I’ve had my Imperial Walker IPA on tap now for about 6 weeks … and I’m underwhelmed to say the least.  Don’t get me wrong … this is a good beer … it’s just not great.  I used both my homegrown hops AND the hops I brought back from my visit to Belgium.  I think I picked my homegrown hops to early last year and they just didn’t have the alpha acid to give them the kick I wanted.

This is a balanced (high octane) beer … it just doesn’t have the hops kick I was expecting.  It is actually over 9% ABV … so it is an Imperial … it needed more kick from the hops.  Here are some pictures of the transfer from secondary fermentation to kegging.  Notice the picture that shows the final gravity … yes… I had an excellent mash efficiency (78.2%) and a great attenuation (82.2%) … OG was 1.082 and FG was 1.013.  Wow.

Oh … and check out the “spent hops” picture … I did dry hop this beer … and, although (as I stated earlier) it didn’t come out quite how I wanted it to, the spent hops still looked great!  Great effect … just not great results!  Oh well … it is still a very nice beer when I come home from work!  Next brew: A Wit Bier!

Enjoy,

Beer Mentor