ready to learn and listen!

[01steve]

hello home brewers!

my name is steve. i've made 2 home brews so far. the first was in a mr. beer kit and ended up tasting like an orangeish miller/champagne-... i wanted to do better!

my girlfriend had bought me a true brew system along w/ a kit for an irish red ale (extract). we took a class @ southern brewing in tampa for beginers brewing. i stared brewing as soon as we got back. i oaked it in the secondary for 2 days untill i got a very balanced taste. unfortunately, i did not "kick off" the priming sugar w/ 3/4cup of hot water before bottling. so of my 38 bottles, only 1 had carbonated (nearly exploded). lesson learned and moving on.

my next batch is an extract-recipe. it's a chocolate cherry stout. i'm toying w/ the idea of splitting the batch in half and doing 2.5gal choco-cherry and the other a choco-chilli stout.

my tastes in beer typicly range from pale ales to stouts-... so far i've yet to have a heffewiezen or a wheat that i enjoy. still willing to try but i usually exhaust all of my other options first.

i hope to learn from all of you!
-steve

 

[Andrew5329]

You might like Shocktop, it's a commercial Hefeweizen with a lot of orange used during the brewing, it's pretty good IMO.

 

[01steve]

thanks! but i've tried it and while it is better than some, it's still not something i'd get a second pint of.

after doing some sifting through some of the newer posts i'm already learning little tips and tricks. i see myself checking this forum waaaayyyy more frequently than what should be considered healthy.

 

[kapbrew13]

thanks! but i've tried it and while it is better than some, it's still not something i'd get a second pint of.

after doing some sifting through some of the newer posts i'm already learning little tips and tricks. i see myself checking this forum waaaayyyy more frequently than what should be considered healthy.

No such thing. Check it every 5 minutes or you may miss something.

The choco cherry stout, I would just make it as is first. If it comes out good, split the next batch and research how chilis might affect the carbonation.

And welcome!!

 

[01steve]

well i guess i threw my listening skills out the window-...

i tried both beers last night. while they were both good, neither was as good as i wanted it to be-... the choco cherry stout lacked chocolate flavor (had the aroma) and the cherry was hardly there. the choco chilli beer again lacked choco flavor but did have a bit of kick from the red chilli peppers. 3 out of 4 people perferred the cherry over the chilli-... the only person who liked the chilli more is the person the beer was meant to please-... that person being me. i'm going to try another bottle of each later in the week to see if the flavors had enhanced over time.

i think next time i'll incorperate bakers choclate into the primary-... and i'd also like to play around more w/ the peppers.

i'm pretty happy w/ it overall, and very happy that it carbonated properly!

 

[Andrew5329]

You might benefit from going to a beer tasting event where you can sample dozens of beers (potentially all within the same general style).
I went to the ACBF in Boston last weekend and even though I only got a chance to sample about 65 of the 550 beers there, I did get a chance to talk to about 20 different brewers about their beer, and what they did to get a particular profile.
(they're especially great because they help you make the connection of what an ingredient will taste like this after X weeks in a fermenter, all without you having to do blind trial/error)

I have enough new flavor profiles that I tasted this weekend that I want to brew with, that I'm going to be busy for at least a year or two lol.

 

[NineMilBill]

so far i've yet to have a heffewiezen or a wheat that i enjoy

If you're looking for a hefeweizen - I highly suggest Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier. It's pretty much the standard for hef's - and amazingly enough can be found practically anywhere.