Engineering Hold Pale Ale

This AIH American Pale Ale recipe kit was included in my purchase of Beginning Homebrew Kit Upgrade #3 from Adventures in Homebrewing. I selected the Fermentis Safale US-05 yeast but did not purchase any additional additives. Being my first home brewed beer in 20 years, I wanted to keep it simple. A few weeks after brewing this pale ale, I decided to call it Engineering Hold. Why? That is what are our new “fleet of the future” trains cars are on. That means we cannot run or test them on the tracks.

While I won’t review my own beer (yet), I have been handing bottles out for co-workers to try. Most are craft beer enthusiasts, who know a good pint from bad, these are also people I respect and will give me a “no holds barred” review of the beer. While still waiting for more people to comment on the beer, here are a few tidbits I have collected.

Honestly, I kept my expectations low, knowing I had previous issues (20 years ago) but most of those as I recall were self induced problems; sanitizing and temperature control being the main culprits. This time around I was more methodical, took my time, read and re-read the instructions and managed the temperature much better. There will still be growing pains, but I feel I am getting off to a good start.

SC, another co-worker didn’t provide as detailed of report as JC did, but did say, “Cheers and thank you for the beer. I am enjoying it now. I like it very much. Tastes like German beer to me.” The complaint I have was the “banana smell”, which is chemically known as isoamyl acetate. “This is a naturally occurring by-product of fermentation. Strong fruity flavours or fruity flavours that are inappropriate for the style of beer are sometimes a result of under pitching or high fermentation temperatures. As a general rule, the higher the fermentation temperature, the more esters the yeast will produce. Low oxygen levels can also help increase the production of esters.”

VT commented, “Your beer is good. Really smooth on the front end. For me a little too much bite on the back end. But overall pretty good. Thanks for letting me test it.”

One comment I read which researching isoamyl acetate pointed to the Safale US-05 yeast, but the individual who had this problem said, “Well, it turns out it was a phase. The IPA became excellent as it aged. The banana flavor completely disappeared (or became part of the background) and I learned a valuable lesson in patience.”

As the Four Brewers would say, “brew the shit out of it!” Cheers!