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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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