Wed Aug 09, 2006 6:33 am
Brew Bear sent me some beers he thought might have been infected. Well, they weren't. From what I could tell, given the limited info I have, they tasted rough, as in too much brown malt, or just not aged enough yet. Had a decent foam stand and nice clear dark brown color. Aroma was of biscuits, malt, and hops, with a slight diacetyl note. Flavor reminded me of Atkins diet whole wheat bran muffins. Finish was dry and sharp, with a distinct hop bitterness at the end. Not bad, just a little rough around the edges. Then, as a complete gentleman and dedicated homebrewer, he sent me another care package. While not as rough as the first ones, these definitely had the early tones of the premature brown malt taste. While I think they were good beers (nice fine carbonation, good aroma, nice color, and better foam stand), they would improve over time, and hopefully make for a nice tasty brown ale. At first I thought it might have been the hops touching the yeast, or a physical problem with the mash (like that found in too hot a sparge water, or over sparging), but now I'm convinced that it's only real problem is that it needed some time to mellow out. Brown malt seems to do that for some odd reason, which is why I like to use it in Brown Porter's, and replace it with Black malt in Robust and Baltic Porter. At any rate, thanks BrewBear for the little green bottle of Bohemian liquid love as well!
Prost!
Michel
