Just tried out the brew that I got on special - $1 for the LPO kit if I bought the Milk
Stout kit. I’m really more in to the darker beers, but I couldn’t resist the $1 for an extra kit, so I ordered it.
Now I know why I’d rather stick to the darker beers - I’m not really fond of sweet beers, so I don’t think I’ll be buying or brewing many Belgians. I look at these sweet beers as being more of a girly beer (NOT to offend anyone, I’m just an old duffer who likes his beer dark and bitter!). A. Did I like it? No, not too particularly much, but as long as I’ve got bottles left, I’ll drink it and/or give it to visitors! B. Would I buy it again? Only if I got the same kind of deal - $1 plus the full price on another kit - hopefully the other kit would be a Stout, Porter, or IPA. C. This is a brew that I could give to visitors, so I could save my Porters and Stouts for myself - sound selfish? Yeah, but I’d enjoy the English brews while they were enjoying an exotic Belgian - good trade-off!
Same thing here at home brew. More. Types of ale. Or ipa. For my self. I do like hoppy beer. One of my fav beers to brew and drink a irish ale. Did brew a stout few weeks ago came out nice. For my wife she does. Like. More. Orange citrus flav beer. Like the kama citra. But at the brewery do brew different kind of beers. Just did yesterday. A belgian saison.
Been a while since I brewed that one, but I don’t remember it as particularly sweet. For most Belgians, the dryer, the better. They do require some additional attention to temps to make the yeast do the right thing though.
Maybe yours was just under attenuated. What was your FG?
Still, if it’s not your style, that’s fine too. Brew what you like to drink.
Belgian style isn’t sweet but stouts are IMO. Never had petite orange though. As far as a ladies beer around here the women love the stouts and porters and I do also. It’s all good
Well folks, SWMBO thought it was sweet too, and she wouldn’t drink more than a sip to taste it … I haven’t tried making a sweet Stout yet, and maybe the milk Stout will be sweet, IDK! That will be two brews for giving to visitors ;). I’m kind of a ‘seat of the pants’ brewer, and don’t do all the fancy stuff, like worry about the water, minerals etc., but I know what tastes good to me and what doesn’t. We heat with wood, so keeping temps constant for fermentation is a grab-bag, especially with this Winter! So far, after years of on and off brewing, all of my brews have been acceptable to me, and, since I’m a hundred miles from nowhere, I don’t have to share much of my brews. That being said, the few times I’ve shared with others (even brews that went crazy for one reason or another), I’ve been given compliments, rather than boooos.
I just wanted to mention my opinion of the kit, and, as far as the ladies tastes, I wasn’t trying to offend, like it says above. Maybe it’s the generation I grew up in, who knows? SWMBO hates Stouts and Porters because of the roasty bitterness, but likes the hoppy flavors in IPAs.
I was out in Oregon last year and couldn’t hardly find a Stout or a Porter, only IPA’s and the usual big brewery beers. I guess it’s what-ever the people like in certain areas, dark or light, sweet or bitter - the good thing about homebrewing, if you don’t like what’s on the shelves at the supermarket/convenience store, you can make what pleases you and not worry about what the masses around you like ;). Thanks for the comebacks!
I’m not doubting your beer turned out sweet. What I was trying to say is that the yeast may not have finished converting all the sugar to alcohol. So too sweet, not boozy enough.
If the yeast stalled, and the beer is REALLY too sweet, you might be at risk of bottle bombs. If you dont know the final gravity, there’s really no way to tell, so maybe store that case inside a garbage bag just to be safe…
On the other hand, I think most extract kits turn out sweeter than the all grain equivalent, so maybe you just don’t like the amount that’s there.
If you really don’t like sweet beers though milk stouts are supposed to be sweet, so maybe cut back on the lactose that came with the other kit. It’s there to sweeten the final beer.
Thanks for the warning, it contains 1 lb. of lactose, so whaddya think if I’ll cut the lactose in half?
OR, maybe I’ll just leave out the lactose and brew a chocolate stout! After all, most milk stouts are just a stout with some lactose thrown in, if you look at some of the recipes - not much different!
These will probably be the last extract/partial mash kits I buy … I was visiting my son in Tenn. a couple of years ago and there was a peanut butter beer from Ga that he wanted to try, I couldn’t get the first bottle down … it was like drinking a peanut-flavored mead to me!
When I say this LPO is sweet, I’m not talking sugary sweet, just kind of a sweet–ish backtaste and aftertaste. My idea of sweet may be different than others, I don’t have great taste buds, nor much of a sense of smell due to some mistakes and overindulgences in my misspent youth. The OG was supposed to be 1052, but the hydrometer said 1062. It finished at 1008. I know, I’m weird - but I like beers that are bitter, not sour, but roasty bitter (lotsa black patent!). Obviously, I don’t enter my beers in contests, etc. because they would probably be thrown out by the judges - lol.
