One of my favorite things about fermentation is all the crazy things that happen when you change something or when you let things happen on their own.

The most recent batch was a wild ride of learning about yeast and how it functions in brewing. The yeast was riding a great sweet wave for a long time, then after pressing it took a sharp turn to the dry side.

Not what was expected, but an opportunity to try something out. I bought a nitro growler for my wife to make cold brew at home and I wanted to try nitro sake. So I took the batch, that wasn’t quite right, and pumped it full of nitrogen. It started off with a great pear nose and flavor on the front end and a mild grapefruit finish…and a lot dryer that’s I’d like it to be. After pumping the nitrogen in and letting it sit for a day it mellowed out the grapefruit and really pumped up the pear. It smoothed out the mouthfeel and gave it some effervescence.

It was a fun experiment. Something I’ll definitely play with again.