Pints: Northy Lite

After brewing the 5 gallon batch of W00tstout, I quickly realized that having 5 whole gallons of high gravity beer with long aging requirements is not quite as good as it sounds.  When I got the Northy 12 kit from northernbrewer.com, a 10%ish belgian quad ale, I decided to do things a little differently.  Half of the batch I would follow the instructions using half of the ingredients and then dilute it, giving 5ish gallons of east drinking 5% beer.  I would then use the yeast slurry from the first batch to ferment the second, full strength batch. 

In the end, this worked out very well.  The "Northy Lite", as I call it, has an awesome reddish amber color and is very easy to drink, thought it does have a few problems.  For this batch I both keg carbonated and lagered it.  I was very happy with the carbonation level, and as an added bonus, it was ready to drink as soon as it was cold.  As for the lagering, well, a cold garage can be nice every once in a while.  Also, I just want to say that while I have enjoyed every beer I've used Wyeast 3787 for, it is a pain in the ass and it makes a huge mess every time. That said, tasting notes and pictures are below.

Notes:

1/9/2016:  This batch was brewed by using half the materials and doubling the water volume. Aerated with the immersion blender.  Gravity was 1.05 for the dark one and 1.046 for the clear one.  Fermented with Wyeast 3787, it will probably be messy.  One smack pack per fermenter.  Fermented at ambient temp of 68F

1/11/2016:  blowouts on both fermenters.  Should have gotten fermcap(?) to cut back the foam.  Put over heating grate after blowouts where finished.

1/20/2016:  moved to cold garage for cold crashing.  Gravity is right at 1.01.

1/22/2016: kegged.  added 3oz of simplicity syrup and held at room temperature for 2 weeks for natural carbing.

2/12/2016:  put on gas at 15psi and checked carbonation. It was good.

2/19/2016:  tasting.  Quite clear, it is a deep red color with a fairly persistent white head.  Smells like a Belgian beer does, a little musty with a hint of fruit and bubblegum.  Slightly tart, probably from the carbonation.  Hints of bubblegum, fruit, and burnt sugar.  Easy drinking, fairly smooth and light mouthfeel.  Bit of a bitter aftertaste though, not exactly unpleasant, but not great either.  I don't notice any hops in it.

3/30/2016: disconnecting keg.  Served 252oz so far.

4/24/2016: put back on gas.  Might have more hops aroma now, which is kind of weird.  Still pours clear and good lacing.  The bitter after-taste noted earlier is gone.  It is even smoother now.  Might have a slightly drier feel as well.  Hint of graininess in the after-taste.  Nice carbonic bite, very refreshing.  Really tasty at this point.