Schizoid Pils

I love to have a good German or Czech style pilsner on tap at home. Pilsner in general is one of the styles I've brewed most frequently since I started homebrewing. Being able to brew your own is great because it is harder than it should be to find good commercial examples of the style that are well made, fresh, and in good shape. Lagunitas Pils and Victory Prima Pils are two American brewed interpretations of the styles that I enjoy.

The past few batches before this one I had been working at least one, sometimes two decoctions into the mash regime. I am a fan of decoction, especially in lighter styles like pilsner where I think the subtleties the process produces have plenty of room to shine. For this batch however I just didn't feel like bothering with all the extra effort so I put together a simple recipe calling for just a single infusion mash with a small amount of specialty grains for a little depth of malt character and body.

Czech saaz is usually my go-to hop for these types of beers. At some point last year I read a Zymurgy or BYO article comparing European grown noble hop varieties to their US grown counterparts and  modern crosses. It got me thinking that US grown hops may in general be fresher than imported hops having been spared the potential additional heat, oxidation, and aging introduced by transatlantic transport. With that in mind and just out of curiosity I decided to try out US grown saaz hops.

I have been using a very soft water profile for my pislners. The last two batches I brewed using 100% distilled water with minimal salt/mineral additions. For this batch I used 30% distilled water mixed with my already relatively soft tap water. In the mash I added a small amount of CaCl for calcium and 1ml of lactic acid to lower the mash pH.

After fermentation and six weeks of lagering this beer turned out great. Very crisp, clean, and bitter. I'm very happy with it. It placed third out of eight entries as a German Pilsner in the light lager category of the Olde Hickory Pro-Am in North Carolina a couple weeks ago.

I think that the US Saaz comes off a little sharper than the Czech stuff. Even after toning the IBUs down based on my last batch, there is a moderate lingering hop bitterness, something I enjoy and that is appropriate for the German style, but I think a little less would be better. I'm not sure I'll use the American Saaz again. Every once in awhile I think I smell a hint of onion out of it, no one else that has tried the beer seems to smell it though.

As far as the specialty grains go, I went very light handed. I think the carapils amount could be doubled with good results for more body and depth. A little bit of munich or vienna wouldn't be bad either. This beer turned out to be more of a German pilsner than a Czech due to the body, malt character, and the bitterness. I think that in order to push it more toward the Czech style without doing any decoctions more specialty grains and less bittering hops would be moving in the right direction. Using floor malted Bohemian Pilsner malt as a base would be good idea too.

Tasting Notes

Aroma: very subtle aroma especially when cold. Mildly floral and a touch of malt pilsner malt sweetness. Little to no esters. Clean and appropriately lager-like.

Appearace: Excellent clarity, light straw color (lighter than the picture above suggests). White head with some lacing. 

Flavor: very light clean pilsner malt with moderate spicy, herbal, hop flavor and moderate hop bitterness. Hop bitterness lingers past the finish and a touch of malt makes another appearance. As it warms more graininess comes through along with a little touch of alcohol.

Mouthfeel: light bodied with good carbonation

Overall: I'm very happy with the way this beer came out. Crisp, clean, bitter, and refreshing. A great beer for Spring. A pilsner of the German persuasion but with Saaz hops. I am a little suprised at the bitterness and I may consider toning it down just a touch in future batches. I was very light handed with the melanoiden malt and I cant really tell what it added to the finished beer, not to say I'd add much more for a delicate beer like this.

Schizoid Pils Recipe

OG: 1.050

FG: 1.011

ABV 5.1%

IBU: 38

Brew Date: 21-Jan-2011

Grist Bill

Amt	Name			%
10 lbs 4.0 oz	Weyermann Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)			94.8 %
5.0 oz	Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)			2.9 %
4.0 oz	Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM)			2.3 %

Hops

1.00 oz	US Saaz [4.90 %] - First Wort 90.0 min			19.5 IBUs
1.50 oz	US Saaz [4.90 %] - Boil 25.0 min			17.3 IBUs
1.00 oz	Czech Saaz [2.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min			1.5 IBUs

Mash

• Single infusion at 151°F for 60 minutes. 1.5 qt/lb

Fermentation

• Yeast: Wyeast 2001 Urquell Lager
• Decanted yeast from a 3.5L stirplater starter made on Tuesday for Saturday brewing. Put in fridge 2 days before brewing to flocc the yeast.
• 40 seconds of pure O2 with stone
• Pitched ~500ml of decanted yeast at 48°F fermented at 50°F until 80% of fermentation was completed. Then a diacetyl rest at 60°F, then a few days at room temp 70°F because I still detected diacetyl
• Lagered at 39 degrees for 5 weeks before tapping.
• Visible fermentation after 17 hours

Water

• 2/3 Stafford County water and 1/3 distilled water.
• Added 1ml lactic acid and 1.5 grams of CaCl to the mash. 

Brewday Notes

• Mash pH 5.45 at room temp after 10min and 1ml lactic acid
• Cold outside. Mashed in at 152°F. After 20 mins temp was 146°F;. Heated and recirculated back up to 153°F

Other Notes

• Third place (out of eight) in the Light Lager category of the 2012 Olde Hickory ProAm
• Future recipe tweaks will include raising the mash temperature a degree or two and maybe increasing the carapils malt by 1/4 lb for 5 gallons. Just a touch more body would be nice. Also tone down the bittering hop addition by a couple IBUs

Prophets Cave - Hoppy American Brown Ale

I've brewed three batches of American Brown Ale over the past year or so. The first batch I brewed surprisingly ended up qualifying for the MCAB competition so I rebrewed it twice before submitting my entry many months later to try and perfect the recipe as well as to submit as fresh of a beer as possible. Unfortunately I still haven't gotten the beer where I want it. The first batch didn't have enough hop character for me and the last two batches were too bitter and lacked the body I wanted. I plan to keep working on this beer but its probably going to be awhile before I tweak it and brew it again.

This review and recipe is for the last batch I brewed that I submitted to MCAB competition in the American Ale category. Overall it turned out good but just too bitter for what I am shooting for and furthermore for the BJCP American Brown Ale subcategory. The judges agreed, giving it a 30/50 and stating that it was too bitter and could use more body. A friend commented that he liked it but thought it was more of a Black IPA than an American Brown.

My goal for this beer is a malty brown ale with flavors of toast and chocolate along with a big American hop aroma and flavor. For the third batch I used Maris Otter as the base malt instead of US two row and decreased the bittering IBUs to bring it more into balance. Much to my chagrin it still came out more bitter than I wanted. 

Something strange to me about this beer is that before dry hopping it I really liked the samples I tasted from the carboy. The hops seemed to be more in balance. After 5 days in a corny at room temperature with .75 ounces each of cascade and centennial I perceived that it had much more hop bitterness than before. I know that common wisdom says that no bitterness is contributed from dry hops, but it sure seemed to me that I got some along with additional aroma and flavor.

Future improvements for this recipe will include lowering the bittering addition to 20 IBUs and maybe switching from magnum to something else like warrior, which I used and liked in the first batch. I'd also increase the percentage of crystal malt.

Tasting Notes

Aroma: citrus, pine. A small touch of malt and chocolate as it warms

Appearance: deep, deep, dark brown. Almost appears black without enough light.

Flavor: When cold hops dominate. Bitter citrus and grapefruit. Some underlying chocolaty, toasty malt flavor but not enough to stand up to the hops. Clean fermentation character with little to no perceivable esters. Finishes with a lingering strong hop bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light bodied.

Prophets Cave American Brown Ale

OG: 1.061

FG: 1.015

ABV: 6.1%

IBUs: 41

Grist Bill

Amt	Name			%
11 lbs 4.0 oz	Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)			86.0 %
12.0 oz	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)			5.7 %
8.8 oz	Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)			4.2 %
4.5 oz	Carafa I (337.0 SRM)			2.1 %
4.0 oz	Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)			1.9 %

Hops

0.63 oz	Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min			27.0 IBUs
0.71 oz	Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min			10.6 IBUs
1.00 oz	Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min			3.3 IBUs
0.49 oz	Cascade [5.50 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min			0.0 IBUs
0.49 oz	Centennial [10.00 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min			0.0 IBUs
0.75 oz	Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days			0.0 IBUs
0.75 oz	Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days			0.0 IBUs

Mash

• Single infusion, resting at 152°F for 60 mins. 1.5 qt/lb

Water

• Stafford County water
• I lost my salt addition notes, but I added CaCl and Gypsum to both the mash and boil. As usual targeting a little over 50ppm Calcium.

Fermentation

• Yeast: WLP 001 California Ale with appropriate stirplate starter based on Mr. Malty Pitching Rate Calculator.
• Pitched at 65°F and left in primary for two weeks at 68°F rising to 70°F near to the end to finish.

Cascade Brett Saison - Tasting

I've been drinking both halves of the Cascade Brett Siason I brewed last December for a couple months now. Both turned out great and are very different from one another as a result of the different bugs each was pitched with. I finally got around to writing up some proper notes on how each half turned out.

WLP 565 is still my favorite saison yeast. I love the type of dryness it creates and the esters and phenols it generates. This was my fifth batch of saison and of those five batches my favorite two were made with 565. Despite this yeast's infamous tendency to stall out during primary fermentation (which I experienced first hand in my first batch of saison), I did not encounter any trouble with this batch. The 565 and other yeast cultures took the beer from 1.050 to 1.005 in three weeks with no trouble at all at room temperature (67 - 70 degrees). I have to wonder if this was because of the secondary yeast strains, the health/size of the 565 starter, the fermentability of the wort that I made or a combination of all of those factors.

I bottle conditioned both halves of this beer, targeting 3 volumes of CO2. Saison is the only style I brew that I have nearly always bottle conditioned. Long term it should also be beneficial for this beer as it can age with plenty of viable yeast and bugs in the bottles as it ages at room temperature.


WLP 565 & Brett C.


Aroma: Mild orange peel and delicate citrus fruit. Very floral with subtle phenols.

Appearance: Light straw with a white pillowy head. Slight haze.

Flavor: smooth pilsner malt backbone with sweet fruit and spicy phenols. Despite its dryness the fruity flavors give some impression of sweetness. Hop bitterness is present to balance an lingers after the finish unlike the L'Enfant version. Finishes dry and crisp.

Mouthfeel: light bodied with strong carbonation.

Overall: 
Dry, crisp, and refreshing. Pils malt character and floral aroma and bitterness of cascade hops play off the dry peppery phenols and fruity esters of the Dupont yeast.

 As far as the Brett goes though I go back and forth as to whether or not some of the fruitiness on the nose or some of the bitterness is actually brett derived. 565 on its own has plenty of fruitiness. If the brett expressed itself in any amount it is very very subtle. If no one told me to look for Brett in this beer I doubt I'd think it was anything other than a straight saison. For this reason I entered this beer in NHC as a regular Saison. If I want more Brett character in a future batch of this, I would consider making a starter from the WLP Brett C vial or giving it more time to develop.


WLP 565 & L'Enfant Terrible Dregs

Aroma: Pineapple, tropical fruit, and some underlying brett funk. No discernible hop aroma.

Appearance: straw color with white pillowy head. Slight haze.

Flavor: Pisner malt backdrop with a lemony hop bitterness and spice. Tropical fruit and brett funk flavors deliver what the aroma hinted at. Malt and fruit are balanced by a slightly citrusy hop bitterness. Little to no sour/tartness. Moderate carbonation and a crisp dry finish.

Mouthfeel: light bodied with strong cabonation.

Overall: The complex nose and crisp dry finish make this an interestingly enjoyable and refreshing Belgian style ale. I get both the dry peppery and estery character of the WLP 565 as well as the funky & fruity character of the yeast/bacteria from the L'Enfant Terrible dregs. I have to wonder specificlly what types of yeast and bacteria where present in the dregs. I perceive a lot of Brett character but there is certainly no way to know if there wasn't a variety of other bugs in those dregs. I entered this on in NHC in the Belgian Specialty category as a Saison with brett.

Black Friday Imperial Stout - Kate the Great

 

Last November I brewed my second annual Black Friday Stout. For this batch decided to go big ABV-wise and brew up a beer based on the Portsmouth Brewing Kate the Great recipe that has been floating around the internet. I used the recipe shared by Todd Mott, brewer at Portsmouth Brewing, posted here on the Mad Fermentationist's blog. After fermentation, two months of bulk aging/conditioning and a month of bottle conditioning I've just recently started to drink this beer in the past two weeks.

collecting second runnings and bringing to a boil

In terms of recipe, the beer I brewed differs from Portsmouth Brewing's Kate the Great in a few minor ways. First, they age Kate with port infused oak spirals. I brewed a 5 gallon batch, aged half on bourbon soaked medium toast Hungarian oak cubes for a month, and left the other half straight unoaked. The gravity of my batch came up a little short at 1.095 (recipe calls for 1.104). The final difference being that I didn't use any palisade hops at flameout because I forgot to order them and could not find any at the local homebrew shops.

decanted yeast in a 4000ml flask

After primary fermentation. I racked the beer into a 5 gallon corny and aged it for one month. Then I racked off half into a second corny and let it sit with the oak cubes and let both halves sit for another month at room temp (around 68 to 70). This was the first time I'd done any room temp aging in corny kegs and I liked the fact I could purge them with CO2 and draw off samples with a picnic tap.

very vigorous fermentation called for a blowoff  setup

I chose to bottle condition this beer mainly because I plan to keep it around to age for awhile, and my bottled beers tend to stick around longer than the kegged ones. Although I did not repitch yeast at bottling it turned out that I should have. My reasoning was that the fermentation had gone well and the final abv of the beer (10%) was less than the maximum listed alcohol tolerance of 1056 (11%). I primed both batches targeting 2.1 volumes of CO2 and after three weeks the bourbon oak aged half had carbonated but after 4 weeks the unoaked half was still flat (opposite of what I would have expected). At that point I uncapped each of the unoaked bottles and dosed them with three to four drops of rehydrated S-33 yeast using a medicine syringe. A week later the unoaked bottles had carbonated.

Tasting Notes (oaked version)

Aroma: chocolate, subtle oak and subtle bourbon. Coffee and alcohol. More alcohol as it warms.

Appearance: Black with a tan head. Deep mahogany at the edges when held to light.

Flavor: Caramel, dark chocolate, and alcohol. Finish is has a very subtle roastiness with a firm hop bitterness. The bitterness and alcohol linger. Each sip starts sweet and then the bitterness of the hops and some roast take over. Full bodied and thick. More esters and alcohol as it warms.

Mouthfeel: full bodied, slightly viscous. Alcohol warming on the finish.

Overall: A good imperial stout. I'm happy with the body and mouthfeel. Bourbon and oak are very subtle in the flavor and could be increased. The beer has a good amount of alcohol heat and flavor which should smooth out as it ages. A little more roastiness and dark grain character would be welcome.

I've never had Portsmouth Brewing's Kate the Great but I may be on the lookout for a bottle this year to do a side by side tasting. Eventually I'll post tasting notes for the unoaked version. Cheers.

Recipe

2011 Black Friday Imperial Stout (based on Kate the Great)

OG: 1.095
FG: 1.020
ABV: 10%
IBUs: 63

Malt Bill

18 lbs 8.0 oz	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)			77.6 %
12.8 oz	Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM)			3.4 %
12.8 oz	Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)			3.4 %
12.8 oz	Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)			3.4 %
12.0 oz	Carafa I (412.0 SRM)			3.1 %
8.0 oz	Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM)			2.1 %
8.0 oz	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 45L (40.0 SRM)			2.1 %
6.4 oz	Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)			1.7 %
3.5 oz	Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)			0.9 %
3.5 oz	Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)			0.9 %
3.5 oz	Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)			0.9 %

2.0 oz           Light DME

Mash

60 minute single infusion at 149°F

Hops

Amt	Name			%/IBU
1.14 oz	Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 75.0 min			37.0 IBUs
0.79 oz	Perle [8.00 %] - Boil 75.0 min			14.6 IBUs
0.78 oz	Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 75.0 min			9.7 IBUs
0.18 oz	Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min			2.0 IBUs
0.21 oz	Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 0.0 min			0.0 IBUs

Fermentation

• Yeast: Wyeast 1056
• Chilled to 64 degrees, aerated with 45 seconds pure O2. 
• Pitched yeast from 3 liter stirplate starter built from one 10 day old smack pack. 
• fermentation started at 65 degrees. Most of fermentation conducted at 66 to 68 degrees, then allowed to rise slowly until finished at 71 degrees.

Brewday Notes

• Planned extract efficiency was 73%, actual efficiency was 67%. Added what little DME I had (2oz), then boiled down before adding bittering hops to get closer to planned starting gravity. 
• collected 8.1 gallons of wort (planned for 7.8) boiled down pre-bittering hops to concentrate to OG. 
• Final runnings volume was 5.5 on kettle sight glass but could only drain 4.75 gallons into the carboy.

Sour Cider - 2 Years Old

Last night I drank the last bottle of the sour cider I made back in October of 2009. It left me wishing I had several more bottles. It was an example of why its always a good idea to stow away a six pack of a good homebrewed beer or cider for aging over a couple years.

While it still had a crisp tartness, most of the sourness had surprisingly mellowed with age leaving only a mild tartness reminiscent of what you would taste in a granny smith apple. The mellowing of acidity did catch me off guard, but the phenomenon agrees with information I've read. On this page, Raj Apte has a great graph titled "Lambic Fermentation Dynamics" that plots the pH evolution of a lambic during fermentation. You see the pH bottom out at just above 3.0 around 72 weeks before it increases back up to 4.0 after just over 2 years. Although this isn't a lambic, its a pretty safe guess that lambic souring bacteria such as lacto and/or pedio are responsible for the sourness that it developed so it stands to reason that the acidity evolution would be similar.

Unlike most of the ciders I've made, this one was made with fresh pressed preservative-free juice from a Virginia orchard. I think that over time, the use of this juice does generate more complexity in the finish cider. Fresh cider season has passed so I will make a note to get several gallons this year when it rolls around to make another batch of this.

Tasting Notes

Aroma: Apple juice. White wine-like acidity.

Appearance: very clear light straw color. No head, very litle carbonation

Flavor: like biting into a granny smith apple. Dry, yet fruity with a pronounced tartness that creates a crisp finish. Drying tannins.

Mouthfeel: Very light bodied with little carbonation.

Gravity Adjustment Calculator - Update

I recently updated my Gravity Adjustment Calculator to operate in metric units as well as US standard. You can access it using the link below:

http://www.ahomebrewlog.com/gravity_adjustment/

The suggestion for adding metric units came from a homebrewer in Australia.  Its pretty cool to get feedback from down under. It sounded like a good addition and I figured it was time for an update anyway.

Let me know if you have any suggestions for improvement or if you find any problems. I'd also like to hear any ideas for other web-based calculators or brewing tools.

Cascade Brett Saison

Two weeks ago I brewed this saison. Its the fifth batch of saison I've brewed. You'd think by now I'd have a solid recipe or at least some tricks, but no, nothing but mediocrity so far. Looking back on the saisons I've brewed, my favorite was actually the first one, It had a peppery aroma and dryness that I just didn't get from any of the other yeasts I've tried. The last batch I made was pretty good, but I felt that the yeast character of the WLP 568 Saison blend was more reminiscent of a Belgian blond than a true saison.

I brewed an 11 gallon batch and split it three ways. I got crazy with the yeast selections and experimented with a couple different pitches of Brett. I kept the hopping on the light side of the style, but used Cascades for some American flare. The grist bill was simple with Pilsner,wheat, and a dash of oats for some classic Saison cereal grain diversity and a little bit of body.

Having tried multi-step mashes on past batches of saison for the purpose of drying out the beer,  I really haven't found that it improves fermentability over what I get by using a cool single infusion and 10% simple sugar in the grist bill. So I kept this one simple an employed a single infusion at 148°F. After a 90 minute boil, the wort was chilled and aerated with 30 seconds of pure O2 in each of the three fermenters.

6 gallons was kept straight 565 only and went away with a friend who shared the batch costs and helped out with the brewday. I kept the other 5 gallons and split it with two kinds of brett in two 3 gallon carboys.

In my first 2.5 gallons I pitched a vial of WLP 645 Brett C.

In the second 2.5 gallons I pitched a portion of a starter I had built up from the dregs of a funky beer I brought back from Belgium. The beer was L'Enfant Terrible a beer from Dochter Van De Korenaar. It had a big tropical fruit and malt nose and a firm bitter Brett finish. I really enjoyed the beer and immediately decided to build up the dregs. I had no problem getting a starter going, the dregs seemed very hardy.

None of the three portions of the batch had any of the stuck fermentation problems commonly associated with WLP 565. My first batch of saison with 565 saison stuck at 1.020 and I had to pitch another yeast to finish it. I even fermented this one on the cool end of spectrum for where you can push this yeast and still hit 1.005.  The only thing I can figure on this one is that I made a huge starter resulting in a really large pitching rate. After two weeks the Brett C. portion has no sign of funk so its safe to say that it wasn't the Brett that drove the FG down (the non-Brett portion finished at 1.005 too).

I plan to bottle condition both Brett batches at a high carbonation level in thick bottles. I may also bottle a blend of the two Brett batches. Perhaps I will get a few bottles of the un-bretted version from the guy who split the batch with me.

Cascade Brett Saison
Batch Size: 11.5 gallons
OG 1.050
FG 1.006 or less
Boil: 90 minutes
SRM: 3.3
IBUs: 27

FERMENTABLES
  Qty                 Ingredient                  %
15.75 lbs      Pilsner Malt                    75%
2 lbs             Wheat Malt                    10%
1 lb               Flaked Oats                     5%
1 lb               Clear Candi Sugar (boil)   5%
1 lb               Table Sugar (boil)             5%

HOPS
60 mins      .8 oz      Magnum    14% AA     19.2 IBUs
15 mins    1.25 oz    Cascade    5.5% AA    5.7   IBUs
5  mins     1 oz         Cascade    5.5% AA    2      IBUs

YEAST
WLP  565 Saison (Dupont) 3000ml starter from 1 vial
WLP  645 Brett Claussenii
Starter of dregs built up from a bottle of Dochter Van de Korenaar L'Enfant Terrible

WATER
Mash: 2g each CaCl and Gypsum
Boil: 1g each Gypsum, Epsom

MASH
Single infusion rest at 148°F with 1.5 qt/lb for 75 minutes

FERMENTATION
Fermented inside at room temperature (70°F)

NOTES
@2 weeks
     L'Enfant- 1.006
                     Aroma: mild funk and moderate citrus and acidity
                     Flavor: bright cirtus and acidity
                     Mouthfeel: very light

    WLP Brett C. - 1.005
                      Aroma: mild sulfur. White wine. 565 character is there with no Brett.
                      Flavor: a touch of sulfur and hop bitterness.
                      Mouthfeel: very thin.
                      Overall much less characterful than the L'Enfant version. Needs more time.