Steamworks Kölsch

Pour is crystal clear, good head. Smell is nice and crisp; my smell might just be bad but I couldn't smell any hops. Taste is pretty thin with a small bite of bitterness to the back. That bitterness might be what I have seen others who have reviewed this beer refer to has acidity. Being that I am more of a beer drinker than a beer taster, the nuance of acidity versus bite is quite likely lost on me. Great carbonation though...tickles the throat nicely.

Ours will no doubt be better. No where near as clear or as nicely carbonated...but taste trumps all.

45/100

Next Up!

Your next beer to rate....or I suppose your first beer to rate. We could just give a quick redux on your Chainsaw tasting and say that it tasted a lot like Westvleteren, Hennepin, Orval, Batch #6, and some other Ale (Metro?). There was lots and lots of alcohol in it apparently and you don't remember much else. Is that about accurate?

ratebeer reviews weren't all that kind to the Colorado Kölsch, but it's still a good lead in to our own.

Chiller #1 Done

A straightforward immersion chiller. Had to use 1/4" (O.D.) copper instead of the 3/8" I had hoped to use because Home Depot only had 10' or 50' runs...and I didn't want to spend $50 on the copper. This is a 20' run of copper, we'll see how it does. I found some discounted (not sure why...) 3/8" at the Ace near us though so chiller #2 may be coming...

I had never used a torch before for soldering so the first few connection points where, plainly put, terrible. The picture on the right illustrates the atrociousness of that; I wasn't taking the flame off the connection point when I was pushing the solder in so I kept ending up with a "cold joint". Then I'd add more (stupid) solder and it'd run all over. It's a simple enough process...just take the flame off for a moment and test the metal to see if it's hot enough: the picture in the middle shows that the lessons were learned.

Batch #8

Bound to be the best batch yet... this authentic smelling, looking, and (prior to fermentation) tasting Belgian Dubbel should tantalize the senses, flood the tastes, and warm the belly... I look forward to the first taste of liquid heaven to be available in 5 more weeks.

More pictures of this beauty to come!