Amarillo Rye Saison

I've mentioned before that I have a messy history brewing saisons; I've often tried to use the style as a forum for weirdness before really figuring out the base beer. This summer's straightforward iteration was much more successful, though it may have suffered from some oxidation in the bottle. For my second batch of Reno-based homebrew, I continued my exploration of this fascinating, rustic beer.

The biggest influences on wort production were 1) the significant amount of Weyermann rye malt in my stores right now, and 2) an astonishingly good deal on Amarillo pellets at Reno Homebrewer, one of the local supply shops, right after we moved here. I've stuck with Wyeast's French Saison yeast over one of the Dupont strains. Dupont isn't my favourite example of the style and I really like how WY3711 tears right through a wort without fuss.

As an added bonus, it was on this batch that I finally checked the efficacy of my water bath method for stabilizing fermentation temperature. I've never been sure of the temperature differential between the water bath and what's going on in the fermenter during active fermentation. Thus, I didn't really know how much I

needed to drop the water bath temp to maintain my target fermentation temp. With the saison wort actively fermenting (just about high krauesen) in a glass carboy sitting in a ice chest water bath that only came halfway up the batch, the fermentation only ran a half a degree higher than the water bath itself. I'll definitely do more testing, but that's an informative first result.

The beer finished nice and dry--as expected with this yeast--and has been in the bottle for a few weeks now. As beer tends to do, it's evolved a bit over that time. Early on, the leading aromatic and flavour character was somewhat phenol-plastic; it wasn't terrible, but it definitely wasn't the best. That's begun to mellow a little, leaving room for a fruitier character to come through. My initial impression is that the Amarillo and rye (even at 30% of the grist) are not playing dominant roles; it's the yeast that still comes to the fore (see update below). If anything, some of the unpleasantness may have come from the interaction of these ingredients. It may be on the bright side for the cooling fall temperatures, but it helps me remember summer. Complete tasting notes coming soon.

My next saison will be a rebrew of my petit saison noir from a few winters ago, hopefully with the WLP566 I originally used. I don't really have any "house" yeast strains, especially for saisons, though I've really been pulling to get what I want out of WY3711. Based on this current batch, though, I may start to mess around with others to find my preferred mix of fermentation characters. Of course, if this beer continues to mature into something along the lines of my last saison, I may just stay put.

Update: It's hard to keep everything in mind all the time. As I'm sure many of you have, I now recall reading a pile of anecdotal information on the plastic-phenol bombs that can arise when combining Belgian yeasts with American hops. I'd forgotten all about that until yesterday, when I watched Nate Smith's 2014 NHC presentation on using new hop varieties, courtesy of the intrepid Chip Walton of Chop & Brew. I'm considering rebrewing this beer soon with more traditional continental hops--either Styrian Goldings or something noble--to contrast with the current batch and possibly restore my faith in WY3711.

On another note, I really like the concept Nate presented in his talk for doing split batches to compare hops. He produces a large batch (15 gallons) of base wort, then splits it post-boil, running 5 gallons at a time through a hop back with a different hop variety, then through a plate chiller to each fermenter. He then usually follows up with a dry hop that matches the hop back charge for each split. It's a great idea that easily scales for smaller test batches, but requires a couple pieces of equipment I lack. Worth ruminating on for the future...

Update 2: After some time in the bottle, this beer has really turned around for me. While the combination of Amarillo and spicy yeast still throws me a little, the plastic character is gone. Much more drinkable, thankfully! Notes on this beer and the rebrew coming soon.

Autumn Denial - Amarillo Rye Saison

Batch size: 4.5 gallons
Projected OG: 1.063
Projected SRM: 7.3
Projected IBU: 30.1
Boil time: 60 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 79%

Grains/Fermentables
60.0% - 6 lb Weyermann Organic Vienna
30.0% - 3 lb Weyermann Rye
10.0% - 1 lb Turbinado (10 min)

Hops
.5 oz Millennium (13.5%) (60 min)
.5 oz Amarillo (8.2%) (10 min)
1.5 oz Amarillo (dry hop - 5 days)

Yeast
WY3711 French Saison - 1.5L stirplate starter

Extras
1 tsp Yeast nutrient (10 min)

Water
Profile: Reno
1 g Gypsum
1 g CaCl
1 mL Lactic acid (88%)

Brewday: 27 September 2014
Mash: 12 qts @ 147F for 3 hours - dropped to 116F
Pre-boil volume: 6 gallons
Pre-boil SG (w/o turbinado): 11P (1.044)

Chilled to 74F. Yeast pitched a little over 24 hours after knockout, once starter flocc’d out. Aerated for 30 minutes before pitching.
Fermented in swamp cooler at 70F for 2 days, then raised 3F/day to 80F.

Dry hops: 14 October 2014
Added loose to primary.

Bottled: 20 October 2014
FG: 1.003
ABV: 7.9%
Bottled with 4.8 oz brown sugar.

Blonde Ale

Properly situated in our new digs, it was a happy day when the brewing kit finally came out. The first beer on the docket was a style that hadn't held much interest for me until recently. I've often passed over blonde ales for bolder, hoppier options like pale ales and IPAs. As I've cultivated an appreciation for the uncluttered flavours of pilsener and kolsch over the past year, though, blondes have found a place in my glass, prized for their bready notes and extreme drinkability. I'd hoped to brew this before the official change in season--this would definitely count as a lawnmower beer--but with the weather here still more summery than autumnal on brewday, it worked out just fine.

A blend of domestic 2-row and Vienna keep the colour light. I haven't used Palisade hops before, but the descriptors--floral, subtle apricot, grassy--are in line with the unobtrusive role they're set to play here. I've wanted to see how a single yeast strain behaves over successive batches for a while now, so the neutral Chico yeast seemed like it would serve the purposes of that experiment and this beer.

For the first product of the brewhouse's new location, this was definitely a success. It might actually be too restrained, but it has a long bready tail and is still pretty damned quaffable. It's a fast, easy, sessionable beer that's kept the fridge well stocked and helped us make new friends; it'd make a great house ale that would easily lend itself to experimentation. I imagine I might see this one again (or a variation of it) come next spring.

Summer Farewell

Batch size: 6 gallons
Projected OG: 1.044
Projected SRM: 3.5
Projected IBU: 16.9
Boil time: 60 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 91%

Grains
62.5% - 5 lb Malteurop 2-row
37.5% - 3 lb Weyermann Organic Vienna

Hops
.5 oz Palisade (7.8%) (60 min)
.5 oz Palisade (10 min)

Yeast
11.5 g US-05 (rehydrated)

Extras
1 tsp Yeast nutrient (0 min)

Water
Profile: Reno
1 g Epsom salts
1 g CaCl
1 mL Lactic acid (88%)

Brewday: 27 September 2014
Mash: 10 qts @ 154F for 105 minutes - dropped to 144F
1st sparge: 11 qts @ 212F (w/ .75 mL Lactic acid)
2nd sparge: 11 qts @ 190F (w/ .75 mL Lactic acid)
Pre-boil volume: 6.7 gallons
Pre-boil SG: 9.2P (1.037)

Chilled to 68F.
Fermented in swamp cooler at 62F.

4 October 2014: Activity slowed. Removed from swamp cooler & swirled a few times a day.

Bottled: 7 October 2014
FG: 1.008
ABV: 4.7%
Bottled with 5.1 oz table sugar.

Tasting: Three and a half months after brewing, it showed its age a bit...or perhaps just my poor handling later in the process. The good bottles were still crisp, crackery, and very drinkable.

Peach Melomel II

It took some time to get my brewing kit set up here, but this past weekend I finally snuck some wort into a couple fermentors. In the meantime, though, we came across the perfect excuses to engage in some gluten-free fermentation: ripe California peaches at the farmers market and a closeout on a brand of honey at the local Whole Foods.

Reno is host to a different farmers market just about every day of the week during the summer. Much of the selection comes from across the state border, and these markets are overflowing with tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, seafood, and more. DeAunn discovered freestone peaches from one of these vendors that were nearly as good as the ones we had in Alabama a couple summers ago. Recalling how well our first melomel turned out using those southern peaches--we enjoyed the final bottle to celebrate our move here, and it was excellent--it took little time to plan this followup. Finding a frankly fantastic deal on honey only made it come together more easily.

The recipe remained the same from the previous batch, though the ratio of fruit to honey was switched in favour of the honey, due to the weight of the peaches once we got them home and prepped. Our new place provided a more stable fermentation environment than the last batch had; that one toiled away on the rear floorboard of our car as we drove cross country in the middle of summer. Michael Tonsmiere raised an excellent point this spring on considering honey varietals (his first line puts it best: "If a beer recipe calls for 'honey' without specifying a varietal, it might as well call for 'malt' and 'hops' with similar imprecision."). I'd very much like to explore more fully the fermented outcomes of different types of honey available. For now, though, the general "wildflower" honey I've found works just fine, fermenting clean and leaving a fragrant white wine-like note.

As I prepared to transfer this melomel over the weekend, I was dismayed to open the fermentor and find two fruit flies floating on the surface. I've played it pretty fast and loose with mead; since we usually aim to make about 1.5 gallons per batch, I've done all of my primary fermentations in the two-gallon bucket we bought for that first batch of melomel. I left the lid, now quite warped, loose and covered the bucket with a clean t-shirt, relying on this setup to be enough to keep away any nasties. Obviously it wasn't enough this time, and the batch may suffer for it. The bucket has now gone for recycling; next time, we'll go with primary in glass.

The mead has now been racked to secondary on bentonite to clear, and a half gallon received newly-toasted oak cubes as well. It had fermented quite dry, and showed no signs of infection at that point. It's dropped pretty bright already, so we'll plan to bottle soon, keep it cold, and drink it quickly. Hopefully we'll be able to avoid the majority of possible bacterial off-flavours and fully enjoy this reminder of our first taste of our new home.

Peach Melomel II - Reno edition
Batch size: 1.75 gallons
Projected OG: 1.121

Fermentables
5 lb 12 oz Honey
3 lb Peaches - peeled, sliced, frozen

Yeast
Lalvin 71B-1122

Extras - SNA
1 tsp Yeast nutrient
.5 tsp Yeast energizer
   3/8 tsp after pitching
   3/8 tsp after 24 hours
   3/8 tsp after 48 hours
   3/8 tsp after 72 hours

Brewday: 1 September 2014
Fermented at 75F ambient.

Secondary: 28 September 2014
Added 1 tsp bentonite dissolved in 1 cup water, .5 oz newly-toasted oak to .5 gallon.
Found two fruit flies in the bucket. Apparently I didn’t keep the bucket covered well enough...

2014 Beehive Brewoff Results

We're just about settled in our new place in Reno. Helping this feel more like home, I put together a melomel a few weeks ago, which I'll move out of primary for clarification and further aging today. Today will also mark my first brewday in Nevada, an event that will definitely help me feel more at home here. The first bit of homebrewing activity here, however, came a few weeks ago in the form of my BJCP scoresheets from the 2014 Beehive Brewoff.

This was my second time entering this competition, and I felt the feedback I received both times was on the mark for the beers reviewed. I'm happy to report that this year the Belgian dark strong I brewed a couple years ago took second in the Belgian strong ale category with a respectable average score of 40. The years have treated this beer well, rounding off its sharp edges. It's gratifying as well as edifying to read reviews from impartial judges; even though they scored this beer well, they had suggestions for improving it.

Even more helpful were the scoresheets for the other two beers I entered, my second attempt at a Flanders red and my most recent iteration of Russian imperial stout. The RIS scored a 32, dinged primarily for high residual sweetness and astringency. The FG was quite high in the end, which I'd hoped would help balance the high amount of roasted grains (the main contributor of astingency). In the end, I missed the balance here; while I enjoyed the experiment of cutting out the caramel malts and upping the roasted component on this batch, it does make for a less pleasurable experience than it could be. I'll definitely retool for the next go-around, adding back some caramel and cutting down on the roast.

The Flanders red did not do well, scoring an average of 22. While it received generally good notes for the aroma, the judges pointed to a high level of acetobacter activity (vinegar) and high astringency. While they found it to be sour, they found little else. At the beginning of the summer, in the first few months after bottling, I got a ton of great cherry and bready malt riding the bracing wave of sourness in this beer. Tasting it now, however, I certainly agree with the judges; most of the cherry and malt have fallen off, leaving just a stomach-churning acidic burn. However, I think I've already had more mileage out of this batch than I could have reasonably expected: it blew out its airlock in primary over the summer while we were away for three months, then spent a year wasting away in a plastic bucket, prone to oxygen exposure and acetobacter infection, before I finally bottled it. That I was able to have a good tasting experience with this beer at all was a boon, given the amount of abuse and mishandling it received.

Though we're not in Salt Lake City anymore, I would not hesitate to enter this competition again. Furthermore, I plan to seek out competitions locally over the next few years; getting experienced opinions from others on how to improve my beers will certainly help me advance more quickly than just doing my own informal evaluations. Looking forward to brewing today, and improving those beers in subsequent batches.

Saison

Belgian beers don't always speak to my tastes, but saisons are usually a treat. That being said, my favourite isn't the standard bearer, Dupont; I'm a much bigger fan of St. Feuillien's version, as well as those by Rockmill in Ohio. For as much as I like a straight-up saison, though, more often I've brewed ones that were adulterated: soured, with citrus, or spiced. This beer was a move back to basics: simple grist, straightforward hopping, Wyeast's French Saison yeast.

Still learning to play nicely with my water, I believe I overacidified my sparge a bit. Thankfully the finished beer doesn't seem to have suffered terribly from it. Brewing and bottling went smoothly. I've gone back and forth on this beer: it was spicy and bready at bottling, but later seemed to overcarbonate and pick up a bit of an off-flavour, which I thought might indicate infection. Most recently, though, I've decided what I mostly taste is the yeast and a perhaps a bit of oxidation, which isn't the end of the world. I've already planned the next batch, which will bring in some rye and more assertive hopping, but otherwise will stick to the plan presented here.

Saison ‘14

Batch size: 5 gallons
Projected OG: 1.052 (12.9P)
Projected SRM: 4.9
Projected IBU: 26.7
Boil time: 60 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 79%

Grains
77.8% - 7 lb Weyermann Organic Vienna
22.2% - 2 lb Weyermann Wheat

Hops
.4 oz Magnum (14.2%) (60 min)
1 oz Amarillo (8.8%) (5 min)

Yeast
WY3711 French Saison (no starter)

Water Additions
8 qts RO water (w/ 3 qts filtered SLC water) (mash)
1 g Gypsum (mash)
1 g CaCl (mash)
2.4 ml Lactic acid (1st sparge)
2.6 ml Lactic acid (2nd sparge)

Brewday: 4 June 2014
Mash: 150F for 90 minutes
Pre-boil volume: 6.5 gallons
                                   
Fermented at 68F for two days, then 73F for two days. Krausen dropped at that point; raised to 75F for the remainder of fermentation.

12 June 2014: Removed from swamp cooler; sitting at ambient temp (80F). Active fermentation complete.

Bottled: 28 June 2014
FG: 1.004
ABV: 6.3%
Bottled with 4.8 oz table sugar (~2.8 volumes C02).

Summer IPA

Between putting a range of beers on the docket and having little time in the last year to brew them, it had been some time since I'd produced anything with hops in the foreground. Thus, this spring I set out to brew both a pale ale and an IPA. While the pale ale came up short, the IPA was more of a success.

As I've worked through a sack of Vienna in the past year, I've really liked its grainy character over domestic 2-row as a base malt in many cases. The flaked oats went in for head retention and complexity; I don't know that the light roasting added much, but it (predictably) made the kitchen smell incredible. The turbinado drove up the OG and drove down the FG while adding more colour and maybe a bit of background interest. I've started messing with my water a bit more, particularly the pH on lighter beers like this. However, I miscalculated my lactic acid addition and drove my pH well below where it should've been. Thankfully, I don't believe it negatively impacted the mash or the final beer.

I did not skimp on hops here, and do not remotely regret it. Thirteen ounces all told, the largest addition being at flameout for a hopstand. Of course, the dry hopping wasn't exactly light, either. When in doubt, throw more hops at it. The mix of varieties leaned heavily toward the fruity for a more latter-day American IPA sensibility.

This beer came out almost big enough to fall into the imperial IPA category, especially since it finished fairly low--just what I wanted. Once carbed, the bottles went very quickly; I haven't brewed very many hoppy beers which which I've been this pleased. I'd probably only make a couple changes for a rebrew. The first would be to increase the IBUs. I've been gun shy on overbittering since my first extract kit, an all-Cascade pale ale, finished with a rough bitterness. Though the hop flavour and aroma were really nice on this beer, it could've taken a bit more bittering to back it up. The other change is entirely based on my personal preferences: I'd drop the Citra. I've used this hop before and loved it, but after someone suggested to me that it could have a certain soapy character, I haven't been able to get that concept out of my mind. Though I kept the dosing low, its distinct tropical (and, sadly for me, slightly soapy) flavour dominated the beer. I might swap it for something more piney and/or resinous to diversify the hop character next time. That being said, I didn't have a hard time disposing of the batch. Here's to summer.

Why Not Another IPA?
Batch size: 5 gallons
Projected OG: 1.071
Projected SRM: 6.9
Projected IBU: 52.1
Boil time: 60 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 81%

Grains/Fermentables
80.0% - 10 lb Weyermann Organic Vienna
12.0% - 1.5 lb Toasted organic flaked oats - roasted @ 250F for 30 minutes, turned once
8.0% - 1 lb Turbinado (5 days into primary fermentation)

Hops
.6 oz Warrior (14.8%) (60 min)
1 oz Centennial (9.5%) (10 min)
1 oz Citra (12.5%) (10 min)

1.4 oz Warrior (0 min - 60 min hopstand)
2 oz Columbus (16.3%) (0 min - 60 min hopstand)
2 oz Amarillo (8.8%) (0 min - 60 min hopstand)

2 oz Amarillo (dry hop  - 5 days)
2 oz Centennial (dry hop - 5 days)
1 oz Citra (dry hop - 5 days)

Yeast
1.5 pkgs US-05 (rehydrated)

Extras
1 tsp Irish moss (10 min)
1 tsp Yeast nutrient (10 min)
1 vial Clarity Ferm (post-chill, pre-pitching)

Water Additions (mash)
12 qts RO water
2 g Gypsum
1 g Epsom salt
1 g CaCl
240 mL Lactic acid

Brewday: 25 May 2014
Mash: 150F for 90 minutes
Pre-boil volume: 7.1 gallons
Pre-boil SG: 12P (1.049)
Post-boil SG (w/o sugar): 13.8P (1.056)

Used undiluted water numbers for pH adjustment, so probably WAY overacidified the mash water.

Cooled to 69F; swamp cooler at 57F. Swamp cooler stabilized at 65F the day after brewing; held there.

29 May 2014: added turbinado (boiled w/ water)
Agitated a few times a day.

1 June 2014: Activity drastically slowed. Moved out of swamp cooler; ambient temperature 71F. Continued to agitate intermittently.

Secondary: 8 June 2014
SG: 1.009
ABV: 6.1%

Bottled: 13 June 2014
Bottled with 4 oz table sugar.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter

A couple summers ago, I had a chance to try DuClaw Brewing Company's Sweet Baby Jesus. It's not much of a summer beer, but it made for a great sipper one late night in a smoky, air-conditioned central Pennsylvania bar. I'm an admitted sucker for chocolate; coupled with a rich but not overbearing peanut butter presence, I was sold from the first taste. Of course there was nothing for it but to make one myself. When a deal on PB2 peanut butter powder came up last fall, I jumped on it; much of the oil has been removed, making it more suitable for use in beer than other forms of peanuts. I'd planned to make this beer this coming fall, but when I realized that the expiration date on the PB2 was approaching, it became clear its time had come.

Not necessarily looking to clone DuClaw's beer, I started my recipe from scratch. The plan was for a big base beer--an imperial porter--to lend a big malty backbone upon which I could layer the peanut butter and chocolate additions. Brown malt has had a very positive impact on my dark beers in the last few years, particularly in a brown porter from earlier this year that aimed at using the grain for forty percent of the grist. The oats went in to add their characteristically slick mouthfeel; the toasting was to add colour and a cookie/malt complexity. The lactose and English yeast conspired to keep the beer from finishing too thin; the low mash temp worked to keep it from finishing too high. By the numbers, the final gravity is just about where I'd like it; this isn't meant to be a light summer drinker.

I've messed with adding chocolate to beer before, usually with cacao nibs in secondary, but have found myself mostly unsatisfied with the results. Not having a lot of experience with baker's chocolate or cocoa powder, I went for broke and used both at separate points in the brewing process. Following some highly technical internet searching, the PB2 seemed the clear choice for adding the peanut butter element. However, it seemed as though it might take quite a bit to make a real impact on the final beer. Again, I went big, adding two full pounds of the powder over the course of the process.

The brewing process could best be summed up with the word "sludge." High-pressure sprayers and long, hot OxiClean soaks left the fermenters no worse for wear, thankfully. My friend Graham, fellow low brass player and sometimes homebrewer, helped out on brewday; it was nice to have assistance filtering out as much of the post-boil sediment as possible. I was surprised to find that the gravity increased following the secondary peanut butter and chocolate additions, which leaves the gravity reading following primary in some question. The sample at bottling had a pleasant peanut butter presence, though the chocolate could've been more substantial. I don't plan to consume much of this over the next few months of intense heat, but I do look forward to trying it once carbonation is complete, and hopefully enjoying it over the fall and winter.

Update: The peanut butter character pretty over the top, but the chocolate was lacking. The bottles spent the summer in a very warm (80F+) environment, and I kept worrying over the peanut oil going rancid. In the end, this batch really didn't end up being what I'd hoped it would be, and I dumped most of the bottles. May someday return to this concept, upping the chocolate, toning down the peanut butter, and brewing it on the cooler end of the year.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter

Batch size: 4 gallons
Projected OG: 1.085
Projected SRM: 34.4
Projected IBU: 29.4
Boil time: 60 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 67%

Grains/Fermentables
57.2% - 8 lb Malteurop 2-row
21.4% - 3 lb Crisp Brown malt
10.7% - 1.5 lb Toasted organic quick oats - roasted @ 350F for 15 min, 400F for 15 min
3.6% - 8 oz Crisp Chocolate malt
7.1% - 1 lb Lactose (10 min)

Hops
.6 oz Magnum (14.2%) (60 min)

Yeast
WY1469 West Yorkshire Ale - cake from Brown Malt Porter (w/ 1-liter starter)

Extras
16 oz PB2 peanut butter powder (5 min)
4 oz Unsweetened baker’s chocolate (5 min)
16 oz PB2 (secondary)
8 oz Organic cocoa powder (secondary)
2 Vanilla beans, chopped and scraped (secondary)

Water additions (mash)
8 qts RO water (w/ 8.5 qts filtered SLC water)
1 g Baking soda
1 g CaCl

Brewday: 14 May 2014
Mash: 147F for 90 minutes
Pre-boil volume: 5.8 gallons
Pre-boil SG: 14.6P (1.060)

Ferment in swamp cooler at 64-66F.

17 May 2014: Fermentation slowing; brought swamp cooler up to 68F. Agitated periodically.

Secondary: 30 May 2014
FG: 1.026
ABV: 7.7%

Sample was on the boozy side, but had decent chocolate notes and a slight hint of peanut butter in the background.

Bottled: 28 June 2014
FG: 1.030 - backsweetened by the peanut butter & chocolate?
Bottled with 2.8 oz table sugar (2.3 volumes C02).

Tasting notes: Lots of peanut, not a lot of chocolate, going rancid after being stored too warm too long? Sadly, a dumper.