Rum Barrel Saison

Posted on September 4, 2014 by funkmetal

Steppiing up generation 2 of Gigayeast Saison II from gen1 yeast cake with hops.

It’s time that I brewed a second beer to put into the clean Rum Barrel I picked up at the beginning of the year. It currently has v5 of Makkurokurosuke RIS. I’m extremely excited for this one. All of the barrel-aged RIS have been phenomenal, this one won’t be anything less. Before I can rack the RIS I need to have a replacement beer brewed to minimize the amount of time that the barrel remains empty. In the previous barrel, I cleaned it out and filled it with vodka. While that worked out just fine I don’t want to waste any time since I need to get a 3rd beer in and out before this Winter when I’ll brew a second batch of Woxbic, the Woxford lambic-style beer.

I struggled with what exactly to put into a 11 gallon Rum barrel. Previously I’ve brewed a Strong Scotch and a Robust Porter for whiskey barrel. I’ve also put a barleywine and shortly a Belgian Quad, so I was looking for something a bit different. I started thinking about what flavors go well with Rum and several mixed drinks came to mind. I’m not much of a liquor drinker, but when I did dabble, I really enjoyed Rum and Coke and Rum with Orange Juice; a screwdriver if Google is to be believed. I really liked the idea of mixing fruity hops with rum and then a solid dry beer finish. It also helped that I had a large slurry of Gigayeast Saison II from my last saison.

This will be the same grain bill (but bigger) as for Tajín, but with a few choice hop replacements to really focus on citrus, fruit and spice. I used Summer in previous which came out really nice. I swapped Fuggle for Willamette as I was out and still wanted some earthy, spice. Meridian is fruit gold so I wanted some of that. Galaxy is another really fruity flavor. Finally, some Apollo for that orange, tangerine citrus.

This should ferment out cleaning in less than a month after which I’ll rack and bottle the RIS and add this beer into the rum barrel for a month or so. It’s a lighter beer which means it won’t take as much contact time to pull in the rum flavors.

Enjoy Dai Tajín!

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
12 gal	90 min	39.2 IBUs	7.4 SRM	1.059	1.006	7.0 %
			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	21 lbs	71.19
Rye Malt	3.25 lbs	11.02
White Wheat Malt	2.25 lbs	7.63
Caramunich Malt	1 lbs	3.39
Oats, Flaked	1 lbs	3.39
Turbinado	1 lbs	3.39

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Summer (Summer Saaz)	1 oz	90 min	First Wort	Pellet	5.5
Willamette	1 oz	90 min	First Wort	Pellet	4.3
Meridian	1 oz	30 min	Boil	Pellet	6.5
Apollo	0.5 oz	15 min	Boil	Pellet	18
Galaxy	1 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	14.8
Summer (Summer Saaz)	1 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	5.5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Calcium Chloride	4.40 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	4.10 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	0.90 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Ground Pepper	3.27 tsp	5 min	Boil	Spice

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Saison Yeast #2 (GY027)	Gigayeast	81%	64°F - 80°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Saccharification	148°F	75 min
Mash Out	168°F	10 min

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Quad Damage

Posted on August 21, 2014 by funkmetal

I’ve only brewed a few Belgian style beers in my homebrew career. Not because they’re particularly difficult. It’s primarily because my tastes have changed dramatically since I first started drinking dubbel, tripel and quad Belgians. As my pallet shifted away from sweeter, heavier, candied beer flavors, I couldn’t handle thick, strong, fruity Belgians. And I couldn’t imaging going through 5 or more gallons of a such a beer.

With that, I’m not surprised it’s taken me this long to get around brewing one. The other Belgian’s I’ve attempted have come out quite well. I’ve brewed a Belgian IPA (not *really* Belgian, but inspired by them), a fantastic Belgian Blonde and have been happy with both of these. One of the few Belgian style beers I can get into though is one of my original American favorites: Avery The Reverend.

I couldn’t think of a better Belgian beer that would stand up to some aging in a Whiskey barrel, which is the real motivation behind this brew session. This will be the third beer to go into the 5 gallon Balcones Corn Whiskey barrel with the hope of pulling out the last vestiges of oak and whiskey leaving it ready for sour beer aging!

Avery Brewing is top notch in just about every way, including being very friendly to the homebrew community. As you might expect, they’ve helpfully posted a homebrew scale version of the recipe which I’ve used as the basis for Quad Damage.

Looking forward to seeing how the barrel treats this one.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min	21.2 IBUs	19.8 SRM	1.092	1.018	9.9 %
			Actuals	1.046	1.01	4.7 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Belgian Dark Strong Ale	18 E	1.075 - 1.11	1.01 - 1.024	20 - 35	12 - 22	2.3 - 2.9	8 - 11 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pale Moon (Blacklands)	18.442 lbs	85.9
Aromatic Malt	12.05 oz	3.51
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L	6.19 oz	1.8
Crystal Light - 45L (Crisp)	6.19 oz	1.8
Special B Malt	6.19 oz	1.8
Candi Syrup, D-90	1.113 lbs	5.18

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Sterling	0.51 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	7.5
Sterling	0.51 oz	30 min	Boil	Pellet	7.5
Sterling	0.82 oz	0 min	Boil	Pellet	7.5

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Trappist High Gravity (3787)	Wyeast Labs	76%	64°F - 78°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	150°F	75 min

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Lamentation IPA

Posted on July 17, 2014 by funkmetal

Woxford Brewing: Conan Yeast! What is best in life?

Conan Yeast: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their long-chain-sugars.

Woxford Brewing: That is good! That is good.

While I’ve never had a Heady Topper, I certainly have already tried to brew a clone. With the way the beer sounds, who wouldn’t? I don’t have access to Heady, so stepping up dregs from the cans was impossible. After my first clone, Taa Dow, which came out quite nice, though not as nice as the Hop Slam clone, I decided I’d wait until I had some yeast from one of the major labs.

This past month, I’ve been on a yeast purchase binge. The smaller labs have been stepping up interesting strains making it easier try out newer (or hard to find) strains. One of those is the Vermont IPA from Gigayeast. With the yeast in hand, I started with the Heady clone recipe (version 4.0 that was found on Homebrew Talk forums) and then swapped out some of the hops for some others that sounded like they’d blend well with the peachy aroma from the Conan yeast.

In other news, the chest freezer has finally bit the dust. The machine is close to 20 years old at this point. I’ve had it for 4 years now and it’s provided steady service for a cool $90 craigslist find. I’m searching, but larger chest freezers (15 cu.ft.) tend to go rather quickly around town; I’ve emailed no less than 6 sellers, only two responded, both already sold.

I’m eyeing a new one, but finding them roughly half-price or less is a real steal. This time around, I’ve promised myself to ensure I do a proper collar so we can have faucet taps. I already have most of the supplies, so it should be a snap.

Until then, brewnights are bottle-only affairs. That’ll be fun! Here’s my Lamentation IPA, Heady Topper variant. Let’s see how this turns out.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min	113.8 IBUs	7.3 SRM	1.072	1.009	8.4 %
			Actuals	1.046	1.01	4.7 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Imperial IPA	14 C	1.07 - 1.09	1.01 - 1.02	60 - 120	8 - 15	2.2 - 2.7	7.5 - 10 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Organic Brewers Malt 2-Row (Briess)	16 lbs	88.89
Caramalt (Simpsons)	8 oz	2.78
Honey Malt	8 oz	2.78
White Wheat Malt	8 oz	2.78
Carapils (Briess)	4 oz	1.39
Sugar, Table (Sucrose)	4 oz	1.39

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
HopShot	1.76 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	10
Amarillo Gold (20120604)	1 oz	20 min	Aroma	Pellet	8.2
Galaxy	1 oz	20 min	Aroma	Pellet	14.8
Palisade	1 oz	20 min	Aroma	Pellet	7.8
Rakau (Alpharoma)	1 oz	20 min	Aroma	Pellet	10.5
Summer (Summer Saaz)	1 oz	20 min	Aroma	Pellet	5.5
Bravo	1 oz	7 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	15.5
Cascade	1 oz	7 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	5.9
Mosaic	1 oz	7 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	11.6
Pacific Jade	1 oz	7 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	13.1

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	3.20 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	2.80 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	2.30 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Whirlfloc Tablet	1.00 Items	15 min	Boil	Fining

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Vermont IPA (GY054)	Gigayeast	80%	62°F - 75°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Saccharification	148°F	75 min
Mash Out	168°F	10 min

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Hoppy Sour

Posted on July 3, 2014 by funkmetal

Bucket Sour — extra wort left in an empty grain bucket. Remarkably tasty.

There aren’t too many examples of hoppy and sour; they tend not to go well together. Besides the flavor clash the bacteria responsible for souring beer (mostly lactobacillus and pediocaucus) don’t do so well in highly hopped wort. Combine this with the general anxiety and fear of introducing bacteria into non-sour/non-brett production breweries and these beers just aren’t that common.

A local favorite, Black Star Coop, hosted a “Summer of Sour” celebrating sour beers and some of the techniques used to make them. My first sour beer adventure started after drinking an amazing tasting Berliner Weiss, called Waterloo, from Black Star. I emailed the head brewer at the time, Jeff Young, about how to make Waterloo. With his information as well as listening to him talk in the Sunday Session show about kettle souring or sour worting I took the plunge. Jeff is now starting up his own brewery, Blue Owl Brewing, which will focus exclusively on this technique for making sour beers.

Black Star coop released Dr. Vainglory, which is, as they call it, a Sour American Pale Ale (SAPA). It was a truly unique and tasty beverage, carefully balancing sour with lots of tropical notes and a firm, but not overpowering bitterness on the finish. Amazing.

After securing some Meridian hops, which were used in this strain, I decided, I’d give it a try. For souring, I’m using a blend of Gigayeast’s Fast Souring Lacto, and Wyeast Lacto. After 5 days at 76F, the starter was tremendously sour, a pH of about 3.4. I’ll be pitching this combination and keeping it at about 115F for about 4 days; which should create an extremely potent sour base. From there I’ll boil, hop, chill and then pitch a large starter of Brett B. Trois to finish off the rest of the gravity.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min	33.9 IBUs	4.8 SRM	1.050	1.013	4.9 %
			Actuals	1.046	1.01	4.7 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
American Pale Ale	10 A	1.045 - 1.06	1.01 - 1.015	30 - 45	5 - 14	2.3 - 2.8	4.5 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Organic Brewers Malt 2-Row (Briess)	10 lbs	86.96
Munich 10L Organic (Briess)	1 lbs	8.7
Oats, Golden Naked (Simpsons)	8 oz	4.35

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Warrior	0.18 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	15.7
Ahtanum	1 oz	15 min	Boil	Pellet	5.2
Meridian	1 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	6.5
Meridian	1 oz	15 min	Aroma	Pellet	6.5
Palisade	1 oz	15 min	Aroma	Pellet	7.8

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Calcium Chloride	3.20 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	3.20 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	0.40 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Saccharification	152°F	60 min
Mash Out	168°F	10 min

Notes

DO NOT BOIL

- Mash normally
- Drain to Kettle
- Raise temp to 176 for 15 minutes
- Chill to 120F
- pitch a pure culture of lacto and let ferment for approx. 2 days, no more than 3, retain 120F.
- transfer the sour wort to the boil kettle
- do my boil as per usual
- chill to 70F
- pitch my yeast culture.
- After ferm complete, pitch peach puree

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Trying out Gigayeast and some new hops

Posted on June 19, 2014 by funkmetal

gigayeast-saison-#2-gy027-gold-pitch-1024x768

Gold Pitch pouch of >200 Billion yeast, Saison #2 strain.

There are a number of new yeast companies just starting up and I’m really excited to see these new strains being picked up. Gigayeast, Yeast Bay, and East Coast Yeast, which I’ve written about before, are finding, isolating and stepping up strains found in great commercial beers and making them available to homebrewers. Some of this comes from the big yeast companies (White Labs, and Wyeast for homebrew) selling their services. The Gold Pitch from Gigayeast sure looks like a Wyeast yeast pouch, and the Yeast Bay vials sure look like a White Labs tube.

Yeast Bay vials via Ales of the Riverwards Blog.

The Saison #2 strain caught my attention, mostly due to the description of having a tart finish. It’s no secret that I have a passion for sour beers, and while I know this yeast won’t produce a sour beer without some bacteria like lactobacillus, I am interested in getting tart beers as well. There are a number of really great saisons that taste tart but aren’t sours. I plan to find out if I can get that same effect with this yeast.

Gigayeast describes the flavors as fruity and spicy, so when choosing the recipe I started with my house saison, and dropped the gravity a bit so the pouch could be used without a starter and then switched in some spicy and fruity hops. I’m getting to try out a new (to me) hop, Summer Saaz, which is both spicy and with a touch of fruit when used for aroma and dry-hopping. Another hop favorite, Meridian, which was used in an amazing Sour Pale Ale (Dr. Vainglory at Black Star Coop), which has lots of fruity, punch-like flavors. And some traditional english Fuggle for that nice earthy spice. I also didn’t want to change the recipe up too much to help detect the differences between how Rekkae is normally brewed and what the new ingredients are bringing to the familiar beer.

Take a look:

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min	37.4 IBUs	6.7 SRM	1.058	1.006	6.9 %
			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	9.5 lbs	70.37
Rye Malt	1.5 lbs	11.11
White Wheat Malt	1 lbs	7.41
Caramunich Malt	8 oz	3.7
Oats, Flaked	8 oz	3.7
Sugar, Table (Sucrose)	8 oz	3.7

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Fuggles	0.49 oz	60 min	First Wort	Pellet	5.7
Summer (Summer Saaz)	0.49 oz	60 min	First Wort	Pellet	5.5
Meridian	0.49 oz	30 min	Boil	Pellet	6.5
Tettnang	1 oz	15 min	Boil	Pellet	4.6
Summer (Summer Saaz)	1 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	5.5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Calcium Chloride	3.20 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	3.20 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	0.40 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Ground Pepper	1.64 tsp	5 min	Boil	Spice

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Saison Yeast #2 (GY027)	Gigayeast	81%	64°F - 80°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Saccharification	148°F	75 min
Mash Out	168°F	10 min

Notes

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