And the tasting....

Well, I know it has been some time since I last blogged.  I actually haven't been sure how to describe the beer.  Overall it came out very drinkable, so that is good.  I did have several people say they liked it and thought it was really good.  Now here's the but, but I thought it was missing something.

I liked it, but really thought it was missing something.  The problem is I can't put my finger on what it is that it is missing.  So the problem begins as to what to change/tweak.  One person made a very good suggestion, that is to send 3 bottles into a beer contest to get feedback.  That is a good idea, but it all was enjoyed! :-)

So now comes the fun part.  When to try it again, and do I brew it the same or tweak it.  My gut tells me to tweak it, so I most likely will.  I just don't know what I will do though, so for now I will just have to think about what to do.

In the mean time, I did enhance my beer options recently.  I added a fridge in the garage to start lagering.  I have wanted to lager for sometime, so now is the time.  Tomorrow is the first brew, well sort of, that I will lager.

Squirrel!

To backup a few, I had a great big plan to brew 2 beers in one day on the 4th of July.  The first was my first lager then I was going to brew a Serra Nevada Pale Ale.  It sounded good and I'd had some recently. So I started to brew.  It was really hot, but a rain shower came through and it cooled things off a bit.  So it made the brewing go much better.

As I was brewing, everything was going so well, I cooled down the boil and was pouring into the bucket when, I looked in the brew kettle and saw the thermometer in pieces.  I was so pissed!  So I didn't know what to do, I I texted a friend of mine and tried his dad.  Both have more knowledge them on this and just thought they could help.  But really what was there to help with. I was not patient and just dumped the brew.

I spoke to my friend's dad and he said I should have been ok if I kept it, but it wasn't the end of the world, and he was right, I was just pissed I lost the brew.  On top of that I couldn't brew again because I didn't have a thermometer to use.  The only good thing in it all was that I did not use the yeast, so I was able to just buy another kit and use the same yeast.  Oh and yea a new thermometer too.

I did find out that the thermometer did have lead in the bottom of it, so in reality it was best to dump the brew.  For now I have a thermometer that clips to the side and is completely metal, it looks like a meat thermometer but longer.  That will do for now.  I will as some point get one of those gun/IR thermometers so i can get a very accurate reading without any mess.  But that is for the future.

So back to the lagering.  So tomorrow I get to lager and hopefully have success with it.  It does take some time, but I really think it will be worth it.  My goal is to always have a lager going and do ales when I can.  We'll see how it goes, but that is the plan.

So for now, sit back, enjoy a beer or 2.