So bad its good?

Northern Brewer General
1

I just cracked a beer I really wanted to dump early on, but stuck with for giggles.

Figured I’d make a super light summer pale ale. Build up a batch of yeast for a later IPA.

1). My phone version of brewing software got glitchy, so I lost the original design when I got to the LBS. Turns out my memory wasn’t great, so my color was stupid light.

  1. After mashing in, the braid in my batch sparge cooler collapsed. Swore, stirred, squeezed, did what I could to get wort.

  2. Due to lousy lauter, got super cloudy beer with crappy efficiency.

  3. Added gelatin to clear cloudiness. Nope. Still cloudy.

  4. Got about 50% attenuation out of Wyeast 1272.

So what’s it like? Freakin delightful. Delicious, if ugly. This is my August patio crusher. Going to enter it into a competition.

2

I’ve never really found that the clarity of the wort relates to the clarity of the finished beer.

3

Sure… that makes sense. I guess I was taking the rather simplistic view of “cloudy in/cloudy out” but you’re right. I’ve had some muddy wort that ended up dropping very clear before. I must have borked something else along the way…

4

Drink it out of a stein, problem solved! Or a red solo cup. :mrgreen:

5

Come to think of it, the last time I used 1272 the beer came out extremely murky… and is to this day. And I split half the batch with another yeast, and that half is crystal clear. Hmm…

6

Put it in the fridge and wait a few weeks to see if the haze will drop out. The way I figure it though, it’s nice to look at but better to drink.

7

50% attenuation? I’m struggling to understand how it can even be drinkable.

8

I know, it’s really weird. We’re talking 3.2 near beer, with body and mouthfeel, and the Amarillo hops just come through really cleanly. It makes no sense, and I’ll likely never be able to screw up in exactly this way again.