Some Reviews of Past Brews

STL Brown Town Ale:
Appearance: Brown and over carbonated. Tall billowing head, overly thin brown/reddish color

Smell: effervescent hops-bomb. The scent was one of citrus passion fruit, and citrus grape fruit. Dominant hop nose; what malts? no malt here.

Taste: the sweet malt provided a nice back bone for for the hops flavor which wasn't nearly as dominant as it was in the nose, I may back some of the additions of hops or accept a bit higher ibu and add more flavor hops.

Mouth Feel: Thin, over carbonated

Thoughts: I told Kyle what volume of sugar to use for a 5 gallon batch, we ended up with about 2.5 gallons of beer post boil, post kettle hops, and post dry hops. So it was 2x carbonated, oops. Totally my bad, but it was still a good beer. Even over carbonated once we bled off some CO2 it was better than some commercial hoppy browns I've had.

(read more after the break)



Pilot Batch Pale Ale
Appearance: Darkish Yellow, headed onto orange in color. The head is tall and thick. The carapils and crystal malt sure worked for head retention. The lacing is great as the head recedes over several minutes

Smell: Subtle and subdued citra hop scent, with some effervescent grain; overall a nice hop aroma

Taste: Sweet with fruity hops from the centennial and citra. The malt comes through as sweet with a bit of natural grain flavor. The bitterness from the warrior hops hits and sits in the back of your throat long after the sip just carrying the bitterness forward. Not too flavorful or too bitter; a nice pale ale.

Mouth Feel: Silky and Wet, the nice carbonation helps this beer float through the sip, it's not too thick or too thin, I wish I'd taken more detailed measurements on this batch to know what I did right, trial and error will have to work based on my best guesses.

Thoughts: I like this, it's cheap to make because of the simple grain bill and traditional hopping schedule. It lacks the aromatics of my hop bursted citra pale but it also has a bitterness more characteristic of the style.

All Citra IPA
Appearance: Hazy, deep yellow bordering on orange, nice thick head rises out of the depths of the the poor. Good head retention.

Smell: Smells like citrus, grapefruit predominantly, a bit muted, I imagine this is lost to the oxygen.

Taste: Hoppy, crisp, fruity, not much in the way of malt flavors other then a subtle sweetness, bitter but not too bitter. I think the hop bursting made this more tasty then bitter.

Mouth Feel: A touch thicker then I think an IPA should be, also lacked carbonation, but not by much.

Thoughts: A solid first attempt, I'd mash at a lower temp and force carbonate to keep more hops flavor/aroma. I'll counter pressure fill this next time.

Robust Oaked Porter
Appearance: Dark brown, black, with an inch of frothy head.

Smell: Roasted and somewhat sharp, since I pulled from secondary there has been a slight metallic tone

Taste: Okay, that metallic taste is present it's not getting stronger or weaker with time, it wasn't acidic or sour, the roast and slight oak were there but I couldn't get past the metallic twang.

Mouth Feel: Thin, not robust, a let down. Not watery like an infection.

Thoughts: Not terrible for a kit, suffered greatly from my in experience. The metallic taste could have been from poorly stored or old malt, the oxidation of the roasted flavors, the water here in my town, my friend's equipment, or some sort of infection. I sanitized as best I could, and his pot is stainless, as is his wort chiller, It's not super concerning as I haven't died from it. It's unpleasant though. I have tasted the same metallic quality in commercial beers, always roast centric beers, usually the cheaper RISs. When I taste it it ruins a beer for me so I'll have to hunt this one down.