Sunday, March 13, 2005

First Taste

I tapped into my first bottle of home-brewed rootbeer.

Drum roll please...

I could easily see the yeast sediment in the bottle, so I treated the bottle carefully so as to keep the yeast settled. When I flipped open the top I heard a very satisfying pop of carbonation. The rootbeer had the familiar caramel color, but it was a little cloudy, and I could smell a slight yeasty smell. The carbonation bubbles were nice and small, just what I'd expect in a soda.

But what about the taste? Sadly, it tasted a little yeasty. Not too yeasty to drink, but a little different than I would like. The rootbeer flavor was fairly good, a little bitter - I could have used a little more sugar. I think I'm going to let the rootbeer sit for a while in the fridge, as that's supposed to help reduce the yeast flavor.

Next time I'll use less yeast and a different sweetener - probably either honey or brown sugar, and I'll use a little more than this last batch.

No comments: