Very nice!
Ocean Bomb Yogurt Flavoured Drink
Martini
This is really damn good gin (The West Winds Sabre). Really nice, aromatic, big juniper, citrus peel, botanical, smooth yet dry drinking with bright flavours. Dolin is classic dry white vermouth, very fruity, but not extremely dry.
The orange bitters are OK, a little less depth than Angostura, but it added a nice dimension.
All combined, for a martini, this would have worked better with a less characterful gin, or a dryer simpler vermouth.
Melon flavoured drinks
Not so great. Not bad, but a bit much.
First melon patterned one was nice and like a Korean non-alcoholic cider. The bigger one was very melon, like rind and all in smell and taste, and a bit too much.
Brewing a beer with Kveik Part 2
OK, Bottled this on 26th and couldn’t wait to give it a go. Its not fully carbed bu…its very very damn good.
Big nice as hell head on pouring, it has that hop character I wanted, dank but crisp(?) sharp, fast then kinda hangs around. It has the Landlord hop character i like with a little bit more funk. Its good.
The nose is very dark rye, red wine. Some generic Belgian smells (fruits) and some dank.
There is an orange rind thing going on. even a roasted orange rind(???) if thats a thing. (Kveik, Nelson?)
The malt character is very nice, its balancing what I imagine could be too much hops, but theres a sweetness that pops up between the first sip bitterness and the outgoing on the tongue, its maybe the Shepherds malt?
The hops are explained above but
There is a “cola” taste which Shepherds supposedly does and it may be whats accentuating other flavours earlier – orange for one. I imagine this would suck with more carbonation.
As I said its probably not fully carbed but for what Im tasting now It doesnt need much more.
Brewing a beer with Kveik
Decided due to weather, and due to wanting to use this particular yeast, and wanting to make a beer, I would make a beer with Kveik yeast (WLP4045 Sigmunds Voss Kveik)
Rather than the usual beer people seem to be making with Kveik, usually lighter flavoured stuff to let the yeast character shine, I thought I would make a UK Best Bitter, a Timothy Taylor Landlord type beer, and use this yeast because its summer and it works well at high temps. Any Kveik yeast characteristics will be an interesting result.
Above is the recipe. 10lt beer, 30minute boil. It came out a bit low on bittering hops, but we shall see how that comes out. Timothy Taylor Landlord is usually pure Golden Promise, I thought I would try some Shepherds Delight malt for character, plus it sounded interesting (and the recipe started as a more pure Landlord clone with Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale yeast).
Its about 1.035-ish, so Its going to be maybe 3.0% – 3.5% depending how the yeast goes.
19/1/20 – Its fermenting now, Was going very strong a few hours after pitching.
Will post again probably on the weekend when its done fermenting.
EDIT: I checked it 21/1/20 and it was about 1.005.
EDIT: I checked it again 23/1/20 and it was about 1.005-ish, I moved it to secondary to get off the excess trub and also dropped in 5g each of Cluster and Styrian. Will probably bottle on 26th.
Big Ass SCOBY
Nise!
Kvass Part 1 & 2 [Updated]
Making some Kvass.
Making kvass, based on a few recipes online and in this book
First recipe was about 3 litres, it was a loaf of rye bread and a small (half?) loaf of pumpernickle that a I dried/toasted, about a cup of sugar and some bread yeast and a touch of S04 dregs i had a round. I added some hops as dry-hopping but not enough as it didnt do anything for flavour or aroma and then I carbonated it in a mini keg.
Its…ok? Even though its cold it tastes like a warm beer, if that makes sense? Has a certain viscocity to it, but a nice tartness as well. I think hops would really help. Looks pretty good, though.
Kvass 2.0…. Bigger, about 9 litres, using a loaf of toasted light rye, a loaf of toasted sourbough, a small loaf of toasted pumpernickle and a loaf of toasted dark rye bread.
After straining the liquid off I only had about 4 litres and it wasnt very dark or flavourful. I then re-baked/dried/toasted the left over bread mush in batches for extra colour and flavour and re-soaked this to make up the difference in liquid. I also added 2 tbspn of coffee grounds and 1 tbspn of cocoa to add a bit more depth,
Also added a few grams of El Dorado and Cluster hops that i boiled for 15 minutes in 1litre of water that was added to the fermenter. 500g of raw sugar boiled down to a dark amber colour was also added along with a slug of molasses and a slug of maple syrup to add some depth,
Using Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes yeast this time.
its murky as hell right now as I re-used the bread-mush, and didnt filter any of it. Hopefully a lot will drop out and the floculating yeast may help. Ill probably cold crash it and add some gelatine to clarify before final bottling,
Update – NOPE! – About a week or so later I had kegged some and bottled some. I chilled it down, The bottles had great carb and what came from the keg did to…It was….not good. It had a very strange charcater to it that made me concerned it was off (it wasnt as I didnt get sick from drinking some). I believe the Belgian yeast had set off some bizarre notes during fermentation and it was very off-putting.
Im not the biggest fan of the breaddy character of kvass, so trying a different yeast and adding hops to offset this some how sounded like a good idea, but maybe simplicity is the key here.
I think i’ll try again another time but mayeb add some fruit juice or some such, and use a very neutral yeast.
Yerba Mate
I found out there is a Kakulas near me, after however long not even knowing for some reason. Its actually pretty good, lot of interesting stock.
One thing it did have that Im not sure I have ever seen before is Yerba Mate, and its in big 1kg bags.
Yerba Mate @ Wikipedia
Its pretty good, tastes like a green tea, a bit more grassy, herbal and can be quite bitter if brewed too hot. Brewed colder it has more depth of flavour and even and interesting mouthfeel.
Caffeine levels seem to be similar to strong green tea, though a lot more mate is used per brewing so it can be quite strong.
