Homebrew Review First Impressions: Wagon Brewing Co Fresh Hop Pale Ale Youtube
Appearance: Opens with a satisfying "hssst", the beer pours a burn orange/copper colour with yellow highlights at the edges of the glass. Pure white head with tight bubble. Not much of head retention but keeps a nice small cap. The beer does have a bit of chill haze/hop haze which is understanable with the amount of hops assed to the beer.
Aroma: Nose is more nelson centric at first, with the grape/dank/overripe melon aromas. As the beer warms up you start picking up the sweet hop characteristics from the Motueka, pineapple/passion fruit/tropical fruit mix. The nose is more hop dominate, with a good malt back bone of caramel/bready tones. As the beer warms up a diacetyl note becomes more apparent, which was first a caramel aroma, but has now turned into a more butterscotch. Even so, the hops work quite well with the diacetyl.
Mouthfeel: mouth feel is where the beer is at its weakest for me. The body of the beer is a bit light, when a bit of chewiness would have been nice to compliment the hops. The carbonation is pretty nice, with a slight effervescence on the palate with keep the fruity hop characters dancing on the palate. The beer has a nice dry finish which cleans the plate and gets it ready for the next hop assault.
Flavour: Smooth upfront bitterness which quickly eases into a caramel/bread malt back bone. The Motueka hops come more out on the palate, with the passion fruit/tropical fruit mix keeping the taste buds tingling. I do pick up a bit of diacetyl, which comes across as butterscotch/caramel. A very tasty beer with the hops keeping you guess on what fruits you are picking up. The dry finish keeps the palate wanting more and cleaning it for the next sip.
Overall: I like this beer, its fresh and fruity, the hops keep you guess on what fruit flavours you can pick out. The beer is more hop dominate, and the hops deliver. The only comment I have is that there is some diacetyl which comes across as a caramel at first, but as the beer warms up, turns more into a butterscotch. Now this does not make this a bad beer, if anything, the butterscotch plays very well with the dankness of the Nelson and the tropical fruit tones of the Motueka. I feel the body could have a bit more chewiness just to back up the hops a bit more and to give a bit more mouthfeel. On a crappy raining day, doing chores around the house, the beer is going down smooth and really hitting the spot. I feel that it has great potential and looking forward to next years batch!
Appearance:
Pours a golden orange with yellow high lights. Clearing up nicely but does have a bit of chill haze. Pure white head with a upside down snow storm of small bubbles. The beer looks light and refreshing.
Aroma:
The nose on the beer has developed quite nicely, the Nelson is not dominating the nose as much now, you still get the over ripe melon/grape aromas, but now you are picking up some of the motueka, with a bit of passion fruit/pineapple. All backed up by the spicy/black pepper from the bella saison yeast. Fresh bright/distinct and complex. I am really digging the nose on this beer.
Mouthfeel:
Light to medium mouth feel leaning more to medium. Carbonation is good, keeps the flavours dancing on the palate, nice and effervescent. Maybe a bit too dry, with a slight astringent finish. Not the biggest issue, but will add a bit of crystal in the next batch and a bit less water chem to leave a bit more sweetness. But still aiming for a dry finish.
Flavour:
Nice upfront grapefruit bitterness which is nice and clean, eases into a nice bready/malt finish. The spice from the yeast and fruitiness is nicely balanced, all backed up nicely by the malt backbone. The flavours are complex and clean, bright and distinct. Very easy drinking and will be great in summer and with a rich meal.
Overall:
I am pretty happy with this beer. It is not quite where I want it yet. but well on its way. Its a great starting off point and is high up my rebrew list. I think the beer is balanced and has clean flavours. I do not pick up any off flavours, but I have sent off a few bottles to better palates to get some feedback. This beer does really shine if served a bit warmer so the hops come through, too cold and you loose the fruitiness of the hops. There are two things that I would change on the beer, the hop profile is a bit unbalanced (Motueka is dominated by the Nelson) and the beer is a touch too dry(finished at 1.002) which comes across as astringent. Other than that, I am really enjoying this beer and looking forward to rebrewing it!
Recipe: Hoppy Saison TYPE: All Grain Style: Saison
The recipe can be downloaded via beersmith:
http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/757326/hoppy-saison RECIPE SPECIFICATIONS SRM: 16.5 EBC SRM RANGE: 9.8-27.6 EBC IBU: 29.7 IBUs IBU RANGE: 20.0-35.0 IBUs OG: 1.052 SG OG RANGE: 1.048-1.065 SG FG: 1.014 SG FG RANGE: 1.002-1.012 SG EE%: 72.00 % Batch: 10.00 Boil: 21.43 l BT: 75 Mins
SAMPLE TASTE NOTES
15/03/15: Tasted gravity sample, no off flavours picked up. No DMS or diacetyl. Aroma is more yeasty than hoppy, cloves,citrus,pepper with a clean bready backbone. Smooth upfront bitterness with a dry finish, might be a bit too dry, slightly astringent. Spicy on the flavour with a bready finish. Hops still not apparent, more yeast forward.
22/03/15: After crash chilling @ 2c still hazy. Picking up black pepper, over ripe melon, green grape character on the nose. Upfront citrus bitterness, which smooths out into a dry bready finish. Light to medium body, leaning more towards the light side. Black Pepper, grape, wood dank, citrus, complex but clean beer. Have high expectations for the carbonated version.
WATER CHEMISTRY ADDITIONS
Amt Name 3.00 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) 2.00 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 mins) 2.00 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins 3.00 g Calcium Chloride (Boil 60.0 mins) 2.00 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Boil 60.0 mins) 2.00 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Boil 60.0 mins
Total Grain Weight: 2.32 kg Total Hops: 66.00 g
MASH/STEEP PROCESS
Amt Name 1.80 kg Gladfield Pilsner Malt (3.8 EBC) 0.22 kg Gladfield Wheat Malt (4.2 EBC) 0.20 kg Gladfield Munich Malt (15.5 EBC) 0.10 kg Gladfield Shepherds Delight Malt (300.0 EBC)
BOIL PROCESS
Est Pre_Boil Gravity: 1.034 SG Est OG: 1.052 SG Amt Name 6.00 g Nelson Sauvin [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min 3.00 g Calcium Chloride (Boil 60.0 mins) 2.00 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Boil 60.0 mins) 2.00 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Boil 60.0 mins 1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) 10.00 g Motueka [7.30 %] - Boil 10.0 min 10.00 g Nelson Sauvin [12.10 %] - Boil 10.0 min 10.00 g Motueka [7.30 %] - Boil 0.0 min 10.00 g Nelson Sauvin [12.10 %] - Boil 0.0 min
NOTES
Brewday 07/03/15: Added 1l boiling water to adjust temp from 63.8c to 66.3c Had to stop sparge as the reading where getting to low. Was still 5l short of my boil and had to change it to a 75min boil and top up with 5l of water. Hydrated Yeast at 33c in bottled water for 15min, mixed then left for a further 5 min. Pitched yeast @ 22.8c fermenting @ 19.5c (Measure 20.4c)
Fermentation 08/03/15: Fermentation has begun and has a large krausen. Fermenting at 20.4c Raised temp by 1c to for target of 21c, measured 21c 09/03/15: Beer is slowing down but going steady, temp measured 21.4c. Have increased the temp to 25c to bring out more esters/phenols 10/03/15: Checked fermentation temp, was set to 25c, measure temp is 23.9c. Fermentation is slowing but still steady. 14/03/15: Fermentation has slowed down almost completely and krausen has disappeared. Finishing fermentation temp was 24.8c. Cooling down to 18c for dry hopping. 15/03/15: Took gravity sample, SG 1.040 and FG is 1.002, with a ABV of 5.2%. Dry hopping with 20g of Motueka/Nelson mix for 5 days @ 18c 20/03/15: Dropped temp to 1.5c for crash chilling till Sunday 22/03/15: Primed with a 52.5g Dextrose solution. Used a syringe to add 5ml to each bottle. After bottling: 8x 330mls 2x 500 mls 4x 650mls 2x 750 mls Leaving bottles in fermentation chamber @19c for two weeks
Kerry Davis: Appearance: Vigorous carbonation; Pours a golden light brown with generous white head; Bottle conditioned Aroma: Grape, champagne, Slight alcohol, fresh 'zing' Flavour: Light, crisp, fruity, Cider, Pleasant bitterness which subsides on the finish, medium body Notes: Refreshing sessionable drop
Marcus Bökkerink: Really liked the beer. I was pretty harsh on judging it. But have to say your on to a good recipe base. Some slight tweeks and you'll have an excellent beer. I followed BJCP guidelines for scoring.
Aroma: estery, grassy, herb, pepper and banana aroma. Acetaldehyde with slight DMS. Malt character shows through when warmed.
Flavour: banana and slight lemon tartness. Grassy herb spiciness overwhelms malt characters.
Mouthfeel: medium dry. No hotness from alcohol appropriate for style. No zestiness from bubbles. tartness possibly from lemon.
Appearance: good white head lasts till the end with moderate glass lacing. Amber colour with slight golden hue. Thin bubbles disappearing once warmed.
Overall impression: An excellent attempt at a saison. Excellent colour, and great lemon tartness, however missing that usual balance of fruitiness spiciness and malt character. Felt I was searching for a balancing sweetness of orange or coriander. Needed more pepperiness and higher carbonation. Body and mouthfeel good except for the effervescence from carbonation. DMS and Acetaldehyde maybe from old grain, poor crush or fermentation based result. Grassiness probably an off spin from acetaldehyde or from increased hopping rates. Few things to clean up to create a world class style however on a great track.
28/50. - following BJCP style guidelines for Saison.
Zane Maxwell's(Rookie Brew) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone Homebrew Review YouTube
Appearance: Pours with a burnt orange/yellow straw colour. The straw colour coming through on the highlights. Pure white head with tight bubbles. Slight chill haze, but clearing out slowly. It's a good looking beer.
Aroma: Now I am not sure how old the beer is, but there is a decent hop character on the nose. Quite a fruity nose, I pick up ripe mango/strawberry, a bit of grass/onion notes and a bit of dankness. All followed up by a good malt/bready backbone.
Mouthfeel: A good solid mouthfeel, bit on the meaty/chewy end, which I quite enjoy. Carbonation is spot on, vigorous but not overpowering. Keeps the flavours dancing on the palate. Nice sweet finish with a hint of dryness on the end.
Flavour: Good upfront bitterness, which eases into a sweet malt/bready finish. There is a bit of residue sweetness on the palate as the beer goes down, leaving a subtle bitterness which make the beer moreish. Fruity hops on the palate, kiwi fruit/grass/hint of mango and strawberry. The flavour is a bit more malt and bitterness driven with subtle fruit hop character.
Overall: The beer has a great hop forward nose, while on the palate is is more malt/bitterness driven with fruity hop highlights. I would love to have had this beer fresher so that the hops could shine, but even now the hop character is good, sweet/dry finish and malt backbone, the beer is very moreish and goes down smoothly. Great beer Zane!
