17 replies to this topic

[Steve Urquell]

Brewed this tonight. First brew in months. I've been a lazy brewer. This is a CZ amber 1.058OG with a bunch of hops. Like a CZ IPA. I've used the grain bill before except for the caravienne. It was to make up for being short on caralight. Wort tasted great and resiny. Hope this one is a winner. Yeast is what I had, S-189, grain is Castle, Caralight is Avangard's 10L crystal. Oh, batch size is 7gallons.

Edited by Steve Urquell, 02 June 2018 - 09:06 PM.

[pkrone]

Looks good.   

[Steve Urquell]

Looks good.

Thanks. I needed something simple to pull me out of my no brewing funk. I may dry hop this one depending on how the hop character comes thru.
First time using sterling but I did bottle hop a couple beers to get the feel for their flavor. I found it to be very similar to CZ saaz.

[pkrone]

Cool.    I hope you get a little better attenuation out of your yeast than your chart lists.  Seems like that wort should be more fermentable than that. 

[Steve Urquell]

Cool.    I hope you get a little better attenuation out of your yeast than your chart lists.  Seems like that wort should be more fermentable than that. 

It will be. The program just throws a default attn down. I changed the yeast name from W-34/70 w/o changing the attn. I figure it'll end ~1.014-5

[Big Nake]

Just bought some 2278 and I'll be looking at some of your Czech recipes, Chils.  I need to head back to the supply house and pick up some Saaz too.  

[HVB]

Looks tasty to me, I would drink that!

[neddles]

Yep, should be great. I really enjoyed Sterling the few times I used it.

[Steve Urquell]

Thxs fellas. The grain bill is solid on this one. First time with the hop and yeast combo. Hoping for the best.

[Big Nake]

S-189 is a solid dry lager yeast and you're the one who told me about it.  Is it my first choice for a lager yeast?   No.  But I keep it on hand for when I want to brew spontaneously or if some saved liquid yeast that I planned to brew with turned out to not be up to the task.  

[Steve Urquell]

S-189 is a solid dry lager yeast and you're the one who told me about it.  Is it my first choice for a lager yeast?   No.  But I keep it on hand for when I want to brew spontaneously or if some saved liquid yeast that I planned to brew with turned out to not be up to the task.

Agreed. It was "what I had" and I needed to break my brewing drought. We'll see what it does. Would have preferred something a bit more estery tho.

[Big Nake]

Agreed. It was "what I had" and I needed to break my brewing drought. We'll see what it does. Would have preferred something a bit more estery tho.

The other day I brewed with some mildly overripe 940 (it turned out to be just fine and the beer is fermenting with a beautiful aroma... it had just been stored a little longer than I would have liked) and I wondered if I was going to need S-189 or if I was going to ask YOU to give me your thoughts on the two packets of M76 I still have in my fridge.  

[Steve Urquell]

The other day I brewed with some mildly overripe 940 (it turned out to be just fine and the beer is fermenting with a beautiful aroma... it had just been stored a little longer than I would have liked) and I wondered if I was going to need S-189 or if I was going to ask YOU to give me your thoughts on the two packets of M76 I still have in my fridge.  

I wouldn't ferment a Mr Beer kit with the M76. It really sucks. It just flat out does not taste good. Both batches i brewed with it had solid grain and hop bills that I had brewed before and the batches of hops were used before. Ferments went fine and they dropped crystal clear. Both had a bad aftertaste. I ended up dropping 1oz of saaz leaf in the kegs so I would finish the beers and it helped. Otherwise I would have dumped.

[Big Nake]

I wouldn't ferment a Mr Beer kit with the M76. It really sucks. It just flat out does not taste good. Both batches i brewed with it had solid grain and hop bills that I had brewed before and the batches of hops were used before. Ferments went fine and they dropped crystal clear. Both had a bad aftertaste. I ended up dropping 1oz of saaz leaf in the kegs so I would finish the beers and it helped. Otherwise I would have dumped.

Wow, that is NOT a ringing endorsement.  It's funny because dry yeast has come a long way but I have still not tried 34/70, M84 (or any of the MJ yeast strains) and quite a few others.  My most recent dry yeast attempts were with S189 and S-04 (both reasonably good and a decent choice for Plan B dry yeasts).  It's not like the M76 is taking up any room in my fridge but I should probably toss it before I decide to use it.  

[Poptop]

I can't wait to see the pic. I like Sterling a lot, reading it's super Saaz. I don't necessarily pick up on the parallel but it's a great flavor hop.

[Steve Urquell]

At Ken. I won't bother with M76 again. Had high hopes when it was hazy but it tasted like crap when it dropped clear.

I can't wait to see the pic. I like Sterling a lot, reading it's super Saaz. I don't necessarily pick up on the parallel but it's a great flavor hop.

Wort was dark amber. Castle PA is darker than advertised and nice and malty. I bottle hopped with sterling and it tasted very similar to CZ saaz leaf.

[Steve Urquell]

This one's not quite amber, more like burnished gold but it's so good I don't care. Malty, hoppy, and some resin. Czech character to my mouth from the saaz-like sterling. This is one of the best beers I've brewed and I'm one picky SOB. I can't believe this one came out this good with S-189. No disappointment here.

 

[Poptop]

You're reinforcing using Sterling in my "next up" and at the same time you're giving me a tremendous thirst for a cold beer at 735am