Wednesday, November 16, 2011

The Dark One.2 Tasting

I brewed this oatmeal stout in mid-October after having done a pretty bad oatmeal stout earlier this year. This version turned out pretty well, and I think I learned my lesson about water treatment in dark beers.

Served on tap at about 45 degrees in a nonic pint glass.

Appearance:
Pours black with some reddish-brown highlights at the edges of the glass. Clarity is good, but you could hardly tell in such a dark beer. A dense, two-fingered, mocha-colored head stays for a couple of minutes and maintains a thin foam throughout. No lacing.

Aroma:
Pretty subdued aroma. Some chocolate and roasted coffee. Maybe some fruitiness, but not much else.

Flavor:
Good malt flavor. Clean and mellow. Mostly chocolate. No hop flavor, diacetyl, or yeast flavors. Sweetish balance.

Mouthfeel: Nice, medium body. Again, slightly over carbonated for my tastes. No noticeable carbonic bite, but the high carbonation stings my tongue and detracts from what should be a really creamy, velvety beer.

Overall: Decent beer. The carbonation is a definite issue for me. Cold steeping the roasted grains seems to give a really mellow character and subdue the roastiness. This could really use some more roast.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Pumpkin Porter Tasting

I brewed this Pumpkin Porter in early October for a post-Halloween Halloween party that me and Michelle were having at our apartment. It turned out pretty good and everyone seemed to like it.

Served on tap at about 45 degrees in a nonic pint glass.

Appearance: Pours jet black with some reddish-brown highlights at the edges of the glass. Clarity is good, but you could hardly tell in such a dark beer. The puffy, two-fingered, mocha-colored head stays for a minute or two and leaves a scant ring with no lacing.

Aroma: Faint spice (mostly nutmeg, maybe some cinnamon), some roast character, and a bit of malt. No hop aroma. No esters or yeast character.

Flavor: Spices and mellow roast character. Slightly leans towards sweetness (could be the Golden Promise coming through?), but not in an unpleasant way. No diacetyl, esters, or yeast character. None of the flavors are sharp or assertive. No astringency. Very smooth, clean flavors.

Mouthfeel: Nice, medium body. Slightly over carbonated for my tastes. There is a bit of a carbonic bite, which for me is out of place in this kind of beer. The carbonation is a little distracting.

Overall: A solid, enjoyable beer. If the carbonation was lower I could easily drink this all night. Next time I would play up the roast and spice character slightly, add a bit more hop presence for complexity, and dial back on the carbonation for a creamier mouthfeel. I think this beer is about 80% of the way there, it just needs some fine-tuning.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Resonance Cascade

It's hard to believe that I've never brewed a double IPA. I mean, it's not my favorite style of beer, but they're so ubiquitous in American craft beer culture that it seems like any home brewer worth their weight in salt has done one. I generally like DIPAs, but I find many of them to be too sweet and lack any real drinkability. I really enjoy Pliny, Dreadnaught, and Double Trouble when I can get them. With my kegerator finally finished (okay, almost finished), it seemed like a good time to crank out a palette-shredding, enamel-ripping, monster-of-a-DIPA.

I really like the combination of Amarillo, Cascade, and Simcoe in IPAs/DIPAs that I've tried. The citrus, piney, and dank aromatics work well together. I wanted to try something slightly off the beaten path and use about 2.5 lbs of Texas Orange Blossom honey to really dry the beer out and add some character. I think my finished recipe is probably what it would look like if Russian River's Pliny the Elder and Bells' Hopslam had a child. I'm going to add the honey 2 or 3 days into fermentation to try and preserve as much of the aromatics as I can.

Also, instead of loading up the boil with a bunch of bittering hops, I opted to use Hop Shot brand hop extract. I like the idea of avoiding a bunch of excess vegetal matter in the kettle and loosing a bunch of wort volume to absorption (though I still lost quite a bit). Words of warning: If you're going to taste the hop extract, tread lightly. I tried the tiniest sliver I could manage, and I still tasted nothing but bitterness for at least two hours. It was so intense that it almost burned. Talk about a Lupulin Threshold Shift!


Resonance Cascade


TGT OG 1.060 TGT FG 1.012 TGT ABV 8.3% TGT AA 83% TGT IBU 92 TGT SRM 7.1

Total Grain: 14.05 lbs
Anticipated Efficiency: 70%
TGT Pre-boil Volume: 8.00 gal
TGT Pre-boil Gravity: 1.045
TGT Post Boil Volume: 5.94 gal
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Evaporation: ~17% hourly

65.0% - 10.75 lbs. US Pale Malt
10.0% - 1.65 lbs. Vienna Malt
06.0% - 0.99 lbs. Carapils
02.0% - 0.33 lbs. Crystal 20L Malt
02.0% - 0.33 lbs. Crystal 60L Malt

9.6 ml HopShot (Hop Extract, N/A) @ 60 min.
1.00 oz. Amarillo (Pellet, 8.2% AA) @ 05 min.
1.00 oz. Cascade (Pellet, 6.4% AA) @ 05 min.
1.00 oz. Amarillo (Pellet, 8.2% AA) @ 01 min.
1.00 oz. Cascade (Pellet, 6.4% AA) @ 01 min.
2.00 oz. Simcoe (Pellet, 12.2% AA) @ Flame Out

1.00 oz. Amarillo (Whole, 10.4% AA) @ Dry Hop 1
1.00 oz. Cascade (Whole, 8.9% AA) @ Dry Hop 1
1.00 oz. Simcoe (Whole, 14.1% AA) @ Dry Hop 1
1.00 oz. Amarillo (Whole, 10.4% AA) @ Dry Hop 2
1.00 oz. Cascade (Whole, 8.9% AA) @ Dry Hop 2
1.00 oz. Simcoe (Whole, 14.1% AA) @ Dry Hop 2

1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 15 min.
0.25 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.

WLP001 – California Ale

15.0% - 2.48 lbs. Orange Blossom Honey @ 3 days

Carbon filtered Waco

Rest 60 min @ 150 F

Notes
30 October 2011 – Made 1.3 l starter with 1 vial of WLP001 (production date 20 September 2011, calculated viability 68%) w/ Wyeast Yeast Nutrient and 2 drops of Foam Control on a stir plate.

01 November 2011 – Took starter off of stir plate and placed in refrigerator.

02 November 2011 - Brewed by myself. Doughed in with 5.25 gal (1.5 qt/lb) water at 160 degrees. Adjusted with 1 tsp phosphoric acid. Mash pH ~5.2. Rested at 150 for 60 minutes. Run off was a bit grainy and hazy so I recirculated almost the entire volume of first runnings. Batch sparged with 4.63 gal of water at 178 degrees for 20 minutes at 162 degrees.

Yielded 8.15 gal of 1.048 wort (calculated efficiency 74.9%).

Boiled for 90 minutes. Added 4 drops of Foam Control. Finished with 6.07 gal of 1.064 wort (Evaporation rate 17% or 1.35 gal/hr). Approximately 80 IBUs from the hop extract and 12 IBUs from pellets.

Chilled to 64 degrees. Racked ~4.5 gal into Better Bottle. Oxygenated for 45 seconds with O2. Added 8 more drops of Foam Control. Decanted and pitched starter. Shook for 20 seconds, topped with sanitized aluminum foil, and set in freezer with controller set to 66 degrees F.

5 November 2011 - Warmed 3 jars of honey in water bath on the stove top. Added ~2.5 lbs honey directly to fermentor and shook briefly. Replaced aluminum foil with airlock. Set temperature controller to 68 degrees.

7 November 2011 - Gravity 1.025. Great aroma. Set controller to 70 degrees to keep fermentation going. Still has about 13 points to go. Hopefully it'll be ready to keg in about a week and a half.

09 November 2011 - Moved near fireplace. Ambient temperature 74 degrees.

17 November 2011 - Gravity 1.005 (~90% AA)! Way lower than I anticipated. There's some ethanol burn both in the nose and on the palate. I thought the Carapils would compensate for the honey, but I guess I didn't use enough. Moved into freezer to cold condition before kegging and dry hopping.

20 November 2011 - Kegged ~4.5 gal. Placed near fireplace (74 degrees F ambient). Put about 10 psi in the headspace to seal the lid. Once it warms to room temperature I'll begin the first round of dry hopping.

21 November 2011 - Added first round of dry hops to sanitized nylon bag tied off with fishing line. Tried suspending line to the top of the keg lid, but that made the keg leak. Left bag in keg unsuspended. Flushed headspace with CO2, though probably should have done more. Inverted keg to promote contact with dry hops.

29 November 2011 - Removed first round of dry hops. Added second round of dry hops in sanitized pantyhose weighted with sanitized marbles. Aroma coming out of keg was insane. Dank, pungent, fresh hop. Looking forward to trying this one. Pressure set to 30 psi at 45 degrees F. Targeting 2.0 vol CO2.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

SBDC Brown Ale

I've been looking forward to brewing this beer for awhile. The inspiration for this beer was a cask-conditioned brown ale served by hand pump at one of the Goose Island brewpubs. It had an incredibly creamy mouth feel, nutty flavor, and a really nice fresh-cut tobacco aroma.

I'm hoping to capture some of that tobacco character by using a small amount of black cardamom at the end of the boil. Even at .25 g, I'm worried that it may be overpowering. Though, I'm looking forward to finding out.

SBDC Brown Ale

TGT OG 1.045 TGT FG 1.013 TGT ABV 4.3% TGT AA 71.0% TGT IBU 24.4 TGT SRM 13.5

Total Grain: 10.3 lbs
Wort Volume: 5.96 gal
TGT Pre-boil Volume: 8.00 gal
TGT Pre-boil Gravity: 1.034
Anticipated Efficiency: 70%
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Evaporation: ~17% hourly

75.0% - 7.75 lbs. Maris Otter
10.0% - 1.03 lbs. Victory Malt
05.0% - 0.52 lbs. Carapils
04.0% - 0.41 lbs. Medium Crystal (50-60L)
03.0% - 0.31 lbs. Golden Naked Oats
03.0& - 0.31 lbs. Pale Chocolate Malt

0.7 oz. Northern Brewer (Pellet, 9.4% AA) @ 60 min.

1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 15 min.
2.64 g Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.
.25 oz Black Cardamom @ 5 min.

WY1469 – West Yorkshire Ale

Carbon filtered Waco

Rest 60 min @ 154 F

Notes:
25 October 2011 – Made 1.0 l starter of WY1469 (production date 05 October 2011) w/ Wyeast Yeast Nutrient and 2 drops Foam-Control on a stir plate.

26 October 2011 – Moved starter to refrigerator.

27 October 2011 - Brewed by myself. Doughed in with 4 gal (1.5 qt/lb) water at 166 degrees. Adjusted with 1/4 tsp phosphoric acid. Mash pH ~5.2. Rested at 154 for 60 minutes. Batch sparged with 5.25 gal of water at 180 degrees for 30 minutes at 168 degrees.

Yielded 7.8 gal of 1.041 wort (calculated efficiency 83.4%).

Boiled for 90 minutes. Added 6 drops of Foam Control and .2 gal water. Finished with 6.44 gal of 1.050 wort. Too lazy to adjust with distilled water, will leave at higher gravity.

Chilled to 64 degrees. Oxygenated for 30 seconds with O2. Added 4 more drops of Foam Control. Decanted and pitched starter. Shook for 20 seconds, topped with sanitized aluminum foil, and set in freezer with controller set to 65 degrees F.

29 October 2011 - Minor blow-off through airlock. Second time using this yeast and it is very active. next time use blow-off tube or more head space. It also might be time to toss my Foam Control and get a new one, this bottle doesn't seem to be doing its job anymore.

30 October 2011 - Raised temperature to 70 degrees F for diacetyl rest.

01 November 2011 - Gravity 1.016 (AA 67.1%). Still very cloudy with yeast, should finish up in a few days.

09 November 2011 - Moved to freezer to cold condition at 35 degrees for a few days before kegging.

17 November 2011 - Kegged ~4.75 gal. Final gravity 1.014 (71.1% AA, 4.8% ABV). Target carbonation 2.1 vol CO2, 45 degrees F @ 10 psi.

27 November 2011 - Raised pressure to 30 psi to speed carbonation up.

Pumpkin Porter

Though I'm not usually a fan of pumpkin beers, I tried a pumpkin porter while I was in Denver for GABF that really impressed me. I really like the pumpkin spices when set against the roasty back drop. Since Michelle and I are throwing a Halloween party, having a pumpkin beer on tap seemed necessary. I was aiming for a porter with some pumpkin character, rather than a pumpkin beer with a little splash of porter. I may have been a little bit too light on the spices, but I can always adjust that with a spice tea extract in the keg.

Pumpkin Porter

TGT OG 1.060 TGT FG 1.016 TGT ABV 5.9% TGT AA 72.3% TGT IBU 28 TGT SRM 32.5

Total Grain: 13.8 lbs
Wort Volume: 5.95 gal
Pre-boil Volume: 8.00 gal
Pre-boil Gravity: 1.045
Anticipated Efficiency: 70%
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Anticipated Evaporation: 15% hourly

62.0% - 8.51 lbs. Golden Promise
21.0% - 2.88 lbs. Munich Malt
08.0% - 1.10 lbs. Medium Crystal
04.0% - 0.55 lbs. Chocolate Malt
04.0% - 0.55 lbs. Pale Chocolate Malt
01.0% - 0.14 lbs Black Malt

1.4 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellet, 5.9% AA) @ 60 min.

1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 15 min.
2.64 g Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.
2.0 g Ground Cinnamon @ 5 min.
2.0 g Ground Nutmeg @ 5 min.
2.0 g Ground Allspice @ 5 min.

WLP005 – British Ale

Carbon filtered Waco

Rest 60 min @ 154 F

Notes:
05 October 2011 – Made 1.1 l starter of WLP005 (Production Date 07 September 2011) w/ Wyeast Yeast Nutrient on a stir plate.

07 October 2011 – Brewed by myself. Doughed in base and crystal malts with 5.15 gal (1.5 qt/lb) at 164 degrees. Added ½ tsp phosphoric acid. Mash pH ~5.2. Rested at 154 for 60 minutes. Added roasted grains and batch sparged with 5.35 gal at 175 degrees for 10 minutes at 168 degrees.

Yielded 8.75 gal of 1.045 wort (calculated efficiency 77.3%)

Removed .625 gal (10 cups) of wort to adjust volume. Boiled for 90 minutes. Added 6 drops of Foam Control. Yielded 6.07 gal 1.060 wort (evaporation rate 17% or 1.35 gal/hr)

Chilled to 66 degrees. Racked 5.0 gal to Better Bottle. Aerated for 30 with O2.

Pitched starter and covered with sanitized aluminum foil. Temperature controller set to 68 degrees.

10 October 2011 – Replaced foil with sanitized airlock.

11 October 2011 – Gravity 1.024 (58.8% AA)

15 October 2011 – Gravity 1.020 (65.5% AA). Moved to fireplace. Shook to rouse yeast.

19 October 2011 – Moved to freezer to cold condition at 40 degrees.

26 October 2011 – Kegged ~4.6 gal. Didn't take final gravity, may have dropped a few more points, but nothing significant. Controller set to 45 degrees. Regulator set to 30 psi. Need to carb quickly for Halloween party.

7 November 2011 - First tasting.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

The Dark One.2

TGT OG 1.066 TGT FG 1.020 TGT ABV 6.0% TGT AA 68.0% TGT IBU 26 TGT SRM 32.5

Total Grain: 15.41 lbs
Wort Volume: 5.96 gal
TGT Pre-boil Volume: 8.00 gal
TGT Pre-boil Gravity: 1.049
Anticipated Efficiency: 70%
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Evaporation: ~17% hourly

60.0% - 9.21 lbs. Maris Otter
15.0% - 2.30 lbs. Naked Golden Oats
10.0% - 1.54 lbs. Light Munich Malt
05.0% - 0.77 lbs. Roasted Barley
05.0% - 0.77 lbs. Chocolate Malt
02.5% - 0.38 lbs. Crystal 60
02.5% - 0.38 lbs. Dark Crystal

1.6 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellet, 5.0% AA) @ 60 min.

1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 15 min.
2.64 g Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.

WY1469 – West Yorkshire Ale

Carbon filtered Waco
2 g Calcium Chloride (Boil)

Rest 60 min @ 154 F

Notes:
15 October 2011 – Made 1.07 l starter of WY1469 (production date 05 October 2011) w/ Wyeast Yeast Nutrient and 2 drops Foam-Control on a stir plate.

16 October 2011 - Brewed by myself (and Michelle helped, too). Doughed in with 5.75 gal (1.5 qt/lb) at 166 degrees. Came in 1-2 degrees low. Adjusted temperature with .25 gal of boiling water. Rested at 154 for 60 minutes. Adjusted with ¾ tsp phosphoric acid. Mash pH ~5.2. Batch sparged with 3.75 gal at 175 degrees for 10 minutes at 165 degrees.

Yielded 7.75 gal of 1.048 wort (calculated efficiency 66.3%). Added .25 gal water and .5 lb DME. Low efficiency due to slightly acidic sparge?

Boiled for 90 minutes yielding 5.96 gal of 1.066 wort (evaporation rate 17% or 1.35 gal/hr). Added 6 drops Foam-Control and 2 grams Calcium Chloride.

Chilled to 66 degrees F in 20 minutes. Racked 5.0 gal to Better Bottle.

Pitched entire starter and oxygenated with O2 for 60 seconds. Temperature controller set to 66 degrees.

17 October 2011 - Blow off like crazy. Should have taken a picture. Lost about .25 gal. Added 4 drops Foam-Control. Replaced aluminum foil and cleaned up carboy.

19 October 2011 - Moved near fireplace for diacetyl rest. Ambient temperature 70 degrees F.

23 October 2011 - Gravity 1.020 (68.5% AA). Flavors are developing nicely. A little on the fruity side, hopefully during maturation that gets rounded out a little bit.

25 October 2011 - Moved to freezer with controller set to 40 degrees to cold condition prior to kegging.

26 October 2011 – Kegged ~4.6 gal. Didn't take final gravity, may have dropped a point or two, but nothing too significant. Temperature controller set to 40 degrees. Regulator set to 30 psi. Need to carbonate quickly before Halloween party.

Monday, September 26, 2011

American Farmhouse

TGT OG 1.060 TGT FG 1.005 TGT ABV 7.3% TGT AA 91.3% TGT IBU 29.5 TGT SRM 5.1

Total Grain: 13.54 lbs
Wort Volume: 5.98 gal
Pre-boil Volume: 7.5 gal
Pre-boil Gravity: 1.048
Anticipated Efficiency: 70%
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Evaporation: ~13% hourly

70.0% - 9.53 lbs. Castle Pilsner Malt
15.0% - 2.04 lbs. Rye Malt
12.5% - 1.70 lbs. Weyermann Pale Wheat Malt
02.5% - 0.34 lbs. Melanoidin Malt

3.5 oz. Styrian Goldings (Pellet, 2.6% AA) @ 60 min.

1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 15 min.
2.64 g Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.

WLP565 – Belgian Saison I
WLP645 – Brettanomyces clausenii

Carbon filtered Waco, 50% distilled

Rest 60 min @ 154 F

Notes:
25 September 2011 – Made 1.7 l starter of WLP565 (production date 28 July 2011) w/ Wyeast Yeast Nutrient on a stir plate.

26 September 2011 - Brewed by myself. Doughed in with 5.1 gal (1.5 qt/lb) at 164 degrees. Adjusted with .5 gal boiling water. Rested at 154 for 60 minutes. Adjusted with 1 tsp phosphoric acid for mash pH ~5.2. Batch sparged with 4.5 gal at 180 degrees for 10 minutes at 165 degrees (added sparge water a little slow, undershot target 170 degrees). Adjusted sparge water with 1 tsp phosphoric acid for water pH of 5.0 (overshot sparge water pH, next time use ½-¾ tsp)

Yielded 8.15 gal of 1.044 wort (mash efficiency 70.4%).

Removed .5 gal wort.

Boiled for 90 minutes yielding 5.85 gal 1.058 wort (evaporation rate 15%/hr or 1.2 gal/hr).

Chilled to 67 degrees F in 26 minutes. Racked 4.8 gal to Better Bottle (~1 gal lost to trub and hop sediment).

Aerated with pure O2 for 35 seconds then pitched entire starter of WLP565 and vial of WLP645. Temperature control ceiling set to 80 degrees F.

27 September 2011 - Highly active fermentation within eight hours. Krausen blowing through airlock. Removed airlock, replaced with sanitized aluminum foil, and added 7 drops of Fermcap-S.

20 November 2011 - Moved into freezer to cold condition before kegging.

29 November 2011 - Kegged ~4.75 gal. Final gravity 1.005 (91.1% AA, 7.0% ABV). Set regulator to 30 psi at 45 degrees F to carbonate quickly. Targeting about 2.5 vol CO2.

Friday, September 9, 2011

DIY Sous-Vide

I assembled my own sous-vide apparatus with pieces I already had lying around my kitchen and a dented crock pot my sister was about to throw away. I really love the versatility and convenience. I can vacuum seal a steak in the morning, pop it in the water bath when I get home from school, and take it out and sear it whenever I feel like eating. Once the commercial versions come down in price a bit (they hover around $450 now) and the general public gets wind of it, it's sure to change home cooking. I won't get into the particulars of sous-vide cooking, others have covered it much better. There are tons of resources on building your own and cooking with it.

So far I've only cooked one rib eye steak and a couple pieces of chicken, but I was pretty impressed. The steak was closer to medium than I intended (was aiming for medium-rare), but after fine tuning with my precision thermometer I think I got the temperatures dialed in a little better. I'm looking forward to experimenting with this little contraption. If I continue to get good results I may have to invest in a vacuum sealer. Right now I'm just using Ziploc bags and a straw to make the vacuum.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Bastogne Single

Bastogne Single

TGT OG 1.050 TGT FG 1.012 ABV 4.7% IBU 25.6 SRM 5.5

Assumed Efficiency: 73%
Target Volume: 5.94 gal
Target PBG: 1.041
Target OG: 1.050
Total Grain: 10.95 lbs.

90.0% - 9.85 lbs. Belgian Pale Malt
04.0% - 0.44 lbs. Vienna Malt
03.0% - 0.33 lbs. Weyermann White Wheat Malt
03.0% - 0.33 lbs. Acidulated Malt

1.77 oz. Czech Saaz (4.0% AA) @ 60 min.
0.50 oz. Styrian Goldings (2.6% AA) @ 5 min.
0.50 oz. Styrian Goldings (2.6% AA) @ 1 min.

1 Whirlfloc Tablet @ 15 min.
0.25 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.

White Labs WLP510 - Bastogne Ale

50% Carbon Filtered Waco, 50% Distilled
6.0 g Calcium Sulphate
9.0 g Calcium Chloride

Mash at 154

Notes:
14 August 2011 (1700) - Made 2 l starter of WLP510 (prod. date 04 May 2011) w/ Wyeast Nutrient on stir plate.

16 August 2011 - Moved starter off of stir plate and into cellar.

18 August 2011 (1200) - Moved starter into refrigerator to floc more yeast out.

(2200) - Decanted starter wort, poured yeast slurry into sanitized mason jar covered with aluminum foil. Made 1.6 l starter on stir plate.

(2330) - Krausen already forming in starter(!). Added 2 drops of Foam Control to keep from blowing out of starter flask.

19 August 2011 (1830) - Removed starter from stir plate and moved into cellar.

(1950) - Moved starter into refrigerator.

20 August 2011 (1700) - Removed starter from refrigerator.

20 August 2011 - Brewed by myself. Doughed in with 4 gal water at 165. Mashed at 154 for 60 minutes. Sparged with 4.56 gal. Collected 7.5 gal 1.030 wort. Efficiency was way off. Added 1.33 lbs DME to compensate. Boiled for 90 minutes. Yielded 6 gal 1.050 wort.

Yeast pitched at 66 degrees. Set controller to 68. Visible activity in 8 hours.

22 August 2011 (1400) - Removed aluminum foil and replaced with airlock. Sucked a bunch of Star San into carboy when installing airlock. Should be fine. Very active airlock activity.

24 August 2011 - Turned off temperature controller. Rose to 72 degrees.

26 August 2011 - Moved out of freezer to fireplace. Ambient ~75 degrees.

29 August 2011 - Gravity 1.015 (69.1% AA).

08 September 2011 - Gravity 1.014 (71.0% AA). Kegged ~4.75 gal, set to 9.0 PSI for 2.00 vol CO2 at 45 degrees F.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Rood Hout Flemish Red

It took way longer than it should have to do the write up for this beer. I brewed this back in mid-May with Michelle. I thought that I lifted the grain bill from the NHC 2010 Category 17: Sour Ale winner "Zed's Dead Red" by Remi Bonnart, but I must have read it wrong and changed a few things or used what I had on hand (that's what happens when I put off doing the write up for 3 months).

Rood Hout Flemish Red

OG 1.056 FG ???? ABV ???? IBU ~13.5 SRM 3.0

Assumed Efficiency: ??%
Target Volume: 6.25 gal
Target PBG: 1.046
Target OG: 1.055
Total Grain: 12.56 lbs.

27.8% - 3.5 lbs. Castle Pilsener
27.8% - 3.5 lbs. US Vienna Malt
27.8% - 3.5 lbs. ?????
04.6% - 0.56 lbs. CaraMunich I
04.6% - 0.56 lbs. White Wheat Malt
04.6% - 0.45 lbs. Special B
04.6& - 0.45 lbs. Aromatic Malt

0.70 oz. East Kent Goldings (6.1% AA) @ 60 min.

0.25 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.
1.00 oz Medium Toast French Oak Cubes

East Coast Yeast ECY02 - Flemish Ale
Jolly Pumpkin "La Roja" Dregs
Wyeast 3711 - French Saison

Carbon Filtered Waco Water

Mash at 154

Notes:
15 May 2011 - Brewed with Michelle. Missed mash temp by a few degrees. Mashed at 152 for 20 minutes. Sparged and collected 6.75 gal of 1.051 wort (Efficiency 75.3%. Boiled for 90 minutes at evaporation rate of 12% and yielded 6.15 gal of 1.056 wort. Chilled to 69 degrees and pitched ECY02 and JP dregs.

30 May 2011 - Gravity 1.040. Should add an attenuative yeast to help finish it out.

31 May 2011 - Pitched smack pack of Wyeast 3711 to help finish primary fermentation. I probably shouldn't have used something so attenuative, but that's all I had on hand.

04 August 2011 - First look at beer in a few months. Healthy looking pellicle has formed.

29 August 2011 - Gravity 1.003.



Monday, August 15, 2011

A Little Dinner



Just a quick picture of my new favorite, a vegetable pizza that I lifted from the NXNW menu. I've noticed that I get really terrible heartburn from all of the tomato sauce on Chicago style pizza, so this thin crust pizza with pesto instead of traditional sauce is right up my alley. I used red and yellow bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, zucchini, eggplant, garlic, and feta and mozzarella cheese. I've made it two nights in a row. I'm seriously considering a third.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Anno Domini 2011

Since the beginning of the year I've been anxious to brew a batch of lambic. Actually, I've been anxious to brew a batch of lambic every year so that I can blend gueuze down the road, but I'm just going to take it one year at a time. However, because I'm an apartment dweller in Texas, undertaking a project like that wouldn't quite work. Luckily, about once or twice a year I tend to make it home to Illinois with a basement that stays under 70 degrees and an understanding and patient family. The plan is to brew a batch of lambic whenever I come home, and hopefully after two or three years I can blend gueuze.



Short of fermenting spontaneously and aging in a barrel (both of which I'd like to do in the future), I tried to stay as close to traditional techniques as I could. I used a grist of 66% pilsner malt and 34% raw white winter wheat and employed a turbid mash (thanks to The Mad Fermentationist, Biohazard Lambic, and Wild Brews for helping me understand the how's and why's of the process). It went much smoother and was more enjoyable than I thought it would be at the onset. All together, it only took about two hours longer than a normal brew day.



I mostly followed the instructions for the turbid mash on Mad Fermentationist and Biohazard Lambic to the letter. The only change I made was increasing the grist and water volumes by 25%. In the end, I'm glad I did because my preboil gravity was 1.034, which meant I only needed to boil for ~2 hours. By my estimation, if I didn't adjust the grist I would have ended up with a preboil gravity of 1.025 and had to boil for ~5 hours. I'll take a few more dollars in grain over a few hours of boil time any day. I used spring water for lack of a better option. I didn't bring my carbon filter home with me and I didn't want to have a little bit of chlorine ruin a lot of hard work.

Anno Domini 2011

OG 1.047 FG ???? ABV ???? IBU ~10.8 SRM 3.0

Assumed Efficiency: ??%
Target Volume: ??
Target PBG: ??
Target OG: 1.048
Total Grain: 10.0 lbs.

66.0% - 6.6 lbs. Castle Pilsener
34.0% - 3.4 lbs. Raw White Winter Wheat

0.75 oz. Willamette (5.2% AA) @ 30 min.

0.25 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.
1.00 oz Medium Toast French Oak Cubes

Wyeast 3278 - Belgian Lambic Blend
Wyeast 3763 - Roeselare Ale Blend
Various bottle dregs (See notes)

100% Spring Water

Turbid Mash

Notes:
29 July 2011 - Made .5 l starter wort with some yeast nutrient to dump dregs into (Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere, Cantillon Gueuze, Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze, Girardin Gueuze 1882, Boon Oude Gueuze).

01 August 2011 - Brewed by myself. Ran unmalted wheat through grain mill twice. Followed turbid mash from Biohazard pretty closely. Missed a few temperatures, notably the first 113 degree rest. Overshot by ~7 degrees.

Collected 8 gallons of 1.034 wort. Boiled for two hours yielding 5.76 gal of 1.047 wort (Evaporation rate 14%).

Chilled to 67 degrees, shook for aeration, and pitched both smack packs. Moved to basement with high 60s ambient temperature. Visible fermentation within 8 hours.

02 August 2011 - Boiled oak cubes in water for five minutes and added to fermenter.

03 August 2011 - Pitched .5 l of dregs.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Hoppyweizen Tasting

I brewed this hefeweizen/IPA hybrid in early June and finally got around to a proper tasting. The brew day for this beer was pretty rough (missed mash temp, low efficiency, off target on volume, ran out of DME to adjust gravity), but, all things considered, this beer turned out to be pretty decent.

Served at about 45 degrees in a Jolly Pumpkin tulip glass.

Appearance: Thin, loose white head falls quickly. Surprisingly poor head retention and lacing for a beer with 60 percent malted wheat and a pretty hefty amount of hops. Hazy brown with a muddy golden color when held to light. Not an attractive beer. Might have looked better in a proper weizen glass. Hopefully it tastes better than it looks.

Aroma: Bold fruity hop aroma with some banana from the hefeweizen yeast. Lots of grapefruit and lemon. None of the other classic yeast derived aromas like clove or vanilla came through. Just fresh, citrusy hops with a side of banana.

Flavor: Sweet malt backbone and assertive hop flavor mirroring the aroma. Citrus hop flavor takes the lead with banana in the background. Balance leans toward sweet but there is a lingering hop flavor.

Mouthfeel: Medium body. Full and creamy mouthfeel. Medium to high carbonation does a good job of bringing out the hop flavor and aroma. Could use a bit more carbonation, but ~3.00 volumes of CO2 is about as high as I'm willing to go with standard 12 oz bottles.

Overall: Aside from the appearance this is a pretty good beer. A wheat beer without a big pillowy head is just plain wrong to me. I've noticed head retention problems in several of my beers now. Time to start troubleshooting. I would have liked a more varied aroma and flavor (some clove and vanilla would have been nice). Pretty drinkable. Not the first beer I would reach for on a hot summer day, but certainly not the last. The appearance was really off putting for me, though. Next time I'll ditch the CaraMunich and dial down the hops a bit.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Summer Beer Dinner

Last summer I hosted a beer dinner for a few friends and I enjoyed doing it so much I decided to make it an annual event. Last year's dinner featured all homebrewed beers, but this year I used commercial beers because I didn't have enough time to brew prior to the dinner. With so many world class beers available, it's almost too easy to have a great dinner. I just wish I could eat like this everyday.

The idea of the dinner was to feature Belgian-style beers produced by American breweries. To ensure a bit more variety I decided that I wouldn't feature any brewery more than once. Even though the beers were pretty adventurous, I had to keep the food pretty simple because I'm no expert in the kitchen. Summer cooking is perfectly suited for the novice cook, who doesn't know how to grill some steak and vegetables?


Appetizer – French Fries with Aioli
with Fleur from Goose Island Brewing Company

Salad – Arugala Endive Salad with White Wine Vinaigrette
with Calabaza Blanca from Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales

Entree – Smoked Bacon Steak Kebabs with Wild Rice
with Abbey Ale from Brewery Ommegang

Cheese – Taleggio and Framboise Soaked Bellavitano cheeses
with Saison Rue from The Bruery
and La Folie from New Belgium Brewing Company

Intermission – Lemon Zest Sorbet

Dessert – Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce
with Raspberry Tart from New Glarus Brewing Company


I think the cheesecake and Raspberry Tart was the clear favorite of the night. My favorite part about that pairing was how similar the cheesecake and Raspberry Tart were, and how well they complimented each other. Both are sweet and tart (the cheesecake more sweet, and the beer more tart) and the flavor of the raspberry sauce with the beer was just perfect.

The rest of the pairings were good. I was surprised with how well the french fries and aioli worked with the Fleur. I was also a little disappointed with the Abbey Ale and kebabs. For me, the spiciness of the kebabs clashed with the dark fruit flavors from the beer. I still enjoyed it, but next time I would just use a more moderate marinade on the steak (or buy better beef so I don't have to marinade it). However, the Abbey Ale tasted great with the grilled vegetables and wild rice.

I really enjoy hosting these dinners. Having people try beers like La Folie for the first time and liking them is really cool to see. It's hard to go wrong with good food, good beer, and good company. I'm already looking forward to next year's dinner.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Table Saison II

I brewed a low gravity saison in early April and it didn't turn out very well. There were a number of problems both in recipe design and during the brew day. I hate to drain pour a good beer, but this wasn't turning into a good beer so no harm, no foul.

When designing the recipe for the first Table Saison, I wanted to keep it as simple as possible. I went overboard with that idea and used only pilsener malt for the grist. Now, for a higher gravity saison like Saison duPont, which purportedly uses 100% pilsener, that works. For a beer with a starting gravity of 1.038, however, I ended up with a thin, watery mess with no body.

The revised recipe (really a whole new recipe all together) has some Belgian pale malt for depth, wheat, and Carapils for body. I also added Styrian Goldings and decided to go with Wyeast 3711 - French Saison.

Table Saison II

OG 1.041 FG 1.002 ABV 5.1% IBU ~26 SRM 3.4

Assumed Efficiency: 70%
Target Volume: 7.75 gal
Target PBG: 1.030
Target OG: 1.036
Total Grain: 9.0 lbs.

39.0% - 3.52 lbs. Castle Pilsener
39.0% - 3.52 lbs. Belgian Pale Malt
13.7% - 1.23 lbs. Weyermann Wheat Malt
08.3% - 0.75 lbs. CaraPils

2.00 oz. Czech Saaz (4.0% AA) @ 50 min.
1.00 oz. Styrian Goldings (2.6% AA) @ Flame out

1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 10 min.
0.50 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.

Wyeast 3711 - French Saison

50% Carbon Filtered Waco, 50% Distilled

Mash at 154

Notes:
Brewed on 16 June 2011 by myself

Mashed for 60 minutes at 154 @ pH ~5.2. Had to add 1/4 tsp phosphoric acid to adjust pH

Collected 7.5 gal of 1.035 wort (mash efficiency 78.4%). Overshot target preboil gravity by 5 points. Need to adjust anticipated mash efficiency on low gravity beers to around 75%.

Removed .25 gal wort and added .5 gal filtered water for 7.75 gal of 1.032 wort

Boiled for 90 minutes and yielded ~6.12 gal of 1.041 wort (evaporation rate 14%). Usually average 11-12% evaporation, don't know what happened. Could have diluted with distilled water to adjust gravity, but decided to leave it.

Chilled to 70 degrees F and pitched smack pack of WY3711 without starter. Shook for ~2 minutes to aerate. Let free rise to 78 degrees F

22 June 2011 - Moved to fireplace. Ambient temperature ~75 degrees F.

30 June 2011 - Gravity 1.002. Bottled 4.6 gal of 75 degrees F beer with 4.28 oz table sugar for a target of 2.5 vol CO2. Yielded 19 12oz and 2 750ml bottles. Had trouble capping some 12 oz bottles (wider rim on Hacker-Pschorr bottles?) and didn't have larger size caps on hand for the rest of the 750ml bottles (Bruery bottles). Ended up dumping about 2.25 gal.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

The Dark One

I enjoy brewing alone, but I really love brewing when I have someone to help. The brew day tends to go much smoother because I don't have to worry about a kettle boiling over while I'm cleaning the mash tun, or have to run around like a chicken with its head cut off. With this beer, I was the one helping. Michelle (fiancée) did most of the recipe design (more chocolate was her motto) and I just steered her in the right direction. The nice thing about having her write the recipe is that if it doesn't turn out well, I can blame her, and if it turns out to be a great beer, I can take all the credit!

The Dark One

OG 1.063(?) FG 1.019 ABV 5.9% IBU ~27 SRM 27.1

Assumed Efficiency: 70%
Target Volume: 7.5 gal
Target PBG: 1.049
Target OG: 1.060
Total Grain: 14.6 lbs

69.9% - 10.22 lbs. Maris Otter
12.7% - 01.86 lbs. Toasted Rolled Oats
04.3% - 0.63 lbs. Chocolate Malt
03.5% - 0.51 lbs. Victory Malt
03.5% - 0.51 lbs. Crystal 20L
02.6% - 0.38 lbs. Roasted Barley
01.7% - 0.25 lbs. Crystal 40L
01.7% - 0.25 lbs. Crystal 60L

1.50 oz. East Kent Goldings (6.1% AA) @ 50 min.

1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 10 min.
0.50 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.
10.0 oz Cocoa Powder @ 01 min.

White Labs WLP002 - English Ale

Carbon Filtered Waco Water

Mash at 156


Notes:
10 June 2011 - Roasted 2 lbs 10 oz of rolled oats in oven at 350 degrees F. 3 cookie sheets roasted for 15, 17, and 20 minutes for some depth. Turned every 5 minutes. Placed in paper bag to cool.

Brewed on 11 June 2011 with Michelle

Mashed for 30 minutes at 155 @ pH ~5.5

Collected 7 gal of 1.054 wort (mash efficiency 71.8%)

Added .5 gal of filtered water for 7.5 gal of 1.051 wort

Boiled for 90 minutes and yielded ~6 gal of 1.068(!) (all the cocoa powder must have thrown the gravity reading off, OG was probably around 1.062-1.065)

Chilled to 66 degrees F and pitched 1.23 l starter of WLP002. Visible activity within 4 hours.

12 June 2011 - Consistent activity in airlock. Thin krausen barely starting to form.

16 June 2011 - Moved near fireplace. Ambient temperature ~75 degrees F. Gravity 1.018.

21 June 2011 - Gravity 1.016

25 June 2011 - Gravity 1.019. Bottled 4.6 gal of 75 degree beer with 2.34 oz table sugar for a target of 1.8 vol CO2. Yield 20 12oz and 15 22oz bottles. Looking back on old gravity readings I realize I probably didn't correct for the temperature of the sample.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Hoppyweizen

I only get to have the full range of New Glarus Brewing Company's beers about once a year. Whenever I go home to Illinois I try to make a pilgrimage across state lines to pick up some New Glarus beers. One of my favorite beers from their lineup is Crack'd Wheat (which, sadly, appears to be discontinued). It's a hefeweizen hopped with American hops (I believe Amarillo). The interplay between the vanilla and clove notes from the hefeweizen yeast works really well with the Amarillo hop character. I'm surprised that more American brewers aren't doing something along these lines.

I had some Cascade, Citra, and Amarillo on hand and I've been trying to brew beers to use up two sacks of Weyermann Wheat Malt and Castle Pilsener Malt before I, incidentally, head home to Illinois and make the pilgrimage across state lines to pick up some New Glarus beers. My only concern with this recipe is that I might have gone overboard a bit on the hopping. I still want to taste the hefeweizen behind the hops, but I've got a feeling that the nice banana character from the Weihenstephan yeast is going to be lost.

Hoppyweizen

OG 1.060 FG 1.013 ABV 6.3% IBU ~38 SRM 5.3

Assumed Efficiency: 70%
Target Volume: 6.68 gal
Target PBG: 1.050
Target OG: 1.063
Total Grain: 16.0 lbs.

52.4% - 8.71 lbs. Weyermann Wheat Malt
35.0% - 5.81 lbs. Belgian Pilsener Malt
06.2% - 1.03 lbs. Rice Hulls
03.1% - 0.51 lbs. CaraMunich

0.50 oz. US Magnum (13.5% AA) @ 60 min.
1.00 oz. Amarillo (9.3% AA) @ 5 min.
1.00 oz. Cascade (5.0% AA) @ 5 min.
1.00 oz. Citra (13.4% AA) @ 5 min.
1.00 oz. Amarillo (9.3% AA) @ Dry Hop
1.00 oz. Cascade (5.0% AA) @ Dry Hop
1.00 oz. Citra (13.4% AA) @ Dry Hop

1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 10 min.
0.25 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.
5 drops Fermcap-S @ Primary Fermenter

Wyeast 3068 - Wiehenstephan Weizen

50% Carbon Filtered Waco, 50% Distilled

Mash at 151

Notes:
Brewed on 08 June 2011 by myself

Mashed for 30 minutes at 145 @ pH ~5.2. Added .75 gal boiling water to raise mash temp to 149 for 10 minutes before running off

Collected 9.25 gal of 1.039 wort (mash efficiency 63.4%). Added .55 lbs Extra Light DME for 9.25 gal of 1.042 wort.

Boiled hard for 120 minutes (~15% evaporation)

Chilled to 62 degrees F and pitched smack pack without starter and without aeration. Let free rise to 72 degrees over 20 hours.

11 June 2011 - Moved near fireplace. Ambient temperature 75 degrees F

12 June 2011 - Gravity 1.020 (65.5% AA)

15 June 2011 - Racked to secondary for dry hop

23 June 2011 - Final gravity 1.013 (77.5% AA). Bottled 3.6 gal of 75 degree F beer with 4.32 oz table sugar for target 3.00 volumes CO2. Yield 35 12oz bottles.

18 July 2011 - First tasting

Sunday, May 29, 2011

La Lumière


I'm a little behind on posting these beers as I brew them. I still have to do the write up for the Flemish Red. Yesterday I did a pale sour beer along the lines of Russian River Brewing Company's Temptation. I've forgone the idea of cloning sour/wild ales, but this beer was heavily influenced by Temptation. Notice how I said "influenced" and not "ripped off".

The grist was simple: Belgian pilsener and Belgian pale malt with some malted wheat and Carapils to give the bugs something to eat. I used Styrians for bittering and White Labs Abbey Ale as the primary yeast. I pitched a package of Roeselare and a vial of East Coast Yeast Bugfarm V. Using both was probably overkill and I regret that a little bit. The beer is guaranteed to have some microbiological diversity, but I won't be able to tell what flavors are being contributed by the Roeselare and which are coming from the Bugfarm. Now that the damage is done I might dump in the dregs from some sour beers as I drink them. I've got a bottle of Jolly Pumpkin's Biere de Mars that I've been eyeballing.

This beer is also a bit of a landmark for me. Since getting my water report from Ward Labs a couple of weeks ago, I've been looking forward to starting to adjust my water. I used Beer Alchemy to calculate the color and plugged it into John Palmer's spreadsheet and made all of the necessary computations. I think my water salt additions were correct, but in a beer like this I probably won't be able to tell either way.

This brew day also made it obvious that my system needs a few improvements. Courtesy of the Texas ground water during summer, it took me an hour and a half to reach 80 degrees F using my simple immersion chiller and well over two hours to hit my pitching temp. I've been reading about Jamil's Whirlpool Immersion Chiller and I think that might be in my future.

After primary fermentation subsides I'll add the Chardonnay soaked oak. I haven't picked out a Chardonnay yet, but I've heard that because they're so ubiquitous, a good one can be had for about $15 basically anywhere.

La Lumière

OG 1.054 FG ???? ABV ???? IBU ~26.2 SRM 4.3

45.0% Castle Pilsener
45.0% Belgian Pale Malt
08.0% Weyermann White Wheat Malt
02.0% Carapils

3.00 oz. Styrian Goldings (2.60% AA) @ 60 min.

1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 10 min.
0.50 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.
0.25 oz Medium toast French Oak
0.25 oz Medium toast American Oak

White Labs WLP530 - Abbey Ale
Wyeast 3763 - Roeselare Blend
East Coast Yeast ECY01 - Bugfarm V

Carbon Filtered Waco
Balanced Profile

Mashed at 153

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Water Report

I rarely feel geeky about home brewing. I'm sure I do a lot of geeky things in regards to home brewing but to me it seems well within the confines of normal behavior for any enthusiastic hobbyist. About a week ago I sent out a sample of carbon filtered Waco water to Ward Laboratories to be analyzed and for the first time I felt like a verifiable home brewing geek.

Sodium: 16
Calcium: 51
Magnesium: 5
Hardness as CaCO3: 148
Sulfate: 36
Chloride: 20
Bicarbonate: 138
Total Alkalinity: 113

Much to my surprise, Waco water isn't all that bad for brewing once you run it through a carbon filter and take out some of the chlorine/chloramines. Without adjustment, this water appears to work best for amber colored, moderately bitter beers. I'm still trying to figure this whole water thing out, but at least this gives me an excuse to try a Nugget Nectar clone.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

l'Etranger Saison


Having done the Table Saison a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to brew something a little bit more substantial. This is a pretty straightforward saison with Brett. I've been looking forward to using some of the Al B/East Coast Yeast bugs. I would have loved to get a hold of the Farmhouse Brett blend or use the Brett blend #9 (which broke open during shipping). Brett Blend #1 is described as "Three individual Brettanomyces isolates from lambic producers combined to give an aggressive brett presence in any beer. Vigorous, funky and acid-tolerant, the blend can be added at any stage of fermentation and is excellent for priming or re-yeasting." I'm assuming that there's some Brettanomyces lambicus and probably some bruxellensis, though I'm not sure and don't know the proportions. Also, I've read that his blends are pretty assertive so I'm going to pitch the Brett in the secondary when the gravity is around 1.010-1.012. Hopefully this one is ready to drink in a couple of months.


l'Etranger Saison

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Total Grain: 11.44 lbs
Anticipated OG: 1.050
Anticipated SRM: 3.3
Anticipated IBU: 17.3
Anticipated Efficiency: 70%
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain
-------
85.0% - 9.73 lbs. Castle Pilsener
10.0% - 1.14 lbs. Weyermann White Wheat Malt
05.0% - 0.57 lbs. Rye Malt

Hops
-------
1.25 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellet, 4.00% AA) @ 60 min.

Extras
--------
1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 10 min.
0.50 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.

Yeast
-------
White Labs WLP565 - Belgian Saison
East Coast Yeast ECY04 - Brett Blend #1

Water Profile
-----------------
Profile: Carbon filtered Waco

Mash Schedule
-------------------
Sacch Rest 30 min @ 149 F

Notes
-------



Brewed on 24 April 2011 by myself

Mashed in with 4.7 gal (1.8 qt/lb) and rested at 149 for 20 minutes

Yielded ~7.5 gal of 1.043 wort (calculated efficiency 75.0%)

Boiled for 90 minutes yielding 6.26 gal 1.051 wort (evaporation rate 11%)

Chilled to 85 degrees F in 33 minutes, racked to carboy and chilled to 72 degrees F in chest freezer.

Pitched 1.55 l starter into ~4.8 gal and aerated with aquarium pump and stone for 15 minutes

Moved to closet with ambient temperature of 76 degrees F

28 April 2011 - Gravity 1.015

30 April 2011 - Gravity 1.010. Racked to secondary and added Brett. Stored in closet with ambient temperature of ~75 degrees F.

23 May 2011 0 Gravity 1.003. Aroma is perfume, some very faint Brett character (more pie cherry than funky barnyard). Odd grainy/cereal aftertaste, maybe some green apple.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

A Little Lunch


Yesterday's lunch. Chicken Caesar salad with some bleu cheese. Would have preferred a Bam Biere or maybe a Weizen Bam since at 8.00% ABV Oro de Calabaza was a little too big for a light salad, but it was tasty nonetheless. Cheers!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Simple Hefeweizen


I have to admit that I wasn't a huge fan of weissbiers when I first started drinking good beer. Like many converts, I was enamored with palate wrecking imperial IPAs and dark, chewy imperial stouts. The balance and simplicity of a hefeweizen was completely lost on me. Michelle (fiancée, beer buddy, expert mash stirrer) has always loved weissbiers and, though it took some time, her enthusiasm for the style rubbed off on me. Really, what beer is more perfectly suited for a sunny afternoon on the patio?

We brewed a hefeweizen last year that was just right; nice bready malt backbone with banana and some clove, a dry fullness, and appropriately effervescent carbonation. We used that beer in a dinner we hosted and paired it with a lemon grilled chicken Caesar salad. It was my favorite pairing of the day by far. I figured that with the 90+ degree days fast approaching, it was time to brew another weissbier.

I decided to keep the recipe from the last time. The only change I'm going to make is fermenting it in a loosely covered plastic bucket to mimic the open fermentation used by many traditional weissbier producers. I'm not entirely convinced that open fermentation makes much difference on a home brew scale, but at the very least I can skim the "braun hefe" and even top crop some yeast for a future batch.

Simple Hefeweizen

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Total Grain: 10.86 lbs
Anticipated OG: 1.048
Anticipated SRM: 3.0
Anticipated IBU: 11.7
Anticipated Efficiency: 70%
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain
-------
50.0% - 5.43 lbs. Castle Pilsener
50.0% - 5.43 lbs. Weyermann White Wheat Malt

Hops
-------
0.75 oz. German Hallertau (Pellet, 4.30% AA) @ 60 min.
0.15 oz. German Hallertau (Pellet, 4.30% AA) @ 5 min.

Extras
--------
1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 10 min.
0.25 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.

Yeast
-------
White Labs WLP300

Water Profile
-----------------
Profile: Carbon filtered Waco

Mash Schedule
-------------------
Sacch Rest 30 min @ 151 F

Notes
-------
Brewed on 23 April 2011 by myself

Mashed in with 1.8 qt/lb water to grain

Yielded ~7.25 gal of 1.039 pre boil wort (calculated mash efficiency 68.7%)

Aerated ~4.7 gal of 1.048 wort with aquarium pump and stone for 20 minutes

Pitched 1.65 l starter into ~4.75 gal of 1.048 wort at 64 degrees F at 2:00 pm

Raised temperature to 72 degrees F over 8 hours.

24 April - Very active fermentation. Blowing through the airlock of a 8 gallon bucket. Top cropped ~1 quart of active yeast and "braun hefe" at 8:00 am. Replaced cover with aluminum foil.

Gravity 1.016 on 28 April 2011

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Table Saison


Having just come off of an involuntary 8 month hiatus from home brewing , I wanted to ease back into it with something simple that would turn around relatively quickly. Given my bias towards saisons and the warm weather (I don't care what the calendar says, Texas summers start in April), the choice was easy: a crisp session strength saison.

I wanted to keep this beer under 4% ABV, dry, and refreshing. I didn't want to get bogged down with complex grain bills or hopping schedules so I decided to use the SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hop) method. The grist would be 100% Castle pilsener malt and a modest charge of Czech Saaz primarily for bittering, but also some flavor and aroma.

I originally wanted to use Wyeast's WY3711 because it tends to ferment quickly (many report that they reach terminal gravity within 3 or 4 days), but because of its highly attenuative nature and the low starting gravity, I was worried that the resulting beer would be too thin and watery. I decided to use White Labs' WLP565. The last time I used this yeast it took over 4 weeks to reach my final gravity. With the low starting gravity of this beer and some more attention to fermentation temperatures, hopefully this beer will turn around a little quicker.

Table Saison

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Total Grain: 8.06 lbs
Anticipated OG: 1.035
Anticipated SRM: 2.5
Anticipated IBU: 19.0
Anticipated Efficiency: 70%
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain
-------
100.0% - 8.06 lbs. Castle Pilsener

Hops
-------
1.25 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellet, 4.00% AA) @ 60 min.
0.50 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellet, 4.00% AA) @ flameout

Extras
--------
1.00 tablet Whirlfloc @ 10 min.
0.25 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 min.

Yeast
-------
White Labs WLP565

Water Profile
-----------------
Profile: Carbon filtered Waco

Mash Schedule
-------------------
Sacch Rest 60 min @ 149 F

Notes
-------
Brewed on 10 April 2011 by myself

Mashed in with 1.33 qt/lb and added another gallon to thin out mash

Forgot to close ball valve when adding sparge water. Ended up with some husks in the boil. Attempted to filter out with strainer.

Yielded ~8 gal of 1.031 pre boil wort (calculated efficiency 82.1%)

Removed ~1 gal and boiled for 90 minutes

Pitched .8 l starter into ~4.9 gal of 1.038 wort at 3:00 PM @ 72 degrees F

Raised temperature to 90 degrees F over 4 days

Gravity reading: 1.004 on 16Apr11 @ 5:05 am