Elbro Nerkte Brown Ale & We're in the Garden - Tasting

A take on a Brown Ale from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
O.G.: 1.04
F.G.: 1.01
ABV: ~3%

I tried to like this brew... I really did. Unfortunately, whether due to human error, poor ingredients, or just bad luck this batch turned out very badly. That said, I seem to remember the Elbro Nerkte being quite tasty when I first tried it - though I'm not sure if it has deteriorated with age or I had simply consumed too much of the Belgian White prior to tasting it. In any case, I'm not even going to bother doing a full description of the flavors because, honestly, I don't want to taste it again. I will note, however, that most of the poor flavor fades if a warm bottle is consumed.


An impromptu take on a Belgian white from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
ABV: Unknown
IBU: Unknown

We're In The Garden

Happily, unlike the Elbro Nerkte, the Belgian White was a smashing success. The beer has a vibrant amber color with a snow white head and an aroma of honey and a touch of hops. The flavor profile starts out sweet with a warm, nutty citrus taste and finishes with somewhat of a sweet bite. The honey and coriander worked together wonderfully in this brew, though with age the honey taste was largely lost - perhaps the coriander remained so potent due to the coriander seed dropped into each bottle?

After passing this brew around my family, lab group, and friend group I can assure you this will be a staple recipe in my homebrew repertoire. I can count the number of people who had any kind of reservations about this brew on one hand and most of them don't care for beer and tried it because I pushed it on them. I have a feeling this Belgian White will be just what a person needs after a long summer day and hope to make quite a bit of it in the future.

We're in the Garden - Part 3

An impromptu take on a Belgian white from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
ABV: Unknown
IBU: Unknown

Ramius and the brew!

Well, we finally got together to bottle our Belgian White. Hilary, Ramius, and I ran to HopToIt! and picked up some corn sugar for bottling before heading back to my place to get down to business. The bottling process went much more quickly than the Primal Porter since two sets of hands were working, and I was greatly pleased with the pace we made. Really, the only tedious/time-consuming portion of the bottling process was (as always) sanitizing everything. I really need to invest in a bottle tree, as you can clearly see...

Anyhow, we ended up coming out with a final product of 49 bottles, which is consistent with the average of four dozen bottles per 5-gallon brew. We took Charlie's advice this time and put a coriander seed in each bottle to enhance its flavor. I should also be noted that I put the coriander seeds in the microwave for ~20 seconds to kill anything on them to prevent any bacterial contamination. Needless to say, both Hilary and I are extraordinarily excited to taste this brew. The smell itself was intoxicating and quite a tease during the entire bottling process.

The day of bottling. Note the deep amber coloration.

We're in the Garden - Part 1

An impromptu take on a Belgian white from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
ABV: Unknown
IBU: Unknown

Ingredients:

• 5.0 pounds Munton's Light Malt Extract
• 2.0 pounds Colorado Light Alfalfa Honey
• 2.0 oz Hallertauer Pellet Hops
• 1 oz for boiling
• 0.5 oz for flavor
• 0.5 oz for aroma
• 1.5 oz freshly crushed whole coriander seed
• used in two 0.75 oz batches
• 0.5 oz dried, ground sweet orange peel
• Yeast: WYEAST 3944
• 0.75 cup corn sugar
• for bottling

Single-Stage Fermentation

Since our Blackhole Red Ale is gone, Hilary and I decided to try our hand at a light and refreshing beer, and a Belgian white is it! The original recipe is for Who's In The Garden Grand Cru, but due to a lack of supplies at HopToIt!, we had to improvise with the ingredients used above. 

Brewing went extraordinarily smoothly. Using the dry malt extract required a bit more stirring than liquid malt extract to ensure it dissolved completely. The coriander was ground to a relatively coarse grain using a mortar and pestle.

While waiting for the wort to boil, Hilary and I indulged in a couple of Hoegaarden wit ales. This was fitting as the original recipe was meant to mimic this brew. Anyhow, the Hoegaarden was delicious and in a little under a month we'll find out just how delicious this homebrew is.

We're In the Garden with fermentation cap and hose