The City Brewer

Blog Resurrection Once Again

2010-09-29T12:27:00.000-07:00

So it's been a fairly infinitesimal amount of time since I last posted. Without temperature control (and free time!) brewing is pretty difficult in this part of the country during the summer. Since opening our second restaurant, I've been really busy with work and haven't had time to either brew or take care of my aging sours. Today, I finally bottled my Oud Bruin which I brewed back in May of last year. It is an exceptionally old tasting beer with a considerable amount of oxidation coming through (hopefully not detrimental, but will see with carbonation and additional age). My fermentation basement is getting into the lower 70's and hopefully I'll have time to bust open my still unopened sack of Weyermann Pils Malt to get some brews moving.

Failing that, I have ventured a bit more into the molecular gastronomy world. It's been a huge passion of mine (albeit mostly just reading and not so much doing). Chemicals are on the way to experiment at home and I have a group of folks coming for dinner next week anticipating a 4 Star dinner. Hopefully I'll find time to take notes and take some photos of the dishes to share here in the void of beer posts. For those of you who come into the "brewing vacations", I really appreciate it. Here's to hopefully some new brewings, and new experiments!

Wedding Belgian Single Test #1

2010-05-12T07:30:00.001-07:00

As I talked about in my previous post, I'm working on nailing down a recipe to serve at my wedding next year. I think Belgian style ales are the best for celebrations being they're relatively dry, highly carbonated, and fruity/spicy. Granted not all Belgians fall under that description, but the pale styles generally do. I initially wanted to make something pretty high in abv (a la a tripel), but was convinced to go lower. The other suggestion I had was to use some honey and flowers. I really wanted to use pink peppercorns since I love the flavor and their fruitiness. In addition, I thought lemongrass would be a great complement. However, this morning I tried two grocery stores and found no lemongrass. I did find both hibiscus and chamomille. I thought, why not; and they'll both work well with the peppercorns. (their freshness is a bit suspect though)
The recipe itself is very simple. Pilsner malt, flaked wheat, couple hop additions (just what I had on hand), and 3787, my favorite Belgian yeast from Westmalle. The honey I have decided to add after primary has slowed down to ensure good florals are saved. I'll likely add this at about day 3. I also decided to order some Five Star 5.2 pH Stabilizer. I am hoping it helps my efficiency just a bit and if not, it's just a couple bucks. This should hopefully turn out well, but I'm happy to do another rebrew if necessary; it has to be a perfect beer!
Recipe:
Batch Size: 5.40 gal
Boil Size: 6.34 gal
Estimated OG: 1.047 SG
Estimated Color: 3.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 19.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 76.00 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 66.67 %
2.00 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 22.22 %
1.00 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (75 min) Hops 15.6 IBU
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [3.50 %] (10 min) Hops 4.7 IBU
1.00 lb Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 11.11 %
1 Pkgs Trappist High Gravity (Wyeast Labs #3787) Yeast-Wheat

5/12/10: Brewed on a sunny, muggy morning. No wind to deal with. At flameout, I added 6gm chamomile, 10gm hibiscus and 12gm pink peppercorns. Excited to see my numbers when I pulled my sample; 76% efficiency! Granted I used to get this consistently a year ago, but it's been a while since I've touched it. The effective number is 1.041 now, but with the addition of 1# of honey in a couple days will push it to 1.047 which I think is perfect. Flavor of wort was very strong on the chamomile, while the rest quite subdued. I'll see how things go fermentation wise, and adjust if necessary. I made a .5L starter this morning with a very happy pack of fresh 3787. Ferment will start at about 66 and will be raised to the 70s in a couple days.
6/5/10: Pulled first sample about ready to keg. All signs of fermentation are definitely over and ambient temp has gotten up to about 73. Gravity reached 1.010, at 78% attenuation and 4.8% abv. Not as dry as I was looking forward to, but that can be tweaked in the next batch. Flavors are really nice and the spicing is subtle and balanced. Can't wait to see how this is once chilled and carbonated.

Beer and non Beer news

2010-05-11T07:20:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post to talk about some upcoming brews. I'm still really excited to get all the carboys filled! This week I actually have a full vacation; however nothing really going on since my employers basically forced my remaining time from the year. With that said, I scrambled to get together a couple brews while I had plenty of time. I ordered everything I needed for my fruited Berliner a couple weeks ago but lo and behold, I ended up ordering Brett L instead of Lacto! Doh! Now I've started building up the pack and I may still do a Blackberry, all Brett L wheat, but probably another week or so away.
The other big news is I got engaged! I'm super excited about getting married, and we've roughly set the date at June 2011 in Asheville, NC. Both Madeline and I are (vaguely) from NC and Asheville is a city we both love. My good friend and brew buddy in Lawrence, KS, Mikey, had brewed all the beer for his wedding. He spent an insane amount of time getting roughly 50 gal of beer (5 varieties) ready for his reception. I'm no way going to go that far, but I will make a celebratory beer to serve at the reception. I initially thought of doing simply a tripel, but was urged by friends to go a little lower gravity for more consumption. With that said, I decided on a Belgian single lightly spiced with pink peppercorns and lemongrass. I'll be doing a test batch tomorrow and post preliminary the recipe tomorrow (will post recipe then).
Other than that, I have some plans to knock out a Americanized mild this week and a Belgian Barleywine with the cake from the "Saison". Looking forward to taking advantage of all the cooler temps before it gets too hot. I also want to get one of my sours bottled here in a week or so. Either the Table Sour or Oud Bruin, I'll see which seems more ready.

Funky Saison

2010-04-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

That time again to get another sour/funky beer in the works. This one ended up being a result of purchasing some Sorachi Ace hops several months back. S. Ace hops can be really divisive; some folks claim it produces a nasty, fake, lemon pine-sol type of flavor/aroma. Other say it gives a nice balanced, bitter citrus note. I was inspired by Brooklyn's Saison which is made exclusively with Sorachi Ace (all throughout from bittering to dry hopping). I had it on tap in town and really enjoyed the balance of Belgianesque phenolics with the light lemon notes. I also wanted to try a couple other techniques; using T-58, a dried yeast from Safale that is supposed to produce light clove and banana flavors, and pitching in some cultured bottle dregs. It started with simply a bottle of Saison de Lente from the Bruery, a fantastic, dry fruity saison finished with Brett. I ended up supplementing with some dregs from the bourbon barrel wee heavy and the Flander's Red. The result was a pretty hoppy, mid gravity saison (if you will) with some funk in the finish. I don't have plans to give it tons of time before kegging, so the funk should be pretty subdued.
Recipe:
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 5.87 gal
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated Color: 5.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 37.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 66.67 %
3.00 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 28.57 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4.76 %
0.50 oz Chinook [12.50 %] (75 min) Hops 23.2 IBU
1.00 oz Sorachi Ace [11.10 %] (Dry Hop 14 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Sorachi Ace [11.10 %] (10 min) Hops 14.3 IBU
1.00 oz Sorachi Ace [11.10 %] (0 min) Hops -
1 Pkgs SafBrew Specialty Ale (DCL Yeast #T-58) Yeast-Ale

04/19/10: Brewed this morning. Efficiency didn't seem to take too much of a hit. Mashed at 150 to control yeast and residual sugars for Brett. Beer took off very quickly and temps started out in the mid 60s quickly got around 80. Moved carboy to the basement where it was in the mid to upper 60s to finish out before kegging. Hope to get this guy kegged within a month or so.
05/10/10: Just pulled the first sample and it's remarkably at 1.003. No funk is noticeable but the spice profile is really nice. Certainly not along the lines of a saison but some solid Belgian flavors.
05/24/10: This guy is starting to get a nice fluffy white pellicle, one of this thickest I've had of any sour. Hopefully one of my kegs kicks soon and I can get it tapped.

NHC 2010 Results

2010-04-28T06:24:00.000-07:00

So this year, I was a bit bummed not to make it back to Philly to judge again in the NE region of the NHC. However, I did enter three beers. I thought these would be my three best I've made in the passed year. I entered: Christmas Saison, Funky Belgian Stout (tasting to follow in a few days, recipe unfortunately lost), and my Oat Wine.
I thought the saison would do the best, but it only managed a 33 overall. Judges said it was a bit over spiced (entered in 16E, Belgian Specialty) and too alcoholic. I had novice and recognized judges, so nothing too special there. Other notes; there was a 4 point differential between the two, looks like the novice had to come down from a 37 if I can read it correctly. He seemed to really enjoy it despite saying he's partial against spiced beers. He didn't pick up much of the ester profile even though I think it's pretty prominent, just the spices. The other judge hopes things will mellow with age, so if I have anymore, perhaps I'll enter in another contest.
The Oat Wine did the worst, managing a 31.5. I was forced to enter it into OA/Smoked beer category because there's a limit of one entry per category. Both judges said the alcohol was too dominant and the oak wasn't prominent enough. Why I didn't manage full points for appearance is strange (should be a given unless high cloudiness/poor head retention which neither was present). The judges just seemed confused about the beer since there was some "different" things going on with no comparison. I hoped it would do better since both 1st and 2nd in the same category last year (in NE) were sours.
Fortunately, the Funky Belgian Stout did the best. It got a 41, though frustratingly did not move on to the Nationals. The judges seemed to really enjoy the range of funk and acid coming through with a light roasty background. One called it a black gueuze! Said the roast was lacking but the wild yeast was great. The other said "don't change anything!". It went to mini best of show, but didn't make it past. The one problem I remember from NHC first round last year is you only have 1 sample per beer. It get's really difficult to ration all of the samples especially if it goes to BOS. I wish it was a 2 bottle entry, but I understand with upwards of 800 entries per region, that would be a ton of beer (and what to do with entries that don't need the second bottle for judging).
Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results, though I wish I had an entry move on. The feedback was good, and certainly things I agree with the judges on. As other friends have told me, it's really a crapshoot to do well with beers that are so different, and are not traditional styles (however, the opposite could be just as true). I'm hoping to enter a couple into Spirit of Free Beer this year, though I'm not sure which since it requires a 3 bottle limit per entry.

Long Aged Homebrews

2010-04-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

As I'm finishing up chilling my cream ale wort, I found my last bottle of amber saison I made about 1.5 years ago. It's actually pretty high in abv (7-8% IIRC), so it's certainly age worthy. I used 3724 (Dupont) for yeast, which is known to be very finicky though I did get very good attenuation (recipe is lost however due to my previous pc crashing). The beer is definitely showing some oxidation, and the rich thick maltiness is coming out. Near sherry like notes dominate while the spicy, earthy saison yeast has subsided. I can't say it's in an improved state, but it's an interesting one to taste; obviously better than how the Pliny clone aged though! Anyone else have good/bad results with an aged beer, hopefully something over a year or so?
(as an aside to photog snobs, I know the white balance is off, but I really like the strong blue tint I got to this shot)

Cream Ale V3.0

2010-04-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

I'm really digging getting back into brewing since so long of a break. I had just not made time for myself to enjoy a nice relaxing brew day, and certainly enjoying the results. Now that I'm quickly filling up all my fermenters and draining my kegs, it feels good.
This week I'm brewing my third rendition of a cream ale. The first was basically straight out of Jamil's book, with a slight hop substitution. The second I switched up the yeast, hops and grain base (while still using some corn and sugar). This time, it's not a huge change-up, just a way to utilize some hops I have (one variety I don't believe I've ever used). It should follow the Schwartzbier on tap once it's kicked. Looking forward to this one when the warmer weather hits.
Recipe:
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.30 gal
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 3.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 20.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 81.63 %
1.00 lb Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 8.16 %
1.00 oz Williamette [4.50 %] (75 min) Hops 14.3 IBU
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (10 min) Hops 4.9 IBU
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
1 Pkgs Ale (DCL Yeast #US05) Yeast-Ale

04/14/2010: Brewed on a gorgeous, warming morning. Mashed at 150-149 for 60min on this one for high fermentability. Meant to add .75# of cane sugar but totally forgot. Gravity at 1.051 is still good, and I'm happy to have my efficiency back up to 70%.
05/10/2010: After really neglecting this beer, I pulled a sample and it's sitting at 1.005. Flavor is extremely mild with really nothing dominating. Basically, what I'm looking for. Hopefully I'll get it kegged up within a week or so.

Imperial Munich IPA

2010-04-07T08:45:00.000-07:00

Since I got a little careless with utilizing my cold weather season to brew some more lagers, I had to come up with something to use all the Munich malt I bought for a Doppelbock. Having torn through anything hoppy on tap, I figured I would put together a double IPA that was all Munich malt. (I also have a ton of American hops on hand, so really nothing else to buy but yeast). Because Munich malt isn't as fermentable as Pilsner, or any pale 2-row, I decided to go about 90/10 Munich/sugar to ensure it was dry enough. Coupled with using US05, should be no problem. The only other issue I've just been reading about is the low diastatic power of Munich malt (in essence, that it can be tricky to self convert without the use of a high lintner malt). However, having just finished mashing, and knowing I used Bolander Munich from Briess and completing an iodine test, I'm confident I have some sweet, sugary wort. Aside from that, I had to come up with a solid hop schedule. And I'll admit, I kind of just went the dart board method, and randomly picked them. I know I needed some first wort hops, bittering, flavor and aroma, so just went with the strong points of each hop. Chinook for FWH (not a huge fan of the piney notes, but it's my highest alpha hop and would do well for bittering), Centennial for bittering and flavor (love the citrus), Simcoe for flavor, and Amarillo and Centennial to finish out the aroma for knockout. I haven't determined what I'll do yet for keg hopping but will certainly update. Anyone else out there with success stories for single malt beers?
(started my brew day off with one of the first (carbonated) bottles of the Bourbon Barrel Wee Heavy)
Recipe:
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: ~8 gal
Estimated OG: 1.072 SG
Estimated Color: 14.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 124.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 63 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
15.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 90.91 %
1.00 oz Chinook [12.40 %] (75 min) (First Wort Hops 37.8 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [9.40 %] (75 min) Hops 26.1 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [11.50 %] (75 min) Hops 31.9 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [11.50 %] (20 min) Hops 18.5 IBU
0.50 oz Simcoe [12.70 %] (20 min) Hops 10.2 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [9.40 %] (0 min) Hops -
1.00 oz Centennial [11.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
1.50 lb Cane (Beet) Sugar (0.0 SRM) Sugar 9.09 %
1.5 Pkgs Ale (DCL Yeast #US05) Yeast-Ale

4/07/10: Brewed this morning in the hot morning sun. No problems other than the horrible efficiency. Due to either incomplete conversion or otherwise, it's something I want to revisit in the future. Will add some keg hops when it comes to that, but will be updated on the blog.
4/21/10: Just pulled the first sample and this is an awesome beer! Huge caramel, toffee, biscuity nose without a huge hop presence. Big bitterness and nice citrusy flavor with a dry finish. Gravity finished at 1.012 so 7.8% abv and 82% attenuation. Hoping to get it kegged up today just need to get some hop bags (pantyhose!) and kill the Cal Common. Wow, I'm happy with this one.
4/21/10: Kegged up with 3oz of Centennial and 2oz of Amarillo. Been drinking fantastically since just carbonated. It's going to go fast!
5/10/10: And it's kicked! Haha, probably my best kegged beer to date.

Bourbon Barrel Porter

2010-03-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it's that time of the year again, to empty out one of our barrels. The Wee Heavy we made about 13 months ago, since going sour, is ready for bottling. Since we've abandoned the idea of aging anything clean in the barrel, we needed to decide what kind of beer would do well souring and absorbing any bourbon flavor that is left. The Wee has turned out really well with a nice mingling of funk, sour, oak and bourbon. The ideas first thrown out were: tripel (a la Allagash Curieux), robust/baltic porter, stout or barleywine. The first was quickly abolished because none of us (myself excluded) are huge fans of Allagash's, barleywine is just too close to the Wee, so it was down to stout and porter. We all agreed that a Baltic or Rubust porter would be best for long aging (higher abv, roasted malts), and that it was not as rich as a stout (Imperial or otherwise). Finally, we decided that using lager yeast, as in traditional production of a Baltic, would be just too tricky as it needs longer time and some of us (okay, just me) don't have good temperature control. The recipe is very simple, and most of us used US05 since it ferments quickly, is pretty clean, and cheap. Barrel date is set for this Saturday, March 20, should be exciting!
Recipe:
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.70 gal
Boil Size: 8.30 gal
Estimated OG: 1.077 SG
Estimated Color: 38.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 24.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 67.50 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
15.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 84.24 %
1.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 6.79 %
0.90 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.89 %
0.75 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 4.08 %
2.00 oz Williamette [4.50 %] (75 min) Hops 24.1 IBU

Yeast
-----------
US05 (1.5 packets)

3/03/10: Brewed today after getting my Barley Crusher functioning again. Mashed quite high, about 158-159 since I was using the beast known as US05 and we wanted plenty of residual sugar for the bugs. Fermenting in the low 50s. No problems, ended up with better, but still poor efficiency.
3/17/10: After a very quiet fermentation, gravity is down to 1.020, but there may be some more left in it since the ambient temp is in the upper 50s, to near 60.

And I'm back! Sort of...

2010-02-18T08:56:00.000-08:00

Well, it's certainlly been a rollercoaster type of winter so far. If you watch any news at all, you've noticed DC has received record breaking snow fall despite winter only being about 2/3 done! I've been just so uninterested in brewing lately as a part result. The other has been my battle with my keg regulator with Midwest Brewing Supplies. They had sent me a new gauge, which didn't solve anything. However, they sent me a brand new regulator soon after (about a $100 value), and everything seems to be up and running with my IPA and Cal Common on tap. I have to say, Midwest has fantastic prices AND amazing customer service to boot (something I really appreciate being in the service industry).
Back to the blog. After taking a couple months off of brewing and blogging, I'm more or less back. Just finishing up brewing my Schwartzbier, and no problems whatsoever. I just bottled my Funky Belgian Stout which I brewed back in late November 2008. It got plenty of age (despite a FG of 1.026) and turned out really tasty. I'm also just pointing out that at this point I think I'm merely going to use the blog as a place for me to post recipes and production tracking. I am still very upset that I lost all of the data of nearly 3 years of brewing to my old computer and figure using a blog (on the "cloud") to backup this data is the best use. I'll try to make some other updates in addition (tastings, beer happenings, etc), but can't promise anything.
From that, here is my recipe for the Schwartz, basically an adaptation of Jamils':

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.30 gal
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated Color: 28.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 66.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 51.37 %
4.50 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 38.53 %
0.37 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3.17 %
0.37 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3.17 %
0.22 lb Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM) Grain 1.88 %
0.22 lb Carafa II (412.0 SRM) Grain 1.88 %
1.75 oz Crystal [4.30 %] (75 min) Hops 26.1 IBU
0.50 oz Crystal [4.30 %] (20 min) Hops 4.3 IBU
0.50 oz Crystal [4.30 %] (0 min) Hops -
1 Pkgs Bavarian Lager (Wyeast Labs #2206) Yeast-Lager

2/17/10: Brewed today. Awful efficiency, not sure if it had to do with crush or what. Also lost a ton of volume from either a vicious boil, or weather. Either way, a 1.050 OG is fine for this style. Mash ran a bit higher than expected (156-157), hopefully the yeast is able to manage at least 70%AA. Pulled a 2 cup runnings to get the yeast going since the starter was made a couple weeks ago.
3/27/10: Kegged her up today. Gravity managed to get down to 1.010, so I'm pretty happy. However, there's a strange note in the aroma, most likely yeast derived. I can't say that it's diacetyl, but I'm really not sure what it is. Hopefully a couple weeks in the fridge to lager will help it out.

Last Tasting: Pliny Clone

2009-12-19T11:32:00.000-08:00

Despite my quick consumption of this beer last spring, I held onto one bottle to see how some age affects it. I'm not expecting anything special, but just out of curiosity (and the fact that I'm house bound due to this blizzard), I thought I'd crack it open for a tasting. Here's the original with the recipe.
Aroma: Dank, musty hops up front. Plenty of citrus, resin, pine and almost a faint cheesiness to boot. This one obviously has not aged well. I'm almost picking up a metal, lead like note; really strange. Really no malt aroma, but a nice fruity, sweetness.
Appearance: Medium amber, bright orange color. Suffers from some chill haze, but otherwise clarity is good. Dense, white head trails down to just a quarter inch.
Flavor: Wow, there is some real off flavor in this one. The hops have transformed into a mish mash of this metal influenced, light bready sweetness. Bitterness has really been lost, and the malt body dominates. Oxidation isn't overly noticeable, but certainly there. Again, age has not treated this beer kindly. Really reminds me of some old beers that are too commonly found on the shelves of even the best beer store.
Mouthfeel: Carbonation is nearly the same, medium to low in bubble volume. Body is become seemingly bigger, perhaps due to the malt:hop ratio shifting.
Overall: This was purely experimental, and again proves the notion that hoppy beers to not age well. Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River is a huge proponent of this idea and covers (literally covers) his bottles of Pliny the Elder in quotes or drink now, drink fresh, do not age! In fact, they only keg their seasonal of Pliny the Younger in order to ensure it's drank in a timely fashion. It was a fun tasting, but I don't think I'll be able to finish this bottle.

Tasting: Westmalle Extra Clone

2009-12-12T10:33:00.000-08:00

I'm nearly through this keg, so I'm happy to get a sample tasting done before it kicks (like the melomel I tore through). I've had a couple folks try it, and while they enjoy it for the most part, there's something a little off about it. Well, for my first Belgian to tap, and first really straight forward beer (a SMaSH ), I'm pretty happy.

Aroma: The Belgian like esters are pretty straight up. A light spicy clove, banana, bubblegum followed by the spiciness of the Saaz hops. The strange one, is the green apple note I get. I was hoping it would dissipate with some age, but it hasn't seem to go anywhere. It's not bad per se, but I don't think it should be there. It's also quite fruity in the sugarplum kind of way and citrusy. Malt notes are mild if at all detectable. No DMS.
Appearance: This one, like most kegged beers, started out pretty cloudy, but it's now just to a hazy look. A bright light orange, dark straw color with a massive, fluffy, densely packed white head and lots of tracing. A really nice looking beer for a Belgian. Carbonation bubble stream up the center.
Flavor: The fruity esters continue to dominate this one. The bubblegum and banana are pretty prevalent. Malty flavors are stuck in a lightly bready, slightly biscuity flavor. Considering that it's just Pilsner malt (Belgian), it's got a nice profile to it. The Saaz hops are pretty noticeable, and the firm bitterness is snappy in the finish. Speaking of which, the finish is nice and dry making this an extremely quaffable beer.
Mouthfeel: Having sat and still holding at about 15 psi, the carbonation is nice and high and gives it a smooth, fluffy mouthfeel. That combined with the moderate bitterness and dryness, really make for a medium to medium low body.
Overall: I'm pretty happy with this beer but some of the off, apple something flavors detract a bit. I've since started normal chilling procedures with my beers and no longer am no-chilling. I've no idea if it has negetively effected these beers, but I'd rather go back to normal procedure. I think I might duplicate this beer again, but aim a bit more for a Belgian IPA (Green Flash Le Freak is one of my favorites that balances west coast hops with a moderate Belgian yeast presence).
Recipe and notes

California Common

2009-12-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

Since the temps are starting to dip into the mid to upper 50s in my basement/fermentation room, it was time to reconsider what styles of beers I could make. A bit too cool for most ales, and too warm for lagers, why not try a hybrid? I've never made a Cal Common before, one of the few styles that comes from one "true" example: Anchor Steam. Anchor has trademarked the term "steam beer" so any other examples need to be called a California Common, or simply Common. The style is known for it's mildly fruity esters from the lager yeast, some light maltiness, and most notably, the use of Northern Brewer hops. It's not too difficult to come up with a good recipe, as you're basically trying to copy Anchor Steam, and the hops are well known as well as the certain type of yeast. Jamil's recipe is a bit bigger and maltier for the style, but other than that, he goes along with trying to copy Anchors'. I made only a couple adjustments (for efficiency) to his recipe (which I'm now using BeerSmith to copy over the recipe, a little nicer I think):

Recipe Specifications

--------------------------

Batch Size: 5.50 gal

Boil Size: 6.46 gal

Estimated OG: 1.056 SG

Estimated Color: 12.3 SRM

Estimated IBU: 43.9 IBU

Brewhouse Efficiency: 74.00 %

Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:

------------

Amount Item Type % or IBU

9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 77.39 %

1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 8.60 %

1.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 8.60 %

0.50 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4.30 %

0.13 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.12 %

1.00 oz Northern Brewer [7.80 %] (75 min) Hops 26.0 IBU

1.50 oz Northern Brewer [7.80 %] (15 min) Hops 17.8 IBU

1.50 oz Northern Brewer [7.80 %] (0 min) Hops -

1.00 oz Northern Brewer [7.80 %] (Keg Hop) Hops -

2L starter California Lager (Wyeast Labs #2112) Yeast-Lager

12/09/09: Brewed this morning. No exciting issues. Again pulled 2 cup of mixed first runnings to chill and pitch into decanted starter. Chilled normal to about 70 degrees or so and brought down into basement to chill the rest of the way. Fermentation started and boomed real quick within 24hrs with lots of blowoff.
12/16/09: After a week, this brew is only down to 1.026, a bit dissapointing. I'm thinking I either underpitched and/or drove it too cold too fast. I brought it up from about 56 degrees to room temp (fluctuates between 66 and 70) to get it to finish out. Flavor, however, is fantastic. Tons of fresh grassy, fruity hop flavors, solid malt background, and a nice clean lager character. I think it will turn out really well.
1/05/10: Kegged up this evening. FG sitting at 1.016, so 70% AA and 5.2% abv, pretty much on target. Flavor is very much balanced between a nice bready, toasty malt note and a fresh woodsy, herbal hop note. I added another 1oz of Northern Brewer hops to the keg to make it even hoppier. Very excited to see how it turns out. I also saved the cake for the upcoming cream ale.

Overdue Update and Poll Results

2009-12-10T02:17:00.001-08:00

I have definitely been neglecting the blog for sure. To be fair, I haven't done a whole lot of brewing as evidenced in my "What's Brewing" section. Yesterday was the first time I brewed since well before Thanksgiving. I even rushed out to the store to get the ingredients and make a starter, and then let it go two weeks before brewing! With the holidays coming up, it's getting tighter and tighter to budget in some time (and money) to do much. The basement is cooling down to some nice temps for lager brewing (steady around 57-58 now). Unfortunately, it will also significantly slow down my sours. Last week, I did keg up the IPA, and damn that beer is nice. I think it'll take another week before it hits its prime.
One other piece of advice I'll give to any brewer as well (even though it should be self evident): calibrate your thermometers! I noticed yesterday while heating up my strike water that all three of my thermometers were reading about 10 degrees difference. It's likely the reason that I'm getting way over attenuated beers (probably have been mashing around 145-149). I'll take Mike's advice and invest in a good one. Any ideas?
And to the poll. There was a lot of discussion over at Beer Advocate about what is the best beer for a diverse and lengthy holiday meal, be it Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years etc. Honestly, I'm generally in the company of wine drinkers, so that's what I drink. I was surprised not to get one vote for it. I do agree, however, that Belgians (usually pale, and/or saisons) are probably the best at tackling a wide range of food.
Coming up, I'm looking at what lagers I want to try this year. Since I've got a Cal Common fermenting, I'm think of doing a cream ale with the cake and trying out these Citra hops I picked up. Along with that, a Schwartzbier to please my girlfriend, and a doppelbock. That may be it, but I'll see if I can squeeze something else in. (Perhaps a light lager for fun).
Look for the recipe and notes from the Cal Common, and a tasting of the Christmas Saison, IPA and Westmalle Clone soon.

Hop Harvest IPA

2009-11-18T10:35:00.000-08:00

My title may be a bit misleading, but I just got a big delivery of hops from Hops Direct of their new harvest. I wanted to make the most of it, and do a really hoppy IPA. I loved how my Pliny clone turned out early this year, but I wanted to make a version a bit less in alcohol to make it nice and sessionable on tap. However, nearly the whole recipe has been changed, so comparing the two isn't really the best idea. I've never had good luck with making hoppy beers outside of the Pliny clone, so I wanted to go full boar with the hops on this one. I chose a combination of Chinook, Cenntenial, Amarillo and Simcoe. These are all pretty traditionally used hops for APAs, IPAs, IIPAs, American Barleywines, and other American styles. The Chinook gives a nice resiny, piney flavor; the Centennial and Amarillo some juicy grapefruit, and the Simcoe a bit of woodsy like flavor. The hopping plan started out fairly traditional with a bittering addition and then several late hop additions. Mike had convinced me to give complete late hopping a try and since I have plenty of hops and they're all high in alpha acids, I said, why not? That said, I stuck with all 20min or less additions, with plenty of hops near or at flameout, and will be adding a bit in the keg. Those details will come in the near future. The grain bill is pretty traditional AIPA, nothing special. I chose to use a pound of wheat which may or may not be standard, but I like what it does for the mouthfeel and head retention. I'll be doing a considerable keg hop addition whenever it get's there (the Bitter just kicked last night, so it shouldn't be too long).
Recipe:
5.5 gal batch
7.5 gal boil
OG 1.060
FG: 1.008
IBUs ~67
SRM 6

10# Briess 2-row
1# Soft White Wheat
.5# Crystal 20L
.25# Crystal 40L
.5# Cane Sugar
1oz Chinook (12.4% AA) 20min
1oz Centennial (11.5% AA) 20min
1oz Simcoe (12.2% AA) 10min
1oz Amarillo (9.4% AA) 10min
1oz Centennial 0min
2oz Amarillo omin
Wyeast 1056 (2L starter)

11/18/09: Brewed today on a chilly morning. Decided to chill this batch (didn't want to make a starter with 60+ IBU wort), and didn't have too many issues. Saved a pint of runnings to chill and get the yeast going (decanted the 2L) since I made the starter nearly a week ago. Very active fermentation after only a few hours and big blowoff after 12. Fermentation was in the mid 60s ambient. I'll taste it in a couple weeks and then keg it on another 3-4oz of mixed hops.
12/02/09: Kegged up with a mix of hops: 2oz Amarillo, 1oz Centennial, and 1oz Simcoe in a couple knee highs. Final gravity was 1.008, so just about where I was looking. Flavor is really nice, but not the 60+ IBUs that it should be. Very cloudy at kegging, we'll see how this one progresses.

Another Tasting Night

2009-11-10T13:58:00.000-08:00

Given any chance to meet a fellow homebrewer, I grab it. JC Tetreault came in from the Boston area for business, but was able to make it to my place for dinner and some home brew. He was extremely gracious for everything, enjoyed both Mike's and my beers, and had a great time checking out the cellar. Here's a quick link to some amazing photos he took while here:
I have to say (with nearly unanimous agreement), Mike's dry hopped bottle of Flanders is one of the best beers I've ever had. We had it side by side the regular, but this one was leaps and bounds above the original in terms of complexity and overall enjoyment.
The pictures certainly tell a story themselves. Enjoy, and check out JC's blog if you haven't already; he has a solid talent for label making and art in general. I'm hoping this strength can translate into excellent beer, but I'll have to hold out for it!

Tasting: Oat Wine

2009-11-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

This beer is really what got my blog started. It was only my second sour beer, and one that I put quite a bit of thought into. When I first conceived the idea, it started with a simple twist on a barley wine. Only a couple other brewers out there are making oat wines commercially (an outgrowth of barley wine, which wheat wines are under as well), and I thought I could make a pretty tasty one. I also was interested by (at the time) Wyeasts' new strain designed to make traditional old/stock ales from England that would often have a light brettanomyces character to them. Beyond that, I added some Hungarian Oak cubes and bottle dregs to ensure some light sourness. Because it was such a large beer (OG 1.090) and attenuated quickly, I knew there wasn't going to be much sourness and/or funk happening. What resulted was one of my best beers to date.
Aroma: This beer really opens up with lots of fruity (cherry and apricot dominated) notes, a light vanilla oak character, some sweet caramel, little to no hops, and a big dose of alcohol. The brett is really the dominant character of this beer's bouquet, giving it a combination of fruit, damp hay, barnyard, and a light rubbery phenol. Acid isn't evident in the aroma (as it is rarely outside of tart Flanders and Lambic).
Appearance: Just a touch of light peaks through this richly dark mahogany colored beer. An off-white fluffy head of a half inch loses a bit over time but keeps a nice tracing. The flaked adjunct really helps in this case as does a fairly high level of carbonation.
Flavor: This beer just really coats, I mean saturates your mouth with flavor. Spicy, peppery phenols, vanilla and caramel, toasty oak, butterscotch, and some heat from the alcohol. The level of brett is very much in balance with the rest of the beers contributing flavors, more like a well aged old ale with some barnyard like funk to it. It's nowhere the level of a Flanders or Lambic, just a well integrated flavor along with the rest of the beer. Given all the oats I used in this beer, it's really not something I taste. Understandably, oats are rarely used in beer for their flavor, mostly for their contribution to body, mouthfeel and possible head retention problems (due to their moderate fat content). Ryan recently asked me if he though the Fawcett Malted Oats added much to this beer, and I have to say, not really. There's quite a bit of darker roasted and caramel malts here to cover up and subtlety oats could offer.
Mouthfeel: Despite it's incredibly low FG, this oat wine brings plenty of malty heft to it. I wish it had a bigger body (my biggest complaint), but I'm happy where it is. Carbonation is medium low, in the ballpark of 1.75 to 2 vols. Warming is quite evident, but alcohol spiciness in the mouth isn't overbearing or hot.
Overall: Seriously, I can't get enough of these funky beers, I really can't. And the fact that they cost so much in stores and bars, I'm thrilled I can make something of such quality at home. I would stack this up against so many of the beers I had at Night of The Funk, and would prefer it over many. I'm not gloating, I'm just really proud of my brewing with this beer. To date, the longest aged bottled beer I've made (the Belgian Stout, however, is nearing a year, but no bottling soon). I can't say I would really change anything to this beer, period. The amount of oak is perfect, the malt profile has depth and complexity, and the brett is right where it should be. I really hope Wyeast re releases this yeast strain again, I'd love to use it many more times.
Recipe and Notes

Sour Cherry Baltic Porter

2009-11-04T05:42:00.000-08:00

Since I haven't gotten my huge hop order from HopsDirect yet, I've opted to brew the sour cherry baltic porter today. Mulling over some ideas for a new sour (to utilize the slurry from the Flanders' barrel), I was a little stuck. I tried looking to commercial sours (mainly Jolly Pumpkin and Russian River) for ideas, but I ended up back with something with fruit. I really enjoyed the cherry robust porter I brewed last year, and thought it would be nice with some funk. To mix it up a bit, I thought I'd try my hand at a Baltic porter. The main difference is fermentation. Baltics are traditionally brewed with lager yeasts, or ale yeasts at low temperatures (mid 50s to low 60s). They are also not as roasty as American porters, almost a malt bill mix of a dubbel and a brown porter. I have basically copied Jamil's Baltic recipe with a couple tweaks. I brought the OG down a bit as I didn't want something too alcoholic, and I added a couple ounces of roasted barley for some added depth. Finally, I tried to find a lager yeast that can handle higher than normal fermentation temperatures. I looked at California Common, Kolsch, German ale, and then at lager yeasts. I came upon Bohemian Lager, which according to Wyeast, can produce psuedo-lagers fermented in the high 60s.
Recipe:
5.5 gal batch, 8 gal boil
OG: 1.067
IBU~ 28.1

6# Pale 2 Row (mixture of Kolsch, Briess Pale and Briess 2 row)
7# Briess Munich 10L
.5# Special B
.5# Crystal 60L
.25# Carafa I
.25# Chocolate
.125# Roasted Barley
1 oz Glacier (7% AA) 75min
.5 oz Glacier (6% AA) 20min
Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager

11/04/09: Brewed this morning, no problems with the Barley Crusher. Mike gave me tips on his partial fly-sparge method so I thought I'd give it a try. I was concerned that I wasn't keeping the grain bed fluid enough, so I batched the last 3 gallons of sparge water. Since I'm still on the netbook I couldn't have the recipe copied over from Tasty Brew, so I wrote it up very simply.
I mashed this one at 154 for 60min, and boiled for 75min. Saved about 3L of wort for a starter, will chill in the morning and decant in the afternoon and hopefully pitch around 60 or so degrees. Dregs and cherry puree will be added in secondary, those notes will follow.
11/12/09: Gravity down to 1.021 so plenty of sugars left. Going to pitch some slurry from the barrel and Drie Fonteinen to get the funk going. I'll probably rack in another couple weeks.

Poll Results and Barrel Bottling

2009-10-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

Well I just got over a severly hectic week at work and haven't had time to either brew or update the blog. I also have discovered my desktop has crashed (HP with common error Err2Err3 if anyone has any advice), so I'm on my little netbook. Hopefully I'll be able to get my files back, especially my lengthy beer sheet on excel that I didn't backup (like everything else on the computer). Anyway, back to the beer.
My chilling process poll turned out much like I imagined. The bulk of you use immersion chillers (58%) while the rest either use a ice bath or counterflow (4% each). Surprisingly, there was someone else out there who no-chills like myself! Each method certainly has its merits and problems, but I've been happy with the no-chill so far. I just kegged the Westmalle Extra clone today; it had the most beautiful clarity and color. It certainly needs a couple more weeks to condition and carbonate but I think it will turn out really well. Aside from that in the brewery, not much is going on. The Cuvee has started to slow down and I exchanged the blow-off for an airlock, but I'm going to give it a few more weeks before racking to both get the bugs going and let my oak soak a bit longer in rum. I just placed a massive hop order to do a scaled down Pliny clone, or more just an over hopped regular IPA to replace the American bitter on tap. From there, I have plans to do a Sour Cherry Baltic Porter, my first lager of the season. I'll be using the Bavarian lager strain and the barrel dregs for souring. Speaking of which, I'm sure everyone reading this blog reads Mike's as well. He just posted about our barrel bottling, so check there for more specifics. I haven't opened any of my bottles, but a few in the group have, and some have had it force carbonated already. Everyone is just gushing over how well it turned out, but I'll give my feeble patience another week before I crack a bottle. From here I'm just going to post some pictures from the day, enjoy!

Cuvee de Dan

2009-10-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

Time for another semi-clone. It's culminated in the collection of both Wyeast 3787 and the Drie Fonteinen cakes, and what to do with them. Cuvee de Tomme, brewed by The Lost Abbey's Tomme Arthur, is a strong, Belgian funky ale with sour cherries added and aged on bourbon barrels. I've had the fortune of trying it twice; once at Mike's place and the second this passed weekend on tap. It produces a flurry of oaky, sour, funky, fruity flavors with plenty of alcohol heft. A real delicious, complex beer. Since I've done a few beers that are really clones of the original, and since this one is a Cuvee of the brewer, I figured I had to do a twist all my own. Again, digging through The Flavor Bible and catalogs of fruit purees, I devised the combination of figs and rum. I've had some really tasty, oaky rums that I'm hoping to pick up to soak oak cubes (1.5oz French) and 1-2K of fig puree for this brew. The recipe is a mixture of Jeff Sparrow's Donkere Geneeskunde and Mike's Cherry Bourbon Quad. My recipe is pretty much in the middle of the two with less sugar overall and a lower OG.
Recipe:

Stats

OG	1.079
FG
IBU	28
ABV
SRM	21

Specifics

Boil Volume

7.5 gallons

Batch Size

5.5 gallons

Yeast

88% AA

Wyeast 3787

Drie Fonteinen

Fermentables

% Weight	Weight (lbs)	Grain	Gravity Points	Color
56.3 %	10.00	Briess Two-row Pale	45.1	3.3
16.9 %	3.00	American Munich (Light)	12.1	5.5
11.3 %	2.00	American Soft White Wheat	9.7	1.0
4.2 %	0.75	Belgian CaraMunich	3.0	10.2
2.8 %	0.50	Belgian Aromatic	1.8	2.3
1.4 %	0.25	Belgian Special B	0.9	10.0
1.4 %	0.25	American Chocolate	0.9	15.9
5.6 %	1.00	Cane sugar	5.6	0.2
	17.75		79.1

Hops

% Wt	Weight (oz)	Hop	Form	AA%	AAU	Boil Time	Utilization	IBU
100.0 %	1.65	Challenger	Pellet	5.3	8.7	60	0.236	28.1
	1.65							28.1

10/20/09: Brewed on a lazy morning. Had tons of problems with my Barley Crusher and its continued slipping roller. Ended up hitting my gravity really well at 1.079 and volume, so no problems with efficiency. Mashed at 154 for 60min and a 75min boil. No chill and pitched some leftover slurry from the Belgian single and Drie Fonteinen beer.
11/04/09: Primary looks nearly done. Beer is down to 1.011, a bit higher than I was hoping. No pellicle, no real funk to the flavor. I'm a bit worried I'm not going to get any acid out of this thing, but I'm hoping adding the fig puree will kick it in. In addition, I'll likely add some dregs from the Flanders' barrel when I rack. Right now, it basically tastes like a weak dubbel with a touch of barnyard funk in the nose.
11/12/09: Racked to secondary on top of 1.5oz French Med Toast oak cubes that soaked in a cup of Meyer's Rum for 3 weeks. The whole thing went in, rum and all. I'm also pitching some slurry from the barrel as well to get the bugs going.
4/14/10: Added nearly 1K of Boiron Fig puree. Had to slap on a blow off tube since the carboy is now nearly full. Will give this one several more months before bottling.

Night of The Funk

2009-10-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

When I first heard about this fest, a prelude to the Belgian Beer Fest sponsored by Beer Advocate (among others), I was giddy as hell. These are the types of beers that get me the most excited. To see a collection of wild/spontaneous/whatchamacallit beers from the US and around the world was something I couldn't miss. I bought two tickets months ago in hopes that my girlfriend would join me, but it looked like she couldn't as she was too busy with work (the catering business is a bitch). Fortunately, I found a good buddy who was willing to buy my ticket and help get a hotel room to share in Boston. Off we went to what looked like an amazing list of American sours. This was my first time really going to any beer fest outside of SAVOR in DC. The Bros. as Beer Advocate were responsible for it (with what looked like a hefty sponsorship of Duvel/Moortgat).
As you can hopefully see from the list, it looked like some really exciting, experimental brews from some really small craft brewers who weren't previously known for producing wild ales. What we tasted, for the most part, was quite the opposite. I don't want to be a complete Debby downer, but, we both poured out almost as much as we drank. So many of the up and coming brewers brought sours that were just above drinkable if not well below. The worst of the bunch was Ithaca's Le Bleu, an absolute abysmal conglomeration of beer, blueberries and what seemed like an overt pedioccoccus infection. It was buttery in the aroma followed by a sickly, oozy thick mouthfeel and a forgetable flavor. Aside from that, there were some other failures. Up and coming White Birch Brewery founded by a really nice guy whom I was able to converse with (and have to opportunity to try his pre-brewery beers) produced an overly phenolic, band-aid filled Belgian pale that was well above my threshold of tolerance. Even Sam Adams brought some really exciting beers like a 6 year old lambic and a Flander's style red. Both were pretty good with balanced acid, but with a strange dominating apple flavor, which I'm not sure is attributed to the use of a Calvados/apple-jack barrel, or faults in the brewing.
However, amongst the faults of the fest, both The Lost Abbey and Allagash brought their A-game. The former, the formidable Yellow Bus which is an American sour made with peaches (incredible rich, sour aroma filled with the stone fruit, sulfur, and orchard like flavors), and the latter, Vagabond, a bourbon barrel aged sour with (I believe) cherries added which was really boozy, slightly sour and fruity all at once. These were certianly the exceptions to an otherwise mediocre presence by some other big name microbreweries. The Bruery brought a couple solid brews (White Zin and a Sour Rye) along with some interesting Cisco brews (The Stoned Sour especially). But overall, it was a two sided fest with Lost Abbey and Allagash to pull the fest goers attention.
I'm trying to figure out the reason for this. Is it that many of these brewers are so new to the sour beer world that they don't know what they're doing, or unfortunately, they know their beers aren't that great by they can't afford to dump them. I'd love to see the trend of wild and sour brews expand into the micro brew scene of America, but I'd also like to see the brewers know what they're doing before they sell them. To use the common analogy of Top Chef (one of my favorite shows): if you can't stand behind your dish (beer) 100%, it's not worth serving (pouring).

Beer Tasting Nights

2009-10-07T08:22:00.001-07:00

Since moving here to DC I've made many new friends who are either avid beer geeks and/or very talented homebrewers. We all get together pretty frequently to share some amazing commercial beer and home brew. A few of us are (rabid) beer traders and travel a bit to pick up some rare and special beer. It's always great to share it amongst a crowd who is equally appreciative and critical of these beers. We also try to rotate who hosts and what we eat with all the beer. Sometimes there are themes, other times we just have a small handful of really special brews that we're excited to try. Last night, Nathan was nice enough to have our small group over and, since the cooler season is upon us, we decided to focus on only high alcohol brews. I had the Bruery Papier to contribute along with my Oat Wine. Besides those, we had: Old Viscosity, Older Viscosity, East End Toaster, Bourbon County Stout, Salvation and Berkshire Bourbon Scotch Ale among many, many others. And, because we were all together at Nathan's, that means it's barrel sampling time! The Flanders will be bottled in a couple weeks, but the Scotch ale in the Bourbon barrel is still evolving ever so deliciously. I decided to take many pictures at the tasting, so enjoy. And, I hope you all get a chance to get together to sample some beers (or any other beverage), talk about them and have a great time.

Tasting: American Bitter

2009-10-05T13:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I'd been aiming for a really quaffable, low alcohol, hoppy brew, and I think I nailed it. Despite some early anxiety on how this beer was going to turn out, I'm quite happy with how it is. Having not brewed too many traditional British style beers, I think this one, despite its American hops, is well within the guidelines. Here's the first tasting, just over 2 weeks after kegging.
Aroma: Grapefruit, grass, caramel, grapy fruitiness, slight mineral notes. Overall, it's a very balanced malt:hop driven aroma with plenty of bready, caramel notes mixing with the citrusy hops.
Appearance: Deep copper, caramel color with excellent clarity. Well supported, just off white head forms with beautiful tracing.
Flavor: On the palate, this beer really is a delicate balance of lightly toasted white bread, sweet caramel, and orange like bitter hops. The yeast character gives it a biting mineral note that accentuates the hops. The finish is quite dry and nearly chalky.
Mouthfeel: I've dialed this one in to be pretty middle of the road for carbonation, about 2-2.25 vols. It has a pretty medium low body making it quite drinkable. The bitterness really gets the palate working, and it's low alcohol has little to no warming.
Overall: After the first week of having this beer on tap, it's really come into its own. The keg hops have mellowed considerably, and the deep maltiness has become better integrated. If I had to do anything differently, I'd increase the amount of aroma hop additions, and use fresher hops. The concept was to be an APA with a British yeast and malt bill, and I think I succeeded in that part. I'm happy to finish off this keg and look forward to brewing another uber hopped beer to replace it.
Recipe and notes

Belgian Single, Barrel Bound

2009-09-30T06:35:00.000-07:00

Time to get that barrel bottled and refilled. Unfortunately, Mike has already posted about his brewing of it. You can read about the history and description of the recipe here. I'll make my post pretty brief and give my recipe which is slightly different from his.

Stats

OG	1.053
FG
IBU	25
ABV
SRM	4

Specifics

Boil Volume

8 gallons

Batch Size

5.5 gallons

Yeast

75% AA

Wyeast 3787

Fermentables

% Weight	Weight (lbs)	Grain	Gravity Points	Color
91.0 %	10.00	Castle Pils	46.5	3.3
3.0 %	0.33	American Vienna	1.5	0.2
3.0 %	0.33	German Acid Malt	1.5	0.1
3.0 %	0.33	American Soft White Wheat	1.8	0.2
	10.99		51.2

Hops

% Wt	Weight (oz)	Hop	Form	AA%	AAU	Boil Time	Utilization	IBU
100.0 %	1.75	Styrian Goldings	Pellet	3.4	6.0	55	0.303	24.6
	1.75							24.6

9/30/09: Brewed this morning. Again, no-chill so hop addition is a theoretical 75 mins. I mashed for 60min at 154 and 90min boil with terrible winds so it was a bit of a pain. Made a 2L starter from the wort with the yeast I split off of last weeks brew.

Here's a little video of the new chilling method, Jamil show in the background. Sorry it's sideways, can't figure out how to rotate it. You can see a bowl of 2L of wort chilling in the sink for the starter.

Comp. Results: Montgomery Country State Fair

2009-09-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

After a bit of back and forth with the coordinator of receiving my score sheets (due to a wrong address), I finally got back my results. I had entered three of my beers: Brett L stout, Mango Chipotle and the Berliner Weisse. Of the three, the most surprising was the Berliner; as you remember from one of my previous posts I was a bit dissapointed with the results. The Berliner was slammed for being a gusher, infected, having overly present band-aid phenols, and a muddy appearance. I attempted to counter with the coordinator that should have tried the other bottle because of a possible isolated bottle infection. However, because of their 2 bottle limit, they did not. I still find the beer to be perfectly clear, having a clean lemony aroma but I understand the acid isn't super clean with some slight off flavors. But, nothing near undrinkable.
The Brett stout and Mango Chipotle were the final beers in the Specialty Beer category's flight. Very much in that state they were extremely sparse in verbal descriptions of the beers. For both I got "Obvious Brett aroma", "Close to a Lambic". Obviously, these judges were either palate fatigued or ignorant to brett beers and decided not to expand on their descriptions. Nonetheless, both beers scored quite well with the Brett Stout receiving a 32 and the Mango Chipotle a 39, and placing first for its category. The judges didn't seem to find the formers' combination of brett and stout as complimentary of each other while the latter had many flavors that were complimentary and integral to the final beer.
Overall, I'm a little dismayed by the competition. I think the judges did a poor job of finding the flaws and merits of each beer in an objective manner. However, I'm still happy to have a blue ribbon hanging on a magnet on the fridge.