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)