Hanging it up to dry

I felt it was time to try Belgian Gold again. In the last weeks I have posted about the low flocculating yeast I used for the beer, and the issues that had been giving me. I also posted about a possible solution – bottling it. I split the first bottle with a friend. The bottle we had was put in the refrigerator almost immediately after I had filled it. My primary objective was to clear the beer, and leaving it refrigerated promotes this. The beer did pour clearer, but very far from the crystal-look I’m going for. The carbonation was less than when straight from the keg. The beer lost carbonation in the transfer, and did not ferment any further. Overall the beer was better, not quite what I was going after though.

This evening I put a bottle in the fridge for a couple hours. This bottle had now been at elevated temperatures for around a week. When I opened the growler this time, there was a distinctive pop. This beer had definitely fermented further. Exciting. I poured this beer as if I had never poured home brew or bottle conditioned beer ever before, perhaps due to my excitement. In other words, I poured sediment in my glass, just the thing I was looking to avoid.

The beer is definitely drier and the flavours are much more balanced now. I’m curious if it will dry out further from the specimen I have before me now. Also, due to the re-fermentation, the carbonation level was spot on out of the bottle. Excelllllent.

For tonight’s tasting-

Aroma: Quite sweet and fruity – citrusy (but not from hops). There is also a very earthy element. The earthy smell oddly reminds me of when I had an iguana when I was younger. Very close to the smell of it’s freshly cleaned aquarium – specifically the substrate. It smells exactly like the bark I used (this stuff). Strange that I would even think of that – it was a long time ago…

Taste: Still sweet. Almost taste like a Belgian wit that was light on the coriander. Lots of citrus again. A bit of spiciness and a very slow bitter finish. The bitterness is low, but present, and lengthy too. Not picking up much alcohol flavours. Citrus flavours cover alcohol quite a bit I find. I estimated 8.5% ABV so it really should be more noticeable to me. Perhaps evidence that this beer is still under attenuated… I wish I had a hydrometer in Guelph. We’ll see if tonight’s is much different than one next week.

Palate: A lovely liveliness to this now. Thin bodied. Tastes sweeter than the real Duvel, but also I feel like it is thinner in body. This doesn’t make much sense to me –  more residual sugars means a fuller body. Perhaps it’s in the water (actually), or I have a horrible palate (I hope not).