Farmhouse Brett IPA

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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.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
12 gal 90 min 95.8 IBUs 9.5 SRM 1.062 1.013 6.5 %
Actuals 1.046 1.01 4.7 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
American IPA 14 B 1.056 - 1.075 1.01 - 1.018 40 - 70 6 - 15 2.2 - 2.7 5.5 - 7.5 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Brewer's Malt, 2-Row, Premium (Great Western) 23.192 lbs 79.28
Rye Malt 4.38 lbs 14.97
Carapils (Briess) 1.46 lbs 4.99
Carafa III 3.56 oz 0.76

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Warrior 1.82 oz 90 min Boil Pellet 13.7
Cascade 2.15 oz 20 min Boil Pellet 5.9
Centennial 1.89 oz 20 min Boil Pellet 11.4
Cascade 4.3 oz 2 min Boil Pellet 5.9
Centennial 4.3 oz 2 min Boil Pellet 11.4
Amarillo Gold (20120604) 2 oz 7 days Dry Hop Pellet 8.2
Cascade 2 oz 7 days Dry Hop Pellet 5.9
Centennial 2 oz 7 days Dry Hop Pellet 11.4
Simcoe 2 oz 7 days Dry Hop Pellet 11.7

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Phosphoric Acid 24.00 ml 60 min Mash Water Agent
Calcium Chloride 16.20 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 13.80 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Whirlfloc Tablet 2.00 Items 15 min Boil Fining

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Brettanomyces B. Troi (644) White Labs 90% 65°F - 80°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Saccharification 148°F 90 min
Mash Out 168°F 10 min

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Update 2014-01-02

IMAG1477

Dry-English-Ale (007) on the left, 100% Brett B. Trois on the right.

I’ve now kegged two of the three batches.  The Dry English Ale yeast finished first, but for some reason this time it threw off a ton of diacetyl.  So much then I knew I needed to do something.  I was stepping up some Wyeast 1056 yeast for ardeo, so I decided I would pitch some active 1056 (kruasening) to clean it up.  This restarted fermentation in the beer and when I dry-hopped, I didn’t pick up any more diacetyl, though I didn’t perform a complete test.  Terminal gravity was 1.013.

Next finished was the 100% Brett Trois fermentation.  F.G was 1.010.  The amount of tropical fruits coming out was intense, so much that I almost didn’t dry-hop, but part of reason for brewing this recipe was to finish off some hops.

The 3711 version fermented down to 1.006 and at this point I pitched Brett Brux and dry-hopped the beer.  It’s still aging another 4 weeks to bring out the Brett B. character, and then it’ll be bottled and aged for 6 weeks before tasting.

IMAG1481

Dry-English-Ale (007) on the left, 100% Brett B. Trois on the right.

On to the results.

Wytchmaker Rye IPA (OG-style with Sacc.)

Aroma —  Huge hop nose, some citrus, a little pine.  Some malt in the nose.  A faint hint of caramel… most likely remnants of diacetyl; present but not offensive.

Appearance — Amber color.  Slight cloudiness that comes from a heavy dry-hop.  Slightly off-white head, creamy texture.  Quite a bit darker than the current Jester King Wytchmaker color; most likely due to different kettle malliard reactions during the 90 minute boil.

Taste — Sharp rye spicy bite, followed by malt sweetness, fading into a lingering hop bitterness. Hop flavors and presence help balance the higher gravity finish.

Mouthfeel — Medium body.  Not chewy, but but not thin.  Hard to tell if there is a dry finish because of the hops covering much of the lingering flavors.

Notes — Solid Rye IPA, though slightly marred by the diacetyl presence.  Hard to beat this recipe when done flawlessly.

Wytch Brettmaker Rye IPA (100% Brett B. Trois)

Aroma — Tropical fruits, sweet malt, mango, bananna, touch of bubblegum.

Appearance — Amber color, just a bit lighter than the 007 version.   Same slight cloudiness from the dry-hop; possibly will clear up in keg, other Brett beers have become brilliantly crystal.  Same off-white head, a bit more fluffy and foamy.  Lingers and leaves lovely lacing on the glass.

Taste — Similar sharp rye bite and then a bit of a belgian yeast spiciness, followed by sweet malt, melding together and then absolutely crushed with a huge hop bitter finish, lingering for quite some time.

Mouthfeel — Medium to light body; definitely lighter than the 007 version.  Specific Gravity backs that up, though only by 3 points or so.  Over time, it’s possible the brett might drop down a notch or two.

Notes — It appears the brett “ate” lots of the hop aromas.  WIth the amount of dry-hop added, I should be able to pick out the Simcoe, Cascade, and Centennial, but it seems to sit behind the yeast aromas.  I also bottled a case of this beer to see how it evolves in the bottle.

I’ve got 99 problems but not enough hops isn’t one

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Intense campfire at Jester King Brewery during their volunteer Friendsgiving

Homebrewers face many problems in the quest to making great beer consistently. There are many more than 99 of these problems. A reoccurring problem that I face is an over-abundance of hops; mostly because of my lupulust. I really enjoying buying ingredients in homebrew-scale bulk. I also cringe when buying some of these ingredients at the local home brew store (LHBS) simply because the markup over the bulk purchase is sometimes quite astounding. I’m not here to criticize the business model; rather I work around it with bulk purchases. However, this can present a separate problem.

I recently updated my inventory of hops and was a bit shocked to tally up the total. Roughly 18 pounds of frozen hops, from crop years 2010 through 2013. So far, i’ve not encountered any freshness issues due to the quality packaging from today’s homebrew supply vendors. Certainly there will be Alpha Acid degradation, but that’s less of a concern for homebrewers who aren’t attempting to rebrew the exact same beer from batch to batch.

To address this “problem”, I’ve been reorganizing my brew schedule and recipes. I’m currently pushing all of my hop-heavy recipes (IPAs yay!) up sooner. And I’ve also adjusted some existing recipes to be hopbursted instead so I can make use additional hops.

It was in this climate that this recipe was born. Fancy new hop?, check (Mosaic). Highly-prized and hard-to-find hop, check (Nelson). Name-brand hop, check (Simcoe®). Hop-bursting?, check. Using 3/4# of hops in a 6 gallon batch?, check.

Enjoy ārdeō.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
6 gal 70 min 205.1 IBUs 8.0 SRM 1.068 1.011 7.5 %
Actuals 1.046 1.01 4.7 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
American IPA 14 B 1.056 - 1.075 1.01 - 1.018 40 - 70 6 - 15 2.2 - 2.7 5.5 - 7.5 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Vienna Malt (Weyermann) 14.5 lbs 87.88
Munich Malt 1 lbs 6.06
Carapils (Briess) 8 oz 3.03
Crystal 75, 2-Row, (Great Western) 4 oz 1.52
Corn Sugar (Dextrose) 4 oz 1.52

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Columbus (Tomahawk) 1 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 15.3
Columbus (Tomahawk) 0.77 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 14.7
Simcoe 1 oz 25 min Boil Pellet 11.7
Mosaic 3 oz 20 min Aroma Pellet 11.6
Nelson Sauvin 3 oz 20 min Aroma Pellet 11.2
Simcoe 1 oz 20 min Aroma Pellet 11.7
Mosaic 1 oz 7 days Dry Hop Pellet 11.6
Nelson Sauvin 1 oz 7 days Dry Hop Pellet 11.2
Simcoe 1 oz 7 days Dry Hop Pellet 11.7

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 10.70 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Calcium Chloride 5.30 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) 1.10 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Yeast Nutrient 2.00 tsp 3 days Primary Other

Yeast

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

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Saccharification 147.9°F 90 min
Mash Out 168°F 10 min

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Son of a Funk – Sour Saison

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Sour mashing second runnings in a keg. A heat belt keeps the temp up for optimal souring

Last week I brewed 11G of my favorite RIS, Black Metal Stout. As I detailed in the last post, I sparged another 6 gallons of wort from the mash. I collected close to 6G of 1.030 wort. The initial pitch into the keg was a nylon bag with a couple of ounces of acidulated malt. I set the temperature controller for about 116 to handle the temp swings (up to 4 degrees worth) and keep the lacto from getting killed off at too high a temp.

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Temperature control is critical for sour mashing.

I decided to bolster the lacto forces by pitching a couple mL of lacto starter I’ve been stepping for a while.  Initially this seemed enough.  The first two days, pH was moving in the right direction, 3.8 followed by 3.7. Then oddly, on day 3, the pH was back up to 4.0.

On day 4, pH was up to 4.2 and I felt some additional bugs would be needed so I opened the nylon bag and added about 8oz of acidulated malt. This seemed to help. Day 5 AM reading was 3.83 down from a high of 4.2 and the taste was certainly moving toward a nice tartness. By Friday night, we hit a nice pH of 3.6 and a solid tart flavor.

The brew session was short. I first-wort hopped one of my favorite saison hops, Sorachi Ace. And then to complement the tart and dry flavors, and to pull some new hops (for me) out of the freezer, New Zeland Pacific Gem and Pacific Jade as finishing additions.

The post chill wort really tasted nice. The sour is there, but not too bold, and the herbal, earthy, but slightly citrus New Zealand hops work very well.

I oxygenated for 30 seconds and then pitched a very healthy dose of Brett B. Trois (Drie). I decided to ferment the beer in the same keg (sanitized of course) and I fashioned a simple blowoff mechanism via the Gas In port, Quick Disconnect and some tubing.

Here’s a recipe that simulates the beer but realize that this is a second runnings from a big RIS.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5 gal 30 min 25.2 IBUs 34.2 SRM 1.033 1.007 3.4 %
Actuals 1.038 1.01 3.7 %

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 %
Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett) 4 lbs 69.57
Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett) 1 lbs 17.39
Amber Dry Extract 12 oz 13.04

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Sorachi Ace 0.35 oz 30 min First Wort Pellet 12
Pacific Gem - 2012 Crop - Purchased 20130220 0.71 oz 5 min Boil Pellet 14.6
Pacific Jade - 2012 Crop - Purchased FHBS 20130220 0.71 oz 5 min Boil Pellet 13.1

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois (WLP654) White Labs 70% 65°F - 72°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 150°F 75 min

Notes

Pitched grain bag with acid malt on it on Friday, 2013-11-15 @ 10PM.
Wrapped with heat belt and targeted 115 - 120F.

(2013-11-17)
at 48 hours, pH of 3.8 @ 23.1C
Very very light tartness, lots of grain in the nose. Husky. Chocolate, a bit of roast.

(2013-11-18)
at 60 hours, pH of 3.75 @ 22.7C
Same basic taste. Added a good dose of pure Lacto from stepped culture.

(2013-11-19)
It seems to be getting more lacto -- but it's hard to tell; clearly it's not massively sour yet. Oddly, the pH reading was 4.0 @ 23C -- it could be I need to calibrate the probe again. We'll give it another day.

(2013-11-20)
More mellow, I *think* a bit more sour, but nothing assertive. Ph is moving up... 4.2 @ 22C. Calibrated probe to 4.0. Pulled bag and added more acid malt. Need another day.

(2013-11-21)
Definitely getting more sour. Ph is back down, 3.83 @ 23C. Will check again tonight at 8PM (ph) and if we're in the 3.5 area, will boil and pitch yeast. If not, will wait till 11-22 evening.

(2013-11-22 AM)
Yay, more sour. Ph is at 3.71 @ 23C.

(2013-11-22 PM)
Yay, more sour. pH is at 3.61 @ 18.9C

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With so much funk in the air

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Hill Country View from Jester King Craft Brewery

I can’t seem to get enough of the original Jester King Black Metal Stout. We’ve brewed this beer four times; more than any other recipe. It’s been absolutely solid each round. The last round ended up in a Whiskey Barrel. That was by far the best of the bunch. The 10 gallon barrel I have is on its way to being neutralized, so to get that same huge whiskey nose and bite, I picked up a fresh-dumped Balcones blue corn whiskey barrel.

We’re still brewing 11 gallons, but this time it will be split. Half will ferment with the traditional English Yeast, WLP 007. The other half will be dedicated to one of my favorite, and local, sour beers. Funk Metal Stout. Funk Metal was created from the Black Metal Stout recipe, but aged in oak barrels with lots of pediocauccus, lactobacillus and brett. My best hope of recreating a beer like this is to pitch in some Funk Metal dregs that I’ve stepped up with some oak cubes.

In addition to this split batch, I was thinking that it was time for another “fast” sour beer in the pipeline since the Funk Metal is likely to take quite a while to get good. Over at The Mad Fermentationist, there is a recent post on using various sour worting techniques. I’ve decided that I’ll take the second runnings from this weeks brew which should yield 5 gallons of 1.030 wort, and keep it in a 5G corny keg. Wrapping the wort witha heat belt, I’ll pitch some lactobacillus to sour it up for a few days before boiling for 30 minutes and then pitching Brett Drie (Brett B. Trois).

It’s been quite a few weeks since the last brew day so I’m looking forward to brewing up two of my favorite beers and experimenting with a new one.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
11 gal 60 min 104.9 IBUs 69.2 SRM 1.094 SG 1.013 SG 10.8 %

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) 29.868 lbs 72.53
Black Barley (Stout) 2.467 lbs 5.99
Black (Patent) Malt 1.598 lbs 3.88
Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett) 1.598 lbs 3.88
Brown Malt 0.951 lbs 2.31
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 0.949 lbs 2.3
Crystal Dark - 77L (Crisp) 0.75 lbs 1.82
Cane (Beet) Sugar 3 lbs 7.28

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 3.60 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 3.60 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Pickling Lime 1.00 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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The third time’s the charm

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I’ve now had two beers go through my 10 Gallon whiskey barrel. The general consensus on used barrels is about three beers and then it’s lost most of the character. I’m looking forward to getting to a neutral barrel so I can start aging sour beers in the 10 gallon barrel. My first beer in the barrel was an outstanding success, a huge Russian Imperial Stout, aged for 2 months in primary and then 3 months in the fresh-dumped whiskey barrel. The finished beer had an hugely mellow oak and whiskey aroma and pulled a ton of vanilla into the rich, dark and creamy RIS. I submitted this beer and received a 44/50 in a competition, also went to the mini BOS round. Not bad for my first whiskey barrel beer. The result is so good that I’ll be repeating this beer again. In fact, I just picked up another 5 gallon whiskey barrel and the first beer in this one will be the RIS again.

The second beer into the barrel was a Strong Scotch Ale, ala, Old Chub. This beer didn’t take nearly as long to get the right whiskey level; I’m assuming since it’s a lighter beer that the whiskey comes through faster. This beer is pretty good, but not nearly as good as the RIS. Having 10 gallons of the beer though let me produce some experiments. Half of the batch was bottled. Six bottles were innoculated with Brett. B. Trois, and another 6 were filled with Jester King Funk Metal Sour Stout dregs, and the remaining were bottled with normal sacchromyces. In another month or so, I’ll start testing and tasting these experiments.

For the third beer, I wanted to return to something darker. I’ve not yet brewed any porters, so I figured now was a good time. This recipe is based on the BYO style column for Robust American Porter. I’ll have a little extra to keep in a keg to compare with and without the whiskey aging.

Here’s the recipe.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
11 gal 90 min 43.3 IBUs 41.5 SRM 1.081 1.016 8.6 %
Actuals 1.046 1.01 4.7 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Robust Porter 12 B 1.048 - 1.065 1.012 - 1.016 25 - 50 22 - 35 1.8 - 2.5 4.8 - 6.5 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Brewer's Malt, 2-Row, Premium (Great Western) 27.208 lbs 73.93
Munich Malt 3.938 lbs 10.7
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 2.148 lbs 5.84
Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett) 1.432 lbs 3.89
Black (Patent) Malt 1.074 lbs 2.92
Brown Sugar, Light 1 lbs 2.72

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Fuggles - FHBS - 20130401 3.38 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 5.7
Fuggles - FHBS - 20130401 1.42 oz 15 min Boil Pellet 5.7
Goldings, East Kent (2011 Crop - Purchase FHBW 20130220) 1.36 oz 0 min Boil Pellet 5.6

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Calcium Chloride 8.60 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 4.60 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Pickling Lime 1.70 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) 0.60 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

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

Notes

Hold Chocolate and Black malt out from mash, mix in during mashout.

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