1.004 gravity.