Kegged: Belgian Golden Pine

I kegged the Belgian Golden Pine (I kinda dig the name of the first spruce beer) earlier tonight.  Check out the recipe and brew day here. 

The first pour came out pretty good.  Strong Belgian yeast notes, malty back bone and a spice that lies in the background.  Something I think I will probably change in the future, add a bit more spruce.  The two ounces that were part of the original recipe disappear a bit more than I would like.  Though I can tell they are in there somewhere, if you didn’t know to look for them it would be easy to over look their presence. 

This beer also finished out a bit higher than I would like as well.  Though it is sitting at a little over 7% it is a bit sweeter than I would like.  The main reason for this was the experimental nature of the ferment.  I wanted to see how the yeast would react to higher fermentation temperatures, so I fermented this one in our kitchen where it would be affected by the ambient temperature.  The problem I ran into was for a very short time we were still hitting record highs (but staying roughly around mid to high 70s) but then it switched and we dropped down to high 60s.  The change in temperature was enough to halt the yeast. 

My final gravity ended up around 1.018 but I am pretty sure if the temp would have stayed steady I would have hit closer to 1.012.  This would have given me a final alcohol closer to 8% as well as a slightly drier beer.  I also think the pine is hiding a little behind the sweetness.  Lesson learned, the next time I brew this I will ensure that the temp stays a bit more stable to give the yeast a better environment to do their job. 

In the end it came out pretty decent and after a couple more pours it should clear up nicely.  For now, I have some pints to drink so I can clear a space for this one to go on a tap.