Monday, March 3, 2008

Chris' Beer

I had to go over to John's and dry-hop the Tongue Splitter ale yesterday, so I took over the two bottles of beer that Chris gave me on Friday night. This is actually the first homebrew someone else has given me since I started the hobby. I thought I would review it here.

Oatmeal Stout: First of all, I need to preface this by saying that I'm not a huge stout fan. I can appreciate a good stout, but I will rarely order a stout to drink. Usually they are very filling, and therefore you drink one, and you're done with that style for the evening.
I thought Chris' stout was pretty good. The bottle made just a little hiss, very quick, when opening (Chris asked me to check that as he just recently bottled this) and had a nice tan head on it. It was definitely an opaque black. Nice flavor, left a nice film on the mouth. John thought it didn't have enough body. Honestly, I couldn't agree or disagree. It went down smooth, and that's about all I know.

Black India Pale Ale (India Black Ale): I mentioned to John twice that this was an India "Black" Ale, yet when he poured it, he was like, "Whoa, why is this so dark?" I told him it was an "I - BEE - A" and then he was cool. Same deal with opening the bottle. Both beers did not seem flat, in case you were wondering, Chris. This beer was just AWESOME. It had that hoppy smell that I associate with Amarillo hops, but then, I don't really know my hops that well, but it smelled sort of like a Three Floyd's Gumball Head, and I know they use Amarillo hops. Bitter as all get out. Really a hop head's dream. Nice tan head that stuck with the beer in the glass all the way down. Another opaque black beer. John said, "We should get the recipe for this."

Good job, Chris!

2 comments:

chrisg22 said...

Glad you liked them! I would agree for sure about the stout needing more body, I am going to be re-doing both of those recipes very soon. I can get you a copy of that recipe for the IBA.

chrisg22 said...

India Black Ale
14-B American IPA

Size: 6.75 gal
Efficiency: 76.99%
Attenuation: 78.5%
Calories: 215.85 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.065 (1.056 - 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 37.3 (6.0 - 15.0)
Alcohol: 6.71% (5.5% - 7.5%)
Bitterness: 91.86 (40.0 - 60.0)
Ferment @ 67 For 2 Weeks

Ingredients: Mash @ 154 For 90 Min.
11.2 lbs Standard 2-Row
0.75 lbs Munich Malt
0.25 lbs Crystal 45
1.15 lbs Crystal 15
0.5 lbs Carafa Special® TYPE III
4 oz Sinamar® Last 15 Min. Boil
1.5 oz Magnum (13%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.5 oz Centennial (8.6%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
1 oz Summit (18.1%) - added during boil, boiled 5 min
1 oz Amarillo (7%) - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
1 tsp Wyeast Nutrient - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1 Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1 ea White Labs WLP001 California Ale
1 ea White Labs WLP001 California Ale