Never Saw it Coming: the Simo Hayha Brown Ale

So, it has been an extremely eventful few weeks. I left one job, and got another at a homebrew store. So far its going great, and its always a pleasure going to work. When things get boring I just plan what to brew next. Life is clearly not sucking. To top things off, I checked the gravity on the Cascadian Ancestral after my week in Seattle to discover the yeast had an intergalactic kegger while I was away (or perhaps a reverse kegger?). I didn’t believe the reading so I tasted the sample I took. Turns out, 8.7% is the legit abv. MUCH higher than I intended, but this now confirms that my FG readings were not ‘hogwash’. It’s a bit bitter, so it seems Beersmith was telling the truth about the IBU’s. I’m pretty sure the carbonation will balance things out though, because otherwise its tasting fiiiine.

The beer this week was entirely unintended until yesterday. Working at a homebrew supplier has its perks. While the endless grain, hop, and yeast supply is good enough for anyone, the place I work also teaches classes. This means that they have brewing equipment on hand that can be used. This also means that, on really boring days, when all the work is done, the employees need something to do…

Que Mad-Scientist-Maniacal- Laughter 

Well, it was a really slow Thursday at the store, and the one manager’s bitching reached its peak with him addressing the empty room with a loud, ‘FUCKING HELL THIS SUCKS’. I thought I should calm him down with some light humor, so I suggested we should brew since we’ve got all the equipment to do it. He looked me in the eye for a moment then said,

            ‘Ok, bring in a recipe tomorrow, and we’ll do it.’

After a few moments of trying to gauge the level of sarcasm and finding none, I spent most of my energy trying to act nonchalant rather than a giddy 10 year old on Christmas morning. So that is how I got access to a brilliant range of devices and utilities to brew. And since I could now do and use essentially whatever I wanted for ‘work-related purposes’, my mind went straight to the most complicated recipe I hadn’t yet brewed. Imperial Brown Ale it was.

For those that have not experienced god’s love, Nogne O Imperial Brown Ale is perhaps the epitome of brown ales. In its prime it is flawless (in my opinion as well as many many others).  The recipe I used is one that is supposedly a clone of the Norwegian beer. I actually cannot remember where I found the recipe, but since the Nogne O brewer himself seemed to think the yeast and hop additions were good I’ll assume it is to be at least an honorable tribute to his glorious creation.

In the process of the day, I finally got to take advantage of the grain wall. The amount of imagination that poured out of my skull when I first saw that beautiful structure was nauseating. Most homebrewers would need a change of pants after seeing it, and I was told to choose what I needed, and have at it. Pay? Nope. It was time to get eight kilos of grain on the house. Fuck. Yes.

Thats not the wind. Just the sound of a thousand glorious beergasms

On top of the wall-o-grains, I was introduced to my new lover. Her name is the Blichmann boilermaker and burner. 20L of COLD water brought to a boil in 10 minutes (roughly enough time to help two customers). So much brewing porn; too good to be true.

After today I’ve also decided that I’m going to brew with more people more often. Everyone has their pet-peeves and their habits, and what they think works best. For me, I get my jollies off of learning mashing techniques. Today’s was one I never heard of before; a sort of tweaked decoction. My coworker began describing it to me and I just went along with it, bowing to his experience, as well as succumbing to my urges for unorthodox mash-study.

Added the hot water to the Gatorade-cooler mash-tun first, and then stirred in the grain in small amounts. Instead of letting it sit for an hour, we left it for a mere 30 minutes. In the meantime, we boiled about a half gallon (nearly 2 liters) of water, and then scooped out 8liters of the mash mixture into the boiling water—grain and all. That concoction was then brought to a boil, and then transferred back into the mash tun, where it was mixed in once more. This then rested for another 15 minutes. The time complete, we opened the valve and drained the entire liquid contents of the tun into the kettle.

As for sparging, we had another cooler filled with another 5 gallons of hot water, which we added to the ‘dry’ mash tun. This rested for 15 minutes, and then was drained/added to the kettle up to the desired boiling volume.

The first 'sparge' into my new lover. You know you like it

Though my coworker advocated using seven gallons, I followed my own judgment and went for six gallons instead. The guys at the shop are not incredibly wild about the gravity recording idea, which I find insane. Maybe its my kiwi (brewing) upbringing, or that I’m just all about being able to repeat things I do (or possibly the fact that making this hobby a profession isn’t completely out of the question), but recordkeeping is something I’m anal about. Regardless, the gravity was testing lower than desired at six gallons, so I called it quits there.

The boil, again, was easy enough. Chinook at the start of the 90 minutes, heaps of US Golding at 10, and some Columbus at 5. Used a gorgeous wort chiller AND an ice bath to cool the beast down, and then tucked it in with some Dry English Ale yeast in a 30L glass carboy.

Just a taste of the mind-blowing selection i had to choose from 

Overall, it was a super easy brew day. The thanks must definitely be extended to the fact that I didn’t have to drop a penny for anything, and had access to near-professional equipment. As for the new mash technique, it worked well, but I’m not fully convinced. The hands-down, best mashing process I’ve used so far still has to go to the wheat wine-mash. Though it was a nearly two-hour process, it prevented a 100% wheat mash from getting stuck, and—had I not diluted the bastard—would have produced a perfect gravity.

I plan on using this mash technique again with my next beer. I’ll be doing one more before my second attempt at a pumpkin ale, which will be a Summer ale. It will be attempting to reproduce something along the lines of Coronado’s Saison By the Sea. After that, however, there are two competitions coming up that I will be entering. The first is the Maryland Oktoberfest homebrew competition, which I will be working with my good friend to produce three entries. It will be a 50L mash, split into three 15ish liter batches. The plans are up in the air, but one will likely be the pumpkin ale. As for the other competition, that is a PA-based venue, and I may have to conceive my long-contemplated Fenrir for that one.

Lesson of the day: 30L of beer should not be moved alone. My right bicep is seared medium-rare.

Simo Hayha Brown Ale (Nogne O Imperial Brown Ale clone)

Maris Otter, Belgian Wheat, Munich, Crystal (20L), Amber, Brown, Chocolate
Chinook, US Golding, Columbus

Dry English Ale (WLP007)