Waiting for one from you Ken on the beers I left you with Sunday.

What'd you leave him?

The IIPA I brewed in August, A Simcoe, Citra, Columbus and Summit hopped all grain.




I know it's not the best glass to drink an IIPA out of, but it was all I had chilled.

I've still gotta crack one of the beers you gave me. Haven't had the right night yet!

Nick wrote:I've still gotta crack one of the beers you gave me. Haven't had the right night yet!

I drank the 22oz'r I was saving for Big Mike on Sunday. The hops notes were dulled by the chill, but once I made it to the halfway point they woke up and began tickling my nose with a grapefruity pine.

I used a varied grain bill on this one and the maltiness comes through pretty strong although the sweetness is not intense, just the body and aroma.

Love this beer, will brew it again with a tweaked grain bill (lighter) and a heavier dry hop schedule.

The beer itself was good, but it gave me a slight headache. I get the same type of headache from drinking wine. Not intense, just a dull ache. That's why I won't drink wine any more. Drank one on one day and the other a few days later. Same result each time.

Is there something used that's common to both? Something in the fermentation process maybe? I do have a slight intolerance to gluten I'm finding out. Maybe that? I refuse to give up wheat based products.

Otherwise, it kind of reminded me of German beers for some reason, but not as bitter. Very smooth, I liked that part of it, with a bit of a bite to it. If it weren't for the dull ache, I could see drinking this on a regular basis.

Ken G wrote:The beer itself was good, but it gave me a slight headache. I get the same type of headache from drinking wine. Not intense, just a dull ache. That's why I won't drink wine any more. Drank one on one day and the other a few days later. Same result each time.

Is there something used that's common to both? Something in the fermentation process maybe? I do have a slight intolerance to gluten I'm finding out. Maybe that? I refuse to give up wheat based products.

Otherwise, it kind of reminded me of German beers for some reason, but not as bitter. Very smooth, I liked that part of it, with a bit of a bite to it. If it weren't for the dull ache, I could see drinking this on a regular basis.

Could be some diacetyl compounds in there from a slightly higher ferment temp than recommended (I fermented at 70 not the 67 to 68 recommended). Could be some fusel alcohols too, I don't remember which one was the headache causing compounds... I think the compounds in wine that give people headaches are the sulfites. I think they add them to the bottles to keep the wine from going bad or something. I'm no expert. I've heard that some tannin extraction in dark beers will give folks headaches too. I mashed this one pretty low temp (154) so it's doubtful, but like I said, I'm new to this...

It also could be the fact that the beer is over 8% ABV... If you don't have much of a tolerance a quick rise and fall in BAC could give you a headache too.

I have a wheat ale in conditioning right now, first test is tomorrow, you might like that one, it's much lighter. However if you suspect you have a gluten allergy I would not recommend drinking this.

The next beer I am making is another heavy IIPA, similar to the ones I gave you. This one would knock your socks off though, I don't think you could handle it.

After that I want to try an American Pale, something like 7 C's or Solemn Oath's Snaggletooth Bandana.

Guiness Stout is one of my favorites, I love dark heavy beers.

I'll bet it's the alcohol. I hardly drink anything anymore so it tends to go right to my head.

Getting old doesn't help. Tolerance level on a lot of things seems to be lower. I mean, food and drink.

The gluten thing as far as I know keeps me from losing that extra 20 pounds. I am not giving up good bread and pasta. I'll put up with the extra weight. I'll have to look into what else it causes and then decide. That may be the deciding factor.

When you go commercial, I'll be your tester for headaches.

Ken G wrote:Guiness Stout is one of my favorites, I love dark heavy beers.

I'll bet it's the alcohol. I hardly drink anything anymore so it tends to go right to my head.

Guinness is actually about 4.5% abv and rather light bodied.