Barrel Fermented Woxford’s Revenge

Posted on July 16, 2015 by funkmetal

Jester King uses shipping containers to bottle condition upcoming beer.

Now that the Battle Shed is up, it’s time to brew a beer and ferment it within with only ambient temperate to control it. I’ve had three beers age in one of my 5 gallon Balcones Whiskey barrel and have been waiting to have the shed ready to bottle the previous batch (Quad Damage) and then brew and prepare a Boxer’s Revenge inspired clone.

I brewed a test-batch earlier this year and the Boxer’s clone came out very nice. Slightly under carbed due to testing out new bottling method (pre-packaging yeast in gelatin caps) which worked well but needed a bit more sugar to get the right level. The taste and aroma were spot on. The only real concern was that it needed quite a bit more oak to make it more like Boxer’s. For this batch I’ll ferment it and again it entirely in the oak barrel.

Nothing special in the recipe besides using the Jester King mixed culture. Note: Mash @ 150F for 75 minutes. Enjoy!

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	90 min	22.4 IBUs	7.5 SRM	1.089 SG	1.009 SG	10.7 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Wild Specialty Beer	28 C	1.02 - 1.09	1 - 1.016	5 - 50	2 - 50	2 - 3	2 - 10 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsen (BestMälz)	16 lbs	71.11
Wheat Malt, Ger	5 lbs	22.22
Pale Moon (Blacklands)	1 lbs	4.44
Caramunich Malt	0.5 lbs	2.22

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Styrian Goldings	2.12 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	3
Cascade	1 oz	7 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	5.9
Centennial	1 oz	7 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	11.4

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Jester King Culture (0001)	Jester King	86%	50°F - 90°F

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The Battle Shed

Posted on July 5, 2015 by funkmetal

A lot of time has passed since I last posted and instead of brewing beer, I’ve been brewing up a shed. I’ve wanted to transition to using a conical for some time, but I didn’t want to purchase an upright freezer for each one one, which is the typical way to ensure that you can control the temperate at the homebrew level. One could go get a jacketed conical, or use some of the new immersion coil setups, but finding something that works well at a reasonable price at the homebrew size is quite a challenge.

Instead of cooling on the conical I had looked at cooling the entire shed. The previous shed-cum-rat-shack was just not salvageable since it was rotting from the bottom up. I had a new shed installed and then wired with 60A service which was plenty of electricity for cooling with room to run large appliances as well as potentially running an all electric brewing setup.

I looked at using spray foam for its speed and R-factor, but the price was just too high, over 4 times the cost versus simple R-13 batts. In short order, several friends and I had insulated the walls and ceiling. What took considerable more time was putting in the OSB walls. I no longer have my truck so I needed a way to get 14 or so OSB 8’x4′ sheets and ended up having Lowe’s deliver.

After that we started planning and cutting sheets to fit. We spent about two weeks using the evening hours to put it together. It can be said a carpenter or handyman, I am not. But it’s functional. Painting went quite a bit quicker, a coat of latex primer and then a latex top coat to keep things from getting wet.

The key to ensuring the shed stays cold enough to ferment and age beer is the use of a CoolBot (insulation helps keep it that way). The Coolbot is a really neat and simple device. It has several temperate probes to get readings on the AC fins and the rooms and also a heat probe, to trick the AC itself to keep running which allows the Coolbot to control how long it runs.

I plugged it in and it worked right off the bat. A quick test showed it cooled a carboy of water down from 80F to 65F in just a few hours. Over the next few days, I filled up the shed with homebrew and commercial beer.

Under heavy stress, the Coolbot ended up freezing the coils. This wasn’t as bad as it sounds since Coolbot has a nice troubleshooting guide to help you tune things. After changing where I placed the fin temperate probe, I was back up and running.

I’m highly impressed with the device. I’ve got a few more things to get the interior the way I’d like but for now, it’s completely operational which means it’s time to brew some more beer!

Here’s some more photos from the project.

Woxbic: Lambic-style Beer; Second Barrel, Second Year

Posted on February 7, 2015 by funkmetal

ECY20 Bug Country going at it about 12 hours after pitching

About a year ago, I brewed my first lambic-style beer. I didn’t spend the time to do a turbid mash, but I did use the Wyeast guide for temperature infusions to provide a similar mash profile. During the past year, I’ve pulled a few samples, roughly once a quarter to ensure that the beer didn’t turn too acetic. Frankly, I’m impressed at how well it’s held up. This is almost entirely due to applying a layer of paraffin wax to the entire barrel. At this point, the year old beer is exceedingly sour, about 3.0 pH. It tastes full of lemon zest, sour grapefruit, medium oak, with just a hint of vanilla whiskey, due to the use of a whiskey barrel. Clearly not as neutral as the Lambic I’ve tasted from Cantillon, Boon, and Drie Frontain. Nonetheless, it’s entirely acceptable for a year old sour to be tasting this well.

For this year’s attempt, I’ve prepared a Rum Whiskey barrel. It’s had only two beers run through it, but it’s aged beer for nearly a year. It’s likely that there will be more barrel flavor contributed than the previous barrel, but that’ll be fun when blending.

Hot water rinsing. Filled and drained completely three times with 150F water. Soaked both heads as well.

Steam-sanitizing the barrel. I used the guide on Embrace the Funk to construct a barrel steamer from a pressure cooker and a few extras. This hits 212F and stays going for 15 minutes.

Looks really pretty after soaking in wax

After cleaning, I used a heat gun to melt a block of paraffin wax. This took about 20 minutes. Much faster than double-boiler and basting it on.

The recipe for this year will remain the same. The only major difference is the use of aged hops versus a small amount of very low AA hops. Last year I used Crystal @ 3 AA. This year I used two year old whole-leaf hops. Originally they were about 10% AA, but being old and exposed they provide a much lighter hopping and hopefully a bit more musty, cheesy funk one expects from great Lambic beer.

Fermentation Blow OUT, total Woxford-style

I can’t wait to see how this one turns out over the next year.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
13 gal	90 min	8.7 IBUs	3.6 SRM	1.051	1.012	5.0 %
			Actuals	1.057	1	7.5 %

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)	17.333 lbs	61.54
Wheat, Torrified	9.75 lbs	34.62
Acidulated (Weyermann)	1.083 lbs	3.85

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Northern Brewer	1.62 oz	60 min	Boil	Leaf	3.2

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Phosphoric Acid	56.60 ml	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	3.40 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	1.70 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	1.70 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Wheat Flour	3.25 oz	5 min	Boil	Other

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Bug Country (20)	East Coast Yeast	70%	63°F - 75°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Acid Rest	93°F	15 min
Protein Rest	113°F	15 min
Saccharification 1	131°F	15 min
Saccharification 2	149°F	15 min
Mash Out	168°F	10 min

Notes

After mash-out, drain all liquid into boil kettle, raise temp to 190, pump back to mash for second rinse through grain bed.

Pitching ECY20 Bugcountry in 11G barrel.

Brewed 2015-01-30
- Mash pH was at 5.1, a little low
- A little short on the sparge water; had extra but didn't get it into the mash tun. Ended up with 16G pre-boil, about .5 gallon short. Upside, pre-boil gravity was up, 1.048.
- 90 minute boil completed fine, ended up at 13.5G of 1.057 wort.
- Chilled with ground water (about 60F), directly into barrel at 70F
- Extra 5L of wort into EL flask, parked next to barrel for some "spontaneous" action
- Aerated barrel for 60 seconds with O2
- Pitched half ECY20 from Sept, and Half ECY20 from Dec
- 24 hours till active foaming fermentation. Ambient temp in garage about 60 to 70F. Much warmer than last year, no need for heat belt to keep temps above 50.
- 5 days until 5L flask "caught" enough blow-off yeast and outside air; then full active fermentation. Smells very belgium-like.

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Waste not, Wort not

Posted on September 4, 2013 by funkmetal

Sanitizing wort saved from squeezing the spent grain.

One of the things I’ve learned about working with Brettanomyces and other non-Saccromyces organisms is that they need to be cared for in a different way. For Sacc, I don’t keep any extra or spare yeast around, besides the backup dry-yeast packets for stalled or failed fermentations. However, since finding Brett and Brett blends that taste good is difficult, many times homebrewers are stepping up yeast from bottle dregs and want to hang on to them for a while.

My first reading on how to keep Brett and other bugs going was from The Mad Fermentationists. I picked up four 1-gallon jugs and air locks. I’m using unfiltered pure apple juice to feed the Lactobacillus, and then some simple Dry Malt Extract (DME) based starters for Brett and Pediococcus.

DME is fairly inexpensive, but it certainly takes time to prepare and cool a batch for keeping the organisms happy. The Mad Fermentationist’s mentions to decant and feed the bugs every month or so. It occurred to me that I’m already making a batch of wort that I could use. I brew roughly every two weeks and part of my process involves moving the spent grain into a bucket lined with a nylon bag. I used to do brew-in-the-bag method, but with the Blichmann false bottom, I no longer need to worry about having a bag big enough, nor a winch to lift such a bag. The remaining benefit to the bag usages was to remove excess wort and moister from the grain to prevent one of the most potent and foul aspects of brewing from occurring: rotten grain.

Grain bag holding spent wort, draining into a bucket for re-use.

It was a Friday night after one of my first brews on the new system and I had poured the spent grain into no less than three layers of garbage bags and tossed the old, wet, grain into the trash can. Our garbage collection service stops by on Tuesday morning. I spent quite a while in the garage on Sunday morning trying to find whatever dead animal that crawled in and died. I soon discovered that the offensive odor was coming from the bag of rotten grain. It took more than a few days to be rid of that awful smell. Lesson learned.

Thus every brew night I let the grain in the bag cool down after squeezing a gallon or more of wort out of the bag. Sometimes I use the extra wort to bring up my batch to the target volume, but at this point I’ve got my system dialed in. That means I’m just throwing the wort onto the grass. Well, no more my friend.

I saved off the extra wort in one of the gallon jars and I was just about to split it up to pitch the bugs into it when I realized that it hadn’t been boiled and was teeming with lots of bugs from the grain. A quick boil on the stove and a chill in the sink and I was done. I’m completely happy with this method for not wasting wort as well as keeping my new collection of yeast and bacteria well fed.

Have barrel, will fill

Posted on July 19, 2013 by funkmetal

Used Whiskey Barrel from Farmhouse Brewing Supply

What to do when you have an empty whiskey barrel? Recently I emptied my whiskey barrel that had a favorite Russian Imperial Stout recipe, Black Metal Stout, from my favorite local brewery, Jester King. With the RIS out of the barrel I knew that I needed another beer to occupy the space fairly soon, lest my barrel turn sour or worse, start leaking.

To temporarily keep the barrel clean and leak-free, I’ve kept some vodka inside and rotate the barrel every few days. But the real solution is to brew another beer. In this case, I eventually decided that I should pursue another take on one of my favorite Strong Scotch Ales, Old Chub from Oscar Blues brewery.

Previously I had soaked oak spirals in Isle of Islay single malt scotch whiskey. To continue that concept I decided that we’d age some Old Chub in the whiskey barrel. This Friday I’ll be brewing up Old Chub, 11 gallons of it, and pitching a 4 Liter starter of White Labs Cali Ale (001) and then in about two weeks I’ll rack everything that fits into the whiskey barrel.

The first beer in the barrel stayed about three months and pulled a significant amount of whiskey flavor and aroma. I decided that I wanted enough flavor and aroma to stick around for a while since I bottled half of the batch in 750ml containers for long term storage and natural carbonation. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get a nice whiskey aroma and flavor in the Old Chub; I’m guessing roughly the same time since Old Chub is less roasty than a RIS.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
11 gal	90 min	46.9 IBUs	23.1 SRM	1.079	1.017	8.2 %
			Actuals	1.046	1.01	4.7 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Strong Scotch Ale	9 E	1.07 - 1.13	1.018 - 1.03	17 - 35	14 - 25	1.6 - 2.4	6.5 - 10 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Brewer's Malt, 2-Row, Premium (Great Western)	28.224 lbs	83.11
Crystal Dark - 77L (Crisp)	2.344 lbs	6.9
Munich Malt	1.554 lbs	4.58
Special B Malt	12.73 oz	2.34
Smoked Malt (Weyermann)	9.28 oz	1.71
Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett)	7.37 oz	1.36

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Nugget	1.8 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	13

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
American Ale (1056)	Wyeast Labs	75%	60°F - 72°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	152°F	60 min

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Woxford Brewing Co.

It's time to brew!

Category Archives: Equipment

Barrel Fermented Woxford’s Revenge

Recipe Details

Style Details

Fermentables

Hops

Yeast

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The Battle Shed

Woxbic: Lambic-style Beer; Second Barrel, Second Year

Recipe Details

Style Details

Fermentables

Hops

Miscs

Yeast

Mash

Notes

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Waste not, Wort not

Have barrel, will fill

Recipe Details

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Hops

Yeast

Mash

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