Burp Castle and the truth behind OG

The last couple days have been very good for my beer (and mead) education. Monday night we visited Petite Abeille to sample their belgian beers, of which there are many. A few of the notables:

Triple Karmeliet
Rochefort 11.3%
La Chouffe
Grimbergen Triple

And last night I went to my first meeting of the New York City Homebrewers Guild over at Burp Castle. This was mead night, and Vicky Rowe of gotmead.com shared her knowledge and her mead. The meeting was incredibly well-attended. Got to try traditional mead, Christmas mead, vanilla-ginger mead, among others (lost count). I even met a bee-keeper from Poughkeepsie!

On the education front, one of the NYCHG members, Sean, may have determined the true cause of my low OG measurements on my brews. He tasted my IPA and said he found it quite drinkable, but the mouth-feel is a bit thin, and it didn't have good head-retention. He asked what the OG was - I said about 1.037.

He said he made an IPA and the OG was about 1.058, and definitely had more body to it. So it could be that the hydrometer reading is correct, and my beer is too dilute. Sean said I should brew to the gravity not to the volume. I had been assuming that I should always make five gallons in a recipe, but on reflection, that measurement is a little arbitrary. Better to have the right concentration than a particular volume. Also, it is possible that the gallon markings on my fermenter may not be correct either. I'll have to check that.

The other useful feedback he gave me was to let the hops boil free rather than in a muslin bag. You get better hop utilization that way. No big deal if you can't strain them all out and some get in the fermenter. Since my IPA is not so hoppy, it tastes more like a pale ale. Thanks for the help, Sean!

Sean introduced me to a new resource: Brew Commune.

Ended the night at Hop Devil, to try beers from Southern Tier, Sixpoint, and Smutty Nose, comparing their summer beers, porters, and IPAs. I must admit a fondness for Sixpoint since going on their brewery tour, but all the beers were good.