Thursday, January 1, 2009

Table Beer

I mentioned in my post on the red ale that I made a table beer from the second runnings off the mash. A 3% ABV beer ought to really test brewing skills, sanitation and all that.

As for recipe I collected 4 gallons of wort boiled with some Perle hops. Post boil I had 3 gallons of wort at 1.030 OG that fermented with White Labs 500 (a strain cultivated from Chimay). With little work to do the yeast settled out enough to bottle after 5 days. Final Gravity was 1.006. 3.1% ABV.

The resulting beer is similar to a watery Chimay Cinq Cents. The hops and yeast prickle the tongue with spiciness. There is also a touch of infection that has not increased in the three months since bottling.

Overall not a bad effort. Since most of my home brew is high gravity rocket fuel it is nice to have something light to reach for when I don't want to get knocked on my ass.

(PS. Can you name that coaster?)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Respect for the table beer! What does the bit of infection taste like? If it's just a bit of sourness, it could add to the refreshment value if you were lucky. In the old days the saison brewers would blend soured beer with young to make a more refreshing drink. Also to be frugal, I guess.

Is the coaster Mort Subite? It also looks like another fruity Belgian series whose name escapes me now, maybe Grisette.

Tim said...

Joe, the infection was a bit sour but not good sour. Mort Subite is correct. I often swipe a few coasters from interesting bars.