Well, it has been a while since I brewed last (since November 2014...). I finally made time this past weekend to do a brew-day and boy was it fun! I've been unhappy with a lot of the beers that I've been making ever since we moved to our current house. The flavor was off and I was trying to dig into why. Well, the first thing that a good brewing friend of mine suggested was that the water was off. This brew was all about testing to see if this is the problem.
For the brew, my recipe was:
15 lbs of 2 row
2 lbs of caramunich II
Hops were:
2 oz of Lemon Drop (4.4 AA) at first wort
2 oz of Lemon Drop (4.4 AA) for last 2 minutes
2 oz of Lemon Drop (4.4 AA) at flame out
To change the water of the brew I've done two things. The first is a major thing. We replaced our water softer. The previous one had been built in 1989 (26 years ago). The second thing that I did was use a few Camden tablets to remove any chlorine. The day went well and the tasting of the beer was eye opening! There was just a clean taste of beer. No metallic twinge, no stale flavor.
I'm hoping that after the ferment the beer tastes as good on tap. If it does, I know exactly how to do brew days going forward! Best of brewing!
Charles
For the brew, my recipe was:
15 lbs of 2 row
2 lbs of caramunich II
Hops were:
2 oz of Lemon Drop (4.4 AA) at first wort
2 oz of Lemon Drop (4.4 AA) for last 2 minutes
2 oz of Lemon Drop (4.4 AA) at flame out
To change the water of the brew I've done two things. The first is a major thing. We replaced our water softer. The previous one had been built in 1989 (26 years ago). The second thing that I did was use a few Camden tablets to remove any chlorine. The day went well and the tasting of the beer was eye opening! There was just a clean taste of beer. No metallic twinge, no stale flavor.
I'm hoping that after the ferment the beer tastes as good on tap. If it does, I know exactly how to do brew days going forward! Best of brewing!
Charles