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Saison - split batch yeast test
brewed on: 4/29/13
OG: 1.051
IBUs: 32
SRM: 4
mash temp: 150F
6 gallon batch
90 minute boil
60% efficiency assumed
malt:
10 lbs Belgian pils
3 lbs German wheat
8 oz acidulated malt
hops:
2 oz Styrian Goldings @ 3.8% - 60 minutes
1.5 oz Styrian Goldings @ 3.8% - 15 minutes
0.5 oz Styrian Goldings @ 3.8% - 5 minutes
1 oz Styrian Goldings @ 3.8% - flameout
1 oz Sterling @ 7.9% - flameout
yeast:
split batch:
WY 3711 French Saison - 3 gallons
Belle Saison dry yeast - 3 gallons
fermented at 60F
Smoked Dunkelmarzen
brewed on: 3/11/13
OG: 1.056
IBUs: 21
SRM: 21
mash temp: 154F
6 gallon batch
90 minute boil
65% efficiency assumed
malt:
5 lbs Weyerman rauch malt
5 lbs Vienna
3 lbs Munich
6 oz Carafa II
12 oz Caramunich I
hops:
1.5 oz Hallertauer @ 4.8% (60 minutes)
0.5 oz Hallertauer @ 4.8% (10 minutes)
yeast:
2206 Bavarian Lager - 4 liter starter
fermented at 54F
lagering starting 3/28/13
I recently taught a beer tasting continuing education course at the University of Wisconsin - Parkside. It was a lot of fun! I brought in ten different commercial beers and we tried them all, discussing characteristics and history of the styles as we went. One of the beers I brought was St. Bernardus Pater 6, a dubbel. I've had their Abt 12 (quad) many times, but hadn't had Pater 6 before. It was one of the better commercial dubbels I can remember trying. Most of them are too sweet, too phenolic, to harsh in general, for my taste. Pater 6 was nice and cleanly malty while still exhibiting classic abbey character. I resolved, that night, to brew one soon and that's just what I did a couple days ago!
In trying to get as close to the Pater 6 character as I could I went with the Wyeast Trappist High Gravity strain, WY3787. It supposedly originated from Westmalle abbey brewery, which is where St. Bernardus (and Westvletern) got their yeast from as well. I opted for a simple grain bill with some aromstic malt for nice malty complexity. I'm fermenting it at 65F, on the low side for an abbey ale, to keep some of the harsher characteristics in check.
Dubbel
brewed on: 11/28/12
OG: 1.063
IBUs: 19
SRM: 16
mash temp: 150F
6 gallon batch
90 minute boil
75% efficiency assumed
malt:
11 lbs Pils
8 oz Aromatic
8 oz Special B
4 oz Caramunich I
hops:
26g Styrian Goldings @ 5.2% (60 minutes)
15g Styrian Goldings @ 3.8% (60 minutes)
yeast:
WY3787 Trappist High Gravity - 1800mL starter
fermented at 65F
secondary cold conditioning at 30F
kegged 1/23/13
sample while kegging - Banana and fresh figs. Caramel-like maltiness behind it. Not too sweet though. Looking forward to trying this once carbed!
It's been a long time since I've brewed a hoppy beer. I haven't brewed an IPA since my extract days several years ago. After looking through my freezer and realizing I had a lb of Amarillo, a lb of Zythos blend, a lb of Centennial, and several ounces each of Simcoe and Chinook I decided I would brew an IPA today.
I had originally hoped to brew a 100% Vienna "German Barleywine" but without proper yeast and missing my friend's giant mash tun I put that off for now.
American IPA
brewed on: 7/23/12
OG: 1.070
IBUs: 66
SRM: 8
mash temp: 150F
6 gallon batch
60 minute boil
75% efficiency assumed
malt:
15 lbs Canadian 2-row
8 oz Fawcett Crystal 65L
4 oz Victory
hops:
48 gm Zythos blend @ 10.9% - 60 minutes
12 gm Zythos blend @ 10.9% - 50 minutes
28.3 gm Centennial @ 8.7% - 10 minutes
28.3 gm Simcoe @ 12.2% - 5 minutes
28.3 gm Chinook whole leaf (from John) @ ? - 5 minutes
28.3 gm Simcoe - flameout
28.3 gm Centennial - flameout
28.3 gm Centennial - 5 minutes after flameout
28.3 gm Simcoe - dry hop (7 days)
28.3 gm Amarillo - dry hop (7 days)
I let the hops sit in the kettle for 20 minutes prior to chilling.
yeast:
2 packs - US05
Barbera Pyment
brewed on: 7/4/12
OG: 1.128
5 gallon batch
ingredients
2 48 oz cans - Alexanders Barbera grape concentrate
1 gallon (12 lbs) - California Orange Blossom honey (Northern Brewer)
yeast:
2 packages - EC1118 yeast
5g yeast nutrient per day, first 4 days
2.5g DAP per day, first 4 days
The method for this brew is
a little different than normal. I started by tossing a handful of MO
and wheat malt into 1L of starter wort. After a few days the pH had
dropped to 3.5 which is low enough to kill off most of the funkier
bacteria, like enterobacter, that lead to vomit aroma in the beer.
Once
the starter was ready I did a normal mash with the grain, followed by a
15 minute boil to kill off anything alive in it. The sour starter is
then pitched and the wort is allowed to sour over a few days at a warm
temperature. My garage should be alright this summery time of year.
Then, another 15 minute boil with the hops for just a few IBUs. This
kills off the souring bugs. After chilling, WY German Ale yeast is
pitched and the beer ferments and is dealt with normally from then on.
Quick Soured Berliner Weiss
brewed on: 4/20/12
OG: 1.036
IBUs: 5.7 IBUs
SRM: 3.1
mash temp: 153F
6 gallon batch
75% efficiency assumed
malt:
4 lbs Pils
4 lbs Wheat malt
hops:
25 gm Hallertau @ 3.9 - 15 minutes
yeast:
step 1 - sour starter
step 2 - WY 1007 German Ale
Gratzer
brewed on: 4/18/12
OG: 1.029
IBUs: 34 IBUs
SRM: 2.4
mash temp: 153F
6 gallon batch
60 minute boil
75% efficiency assumed
malt:
6 lbs Weyerman Oak Smoked Wheat
hops:
28.3 gm Pearle @ 7.8% - first wort
15 gm Hallertau @ 3.9% - 15 minutes
yeast:
White Labs Cream Ale Blend
primary: 68F
Muscat Pyment
brewed on: 4/12/12
OG: 1.120
Fermentables:
12 lbs California Orange Blossom Honey
2 48oz cans of Muscat grape juice concentrate (68 Brix)
Yeast:
15g Lalvin EC-1118
Nutrient schedule:
Days 1-4
5g Wine yeast Nutrient
2.5g DAP
Fermented at basement temp (~68F)
I decided to brew a Baltic Porter and needed a yeast cake. I was happy enough with my Dunkel last time that I re-brewed the same recipe, but went with some water adjustments this time. I'm trying to be better about water adjustments in general since our water is a bit low in calcium.
Munich Dunkel (2)
brewed on: 4/11/12
OG: 1.048
IBUs: 22 IBUs
SRM: 17.5
mash temp: 150F
6 gallon batch
60 minute boil
75% efficiency assumed
malt:
5 lbs Munich malt
5 lbs Vienna malt
6 oz Carafa II
hops:
51 gm Hallertauer @ 3.9% - 60 minutes
7 gm Hallertauer @ 3.9% - 20 minutes
water:
mash
0.2g gypsum
0.4g baking soda
0.7g calcium chloride
sparge
0.3g gypsum
1.2g calcium chloride
yeast:
WY 2206 Bavarian Lager
primary: ~53F.
4/25 - Raised to 64F for diacetyl rest.
4/27 - Racked to secondary and into lagering chamber at ~30F.
This was my first attempt at brewing a Baltic Porter. So far, so good, although I got worse efficiency than expected and bumped up the gravity with a bit of DME. I've had the same efficiency problem on a few big beers lately where I've never had issues in several years with it before, regardless of gravity. My mill needs fixing though, and I wonder if part of it has something to do with the crush I'm getting on my grain.
This is the first lager where I had the yeast trying to crawl out of the bucket (within 2 hours, pitched at 50F!) It's also the first time I brewed a strong abv lager as well. I've pretty much stuck to Helles, Dunkel, and Kolsch prior to this.
Baltic Porter
brewed on: 4/30/12
OG: 1.086
IBUs: 42 IBUs
SRM: 31
mash temp: 142F
6 gallon batch
90 minute boil
75% efficiency assumed (got 65% in the end and bumped up with DME)
malt:
12 lbs Munich
7 lbs Pilsner
8 oz Crystal 65L (Fawcett)
8 oz Caramunich
8 oz Crystal, Extra Dark (Simpsons)
6 oz Carafa II
4 oz Chocolate (Simpsons)
1.5 lbs Extra Light DME (last 10 minutes of boil)
hops:
85 gm Saaz @ 5.5% - 60 minutes
28.3 gm Saaz @ 5.5% - 15 minutes
yeast:
WY2206 Bavarian Lager cake from Munich Dunkel
primary - 52F
lagering - 5/18/12
I brewed a collaboration recipe from Sean Paxton (Homebrew Chef) and Urbain of De Struise. It was their 'Archaic Beer' meant to pay homage to beers like De Dolle's Oerbier. My original batch turned out great 2 years ago and my friend Jesse & I decided to do a 12 gallon batch to fill up my 10+ gallon brandy barrel. The main difference from last time was that we went with the Wyeast Belgian Stout strain rather than a starter made from Pannepot dregs like last time. I also opted for Dark Candi sugar (syrup) rather than the piloncillo sugar I used last time. Here's the recipe:
Archaic Beer #2
brewed on: 3/11/12
OG: 1.092
IBUs: 24 IBUs
SRM: 34
mash temp: 150F (would have preferred higher, but we undershot a bit)
12 gallon batch
60 minute boil
70% efficiency assumed
malt:
27.2 lbs Belgian pale
3.6 lbs flaked oats
2.25 lbs Caramunich
1.7 lbs flaked wheat
1.5 lbs flaked barley
1.4 lbs Dark crystal (Simpsons)
1.4 lbs Extra dark crystal (Simpsons)
1.13 lbs Crystal 20L
0.57 lbs Black malt (Simpsons)
1 lb D90 candi sugar
1 lb D180 candi sugar
hops:
118.6 g Styrian Goldings
yeast:
Wyeast Belgian Stout (limited release)
fermented 3 weeks in primary, then racked to 10+ gallon brandy barrel
We started a tradition a year ago of brewing barleywine at my friend's house on New Years Day. It makes for a REALLY FRIGGIN' COLD brew day in Wisconsin, but that's alright. It's a lot of fun and good company as well!
I decided to do my best to emulate J.W. Lee's Harvest Ale, which is one of my favorite beers and probably my favorite barley wine along with Thomas Hardy's Ale. I took a recipe Gordon Strong published in Zumurgy in 2010 and bumped up the gravity to push it into the ridiculously strong/sweet range!
It tasted good enough out of the secondary that I ended up bottling it still. So far it is on track to age into something great. I just have to be patient enough not to drink it all now!
New Years Day Barleywine 2012
brewed on: 11/1/12
OG: 1.137
IBUs: 45.5 IBUs
SRM: 23.5
mash temp: 152F
6 gallon batch
90 minute boil
57% efficiency assumed
malt:
12 lbs Pale
12 lbs Vienna
1.5 lbs Amber malt
1.5 lbs Carapils
1.5 lbs Victory
1.5 lbs Wheat malt (German)
1.25 lbs Dark Crystal (Simpsons)
6 oz Extra Dark Crystal (Simpsons)
1 lb Turbinado sugar
3 lbs Extra Light DME - 10 minutes
hops:
50 g Nugget @ 13% - 60 minutes
16 g Willamette @ 4.8% - 45 minutes
14.1 g Fuggles @ 5.1% - 30 minutes
30 g Willamette @ 4.8% - 5 minutes
yeast:
East Coast Yeast Scottish Heavy starter (repitched into starter from 2 previous batches)
Last winter I went to a MABCAB (Milwaukee Area Brewers & Chicago Area Brewers) get together in Shorewood, WI. The guy who hosted it served a really good Kolsch. I've been wanting to brew one all year. Having not brewed any sort of lager or hybrid in awhile, the time finally arrived. I used his recipe, scaled up to 6 gallons so excuse the odd grain amounts, except that he used the same IBUs worth of Perle hops rather than Hallertauer. I've seen many recipes with Hallertauer though, and it's what I had on hand. (I need to start brewing some hoppier beers to get last year's hops used up!)
Kolsch
brewed on: 12/2/11
OG: 1.047
IBUs: 46.6 IBUs
SRM: 5
mash temp: 149F
6 gallon batch
90 minute boil
75% efficiency assumed
malt:
5.38 lbs red Kolsch malt
4 lbs Pilsner malt
0.67 lbs Wheat malt
hops:
18.5 gm Hallertauer @ 3.9% - first wort (90 minutes)
39.5 gm Hallertauer @ 3.9% - 60 minutes
yeast:
WY Kolsch strain - 2 liter starter
I overboiled by a bit and had to boil/top up with some water. Not a big deal. Back to 6 gallons. I'm hoping it didn't get too dark though.
primary: ~58F- raised to 62. Back down to 58-59.
My friend Jim pointed out to me the other day that I hadn't brewed a hoppy beer in over 2 years. I hadn't felt like that long, but in checking back, he was right. And that one was an attempt at an all-brett IPA. It was time to break open the package of Amarillo hops I've bought a month or 2 ago! I call this an "Anglo-American" Pale Ale because I'm using English yeast (Fuller's strain) and Burtonized the water with a 10 gm gypsum addition to the mash.
Anglo-American Pale Ale
brewed on: 11/28/11
OG: 1.058
IBUs: 46.6
SRM: 7
mash temp: 152F
6 gallon batch
60 minute boil
assumed 75% efficiency
mash:
11 lbs US 2-row
1 lb Munich malt
0.7 lbs Carastan
10 gm Gypsum - mash
Hops (all loose pellets):
22 gm Yakima Magnum @ 14.4% - 60 minutes
14 gm Cascade @ 5.5% - 10 minutes
14 gm Amarillo @ 8.5% - 10 minutes
14 gm Chinook (homegrown whole-cone) - 10 minutes
14 gm Cascade @ 5.5% - flameout
14 gm Amarillo @ 8.5% - flameout
14 gm Chinook (homegrown, whole-cone) - flameout
16.5 gm Amarillo - dry hop, 5 days
16.5 gm Cascade - dry hop, 5 days
Yeast:
WY 1968 - London ESB (Fuller's strain) - repitched slurry from Golden Ale)
Yeast:
ECY Scottish Heavy - 2L starter
primary: started at 64F. Raised to 68F slowly over 3 days, then lowered back to 64F.
12/5/11 - Added dry hops - 16.5g each of Cascade & Amarillo loose pellets.
We recently removed our Wheat Wine from the Apple Brandy Barrel it was aging in. It tastes amazing! I can't wait to bottle it. (This is definitely aging-worthy, and I'm hoping to bottle condition it toward that purpose.)
We brewed a Golden Ale recipe I came up with as an experiment for the second barrel beer. I don't mean a Belgian Golden Strong. This didn't really fit a style. I knew I wanted to try a mid-gravity, malt forward light colored ale in the barrel. We've done lots of sours, dark beers, and big beers so far. This is probably with good reason. I have a hunch that something like this lower gravity, lighter colored ale will not take to the oxidation in the barrel well. We'll see. I can imagine it going in a good direction though as well, picking up the apple-clove notes from the wood. We didn't rinse the barrel before immediately refilling, so there should be residual wheat wine notes to it as well. While I'm not expecting the wonderful beer that the Wheat Wine was, I'm hoping for the best!
We went with MO and some Vienna to get nice maltiness, and the Wyeast Fuller's strain to accentuate the malt as well. (I love the Fuller's strain, WY1968, for malty beers! It is a favorite of mine in general.)
Brandy Barrel Aged Golden Ale
brewed on: 11/11/11
OG: 1.059
IBUs: 28.5 IBUs
SRM: 7.5
mash temp: 152F
mash:
9 lbs Marris Otter
3 lbs Vienna
0.6 lbs Cara-Pils
0.6 Crystal 40L
Hops (all loose pellets):
22 gm Nugget @ 13% - 60 minutes
28.3 gm Challenger @ 7.5% - flameout
Yeast:
WY 1968 London ESB - 2 liter starter
11/25/11 - Barrel filled with Bob, Jim, Dan S., John, and myself.
Old Ale is one of my favorite types of beer. There are so many good Old Ales and English Barleywines out there and I've enjoyed exploring them over the last few years. I only wish we could get more here in Wisconsin. I found a clone recipe for Fuller's 1845, one of my favorites, and did some slight tweaking. My changes were the addition of 1% chocolate malt, and using East Coast Yeast's Scottish Heavy yeast instead of the obvious WY1968 Fuller's strain, as much as I love that yeast.
I got the idea to brew an Old Ale with the ECY strain a year ago when they first started selling it. Their description sounded perfect. Unfortunately, due to a mislabeled shipping address, it arrived after I had brewed and I never got to use the starter I made. So, when it recently arrived again this year, I put it right to work (after building up a 2L starter, of course!)
Old Ale
brewed on: 11/7/11
OG: 1.064
IBUs: 40.5 IBUs
SRM: 17
mash temp: 156F
mash:
11.75 lbs Marris Otter
1.5 lbs Amber Malt
1.5 lbs Crystal 65L (Fawcett)
3 oz Pale Chocolate malt
1 tsp gypsum
Hops (all loose pellets):
60 gm Fuggles @ 5.1% - 60 minutes
50 gm Fuggles @ 5.1% - 15 minutes
Yeast:
ECY Scottish Heavy - 2L starter
I'm debating adding some oak chips I received from Aeppeltreow owner Charles McGonegal that he soaked in his Pommeaux fortified pear dessert wine.
A few years back my friend Jim did a great Founders Breakfast Stout clone. I still remember it fondly and decided to brew one myself. I pretty much stuck to Jim's recipe. I brewed this last a week ago, but just got around to posting. It was racked to secondary this afternoon and is tasting great even before the additional coffee and chocolate additions were made!
Choco-Coffee Imperial Stout (Founder's Breakfast Stout clone)
brewed on: 10/30/11
OG: 1.080
IBUs: 34 IBUs
SRM: 47
mash temp: 155F
mash:
10 lbs US 2-row
7 lbs Marris Otter
1.5 lbs Flaked Oats (Quaker quick oats)
1 lb Chocolate Malt
12 oz Roasted Barley (300 SRM)
8 oz Special B
4 oz Black Patent
4 oz Carafa II
3 gm chalk
Hops (all loose pellets):
33 gm Nugget @ 13% AA - 60 minutes
14.17 gm Williamette @ 5.1% - 5 minutes
14.17 gm Williamette @ 5.1% - flameout
Adjuncts:
3 oz Bittersweet Chocolate - boil, 5 minutes
2 oz roughly ground coffee beans (medium roast) - flameout
2 oz Bitter baking chocolate - secondary (14 days)
1 oz roughly ground coffee beans (medium roast) - secondary (14 days)
Yeast:
2 packs US-05, rehydrated
I recently acquired an apple brandy barrel from Aeppeltreow cidery & distillery. This is some of the best brandy I've tried, with beautiful spice and fruit notes to it! The barrel echoes these, with an even more intense savory spiced aroma than the brandy itself. The barrel is around 26 gallons, which is more than I want to brew myself, so I recruited some friends from the B.O.M.B. (Barrel of Monkeys Brewers) group I started last year for group barrel projects. My friend Bob has a delicious Wheat Wine he brewed, based mostly off of one of the recipes in Stan Hieronymous's Brewing With Wheat. We decided it would be a great beer to age in the barrel. Along with Bob, Jim, Dan, and John, I brewed a batch of the wheat wine and we filled the barrel a week ago, along with a hefty amount of sampling of homebrew & commercial beers! A good time was had by all.
Barrel Aged Wheat Wine
brewed on: 9/16/11
OG: 1.110
IBUs: 75 IBUs
SRM: 11
mash temp: 156F
mash:
17.25 lbs Marris Otter
7.42 lbs White Wheat malt
1.36 lbs Aromatic malt
0.7 lbs Carapils
0.7 lbs Flaked Wheat
Hops (all loose pellets):
83.7 gm Centennial @ 8.7% - 90 minutes
25.6 gm Amarillo @ 7.5% - 30 minutes
43.66 gm Cascade @ 5.4% - 10 minutes
41.45 gm Cascade @ 5.4% - flameout
Yeast:
US-05 - 1 pack, rehydrated
Munich dry yeast - 1 pack, rehydrated
11/4/11 - Sample is showing nice clove and apple notes from the brandy barrel. Oak complexity is at a great level. We're shooting to empty asap, which is still 3 weeks off since we're brewing this week. Hopefully it doesn't get over-oaked. I'm really looking forward to this beer!
For the second runnings beer from my Thomas Hardy inspired barleywine, I capped the mash with a bit more grain. Unfortunately, it ended up picking up an infection from the dry hops (I don't know why I bothered using a bag on this one when I usually don't for pellets.) I'm 100% sure it came from the nylon hop bag. It was a bland beer anyway, so no huge loss. I've got a Brett Blend #9 pitch from East Coast Yeast on its way, which I may pitch to see what happens, but I'm not expecting much. By the time the bugs are done I'll have a beer that had little malt character, old hops (by that time) and a bunch of brett. Doesn't soundvery good, or balanced, to me. Anyway, for the sake of recording recipes, I capped the mash with the following:
12 oz Crystal 60L
6 oz Crystal 120L
6 oz Pale Chocolate malt
hops:
0.9 oz Nugget @ 13% - 60 minutes
0.5 oz Challenger @ 5.3% - 15 minutes
0.5 oz Challenger @ 5.3% - flameout
yeast:
WY London ESB - half slurry from English Mild
Although I didn't brew much over the summer, as usual, I've brewed a few beers since my last post and really slacked about recording them! I've intended to do an all-base grain barleywine, inspired by the delicious Thomas Hardy's Ale. A few friends and I each picked up a sack of Marris Otter in preparation. I was considering using a Bavarian Lager yeast for awhile, after reading a report that that's what Eldridge Pope brewery used to use, but went with a combination of Wyeast London ESB yeast (the Fuller's strain) and Nottingham. I love the character of the Fuller's yeast, and added the Notty since I know it can handle high gravity well.
I made this brew using first-runnings only, and had a tough time hitting my mid-1.120s OG I was shooting for. In the end I topped it off with 3 lbs of DME. I used the yeast slurry from my English Mild, split it in 2, and used half for the second runnings beer. The pack of Notty was pitched into the primary along with the slurry.
Barleywine
brewed on: 8/28/11
OG: 1.127
IBUs: 64
SRM: 10
mash temp: 150F
mash:
35 lbs Marris Otter
Hops (all loose pellets):
2.5 oz Nugget @ 13% - 60 minutes
1 oz Fuggles - 10 minutes
Yeast:
WY 1968 London ESB- 1/2 yeast cake from English Mild
1 pack Nottingham
5/2/12 - I tasted a sample of this the other day out of the secondary and it is tasting amazing! The malt character is just what I'd hoped for with a sweetness level right around the actual Thomas Hardy beers I've tried! I'm thinking about bottling it soon!
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