An account of brews past

NCC-0001
The first batch I brewed was the Emma's Ale kit from Northern Brewer. For some reason (probably advertising) I opted for Wyeast 1945 Neobritannia instead of the recommended Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley Ale.

For a learning batch it went well enough. Though I did get the fermentation temps down eventually, the temp was too high when I pitched and in the following 12+ hours. The 'efficiency' of the steep was lacking also and left the final beer with less than the expected specialty grain character. The end result was very 'beer' tasting with a few strange alcohol and/or ester flavors that were new to me. A few bottles seemed better for whatever reason and were similar in many ways to Hobgoblin.

Here she is fermenting:

And here is the log entry:


NCC-0002
The second batch, Icewind Ale MkI, used the yeast cake from NCC-0001. The recipe was the root of mediocrity for this one. The idea was a juniper amber ale. Ended up similar to Bell's amber but more fruity and a sticky hop bitterness. Not much juniper to it after it had been bottled awhile. The fermentation temp was much more controlled than Emma's and drastically changed the yeast flavor profile in the finished beer. However, those flavors were still not that great.

The bottle I drank fairly warm while snorkeling Cypress Creek was mighty fine. Could have been the atmosphere..