Project TGT is a GO. Repeat, TGT is a GO

I normally start these entries off with stating things like, ‘a lot has happened,’ or, ‘I’ve been so busy.’ I figured some things needed to change since I could hear every person that ever educated me on writing screaming criticism at my repetition. This being the case, shit is going to change. It’s about time to mix some things up, and luckily, some events have made it much easier to do so.

Rather than follow chronological order of beers brewed, I’m starting where I want this time. The main reason for this is because I was made aware this past week that people read this. That is pretty fantastic, but I feel like I owe the people that get here at least a little more ease of readability. I will be dropping a bit of the technical-speak, as well as some of the pointless details—again, to avoid being redundant. I might even try to make the brewing process look a bit more accessible to other people. Essentially, I’m going to try to start making this public notation more ‘public friendly.’ We’ll see how it goes.

Moving on, the piece of news that has me more excited than any of my beer ideas is the future of this hobby. I had a brilliant weekend catching up with good friends, both those I see regularly and those I haven’t seen in ages. Amidst good company and good drinks I was hit with the blatent realization that I know a lot of people in very convenient places. To make a long story short, I have commercial openings for serving beer. I’ve just got to flaunt the feathers a bit, and prove that I’ve got the skills to sell something worthwhile.

This is usually the point where I hit a downward slope of a bell-curve. Whenever I’ve taken a hobby to an heavily competitive/intense level, it usually chars the whole experience, and ‘ruins’ it for me. I had always come out feeling like I had ‘lost the enjoyment,’ or that I just took it too seriously now. All of the reasons I had originally embarked upon within the hobby were no longer ‘pure’, but competitively or adversely motivated. Eventually, I would just fizzle out, and slowly give less and less attention to the practice.

 In some respects, I feel that could happen again with brewing. In others, however, I feel it is much different. While I could go on and schpiel about how I’ve grown over the years, and blah blah blah—that’s not what this is about.  This is about beer, my experiments with the stuff, and the potential for what my projects may become. In short, there is no need to worry about my fizzling.

What matters from all this is that ‘the shapes of beer to come’ could be seen on the horizon. I now had venues to actually get in on the market, and now it was a matter of deciding what I should nail down to be the first impression. First impressions say a lot, and to jump in on an already unique and diverse market is a bit intimidating. I felt an initial beer should be something that displays brewing competency yet also has a distinctly unique signature. Something classic, but with a slightly new take—something with a personal touch.

The first thing that jumped out at me was the German Alt (or Alt[earoa]). At first I was hesitant since a brewery in Baltimore already opened its doors with an Alt beer (a damn good one too), but those wary feelings passed. My recipe was different from that, and it was good. Not only was it a solid, sessionable beer, but it had my personal, unique experience within it. I used only New Zealand hops—To make this the first beer that goes commercial would be an incredible honor for me. It would be my own personal thank you, and shout out to my favorite country in the world— the place where the whole love for, and idea of brewing for a career first entered my brain. There is no competition. This recipe had to be done.

Look at that clarity!

Tasting the Alt recipe right now, it is solid. Nothing wild, nothing adventurous, just a solid, toasty malt-driven, easy drinking beer with a hint of fruit from hops. A tiny adjustment to bring the ABV from 7% to the 5-6% range is the only fix I’m going to need. That will be easy enough.

As for the second (why two beers? You’ll see why…), inspiration hit me while visiting the Willow bar in Fells Point. We decided to hit up the venue after some coaxing from a friend who worked there (not really, though. She said good cocktails, and we said why the fuck not). Our friend began bragging about a cocktail she had invented, and after a few featured ingredients, I took a strong interest. When I pulled out my phone to record the list, I was quickly accused of potential plagerism. Understandable, but I quickly waved it off, simply stating, ‘I’m not gonna steal it, I’m gonna make it a beer.’

This garnered some serious enthusiasm, eventually materializing into another potential spot to host my product. Though it wasn’t verbally stated, I saw this opportunity as a challenge. I needed to make this cocktail successfully into a beer. What would be better than to have the first beer served at the joint to be a reflection of a cocktail invented by a staff member?

Plus, this shit would be FUN

It was either this or the jalapeno wonder that I fell in love with. Believe me the decision was VERY hard

The cocktail has no name—as far as I’m aware. There was talk of something Simon and Garfunkel related, mainly because of the rosemary involved (e.g. ‘Scarborough Fair’). Regardless, it is gin-based, with a balancing dose of grapefruit, garnished with a spring of rosemary, which was briefly lit on fire.  What came out the other end was a pleasantly fruity drink with a nice bouquet of rosemary and fruit, with a touch of smoke.

It took me very little time to figure out how to approach it. There was no other style I could think of that could deliver that variety of flavors other than a Saison. This would be a very different one however, and so I had to go a little outside of what I knew of the style. To get the gin flavor, I used the Gotlandsdricka technique of juniper-infused sparge water. For the grapefruit, I used the zest of a grapefruit as well as the juice near the end of the boil. I also used Simcoe hops to bring out a bit more of the fruit characteristic. Rosemary was added during the boil for aroma and a hint of flavor, and I added a very small, very conservative quantity of smoked malt to the profile.

In terms of yeast it was a toss up between two different ones. I eventually settled on making a 30L batch and splitting it into two 15L fermenters. One had a Belgian Saison blend yeast—my experience’s suggestion—and the other has an American Farmhouse blend—my adventurer’s suggestion. I’m actually hoping the Farmhouse blend wins out. It contains a bit of brettanomyces, which I think will help lend to the cocktail-nature of the recipe with a tinge of sour.

Guess which one is 'infected' with Brett....

Both are fermenting well, but since both have Saison strains, they will be fermenting for a long-ass time. For some downsides, however, there is sometimes and upside. I have also found—quite recently—that Belgian yeast strains benefit heavily from a little extra aging.

The discovery was made while raiding my beer fridge. I came across a few bottles of the ol’ Tarakena Summer Ale I did back in August. I thought I’d give it another go, and poured one from a bottle. My mind was blown in an instant. The Belgian character that had previously overpowered all the other flavors had subsided, and became a background characteristic. Everything else I put into the beer was on prominent display: the mint, chamomile, and ginger were in perfect balance, adding, a nice complexity to the beer, but not overpowering it in any way. I actually found it hard to believe I made the damn thing. I have two 335ml bottles left in the fridge, and I’m afraid to touch them. They will definitely be opened for the New Years dealie, and I will definitely be brewing that recipe again. Patience pays off.

Sexy, sexy, patience

And nothing has tested my patience more than the #3 Wheat wine. I’ve decided to give this one the benefit of the doubt—in terms of aging—and just try not to pay any attention to how badly I want to taste the finished product. It fermented damn well, finishing around 10.6%. It still is not as high as I wanted it, but now that I’ve found the secret to mash efficiency, I’ll definitely be doing this recipe again. After about 12 days in a secondary fermenter I emptied out the Sauvignon Blanc barrel, and transferred the juicy, beer-y deliciousness into the Tough Guy cask. I took little sips of it every day, and actually needed to transfer it out after only 3 days.

I knew that the barrel would infuse the beer with more than enough flavor in a very short amount of time—freshly made oak barrels do that. But I was expecting the Sauvignon Blanc seasoning to suck out at least a bit more of that raw oakiness. After all, the Sauv was undrinkable by the time I put the Wheat Wine in its place. All in all, though, the length of time doesn’t matter. I wanted the flavor, and its there. The Wheat Wine is now sitting in a purged keg for aging. I’ll probably tap it in another week or so.

That is one happy Tomcat

As for the other wheat wine (#2), I unfortunately encountered a noticeable diacetyl presence during a recent glass. I’m a little disappointed, but to be completely honest not too surprised. I rushed the hell out of that beer, partially because in my mind, I had already failed to get what I wanted. It is still a solid Wheat-IPA, but it is also out of style, not what I intended, too hoppy, and now has diacetyl. End result: enjoyable, but still disappointing.

At least it looks pretty

It was, however, a learning experience that I took advantage of very quickly. I wanted to prevent the Russian Imperial Stout (RIS) from obtaining the same buttery diacetyl taste, so I tossed in some champagne yeast to clean up any remnants the other yeast left behind. It also wouldn’t hurt to get a little boost in the ABV area, since the RIS is currently sitting around 9.6% (out of a potential 11%).  I could have been a bit more generous with the grains to ge the ABV, but that is an easy fix for the next batch.

With a little extra booze, this will be a proper RIS.  На здоровье!

This ‘easy fix’ is of course due to the new mash technique. I gambled a bit with the cocktail-style-saison, essentially betting the entire recipe on the idea that I would hit around the same efficiency as the RIS (e.g. 80%). I repeated the process in the exact same manner, near identical temperatures and—wouldn’t you know it—it came out at 81%. For the second time in a row, the mash worked out in an amazingly brilliant manner.

To put this as easily as I can, rather than get grains and aim(/hope) for a general area of ABV, I can now get EXACTLY what I want based EXACTLY on how much grain I use. The only factor that I need to have a better control over is getting a more thorough control over the yeast performance. Once that is handled, the only limitation to me making something precisely as I imagine it is to know my ingredients better.

This. Is. So. Awesome.

To top off this child-like excitement, I tapped the Coffee Vanilla Brown ale a few days ago. It is a dessert beer and a half. The malt profile already gave it great toffee, caramel, and hints of chocolate. That combined with the addition of the vanilla and the Jamaican coffee was just too much—too much in a really REALLY great way. The coffee also had some caramel notes, and gave a nice roasty touch to the beer, and the vanilla smoothes out all the ‘harsher’ flavors. The damn thing tastes like a cake. A delicious, boozy (8%), cake. If I ever make a brown ale commercially, I will definitely be choosing this variation. It may be worthy of being called a ‘holiday beer’. 

Got that glass on New Years a few years back. My coat had large pockets

In the end, the brewing lately has been a hell of a great time. I'm currently in light talk for a '5 Year Plan' for what will be referred to as Project TGT. I'm in the research phase at the moment, but as of now it is looking very feasible to start contract brewing, and soon turn the 'project' into something more. This is truly exciting stuff. But for all the excitement, I have to remind myself the lesson that I learned from brewing this week. I believed myself patient before, but I still need to increase my discipline. With sparging, fermentation, aging, and now with contracting, patience is is key. 

I'm still young. And I need to remind myself of this on a daily basis. I tend to rush things if I dont.

Wingfield's 'Willow'

Belgian Pilsner, White Wheat, Vienna, German Rauchmalt

Simcoe
American Farmhouse (WLP670), Belgian Saison Ale Yeast (WLP568)

Juniper Berries, Rosemary, Grapefruit (Zest/juice), 

A Taste of Royalty: Reviewing the fermented, and a Drop Worthy of the Court

We don't say hello. We say HAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY

This was the week of enormous amounts of shit to do. My job has been stealing away the hours of my life lately, which isn’t a wholly terrible thing. The money is good, and I still am involved with brewing, even there. Plus I’m almost finished the entire Hitchhikers Guide series. Its pretty brilliant.

The gist of all that, however, is that the cellar was a bit disregarded. Fortunately, yeast enjoys a bit of alone time, and nothing bad happens if you give it a little extra time to do its thing. The only negative side was that on this particular day off, it all stacked up, and all had to be attended. One beer, needed to be prepped for aging, another needed bottling, three others had to be transferred to secondary fermenters, and—of course—one needed to be brewed! As I sat at work realizing all of this, all I could think was four words.

Son of a bitch

There goes my ‘day off’! Though when it comes to brewing beer, its always a day off. 

I did decide to make the next day a bit easier, and handle the bottling session after I finished my shift, the night before my day off. I almost forgot how much bottling the old fashioned way blows. After I pay the next bill on my car, I’m getting my own Blichmann bottle filler. I never want to do that again. I was itching in my skin thinking of all the ways I could have infected the beer on the way into the bottle, and how it could be infecting at that particular moment. All of that added to the fact that bottle caps, fillers, and dextrose cost more than keg cleaner, I was pretty unhappy.

But shit had to be done!

So, I suffered through it. The Gotlandsdricka was the one I felt should be bottled. When I transferred it to a secondary I snuck a taste and was….concerned. Yes, this beer was meant to be smoky, but damn…its really REALLY smoky. I was pretty unsure about it, seriously thinking whether or not it was worth keeping. I eventually settled on the idea that I should just wait it out until the finished stage to make that call. I’ve had a beer consisting of 100% peat-smoked malt, and that was pretty drinkable (all things considered).

It was a good thing I waited. When I tasted the sample after the FG reading, it was still smoky as hell, but significantly more drinkable than it had been. The sweetness from the juniper and honey began to actually shine through a bit more, and covered the harsh smoke-bite a lot better than before. I’m happy with my decision, and am pretty stoked to taste one next weekend. The two cases of bottles are conditioning in the cellar.

And now, some Russkie inspiration for all you big n' rich lovers out there

The next day I started by heating up the mash water for the Russian Imperial Stout. I was going to make the recipe Shiggy and I did in New Zealand, but couldn’t pass up a challenge from a co-worker. Basically it was to make a dark beer, and use more black barley than he used. In retrospect I cant remember how much it was in English units, but my recipe says 0.65Kg of Black Barley, so the challenge was less than that. I met his challenge, and decided I was going to go for the full monty on making it a Russian Imperial. English wheat malt, Maris otter, English ale yeast.

While the mash water was heating up, I transferred Wheat Wine #2 to a keg and purged it with CO2. I’m not putting it on cabonation yet, but just using the keg as storage for aging. The gravity finished at a predictable 1.012. Upon tasting it, it was floral in a major way—absolutely gorgeous to smell. It was also crystal clear, which is just what I wanted. Tasting it was a different experience, being super bitter hop-wise. It was a good balanced bitterness, but far beyond what I wanted. There was also a hint of diacetyl, which I didn’t get at first, but after a few sips it seemed to be lurking. Overall, its good—for a hoppy imperial wheat ale at 8.6%…

After I set the mash up—and tucked the mash tun in with its sleeping bag—I transferred Wheat wine #3 to a secondary. The gravity was brilliant: also landing at 1.012—roughly 10.6%. The sample I tasted was hazy, but since it was still fermenting a bit in the secondary fermenter, that made sense. The smell on #3 was just as amazing as #2, but was hinting at it being a bit sweeter. Upon tasting, the gravity difference between the two attempts was remarkable. #3 has a great balance compared to #2, and tasting them side by side, #2 definitely has some diacetyl, but the aging should help that a bit. #3 was also bitter from the hops, but less so, and the barrel aging should help subdue that harshness.

Oh, that’s right. I got the barrel in a few days ago. It is swelled, and currently being seasoned with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. The barrel aging of the Wheat Wine wont be too long; the oak is still pretty fresh, and imparts a lot of flavor. I’ll be taking tastes every day or so, and when its at its prime I’ll put it in a purged keg to finish the aging.

No angels will be taking their share; not when a TOUGH GUY guards the barrel

I also transferred a brown ale to secondary. This was the Nogne O recipe that I did before, but this time—under the influence of my friends in Baltimore—decided it would be awesome to add coffee and vanilla to the recipe. Grant was around for brew day again, and the recipe went off without a single issue. Having someone to help lug stuff around, and clean is amazing (It's also nice to bounce ideas around with good friends!) The original gravity was 1.080, and the gravity going into the secondary fermenter was at 1.020, which I thought was high, but the other attempt I used this recipe for did the same after the primary. I’m just going to give it a long secondary fermentation and hope for the same result as the original. After a week in secondary, I’ll call it time to add the vanilla bean, and then with four days left add the coffee. It should be here by then….damn shipping.

At this point, I was sparging the Russian Imperial Stout. I was pretty nonchalant about checking the gravity, but thought I may as well stay consistent and check what I was getting straight from the mash. The gravity clocked in at 1.099, which gave me a start. Checking it progressively as I went on, even the sparge water was raking in massive gravity, the lowest, being 1.077! I had reached 22L of wort, and the preboil gravity was 1.085. After triple-checking that I recorded every single tiny detail of what I did, I may have enjoyed a bit of self-indulgent, mildly arrogant, prideful praise of my skills.

I’m only human.

While bringing the wort up to a boil, I transferred a German Alt recipe I did at work a day or so after the brown ale. Again, after being influenced by my Baltimore friends, I felt necessary to try and make a sessionable, malty, beer of which one could feel fine drinking gallons. I did some research on Alt biers because of one I had at a Baltimore local pub that left a lasting impression on me. My recipe found, I used small quantities of NZ hops, but let the malt shine through. I felt very successful after I tasted it going into the secondary. It was totally malt driven, with just the tiniest hint of full-bodied fruit—something like rich papaya, or mango, but more citrus characters. The only issue was that the gravity was too high. It’s going to be around 7%, and it should be in the 5% area. Luckily, that’s an easy fix, and I can knock the gravity down well enough. If it tastes good after being carbonated, I might have to do a 10 gallon batch…

To finish this entry off, 19.5L of Russian Imperal cooled down at about 1.095. I had to double pitch the yeast--since I completely blanked on making a yeast starter--so it should still ferment efficiently. I also made sure to toss some yeast nutrient in for good measure. It should turn out to be a mighty little beer, for sure, and in the future, I’m looking to tweak it a bit. Maybe add some smoke malt….peat smoke. I’ve always wanted that….

I also plan on aging the Russian Imperial Stout in the traditional manner. I will put it in a purged keg, and leave it outdoors. In the raw cold. It's not wildly cold yet, but it's the best I can do to replicate the long voyage from England to the Winter Palace. Historical accuracy, HO!

And finally, the lesson this week was that I may have finally found the mash practice to end all mash practices. The Russian Imperial stout came out with 80% brewhouse efficiency. For those not beer brewing nerds, thats basically the measure of how much sugar was extracted per pound of grain based on what the optimal rate would be. The short of it: I nailed it.

I hate to say it, but I may have to brew another wheat wine with the double mashing, and these new modifications. God help me, I will perfect one of these bastards…

German Alt, Wheat wine #2, #3, and the brown ale. Gorgeous! 

Coffee Vanilla Imperial Brown Ale

Maris Otter, UK pale, Eng Wheat, Munich, Crystal 20L, Amber, Brown, Chocolate Wheat

East Kent Golding, Columbus

Dry English Ale (WLP 007)

Vanilla, Twin Valley ‘Jamaican Me Crazy’ Coffee

German Alt(earoa)
American 2-row, Vienna, Munich, Crystal 60L

Nelson Sauvin, New Zealand Hallertau

Dusseldorf Alt (WLP 036)

Russian Imperial Stout
Maris Otter, Black  Barley, Crystal 80L, Eng Wheat, Munich, Cara-pils, Roasted Barley

Columbus, Willamette, Tettnang

English ale (WLP 002)

The Count of Monte Blé: Revenge on Revenge, Remedied with Revenge

I feel a bit bad about not writing anything here for a while. It’s been busy at work, and there have been beer festivals to attend. Time was not completely wasted! There is a lot to catch up on here, but first and foremost, beer has come and gone!

It was actually a bit of a toss up of where to start when I began writing. I had to go back and read the previous post to see what happened, what has changed, etc. But I found the best place to start would be to talk about the Pumpkin and Weizenbock. Both were kegged, both were drunk, and unfortunately, there were no awards. It was a bit of an odd competition, in my opinion, considering that there were no categories, it was just for the top three overall beers. Tough competition when it’s judged in that manner, but I’m not at all disappointed. I enter beers into competitions for shits. I tasted both of the beers, and I know they’re good. When it really boils down (PUN!) that is really all that matters.

However, an outside appreciation is also a huge benefit.

Taste-wise, the pumpkin was spot on. It had a perfect level of alcohol, balanced spice character, and a gorgeous body that really delivered the pumpkin theme. The color also greatly encouraged the idea of ‘pumpkin’ with a great deep copper color. That recipe is without a doubt an A+ every time.

The Weizenbock was a brilliant surprise. It came off sweeter than what I’m used to drinking (finishing at 1.030 will do that), but damn was it fine. The dark fruit characters I got during my brief tasting pulled through completely, while the smoked malt brought up the rear, leaving a delightful smoky aftertaste that lingered for just the right amount of time. If I alter the recipe at all, I will probably increase the malt quantity, and use a yeast starter for a higher pitching rate. I loved the extra body from the higher gravity, but it could have used a bit more boozy bite. Luckily, I learned a lesson in high gravity brewing recently…but I’ll save that for later!

Moral of the story: I’ll be brewing both of those again. They turned out brilliant—one person with extensive judging experience that tasted the WB claimed it was ‘professional quality’: fuck yea!—and were both relatively simple beers to make. I just need more time and more fermenters…

Next up on the list is the Serebrianka Single hop. It was a pretty straightforward brew day, since I was mainly using this recipe to experiment with a theoretical malt profile, as well as see just what Russian hops tasted like. The brewday, however, was the most normal stage of this beer. The fermentation was wild, rowdy, and intense; and for two straight weeks! After about two and a half weeks it started to slow, but ended up cranking away in the primary fermenter for a total of three weeks. It only lasted six days in the secondary—fermentation had utterly ceased after the second day in the new container—and when I got to taste a sample I laughed out loud. I wasn’t expecting the malt profile to be so close to what I had imagined. It was truly a moment of pride for me. It was the first time I had imagined a taste in theory and then matched it in practice.

I’m currently drinking a pint of it now and its great. The Serebrianka hops are interesting as hell. While I thought the Cascadian may have been infected or pulled from fermentation early, it turns out the hops give off a hearty pear flavor upon first taste, then finish with a toasted leaf? Maybe pipe tobacco-y reminiscent spiciness. It finished at 1.015, so it’s around a comfortable 6.7%. In short, it’s a tasty, just barely-sessionable, hoppy red ale.

Red Noms!

The day that I transferred the Serebrianka into a secondary was also a brew day. I had to think quick on my feet when I got a surprise day off, and luckily I had uploaded a recipe to the Beersmith recipe cloud (PRODUCT PLACEMENT) and could check what I needed.

The Gotlandsdricka I had mentioned before seemed like a fun and fairly easy beer. There was just one mild quirk that made it unique from a normal beer. The sparge water was to be juniper-infused. So while I mashed 2.5kg of smoked malt with Maris Otter and Caramunich, I boiled juniper berries in water. It smelled pretty fantastic, and gave an interesting color that I really hope contributes to the beer’s final look.

Boil End!

Boil Start 

The only issue I ran into with this one was that the European ale yeast I used was passed its date, and didn’t even start fermenting at all. Luckily I had a vial of San Diego Super yeast I was saving for a later beer, and tossed that in. Fermentation got moving fast after that! It will definitely be an interesting beer, using primarily smoked malt as well as a good amount of honey, and then a good dose of juniper. I’m really excited about it. I’m also finding I really enjoy Scandanavian brewing traditions…

As I said, the Gotlandsdricka was not a particularly challenging recipe, and in fact, none of the beers I had done up to this point were really anything more than applying different things to the same process. I needed a challenge to spice things up! So, I decided to man-up, face my fears, and challenge the wheat wine to a rematch. I’m not exactly sure what it is about the beer style, but I’m super intreagued by it. I love the concept of barley wine, but am not a huge fan. When I tasted the West Coast Wheat Wine by Baird Brewery (Japan), I was pretty smitten. I was all the fun of a barley wine, but with a more modest boozy-sweetness.

Essentially, my idea for the beer is based on that: Intense, but enjoyably drinkable. I also want it to have some qualities of a ‘wine’. Being that its lighter in color I thought I should base it off of a fruitier white. The first time I brewed it I had used Pacific Gem and Simcoe hops (trying to pull out the grapefruit for which Simcoe is famous), but since the gravity was so low—and I kept the hop additions the same—it became a super hoppy wheat ale. That just would not do.

So for this attempt, I would use the same multi-infusion mash technique (gradually increasing the temperature from room, to 65C). However, to really channel the white wine I wanted, I decided on Nelson Sauvin, Simcoe, and Citra hops. I had my 10kg of wheat malt, and was ready to show this beast who was in control.

NASA motivation is the best motivation

For good measure, I also planned on using a bit of yeast nutrient and making a yeast starter. Again; this reciipe was not going to own me twice.

building a yeastily happy home

Welp, it did anyway. The gravity bombed completely. While monitoring the mash temp, I noticed that due to the multiple infusions, I had temperature layers. The bottom of the mash was too cool to get any enzymatic activity while the top held all the heat. I stirred the mash up a number of times to try and even it out—I didn’t have to worry about the astringent side effects of stirring a mash since wheat malt doesn’t have any husks on the grain!—but was still cautions not to get the mash to the point of sticking.

The stirring didn’t do what I had hoped, and the temperature remained uneven. I took a gravity reading of the pure mash wort, and may have thrown a few things in frustration. The initial sample I took read at 1.080, which considering I needed to add at least two gallons of liquid to bring it up to six gallons I was pretty damn disappointed. After six gallons of wort was accumulated from the sparge into the kettle the pre-boil gravity was at 1.065. I was mildly frustrated…

I decided I’d deal with it, and I could do minor fixes. I adjusted the hops slightly to accommodate the lower gravity, and increased the boil to 100minutes. I also dropped some dextrose in the boil, since that strategy worked pretty well with the Imperial Stout I did with Shiggy.

I ended up with a little less than 20 liters at a gravity of 1.076. Again, more things were thrown around the garage. I tossed it in the fermenter, and spent my weekend thinking about how a giant bag of wheat fucked me over twice in a row.

My brewing notes get angry sometimes...

Lukily, I got to escape down to Maryland with some good friends. I spent a nice weekend drowning  my sorrows in good company, good beer, and saucy activities.

             

         

                                                                     (Shown respectively above...)

I soon realized that such a crime against my skills could not be dismissed so easily. I requested another day off from work, and made another yeast starter. This time, I was going big or going home. I looked up all the potential problems that may have led to a lower gravity, as well as other solutions. One thing that came up was the deadspace in the mash tun. I use a pretty sizeable mash tun, and only with the wheat wine did I breach the halfway point—and just barely. I kept that in mind, but found a potential solution that would work around my extra deadspace. Salvation came in the form of whiskey!

Basically, since distilleries also make ‘beer’ in a way, they use some similar techniques. They need to extract sugars from starches, but at a much higher density than beer since the liquid will be distilled. The technique used is called—according to my source—double mashing.

Basically, its splitting the grains in half, doing two mashes, one with a much higher gravity. Both are pretty high, but the one is super high due to using sparge run-off as the strike water for the second mash. It took a hell of a long time, but my god, the payoff was super sweet (PUN!)

                        

Sweet

And SUPER sweet

                            

The first dump into the kettle weighed in at 1.108, and the second (using 1.033 strike water) was 1.115. Both of those ‘raw’ dumps made up about 16-ish liters of wort, so the second sparge runoff was used to bring the wort up to volume. The second sparge was a bit weak so I just brought the volume up to 23.5 liters and kept the boil at 100 minutes. The preboil gravity was MUCH better (1.084 vs 1.065), and the final gravity chimed in at 1.092. I’m definitely calling that a winner for sure.

Sparge water in the kettle, high gravity wort in the bucket, and mash tun snuggled under the sleeping bag

The last wheat wine also blew over a bit, so I rigged up a blow off tube since the only thing that changed between this batch and the last one is a higher gravity. One mess was enough to deal with, but I feel like I’ve now joined some sort of officialdom now that my basement floor is sticky in spots…

A buttload of sediment you say? It settles (quite well i might add)

Depending on what the first wheat wine tastes like when I transfer it into a secondary I will decide on my next move. I currently have a 20 liter oak barrel on its way, that I plan on seasoning with a NZ Sauvignon Blanc. The idea was to let the barrel soak up the Sauv Blanc, then age the Wheat wine in the barrel until New Years (or it gets oaked enough). If the first wheat wine tastes reasonable, and the second one is also good, I’ll probably just play it cautiously, and barrel-age it on the shorter side.

But hey, it’s all still experimentation! That’s why I did two batches of the same recipe (that and I was pissed…).

I think that’s more than enough for you all. The only lesson learned this week is patience. That and I’m going to have to look into this deadspace problem more. If it does have as large of an impact as I think it might, it wouldn’t hurt to construct a smaller mash tun for the non-insane beer batches…

I'd just like to point this out: 100% wheat malt. No rice hulls. Stuck mashes are for amateurs

Gotlandsdricka
German Rauch Malt, Maris Otter, Caramunich

Sorachi Ace, Cz Saaz
European Ale (WLP011)[Failed], San Diego Super Yeast (WLP090)

Wheat Wine #2 [Multiple Infusion]
White Wheat Malt, English Wheat Malt
Nelson Sauvin, Simcoe, Citra
San Diego Super Yeast (WLP090)

Wheat Wine #3 [Double Mash]
White Wheat Malt, English Wheat Malt
Nelson Sauvin, Citra
San Diego Super Yeast (WLP090)

Back from the Borderlands: Two Tastes, and Two Kegs (always keep one in the fermenter)

Wow, it has been a while. A lot has gone on, and my lack of updates has been due to equal parts of a new xbox game, visiting good friends, as well as my aversion to having to write a really long post. I finally managed to get myself on it tonight, since there is only more beer coming, of which must be written. This isn't the lightest reading, so I should keep it as short as I can...

Enjoying autumn amidst canned farmhouse, friends, and nostalgia. I have only brilliant excuses for not writing

First things first: the Simo. I was pretty damn eager to get a taste of this one for a while, and finally had my wishes fulfilled last week. It conditioned for about 3 ½ days in a keg at 30psi (per recommendation—I’m new to the area of kegging). It worked out damn well, pouring slightly heady-er than I would have liked. The taste however was phenomenal. Heavy coco/hazelnut characteristics from the malt, with a fine accompanying hop bite at the end. It weighed in at about 9.5% and you can sure taste it. There is a bit of a warming feeling after the second sip (or so),that signals a high ABV, but nothing offensive.

Despite what you may think, this is a shot of me at work. 

 It’s a brilliant beer. I’ve gotten loads of compliments on it from everyone that’s tried it, but it could be heaps better with a bit of aging. So of course, I now have two 500ml, corked bottles sitting in my cellar. They will be opened for New Years. As is tradition.

Second up is the Tarakena. This was my first personally-kegged beer, and I’m decently content with the results. An odd descriptive, I know, but it really is the only way. This beer is good. The malt profile (to remind, is a Saison build) is spot on, and the hop additions are perfect. The issue is that upon first taste, the beer screams BELGIUM. The golden ale yeast was a hell of a lot more potent than I thought it would be (in retrospect, it’s a Belgian yeast. That’s like a French recipe in cooking—if it doesn’t floor you it’s not worth trying). The yeast character completely stole the show from the chamomile, ginger, and mint. There is a decent orange character in it, however, which really compliments the NZ hops. The ginger also makes a brief appearance, but otherwise, one would never know I used chamomile or mint.

Achievement Unlocked: Color perfection

I’m really tied, because I like the golden ale yeast flavor, but need it to be subtler. The ABV is moderate (about 6.4%), so I don’t want to short the amount of yeast pitched, and so I believe the solution is to change the yeast (which I’d be somewhat alright with) or to increase the mint and chamomile. Its really looking like I’ll have to do an experiment with this one, and do a split batch with both options to see what works best. It has a hell of a lot of potential, and so I would love to get this one down to near-perfection.

Now that the tastings have been covered, it’s time to move onto what’s still fermenting. I’m going to cheat a bit, however, since the first beer I’m covering is now in a keg. The Smoked Weizenbock(WB) is a troubling beast. I’m concerned because I had high hopes for this one and it has been—nearly—my Titanic. While the fermentation seemed fairly vigorous, it only dropped the gravity by a miniscule amount. Going into secondary it was only 1.042…

To make matters worse, I completely overlooked my fermentation set up. When I racked the WB into the secondary, I realized that I didn’t have a stopper for the damn thing. Amidst my panic I used some plastic wrap and a rubber band to ‘seal’ the opening—a strategy I picked up from some book I read somewhere along the line for making yeast starters. I kicked myself all day and made sure to get a proper seal as soon as I finished work the following day.

Low gravity, but promising taste. Why you gotta play me, Weizenbock?

I’m remaining optimistic however. It was only a jerry-rigged airlock for less than 24 hours, and upon tasting the into-keg-product today I didn’t get any signs of an infection. I am wary, however, about what I put into that keg. The gravity didn’t change from 1.042, so the ABV is roughly 5.4%—much lower than I wanted. I’m not entirely sure as to why it crapped out on me, but after reading Dave’s contribution, the issue may have been my general ignorance to the particular yeast. Perhaps I should have added more to the fermenter—the yeast presence is very subtle-to-nonexistent.

On the positive side, though, the malt profile is a thing of beauty. It has a dark fruit/date/sweetness to it, and a nice bitter bite that’s about half malt-based, half hop-based.

If you look closely, you can see bits of my perfectionism floating to the bottom...with my dreams

In addition, the level of smoke in the beer is spot on. I’m glad I showed some restraint in that area, because it is quite literally on the line of being too much for liberal WB interpretation. Overall, I think that as long as the lower ABV gets forgiven (and there is still no infection: fingers crossed), it could be an appreciated take on an already enjoyable style.

The other fermenter, of course, contains the pumpkin ale. I’m fairly certain that this recipe is flawless, because goddamn, I think Shiggy and I are going 3 for 3 on medals for this sonofabitch. Transferring into a secondary, the gravity was perfection: 1.012. At 5.5%, it’s a pumpkin ale that won’t put you on your ass, yet is still enjoyable. And tasty it is! My nip from the transfer was heaven. I would drink this beer uncarbonated. The dropping of the clove and cutting back on some of the spices helped immensely, especially with increasing the amount of pumpkin. Uncarbonated, the beer tastes thick, rich, subtly spiced, and frankly, bitchin. It will be going into the keg tomorrow (after bottling the remaining Tarakena).

Phew, what a lot to catch up on. Now onto the new things, as well as planned ventures! I weighed out the remaining Serebrianka hops the other week, and realized I had roughly 350g left….single hop IPA? Yes. I thought I could also sneak in some research for a future recipe and used a theoretical malt profile I had been planning. It consists of Maris Otter, Victory, and Crystal 60 (in decreasing % order). I did the same hopping technique used for the Cascadian Ancestral, but kept it around a total of 60ish IBU’s (following my only reference of 8Wired’s Tall Poppy…) I used the American ale yeast blend, and HO-LY-SHIT does that yeast work! 22L is currently still fermenting heavily—after a week and a half—with an OG of 1.066. I plan on transferring it to a secondary when it calms down a bit more, which it does seem to be slowing. I’m taking my time with this one, though, because I may have found the yeast/malt build for my Fenrir…

The only other thought that I had in regards to a Fenrir build occurred during my visit to Café Bruges today. They stock a new beer called the Svea IPA, which was damn good. What interested me most about it was the malt profile. They used everything. Barley, oats, wheat, and rye…it made me think. My idea of Fenrir is—obviously—something delicious, with some very specific flavors. But if I could get the same backing that this beer had along with the creativity of using every brewing grain possible…well that only feeds the beast more (appropriately so!).

Food for thought.

If you’re still with me, I may as well discuss the next two recipes in brief. Wheat wine. Round two. This time it will be what I want. I’d love to get this baby straight into bottles, and age it until new years. Only issue is—of course—not diluting the fucker again, as well as having it taste like a wheat wine rather than a hard, hoppy, wheat ale (I like the idea of the Hard (hugh)Heff, but I want to make reality what I imagine, not settle for calling screw ups my ‘works of art’).

The other was a recipe that slapped me across the face, and begged me to make it. Bored at work, I tossed through an ancient beers book and found a rudimentary recipe for a ‘beer’ called a Gotlandsdricka. With a name like that, it has to be made. Not to give too much away now, but it’s going to be smoky, sweet, and use juniper in some pretty awesome ways. It’s recipes like this that make brewing so much damn fun.

No real meaningful lessons learned for this entry (the WB will probably have a few once it is in a drinking state…), except for one. Refrigerators with a two-corni keg-capacity are hard to find, and even harder to transport in a small car…

Serebrianka Single Hop
Maris Otter, Victory, Crystal 60L
Serebrianka
American Ale Blend (WLP 060)

Two Beers in Two Days: Brewing up a Competition!

This will be a big one. Along with the usual updates, on beers in progress, the story of the weekend must be told as well. Two beers in Two days is a tall order, but I had help, thankfully. This week produced a Smoked Weizenbock and a classic Pumpkin ale specifically for entry into the Maryland Oktoberfest. Overall, it was a great weekend to brew, and having good, talented company made it all the better.

I may as well keep this in chrono-beer-o-logical order, and start with the beer on deck. The Simo Imperial Brown ale was transferred to a secondary fermenter last week, and is looking pretty as all hell. I got a nice cylinder full for a gravity reading and It’s going to end up being around ~9ish%. Not brilliant for an imperial, but acceptable for sure. After I tasted the sample, I will most definitely accept it. Even without carbonation it tastes beautiful. We’ll be putting it on tap at the shop this week, and goddamn, am I drooling to get a proper taste of it.

Though not quite in order of the events as they happened, I transferred the Tarakena to the secondary. It was doing the classic slow, annoying Belgian fermentation, but was still going steadily (but slowly) when I transferred it. The reason I did it ‘early’ was to make room for the other two beers, and yet still get some clarification from the re-racking. I may have performed a pointless act, though, since the fermentation wasn’t over. We’ll see. I’ll probably cheat a bit and buy some clarifier tomorrow. Hopefully that will give me a better result. I guess I’ll just need more carboys…

I'm a busy brewer. I gotta feed the addiction

I’ll definitely need to sit down and figure out a strategy for carboy rotation now that I have all three fermenters occupied. Two beers in two days…some might think its overkill, but I like to think I’m only imitating those I admire (cheers, Garage Project). My friend Grant came up to help me this weekend as well. He was a heavy influence on Sunday’s beer, believing that we should enter something German for an Oktoberfest competition. And it should be smoked (of course). I tossed around for a while and wrote up a recipe for a smoked weizenbock. When prompted to give a name to such a design, the Dane always provides: “Two Smokin’ Barrels” is fermenting vigorously, and will be entered first in the Maryland Oktoberfest.  

::obligatory grain-in-hands-shot::

Having someone help was fantastic. I may have to incorporate friends more often…. It also helps for other projects—such as this blog—if the friend is a brilliant photographer. In between lift-work steps, Grant took some fantastic brew-porn shots. Photos aside, he helped make the entire brewing process heaps easier.

We were given a pretty fantastic weekend to brew as well. Two days of gorgeous sunny skies, and a cool autumn breeze. Clearly, we had to brew it all outside. And brew outside we did. I used my normal mash technique for the weizenbock(WB), but added a decent rest on the end for the fair amount of wheat malt that was used in the recipe. I sparged out, keeping a close eye on gravity and getting about 20 litres of wort to boil at 1.064. And the color of the beer was….pure…Sex.

Seriously. All it needs is booze and carbonation and its fucking perfect

The boil was nothing out of the ordinary either. It consisted of just two additions of Tettnang over the course of a 90-minute boil. After the cooldown we transferred into the carboy, and measured in at about 3.5 gallons (14ish litres?) at 1.082 OG. The gravity is going to make it an intense brew, and most of that is due to the volume boiled off. I’m definitely marking this as an issue, since this now makes three beers in a row that were under 20 litres going into the fermenter. I am most certainly not a fan of this trend.

Though it is not the worst problem in the world, it is a consistent problem that needs to be solved. I partially attribute it to my paranoia from the wheat wine incident (where I diluted the wort too much). I’m too concerned about getting a decent gravity rather than get the volume for a decent mash efficiency. Although I was a bit wary to go with my first instinct to solve this issue, I ended up following my hunch. Thankfully, it turned out to do a pretty good job of fixing the issue.

OPERATION PUMPKIN RESCUE

I decided that for the pumpkin ale we did on Monday, I would get the volume I wanted rather than embark on the usual quest for the perfect gravity. I was a bit nervous to do so, since the pumpkin ale will also be an entry in the competition, but I believed that learning is learning, and that I wont win anything until the beer is 100% through the process.

I used my normal mash (again), but this time sparged until I reached a pre-boil volume of about 23 liters. I was a bit concerned at first test of the pre-boil gravity, since it was only at 1.042. I kept repeating my mantra for the day, however (me—‘it will boil off, the gravity will be fine’), and went about as usual. It was just a 60 minute boil, adding US Saaz (in place of the original Motueka), as well as dropping the cloves from the original recipe altogether.

The rest of the ingredients consisted of about 2.3kilos of pumpkin with some allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and brown sugar. By the end of the boil, the beer smelled brilliant, and even the taste was great (albeit sweet—duh). Best of all, the beer’s original gravity finished up around 1.054, and measured up to 18 liters. While the gravity isn’t exactly what I hoped for, it will give me a good level of alcohol appropriate for the style.

Not pictured: the baked pumpkin seeds we lustfully devoured 

So clearly, the lesson for the day (or weekend, rather) was that I need to remind myself that fucking up is totally fine. Though the turn around process of brewing takes a lot longer than most hobbies, a complete failure won’t leave a hole in my pocket. And it certainly will not leave me with wasted time. With the records that I keep, I’ll be able to detect exactly what went wrong, what to fix, and will—overall—be better off from the experience. I took a leap from my comfort zone in guessing the boil-off amount, but it worked out well. I might have to use the finer calculators in Beersmith now…

brewing barefoot, however, is totally within my comfort zone.

To close it all off for this entry, the fermentations are going great. The Tarakena is up to speed again after the secondary transfer, and the pumpkin is going along nicely. Best of all, Two Smokin’ Barrels is fermenting like a rage-fueled monster. While I’m excited for all of them, I’m definitely most eager to see the results of the WB. I’ve never made anything like it before, and so far, everything is going along brilliantly.

Raise a glass for good luck to the WB and Pumpkin ale competition entries. Let’s hope a nuveau-fusion interpretation of a German classic will be accepted among the judges! And more so, lets see if this pumpkin ale recipe can go 3 for 3 in terms of winning medals!

(All photos are credited to the His Most Honorable Vikingness, Herr. J. Grant Knud-Hansen, TGT)

Two Smokin’ Barrels Weizenbock
Torrified wheat, Belgian Pilsner, Melanoiden, Caramunich, Special B, German Rauchmalt
Tettnang (4.5%)
Dusseldorf Alt (WLP036)

‘Ajack’ Pumpkin Ale
Maris Otter, Munich, Crystal 120L
US Saaz
California ale (WLP 001)
Pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, allspice