Darkseid Tasting Day 001

Eleven days have passed since I've bottled Darkseid Black Ale.  I ran out of already-made beer, and since I'm impatient and didn't want to drink a lot of liquor, I decided to try a bottle.

Darkseid -
ready to open with the Dark...
er, side.. of the Force!

I expected minimum carbonation, and undeveloped flavor - and I was disappointed.  While certainly not completely mature yet, this beer is fully carbonated, and quite drinkable!

So I pulled one out of my fermentation rig, cooled it in the fridge for a couple hours, and popped the cap.  Immediately, I heard a nice, loud, crisp "pffft!"  That was unexpected.  But be still my beating heart!  I poured the brew into a pint glass just a little more quickly than I should've, and got a TON of head.  Carbonation: completed!

Wasn't expecting that...

The aroma from the bottle is a little piney, a little citrusy, just a hint of malt in the background.  The head pours thick and brown.  The beer appears almost solid black, turning a deep brown when placed against a bright light -- there's absolutely none shining through, except around the very edges of the glass!  Dark, indeed.

Deep, dark brown when exposed to te light.
Almost black otherwise.  This is some serious shit!

When tasted, there's a strong buttered biscuit flavor that should be in the background but totally isn't, with some spiciness (from the Saaz), and something else there I can't quite figure it out yet.  There's a buttery, creamy mouthfeel that's actually kind of pleasant.  The aftertaste is fresh, a little spicy, just a bit citrusy maybe.  Those hops are definitely in there, but not overwhelming.  Oddly, there's zero chocolate flavor; hopefully that will develop later.

That head calmed down after a few minutes, but a short, thick, creamy head remained through to the end, very satisfying.

What's better than head?  Head that lasts forever!

That buttered biscuit (almost butterscotch) flavor is partly from the darker malts (the biscuity part for sure), but bulk of it - that in-your-face part - is from a compound called diacetyl, an off-flavor produced during fermentation.  According to the internet, a "diacetyl rest" involving several days at a higher temperature should cause the yeast to mop up that flavor, so I've raised the temp in my fermentation chamber from about 67 to about 72, which should allow the yeast to do its thing a little more effectively.

Well I deserved that.  I hadn't intended on testing this beer for at least another week, so that's the consequence I must live with.  It's still a decent beer.  Won't win me any competitions, but I'm positive that a couple more weeks of bottle conditioning will significantly improve this beer.  If my previous batches were any indication, in about 2-4 weeks, I should expect to taste some chocolate, the diacetyl flavor should die out, and the Sorachi Ace might bust in there a bit, giving maybe a slightly spicy lemon-chocolate touch.  Or at least I can hope.

Until next time...

Can you truly bottle the soul of Apokolips?

Bottling Day!

Today, I had an unexpected day off, so took the time to bottle.

First, I brought out the sanitizer, and started the laborious process of washing and sanitizing my bottles.  I save a lot the bottles from beer that I buy for just this occasion: glass bottles can be sanitized and re-used hundreds of times!  But one of the tough parts is getting the old brewer's labels off!  So, a half hour soaking in warm, sudsy water, plus some time with a scraper, and they're generally clean.

  While they dried, I prepped the sanitizer, started sanitizing all of my tools, and drew one last sample from the fermenter.  The biscuit malt flavor is a little stronger, as are the hops (I dry-hopped with 1oz Sorachi Ace 5 days ago, bringing in a bit more citrus/lemon profile, which is now showing!)  I can tell the alcohol is higher.  My final gravity reading was 1.010 (Original Gravity was 1.058), which means my ABV at the time of bottling is approximately 6.3%.  For reference, your redneck cousin's Natty Lite clocks in around 4.2%, meaning Darkseid packs 50% more alcohol.  Most full-flavor mass market beers out there are around 5%, 26% weaker than this baby.  In fact, the Lord of Apokolips is equivalent to nearly 2.5 Michelob Ultras!  While no Barleywine, DARKSEID can take down most of your average superheroes easy.

The Blue Boy will still drink this stuff like water...

  Great!  Next step: add priming sugar.  I have a couple main options: The standard method is to add all of the priming sugar I need for 2 gallons (something like 1/2c) into a bottling bucket (any bucket at least as big as my fermenter, with a spigot in it), rack the beer from the fermenter to the bucket, and give it a whirl to mix the sugar up.  Then, just fill the sanitized bottles.  But no, I am not that efficient; I am more hardcore!  So naturally, I grabbed a sanitized funnel, and literally poured 1tsp of priming sugar into each bottle.
  After that, it gets filled with beer, and then capped.  Give it a good swirl to ensure the priming sugar is well distributed around the bottle (gives a boost to carbonation), and we're all set!


  I will be priming (carbonating) and conditioning these bottles for at least 2 weeks.  Most likely, it'll turn into a month, but either way, I should be back here in 2-3 weeks with tasting notes!

Whatchyoo gonna do with all that gunk inside that trunk?

Finally, the cleanup.  The fermenter had a lot more trub than I expected, but that's fine; it's full of nitrogen, and so are the hops!  So, into the compost you go!  Maybe we'll actually grow grass next year.

Hops bag, after 5 days of dry-hopping.  Not so dry anymore.

Anyway, things are looking good for this beer.  If it works out, I'll probably make a stronger version of it, and call it Darkseid v2.0.  The great nemesis of DC Comics deserves a killer stout or barleywine.

Oh, and one more thing... I made cold brew coffee yesterday, and then spent all evening reading about using cold brew in beer.  So, I added about 3oz concentrated cold brew to two of my bottles.  I'll let these condition at least a month, maybe two before I try them; we'll see what happens!

DARKSEID... plus COFFEE!
Is this truly the end of the world?
Probably not... but there's only one way to tell!

Darkseid Black Ale - Testing Day 001

Slimy, yet satisfying!

Stardate 72979.9, one standard Earth Week past brew date.  Taste Test #001.

Brew pours very cloudy, indicating activity still in progress (I may have jiggled the fermenter a bit before pouring, which might have knocked a little extra trub up, but it wasn't significant).  Resembles cappuccino.  Settles to a dark brown, but takes a while.

Aroma: malt and pine, with notes of chocolate

Taste: That's a little tougher to say.  There's a lot going on here.  It's not "bad", but you can tell it needs a lot more time to flesh itself out.  All of the flavors from the aroma are there, swirled together, with just a bit of heat in the back, so that alcohol is definitely working.

The hops are definitely there, though the flavor may mellow out over time.  Malt and biscuit are in the background, but noticeable: this will be no IPA.  I'll probably need to dry hop just a bit, starting next weekend most likely; might grab some whole leave Saaz to increase bite and reduce gritty trub volume.

The best news is, there's no off-flavors, so there's no worry of contamination.  Once this beer clears up a bit, and has some carbonation to crisp up the mouthfeel, I think this will be a very effective brew.  Right now, it's a bit too mellow.

Bubbling along!

I'll be checking back in maybe 2-3 weeks from now, after dry-hopping is complete.  If the flavor's on, it will be time to bottle!