Summer is hot

Batch #105

Apricot Saison

8.5 gallons

5.5 lbs Maris Otter

6 lb White Wheat

8 oz American CaraPils

0.5 oz Columbus (14.9%aa), 60 minutes

1 oz Nelson Sauvin, 1 min

Wyeast 3711 French Saison  - 1.5L starter

Mash in with 20qts to 152F, hold one hour. Batch sparged to collect 10 gallons. One hour boil. Split into two batches.

Batch A - 3.5 gallons. Will go on tap fresh in August. Possibly with apricot puree to bring up to ~4.5% ABV or apricot extract if already close enough in range.
Batch B - 4.5 gallons. For souring. Will get apricot puree and White Labs Belgian Sour Blend. Might have to blend in a small batch of beer with residual sugars. We'll see how it goes.

OG: 1.036

FG: 

ABV: 

IBU: ~20-25

Learning curves

It's been a while. Upgraded to a 60qt kettle and bought a proper heat source. Test driving the new setup with a recent favorite style to brew. 

Batch #103
TBD fruit tart, shooting for 7 gallons total
7 lbs Maris Otter
7 lbs White Wheat Malt
1 lb Acid Malt
0.375 lb Am Crystal 40L

- Day One -

About 1/2 cup grain reserved for lactic acid rest.

Soft water. Built from RO with a little chalk, epsom, and table salt. + gypsum (just shy 3/4 tsp each).

Save a fistful of crushed grain. Mash in targeted at 125F in about 3 gallons water, rest 15 min. Add boiling water to bring to 155F. Rest one hour. Result was 130F and 150F, in about 4.5 gallons total. Did not correct saccharification temp because I had already recombined my sparge water and the hot liquor tank temp was low. 

Lazy, so batch sparged to collect just over 10 gallons. Saved grain added back to wort.

1.2 L starter pulled from sweet wort pitched with Gigayeast Saison II (four months old?! always check the label, especially at an unfamiliar shop...yes I know it's winter) and some ancient Brett Brux that I found in the fridge.
I like the flexibility to have extra water in the kettle going into the mash. I like that my new burner works instead of just coating everything in soot. Running 7-10gal beers is going to take a couple of attempts before I have a smooth operation going.

- Day Two - 

Boil 45 min.
1.5oz Mosaic (11.2%aa) at 10min with whirlfloc.

I don't have a great solution for cooling the new kettle yet. Ambient chill overnight.

- Day Three -

Split into two 4 gallon volumes for fermentation. Pitched the yeast. Fermenting at 68ºF ambient. About 75% grain-to-fermenter volume efficiency (rough estimate)...not bad.

- Day Fifteen - 

Added 1oz Oak cubes and 2oz dried hibiscus to one of the fermenters.

- Day Thirty-one - 

Transferred the beer off of the hibiscus. A few pellicles and a fair amount of other evidence of substantial souring. A few possibilities - unwashed hibiscus and oak, insufficient sanitizing of the bucket, or the glass weight I used to hold the hibiscus bag down carried some sauerkraut bugs with it. Whatever the case... it smells amazing.

- Day What? -
Bottled the regular stuff on 3/3. Bottled the hibiscus on 3/17. Stuff on top was still showing there, reforming after racking in minutes... probably from brettanomyces. SG was still 1.008

OG: 1.052
FG: 1.008
ABV: about 5.8%
IBU: 5-10

Sour

This turned out really well, and will definitely be a regular summer brew for me now!
--

I've decided it's time, and I am now a brewer of sour beers. This is thanks in part to another homebrewer who's wanted to get a berliner weisse going for a while. We went off to the LHBS to pick up ingredients, and I threw a Brettanomyces bruxellensis culture into my cart. So, anyway, interesting things to come, but for now, a split-batch experiment.

Batch #91
Berliner Weisse

6 lbs German Pilsner malt

6 lbs White Wheat malt

5 oz Melanoidin malt

Water: RO with various salts to get a decent profile for slightly bitter, light color beers. (I lost my notes, but ~50ppm calcium, and ~50ppm each chloride and sulfate from a mix of gypsum, epsom, salt, chalk, and calcium chloride)

Mash in with 10qts and acid rest at ~100F until next infusion is ready.

Drink beer instead of checking notes, adding too much hot water, thereby skipping right past a protein rest to hit a good saccharification rest at about 156F. Remember to look at a clock.

Later, batch sparge. Top up with cold water to 10 gallons, mix well, and split into two 5 gallon containers. Refractometer reading was 9 Brix. Here's the fun part.

My 5 gallons of wort went back into the now empty insulated mash tun with about 4 oz of the original unmashed grist. I intend to check on it over the next couple days and boil when the wort is sufficiently soured from naturally occurring lactobacilli. I plan on about 5 IBU coming from a tiny addition of saaz. Maybe use up the rest of the citra from the last batch as an aroma component. [Update: ~75min boil, no citra, 5 gallons in the carboy after pitching my share of the yeast starter. The two days of "kettle" souring in the mash tun gave a moderate tartness that I suspect will be much more pronounced after the sugars are consumed.]

My co-brewer took his portion home, and will pitch a lactobacillus culture, and probably also not keep notes on what he did. We'll get together in about a month to compare results.

Primary fermentation is slated to use the White Labs Saison II yeast blend.

OG: 1.036

FG: 1.006

ABV: 3.9%

IBU: ~5

Bottled 7/5/15

I made a CDA

Update 4/27 - Tasty brew, hasty execution resulting in too much hop gunk in the bottles and hence some gushing. Really like the recipe, though!
Update 4/9 - SG 1.014, added dry hops.
--

APRIL FOOL!

Why would I make something so unappealing as a CDA/BlackIPA/IBA when I could make a delicious WHITE IPA? So much of the tastiness.

Limited to what I have on hand, this beer will not be a SMASH, but a SMATH. Or, maybe more accurately a SMEBATH. Single Malt Extract Blend And Two Hops.

Batch #75
Zythos White
-1.25 kg Dry Wheat Malt Extract
-1 oz Hallertau, 3.9%AA (60min)
-1 oz Zythos, 10.9%AA (10min)
-0.5 oz each hop (2min)
-0.5 oz each hop (dry)
-WLP400 Belgian Wit yeast, 1L starter
OG: ~1.060 (~1.057 incl starter)
FG: 1.014
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: somewhere between 50 and 80. YOU do the math.

Boiled 11L, added extract. Hopped as above. Boiled off more than I expected. 7L into fermentation. Pitched 1L active yeast starter.

It's hot outside.

Update 7/15 - Kegged. Primed with 3oz table sugar (~3+ vol CO2). Added peach flavoring.
--

Easy drinkin' summer wheat beer time. I only used 1 vial of yeast and no starter. I know, high crimes... but I just plain ran out of time earlier in the week. I was trying to get WLP320 (Am Hefe) but couldn't get it in time for the brew day. The 060 is rumored to be a blend of WLP001 (Chico/Sierra Nevada), WLP051 (Anchor Liberty Ale), and probably also WLP810 (Anchor Steam). Thought I'd give it a try since White Labs boasts a good complexity from it and not quite as much hop emphasis as the WLP001.

The hop schedule is not my ideal, but I was cleaning out the freezer. That was all I had, and it's just barely enough. In a perfect world, I would have liked some nice noble hop aroma additions and a little more bitterness.

Batch #61
American Wheat, 5.5 gallons
--5.5lbs Wheat Malt
--4lbs German Pils
--1lb Maris Otter
--4oz Melanoidin
--4oz CaraFoam
--1oz Saaz 3%AA (60min, whole)
--0.125oz Willamette 4.8%AA (60min, whole)
--0.375oz Vanguard 5.8%AA (60min, whole)
--1/4 tsp supermoss (15min)
--1/4 tsp gypsum (mash)
--WLP060 American Ale Blend
--3oz table sugar (priming in keg)
--2oz peach flavoring (priming in keg)
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.010
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: ~15

Mashed in to 153°F in 4.25 gallons water and held for 60m. Batch sparged with 18.5qts at 185°F (raised mash temp to 168°F) and collected 29qts wort total. Boiled for 90m. Chilled and pitch yeast at 68-70°F. Probably get some fruit in secondary.

Neil's Party Part 2 of 2

This one is based on Odell's Easy St Wheat. Never had it, but sounded like a good American wheat beer. Cleaned out my RAHR, so there's a bit of pils in there, too. Added the last of the cascade whole hops for fun. Original clone recipe in brackets where changes were made.

Batch #59
American Wheat, 5.75 gallons [5 gal]
--5.375lbs Wheat Malt
--3.25lbs 2-row RAHR [4.375]
--1.25lbs German Pils [--]
--8oz Munich
--2oz Crystal 20L
--0.75oz Cascade 8.7%AA (60min, whole) [3.5 AAU Cascade]
--0.5oz Cascade 8.7%AA (20m, whole) [--]
--1oz Saaz 3.0%AA (2m, whole)
--1oz Vanguard 5.0%AA (2m, pellet) [Tettnanger]
--Whirlfloc (15min)
--1/2 tsp gypsum (infusion water)
--US-05 - 1/2 cup slurry [Kölsch yeast]
OG: 1.045
FG: 1.007
ABV: 5%
IBU: ~30 [16]

Mash in to 149°F in 4.25 gallons water and hold for 60m. Batch sparge with 4.25 gallons at 170°F to collect 7 gallons wort. Boil for 60m. Chill and pitch yeast at 68-70°F. Came in at 66% efficiency and right on target.

Sandeep's Commission

Update 4/5 - Wheaty, but the orange and coriander show well. Tastes awful with toothpaste. SG 1.008
--
Sandeep asked for a Blue Moon Clone. So, I don't know, I guess this might work. I don't drink Blue Moon very often, so this might be a bit more citrus than the real deal, but as I recall there's honey and people who claim to have good clone recipes use marmalade. Also, I thought I'd use an inconspicuous high flocculating yeast to help keep the beer American and clear.

Batch #56
Cold Pressed Ham
--5lbs Ger. Pils
--3lbs White Wheat Malt
--2lbs Flaked Wheat
--4oz Munich
--1/2 tsp gypsum (infusion water)
--0.67oz Perle 7.5%AA (60min)
--Whirlfloc (15min)
--8oz Orange Blossom Honey (5min)
--fresh zest from 2 tangerines and 1 grapefruit (5min)
--2T orange marmalade (5min)
--crushed coriander (5min)
--Safale US-05
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.008
ABV: 5.75%
IBU: 15

Single infusion at 154F in 16 qts. Sparge with 17 qts at 170 to collect 7 gallons for a 90 min boil. Spices and such just a few minutes before flameout.

The commish

Batch #46
Neil's White
Witbier
--4.5lbs Ger. Pils
--0.5lb White Wheat Malt
--4lbs Flaked Wheat
--1lb Flaked Oats
--5.2AAU Mt Hood(60m)
--5.2AAU Mt Hood(2m)
--1/4 oz orange peel
--1/8 oz crushed coriander seed
--1/4tsp Supermoss (15m)
--WLP400 Belgian Wit Yeast, 1L starter
OG: 1.038
FG:
ABV:
IBU: ~20

Mash at 152F for 60m. Mash out at 165F, recirc, and collect 6.5 gallons. Boil for 60m. I'd prefer to collect more wort and boil longer, but the wheat and oats absorbed more water than I expected. Spices at flameout. OG came out way low...I forgot to add calcium to the mash and the single infusion with all of that wheat probably wasn't the best plan. Crap.

Cookin' with gas

Update - Yeah, it's tasty,...wheat, toast, banana, but I swear it's got acetaldehyde, too. That's what I get for rushing it to the keg.
--

I brewed outside for the first time. Borrowed a propane tank and burner and set to work with a few more brewers. Good times. Having a tree was a mixed bag - ample shade, ample crap falling into EVERYTHING. I was a little worried that this batch wouldn't turn out quite right, but the grains had enough enzyme to do the conversion. My efficiency dragged a little bit, probably because I was using someone else's water and didn't - excuse me, it just foamed through the airlock...okay, problem solved for the moment - add any salts. Still, reasonable efficiency around 70%. I actually ended up using two burners and two kettles, which makes step mashing by multiple infusions a lot easier.

Batch #36
Dunkelweizen
--5lbs Ger. Light Munich
--5lb Ger. Dark Wheat Malt
--0.25lb Pale Chocolate
--1.25oz Liberty 4.5%AA (60min)
--1/4tsp supermoss (15min)
--WLP300 English Ale Yeast, 2L starter from ~1/2 vial saved from a Hefe starter.
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.014
ABV: 4.6%
IBU: ~20 or so

Mash in with 10qts to around 125-130 (lots going on, didn't take notes) for 20min. Add hot water to raise temp to 152 (or thereabouts, again...no notes on what actually happened) for 40min. Added rice hulls. Mash out to 168F (more water) for 15min. I undermeasured my water and ended up only pulling 6.5 gallons of wort, so only did a 60min boil. Ended with around 5.25gal of wort. Brought it home, pitched my yeast, and it is going like mad. After 6 hours, I had about an inch of kraeusen, it's out the top now.

Haus Seeblick Hefeweizen

Another commission. Group ski trip this time, so something that will appeal to craft/home brew noobs and old pros alike.

Batch #34
Haus Seeblick Hefeweizen
--5lbs Ger. Pils
--4.5lbs Am. White Wheat Malt
--1lb Flaked Wheat
--4.5AAU Liberty (1oz 4.5%AA, 60min)
--2.25AAU Liberty (0.5oz 4.5%AA, 2min)
--WLP300 Hefeweizen Yeast, 1.1L starter
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.010
ABV: 5.25%
IBU: ~17

Single infusion mash, 16qts at 155F for 60min...let it fall a bit to around 152F. Batch sparged with 16qts to collect just under 6.75gal. Boiled for 90 minutes total. No clarifier. Mash efficiency just shy of 70%.

Wry Rye

By request from a fan of the beers (...but no one's actually paid me yet...), a witbier. With rye, because...why not?

Batch #31
Wry Wit
--5lbs Belgian Pils
--5lbs Flaked Wheat
--1lbs Flaked Rye
--5AAU Vanguard 4.4%AA, pellets (60min)
--1/2 oz Sweet Dried Orange Peel (5min)
--1/2 tsp coriander powder (5min)
--WLP400 Edinburgh Ale yeast, 1L starter
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.010ish
ABV: 5% or so
IBU: 20ish

Mash-in at 104F in 7qts water, rest for 20min (lots of unmalted wheat!). Added ~7.5qts water to raise temp to 152F, rest for 40min. That was the plan. For whatever reason, the saccharification rest wouldn't maintain temp. So it ran low at around 148 in the middle of the mash for about 50min. I extracted a total of 6.5gal wort at 1.045 (batch sparge...drained, added 3.5gallons, drained,...ended up adding one more gallon to get to volume) with sparge water at about 170. No mash-out. Works out to around 73% efficiency. Woohoo!. Thanks, 1/2tsp of gypsum in the mash water...and acid rest, I suppose. Again, too many variables to really tell. My next batch should be all malt, so I'll skip the rest at 104 and go straight to the final rest temp. That should make it easier to determine the role of the gypsum. Pitched the yeast around 2pm or so, saw a bubble come through the airlock around 8 or 9pm. Nice kräusen the next morning.

Sweet 16th

I do admit I was intrigued by a recipe for DuClaw Vanilla Bean Oatmeal Stout. I like oatmeal stouts, and I like vanilla. It seems like this should be an easy gap to bridge. When talking about it with some friends, someone said "put chocolate in it - vanilla and chocolate are always separate". Not always, but it sounded like a good idea, so I borrowed some tips from a clone recipe of Young's Double Chocolate Stout and threw in a little lactose and cocoa powder. In the end, this might be more like drinking a milk shake, mouthfeelwise, anyway. The cocoa is of course unsweetened, and the vanilla should just add aroma.

Batch #16
Chocolate DuClaw Vanilla Bean Oatmeal Stout
--9 lbs 2-Row American Pale Ale Malt
--17 oz Black Roasted Malt
--1.25 lbs Flaked Oats
--6 oz German Chocolate Wheat
--6 oz Crystal 60L
--8 oz Lactose
--4 oz Cocoa Powder (15min)
--3 vanilla beans (secondary)
--2 oz Kent Goldings 4.5% AA (60min)
--Whirlfloc (20min)
--White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5.1%
Calc. IBU: 24

Mash all the grains for one hour at 152°F. I added 1 tsp gypsum to the mash water. Collect 6.5 gallons of wort. My efficiency was around 72%, giving me a gravity of 1.048. Add the lactose and boil. Add the hops. At 20 minutes remaining, add the clarifier and dissolve the cocoa in hot water. Add the cocoa to the boil with 15 minutes left. Flame out, hops out, start chillin'. I pitched the yeast slurry from a 1 pint starter. Dry English wasn't my first choice, but it'll do. Spent 1 week in primary. Three beans added at secondary, kegged after 5 days (a little rushed on everything because I was juggling with brew 17).