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Tips & Tricks
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Written by Mark Emiley
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Tuesday, 15 July 2008 19:34 |
Why should winemakers be the only people allowed to mix two batches of fermented goodness to make a product better than the sum of its parts? I recently brewed a Belgian Ale that was good and Belgian, but, you know, I don't like the Belgian character all that much. I tried mixing some scaled quantities with other batches I had going. Just trying different proportions together, just like winemakers. So, I ended up blending it with a gallon or two of an American Amber that I had fermenting at the time. A little more hop character and some nice malt profiles. The resulting beer: a good Belgian that was a little softer on the palate with a little more hop profile than normal. I entered it in the National Homebrewing Competition and it took second place in our region for Belgian Specialty Ale and went on to the finals. Just a little tinkering with a style by blending some of your batches can result in a better net product.
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