A Noble Endeavor

Posted on May 1, 2014 by funkmetal

2 liter starter of Wyeast 2001 Urquell lager yeast.

I’ve not brewed many lager recipes. In fact, just one. I did a clone of Spaten Optimator. It actually came out quite good. Scored well in homebrew competitions, better than my Pales and IPAs much to my chagrin. Most of the results came from following the advice in the New Brewering Lager Beer by Greg Noonan

That said, I’ve had a few surprises in a category of beers that I tend not to drink, let alone brew. Pilsners. When I read the description of the style and most beers, I’m excited. After tasting them, not nearly as excited as I was before doing so. For me, the signature “flavor” of lagers tend to come from the yeast itself, which is described as “clean” however, I pick up a distinct flavor that just isn’t may favorite.

I’ve been surprised by a number of pilsners which exhibit none of the lagery yeast flavors and all of the good things I read in the style description: crispness, dry finish, clean flavors, noble hoppy aroma. My first real surprise pilsner was actually Urquell. It was a real surprise to me. Bright, crisp, clean, hoppy even. Next, on a whim, I picked up Sam Adam’s Noble Pils. While a far cry from a typical pilsner, it had all of the same characteristics I enjoyed. Finally, a local favorite, Austin Beerworks Pearl Snap Pils.

With that background, I searched around for a clone and ended up finding the Sam Adams Noble Pils from the August 2011 Issue of Zymurgy. I’ll pulled that and will adapt it a bit. Surprisingly, the Sam Adams recipe calls from mostly 2-row with a little pilsner. Instead, I inverted it, mostly pilsner and a little 2-row; local Blacklands Pale Moon malt.

Enjoy!

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
5 gal	90 min	42.4 IBUs	3.8 SRM	1.053	1.014	5.1 %
			Actuals	1.046	1.01	4.7 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
German Pilsner (Pils)	2 A	1.044 - 1.05	1.008 - 1.013	25 - 45	2 - 5	2.4 - 2.8	4.4 - 5.2 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	7.2 lbs	73.1
Brewers Malt 2-Row (Briess) Organic	2.4 lbs	24.37
Acidulated (Weyermann)	4 oz	2.54

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Liberty	2 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	3.9
Saaz	0.49 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	7.6
Tettnang	0.25 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	4.6
Tettnang	0.81 oz	7 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	4.6
Saaz	0.6 oz	7 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	7.6
Select Spalt	0.39 oz	7 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	4.9
Crystal	0.21 oz	7 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	3

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	2.30 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Calcium Chloride	1.10 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	0.40 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Whirlfloc Tablet	1.00 Items	15 min	Boil	Fining
Yeast Nutrient	1.00 tsp	3 days	Primary	Other

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Urquell Lager (2001)	Wyeast Labs	74%	48°F - 58°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Protein Rest	122°F	10 min
Saccharification	154°F	45 min
Mash Out	168°F	10 min

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Scurvy Russian Imperial Stout

Posted on April 10, 2014 by funkmetal

25 Kg sack of Marris Otter stacked on other base grains

After much ado, the bulk grain order arrived. It was about a month passed when it was scheduled. I shouldn’t complain too much since it saves a tremendous amount of money. All told, the average price per pound of this order was about $0.75. Contrast that with $1.50 to $2.00 / lb when buying it at the LHBS.

Now we can move forward on the latest barrel addition, an 11 Gallon Rum barrel from Farmhouse Brewing Supply. I’ve had nothing but great beers come out of the sorghum Whiskey Barrel I purchased a year ago. The barrel arrived in February and I’m eager to get something in there as soon as possible. This batch will end up in the barrel in early May as it’ll need to sit about 4 weeks to completely ferment out.

My previous batch, a 5 gallon batch is still in the Balcones Blue Corn Whiskey barrel. The gravity on the batch was a touch high going into the barrel, about 1.029. Transferring into the barrel helped get things going again and now the beer finished at 1.023 which is a touch sweet, but behind all of the roast and whiskey, it still tastes amazing.

This will be the first beer I’ve added to a rum barrel, so to get into the spirit, I’ve swapped in brown sugar as part of the recipe for more rummy flavors. We won’t see this beer in a bottle or keg until sometime this fall, but that will give it plenty of time to really pick up all that a new (to me) barrel can offer.

Now besides the brewing, the only thing left is to find a space for this barrel in the aging room…

Woxford Barrel Aging Room

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
11 gal	60 min	105.8 IBUs	68.3 SRM	1.092 SG	1.013 SG	10.4 %

Style Details

Name	Cat.	OG Range	FG Range	IBU	SRM	Carb	ABV
Imperial Stout	13 F	1.075 - 1.115	1.018 - 1.03	50 - 90	30 - 40	1.8 - 2.6	8 - 12 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett)	29 lbs	72.05
Black Barley (Stout)	2.5 lbs	6.21
Black (Patent) Malt	1.5 lbs	3.73
Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett)	1.5 lbs	3.73
Brown Malt	1 lbs	2.48
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	1 lbs	2.48
Crystal Dark - 77L (Crisp)	0.75 lbs	1.86
Brown Sugar, Light	3 lbs	7.45

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	3.74 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	13.5
Goldings, East Kent	4 oz	5 min	Boil	Pellet	5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Calcium Chloride	4.50 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	4.50 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Baking Soda	1.20 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Dry English Ale (WLP007)	White Labs	75%	65°F - 70°F

Notes

Hold all Dark/Roast grains till end of mash/sparge.

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Multiple Yeasts in Primary

Posted on March 27, 2014 by funkmetal

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 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 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.

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Barleywine for Aging

Posted on March 16, 2014 by funkmetal

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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)

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Local Malt Pale Ale

Posted on February 28, 2014 by funkmetal

Pale Moon – Locally malted 2-Row Barley

My local homebrew club does bulk grain buys roughly twice a year. I’ve been participating in these events for the past few years. I learned my lesson about bulk in my first purchase. I still have massive amounts of Thomas Fawcett Medium Crystal and almost a full sack of Thomas Fawcett Chocolate. You just can’t go through that much specialty malt even with close to 25 brews a year. The past few times I’ve focused on getting better base grains; more continental pilsner, higher quality 2-row, etc. I’ve experimented with a number of SMaSH beers using Marris Otter, Munich and Vienna to help go throw the grains.

Last year, the bulk buy started to get really hard. The supplier first quit allowing direct payments from homebrewers so the orders were grouped into larger sets and a handful of folks would pay for multiple homebrewers. Then they would only take a single payer. That was a bit awkward. Who wanted to front 12,000 USD? Luckily we’re all good friends and someone did pay-up and the rest of us paypal’ed our balance. And finally this year, the supplier no longer sells at all to homebrewers, only breweries.

The good news is that a number of the club members have connections with the local breweries and Rogness Brewing right here in Pflugerville agreed to proxy the purchase. While all of this negotiation was going on something great happened. A local malting house opened up in Cedar Park, Texas; Blacklands Malt. The announcement was back in December and all of the inventory was immediately picked up, mostly by local breweries like Jester King, Pinthouse Pizza, Hops and Grain, and Black Star Coop.

Around the end of January when the bulk buy was happening, Blacklands announced they still had Pale Moon, a 2-row pale barley in stock. I jumped at the chance to get a sack. I met Brandon at his malt house and got to see the whole operation. I’m excited to give Pale Moon a go in this lighter Pale Ale/IPA. Next month he’ll have his Pilsner available and I’ll be brewing version 4 of my Rekkae saison with local Pils. Not bad.

For the recipe, I’ve been entirely inspired by the awesomeness of Pinthouse Pizza’s Calma Muerta. Yeah, it’s called a session beer; which it is. And I don’t really care about the “movement” nor if it’s 3.8 or 4.2 or 4.5 ABV to “officially” be call “session”. What matters to me is that it’s easy to drink, flavorful and light. I’ve attempted a number of IPAs, but nothing this light, so I’m looking forward to seeing how to craft a smaller beer, keep it flavorful and not watery.

On top of it all, I’m throwing in an experimental hop, #1210 that I picked up a while back from Farmhouse Brewing Supply. The description sounds full of awesome.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
6 gal	60 min	32.5 IBUs	4.5 SRM	1.037	1.005	4.2 %
			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	%
Pale Moon (Blacklands)	7 lbs	84.85
White Wheat Malt	8 oz	6.06
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L	4 oz	3.03
Honey Malt	4 oz	3.03
Oats, Golden Naked (Simpsons)	4 oz	3.03

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
HPC 1210 (Experimental)	0.5 oz	60 min	First Wort	Pellet	6.4
HPC 1210 (Experimental)	1 oz	15 min	Boil	Pellet	6.4
HPC 1210 (Experimental)	1.5 oz	20 min	Aroma	Pellet	6.4
HPC 1210 (Experimental)	1 oz	7 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	6.4

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Calcium Chloride	1.70 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)	1.60 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4)	0.30 g	60 min	Mash	Water Agent
Whirlfloc Tablet	1.00 Items	15 min	Boil	Fining
Yeast Nutrient	1.00 tsp	3 days	Primary	Other

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois (WLP644)	White Labs	88%	70°F - 85°F
Denny's Favorite (1450)	Wyeast Labs	75%	60°F - 70°F

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Protein Rest	131°F	20 min
Saccharification	155°F	45 min
Mash Out	168°F	10 min

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