The Bazweigan - bitter and dry like an angry desert

The color was gorgeous, the dextrose worked overtime to turn it into a bubbling delight.

But in the end it was three times as bitter as it should have been and tasted like a dry barren landscape. What the ###k happened with this one??

The mathematics were solid

I took all the volumes from the 21 litre recipe and calculated them down to a 5 little one using a handy small batch conversion process. 

Great in theory but probably should have used chaos maths or something as even with the reduced amounts, it was far too bitter. 

Using the Wort app on Android (enjoying it so far) the values I plugged in showed that it missed the mark. 

By a lot:

See that red? Not ideal

Just slightly below on ABV and target starting gravity...but then that bitterness. Oh dear.

At least I got the colour right..

Next time I'm plugging things in first and then fine tuning til it's right to brew. Save time complaining later..

On a blonde desert highway..

The dryness could probably be attributed to losing a lot of the volume in the boil (not enough water). Oh and also hoping there was enough favour in the initial hops addition after flame out. Which there wasn't.

I took out the bag when things went into the secondary and didn't think to add any more or refresh the bag for another spin. 

This also meant there was very little aroma. Disappointment all round.

What I did like. And learnt.

The dextrose versus the carbonation drops are now a no brainer. It'll be the sugar scoop the entire way now.

I remembered to condition them in the bottles at room temp for two weeks. This would have helped.

Secondary fermenting helped nail the clarity.

The colour was amazing. Super proud of this one. 

But after all that...the review goes on.

Sigh.

So what am I smelling here?: Really not much. The aroma police have provided a full crackdown on this one.

What am I tasting here?: Dry, bready malts. Swamped by a linger leaning to the heavy side of bitterness. Precious little else.

Initial thoughts: This is hard drinking. Boring drinking but also hard drinking as each sip doesn't make it taste any better. It's not spit it out instantly material but it's not even heat things up by half a degree excitement. It's bitter boring ale.

Baz (the father in law)'s thoughts: 'It reminds me of a beer my dad drank back in the 70's...' I'm still working out if that's a compliment or not..

Overall: There was one bottle that had a little of the trub in it causing it to be the most flavorsome of the set. Still didn't mask the two and a half x bitterness that's taken residence. This one works but you really wouldn't want to serve it to anyone..

1.5 out of 5 good ideas.

Oh well, onto the next one..

TWO WEEKS LATER ON AND A REJIG OF THE RECIPE

I tried drinking the last one in the fridge but it was awful. How the hell did this one end up so bad? Well after brewing my latest Red-X Gone Give it to ya, I sat down in plugged in the values I'd converted from the Brewdog recipe book but changed the timings of the bittering hops. All it says on the recipe is to add the Amarillo and the Simcoe at the start, which I assumed meant at the boil kicks off.

However changing the times to see how it bitterness would be affected, I discovered that if i put those exact amounts of hops in but not at the start, but at the 45 minute mark - I'd hit the IBU nail on the head.

Always do the maths kids, save yourself some heartache in the future.