Mike's Excellent Zero Carb Beer Adventure 🍺

[amwassil]

Experiment #9 [Jan 21 2020, 11:55 am]

Last taste. Head is still good, but retention still not quite what I’d like. I must reiterate that the mouthfeel is really great! Better than most commercial beers/ales. That’s an accomplishment.

[amwassil]

[Jan 21, 2020, 11:35 am]

In preparation for Experiment #10, I started 1 liter of cold brew in my Espro french press. A mix of 20gr of Tim Hortons French Vanilla ground coffee and 15gr of Kauai Vanilla and Macadamia Nut ground coffee in 1 liter of water, with 25gr of pomelo peel and 1gr of Himalayan pink salt. I’m going to let it brew for 24 hours and use 350gr of this coffee. I tried this Tims in my morning coffee and liked it a lot. So decided to give it a try for the beer. I’m hoping it will increase the vanilla taste.

I decided to try pomelo peel this time because I thought it might add a bit more ‘grapefruit’ flavour. It had better, because the peel is very thin, the pith very thick and bitter. If it doesn’t do what I hope, it’s not worth the effort. Pomelo is probably a late Pleistocene grapefruit: a lot of inedible, bitter pith and very little edible fruit.

[amwassil]

VExperiment #10 [Jan 22, 2020, 5:30 pm]

Base:

• 250 ml Stock - 84 V.S.O.P.
• 1750 ml filtered water, including coffee (this results in 5% ABV)

Other stuff:

• 350 gr cold brewed coffee (mix: 20gr of Tim Hortons French Vanilla and 15gr of Kauai Vanilla and Macadamia Nut ground coffee in 1 liter of water)
• 25 gr pomelo peel (brewed with the coffee)
• 10 gr Coffee Booster Collagen
• 0.7 gr Progressive Complete Collagen Unflavoured

Notes (and see following):

I’m drinking what’s left of the coffee. The pomelo peel added sort of a distinct grapefruit flavour, with a hint of bitter. I expect it will be much less in the beer. Again, the Progressive Collagen dissolved completely. I added a bit more in the hopes it will firm up the head and retention. The wort is transparent and free of sediment. Overall not quite as dark due I’m pretty sure too the medium roast of the Tims.

[amwassil]

Experiment #10 [Jan 29, 2020, 2:30 pm]

First taste. Nutty with fruity overtones, some vanilla finally and even a hint of chocolate (who woulda thought that?). Don’t like the pomelo, a little too bitter, and will go back to grapefruit peel. With the little headspace until after the first pour, getting enough CO₂ into the beer is tough. So, I’ll post a photo tomorrow with the second taste test to get a better impression of carbonation/retention.

[amwassil]

Experiment #10 [Jan 30, 2020, 5:00 pm]

Second taste. In addition to what I said in my previous post, the mouthfeel of this is stupendous! It’s almost like you could chew it. The pomelo is not so noticeably bitter any more, but I still think it will be better with grapefruit peel instead. Overall the taste is very good. It’s distinctive enough that you know you’re not drinking something you’ve had before. Yet still within the range of acceptable variation. I think this mix with grapefruit rather than pomelo is going to be a winner.