Multiple Yeasts in Primary

wyeast-3724-dupont-2l-starter-1024x768

2 liter starter of Wyeast 3724 Dupont Saison yeast. Even on a stirplate, it is a slow fermenter.

Brew plans come and go. By this time I was supposed to already have brewed up 11 gallons of my favorite Russian Imperial Stout so I could fill up a new barrel that had previously held rum.  Unfortunate issues surrounding a local bulkbuy have delayed the scheduled brewday.  So last brew session I did a Big Barleywine, destined for the 5 gallon whiskey barrel.  The shipment is going to be late by only one day; but since I brew on Friday nights, well, it’s time for something else.

I’m on my 4th revision of my house saison.  Even from version 1, it’s been a huge hit.  Amazingly tasty, just enough spice and light funk, reasonably hoppy, bright citrus.  We’ve played with adding Orange Blossom honey, adding in some rye.  And of course switching yeasts.  The original recipe used Wyeast 3711 Saison, a beast of a yeast and then I switched to 3724.  That learning experience is one of the most visited pages on this blog.  What I have left to do is actually blend the two together.

I much prefer the flavor profile of 3724; it just has more depth and character than just 3711.  But if you’ve read my post or just about anywhere else, the Dupont yeast can be fickle without a lot of patience, aeration and heat.  This time however, the plan is to pitch a big starter of 3724 and let that work on the beer for approximately 7 days, or till whenever it stalls.  At that point, I’ll pitch 3711 to clean up and finish.  This should shorten the fermentation cycle quite a bit but by using 3724 first, the bulk of the flavors will come from the Dupont strain.

I’ve read else where this is a common tactic.  In some cases brewers will blend up front, say, 3 to 1, Dupont (3724) to Theriez (3711) in the initial pitch.  That may also work, but I don’t want to skip a starter.  I’d be worried that the ratios in the starter if blended wouldn’t match up.

blacklands-pale-moon-1024x768

Blacklands Malt — Local Craft Malthouse in Leander, TX

In addition to blending the yeast I’ll also be using a new pilsner.  Locally malted up at Blacklands Malt, I’m using their White Horn pilsner.  I enjoy using local ingredients.  The 2-row Pale Moon has been a great grain to work with and I have high hopes for the pilsner as well.  After all of the trouble with the bulk buy; if I didn’t also need sacks of Marris Otter, I’d get all of my base grains from Blacklands exclusively.

white-horn-closeup-1024x768

White Horn Pilsner from Blacklands Malt

This batch of Rekkae has been scaled up to 12 gallons.  I plan to use six of the 12 to blend with a few sour saisons that I’m aging.  My Farmhouse Saison experiement didn’t end up souring at all.  I’m almost 100% sure that was because I had too many IBUs when I pitched the lacto.  Blending with a known sour will certainly let me get just the right flavor profile I’m looking for.

 

Here’s version 4 of Rekkae.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
12 gal 90 min 36.9 IBUs 7.0 SRM 1.060 1.012 6.3 %
Actuals 1.054 1.01 5.8 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Saison 16 C 1.048 - 1.065 1.002 - 1.012 20 - 35 5 - 14 2.3 - 2.9 5 - 7 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pilsner (2 Row) Bel 20.803 lbs 73.35
White Wheat Malt 3.258 lbs 11.49
Rye Malt 2.132 lbs 7.52
Oats, Flaked 1.128 lbs 3.98
Caramunich Malt 1.042 lbs 3.68

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Fuggles 0.74 oz 60 min First Wort Pellet 5.3
Sorachi Ace 0.74 oz 60 min First Wort Pellet 12
Fuggles 0.74 oz 30 min Boil Pellet 5.3
Fuggles 1.85 oz 15 min Boil Pellet 5.3

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Calcium Chloride 9.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 9.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) 1.20 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Ground Pepper 3.27 tsp 5 min Boil Spice

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Belgian Saison (3724) Wyeast Labs 78% 70°F - 95°F
French Saison (3711) Wyeast Labs 80% 65°F - 77°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Protein Rest 122°F 30 min
Saccharification 152°F 45 min
Mash Out 168°F 10 min

Notes

Water profile via Brun Water, says 5.5 target pH.

Barleywine for Aging

big-daddy-barleywine-with-wy1388-1024x768

Barleywine Primary Fermentation with Wyeast 1388

When I first started brewing beer it only took 4 or 5 sessions before I was ready to attempt a really big beer. I had been discussing what sort of beer to brew with my brother-in-law and he suggested we brew something big that we could do yearly. We settled on a barleywine, english varient so it wasn’t too hoppy. We’d brew this beer and then age it for a year and crack it open when we brewed it the next year.

In planning for this big beer we also decided that we should run a partigyle session since we’d have so much extra sugar for a big beer. With a recipe in place for both beers, we set out to do an all-grain, brew-in-a-bag, 5 gallons of 1.115 S.G wort and 5 gallons of about 1.040 third-runnings which would be boosted with some Amber Liquid Malt Extract (LME).

On the big day we doughed in as much grain as would fit in the 15.5 gallons keggle we had. After 75 minutes and some seriously heavy lifting of the bag out of the pot we had our 7.5 gallons of wort; only it was massively short on gravity for our 1.115 beer. We had a decision to make… have a less-than-big barleywine and a solid pale or fix the big guy. We decided to ensure the big beer came out big. All 6 pounds of LME when in, along with a couple pounds of sugar. The other slight miscalculation was the hop bill. I had completely forgotten the hops, which were English, Fuggle and Northdown IIRC from the original recipe. We substituted some American hops, whatever we had on hand, Chinook and Cascade. The rest of the brew day went fine. The barleywine fermented out cleaning, tasting of hot booze with some orange in there, sort of like Grand Marnier, which wasn’t a bad place to be. We racked the beer into a 5 gallon corny keg and put it in the closet for a year.

This beer would turn into something spectacular… and I’ve been asked to brew this again many times, but since the time that I brewed this beer my palate has changed enough that I cringe thinking about 5 gallons of barleywine. Young, I can handle a bottle or two, but the aged variety end up being far too malty for me. With pledges of support for drinking the result, and an opening in the 5 gallon whiskey barrel pipeline; I decided that we’d rebrew this recipe, updating it a bit and get to use the proper ingredients. This beer won’t be the same as the original, but hopefully it will be come just as good. First aging in the whiskey barrel for a few months and then beyond that in bottles.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
6 gal 90 min 116.7 IBUs 19.3 SRM 1.099 SG 1.023 SG 10.1 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
English Barleywine 19 B 1.08 - 1.125 1.018 - 1.03 35 - 70 8 - 22 1.6 - 2.5 8 - 12 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Moon (Blacklands) 18 lbs 80
Munich Malt 1 lbs 4.44
Victory Malt 1 lbs 4.44
Crystal, Medium (Simpsons) 0.5 lbs 2.22
Pale Chocolate (Crisp) 0.5 lbs 2.22
Special B Malt 0.25 lbs 1.11
Sugar, Table (Sucrose) 1.25 lbs 5.56

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Magnum 1.69 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 14
Comet 2 oz 25 min Boil Pellet 8.6
Comet 1 oz 5 min Aroma Pellet 8.6
Fuggles 3 oz 14 days Dry Hop Pellet 4.5

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Calcium Chloride 3.70 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 3.50 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) 0.70 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Whirlfloc Tablet 1.00 Items 15 min Boil Fining
Coriander Seed 0.75 oz 10 min Boil Spice
Orange Peel, Bitter 0.75 oz 10 min Boil Spice
Orange Peel, Sweet 0.75 oz 10 min Boil Spice
Yeast Nutrient 1.00 tsp 5 min Boil Other

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Belgian Strong Ale (1388) Wyeast Labs 75% 65°F - 75°F

Notes

Mash:

Keep Roast Grains till end of mash:
Pale Chocolate (8 oz)
Special B (4 oz)