An update on the belgian

Despite my previous concerns about the belgian tripel I decided to stick with it and give it some more time. The general concensus of the people I asked at brew-club, was that the off flavours I didn't like were probably caused by stressed yeast. I think I may have under-pitched or something. If that's the case it could be that the yeast will clean up the beer and it'll taste better in time. Fingers crossed anyway.

So I bottled the beer in the small belgian beer bottles I had and boxed them up ready for storage. With such a strong beer I should probably allow it a good few months to condition properly anyway. I think I was just a bit impatient.

I bottled my American IPA #2 at the same time, which means the kitchen is now full of beer!

The first couple I tried in the first few weeks didn't taste great. Quite a few of what I would call off-flavours. Not very descriptive I know. There was a dry, bitter finish to the beer with some astringency. The worst part though, was the fact it gave me an instant headache! Kind of like sniffing marker pens at school, which I'm guessing is caused by higher alcohols in the beer. This hasn't given me much hope for the future, but it is interesting to see how the conditioning process rounds off the flavours.

Well, it looks nice at least! (Pardon the miller glass)

Happily, the most recent bottle of this that I opened didn't give me an instant headache! It's also carbonated more than the earlier tasters. I think this helps 'lift' the flavour of the beer, making it seem less sweet and stodgy. While I think this still has a little way to go to become a good beer, it is at least heading in that direction.