End of the World Stout is here

Millions of years ago, the galactic Mayan empire foretold the end of the world.  But how will it come? Will it be impact with a comet, zombie apocalypse, death star or Volgon construction crew?  No! it comes to you in a convenient 12 oz bottle!

  I present to you End of the World Stout - a beer brewed to ridiculous strength (20% abv) flavored with chocolate and aged on oak.

I made this monster brew almost one year ago.  Update  After aging for a few months on oak and chocolate, I force carbonated and bottled.  It has been sitting, waiting for this day...

The bottle opens with a hiss to remind me the carbonation transferred over ok.  I was a little worried since this was force carbonated in the keg and I don't have any of that fancy bottling equipment.

It pours deep black with only a hint of head that leaves a ring around the top.

Sweet aroma of dark malt with a hint of chocolate backed up with a whiff of alcohol. Maybe a little bit of roasted in the aroma too, but you have to look for it.

Strong malt favors right up front along with a slight alcohol burn.  The alcohol is actually quite mild considering it is around 20%. The malt/alcohol is followed by velvety chocolate, which lingers long after you have swallowed.  Sadly, I can't find the oak, but maybe it's there helping the favors blend together.  I guess a beer this strong needs more than an ounce.  It could also be that the oak cubes were buried in layers of yeast that settled out in secondary.  

The feel is a bit thick, but not syrupy or sticky.  The carbonation it does have helps lighten it up a bit.  It finishes with a slight alcohol burn and that chocolate.

This beer is more like a chocolate liquor than your average ale/stout/etc.  something to keep you company after the world has ended.  Enough of these and you won't even remember the comet strike or the wave of incoming zombies!

Notes:

    12/28/11 - Brewed  OG=1.10
        Made 2x 1/2 gal WLP099 starters
        Started with Nottingham yeast
    1/1-1/8 - Added 7.# corn sugar added some 099 and yeast nutrient
    1/9/12 -  Final sugar addition. vOG=1.074
    1/10/12 -  + 1 Vanilla bean (Vodka soaked) + 2oz Coco Nubs
          BR=19.2 G=1.04 ABV=14-19%
     1/16-1/17 added 1# cane Sugar vOG=1.182
     1/19/12 - Secondary Got ~4.5 gals - 1 gal of sludge!  G=1.029  ABV=20%
     5/29/12 - Keg + Fridge (To force carb)  FG=1.023, 19brix  ABV=20-21%
          Based on current brix+SG, OG could be 1.169, putting ABV at 19.5%
      8/23/12 - Bottled 1.5 cases
      12/20/12 - This tasting!

     

Honey Wheat - Recipe

With all of the dark, strong and sour beers I have been brewing recently, it was time to make something light and easy drinking.  After tossing a few ideas around I decided to make some honey wheat beer. 

Recipe (10 Gallons)
  10# Rahr 2-row
  5# Wheat malt (Local shop didn't have enough of one kind, so I used white and red)
  2# Wheat flour
  3# Orange blossom honey added at the end of the boil.
  1oz Zythos hop blend (60)
  1oz whole homegrown Cascade hops (15)
  2 packs US-05 dry yeast

Mash:
  Protein rest 10 minutes at 122F
  Sacc rest 50 minutes at 152F

Notes:
  Brewed 12/2/12  OG=1.051
  I took a chance mashing so much wheat with no rice hulls, but with the protein rest and a thin (1.5qt/#) mash, I didn't have too much trouble sparging.  I boiled 9 gallons down to a little over 7. At the end, I topped off with 2.5 gallons of bottled water, giving me 10 gallons in the fermeters.

Belgian dubbel/oud bruin

Recipe for 10 gallons.  I split this into 2 pails.  One got the standard Belgian yeast, the other Roeselare yeast blend, which will become an Oud Bruin.

Fermentables:
   18# Rarh 2-row malt
     1# Carapils
  1/2# Special B
  1/2# Belgian aromatic malt
     1# Belgian dark candi sugar
     2# sugar
Hops:
  2oz German Tradition (60)
  2oz Hersbrucker (15)
Other:
  1 Whirlfloc tablet (10)

Yeast:
  Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abby ale - Sub White labs 530 Belgian Abby ale
  Wyeast 3763 Roselare blend - used in 1/2 the wort for an old bruin.
 
Notes:

10/28/12 - Starter of WYeasty Abbey Yeaast

10/31/12 - Belgian starter failed!

10/31/12 - New starter w/ WLP 530 Abbey Ale

11/1/12 - Brew 10g Belgian double (1/2 goes to oud bruin)   OG=1.065

11/24/12 - Secondary  SG=1.011

Hazy, amber.  Slight yeasty. not much Belgian character.  A little sweet but not bad.

Smoked porter - tasting

Smoked porter Tasting

The beer is dark, almost black with ruby red highlights and a tan head.  Aroma of roasted malt with hints of wood smoke.  The smoke is more prominent in the flavor, backed up by the roasted malts.  It is full bodied and smooth. 

I like how this turned out.  I think the 5# was just the right amount of smoked malt for what I was looking for. 
I will be enjoying this over the winter months.

 

Notes:
10/7/12 - Brew OG=1.052
  +Nottingham Yeast
10/27/12 - Secondary - SG=1.009
  Nice smoky aroma and some in the flavor.  Dark. 
   Lost a lot to trub - only 4 Gallons in secondary.
11/2/12 - Bottled 4 gals of Smoked porter  FG=1.009  ABV=5.75%
   + 2.9oz sugar

Smoked Porter - Recipe

I combined 2.5 gallons of a strong stout and 2.5 gallons of smoked malt to make this beer.  I got 2 different 5 gallon batches with only a little extra effort.  See here for the full Strong Stout recipe. I mashed the smoked malt separately testing the 'brew in a bag' method.  It doesn't help that I didn't have the right kind of bag, but I think I got enough out of it.

For 2.5 Gallons (Then combined):
Fermentables:
  5# Briess Cherrywood smoked malt

Hops:
 1/2oz Northern Brewer (60 min)

Yeast:
  1 packet Nottingham dry ale yeast

Combine with 2.5 Gallons of Strong Stout wort.

Notes:
 Brewed: 10/7/12

 Mashed  @ ~152F for 60 minutes at 2qt/#
   Collected 3.5gals @9brix (1.036sg)
   Final (After combining): 4.8gals @14brix (1.056sg)
  After cooling, I took a gravity reading and got closer to 1.050. 

Looks like I got poor efficiency from the smoked malt.  The small bag made it difficult to stir the mash well.  At least the high gravity of the strong stout helped balance that. 1.050 will probably yield around 5% ABV, so its not too bad.  I will have to top it off 1-2 quarts to make up for the short volume, but it wont affect it by too much.
I did notice that the smokiness of the malt was very mild.  I am hoping 5# was enough to give it some good smoke character.

Update 11/25/12 Tasting

Strong Stout/Porter - Recipe

This recipe was for a combined brewing day.  I have been experimenting with different ways to get more than one beer in a short brew day.  For this, I made ~7.5 gallons of a strong stout and 2.5 gallons of smoked beer.  This recipe is for 7.5 gallons of stout.  See here for the smoked half.

For 7.5 Gallons:
Fermentables:
   15# Rahr 2-row
   1# Caramel 80
   1# English Chocolate Malt
   1# Flaked Oats
   1# Flaked Barley (I had ordered 2# barley, but was shipped 1 barley, 1 oats)
   8oz Black Patent Malt
   8oz English Roast Barley

Hops:
 2oz Northern Brewer (60 min)

Other:
 1 Whirlfloc tablet
 1 Vanilla bean (at flame-out)

Yeast:
  2 packs of S-04 dry ale yeast.

Notes:
 Brewed: 10/7/12 Start 7:45am

 Mashed  @ ~152F for 60 minutes at 1.5qt/#
   First running: 4.25gals @20.8brix (1.087sg)
   Second running: 5gals @11brix (1.044sg)
   Pre-boil 9.25gals @15brix
   Final: 7.5gals @18brix (1.074sg)
  After cooling, I took a gravity reading and got closer to 1.070. 

I probably could have gotten away with 1 yeast pack, but with the high OG, I decided to over pitch rather than under.  I'm sure it helped because the next day, I had blow off - Unexpected with 2 gallons of head space I leave in the pail.
Another thing I noticed with this beer.  Skimming the wort really helped avoid boilover.  I started with 9+ gallons in a 10 gallon pot.  I have skimmed before, but I could see this was really going to need it.  After taking off the top layer of foam, the rest of the boil went flawlessly.

2012 Cider (Wilkens)

 Its apple season again and time to make some hard cider.  For this batch, I decided to go more fresh & natural.  5 Gallons of local fresh apple cider, wine yeast (Montrachet) and a little nutrient.  No added sugar, no pectic enzymes.

Started on 9/30/12
OG=1.048

It is bubbling away nicely and smells of sweet apples.  I will leave it in primary until the yeast drops, then a few months in secondary.  I still haven't
kegged Apfelwein IV, which has been aging since last
November.  Time to get to work!

Eberhardt Dark - Recipe

I based this recipe off of a combination of the Scottish 80 and German Lager - both of which I made in the last few months and liked at lot.
I combined what I though were the best parts of each into this one batch of 10 gallons.  This will be split into 2x5 gallon with the only difference this time being the yeast.

Recipe:
  for 10 Gallons OG=1.049
Malt:
 16.5# 2-row
 2# Munich 10l
 2# Vienna
 4oz Chocolate malt
 4oz Black patent malt
Hops:
 2oz Northern Brewer (60 minutes)
Yeast - each went into half (5 gallons)
 Safeale S-04
 Safbrew S-33
Other:
 1 Whirlfloc Tablet in boil (15 Minutes)
 2oz Med Toast Hungarian oak cubes - 1oz in secondary for each 5 gals
Mash 60 minutes at 152F

Brewing:I took the first gallon of mash runnings to boil down separately. This is to caramelize it a little and add to the maltiness.
My boil kettle is only 10 gallons, so I don't have enough room for a full 10g boil.  I started with 9 gallons, which boiled down to a little under 8.  Combined with the separate boil and 2 gallons of distilled top off water, I have my 10 gallons.
With my basement temp around 75F this time of year, I started the first few days of fermentation in the chest cooler, set to low 60's.
After at least 2 weeks primary, I will secondary on oak.  The first half will be kegged soon after, with the other waiting until the first half is gone.
I brewed this at the same time as this year's Havest IPA, which made for quite an exhausting day.

Notes:
  8/26/12 Brew 10 Gals @ 1.058 (Efficiency must have been a bit better than expected..)
     Fermenting in Chest freezer @60F
     1/2 gets S-33 other gets S-04
  

Harvest IPA 2012

With the homegrown hops ready for harvest, it's time for a Harvest IPA.  In this, I load it up with tons of fresh hops - something you can only do this time of year.  Last year, I only got nugget hops, but it turned out ok.  This year both the nugget and cascade plants are producing, so I am excited to see how it turns out.
While putting together the recipe, I was drinking the last of my German lager, which had a nice malty flavor from Munich and Vienna malts.  I wanted to give this beer a little bit of that, so I included a pound of each.  Hopefully it is just enough to balance the hops and not overpower the beer.
I like more hop flavor without over the top bitterness, so I decided to add all of the hops in the last 20 minutes.  This also let me do a short boil (1/2 hour) which really helped because I brewed this the same day as a 10 gallon batch of dark.
I first put the recipe together with 1oz hop additions, but since fresh hops are 70-80% water, this version includes 4x as much hops (by weight).  This came out to about 2 full solo cups for each hop addition.  In the end, I strained 1-2 gallons of used hops from the wort.

Recipe:  5 Gallon batch
Fermentables:
 10# 2-row malt
  1# Vienna malt
  1# Munich malt
  1# cara pils
  1# cane sugar
  Mash 1 hour @ 152F
Hops:
  4oz fresh nugget  (20)
  4oz fresh cascade (15)
  4oz fresh nugget (10)
  4oz fresh cascade (5)
  4oz fresh nugget (flame out)
  4oz fresh cascade (flame out)
  4oz fresh cascade (dry hop)
Boil additions:
  Whirlfloc (15)
Yeast:
   Fermentis US-05
Notes:
  Brewed on 8/26/12 staggered after the dark beer
  With the short boil and extra water from the hops, I ended up with 6 gallons of 1.058 wort.  Weaker than planned, but I do get an extra gallon of final proeduct.
  Fermented at ~70F in swamp cooler.
  Will rack to secondary and dry hop after 1-2 weeks
  It will sit in secondary for 1 week before going into the keg.  I want to drink this one fresh.

Hops - Growing



Cascade plant



Nugget Hop tower

After making your own beer, whats the next level? How about growing your own ingredients?  While it isn't practical for the homeowner to grow fields of barley, hops are actually not so difficult.  There are numerous websites selling hop rhizomes (Root cuttings you can use to propagate the plant)

I forget if these plants are on their second or third year, but I do know I only got hops from one of them (Nugget) last year.  It was enough to make a nice IPA and I plan to do the same this year - but hopefully with enough hops left over to dry and save for later batches too.

I moved the Cascade plant to a better spot with more sunlight and it has thanked my with tons of hop cones.  I have it growing horizontally along the fence.

For the nugget plant, I made a 20' pole and hung strings for it to climb.  In only a few months, it climbed to the top and back down another 6'.  It looks like this single massive hop tower.

In a few weeks, I will harvest and use a ton of them in a nice IPA.  Most recipes use dry hops, which weigh about 80% less than fresh, so I will need to adjust by about 5x, so while a normal IPA recipe may ask for 1/2# or so of hops, I will need more like 4 pounds...

I will post more on that IPA when the time comes.

Drying hops - Assuming I have enough to save for future batches, I will need to dry them for proper storage.  There are a number of methods suggested out there.  I am leaning towards filling a pillow case and putting it in the dryer.  Once they lose 70-80% of their weight I will pack them in ziplock bags and store in the freezer.

Other uses - I also like to make Hops tea from the fresh hop flowers.  For this, just break up a few cones, put them in a tea steeper, fill a container with hot tap water and put in the fridge.  Once it cools down you have a nice refreshing hoppy beverage.  Now that I have a carbonator cap, I may try some hops soda...mmm.  My wife has a recipe for ginger hop soda that we want to try.



Lambic 2012 (Peach) blending

2/3 of my 2012 Lambic blends now completed and aging.
I did the raspberry last week and will do the gueuze sometime in a few months probably.
For this beer, I also took 1 gallon from each of the 2011 and 2012 base beers. We went peach picking on Saturday and picked 9pounds of yellow peaches. The white were not ready yet. Since only a few were ripe, I added 2.5 pounds on Saturday and another 1.5 Monday night for a total of 4 pounds in 2 gallons. This should be enough to get a nice peachy aroma and flavor.
Sometime next year we will get to see how well that goes...

Raspberry Wheat - Tasting

This beer (Recipe) (Brewing) has only been in the keg for about a week and its just about ready for drinking now.  Just in time for tomorrow's party.
 Low malt flavor, just enough hops to balance and a neutral yeast make this wheat beer a clean canvas for the local raspberries to shine.

Appearance:  It has this reddish amber or maybe copper color.  Not as bright red as I would have liked, but this is what you get without food coloring.  The head is nice foamy slightly pink, but mostly white.

Aroma:  the smell is mostly fruity (I would guess raspberry) with a little wheat in the background.

Flavor:  It has a slight tartness and up front berry flavor with a little wheat.  I think there are some hops sneaking in too.

Mouthfeel:  Thin, but in a nice refreshing way.  The carbonation gives it some body.  Just about what I would want for a light refreshing fruity summer beer.

Overall: I do like the beer and I hope it is taken well tomorrow - but I do hope they leave me some to savor over the next month or so too.  Also it gives a preview to what the lambic version may be when it is ready.

 7/8/12 - Brew 5.25 gals.  BR=12 OG=1.046
   Wort was surprisingly clear/white
   US-05 pitched @71 - In swamp cooler w/ ice bottles.
  7/13-15/12 - Picked 7.5# raspberries (total)
  7/15/12 - Added 5.5# Raspberries to Primary  G=1.005
  7/26/12 - Secondary G=1.006
   Not a whole lot of raspberry aroma.  Some flavor. OK warm.  should be better cold/carb
   Good clarity.  better than expected.  color good, little lighter.
  8/2/12 - Keg  ABV=5.25%

Raspberry wheat 2012

Last year, I made a "wheat" beer with wild raspberries to serve at my daughter's birthday party. I add the " because at the last minute, I couldn't get any wheat malt and substituted a couple pounds of wheat flour. The beer turned out good, so this year I am only changing things a little. The recipe now has 50% wheat malt and I chose a different hop.

I brewed the base beer on 7/8/12. The brew day was rather uneventful and went pretty smoothly. I was surprised at how clearish white the wort was coming out of the mash tun. I am not used to brewing without darker malts. The whole thing looked greenish while boiling with the hops. It carmelized in the kettle a bit, so the final wort looked like the more usual light brown.

Friday 7/13 picked around 2# but almost half were eaten, leaving me with 1.25#
Saturday 7/14 picked over 4#. After washing, I had 5.5# of berries.
2# are going to the lambic, which leaves 3.5 for this.
Sunday I picked another 2# giving me a total of 5.5# for this beer.

I will give it another week or so before racking to secondary to let it clear up before kegging.  This will be on tap for mid-August.

My little helper

Lambic 2012 (raspberry) - blending

Raspberry Lambic - Framboise
Fruit beer aged for years with various microbes with fruit added (in this case raspberries)

After my first Lambic attempt 2 years ago with the Dawson creek kit from northern brewer turned out pretty good, I decided to start my own lambic project.

Spring of 2011, I brewed 5 gallons of wort and pitched wyeast lambic blend - this part has been aging quietly since.

Spring of 2012, I stepped it up and brewed almost 10 gallons. This time I pitched a combination of lambic blend, slurry from the year before and some bottle dregs from sour beers I have been sampling.

The plan is to take 3 gallons from both years, blend them and split to 3 separate 2 gallon batches. One gets raspberries, one gets peaches and the last will be gueuze.

I know 1.5 years in is a little early to start blending them, but I am impatient, this will age another 6 months before bottling and I am saving plenty for next year.

This weekend (7/13-7/15) is peak season for wild raspberries here in Croton. Over the weekend, I picked over 7.5 pounds (Not including the 1-2 we ate). 2 pounds of this is for this lambic, the rest goes into RaspBerry Wheat.


Framboise in BB



I had a little tasting session Friday night to see how the 3 batches were doing and confirm my 50/50 blend plan. All went well and I am sticking to the plan. There was some tartness, a little brett flavors coming through and luckily no horrible off flavors. The older one had some apple flavor and the younger one had a little too much oak tannin.

The 2011 batch was crystal clear, while the 2012 was almost opaque it was so cloudy. Hopefully that will settle out with extended aging. The 2012 that I had in this plastic cubitainer tasted like it was more aged than the half in glass, so I will go with that one.



Lambic 2011 original gravity: 1.055 SG now: 1.003

Lambic 2012 original gravity: 1.050 SG now: 1.008

Expected abv: 6%



 

 

Zythos Pale Ale

With the success of my Zythos IPA, I decided to use most of the remaining hops for a lighter pale ale version to serve on July 4th.

I based the recipe off of the IPA, lowered the alcohol a bit, adjusted bittering hops to match and changed a few things based on what I had on hand.

This was kegged and ready just in time for our July 4th BBQ. I was hoping it would have cleared up more by then, but it still had chill haze. Good thing we served in red plastic cups :)

Brewing:
Recipe here

The brew day was reletively uneventful.  Gravity was a hair under what I wanted, but still OK.  I used 4 ounces of Zythos hops in the boil, and one each dry hop and keg hop.  Original Gravity: 1.045, Final Gravity: 1.005.  ABV: 5%

Tasting:
It has finally cleared up and looks great, though I might like it a little lighter.
A nice hoppy aroma with citrus fruitiness. The flavor is similar with a nice balance. Definitely not too sweet or bitter, which makes it nice and drinkable. The light body helps here too. The carbonation is a little high, which is the only thing keeping me from from chugging it.

Overall:
I do like this beer, but am not sure if I will brew again. In the lighter beers, people seem to preffer more malt/less hops.  I will focus my hoppy efforts on the stronger IPAs.

Zythos IPA - Tasting

I love the way this beer turned out. My goal was strong citrus American hop flavor without too much bitterness. I did originally plan it to have higher alcohol, but it is ok where it ended up. I do not expect this keg to lay too long, which is ok because these IPAs are best fresh. This weekend, I will be brewing a lighter pale ale version of this.
Links: Recipe Brewing

The beer is this pretty copper color with great clarity. I think I will stick with using a secondary. It helps to drop the yeast out before I get it into the keg.

The aroma is all hops. American citrus type hops.

For the most part, the flavor matches the aroma, hoppy goodness. There is a little malty sweetness to help balance.

The beer is quite drinkable, especially for a 7.5%abv beer. It has this thirst quenching quality to it. I could drink it by the quart.

Notes:
  4/7/12 - Brewed - OG=1.061 (Poor efficiency)
  4/22/12 - Secondary G=1.005   + 1 oz Zythos dry-hop
      Hazy, but not too yeasty.  Some hop aroma, good hoppy flavor.
  5/10/12 - Keg Zythos IPA  FG=1.004  ABV=7.5%
      + 1oz Zythos keg-hop
  Initial tasting - Soft with pleasant hop flavor with a hint of "Soapy"   Low bitterness
  So far, I have not had any issues with the keg hops. I didn't do anything special, just tied up 1oz of pellet hops in a mesh Baggie and threw them in.

And a thank you to Keith for the perfect mug to drink this beer from!

First sourdough (bread)

With all of this beer making, we thought it was time to start our own sourdough culture. Bread is solid beer after all.
It all started two weeks ago when I mixed some leftover wort with some flour in a mason jar. We fed it daily (your are supposed to feed twice daily, but we had trouble keeping up) for two weeks. This weekend I decided it was time to see what our little creation could do. I found a basic sourdough recipe and got to work.

Starter culture

Here is the recipe and process I used. It is a combination of a few I found online modified for what I had on hand.

Mix 1 cup sourdough starter in large bowl with -
 3/4 cup water
 2-1/3 tbsp olive oil
 1-1/2 tbsp buckwheat honey
 1-1/4 tsp salt
Mix ingredients well then add in 2 cups whole wheat flour and mix well.
Turn onto floured surface and kneed in another 1/2 cup or so of white flour.
Kneed into a ball and put in covered greased bowl.
Allow it to rise - we gave it about 8 hours.
Punch down, kneed some more and formed into a ball ( from here you could do loaf, rolls, pretzel, etc)
Put onto floured pizza stone (bad idea) and let rise another hour or so.
I forgot to slash the top, but that didn't cause a problem here.
Baked at 370 for 40 minutes.

I baked it on our pizza stone, but soon learned I should have put something on it other than just flour. The bread was glued to the stone and it took some time to scrape it free. Someday I will learn how to use that thing,.

We let it cool 10 minutes before trying it.

Soft crust, very soft and springy inside. It was also a bit chewy. Not bad for almost all whole wheat.
Standard bread flavors, but definitely has that sourdough taste to it. Not overpowering, but it was definitely there.
Lactic acid flavor lingers long after you are done eating it.
Overall, we were very happy with how this came out and will definitely make it again.

4 way wheat beer tastings




Weihenstephan, Schneider, Franzikaner, Mine!

  Spring is here (not that we really had much of a winter) and that means its time to break out the wheat beers. Or as the Germans call it Weissbier. Sure America has wheat beer too, but this post isn't about those.  I stopped by the beverage distributer and grabbed 3 German weisse beers to compare - and of course added my own into the mix (This one). I had used the weihenstephan yeast for mine, so there should be some similarities.

 #1. Weihenstephan 
  We start with the Worlds oldest brewery. It also happens to be the only one that I have a matching glass for.
     Yellowish orange hazy. Pillowy white head.
      Fruity Belgian yeast aroma
      A little bread malt in flavor.  Refreshing light beer.  Yeast esters dominate the flavor.  It is a little tart with some citrus and maybe a hint of banana.
     The beer has good carbonation with a slight prickliness to it.

#2 Schneider Weisse "The original weiss beer"
   This one is a bit darker with an off-white head.  Sizzling carbonation.
   It has a cleaner aroma and flavor.  Not as light and refreshing as the last one.
   Lauren says it needs brats :)
   The flavor does have some yeast mixed with a mild maltiness - and perhaps some fruit?
   It has a good carboniation, but with less prickly.
   This beer has a slightly drying to the mouth in the finish. Is that tannins?

#3 Franziskaner Weissbier
   How can you not love a beer with a drunken monk on it?
  Pours light hazy orange with large creamy off white head.
  Mild yeasty aroma with a slight spiciness mixed with citrus and bread.
  This beer has a good wheat flavor with more of that spicy citrus.  It also has a slight drying of the mouth.
  Again highly carbonated with some prickly, but not overly soda like.
  Another great beer.  Similar to the weihenstephan one.  My Only complaint is the foil wrap that is impossible to get off if you want to reuse the bottle.

 #4 My 2nd run wheat beer
  One difference - this beer was kegged, while the others were all bottle conditioned.
  Nice light orange color.  Hazy, but it is starting to clear up a bit.  More translucent than the others, but not by a whole lot.  Pillowy white head.
  Mild yeast aroma.  Less of the clove/banana than I got on the initial tasting.  Leaves a slightly phenolic after taste.
  Flavor is bright and almost citrusy wheaty goodness.  Good carbonation.
  Definitely light and refreshing.

Overall:  Mine may be the overall most refreshing, but I think I like the more complex flavors of Weihenstphan and Franzikaner a little better.  To me, Schneider came in last place here.

Double German lager brewing

I finally made the leap and am doing my first lager. Lagers are not really much harder than ales, except that temperature control during fermentation is much more important. Lager yeast ferments at a lower temperature than you can get from leaving the fermenter in the basement.
Ever since I got this chest freezer, I have been waiting to make the move - And today is the day.
I wanted to make the most of today's brew session and end up with two beers. To keep things simple, I decided to go with generic German lager and Oktoberfest. This would let me use the same mash and hops, with the divergence after the boil.  The only differences are the yeast and I will water down the lager a little.

A few days ago I made large starters of wyeast bohemian lager and octoberfest blend yeasts.

The day ended up being quite productive. In addition to ten gallons of beer, we made a sour dough yeast starter, took the kids to mayfair, mowed the lawn, cleaned the basement - All while I monitored a job for work.

Back to the beer - I opted for simple to save time and let me multitask a little. Single infusion mash at 152dg.  My mash tun was filled to the top, but rather uneventful.  First run and 2 sparges later, I had 12 gallons to work with.  Making a 10 gallon batch in a 10 gallon pot can be a bit tricky, so I split the wort - 8 gallons into the main kettle and 3.5 in a smaller pot on another burner. I combined these while it was cooling.
I ended up with 4.5 gallons in the octoberfest and 4 gallons in the lager. This seems low, but it was stronger than expected (1.064 sg) so I can water them down to 5 gallons each.
After filling the fermenters, I collected some more wort to feed some wild yeast starters I have and make the sour dough starter.

It was a tight fit, but I got the two buckets into the chest freezer with 4 kegs. I did have to remove the cider keg.  After initial fermentation at 50dg, I will let it warm up to finish off for a few weeks.  After that, the Lager gets 1 month of cold storage.  The Oktoberfest 3 months.

Notes:
Full recipe here.
Measuring out the grain, I realized I was 6# short - So emergency trip to the Growler in the morning.
1:30pm - Started heating water and crushed the grains
 Infused 30qt at 168dg for 152dg mash at 1.4qt/#
2:30 pm Sparging:
   1.  4.75 gals @ 21.7Brix (1.091sg)
   2.  5.25 gals @ 11.5Brix (1.046sg)
   3.  2 gals @ 7.5 Brix (1.03sg)
4pm Start boil
  2 hop additions into the 8 in the main pot
  3.5 gallons in another pot
5pm combined and cooled
6pm - 8.5 gallons into the fermentors at 16Brix (1.064)
  Will add .5 gals water to Oktoberfest for vOG=1.059 
  Will add 1 gals water to Lager for vOG=1.051

Scottish 80 (Oak) Tasting

The beer:  This is the second half of my Scott 80 beer that I brewed up 10 gallons of back in
January.  Full Recipe here.  Tasting for the 'clean' half here.  For this part, I aged it an additional 5 weeks on
1 ounce of medium toast Hungarian oak cubes.
OG=1.049, FG=1.012 ABV=4.75%

Appearance: Pours with a think head whith good retention, which leaves lacing all the way down the glass.
There is a decent clarity through the dark reddish-brown body.

Aroma:  A nice toasted oak aroma.  Some nuttyness. 
It gives it some of the toffee flavor I was looking for in the base beer.
The oak is not overly strong like cut lumber.  Something I have heard too much can give.

Taste: Again, oak is the dominant character here. A little bit of matiness sneaking in the background.  From the oak, I can taste some vanilla, caramel, wood, slight fruitines and maybe some nuts.  Its like a whisky without the burn.

Mouthfeel:   Slight creaminess, but overall a thinner beer. The carbonation is just right to not make it seltzery.  It does leave a slight dryness to the mouth afterwards; this may be from the oak tanins.

Overall:  I think the 1 ounce oak for 1 month was just about right for this.  It could go a little more,
but much more would be way too overpowering.  Much of the subtle characteristics of the base beer are lost in the oakiness, but since the primary goal of this batch was to experience what oak gives the beer, I don't mind that at all.
The extra month of aging did help the beer.  The clean half was kegged too soon and the first few pints
had way too much yeast. 
I will definitely use oak in beer again, although I will probably take a break from it for the summer. 
I might even do this recipe - the only change would be to up the malt character and possibly something to give it more body - Like flaked barley or oats.
I have the cubes I pulled from this currently soaking in some Vodka to make me some cheap imitation whiskey.  It is intersting to see what flavors you can get out of it over different lengths of time.
Some day I would love to work with barrels, but good luck talking the wife into that one!

Notes:
1/29/12 - Brewed 2x5 gal   OG=1.049
  2/15/12 Secondary Oaked Scott 80
     +1oz JD soaked Med-Toast Hungarian oak  
  3/23/12 - Keg FG=1.012    4.75% ABV
     Decent clarity.  Dark reddish brown.
     Nice oaky flavor.  there but not overpowering.  Almost a buttery sweetness to it.
  4/19/12 - This tasting

Zythos IPA - brewing

I thought it was about time to make something hoppy. Over the last 6 months, I have been making malty, roasty or sour beers. With such a long break from hops, I wanted this one to be big. As I was putting the recipe together, I decided to focus more on the citrusy side of American hops, but I soon found out that all of the good ones are sold out until the next harvest (early fall). What I did find was the hop bled from hop union called Zythos. It is apparently a blend of quite a few American hops. I ordered a pound of this and worked 1/2 of that into this recipe. 6 ounces in the boil and 2 more for dry hopping. I needed a malt bill that can stand up to that much hop flavor.
I started with a base of standard 2 row, a pound of caramel 80 (I happened to have some I wanted to use up) another pound of cara-pils and a pound of sugar to top it off. The goal is an ~8% abv beer. Full recipe here. Also with 6oz hops in the kettle, you lose quit a bit of wort, so I planned this as a 6 gallon recipe and will hopefully end up with 5 in the keg.

For today, I wanted to keep it simple and focus just on this one beer. I didn't start the water or crushing the grains until after 9am and I had the chiller going in time to make it to the farmer's market by 12:30. For the most part, the day went smoothly although during the boil, there was some boil over, but strangely no wort escaped, it just pushed all of the hops out. I scooped them back in and kept the fire going. Everything looked like it was going well, but when I checked the gravity, it was much lower than expected. 1.061, which means I only got 60% efficiency. Depending on where it finishes, I may have a 6.5% beer. Not quite as big as I was hoping, but will still be OK.
My daughter really liked sampling the sweet wort. I may have to start making some non-alcoholic malt beverages.

I then used a half gallon of the final runnings to top off my sour cultures and set a couple out in an attempt to capture wild yeast. We will see how that goes...

Second run Heffeweizen - tasting

This is the perfect beer to welcome in the spring - a German Heffeweizen. It is a refreshing wheat beer fermented with a characterful yeast that gives clove and banana esters. This year I did not dedicate a brew day to just this one beer. Instead, I made it from the second runnings from the lambic mash. The difference is that I pulled some for a small decoction. This is where you boil some of the mash before adding it back in. This is supposed to impact the color and flavor, but I cannot really say how as I have never compared two side by side.

Appearance. Pours with a thick pillowy white head that hands around forever. The body is a nice yellowish orange, hazy but with a little more clarity than it should have.

Aroma. Definitely a heffe here. The banana/clove dominates the aroma.

Taste. Tastes of a refreshing wheat beverage with a hint of tartness. No detectable hops. Neither sweet nor bitter.

Mouthfeel. Light creamy texture, which is interesting considering the low finishing gravity and high carbonation. Not sure what is keeping it from being seltzer like, but it is nice. The body is light and refreshing. I am looking forward to some hot weather so I can sit out in the sun with this.

Overall. This is a nice refreshing beer with enough character to not be boring. Considering this was the leftovers from another beer, I save times and money making it. Of course the hops, yeast and some malt extract and propane were not free.
It. Does not have as much of the banana that I was secretly hoping for. Next time I may have to raise the ferment temp.

Notes:
'Recipe' here
  2/20/12 - Brewed 5.3 Gal  OG=1.040
   Fermented cold (~60F)
  3/9/12 - Keg   FG=1.009  ABV=4%
     Great hazi-ness.  Not yeast-murky, but more of a starch haze.
     More clove, less banana, maybe a little sweet.  has potential.  will be good carb'd  

Scottish 80 (clean) Tasting

For this beer I wanted something more malt focused with a toffee sort of flavor but not overly sweet. I was also looking for something that I could make 10 gallons of and oak half of. After some back and forth, I decided Scottish 80 was the right place to start. Low bitterness, very little hop flavor to get in the way, a darker beer in the 5%abv range.
I put together a recipe of base malt, some English caramel malt, roasted barley, some English hops and a dry English yeast (S-04).  I boiled down the first gallon of wort drained from the mash.
   Full recipe here.   Brew day here.
This tasting is for the clean half. The other half is still on oak waiting for a free keg. I hope to have it ready soon enough to compare these side by side, but that is a story for another day.

Appearance:  pours with a thick off white head. The beer is dark but with great clarity. In the light you can see a lot of red. Its much better than the first week of murky, yeasty beer I was getting. I have to be more careful when racking to the keg next time.

Aroma:  Maybe a hint of roastiness with a mild aroma of medium dark malt and a hint of sweetness.

Taste:  Not enough of that caramel toffee flavor that I was so hoping, for but the flavor is nice. Low fruitiness and almost no hop flavor leaves room to taste the subtle malt flavors.

Mouth feel:  This beer has a great creamy start that finishes crisp. Its at the same time silky and refreshing.

Overall:  I really like how this turned out, but am a little sad that I missed the toffee flavor I was aiming for.
It reminds me a little of Smithwicks, which isn't too surprising considering how close this is to an Irish red ale. I have been working to develop a couple house beers to have on tap at all times. This recipe is now in the running. I brought a growler to my father in law's birthday and it was well received.
Can't wait until I can try the oak'd half!

3 way cider tasting

Over the last year or so, I made 4 batches of apfelwein (hard cider). This is basically wine made from apple juice instead of grapes. The first, a 1 gallon test batch is long gone, but today, I get to compare apfelwien II, III, IV. Inspired by this: Man I love apfelwein
I had a gallon of macintosh cider.  Must have been the first one I did.  I would like to do more single variety ciders, but it is hard to find the juice around here.
Disclaimer:  I have never really been much of a cider drinker.  In fact it is usually the last drink of choice when out, so bear in mind, I am no expert.  Not a fan of woodchuck, strongbow or woodpecker.

Apfelwein II	Apfelwein III	Apfelwein IV
Pours with a decent head that fades quickly. Translucent yellow. Like "Cider" but lighter. Streaming bubbles which kick op some sediment.	Massive head taking up 1/2 the glass. This recendes to nothing in a minute or two. Crystal clear apple juice yellow. You can see bubbles streaming up through it.	No head whats so ever. Perfect crystal clear and perfectly still.
Aroma of tart apples with slight cider-i-ness.	This one had a little more of that ciderness in the aroma	Something off...Meaty? Dank? Apples with some off aroma. Hard to place.
Tastes like apple champagne. Slightly tart with an apple flavor that lingers long after you swallow.	Milder apple flavor. Almost tastes like watered down apple juice.	Some apple, but that musty, old yeast? rubber band? flavor distracts.
Has a spritzy champagne like mouth feel	This one has a softer, creamier feel to it. Surprising considering the size of the head, but that could be from the fast pour knocking CO2 out.	Still and flat (Have not carbonated this one yet)
This one is the most interesting of the three. The apple flavors are well represented. Sadly that might have been my last bottle from that batch.	This one is the most drinkable. Not as interesting as the first but goes down too easy. Looks like I had too much pressure in the keg. Lowering that will give a more controlled pour that keeps more CO2 dissolved.	I dumped most of the third glass. It is drinkable if you really need some alcohol, but definitely is not ready. Hopefully some more aging will help here.

Recipes & Notes:
Apfel Wein II
1 Ga 365 Organic unfiltered AJ
6oz sugar, pinch nutrient, D47 yest
4/9/11 - Started OG=1.060
5/13/11 - Bottled 9 G=1.011 ABV=6.7%
+ 1 Sugar cube/bottle
Lots of dissolved co2...
Cloudy + Brett smell?

Cider (Apfelwein) 3:
7/31/11 - Started. vOG=1.058
2xMotts, 3xShoprite AJ, 2# Cane sugar, D47.
Started separate w/ 1/2G AJ + Pinch yeast nutrient. Did not measure G
9/17/11 - Keg G=1.000 ABV=7.5%
Good clarity. apply smell/taste. warming but not harsh. Some residual carb. head fades quick.
Not much trub
9/30/11 - Taste - No head, but medium carbonation. A little cidery, but not bad.

ApfelWein IV
11/4/11 - Start OG=1.060
3Gal Shoprite juice, 2 gal shoprite cider, 1# brown sugar, 1/2# sugar, US-05 from ESB slurry
1/7/12 Secondary G=.0996 vOBR=14.7 BR=5.1 ABV=8.3%
Great clarity. Not bad, but slight plastic? taste? Left on yeast too long?
3/10/12 - Tasting + G=.0996
Aroma and flavor off. rubber? Yeast autalosys?

Kriek 2010 - Tasting

Back in May 2010, I brewed up a batch of Norther Brewer AG Dawson Kriek.  This is a Lambic style ale aged on sour cherries.  These beers can take years, but I was impatient and had this kegged within a few months.  While it was a decent beer, the shortened timeline limited its potential.  I did bottle a few for extended aging.

I also bottled a few blended 50/50 with some NB Belgian Tripel that I brewed in August.  These precious few were dated for sampling at 6 month increments.

This tasting marks 18 months in the bottle.

I could smell the classic lambic funk as soon as I cracked the first one open.  On closer inspection, the kriek did have a bit more cherry aroma.

Both have great clarity and a good sized head, but that faded to a small layer of bubbles in short time.
The kriek has a great pinkish hue, while the blend was more orange.

Kriek still had some cherry flavor to go with the brett funk and noticeable, but not overpowering acidity, which was almost enough to pucker you up.  The blend had a more mineraly flavor and a bit less acid, but still some hint of cherry.  Maybe even a little metallic in the finish.  I did sensed a touch of this in the Kriek also, but not as much.

They both had great carbonation - The blend had champagne like carbonation that made it feel much fuller that it really was, while the kriek had a nice light and spritzy body.

Overall I like the kriek best, which is interesting because when Mike and I sampled these 6 months ago, we both liked the blend better.  It's like candy that doesn't leave a sticky sugar coating in your mouth.
They are both enjoyable beers, but still not as complex as some of the better true Lambics.  Hopefully my current projects will get me closer.
I only have one of each left, which I will be tasting in September.
Notes:
  4/26/10 Ordered
    5/?/10  Brew
    6/?/10  Secondary w/ 2x Oregon can Cherries
    ~7/3/10 Keg-condition
     7/29 - Tasting {Aroma - sour cherries??  Taste - sour, but not too sour  - reminds me of...something 
          one dimentional. all cherry?  feel - smooth, not TOO thin}
    8/19 - Bottled 1 + a 50/50 with triple
    8/25 - Tasting (Still un carbed) {Still not too sour, but flavor mellowing.  Starting to really like it..}
    9/6/10 - 4 bottles to cellar 6/12/18/24 mo Also Carb'd Keg
    9/15~  -  really cloudy from keg, carbonated, but some foam wouldnt clear?  maybe from the shaking try again.
     9/26 - Carbonated (could be a little more), clearing, tasting not bad.  maybe brett flavor?
    10/1 - Tasting - turning nice.  young flavors mellowing, sour starting to show - got a little lemon finish
    ~10/30/10 - Served at Halloween party
    3/1/11 - Bottle tasting - not bad - clear red/brown.  good carbonation.  not much funk, sour -cherry/lemon.  light body
     4/23/11 - Finished Keg.
          Final Taste - Sournes approaching puckering.  Little hint of metallic.  Some cherry, but not much else.
           OK beer, but really could have been done better.  I really did rush it too much.  I needed the carboys for other beers..
   9/10/11 - Tasting - Kriek .vs. Blend
     Tasted both with Mike.  Best after 9/1/11 bottles.
     Kriek - Red, medium clear, little head, tart, some cherry sediment.
     Blend - light red/pink, mediam clear little head, mild tartness, some funk
     Both liked the blend better, but kriek was good too.
      Got some brett funk from the blend.  Kriek was more just sour cherry.
      Both light and drinkable. 
   3/6/12 - Tasting - Kriek .vs. Blend  (This blog entry)

A long time ago, in a bar far far away...

Hey R2, lets go get a beer

Can I join you guys?

Yum yum, what rebellion?

Apparently, they like my Scottish 80.  If they drank this instead of building a death star, things would have turned out differently.
Oh and that new camera is pretty cool!

Big lambic brew day

 Today was a busy day. After taking the kids hiking and starting the garden, I completed my first 15 gallon brew day.
 I converted 22# of grain into the wort that will eventually become 10 gallons of lambic and 5 gallons of wheat beer. The wheat being ready MUCH sooner.
You can find the recipe here.

 I seem to always want to push a little bit more out of each brew session. On other brew days I have done two 5 gal brews, partigyle and a 10 gallon batch. Today combined 10 gallons and partyigyle (2 different beers from the same mash)

 With the day already so busy, I didn't want to do a full traditional turbid mash, so I came up with a simpler schedule that should yield similar results. Protein rest at 125, then drained 2qt of very milky looking wort. I boiled this in a separate pot while continuing with the main mash, which I did a sach rest around 155. After draining and sparging to get the first 9 gallons, I even did a mini decoction for the wheat beer. 

This is where you scoop out some of the grains (1/2 gal in this case) and boil those separate from the mash. Similar to the turbid part, but done after the sacc rest, so there shouldn't be any starch. Also, boiling the grains brings out some more malt flavors.

    What comes next?
For the lambic, I am pitching 1 pack of Wyeast lambic blend, slurry and a few oak cubes from last years bath and a bit of a sour starter I have been keeping. This has dregs from a number of commercial sour beers. Sometime over the summer, I will blend with last years to get 6 gallons. This will be split in 3. The first third will age on local peaches; the next on wild Croton raspberries; the last will remain unflavored gueuze. This should leave ~6 gallons from this years batch for longer aging and future blends
The wheat beer gets a pack of wyeast 3068 and should be ready in a few weeks.

My little helper

Dumping a failed beer

It is always a sad day when you have to dump a beer, but for this one it is time to say "good bye". 5 months ago, I got impatient while waiting for ingredients for my barleywine, so I brewed a quick extract batch of English mild.
Numerous things went wrong and in the end, I was unable to save it. I now need the keg space for another beer, so this one goes down the drain.

What went wrong?
  1. Purchased expired wlp002 yeast at a slight discount
  2. Did not use a starter
  3. Had a massive boilover - lost 1/4 of the wort
  4. Ferment took 3-4 days to start. (Probably from #1&2)

The smell out of primary was way off. I would say phenolic. It was sort of medicinal plastic. The flavor matched the off smell and left a plasticky aftertaste. After secondary, the off flavor was not as strong, but it was clear it would not go away on its own. I decided that since this batch was probably ruined anyway, it was time for an experiment.
The wild bugs that ferment lambic and flanders type beers might be able to turn this into something good. They produce other flavors that could cover it up and possibly even metabolize the esters or phenols causing the off flavors. I moved it to my 'sour' keg and pitched the dregs from a couple sour beers. Fast forward 2.5 months and we have...not much better...You probably wouldn't die drinking it, but it is better to dump bad beer than to force yourself to drink something you won't enjoy.

9/39/11. Brew og=1.035
10/9/11. Secondary. G=1.010
10/22/11. Kegged. G=1.005
11/3/11. Moved to new keg and added souring microbes
2/17/12. Dumped keg

Flanders Red - Tasting

It has been 16 months since I brewed this beer. While still young for the style, it has been bottles for almost 4 months now and I thought it was ready for review.  (See recipe at bottom)

Pours with almost no head. Reddish brown with medium clarity.
Fruity brett like mild wild yeast aroma.  Maybe some cherries.
Mild tartness, fruity and refreshing with a hint of malt.  Some Cherry and citrus.
Light and refreshing, with a little carbonation.
It goes down easy. Goes well with a meal, but could also be a summer thirst quencher.  Everyone who has tried it so far says they like it.  I would have liked it to be more sour, more carbonation and higher original gravity.
Lauren says: she liked this one, it wasn't too hoppy or too syrupy, but still has a little sweetness.

About the beer:
I brewed this beer back in September 2010 based off of a recipe on themadfermantationist, which is based from someone else's beer inspired by Roddenbach.  Still early in my all grain days, I came in a bit low with the gravity, but it still came out good. After 1 month in primary, it aged for another 11 months before I bottled.

Flanders red is a Belgian beer fermented with a variety of wild yeast and aged in large oak vats for many months. As home brewers, we can purchase this yeast as the wyeast Rosselear blend. Similar to the organisms used in brewing lambic beer.

Recipe:
  3lbs Rarh pilsner
  3lbs German Vienna
  3lbs German Munich
  1lbs Rahr white wheat
  1lbs Briess Caramel 60L
  1/2 lbs Belgian Special B
Mash @ 157 for 60 min
  1oz German Hellertau (60 minute)
  WYeast Rosalere blend

Notes:
   9/12/10  Brewed   OG=1.045  (poor efficiency)
    9/24/10  G=1.011
   10/10/10 Secondary  G=1.011
    4/16/11 G=1.08
       'Wild' aroma+taste.  Not much sour.  Reminds me of La Roja
       Hazy reddish-brown
    6/22/11 G=1.005 + 1/2 oz med toast french oak
       Cherry pie?  good clarity.  Reddish brown.  not much sour
    9/18/11 - Bottled 4gal + 4oz sugar  G=1.005  ABV=5.25%
       Reddish brown; medium clarity
       Smells of a sour beer.  Taste of sour but not too tart.