Bart Goddard wrote:
> Doug Freyburger <
dfre...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> My latest batch used a grain and malt mix to emulate a Trappist but I
>> substitued an ale yeast to emulate a UK bitter. It came out dark amber,
>> a bit sweet, not much carbonation (I don't target high carbonation so
>> that part is deliberate) and just a bit sweeter than I expected. Folks
>> who tried it at the weekend campout swarmed over the rest of the bottles
>> I brought so clearly they liked it. I like it and still have plenty.
>
> When I make my rare attempts at Trappist ales, I use a couple
> pounds of invert sugar, which I think ferments out more completely
> and avoids the "too sweet" taste. If you wanted the above to be
> less sweet, maybe substitute invert sugar for some of the malt..?
Thanks for the suggestion! I'll make sure to buy invert sugar for
later batches. Sweet masks bitter and I like bitter. At this point I am
working on optimizing details. It's a good place to reach.
On the way to the camp ground there's a German restaurant that I now
stop at each year. I wanted something I had not tried before so I
passed on the Chimay and so on. Asked for something like Sammisch
Mumble from Austria. "You're aware that's $9.95, right?" When I tasted
it yowzers how much alcohol. On the label it said 14%. Yet they
managed to have it come out delicious. Not too many ales with that
much alcohol and most of them have been mediocre. I remember Stingo
from the UK, shrug. And Sam Adams Triple Bock, syrupy yuck.
> BTW, I've found that people will "swarm" over free beer, no matter
> how horrible it is. I don't use "swarming" as a measure any more.
In this case everyone in question brought something of their own so
there was stiff competition. Several bottles of well aged mead, a big
assortment of good import ales and so on. The German stuff with the
purple label was fabulous as was the 3 year old dry mead.
Last year's summer spice beer was a hop-free woodruff bittered batch.
It lasted until a month ago. This year my herbalist friend is growing
some meadow sweet aka mead sweet. It should be harvest ready in a month
with this weather. Another year another hop-free herbal batch.