Cascade Report, Centennial Bottling, and Columbus Discovers My Brewpot

I got to chill and try the Cascade Experiment this weekend!

Because of some time constraints, I didn't get to brew the Columbus until Tuesday, but the Centennial was in bottles as scheduled.  The bottling went VERY smoothly, although I didn't get many bottles (4).  I think more wort got boiled off this time.  I'm going to have to keep an eye on this.

I was pretty surprised at how well the Cascade turned out, and have decided this is the best hobby for someone like me.  Its relatively easy, and extremely forgiving.  I was convinced of contamination after the bottling fiasco, but its not bad.  There is some detectable "off" flavor, but I might be imagining it.  For this reason, I may run it back after the other batches just in case there was some difference in character due to the mistakes.

Here is my report on the Cascade-Hopped Experiment:

Bitterness:  Characteristic late, back of the tounge, almost after-taste like bitterness.  If I were to bitter with these hops again, I would cut back a little.  Maybe only .15 or even .10 oz. (.75 oz. and .5 oz. respectively for a 5 gallon batch).  I would rather taste the bitterness, if that makes any sense.

Flavor:  Everyone says "citrusy" when describing this hop, and they aren't kidding.  That't the best word I could come up with.  Bright and crisp in flavor.  Love it.  Just about the right amount too....20 oz. (1 oz for a 5 gallon batch).

Aroma: Eh...  Since some of the yeast cake got kicked up during bottling, I'm thinking this is what suffered.  Not at all like the flavor.  I would not use this for aroma hopping again without a second experiment.

This is what the Columbus brew looked like:

• 24 c Pocono Springs bottled water brought to rolling boil. (moved up from 20 to compensate for the boil-off)
• 1 lb Muntons Extra Light DME stirred into pot.
• Wort brought back to boil, and .20 oz ( 2.8 AAU) Columbus hop pellets added.  60 minute timer started.
• At 45 minute mark (15 min left in boil) .20 oz (2.8 AAU) Columbus hop pellets added to boil.
• At 55 minute mark (5 min left in boil) .20 oz (2.8 AAU) Columbus hop pellets added to boil
• At 60 minute mark, brew pot is removed, covered, and placed in freezer to cool.
• When wort reads 70 degrees F, wort transferred to fermenter, and 11.5 g Fermentis brand Safale us-05 also added to fermenter.
• Fermenter closed and shaken for 1 min.