Old Tasting Notes #1

Old Tasting Notes from August 16, 2009

Russian Lullaby

• 1” foamy white head
• clear, light orange against the light; kind of dark to me
• apples, yeast, sweet grassy lemons
• definitely seems a little sweet to me and quite dry in the finish
• medium body and texture, which is better than most of my brews
• maybe not as sharp or yeasty as I’d like
• has a fruity, granny smith apple thing going on
  
• dry, stale fruit as it warms, sticky sweet mouthfeel; bone dry finish
• carbonation is thick and creamy
• one of my best beers yet and one I need to brew again for sure
  

Liquid Karma

• clear cola brown with thin off-white head
• cookies and sweet coffee with creamy chocolate, nuts
• very little roast character to me even though this recipe was ramped up a bit
• not really what I was expecting or hoping for compared to what I viewed as a very successful first attempt
• needs more body, roast, dark chocolate and coffee – basically more of everything
• will have to revisit this style sometime and try to improve

Batch No. 13 - Liquid Karma v2

Liquid Karma v2

I loved my first batch of Liquid Karma so much that I brewed another w/ some small changes. Tried to time this so that with a few months in the bottle, it would be ready for submitting to the 2009 Pro-Am in June.

Brewed - January 18, 2009

Style - Coffee Porter
Source - Tastybrew.com variation / Northern Brewer / Bob's HBS

Ingredients:

• 7.0 lbs. Light LME
• 0.75 lbs. Dextrose
• 6.0 oz. Sugar in the Raw (new)
• 1.0 lbs. American Crystal 80
• 1.0 lbs. American Munich Light
• 1.5 lbs. Chocolate Grain (inc. by 0.5 lbs.)
• 1.5 lbs. Flaked Oats (inc. by 0.5 lbs.)
• 0.5 lbs. American Black Patent (inc. by 0.25 lbs.)
• 1.5 oz. Fuggles (75)
• 1.5 oz. Fuggles (15)
• 5 cups strong coffee (DH)
  
• Wyeast #1025 London Ale
  

OG - 1.072
Primary - 9 days
Secondary - 40 days

Bottled - March 8, 2009

FG - 1.022
Attenuation - 69.4%
ABV - 6.6%

Notes:
- 75 minute boil (didn't do that first time)
- Ryan Brother's Coffee Broadway Blues
- 13 days longer in secondary

Batch No. 5 - Liquid Karma

Liquid Karma - Coffee Porter

Brewed - December 23, 2007

Style - Coffee Porter
Source - Tastybrew.com / Bob's HBS

Ingredients:

• 7.0 lbs. LME
• 1.0 lbs. American Crystal 80L
• 1.0 lbs. American Munich Light
• 1.0 lbs. Chocolate Grain
• 1.0 lbs. Flaked Oats
• 1.0 lbs. Corn Sugar
• o.25 lbs. American Black Patent
• 1.5 oz. Fuggles (60)
• 1.5 oz. Fuggles (15)
• 4 cups strong coffee (DH)
  
• Wyeast #1028 London Ale

OG - 1.068
Primary - 7 days
Secondary - 27 days

Bottled - January 26, 2008

FG - 1.020
Attenuation - 70.6%
ABV - 6.3%

Notes:
- 4 cups strong coffee (Organic Sumatra)
- cooled in fridge; dumped in secondary
- named after my fav Ballard coffee shop, the now defunct Karma Coffee

I love coffee, I love porters and I love the combo, so this was a natural one to try. Found a nice looking recipe on Tastybrew.com and this was my first time following a recipe and picking up all my supplies at a homebrew shop. That process made it all more real b/c as opposed to receive a complete kit via FedEx, I had to measure out and crush all the needed grains. More expensive, but something is said for smelling all those grains and having a more organic experience.

This turned out to be one of my fav batches to date and really took off after 3 months in the bottle with flavor and texture taking some time to meld together. Brewed again in early 2009 w/ some minor changes.


After coffee dumped into secondary