Mini Batches

Posted on January 14, 2015 by funkmetal

It’s that time again; cooler weather in Texas brings on the lambic-style season. I’ll be brewing a second batch of Woxbic in a few weeks. In the last post I mentioned that things would be slowing down and the rate of posting shows.

Since the last post, the two batches of Saison with wild yeast fermenting at different temperatures have been bottled. It’ll be another few weeks before we have carbed bottles for tasting but the whole experience was interesting. Initially the hot fermentation produced a more sour beer, but eventually the tartness faded before bottling. The cold-side took quite a while to take off, mostly due to my lack of yeast starter. I had a huge pitch, but it wasn’t fresh. The cold side ended up much smoother in flavor profile. The hot fermentation picked up an odd flavor (not mousy, though that showed up as well). In any case, I dry-hopped both with some tasty hops and shortly we’ll have a tasting.

The whole experience of brewing 11 gallons, fermenting two batches, dry-hopping, and then bottling, possibly leaving me with 4 cases of beer that may not work out seems a bit excessive given the experimental nature of the batches.

This though has led me to work with smaller batches. In fact, one of the local homebrewers who has won NHC medals uses exactly this method for honing and tweaking a recipe. With that decided, I picked up a 5 gallon pot and a mini siphon and decided to have at it.

I completed a 1G recipe, Brew in a Bag (BIAB) mash to reduce the number of vessels and work with the grains I had on hand rather than purchasing Dry Malt Extract or Liquid. I had hoped that this smaller batch would mean for a shorter brew night, but it was roughly equivalent. Mostly due to the stove burner being just adequate for the 3 gallons of liquor. 20 minute strike temp, 1 hour mash, 10 minute raise to boil, 75 minute boil, 20 minute chill, plus cleanup and prep time. About 4 to 5 hours.

The good news was all of that brewing at a larger scale translates just fine; I didn’t forget anything and I netted about 1.5 gallons (slightly under gravity target, but I didn’t want to boil any longer for fear of raising the IBUs too high). I had recently stepped up a fresh dump of Jester King Brewery yeast picked up from Jester King itself. My friend had fermented a few beers with it and was astonished at how violent it ferments at sub 60F temps.

Let’s just say, it’s still working =)

Ill let you know how it’s going in about 4 weeks.

Updated: Added recipe file and notes.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
1 gal	90 min	23.1 IBUs	7.0 SRM	1.078	1.015	8.3 %
			Actuals	1.068	1.005	8.3 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Straight (Unblended) Lambic	17 D	1.04 - 1.054	1.001 - 1.01	0 - 10	3 - 7	1.8 - 2.6	5 - 6.5 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsen (BestMälz)	2.613 lbs	73.8
Wheat Malt, Ger	13.7 oz	24.18
Carapils (Briess)	0.9 oz	1.59
Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett)	0.25 oz	0.44

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Styrian Goldings	0.47 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	3
Cascade	0.17 oz	7 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	5.9
Centennial	0.17 oz	7 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	11.4

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Phosphoric	11.80 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	0.60 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	0.30 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	0.30 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
French Saison (3711)	Wyeast Labs	84%	65°F - 77°F
Brettanomyces Bruxellensis (WLP650)	White Labs	70%	65°F - 72°F
Brettanomyces Lambicus (WLP653)	White Labs	70%	65°F - 72°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Saccharification	156°F	60 min
Mash Out	168°F	10 min

Notes

Mash went fine, though lost about 2 to 3 degrees with pot in the oven, preheated to 200.
Dough in should have been 160, but stirred in at 157. Ended up with a 154 strike temp and ended up at 150.

Boil was easy, probably took 20 minutes to get there from 150s. Held for 15 minutes with no hops to reduce water, added hops (60 minute addition), after 60 pulled hops, boiled for another 15, for total 90 minutes.

O.G was low (1.068) but yield was high, 1.5G instead of 1. Can't tell if I had too much water or not. Recipe called fro 3.2 gallons, and measured by weight (8.35 lb per gallon => 26 lbs of water).

Chilled in sink, accidential minor dillution. Chill time approx 20 minutes, with vigorous stirring until temp is about 117, then rested in water for another 10 minutes. Pitching temp was about 72F. Stored in 58F garage, signs of fermentation present in 12 hours.

2015-01-12 full active fermentation in full swing. Ambient 55F, infrared reading of top layer of wort about 57F.

2015-01-17 -- pull 2 oz sample. Not enough for hyrometer, so utilized a refractometer. Reading was 6.8 Brix, with no correction factor, and O.G of 1.068, this puts the S.G at 1.009. pH reading shows 3.63. Lots of barnyard funk in the nose, cloudy yellow. Taste is a bit hoppy, slight tartness, some malt flavors. Obviously green beer, but not entirely bad. Drank the whole sample.

2015-01-22 -- (Pulled from .5 gallon jar vs. 1G jar) Reading 6.5 Brix with no correction, O. of 1.068, calc says S.G at 1.08. pH reading at 3.50 @ 66.6F. Nice funk, a bit flora, less cloudy. Solid sour bit, followed by some sweet pilsner flavors, a touch grainy, subtle hopiness. Tastes really good right now. Not much oak in there, yet; might add a few more cubes and see where it is in a week.

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Stepping up some “fast” sour dregs

Posted on June 17, 2014 by funkmetal

Jester King Biere de Miel dregs added to a 1L DME starter

Jester King just released new beer. They’ve been releasing one beer after another after another and another one. Which is completely awesome since it’s a local brewery. My favorite of the new releases is Biere de Miel which is the perfect balance of funk, tart and complex flavors. The nose is all honey sweetness and tart funk. The flavors are a tidal wave of sweet and sour; it ebs and flows as both fight for dominance. The sour wins in the end and the long, dry finish is amazing. OK, so I love this beer. Ad over.

One of the most interesting aspects about this beer to me was the timeline. On their blog post, Jester King mentioned the fermentation dates: brewed in December, 2013. It was packaged in April, and released in May. Given the level of aggressive sour flavor, I’m astounded at how quickly this beer came together. Most of my “quick” sours haven’t really panned out, as to be expected. But a four mouth souring timeline is very doable.

I emailed the head brewer, Garrett Crowell, who is just as gracious and generous with information as the co-founder Jeffery Stuffings, and asked about the IBU levels. Garrett indicated that the first batch had about 8 IBUs which resulted in the beer reaching terminal pH before fermentation was finished. Needless to say, I’m very interested in getting these dregs up and running.

After about three days on the stirplate, some initial activity showed up. I think that’s remarkably rapid growth from just what was at the bottom of the bottle.

Initial krausen forming after three days on the stirplate.

And it keeps on going. I plan on stepping this up with another 1L addition to have a large enough pitch for a friend’s 7 gallon batch of a sour English Mild. If all goes well, then this may be the new yeast I use for making a base sour saison to be used in blending.

Full Krausen! Be fruitful and multiply!

Farmhouse Brett IPA

Posted on December 23, 2013 by funkmetal

Farmhouse IPA split into 4 gallon batches

I’ve been fan of Rye IPAs for some time. My first love was Jester King’s Wytchmaker. Initially this beer was a straight-forward American IPA with a nice dose of Rye, solid American Hops and Dry-English-Ale yeast. Over time, Jester King evolved their beer by slowly modifying the fermentation to include local wild yeast and blending in some amount of older sour beer.

I’ve enjoyed tasting this beer as Jester King has made these changes. Last summer I was pleasantly surprised to encounter a rather prominent change. With the introduction of Brett, there is a huge impact in the nose of the beer; clearly for the better.

In November, I attended an AHA Rally at Jester King Craft Brewery and I spent some time chatting with Jeff Stuffings. One of the complements I shared was how well the Brett complimented Wytchmaker. Jeff chuckled a bit and said that they’ve been adding Brett since June this year, but I was the first person to have noticed the change. I didn’t seem possible NOT to recognize this massive change in aroma.

With that situation in mind, I decided to brew the two versions of this beer and experiment with a third. The recipe is a 12 gallon batch which I’ll split into three 4 gallon batches. One carboy will be fermented with White Labs Dry English Ale (WLP007) like the original. The second with Wyeast French Saison (3711) and then aged with Brett B. in secondary to come close to the current release of Wytchmaker. The third will be fermented with Brett B. Trois as an experiment with 100% Brett fermented beers.

Enjoy Wytch Brettmaker.