Brew notes here
Two weeks of bottle conditioning, so it’s time for the taste test!
As usual, my official Colorado Avalanche beer mug holds the full 22 ounces:
Head Retention: Good. Large bubbles in the foam.
Clarity: Good. Some slight cloudiness, but very acceptable for a homebrew system that does not include any kind of filtering step.
Color: Almost a red ale color. The BJCP guidelines specify “amber to dark brown”, so I think I hit the target.
Carbonation: Medium to High, although it droped off considerably before I could finish the mug. I used 4 ounces of corn sugar for the bottle conditioning, I’m guessing that 3 ounces would have been more “true” to Scottish Ale carbonation levels.
Flavor: Good! The hoppiness was at the correct level, and the malt came through as expected.
Overall: I think this one needs a little more bottle conditioning, as the initial storage temperature was a bit low, 63 F to 65 F. I expect this batch to improve with time. Cheers!