Noos of the Booze
Since my last report on suds production ( I think in
http://franmart.blogspot.com/2007/12/zymurgy-continued.html) the only really interesting thing was the addition of a small amount of blackberry to a couple of samples of a brew of Coopers Draught I compiled in early March. The idea was to use it as the carbohydrate to stimulate secondary fermentation and give a lambic taste and feel.
The two bottles in question have now been tasted and were definitely a bit different to the normal brew. In terms of taste I couldn't really say they had a blackberry flavour - but then I have trouble picking the chocolate, melon and guano (sic) tones identified by poncey wine writers. It was more that these bottles seemed to have a crisper taste than those with the standard sugar based secondary (of course they all used sugar of some form for the primary fermentation).
in terms of 'feel' there were some chewy bits in the final glass out of the bottle, but they were big enough to remove with a delicately poised pinky. Not seen as a problem.
All in all I rate the operation a success and will undertake some further research into home lambic production in time for next blackberry season. Apparently one of the risks is that some of the wild yeasts get into corners of the kit so that every brew from then on tastes of the fruit substrate.
Getting back to conventional matters I have also done a serve of Morgans Ironbark Stout (quite conventional) and a Yukon Smoked Brown Ale. Purely inthe spirit of research I purchased a really up market (ie costs 20% more) brew of Molloy's Stout: one of the Morgan's Chairman's Selection range. It will be interesting to see if it tastes 20% better than the Ironbark - although how the heck one measures that will pose a challenge.
At the commercial end of business the liquor outlet for Coles (Liquorland) was selling Belgian brewed and bottled Maes Pilsner for $14 per six pack. Very tasty and good value: the value got even better when I found that a case only cost $40 - or $10 per six pack: this is very little more than the cheapest light beer in the shop.
http://franmart.blogspot.com/2007/12/zymurgy-continued.html) the only really interesting thing was the addition of a small amount of blackberry to a couple of samples of a brew of Coopers Draught I compiled in early March. The idea was to use it as the carbohydrate to stimulate secondary fermentation and give a lambic taste and feel.
The two bottles in question have now been tasted and were definitely a bit different to the normal brew. In terms of taste I couldn't really say they had a blackberry flavour - but then I have trouble picking the chocolate, melon and guano (sic) tones identified by poncey wine writers. It was more that these bottles seemed to have a crisper taste than those with the standard sugar based secondary (of course they all used sugar of some form for the primary fermentation).
in terms of 'feel' there were some chewy bits in the final glass out of the bottle, but they were big enough to remove with a delicately poised pinky. Not seen as a problem.
All in all I rate the operation a success and will undertake some further research into home lambic production in time for next blackberry season. Apparently one of the risks is that some of the wild yeasts get into corners of the kit so that every brew from then on tastes of the fruit substrate.
Getting back to conventional matters I have also done a serve of Morgans Ironbark Stout (quite conventional) and a Yukon Smoked Brown Ale. Purely inthe spirit of research I purchased a really up market (ie costs 20% more) brew of Molloy's Stout: one of the Morgan's Chairman's Selection range. It will be interesting to see if it tastes 20% better than the Ironbark - although how the heck one measures that will pose a challenge.
At the commercial end of business the liquor outlet for Coles (Liquorland) was selling Belgian brewed and bottled Maes Pilsner for $14 per six pack. Very tasty and good value: the value got even better when I found that a case only cost $40 - or $10 per six pack: this is very little more than the cheapest light beer in the shop.
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