Bliss in a Glass

Thought I would put up a representative photo of my new fake Belgian ale, which I call Happy Halfwit. Sadly, a considerable portion of the head broke down before I got the shot.

This is truly amazing beer. It has a perfect balance of malt flavor, yeast esters, CO2 tingle, alcohol heat, and the weird aromas and flavors that come from Sabro hops. My brew software thinks it has a bitterness level of 33 IBU’s, which is fairly strong, but I used crystal malt to give it unfermentable sugar for sweetness, so it’s almost a dessert beer. Maybe it is a dessert beer. I could see drinking this with hot apple pie and vanilla ice cream.

I call it Happy Halfwit because the grain bill is around 37% wheat. Belgians call wheat beer “witbier” because apparently they stubbornly insist on speaking some foreign language or other. Why does everyone have to be a smartass?

The software thinks the alcohol level is 8.6%, which is fairly high. Bud comes in at 5.5%. Bud is stronger than people think, and it has to be, because if it were not, no one would buy it and gag it down.

Guinness claims 4.2%.

I got the weird glass in the picture just for heavy beers. It’s called a tulip glass because the profile is sort of like a tulip shape. The stem is supposed to help you swirl the beer to get aroma moving, and it prevents you from warming the beer with your hand. Not quite sure why the glass is so wide, but I know a wide glass will produce more aroma, since aroma is related to surface area. The glass curves in at the top to shape the head. I like a lot of head on strong ales and stouts.

You can use a brandy snifter for smaller doses. The glass in the photo holds about 16 ounces. I brewed this beer to hold a decent head, so you may really get 12 ounces once the foam is gone. That’s all you need when the beer is strong. When you drink 12 ounces of this, your face feels warm.

I serve most beers with around 12 psi of CO2. This is about like the bottle of, say, Heineken you get at a convenience store. Strong ales like more gas. I have this one at about 20.

Beer fizziness is measured in volumes. One volume means you dissolve one liter of CO2 in one liter of liquid. As I understand it, volumes are a better guide to beer fizz than pressure, because the pressure in a keg of beer will vary with the temperature. Gas tends to come out of liquid as the temperature goes up. To get the same fizziness at a higher temperatures, you need more pressure.

To have a fizzy beer that tingles your tongue, you want the CO2 to be in the beer, not the foam, when you have the beer in your glass. Obviously, you want some foam, but you have to make sure the CO2 is divided correctly between foam and beer.

It’s possible to have a glass of nearly-flat beer with a huge head on it, and it’s really disappointing.

I keep all my beers at 35 degrees because I don’t want 5 beer freezers in my kitchen. To get enough fizz from Happy Halfwit at 35, I go to 20 psi to get about 3.5 volumes of CO2. That’s a lot. A typical lager might be served at 2.5 volumes, which is around 10 psi at 35 degrees.

More than you wanted to know.

Anyway, it came out great. Not sure why it’s so dark, but this is how it looked the first time I brewed it, so not a surprise.

This one came out perfect. I can imagine making changes for fun, but this beer tastes exactly as I hoped it would.

I have an idea for a darker beer that tastes almost like a fruitcake. Like raisins and dates and cloves.

I kegged my weaker wheat beer, Wheat Privilege Ale, today. Looking forward to enjoying it over the winter. I drank a little today even though it’s still slightly flat. It’s beautiful. It could stand a little more hop flavor, but a magnificent brew. I set it to 17 psi.

Happy Halfwit is really, really nice. I’m afraid it will discourage me from writing new recipes for heavy beers.