Batch Two

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I've been pretty busy lately and just haven't gotten to the blog. In any case, I've made a second batch of beer. This time I tried the Irish Stout, again from The Beer Machine company.

During the brewing process, I had a lot of trouble with the machine's seals. There was a slow leak somewhere that I couldn't seem to fix. As a result, it couldn't maintain more than 4 or 5 PSI all through the fermentation phase, and then after I moved the machine to the fridge when I was supposed to, it wouldn't maintain any pressure for more than half an hour or so. I thought at first that it was the seal around the top cap, but it might be the seal around the carbonation unit as well. I couldn't quite figure it out, and it was a little frustrating.

Anyways, on to the tasting.

TYPE: Beer Machine Irish Stout

APPEARANCE: Very dark, pretty much black, like you would expect a stout to look. Because of the problems with the seal, the beer was completely flat, so the beer didn't bubble at all, and what little head there was dissipated quickly.

AROMA: Smelled faintly sweet, like molasses, as you'd expect a stout to smell. Still an ever-so-slight sour smell though. (But not nearly as bad as that American Lager first batch).

TASTE: The first time I tasted it, as the beer hit my tongue, I got the initial flavour more of a dark lager, not heavy like a stout should be. Vague molasses flavour and a bit of hops. But then the sourness hit, although like the aroma, the sourness wasn't as strong as with the first batch. Also, no carbonation bubbles, as mentioned before. As the beer warmed up though, the sourness seemed to subdue slightly, and made it almost drinkable... as far as slightly-sour-beer-flavoured-flat-water goes.

OVERALL: I still wouldn't classify this batch as a success. An improvement, yes, but not a success. I called the customer support line for The Beer Machine and they said that it's possible the water I'm using might not be good enough. Even though it is municipal tap water, which they recommend to use, I don't know how old the pipes are which bring the water to my apartment, nor the actual sink itself. So while I'm sure it's safe to drink (I've been drinking the water for 3 years and I'm still fine), it could be just off enough to sabotage my beer. They recommended next time I either boil the water for 10 minutes and then let it cool, or buy distilled water. I might go for the distilled water to see if it really makes a difference.