We came back from our vacation about a week ago. I am still trying to catch up at work. While my employer calls it “vacation time” it is more like an “allowed absence.” I say this because while I am away enjoying myself, nobody is here doing my work, which means that it just piles up. When I come back from my “allowed absence” I, therefore, have a lot of work yet to do.
That being said, yesterday when I got home from work, I had to try a bottle of my English Style Bitter (ESB) that I made a month or so ago. After 4 weeks in the bottle, it tastes like… A good Bitter! I am very pleased with the quality of beer that the Coopers Microbrew kit is making. Nice full body, a good bitter aftertaste, slightly more filling than the lager. Sort of like a light stout or medium ale. People liken an ESB to an IPA. I disagree, a good Bitter is more mellow than an IPA and the bitter part does not hit you until after you swallow it. Chances are, if you like an IPA you will also enjoy an ESB but the two are different experiences.
This one was enjoyed with a slice of homemade pizza.
coopers bitter and home made pizza
I could also make some bangers and mash.
The Lager has aged out very nicely, even my wife has commented on how smooth it tastes now. I would compare the lager to Yingling Lager, not the stuff that is available in bottles around here, rather the good stuff that is on tap in the local drinking establishments in Pennsylvania.
I have ordered more Cooper’s Lager and Stout and they arrived today.
coopers lager and coopers stout beer kits
I can’t decide which one should be made first. The Stout, I feel, is more of a winter drink. So perhaps I should get that one done first and into it’s bottles to start aging. The Lager also seems to do better when it ages in a cool environment, like the basement during winter. Perhaps I will wait and do the lager more toward the end of autumn, when the basement will be cooling down somewhat.
Something somebody said to me about homebrewed beer: Since it is homebrewed, it has no preservatives, which is a good quality. However, that makes the shelf life somewhat limited to around 3 months. I have also read that beer stored in plastic bottles (PET) goes bad after a while due to oxygen infiltration while beer stored in glass bottles may stay good for up to a year. I have been bottling my homebrew in re-used brown glass beer bottles with oxygen barrier bottle caps. I will set a few aside and see how it tastes after 6 months and then a year. It will be interesting to experiment with and see just how long homebrewed beer will keep. Of course, some homebrewing expert could always chime in and save me the trouble…
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