Occam's Racecar (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nebulawindphone) wrote,@ 2007-01-12 11:01:00 |
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Blip
I don't want to write about myself, so I'm going to write about microbes again.
The "Excelsior Altbier" from the kit that L&M bought me is coming along. It's in bottles now, doing the little carbonation dance, and it'll be drinkable in a week or two. (Note: bottles do not actually dance. Yeast might. My eyes aren't that good.)
I'm a little nervous about the flavor, which seemed weirdly sour when I tasted it before bottling. Not funky or spoiled sour, necessarily; maybe tangy is a better word. If I hadn't made it myself, I'd say there was lemon juice in it. I can't tell if it's gotten mixed up with some sort of strange culture (Acidophilus? Brettanomyces? Emo? rim shot) or if it's just got that citrus-y hops flavor taken a little too far. It was also flat when I tasted it, and I'm not in the habit of drinking flat beer, so I'm taking it on faith that it'll be more recognizably beer-like when it's got some head on it.
But the chili wine — now that stuff is gonna be good. I moved it to secondary the other day and it was sweet, medium-hot and distinctly pepper-flavored — that nice round warm Mexican dried chili flavor. It'll also be a dog's age before it's drinkable, unfortunately. I want to keep it sweet, and that'll mean going on sweetening it until after the yeast craps out at around 18% and then aging it until it doesn't reek of alcohol.
"Blip" says the air lock. "Blip. Blip. Blip..."
I don't want to write about myself, so I'm going to write about microbes again.
The "Excelsior Altbier" from the kit that L&M bought me is coming along. It's in bottles now, doing the little carbonation dance, and it'll be drinkable in a week or two. (Note: bottles do not actually dance. Yeast might. My eyes aren't that good.)
I'm a little nervous about the flavor, which seemed weirdly sour when I tasted it before bottling. Not funky or spoiled sour, necessarily; maybe tangy is a better word. If I hadn't made it myself, I'd say there was lemon juice in it. I can't tell if it's gotten mixed up with some sort of strange culture (Acidophilus? Brettanomyces? Emo? rim shot) or if it's just got that citrus-y hops flavor taken a little too far. It was also flat when I tasted it, and I'm not in the habit of drinking flat beer, so I'm taking it on faith that it'll be more recognizably beer-like when it's got some head on it.
But the chili wine — now that stuff is gonna be good. I moved it to secondary the other day and it was sweet, medium-hot and distinctly pepper-flavored — that nice round warm Mexican dried chili flavor. It'll also be a dog's age before it's drinkable, unfortunately. I want to keep it sweet, and that'll mean going on sweetening it until after the yeast craps out at around 18% and then aging it until it doesn't reek of alcohol.
"Blip" says the air lock. "Blip. Blip. Blip..."
