Identic-ale discussion
By Todd Coffey. Filed in Discussion |Hello all!
This discussion topic is for the 2010 identic-ale study of our local NM De Smet hops. Please post your ideas on recipes and your experiences with this hop so others can get recipes formulated.
Thursday, January 14th 2010 at 7:25 am |
I’ve brewed two Saisons with the De Smet Hops and my guess is they’re around 4% AA, since 3.5% seemed a little too low in tasting the beer. On the other hand, I could be way off because this is a style I haven’t brewed before. Ben, do you have any guesses?
My experience with the Saison is that the hops produce an earthy flavor and very little citrus character. I’m adding equal quantities at 60 and 20 minutes in the boil.
So far, I’m really excited about the hops and the fact that they’re grown informally organically.
Todd
Thursday, January 14th 2010 at 8:11 am |
Hasn’t Tractor Brewing or one of the other local breweries used them?
On a side note…seems like every reply on here gets a smaller and smaller font. I am not the most computer savvy person, but can this be changed. I must be getting old, but I can’t read some of these once there is a post or two.
Rob
Thursday, January 14th 2010 at 9:07 am |
After this reply, I don’t think I’ll be able to read the comments…..
I heard Chama and Marble have both played with the hops. I was actually thinking they might participate, but I haven’t solicited them yet.
Todd
Thursday, January 14th 2010 at 10:24 am |
I found a way in Firefox to enlarge the font…lol! Now I can read all the replies…we just need to get more people using this!
Tuesday, January 19th 2010 at 11:33 am |
4% sounds about right to me as well. I agree with your assessment of the character although I would add that there is a subtle lemony flavor and a grassy flavor that is not unpleasant. I enjoyed the APA I brewed with them very much. I also tried an IPA but didn’t get the hop punch that I was hoping for (1lb for 5gal batch). I think this is just mainly due to the fact that Cascade doesn’t have as pungent of a character as the hops I normally use in my IPAs.
Ben
Thursday, January 14th 2010 at 9:01 am |
Todd, were you thinking about brewing another saison for the indentic-ale, if so I can come up with something else.
Thursday, January 14th 2010 at 9:06 am |
I am brewing another Saison, but I say the more the merrier, especially since they don’t really conform to a rigid style anyway….
Todd
Thursday, January 14th 2010 at 10:28 am |
Okay, mine will be a little bigger around 1.070OG
Friday, January 15th 2010 at 2:09 pm |
I already mentioned this to Todd but I was planning on making an India Brown Ale, kind of along the lines of Dogfishheads Indian brown ale. Never tried this beer from DFH but it sounds good to me, although i’m not sure how DeSmet cascade hops will work in this.
Patrick
Saturday, January 16th 2010 at 11:18 pm |
I’m planning to do a super simple SMaSH (single malt and single hop) IPA. I’m going to use Colorado 2-row, DeSmet hops, and S-04 yeast. This will be my simplest AG recipe yet. I plan to toast some of the 2-row to get some extra character out of the malt.
Sunday, January 24th 2010 at 9:41 am |
Could someone explain to be exactly what the identic-ale? What do I need to do to participate in this?
Sunday, January 24th 2010 at 2:08 pm |
Hi Val.
The main idea in the past has been to have everybody brew something while only varying one thing. In the past the club has participated in identic-ales around hops and yeast, and potentially others I don’t know about. This year, we’re doing it around a single hop variety and letting everything else vary. The hops we’re using are local De Smet farms cascade hops grown in Los Lunas NM. The rest of the deal is described on the activities page here. If you have more questions, please send them on.
Todd
Saturday, March 27th 2010 at 7:29 am |
If we did Identic-Ale and get a coupon for submission to EBC, do we still need to print bottle labels from the EBC registration page?
Saturday, March 27th 2010 at 7:32 am |
Here is reply from Todd’s earlier email:
There has been some confusion about the connection between the identic-ale and the Enchanted Brewing Challenge (EBC). Here are those details.
* By participating in the Identic-ale, you get a free entry in the “local-NM-hops” (I’m not sure about the exact name) special category at the EBC.
* If you choose to enter your Identic-ale in this special category, you will need to register your beers at http://www.dukesofale.com, and drop an additional two bottles at one of the EBC drop-off points by Saturday April 10.
* If you also want to enter your Identic-ale beer in its normal BJCP category, you will need to register it in that category, pay for that entry, and drop an additional two bottles off at the drop-off point.
* When the registration form prints it will tell you how much you owe for your bottle entries. It will not be corrected for the Identic-ale free entry into the “local-NM-hops” special category, so please subtract the appropriate amount and submit your check as normal with your entry into the EBC.
Tuesday, March 30th 2010 at 4:27 am |
Bottle labels are always required to ensure that entries get identified correctly.
Thursday, April 8th 2010 at 3:05 pm |
So… the identic-ale bottles need to be dropped off same place as bottles for EBC (Victor’s), right? Damn I’m bummed that I missed last night’s meeting.