Well, I cracked open a bottle of my first batch sparged all grain brew... and I would have to say it is lecker (German for tasty). I never anticipated that my first all grain would taste so good, or get brewed so easily and smoothly. This recipe is basically an IPA with EKG and Centennial hops.
I have to say that I was a little worried about using the EKGs because I have not used them in the past. But, all seemed to turn out fine.
The beer is clean, and there are zero off flavors. The bitterness is super smooth (it has no bite). The hop aroma is super noticeable when inhaled, but not overwhelming when the glass is sitting a foot and a half away from you.
The beer is cloudy, but came out the correct color. The head is long lasting, and not overly large.
The final gravity of the beer ended up being 1.008. This is a little on the dry side, but to be honest, it is not a big deal. The only downfall of this dryness is that I drink the beer faster than I really should be. Dangerous it is, due to the alcohol percentage of 7%+.
The alcohol can not be tasted, this is a sign of a good fermentation. The basement held in the low 60s, and the yeast is US-56. Both properties allowed the presence of alcohol flavor to be minimal.
I can say that this recipe is a winner. One of the downsides is that the clarity of the beer is poor. This is most likely attributed to me forgetting to put whirlfloc in it, and not boiling as hard as I could have been.
All in all, things went super well. I would like to thank "The Brewing Network", and Denny's batch sparging webpage, and all of the great beer forums out there for allowing this process to be so easy, fun, and producing of great flavored brew.
Ok, I did not win an award. But, I feel like I could not have done so well without the above mentioned resources.
