Batch 55

My very first New England IPA which didn’t turn out very hazy, how disappointing.

Not only did the beer not become hazy enough, it was a bit too boozy and there’s an explanation for it. I’ve struggled with efficiency (amount of sugar you’re able to extract from the grain) for a long time and this batch was no exception. One way of solving this is to add table sugar to reach the amout needed, the downside is that it’s very fermentable so usually the finished beer has less residual sugar than it’s supposed to. With less sugar, the beer is usually thinner which can make it easier to taste the alcohol, this is not always a bad thing but in this case it was something that bugged me and it’s not style appropriate.

With these hiccups aside, the beer was OK. I didn’t enjoy the piney flavor, but that’s my personal preference since I’m not a particular fan of it in beers that I buy either. The few who tasted it said it was good, nothing special but a good beer.

I like the new style New England IPA, so I’ll make a lot more in the future but maybe it’s not my biggest priority as it’s not that big of a difference from a West Coast IPA, American IPA and all the other tropical IPAs. It’s also so damn exposed to being damaged by oxygen that I really need to be careful how I package and store the beer, not a big issue, but not particularly fun.