Tasting - LowTech Best Bitter v1

LowTech Best Bitter v1

Not a terrible first attempt, I do plan on some future changes, first being the yeast selection.  I would also drop the amount of chocolate malt used for colouring or perhaps use a different specialty malt all together.

Appearance

Pours darker than the software estimated 9 SRM.  Closer to a deep copper.  The picture (right) wasn't taken in the best lighting and appears darker then is actually is.  Suffers from chill haze which is surprising since I got a real nice chill on this beer plus my hop screen did a bang up job of filtering out cold break.  I used whirfloc as well.  Not sure what else I could do besides using some post boil finings (gelatin).

Head retention is alright.  Hangs around for a short while before settling back to a 1/4" lacing.  Carbonation medium-low, a touch too high for the style.

Aroma

Nice kettle aroma, more than I anticipated!  I also get a very slight fruitiness but would like to smell more yeast esters on my next attempt.  Very, very slight breadiness.  Overall, very pleasant.  I might need to add EKG to my next hop order.

Taste

LowTech Best Bitter v1

There is a slight mineral flavour that I do not care for.  I believe this is quite indicative of English yeast's.  The ale is weighted towards hops and thus the caramel flavours from the crystal malt have been somewhat masked.  Mouth feel is what I'd consider medium, too heavy for the style.  When I brew again, will reduce late hops to try and bring malts forward a touch  The bitterness is about right, perhaps a touch high but not much.

Drinkablility

Definitely a step in the right direction.  The OG was too high for a Best, I'd like the hops and malts to balance better.  The colour is too dark and I might need to consider some finings post boil.  However, the beer drinks quite nicely, it passed the wife test!  For my next attempt, I'll up the crystal malt slightly and change up the colouring malts (chocolate) to lighten the colour a touch.  6/10.

Update April 24th

Not sure if we had been drinking this particular ale a little too young, but I began noticing significant improvement over the past few days.  The reported breadiness from the WLP022 started to really come through.  It did a stellar job of accentuating the maltiness of the MO not to mention enhancing the caramel notes from the English crystal.  It also dropped clear as a bell.  The sad part is, I served the keg at a birthday party this weekend past and only manged to save three pints before the keg blew!  Thankfully I have a second batch of 20L still in the primary... gotta love 10 gallon batches!