Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Straight Lambic Review

Appearance: Quite clear golden color. A few little bubbles rising through the beer. Billowing white head on initial pour, but dissipates quite rapidly.

Aroma: Light sour funk aroma. Lemony and pithy nose, like lemon rhinds, with some grainy Cheerio-like aroma. No hop aroma.

Taste: Moderate sourness, slight acetic. No bitterness. Grainy quality shows up in the taste too. Very dry. I get no hop flavors. Tannic oak in the aftertaste.


Mouthfeel: Thin body, but oak tannins prevent it from being watery. Not highly carbed, but with the thin body the carbonation has a slight bite.

Overall: Fairly light and refreshing sour beer. The Cheerio quality is sub-optimal. Maybe it will age out. Would like a little more sourness and more lemony / fruity aroma.

Would really like to calibrate this against a few commercial examples to see how it's different and / or how the commercial beers are better.


Saturday, September 1, 2018

Smoked Helles Brewday


BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Smoked Helles 2018
Style: Munich Helles / Smoked
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.64 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.51 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal  
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 6.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 17.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.5 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt              Name                                             Type          #          %/IBU         Volume       
9.12 gal         Medford, MA                                      Water         1          -             -            
26.25 ml         Phosphoric Acid 10% (Mash)                       Water Agent   2          -             -            
5.50 g           Calcium Chloride (Mash)                          Water Agent   3          -             -            
3 lbs 8.0 oz     Smoked (BestMälz) (3.0 SRM)                      Grain         4          35.9 %        0.27 gal     
3 lbs            Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)                            Grain         5          30.8 %        0.23 gal     
3 lbs            Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)                    Grain         6          30.8 %        0.23 gal     
4.0 oz           Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM)                       Grain         7          2.6 %         0.02 gal     
1.00 oz          Tettnang [3.70 %] - Boil 75.0 min                Hop           8          13.1 IBUs     -            
1.00 oz          Tettnang [3.70 %] - Boil 10.0 min                Hop           9          4.5 IBUs      -            
1.0 pkg          SafLager West European Lager (DCL/Fermentis #S-2 Yeast         10         -             -            


Mash Schedule: 150F, Mash Out, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 9 lbs 12.0 oz
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash Step         Add 13.19 qt of water at 163.5 F        150.0 F       60 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 5.76gal) of 168.0 F water

Notes:
------
8/25/18: Rehydrated yeast in preboiled water at room temp. After a few hours, crashed to 35F.

8/26/18: Brewday. Mash temp was spot on at 150F. Preboil OG was 9.6B / 1.038 SG
Post boil OG was ~ 1.045, so pretty good.

Cooled to 80F with CFC, cooled wort pumped straight into fermenter. Placed in chest freezer overnight to chill to 45F.

8/27/18: Oxygenated ~30s, pitched yeast slurry.

8/29/18: Fermentation going well. Still going as of 9/1/18.

Lager fermentation schedule - pitch at 45F, hold 12 hours, ramp to 50F over twelve hours, hold 2 weeks, diacetyl rest at 65F for a few days, cool to 55F, hold a day or two, then crash to 35F for extended lagering.  





Oktoberfest Brewday


Recipe: Oktoberfest 2018

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.64 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.51 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal  
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.059 SG
Estimated Color: 8.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 20.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.5 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt              Name                                             Type          #          %/IBU         Volume       
9.45 gal         Medford, MA                                      Water         1          -             -            
26.25 ml         Phosphoric Acid 10% (Mash)                       Water Agent   2          -             -            
5.50 g           Calcium Chloride (Mash)                          Water Agent   3          -             -            
5 lbs            Munich (BestMälz) (7.6 SRM)                      Grain         4          38.5 %        0.39 gal     
4 lbs            Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)                    Grain         5          30.8 %        0.31 gal     
3 lbs            Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)                            Grain         6          23.1 %        0.23 gal     
8.0 oz           Munich 20L (Briess) (20.0 SRM)                   Grain         7          3.8 %         0.04 gal     
5.5 oz           Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)            Grain         8          2.6 %         0.03 gal     
2.5 oz           Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)            Grain         9          1.2 %         0.01 gal     
1.50 oz          Tettnang [3.70 %] - Boil 70.0 min                Hop           10         17.6 IBUs     -            
0.50 oz          Tettnang [3.70 %] - Boil 15.0 min                Hop           11         2.8 IBUs      -            
1.0 pkg          German Lager (White Labs #WLP830) [35.49 ml]     Yeast         12         -             -            
1.0 pkg          German Lager (White Labs #WLP830) [35.49 ml]     Yeast         13         -             -            


Mash Schedule: 150F, Mash Out, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 13 lbs
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash Step         Add 17.25 qt of water at 163.8 F        150.0 F       60 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 5.13gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------

8/22/18: Made 2.75L starter w/ two packs yeast and used oxygenation wand. Started fermentation at 50F, then after two days moved to room temp. Cooled to 35F on brewday.

8/26/18: Brewed. Mash pH at room temp was 5.3. Mash temp was about 150.5F after 30 minutes of mashing.

Post-boil wort was around 6.5 gallons, at 1.062. I had boiled vigorously because I was over volume and under gravity pre-boil.

Chilled with CFC to 80F,  with cooled wort directly into the fermenter. Got about 5.25gal in the carboy, with a bunch of trub, so may end up slightly under 5 gal in the keg.

Placed carboy in chest freezer to chill to 45F.

8/27/18,  8am: Oxygenated wort for 60s, decanted most of the starter beer, and pitched.

8/28/18: By 8pm or so fermentation had started, some krausen was forming. Still going but slowly by 9/1/18.

Lager fermentation schedule - pitch at 45F, hold 12 hours, ramp to 50F over twelve hours, hold 2 weeks, diacetyl rest at 65F for a few days, cool to 55F, hold a day or two, then crash to 35F for extended lagering. Ramp temperature changes.