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Love the notes on this beer Geoff, but some clarification would be nice.

Not a great beer, I must say, but a pretty bloody good one none the less. There's good drinking to be had here, just not VERY good drinking.

Am I the only one confused by this?

So, is it a good brew? Any hints as to what the ALC/VOL is?

Sorry if it's been discussed before. But I'm new to the world of homebrew, and the India Pale Ale interests me.

It is a straight toucan with 25g of hops (steeped for 15 minutes). I think the description is to be taken literally. It's ok but it isn't great.

I haven't had it, of course - just interpreting the recipe. Be the guinea-pig and give it a bash and give us some more detailed impressions.

Having said that, I recently did a kit IPA recipe which I was quite happy with (all things considered). Thomas Coopers IPA tin, 2kg malt, 300g various spec grains, 90g Fuggles, S04. It is probably the only kit beer I've done that I want to repeat - except next time I'll swap out the S04 for something else and maybe try some EKG and Styrian Goldings instead of the Fuggles (to about the same bitterness, of course).

Well my next brew is going to be an IPA with fuggles and safale s-04 and coopers light malt. I'm looking forward to it.

I'm keeping it simple until I have made a few proven brews.

Can't help but have a chuckle at Geoff's notes though

The Millennium Ale Project tasting notes are a good read too.

If your TC IPA turns out anything like mine you'll probably be pretty chuffed with it. I will, however, suggest you rethink the S04 - unless you've used it in a previous brew and were happy with it, of course. My personal preference was that it didn't quite gel in this beer. Even with a fairly strong kit and a good whack of hops the yeast was dominating the flavour early on (3 to 6 weeks).

Love the Millenium Ale project. I'm sure they'd sunk quite a few when they came up with that one.

I'll stick with the s04. Not because I don't value good advice. I'm a newbie and I would like to be able to get as much exposure to as many products and processes as possible so I can know why I make certain decisions in the future.

That's what we like to hear! Good luck with it.

jello wrote:Love the Millenium Ale project. I'm sure they'd sunk quite a few when they came up with that one.

Yeah, just one or two!

Jello,

I'll point out this thread to Geoff and ask him to clarify what the bloody hell he meant by "Not a great beer, I must say, but a pretty bloody good one none the less. There's good drinking to be had here, just not VERY good drinking."

I suspect he may have sunk quite a few when he wrote those tasting notes

Cheers,

Oliver

If Geoff is a barrister, and given my working history of legal work on personal injury claims for an insurer, I can fully understand what he is saying, I think!

You only have to sit in a court room for any length of time to be totally confused, unless you are privy to the inside workings of the language used.
Same with the convoluted workings of the language judges use in their written judgments, to do their best to make them appeal proof, even if their ultimate decision was against all the weight of evidence from a casual observer.
I must say that a lot of what would appear to be totally confusing and contradictory to the average person did make sense in a legally distinctive way.

Doesn't help the average punter, especially after they've downed a few.

That aside, or obiter dictum, I'm looking forward to the update of the tasting notes.
Have a great Christmas and New year break, gentlemen and fellow punters.

I think Bum has discerned my meaning. Apologies if clarity was wanting.

Geoff wrote:I think Bum has discerned my meaning. Apologies if clarity was wanting.

No need to apologise. I recently made what was supposed to be a James Squire IPA recently myself and I was quite pleased with it. So pleased that it is all gone Though I'm still a beginner and don't have a lot to compare it to.

My recipe was:
1.7kg Coopers India Pale Ale
1.5kg Coopers Light Malt Extract
Fuggles Finishing Hops
Safale S-04

ABV came in at 3.94%

Loved it.

Bum wrote: suggest you rethink the S04 - unless you've used it in a previous brew and were happy with it, of course. My personal preference was that it didn't quite gel in this beer. Even with a fairly strong kit and a good whack of hops the yeast was dominating the flavour early on (3 to 6 weeks).

This sounds odd to me, I use S-04 most of the time during summer in both Kits & AG's because I find it to be a nice dependable NEUTRAL yeast which floc's out nice & clean!
US-05 was the one which I found carried over some flavours?

Cheers, Mick.

My experience with the two is that the US-05 floccs out harder and faster than the S-04 and has none of S-04's almost dusty taste. Different beers and brewers of course. Horses for courses. I was just relating my observation with that yeast in pretty similar beer.