Schwarzbier Brewday

I finally got a chest freezer for making lagers and generally controlling the temp of my beers. For an automatic thermostat, I got an STC-1000 which is awesome enough as it is, but a guy in the local homebrew club flashed it with the STC-1000+ ROM. That free upgrade allows you to program the STC-1000 plus with up to 9 fermentation profiles, which can each have their own series of temperature points and associated durations. Apparently one would normally have to pay $200+ for a commercially produced controller with those features.

In any case, for my first lager I decided to brew a 5-gallon batch of Schwarzbier following the recipe of p. 81 of Brewing Classic Styles.

German Schwarzbier
5 gallons
9# German Pils
1# German Munich
11oz Carafa Special II

Hallertau, 1.65oz, 4.0%, 60min
Hallertau, 0.5oz, 4.0%, 60min
Hallertau, 0.5oz, 4.0%, 60min (ended up adding .85 oz at flameout because I didn't want any leftover Hallertau hops).

Mash at 151F, boil 90 mins.

WLP830 - German Lager

Made a large yeast starter on 11/5/14.

Brewed 11/8/14 at a friends house. Didn't really check the OG etc.... but I believe I did get the right volume.

When the boiled wort was chilled to around 100F, I siphoned to a 6-gallon carboy and placed in the 45F fridge.

The next morning, the fridge and beer were at 55F. Pitched the whole starter, shook the carboy to aerate a little bit, then let it ferment.

Fermentation profile programmed into the SCT-1000+ is 2 weeks at 50F, ramp to 60F over 1 day, hold at 60F 2 days, ramp down to 50, hold for a day, then ramp to 35F and hold there.

By the afternoon of 11/11, there was a nice krausen and bubbling, By 11/16 it seemed to be at high krausen. Still bubbling and a bit of krausen on 11/19.

It doesn't smell like ale fermentation.... a little harsh. But we'll see how it ends up.

Transferred to secondary on 12/4/14, after the beer had entered the lagering period at 35F.

Bottled on 1/3/15, using table sugar as a priming solution. I will wait a bit longer before popping the first bottle, since I hear lager yeast takes longer to carbonate.



 

Brett IPA #2 Review

So I finally brewed the same beer twice. Well, almost. This recipe had only one difference from the previous version, which was the addition of the Acid Malt. But the process was slightly different too, since I let the primary fermentation go for two weeks instead of one before adding the dry hops. Let's see if it makes a substantial different in the results…..


Appearance: Golden-orange, hazy with Brett yeast. Solid white head that leaves good lacing around the glass.

Aroma: Bright with hops. Fruity like mangoes or so, but with a dank side too.

Taste: Similar to the aroma: fruity, tropical juicy, but with a solid bitterness. To me it tastes a little more bitter than the last one.

Mouthfeel: Carbonation is on the higher end of moderate. Definitely not as highly carbed as my first Brett IPA. The body is not spritzy but still light.

Overall:Very good. My brother said it tasted like a commercial-quality IPA. I'm not sure if the acid malt made any difference compared to previous batch, but I definitely do detect the lower carbonation in this one. I think for next time a carbonation level around 2.5 would be better, as would a slight reduction in the IBUs. Not sure the acid malt added anything that I can detect.

I think I prefer the previous batch, which I believe benefitted from the lighter body and the slightly lower bitterness.

Mild Review

My second "normal" homebrew batch size was a Mild, following JZ's recipe for that style. With a low alcohol level but a nice flavor, why not brew 5 gallons?

Appearance: Mahogany brown color. A little hazy but nearly transparent. Very small, off-white head on top. Obviously low carbonation.

Aroma: Malty, bready, biscuity aroma. I would say it's grainy - a bit like grain before I mash in. Caramel and light roasty or nutty aroma as well. I don't get hop aroma although I might get a tiny bit of dark fruit aroma, like raisins or so.

Taste: Malty, caramel and toasty, maybe nutty. It doesn't seem too sweet. Low bitterness at the end. Certainly not a very strong taste but nevertheless satisfying.

Mouthfeel: Low carbonation. Thin body but it's not like water. Improves as it warms up.

Overall: I think it. I think it serves its purpose as the kind of beer one could drink without having to worry about the effects of alcohol. But it does have a good flavor. A good beer to drink at a party and serve to people who normally drink crappy beer.

Mild Brew Day

My significant other is very busy these days with studying as she is in grad school. That's left me with some time on my hands, which, naturally, I've chosen to spend brewing over the last few weekends. Friday night she told me that she'd be busy all Saturday, so I decided to brew a nice easy drinking session beer - an English mild. And, since I had limited time to formulate the recipe, I basically copied it out of Brewing Classic Styles and finally did another 5 gallon batch. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly except that I didn't have the right hops so the IBUs are probably going to be a bit off. I kind of guesstimated. Hopefully it won't be overly bitter or cloyingly sweet but somewhere in the acceptable zone for the style.


Mild
5 gallons

7# Maris Otter
8oz Crystal 60
6oz Crystal 120
4oz Chocolate Malt
2oz Black Patent

All hops 60 min
.2oz Kent Goldings, 5.6%
.2oz Tettnanger, 4.5%
.1oz Warrior, 15% 

Union Jacks M07 Yeast

Expected OG/FG/IBUs/ABV: 1.03 / 1.011 / ?? / 3.2%

Brewed 10/13
Brewday went well, but my efficiency was high, I ended up with about 5.25 gallons of 11.2B / 1.045 SG beer.

Split into two 3-gallon carboys. And pitched at about 65F. By the next day, one carboy was going pretty well with quite some krausen, though the other had only slight krausen. Perhaps one carboy got more yeast than the other.

On 10/13 the second carboy was developing a full head of krausen. 

Rye Porter Review

Someday I ought to brew a 5-gallon batch exactly as it appears on the recipe.  This porter is a scaled version of the one from Brewing Classic Styles but also with some grain substitutions. I guess one never knows how the altered recipes compare to JZ's award-winning recipes, although of course every brewer has a slightly different system and technique, so even with unaltered recipes your mileage may vary. In any case, let's see how this one turned out.

Appearance: Dark brown with tan head. Not completely opaque but pretty close. The head lasts.

Aroma: Pretty subdued by I get some roasty and chocolate notes. Coffee-like aroma, with no hop character. The aroma becomes more bready and grainy as the beer warms to proper serving temperature.

Taste: Stronger than the smell, again, roasty and chocolatey, and a little bit acrid. Sweetness is there but minimal. Bitterness is low. I think it should be a little bit sweeter.

Mouthfeel: The first thing I notice is that this beer seems to have a creamy texture without feeling heavy. It's kind of like Guiness in texture. Carbonation is on the low end of medium.

Overall: Pretty good, although I could do without the slight acrid note and I think it should be a little bit sweeter. My wife really like it. I may enter this into an upcoming competition.

 

Brett IPA #2

 My last Brett IPA turned out well enough to share 1st place in a club-only competition. Turns out there's another competition coming up, and the 3 best beers in that one will be brewed professionally and ultimately judged by their sales in the brewery's tasting room. So why not try again?

The only change for this recipe is that I added 2oz of acid malt to try to encourage the brett to produce some nice tropical fruit esters.

Brett IPA
6# Breiss 2-Row
6oz Munich Malt
4oz Victory Malt
4oz White Wheat
2oz Acid Malt

Mash at 152F

.375oz Nugget, 13%, 60min
.5oz Cascade, 6%, 10 min
.5oz Centennial, 10.5%, 10 min
.5oz Cascade, 6%, 5 min
.5oz Centennial, 10.5%, 10 min
1oz Nelson Sauvin, 12%, 1 min

1oz Nelson Sauvin, 12% - Hopstand, 5min @ 210F, 30min @ 180-140F

.5oz Nelson Sauvin, .5oz CTZ, .5oz Centenial, dry, 7 days

WLP644

Expected OG/FG/IBUs/ABV: 1.062, 1.016 (or less as Brett is highly attenuative), 54, 5.9% (or slightly more depending on attenuation).

Starter made on 10/4 with 50g DME and 500ml water, lightly hopped. The yeast was washed from my previous batch of Brett IPA.

Brewed 10/5/14
Brew day went well - not much to say except that I hit my numbers pretty well including gravity and volume. The whirlpool step did seem to be quite a bit cooler than last time, dropping into the 150F - 140F range over the course of 30 minutes of whirlpooling.

I got the beer to about 90F before putting the kettle in the basement to cool to pitching temps.

Pitched when the wort was around 65F, a bit colder than last time but I hope that will not be a problem. Did not aerate, as per last time.

10/6/14, 6pm - Beer was fermenting nicely at 64F, which is on the cool side, but tomorrow I will move it upstairs for a temperature boost. 

Sourish American

I like sour beers, though they take a tremendous amount of time in most cases to do the full souring process. I'm talking like 8 - 12 months minimum. I've completed a Flanders Red which turned out very good but not quite sour enough, and a Belgian strong dark sour which is currently in process, but will likely be ready in another 4-6 months.

A couple of months ago I had a chance to grab a smack-pack of WY3202 - De Bom, a sour blend that can apparently create a good sour in 2-4 months under "optimal conditions". Turns out though that those conditions are fermenting at 75F-80F. Probably I should have brewed this thing in the summer, when things are more in the optimal range. But I figure waiting a long time for a sour is kind of normal. So we'll see what happens.

The recipe is a basically scaled version of Sourish American from The Mad Fermentationist's book, "American Sour Beers." I highly recommend the book, though at this point I cannot directly speak to the quality of the recipes. Though this recipe uses a US 2-Row instead of Pilsner malt and different hops, the biggest difference is the sour mix, since I didn't have a vial of ECY Bugfarm. I also mashed really high to give the bugs lots of complex sugars to chew on.

Sourish American
3.25 gal batch

4.25# US 2-Row
2.5# Maris Otter
12oz White Wheat
8oz Flaked Barley

.5oz Fuggles, 4.5%, 90min

Wyeast De Bom - No starter

Expected OG / FG / IBUs / ABV: 1.062 / 1.009 / 12 / 6.8%

Mash at 158F, sparge with 180F water.

After primary fermentation, add red-wine soaked oak cubes. 

Brewed on 9/13/14
Hit my mash temp well, and the gravity of the pre-boil wort was correct.

However I over-boiled and ended up with like 2.5 gallons of wort, so I topped off with some boiled water to get my volume right. I hardly left any wort in the kettle.

Pitched at around 70F, left in 68F ambient air.

9/14/14, 10pm - Solid krausen forming.

9/22/14 - Krausen has dropped but there still seem to be some bubbles occasionally emerging. Temperature is around 68F - 70F but has fluctuated a bit.