First of all I can hear you cry, “Why haven’t you posted in a couple of months?” The honest answer is life! Sadly it’s just got in the way and it’s too easy to get out of the habit of posting. It’s not a great excuse but it is the truth. I hope you will forgive me.
Anyway enough of that. Lets get on with talking about beer!
Sometime ago, I brewed and bottled a Workhorse IPA, purchased from the wonderful people at Get ‘Er Brewed. As always, I hasten to add that I am not sponsored by this supplier so this is a completely unbiased review. However should they ever wish me to review anything of theirs, I would be more than happy to!
So to recap, this should come out to about 4.65%. I managed to overshoot this, giving me a heady 5.78%. I also aimed for about 2.4 volumes of fizzyness! This is a bit more than what is normally suggested for this type of beer (usually 1.5 – 2.0 volumes), but it’s what I went with.
So, how does it taste, I hear you scream?!?! Well, alright. Please note that all beers taste “alright” but the clue to its rating is in the intonation of “alright”. In this instance, I am saying “alright” whilst nodding my head and kind of turning the ends of my mouth down by way of an appreciative gesture.
The flavour is nice. Very drinkable. What I would describe as a good ‘session ale’. But, there is a but. It is a bit on the thin side. The upside is that it has the correct amount of fizz for its thinness. If that makes sense? It’s not too dissimilar to Newcastle Brown Ale, and I mean that in a good way. I have spent many hours drinking Newcastle Brown Ale. It was a stalwart of my student days.
So what could be done to improve it? Whilst I have been brewing for a number of years, I have only been brewing all-grain kits for a relatively short time and you never stop learning.
After a bit of internet research, there are a lot of opinions around ‘mouthfeel’, or body, and what can be done to improve it. There are a number of recurring suggestions such as raising mash temps or adding rolled oats. I think I might need to check my temperatures via means of a thermometer and not rely on what the mash tun states. Funnily enough if I had tried to correct the opening gravity, It would have involved watering down the mash to drop the figure, potentially making it thinner.
Overall, what are my thoughts? It’s a good solid beer, that I would be interested to see if I can make better by improving my brewing process.
Would I recommend it? Yes. It’s a nice simple recipe that produces a very drinkable beer (even if you aren’t a great or experienced brewer), that goes down well.
What would I do differently? I’d like to hit the correct opening gravity and improve the body if I do this again. I’ve never used the same kit twice but I’m tempted to in this instance as I think the simplicity of this beer lends itself well to making minor tweaks in an effort to improve how I make beer.
Well I hope this has been informative. If you have any questions, comments or advice, please do not hesitate to get in touch!
