I clearly have a problem with supply management. You would think that I would plan ahead and figure out that, if I buy hops for two brews, I might be better off buying enough grain for two brews as well. But no. Instead of that, I buy grain for just one brew and wind up stuck with more hops than I know what to do with.
Fortunately, being the resourceful man that I am, I have a solution to every problem... or, if not a solution, at least a way out. You, the quick thinking, rational person that you are might think that such solution would involve buying more grain. Me, being the experiment prone but mostly just lazy person that I am, I thought there had to be a solution which would allow me to avoid the pesky process of picking and ordering more grain. The one I found was to use the Brewferm Tripel hopped malt extract I had lying around and ramp up its hops.
I didn't necessarily want to kill the tripel's usual sweetness, simply make it taste and smell a little hoppier. Specifically, I wanted to make it smell and taste like citrus and tropical fruits, the traditional descriptors of Citra hops. I therefore brought the HME to a boil, added 14 grams of Citra hops and let it boil for 10 minutes.
Then, after a little more than a week, once the initial more violent fermentation was complete, I dry hopped the beer with a further 10 grams of Citra, to give it its smell.
I have not yet had the chance to fully test the result of this experiment in its prime. I have only tried it at the moment of bottling, with no gas and an intense and delicious Citra smell but still unblended taste and a week into secondary fermentation, with a thin head of foam and some spritziness, a similarly delicious smell and a slightly better taste albeit still a little rough. Nevertheless, considering the way it has evolved in little more than a week, I have to say it's looking pretty good. Hopefully this weekend, after more than three weeks from bottling it'll be even better.
More on this next week.
Fortunately, being the resourceful man that I am, I have a solution to every problem... or, if not a solution, at least a way out. You, the quick thinking, rational person that you are might think that such solution would involve buying more grain. Me, being the experiment prone but mostly just lazy person that I am, I thought there had to be a solution which would allow me to avoid the pesky process of picking and ordering more grain. The one I found was to use the Brewferm Tripel hopped malt extract I had lying around and ramp up its hops.
I didn't necessarily want to kill the tripel's usual sweetness, simply make it taste and smell a little hoppier. Specifically, I wanted to make it smell and taste like citrus and tropical fruits, the traditional descriptors of Citra hops. I therefore brought the HME to a boil, added 14 grams of Citra hops and let it boil for 10 minutes.
Then, after a little more than a week, once the initial more violent fermentation was complete, I dry hopped the beer with a further 10 grams of Citra, to give it its smell.
I have not yet had the chance to fully test the result of this experiment in its prime. I have only tried it at the moment of bottling, with no gas and an intense and delicious Citra smell but still unblended taste and a week into secondary fermentation, with a thin head of foam and some spritziness, a similarly delicious smell and a slightly better taste albeit still a little rough. Nevertheless, considering the way it has evolved in little more than a week, I have to say it's looking pretty good. Hopefully this weekend, after more than three weeks from bottling it'll be even better.
More on this next week.
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