Overview
Xenophon Passage
Overview
Germinating and Drying
Brew Day (All Lentil Beer and Pseudo-Xenophon)
Fermenting and Tasting
Brew Day #2: With the Floaty Bits!
Tasting Day #2 is in the books, folks. Indeed, floaty bits were in attendance.
I am feeling a bit zany today and I decided to do the tasting FIRST followed by a description of the fermentation.
Aroma: Smells like a Berliner Weiss that was spilled on a malting floor
Appearance: Hazy, hazy golden. Bits were afloat
Taste: The initial flavor is pure lemon but with absolutely zero sourness or tartness; just the oddest lemon flavor. Then, the hefty malt backbone smacks its C7 vertebra in your face and you are reminded that you are drinking a grain bubble-tea. With the smell of the beer, I was at first concerned that there might be an infection. The absolute dearth of tartness, however, suggests otherwise. Also, the hints of apple that were present in tasting #1 are still there, but are much less pronounced. It is much drier than PXB#1.
I gave this to my non-beer loving friend to try. He allowed me to reproduce his response on this forum:
“That is so horrible. . .” [pauses to cringe] “. . . like rotten grain . . .” [pauses to cringe at his memory of drinking it] “. . . like like mealworms at the bottom of a corn-crib.”*
*he is from a farming family
This will not be a mainstay brew in my fridge. I will see if spontaneous fermentation will change my opinion in upcoming HBW posts. But, it is a swing-and-a-miss for this second creation.
Fermentation
Fermentation was much more vigorous than the previous brew. The brew also gave off a very strong bready aroma that is still present in the remaining liquid. During much of the fermentation, all of the grains/pulses were floating at the top rather than a visible krausen (none was had!). By day 6, the grains settled to the bottom of the fermentation bucket and occasional gurgles emanated from the bottom. I will let this sit a few days longer to see if I can ring out any extra gravity points.
The inclusion of the grains in the fermentation also seems to have soaked up much of the liquid. This yielded a very small amount of drinkable product. It was also quite difficult to extract from the bucket without pulling out scoopfuls of grain.
OG: 1.043
FG: 1.009
ABV: 4.46%
Apparent Attenuation: 78%
Conclusions
I liked PXB#1 much better than this second iteration. I look forward to the next round of brewing/fermentation. Now, I need a good craft beer to cleanse the pallet. . .
BREWING CLASSICAL STYLES 
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