Classic Rauch Review

My second lager was a Classic Rauchbier following the recipe in Brewing Classic Styles. I kind of messed up the brewday, ending up with 4 rather than the intended 5 gallons, and as a result the beer is probably a little too high gravity, sweet and overcarbonated.

Appearance: Very clear. Carbonation bubbles visibly rising from the center of the glass. Thick off-white head that dissipates a little too fast. Deep amber in color.

Aroma: Surprisingly not as smokey as I anticipated. The smoke is present but does not dominate. Clearly there is some classic lager malt aroma and sweetness. Does not smell like bacon or ham.

Taste: Again smokey but not overwhelmingly so. Not bacony or hammy. Malty and rich, but somehow it's not as sweet as the nose would suggest. Low hop bitterness. Probably too bitter, given the volume screwup, which reduces the sense of sweetness.

Mouthfeel: Moderate to thick body. Carbonation is lower than I expected, given the likely excess sugar. Perhaps there is not enough yeast left in the beer to carbonate quickly.

Overall: Tasty and refreshing. But, probably not quite smokey enough for my taste. For next time, get the volume, gravity, etc... correct.

Review of Cider

Normally I stick with beer, having only done 3 batches (one mead, and two cider) of other types of fermented drinks. Although branching out can be a good thing for the experience of trying it and learning something new, it's likely that one needs to have at least a few batches of a particular type of drink before the product starts to be really good. And, it can be frustrating for me to try something that doesn't come out as well as most of my beers. None of my non-beer beverages have been great, and sadly, this cider may be the worst of my three attempts.

Appearance: Very clear golden yellow. This glass was from the bottom of the wine-bottle, and had a little bit of yeast stirred up into it. No carbonation bubbles, as intended.

Aroma: Not sure what it smells like. I just smells. I think I detect some sulphur and sour apple smells. Doesn't smell like apple cider should smell.

Taste: Again, a faint hint of appley-ness but lacks good cider characteristics. It doesn't stay sour, but does have a sulphury quality. There's no alcohol burn or strong boozy notes. Quite dry, as expected since the final OG was around 1.000 or less.

Mouthfeel: Thin. No carbonation. Very dry.

Overall: Well, it's drinkable, at least to me. I don't really know what to make of it other than to say that it doesn't really taste like it should. It needs more sweetness, more apple like quality, and more overall good taste. Sadly, I made 4 gallons of it and may have to dump some. I suppose it happens to all homebrewers once in a while.

Lemon Drop IPA Hop Bomb

One of the local brew clubs is doing a single-hop experiment. Everyone is brewing the same recipe, but the late hop additions will vary. Each brewer will use only one late addition and dry hop variety, so that we can get a sense of each hop's chief flavor and aroma characteristics. I decided on Lemondrop hops since I thought I'd try something out of the norm for me. Apparently they have a strong citrusy, lemony quality.


Lemon Drop Hop Bomb
5.25 gallon batch
11# US 2-Row
1lb White Wheat
8oz C20

6ml Hop Oil - 60 min

1oz Lemon Drop, 4.6%, 15 min
1.5oz Lemon Drop, 4.6%, 0 min, whirlpool 15min
1.5oz Lemon Drop, 4.6%, flameout + 15min, whirlpool 15min
3oz Lemon Drop, 4.6%, dry, 7 days

US-05

Mash at 152F.

Expected OG/FG/IBU/ABV: 1.061/ 1.014/ 60/ 6.2%

Brewed 4/12/15
Hit my mash temps well.

Collected 3.5 gal first runnings, ~3.75 gal 2nd runnings, so about 7.25 gallons pre-boil.

OG was 1.046 pre-boil.


At flameout, added 1.5oz Lemon Drop hops, and turned on recirculating March pump. Fifteen minutes later, added second whirlpool addition. Beer was at ~180F. Waited 15 minutes, then cooled to ~90F and placed beer in 35F fridge.

Racked to carboy and pitched a few hours later at 70F, and placed carboy in 63F ambient.

Post Boil OG was 1.060. Spot on basically. Volume into fermenter was 5.75 gallon, including some trub and hop gunk.

4/15/15
Beer was in 55F ambient air. Moved to 63F. Nice krausen going.

4/19/15
No longer bubbling. Added 3oz dry hops.  

No Quarter Smoked Porter Review

Appearance: Deep mahogany body with thick tan head, which persists nicely and sticks to the side of the glass. Opaque.

Aroma: Smoky but not the smack in the face of smoke that a classic rauchbier could have. It's mixed in with some sweet maltiness and earthy hops. Overall moderately intense aroma.

Taste: Sweet malty, smoke seems subdued to me. Kind of some bready, roasty notes, mixed with smoke. Quite bitter in the aftertaste but the bitterness does not taste as strong as a DIPA. The bitterness blends well with the other flavors, perhaps surprisingly. Not too removed from a more normal robust porter.

Mouthfeel: Thick and chewy. Low-moderate carbonation.

Overall: It's very good, but I don't think it's as smokey as some of my previous smoked beers. The flavors blend surprisingly well, since I didn't think a the smoke would go well with the high bitterness.

I am beginning to think that flavors in beer are often more about the balance of flavors than their strength. Here, although it's very bitter, my tongue cannot simultaneously perceive very bitter and very smoky - instead the kind of blend into one. This same recipe but with less bitterness probably would taste smokier. You cannot turn everything to 11.

RIS + Parti-Gyle Brew Day

I recently bough two sacks of bulk grain (GW-2ROW and BZ-PILS) but I still had around 30 pounds of Maris Otter malt around. Wanting to use up the MO, and hoping to brew a high-gravity beer that could occupy a fermenter for a long time, I decided to re-brew the BCS RIS. And I figured, why not, let's parti-gyle to get some type of "small" experimental beer. It was pretty improvisational and experimental so I am very curious how the "small" beer will turn out.


BCS Russian Stout #2
Brewed 4/22/15

Batch Size: 5gal
75 min boil

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                                        Type          #        %/IBU        
19 lbs                Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM)           Grain         1        82.6 %       
1 lbs 8.0 oz        Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)                  Grain         2        6.5 %        
1 lbs                 Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)                    Grain         3        4.3 %        
8.0 oz                Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM)                Grain         4        2.2 %        
8.0 oz                Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)                 Grain         5        2.2 %        
8.0 oz                Pale Chocolate Malt (200.0 SRM)          Grain         6        2.2 %        
1.60 oz               Magnum [13.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop           7        53.9 IBUs    
2.00 oz               Fuggle [5.00 %] - Boil Hop                                        8        8.9 IBUs     
2.00 oz               East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.00 %] - Boil Hop           9        1.1 IBUs     
1.0 pkg               Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) [35 Yeast         10       -            
.5 pkg               SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) Yeast         11       -    

Starter made on 3/19. Got just over 5 gal into the fermenter, including starter and trub. Slightly under volume. Pre-boil OG was 1.08. Added .75# DME to increase to this OG.

Cooled to 65F, pitched entire starter, and added ~.5 packet of S-04 to make sure everything would completely ferment. Pitched around 3:45. Placed in 65F ambient.

Parti-Gyle Meta Session Porter or Something ??

Batch Size: 3gal
60 min boil

Mash Efficiency Expected ~ 30%

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                                        Type          #        %/IBU        
19 lbs                Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM)           Grain         1        82.6 %       
1 lbs 8.0 oz        Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)                  Grain         2        6.5 %        
1 lbs                 Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)                    Grain         3        4.3 %        
8.0 oz                Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM)                Grain         4        2.2 %        
8.0 oz                Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)                 Grain         5        2.2 %        
8.0 oz                Pale Chocolate Malt (200.0 SRM)          Grain         6        2.2 %        
.25oz                 Centenial, 15%, Boil 45 min
.25oz                 CTZ 15%, Boil 10 min
.25oz                 Centenial, 15%, Boil 5 min
.25oz                 CTZ, 15%, Boil 1 min 
.25oz                 Centenial, 15%, Boil 45 min 
.5oz                   CTZ, 15%,  Steep
.5oz                   Centenial, 15%, Steep

 Mash: Add ~ 4.25 gallons of boiling water to completely drained RIS mash. 

I'm a bit afraid that with the large volume of dark grains, high "mash" temp and potential for tannin extraction with the low expected gravity of the parti-gyle, I am afraid of getting some nasty astringency, which I might be able to cover up with some hopiness. This beer is experimental.

Pre-boil OG ~1.030. Got 3.25 gallons into the fermenter.  

Cooled to ~70F. Pitched .5 packet of S-04 around 5pm. Placed in ambient air of ~65F. 

Brewday Note: Not too exhausting if planned well and 2 burners (1 outside, 1 stove, in my case) are used. Do not attempt parti-gyle unless you have your brew day down fairly well. I had two batches boiling at once and I was running around like a monkey to manage everything. 

3/23/15 - RIS had a good but not huge krausen, session-porter no krausen but a few bubbles.

4/23/15 (Approx.) - Racked RIS to secondary.

10/31/15 - Began soaking 1.5oz Medium-Heavy Toast American Oak cubes in ~ 1/2 cup of "Benchmark Old No. 8" whiskey. Oak was boiled for a few minutes to sanitize. Will add to secondary soon.

11/10/15 - Added oak and whiskey to the RIS. Plan to keg, force carbonate and then transfer to bottles in early January.

1/5/16 - Racked to keg. Purged head space and began force carb. Plan to bottle with my new "Last Straw" counter-pressure filler.

King Titus II Review

Appearance: Dark mahogany, not quite black. with a nice tan head that dissipates a little too quickly but leaves a thin coating of bubbles on the surface of the beer.

Aroma: I get the fruity smell of Columbus hops and a malty-sweet aroma. An interesting mix. Gets maltier as it warms.

Taste: Hoppy up front, mixed with sweet, chocolate, roasty flavors. Bitter at the end. The flavors may not meld together super smoothly, but overall it works. In the taste I would say the roasty quality dominates over the hops.

Mouthfeel: Thick and chewy. Moderate carbonation

Overall: A pretty complex porter with a significant hop character, lots of roasty-chocolatey malt flavors, and a thick body. N

Not sure how closely it matches the real King Titus at this point, but nevertheless a pretty enjoyable brew.

Double Brew Day - Smoky Beers

Double Brew Day
I did my first double brewday this weekend, brewing a Classic Rauchbier using the Brewing Classic Styles recipe and the other a scaled version of the No Quarter Smoked Porter  recipe that I found on the AHA's website. The experience was pretty fun since I was with two buddies who were also brewing, but also a bit hectic. Not to mention that I was moderately hungover in the morning.


BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Classic Rauch, 5 Gal BCS
Style: Classic Rauchbier
TYPE: All Grain

--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.74 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.62 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal  
Bottling Volume: 4.85 gal
Estimated OG: 1.063 SG
Estimated Color: 16.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 28.1 IBUs
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type       
5 lbs 9.6 oz          Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)                 
4 lbs 8.0 oz          Smoked Malt (9.0 SRM)                           
1 lbs 12.0 oz         Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)                        
12.0 oz               Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM)                  
4.0 oz                Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM)                      
2.0 oz                Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)      
       
1.50 oz               Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min        
0.50 oz               Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 10.0 min 

1.0 pkg               German Lager (White Labs #WLP830)            


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 15.6 oz
----------------------------
Name                    Description                             Step Temp Step Time    
Mash In                 Add 16.22 qt of water at 168.5 F        156.0 F       45 min       
Mash Out                Add 6.49 qt of water at 202.4 F         168.0 F       10 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 3 steps (Drain mash tun , 1.31gal, 1.31gal) of 168.0 F water

4/11/15 - Bottled today. I must have really fucked up the volumes since I ended up w/ 4 gallons in the bottling bucket, and I added priming sugar for 5 gallons. I will likely release some of the gas by cracking over the bottles slightly in order to avoid over carbonation and bottle bombs.Yikes!!

Brewed 2/28/15
Made starter with WLP830 saved from my Schwarzbier on 2/25/30.

Didn't take gravity readings. Boiled for 90mins. It went smoothly. Cooling was fast with the cold weather and ice-cold cooling water.

I believe I undersparged, and ended up with about 4.25 gallons in the fermenter. Cooled to about 50F, blasted with 30 sec Oxygen, then pitched. Placed in fermenting fridge pre-programmed for a lagering schedule, at about 10pm. The following morning, no activity, but good fermentation by Monday evening.

Topped off with 1 gallon boiled and cooled water to reach correct volume. 

No Quarter Smoked Porter - 3 Gal
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 4.71 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.59 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 3.25 gal  
Estimated OG: 1.085 SG
Estimated Color: 50.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 118.3 IBUs

Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                 
7 lbs 4.0 oz       Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)             
2 lbs 6.0 oz          Smoked Malt (9.0 SRM)                       
1 lbs 4.0 oz          Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)                
14.0 oz               Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)
       
1.21 oz               Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min           
1.21 oz               Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min           
1.21 oz               Willamette [5.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  6 Hop   
    
1 pkg               Safale American  (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)  Yeast    


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 12.0 oz
----------------------------
Name                    Description                             Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash In                 Add 14.69 qt of water at 168.2 F        156.0 F       45 min       
Mash Out                Add 5.88 qt of water at 202.4 F         168.0 F       10 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 0.98gal) of 168.0 F water

Brewed 2/28/15
Mashing and sparging went well, hit my temps OK and got the right volume of wort, though my MLT was quite full and drained slowly. I suspect I may need to adjust my mill for a slightly coarser grind.

Pre-boil gravity was about 1.072, so pretty good.

Cooled to 110F, racked to better bottle, and allowed to cool overnight to ~60F. Pitched on Sunday morning.

By Monday afternoon, good activity, in 65F ambient air.