12.19.2011

Flanders Red finally on Cherries! Weird ass dream!

I had a really weird dream on Friday night.   In my dream, I went to my fermenter to take a look in at my first sour beer (still in carboy) and it was completely clear like water.  Not so much like water, but more like that clear Crystal Pepsi.   Also (in my dream) it had half a pumpkin and some other random vegetables floating in it that presumably soaked up all of the color.  Anywho...I realized upon awaking that Saturday morning that I should probably do something with that beer.

My first sour beer I ever brewed was an American Style Flanders Red Ale that I brewed 11 months ago.  It's been in secondary (an Ale Pale) for the last 6 months and has been getting more and more sour, at least as far as I could tell from sniffing the air lock.   After my weird ass dream,  I decided to take a taste and figure out how it's doing and where I want it to go from here.   The sample was a nice ruby, brown color.   Smell was nice and tart with caramel and cherries.   Taste was a little tart, malty, oaky,  not sour on the end but actually a little sweet.   I don't exactly know what the different acids taste like, but I don't get a lot of vinegar at all (which I believe is acetic acid).  The bottom line is, it tastes good!

I decided that now was the time to split it up. 
3 gallons to Rest -
I siphoned 3 gallons into a 3 gallon better bottle for longer term storage.  I'm hoping that this will get nice and acidic over the next year or longer.  If not, I'll end up bottling this portion as is.  It definitely tasted pretty damn good right now, but not as acidic as I'd prefer.
3 gallons on Tart Cherries -
The second 3 gallon portion was sitting in the Pale and I dumped 4 lbs of Tart cherries into that mix!   I tasted  a tiny bit of the cherry juice and it was definitely very tart.  I think this will complement the beer very well as I don't think it's going to be as tart and sour as I want on it's own!   The first pitch of Rosealare tends to not be extremely acid.   Should be ready for bottling in about 6 months.   June is the perfect time to be drinking a Flanders ale with Cherries!

12.12.2011

ECY 03 Farmhouse Brett and ECY 02 Flemish Wild and the Brewday from HELL!

So I started off my Sunday all bright eyed and ready to go.  I'd finished one complete week of p90X!  I'd recommend p90X to anyone who's gotten a little loose around the edges from brewing and drinking.  To reward myself (for this small accomplishment) I decided that I deserved a Brew Day!  Remember.... 90 is for 90 days...and X is for Xtreme!  Bring IT!!!

The Disappearing Yeast
In my head I wanted to do a 10 gallon batch of what I had planned on being a Saison Brett experiment that could be drank next summer.   I was going to pit WLP 670 American Farmhouse Blend (presumably The Lost Abbey strain (brett. b.) against the ECY 03 Farmhouse Brett.   I know at one point a few months ago I had that damn vial of WL hanging out in my keezer but for the life of me I could not find it, and it probably was a little old any ways.   That throw a little monkey wrench in my plans.  Luckily I had another vial of East Coast Yeast sitting in my fridge, ECY 02 which is a flemish blend.  I didn't think the Flemish blend would be appropriate for the Hoppy Siason Brett I had been planning so I ended up boiling two separate pots and leaving out the 60 minute hop addition for the Saison turned Flemish Wild Ale (too many IBU's can restrict Lactobacillus).   What started out as a Saison Brett experiment turned into a East Coast Yeast experiment and I can't wait to taste that ECY02 eight to twelve months from now!  So... I had that yeast/changing up my recipe at the last minute issue.

The Stuck Mash
Then I had the whole stuck mash issue.  This was a fun one to deal with...really fun.  I have never had a stuck mash or sparge before in almost 50 beers.  I've heard of them, dreaded them, learned to deal with them from horror stories, but had somehow eluded one for almost 3 years.   This was a 10 gallon batch so it wasn't exactly a small issue.  I don't know why I had a stuck mash since I've used unmalted wheat, wheat, oats, spelt, and lots of gelatinous stuff in my mash's before and never used rice hulls.  My guess is because I threw in a pound of unmalted wheat at the last minute.  I knew that I needed to either do a more complex mash schedule or do a cereal mash on the side if I really wanted to get much of anything from them, but I decided to just throw them in and hope that they create some long chain sugars that would be available for the brett, pedio, lacto, and whatever else is in these yeast blends from Al Buck.   Anyways, as I tried to run off my first runnings the grain bed would get so compact that it would slow my run off to a trickle. Since I usually batch sparge, I ended up switching it up a bit.  As the wort would slowly drain off I would pour some of my hot sparge water in the top and stir it up to hopefully thin out the mash some.   Then I'd vorlauf again and continue the process.  I did this a few times, and eventually it started flowing a little better.   I ended up eventually doing my first pseudo fly sparge as I trickled sparge water over the top of the grain bed.  I ended up with 10 gallons of sugary water in the end so I guess everything worked out.   I made it happen and that's all that matters.

The Truth Will be Told
I heard this quote (not word for word) from one of the brewers on the Surly website at one point and it stuck with me.  "Any brewer can make a fantastic beer under perfect conditions, but it takes a great brewer to make a fantastic beer when everything goes wrong."  Hopefully I prove to be the latter.

My original recipe was a sort of, psuedo Boulevard Saison Brett clone so the Saison portion should be something similar to that.  The Flemish funk portion should be something like a barrel aged Lambic type version of Boulevard Saison Brett.  And then I had an extra couple of gallons of 2nd runnings and added about .75 ounce of 3 year old Celiea hops.  Hopefully I'll be able to pour the dregs and propagate Boulevard Saison Brett yeast for future batch's!

The Wedge - Saison Brett

malt & fermentables

%
LB
OZ
Malt or Fermentable
ppg
°L
60%
8
0
Rahr Pilsner Malt
34
2
26%
3
8
American White Wheat
39
2
6%
0
12
Corn, Flaked
37
1
4%
0
8
Belgian Candy Sugar Light
36
0
4%
0
8
Wheat, Unmalted (Wheat Berries)
34
5
0%
0
1
Carafa III
32
525

13
5



Original Gravity
1.052 measured
Final Gravity
Color
8° SRM / 15° EBC
(Gold to Copper)

hops

use
time
oz
variety
form
aa
boil
60 mins
0.7
Simcoe
leaf
13.0
boil
20 mins
0.6
Simcoe
leaf
13.0
boil
15 mins
0.5
Amarillo
leaf
7.0
boil
10 mins
0.5
Amarillo
leaf
7.0
dry hop
10 days
2.0
Amarillo
leaf
7.0
Boil: 6.5 avg gallons for 90 minutes
Bitterness
41.3 IBU / 23 HBU
ƒ: Average
BU:GU
0.77

yeast

ECY03 Farmhouse Brett
ale yeast in liquid form with low flocculation and 90% attenuation
Alcohol
6.4% ABV


The Great Divide - Flemish Golden Wild Ale

malt & fermentables

%
LB
OZ
Malt or Fermentable
ppg
°L
60%
8
0
Rahr Pilsner Malt
34
2
26%
3
8
American White Wheat
39
2
6%
0
12
Corn, Flaked
37
1
4%
0
8
Belgian Candy Sugar Light
36
0
4%
0
8
Wheat, Unmalted (Wheat Berries)
34
5
0%
0
1
Carafa III
32
525

13
5



Batch size: 5.5 gallons
Original Gravity
1.060 measured
Final Gravity

Color
8° SRM / 15° EBC
(Gold to Copper)

hops

use
time
oz
variety
form
aa
boil
20 mins
0.6
Simcoe
leaf
13.0
boil
15 mins
0.5
Amarillo
leaf
7.0
boil
10 mins
0.5
Amarillo
leaf
7.0
dry hop
10 days
2.0
Amarillo
leaf
7.0
Bitterness
15.8 IBU

yeast

ECY02 Flemish Ale
ale yeast in liquid form with low flocculation and 90% attenuation
Alcohol
7.3% ABV


 ***I mashed high, in the 158-160 range
 
3.20.12 - Sampled it and took a PH reading.   PH is at 3.8.  The taste is a nice funky saison with wheat and hops and tartness all intermingling nicely.  Fruity brett with a little musty brett in the nose.  Very fruity and refreshing in the taste.  

5.18.12 - Added 1/4 ounce Medium Toast French Cubes to both ECY03 and ECY02 versions. 
5.28.12 - Bottled ECY03 Saison Brett version with 7.1 ounces of corn sugar in Champagne and Belgian (750's and 375's) to reach 4 volumes of Co2.

11.21.2011

Apollo Hops - Need to get me some of these hops!

I need to get me some Apollo hops.  They sound amazing.  Dank, Orange, Citrus, Pine, tons of oil, and super high AA%!  I think I'll get me some of these!  Sounds like Amarillo on crack!

I recently heard about these hops because I had listened to a  podcast on The Brewing Network show Can You Brew It  where Jamil and crew breakdown a homebrewers beer called "The Dankness".  What initially interested me was the fact that they were going to talk about scaling up a homebrew recipe created by Nathan Smith to a recipe for commercial production.  This has been of particular interest to me because I've been wondering about hop utilization and how that will change (presumably increase) on a larger scale.  While their podcast fell a bit short in that, they did talk about these Apollo hops that I think I'll need to be using in my next version of The Chronic.  

On a side note of my hop utilization questions.   I ended up getting a pretty decent answer to this question.   Last week I attended a "Technical Tour" put on at Harriet Brewing by Owner/Headbrewer Jason Soward.  This was the first technical tour at Harriet and since Jason was a homebrewer-turned-Pro I figured he'd have a lot of answers to the few questions I have left about professional brewing operations.    Obviously one of my biggest concerns is scaling up a recipe.   On the tour I think I asked 10 times more questions then anybody else...but hey...I needed clarification...and that's what I do...ask questions (I am in sales).   Jason has a 10 hectoliter(8.5 bbl) bavarian brewhouse and he said that the hop utilization didn't change too dramatically from his homebrewing set up (keggle system).  If anything, he said his hop utilization increased 5-10%.  This was much less then I had imagined.  My research on larger systems had come up with people saying that they get 3 times more hop utilization going from a homebrew to a 15 bbl system (which didn't make sense in my mind).   Another thing I learned was how to do a decoction mash on a professional style brew house as Jason explained his process to me in depth!  It basically requires the monster of all brewing pumps! 

I also wanted to say that I was extremely impressed with Jason as the tour went along.  He was extremely technical and could rift back and forth from subject to subject with ease.  You could tell that he knows his shit inside and out and I'm extremely excited for Harriet's continued success.  I know that he will be around for a long time and that is a great thing for Minneapolis!    If you haven't tried any Harriet beers, SEEK THEM OUT!

11.08.2011

pLambic - Turbid Mash brewing!



“The lambic family are not everybody’s glass of beer, but no one with a keen interest in alcoholic drink would find them anything less than fascinating. In their “wildness” and unpredictability, these are exciting brews. At their best, they are the meeting point between beer and wine. At their worst, they offer a taste of history.”  quote by Michael Jackson (the beer hunter/writer)


I did it!  I finally brewed a Lambic style beer!  The majority of people have never tried nor even heard of a Lambic.  This is because the style is practically extinct.  There are a handful of breweries in the Lambic(Lembeek) region of Belgium which is the only region that you can actually brew a beer of this style and call it a Lambic.  It's kind of like how you can't call Sparkling wine made in California Champagne.  To be called Champagne it needs to be from that region of France.  This style is essentially being resurrected by homebrewers and and a handful of US micro-breweries who have patients enough to age beer for 2+ years and then eventually blend the aged beer with younger beer.

There are a lot of crazy weird practices for making a traditional Lambic beer that go against everything I've learned about brewing.
  1. Turbid mash (purpose is to create wort that normal brewing yeast has trouble fermenting on it's own so that that various Brett and Bacteria have something to chew on over the long fermentation)
  2. Hot sparge (over 170 degrees) to extract tannins(?)
  3. Super long boil
  4. Usage of old aged hops
  5. Traditionally left out to cool overnight in a cool ship so that it takes on wild yeast and bacteria.
  6. Fermented in an old wine barrel that harbors yeast, and bacteria
  7. Left in primary fermentation on the dead yeast for 2-3 years. (dead yeast is food for the funk!)
  8. Finished beer is typically blended with younger less sour versions or aged on various fruits.
______________________________________________________________________
Recipe-

malt & fermentables

%
LB
OZ
Malt or Fermentable
ppg
°L
63%
5
0
Belgian Pils
37
2
38%
3
0
Wheat, Unmalted (Wheat Berries)
34
5

8
0




Original Gravity
1.040
Final Gravity
1.00?
Color
5° SRM
Mash Efficiency
68%
hops(three year old Celeia hops)
use
time
oz
variety
form
aa
boil
240 mins
2.5
Celeia
pellet
1.0

________________________________________________________________________
Yeast-
I'm extremely excited about this yeast.   I acquired it from Princeton Homebrew Supply where the owner Joe Bair has hooked up with a bona fide yeast wranglers named Al Buck.  Here is Al Buck, talking about the yeast he cultures.
ECY01 BugFarm 5 - Lambic Blend
A large complex blend of cultures to emulate sour beers such as lambic style ales. Over time displays a citrus sourness and large barnyard profile. Contains yeast (S. cerevisiae and S. fermentati), several Brettanomyces strains, Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. The BugFarm blend changes every year and can be added at any stage of fermentation. Now producing Bugfarm 5 for 2011 (includes a newcomer – Brettanomyces nanus & naardenensis). Also, B. lambicus/Dekkera bruxellensis known to produce citric acid.

_______________________________________________________________________
Turbid Mash -
Here is the process I went through for doing the Turbid Mash.  I found that the most comprehensive information on traditional Lambic production was written by Jim Liddel here who based his turbid mash schedule on the way Cantillon still brews their fantastic beer today. I also referenced The Mad Fermentationist blog who put together a great step by step Turbid Mash brew day with pictures!

I simply followed these 8 steps and used about every pot and pan I had in my house! The good news is that I hit all of my temperatures within 1 or 2 degrees!  


1.) In kettle #1 add water at 144 F(62 C) to the crushed grain to achieve a temperature of 113 F (45 C) (about 2.4 quarts of water). Mix grain and water thoroughly and allow to rest at 113 F for 10 minutes. This amount of water is enough to just wet all the grain and flour. The mash needs to be stirred very well to make sure all the grain is wetted and no clumps of flour are present. Total time for this step is about 20 minutes, with the temperature rest included.

2.) Next, add 3.5-4.5 quarts boiling water (212 F)(100 C) to the mash to bring the temperature to 136 F (58 C). Do this over the course of 5 minutes making sure to mix thoroughly. Allow the mash to rest for 5 minutes at this temperature. Remove about a quart of liquid from the mash and add to kettle #2 and heat to 176 F (80 C). It will take about 3.5 quarts of water to raise the temperature to 136 F and you will end up with a very soupy mash with plenty of excess liquid. The liquid taken off should have the appearance of milk. Once heated it will clear up and large particles of hot break will form.

3.) Add 5-6 quarts water at 212 F (100 C) to the mash over the course of 10 minutes to bring the temperature to 150 F (65 C), again with constant mixing. It will take about 5 quarts of water to achieve this temperature. Allow the mash to rest for 30 minutes at 150 F (65 C). At this point the mash will be very soupy and the liquid much less milky in appearance.

4.) Next remove 4 quarts of liquid from kettle #1 and add to kettle #2. Continue to heat kettle #2 at 176 F (80 C). The liquid removed from kettle #1 will be very cloudy but not quite as milky as the liquid previously removed.

5.) Add 5 quarts of water 212 F (100 C)water to kettle #1 to bring the temperature to 162 F (72 C) and allow to remain at 162 F for 20 minutes. Again it will take about 5 quarts of water to reach the rest temperature. The mash should be very thin and soupy with a great deal of small particulate matter in the liquid portion of the mash.

6.) After the 20 minute rest the liquid in kettle #1 is run off and brought to a boil in a 3rd kettle (#3). Enough of the liquid in kettle #2, at 176 F, is added back to the mash in kettle #1 to bring the mash to a temperature of ~167 F (75 C). The mash is allowed to rest at 167 F for 20 minutes. Any liquid left in kettle #2 can be added to the previously collected run off in kettle #3. It will take most all the liquid in kettle #2 (~1.25 gallons) to raise the temp of the mash to 167 F.

7.) After 20 minutes the wort in kettle #1 is recirculated to clarify it and the sparging with 185 F (85 C) water is begun. Sparge until run off gravity has dropped to less than 1.008 and boil it with the previous run off from kettle #1. Boil the wort, now in kettle #3, until the volume is reduced to ~ 5 gallons.

8.) As the wort begins to boil it is hopped with approximately 4 ounces of aged hops as described in the Hops section. With all the water additions and sparging you will end up with about 9 gallons of wort. Total boiling time to reduce this volume to 5 gallons depends on your system.  It took me 4 hours to boil from 11 gallons to 5.5 gallons.
_______________________________________________________________________

****My advice, have a trusty thermometer and a bunch of pots full of boiling water and you should be fine! There were a couple of instances where I had to add an extra few quarts of boiling water to bring the temp up to where I wanted it!
****Also, double check the day before you brew to make sure you have enough Propane! 
_______________________________________________________________________
I plan on adding 1-1 1/2 oz o f French Oak cubes soon after the initial fermentation is done.   In about 8-12 months I'll sample the beer and most likely take a portion of it into another vessel and add 4 lbs of Wisconsin cranberries that I have in my freezer!  I'm hoping to have something similar to New Glarus - Cranbic at some point, but less sweet. 

I'll update this post as I see it progress over the next couple of years!  Should be drinking this one by 11/8/2013! 



1.29.12 - Sampled this with Kevin.  It smelled barnyardy.  Taste was just simply gross.   It tastes very similar to my Flanders Ale when it was young.   That Flanders is tasting amazing now at 1 year old.  

4.16.12 - Just read that New Glarus used 1200 lbs of cranberries for a 160 Barrel batch of Cranbic.  That's the equivalent of 4.13 lbs of cranberries per gallon of beer.  For a 5 gallon batch that's 0.25 lbs of Cranberries!

5.18.12 - Added 1/2 ounce Medium Toast French Cubes.

11.07.2011

Wild Cider + French Saison yeast


For years now I've wanted to get myself some cider to ferment and turn into hard cider.   I'd always heard that getting pasteurized cider just doesn't do the trick.  See the pasteurization process requires you bring the cider to a temp above 170 degrees which also alters the flavor slightly.   In MN and most of the US it's illegal to sell unpasteurized Cider do to health concerns.  Unpastuerized cider contains bacteria, yeast, and potentially mold.

I decided that I was going to try and get my hands on some unpastuerized cider this year and so I called up Pepin Heights and they told me that I could drop off a bucket and they'd fill it up the next time they press apples.  That just wasn't gonna happen as Pepin is too far away and I'm just not that dedicated to doing this.   Then the next week I got an email from a member of the MN homebrew Club, Jonathan Beckel,  who was doing a group buy from a local orchard.  When all was said and done I believe he picked up some 150-200 gallons of cider of which I took home 5 gallons!  

Distribution was set to be at Barley John's this Saturday during the national "Teach a Friend to Brew day"!   It was a great event.  I brought my boy down there (Leo) and we hung out for a while. 

I believe Al Boyce was brewing one of the batch's, a Russian Imperial Stout.   I'd never met him so it was interesting to talk to him a bit, look at his recipe and ask him a few questions about barrel aging. He informed me about the "two thumbs" rule when doing a barrel aging project.   When multiple people contribute beer, everyone samples it and gives either a thumbs up or a thumbs down.  Two thumbs down and you're contribution didn't make the cut for the barrel!

I also ran into Don Osborn whom I've corresponded over e-mail a couple times but had never met.  His video "Easy All-Grain Brewing - Batch Sparge Method" was what inspired me to take the jump from extract to all-grain brewing some 2+ Years ago!  I sampled his Fresh Hop IPA (with his Homegrown hops) as well as a cider (2010).   Both were fantastic!  He gave me some good advice on my cider that I took.   I had planned on using 4 lbs of brown sugar, and he said that would be pretty extreme as his was 9% and he used 2 lbs of brown sugar.   He also back sweetened his with 3 cans of frozen Apple Juice concentrate.  Being that his was about exactly how I'd want mine to taste, I'll probably try and replicate what Don O done did!

For making cider you have so many options with yeast as well as process.   Here are some of the what I was considering.

What yeast should I use?
  • Leave it alone and let the natural yeast that is already in the cider go wild?  Jonathan Beckel did this to 5 gallons last year and said that it fermented beautifully and that it had the most body and natural apple flavor out of all of his batch's.  I think he had something like 35 gallons last year!
  • Ferment with a clean wine yeast.  Cuvee?  Not sure, but any LHBS will usually recommend the same wine yeast strain.  This will produce a very clean cider that ferments almost completely and is tolerant to fermenting in a wide range of temps.  (you can't go wrong)
  • Ferment with a beer yeast. I know Crispin uses a bunch of different varieties of beer yeast for various products.
  • Ferment with some Funk (Brett C. would probably be really tasty!)
Do I want use camden tablets first to kill any wild yeast or bacteria that may be in the Cider before I pitch some yeast?
  • Yes, this would be the safest route, but you have to let it sit for 24 hours before pitching yeast then and what if the camden tablets aren't 100% effective?
  • No, brewers yeast is so strong that it will out compete any other yeast and the alcohol will kill all of the other yeast and bacteria first...so no worries.
Do I want to add sugar?  If so what kind of sugar?  How strong will it be?

Cider -

  • 5 gallons of freshly pressed unpastuerized Apple Cider -(update on types of apples and orchard to come)
  • 1 lb. of dark brown sugar
  • 1 lb. of brown sugar
  • Pitched it with Wyeast 3711 French Saison (I thought that this may complement the Apple because it's fruity and spicy)
  • Wild yeast and bacteria should be out worked by the yeast I pitched but I didn't use a camden tablet to hopefully retain some of the rusticness of it!
  • ABV - Should be somewhere in the 9% range although I didn't take any readings
  • I'll age this for at least 6 months until spring and most likely keep it on tap for my wife and friends that can't handle fantastically flavorful malty, bitter or funky beers!

10.29.2011

Finally brewed a Belgian Tripel / Double IPA! Houblon Chouffe Clone



I've been closely watching my Cream Ale Split batch to see how the different yeasts performed (American Ale 1 vs. Belgian Ardennes).   To be honest, I thought that the Belgian batch may have been infected because it was giving off some odors that made me wonder.   I decided to chill out, not jump to conclusions, shake up the carboy a bit and get the yeast back into suspension and let them clean up whatever funkyness was going on.   My first thought was, shit, brett, pedio, lacto, or all three were still hanging out in the carboy from either my saison bretts or my flanders beers..   Luckily all it needed was a bit of time like I suspected.   The main reason I was worried about infection was because I had been planning on using the yeast cake for a big Hoppy Tripel!

Finally I brewed a Belgian Tripel / Double IPA!  A year and a half ago when my wife and I found out we were pregnant I celebrated with a fantastic beer, Houblon Choufe's: Dobbelen IPA Tripel.   If you haven't tried this beer, you really should.  It's essentially a Belgian Tripel with American hops.   When I first tasted this beer I immediately declared it my favorite beer of all time!  I love american hops.  I love belgian yeast (unless it has banana flavor going on, for some reason I don't dig on banana in my beer.)  I guess I could swoon about Houblon Chouffe all damn night and how it's the perfect beer for me....maybe not for you who even knows.   It really is a great beer...for me.  If you don't like it that's your own damn problem.

Here's what I ended up doing for my attempt to create something similar to Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel.  It should be a little more assertive on the hops then Houblon Chouffe but very similar concept and recipe basics. Mash at 144 degrees for 30 min. Step up to 154 for 30 minutes. Batch sparge and collect 8 gallons for 90 minute boil rigorous boil.

Rock Stead Easy - Dobbelen IPA / Tripel

malt & fermentables

%
LB
OZ
Malt or Fermentable
ppg
°L
68%
13
0
Belgian Pilsner Malt
34
2
21%
4
0
American Two-row Pale
37
1
11%
2
0
Belgian Candy Sugar Light
36
0

19
0



Original Gravity - 1.088
Final Gravity -1.011

ABV:  10.1%

Color  5° SRM
Mash Efficiency
70% 
hops
use
time
oz
variety
form
aa
first wort
90+ mins
1.0
Columbus
pellet
15.4
boil
30 mins
0.25
Saaz
pellet
3.5
boil
30 mins
0.25
Sorachi Ace
pellet
13.7
boil
7 mins
1.0
US Fuggles
pellet
4.5
boil
5 mins
0.75
Saaaz
pellet
3.5
boil
5 mins
0.75
Sorachi Ace
pellet
13.7
boil
1 min
1.0
Amarillo
leaf
7.0
boil
1 min
1.0
Glacier
pellet
5.6
dry hop
10 days
3.0
Amarillo
leaf
7.0

11.20.11 - Transferred to secondary and took a sample.  Lots of orange citrus. Tasted a little bit hot, maybe a little fusel but other then that it tasted really good.  Put it on 3 oz. of Amarillo hops.  Gravity reading is 1.020.
12.4.11 - Gravity reading is 1.011 after shaking up the fermenter and raising temp from 68 to 77 over 10 days.  Terminal Gravity is 1.011 which is a little higher then I was hoping for, but the fusels are completely gone now and this seems to be ready to drink!   I'll crash cool, and then keg in the next couple of days!
12.15.11 - First tasting- Yum!
Appearance:  Golden crystal clear.  nice head and decent retention
Aroma: Yeast is not present.  I'll stress the yeast next time instead of overpitch like I did on this batch. bready initally which surprises me. sweetness in the nose.  I'm not getting the Amarillo dry hops and I'm not getting the Amarillo, Glacier in the nose.  Maybe I have a cold.  All I smell is bread.
Flavor: starts of with sweet lemons, and mixes with maltyness in the middle.  Finish's citrusy sweet on the finish.  Really smooth and extremely drinkable.  No alcohol present what so ever.
Mouthfeel: smooth creamy mouthfeel.  light bodied.

10.10.2011

Blonde Ale split batch (American Ale 1056 vs. Belgian Ardennes 3522)


Busted out a 10 gallon batch last night as the leaves fell around me on a warm Minnesota Autumn evening!

For this beer I took my inspiration from Northern Brewers: Cream Ale kit.  This kit was the fifth batch of beer I ever brewed almost 3 years ago now.   It turned out really well and the toasty, bready quality was something that I really loved and still remember.  I switched it up a bit in that I used Simcoe instead of Cluster hops and I FWH'd it as I thought the fruityness of the Simcoe would work well with both yeasts, but still hopefully let the biscuit and honey malt shine.  We shall see!


Here are the details:
Crushed the grains really fine (thought I'd get better efficiency but didn't)
Mashed 10 gallons of Nordeast Mpls tap for 60 minutes at 153 degrees
Sparged 6 gallons of Nordeast Mpls tap for 15 minutes at 169 degrees
Used 5.2 stabalizer
Collected 13.5 gallons


malt & fermentables

%
LB
OZ
Malt or Fermentable
ppg
°L






89%
16
8
American Two-row Pale
37
1
8%
1
8
Honey Malt
37
25
3%
0
8
Belgian Biscuit Malt
35
24

18
8



Batch size: 11
Original Gravity
1.040
Final Gravity
1.007 - American Ale @65 degrees
1.009 - Belgian Ardennes @65 degrees 
Color
5° SRM
Mash Efficiency
68%(crap!)

hops

use
time
oz
variety
form
aa
first wort
60+ mins
1.0
Simcoe
leaf
13.0


bitterness
24.0 IBU
alcohol
4.4% ABV for American Ale
4.1% ABV for Belgian Ardennes

My tap water is actually still really warm because of the unusually warm fall weather in Mpls, so I could only get the wort down to 77 degrees.  I decided to put the carboys in my lagering chamber.  I taped the temperature probe to the side of one carboy and set the Johnson Temp control to 65 degrees with the lid slightly open.  I'm hoping that I have a nice solid fermentation going in both vessels when I get home from work today. 

I pitched each carboy with different yeast as glorified yeast starters. I've been wanting to brew a Houblon Chouffe type beer for over a year now, so I pitched Belgian Ardennes 3522 yeast onto 5 gallons to get a nice supply ready for my Belgian Tripel/DIPA that I'll be brewing in a few weeks. I also pitched American Ale II onto the other 5 gallons and I'll most likely be brewing another version of The Chronic in a few weeks.   ***Update..American Ale II didn't get started (old smack pack) after 24 hours so am pitching 1056 tonight!  

Rant: Most of you are brewing Stouts right now, but me, me...I'm brewing a session beer.   I also have a bunch of ECY (East Coast Yeast) I recently acquired so I'll be brewing a bunch of sour beer very soon.  In planning is a 10 gallon batch of Lambic (half on ECY Lambic Blend and half on my 3rd generation yeast cake from my Flanders Red Project).   Also, I will brewing another Flanders 5 gallon batch and Pitching ECY Flanders Blend.   Then, I'll be doing a 10 gallon split batch of Saison, half with the American Farmhouse blend (The Lost Abbey blend) and half with the ECY Saison Blend!

9.23.2011

US Sour Beer Guide: Sour, Brett, and Funk Beers of the US



Belgian is the king of Sour beers.... at least that's what I thought before doing some research on Breweries in the US that are diving into the barrel of funky, sour, and brett beers!  Yes Belgian is king when it comes to sheer volume, consistency, quality, and taste.  But sour beer is definitely picking up steam in the US.  

I for one would love to be able to go to the liquor store and find a whole section of Sour or Brett beers made in the USA.   Supply definitely isn't keeping up with demand.  Case in point, last week I was at the Lost Abbey in San Marcos, California.   I was extremely stoked in anticipation to try some of their sour offerings.  I walked up to their taps and bottles and to my dismay couldn't find a single sour beer available.  Yes their other offering are amazing, both from The Lost Abbey and the Pizza Port.  But with almost 1500 Barrels full of sour beer across the street in their warehouse, clearly the supply is not able to keep up with the demand.   The US market mainly is in "experimentation mode" with their sour beer production.   Only a few breweries in the US are consistently putting out sour beer with most of the beers produced being "one offs" never to be seen again and drank by a select few.  Right now Belgian is an extremely mature market while the US is in it's infancy.  It'll be interesting to see the US sour beer market mature! 


If you haven't tried any of these wild beers, I highly recommend it as they can be some of the most unique, refreshing, tart, complex, amazing beverages you will ever try in your life. Think tart apples, grapes, wine, tart cherries, and refreshing fruit


Allagash Brewing Co. The Grumpy Troll Restaurant and Brewery


Confluence Ginger Tart
Gargamel Cherry Brew
Interlude Peach
Larry Raspberry
Vagabond Sunshine
Victor Francenstein
Avance Goose Island Beer Company
Coolship Cerise
Coolship Red Juliet
Coolship Resurgam Sofie
Indigenuts Amara
Mattina Rossa Athena
Vrienden Blackberry Dominique
Kinison Bourbon Barrel Aged Lolita
Little Big Beer Bourbon Barrel Aged Sour Raspberry Matilda
My Other Brother Daryl Cherry Dominique

Dominique
The Alchemist Pub & Brewery Grapefruit Sofie

Lolita
Bacchus Madame Rose
Celia Framboise Mae
Mis-information Pepe Claussenii
Petit Mutant Pepe Nero
Whonky Pomegranate Juliet
Wild Child Sour Grapes

Sour Shimmy
Alpine Beer Company Wilder
Chez Monmee
Ichabod Ale 2009 Great Lakes Brewing Company
Ned

The Dalai Lambic Wild Ale
Arbor Brewing Company

Half Acre Beer Company
Brasserie Greff Kriek
Demetrius Barrel Aged Rainbow Rye
Flamboyant Wild Red Ale Pear Goss
Penumbra
Sodibo Barrel Aged Blond Ale (Sour Series) Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant
Special Reserve 2005
Velvet Hammer Cassis de Hill
Framboozled (Sour Series) Berliner Weiss

Du Armand
Avery  Flemish Red (Fred)

Framboise De Hill
Avery De Vogelbekdieren (The Platypus) Funkin
Dihos Dactylion Kriek De Hill
Dries Ellies Lambic De Hill - Unblended
15 Mondo
Brabant Oud Bruin
Dépuceleuse
Quinquepartite Ithaca Beer Company
Sui Generis
Eremita Brute
Immitis LeBleu
Meretrix Frute #1
Opus Altar Boy Frute #2

Geektoberfest
Ballast Point Brewing Company

Jackie O's Pub & Brewery
BC Hout
Beachwood Blend (Hout Series) Berliner Weiss
Gueuze (Hout Series) Brown Recluse

Cab Cherry Man
Bear Republic Brewing Co. Chunga's Old Bruin

Cuvee De Jackie
Cuvee De Bubba Dynamo Hum
Old Scoutter's Call of the Wild Funky South Paw
Prickly Pear Grizz Proto Blonde
Sotoyome Amber Pygmy Twilight
Sour Crazy Ivan Quincedence

The Grand Wazoo
Bell's Brewery Vulcan Faunus

When Life Gives You Lemons 
Wild One
Oarsman Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales


Boulevard Brewing Co. Bam Bière

Bam Noire
Saison-Brett Bam With Jasmine

Bamagranite
Bootlegger's Brewery Bambic

Baudelaire Ale Absurd
76 Barrel Aged Sour With Cherries Baudelaire IO
Blackberry Mother Pucker Belipago
Bluebonic Funk Biere De Goord
Fresh Lambic Bière De Mars
Kentucky Wild Bière De Mars - Grand Reserve
Knott Sour Lambic Calabaza Blanca
Lambic #1 Calabaza Blanca With Hibiscus Flowers
Lambic #1 with Kombucha Cultures Collababeire Special holiday Ale
Lambic #2 E.S.Bam
Lambic #3 Fuego Del Otono, Autumn Fire
Lambic #4 La Parcela
Lambic #5 La Roja
My Cherry Amour La Roja - Grand Reserve
Olallieberry Lambic Lambicus Dexterius
Olallieberry/ Acia Lambic Luciérnaga, The Firefly
Pink Funkasaurus Luciérnaga, The Firefly - Grand Reserve

Madrugada Obscura, Dark Dawn Stout
Brewery Ommegang Maracaibo Especial

Noel De Calabaza
Biere de Mars Oro De Calabaza
Ommegeddon Perseguidor
Rouge Project Greenleaf Heavy Nettle
Zuur Project Greenleaf Hummocky Lick Sumac Sensation

Raspimical
Brooklyn Brewery Roja De Kriek

Weizen Bam
Wild 1 Weizen Bam With Hibiscus Flowers
Brett Ops

Leelanau 
The Bruery

Golden Ale
Cuvee Jeune Whaleback White
Hottenroth Berliner Weiss Ptoskey Pale Ale
White Zin
100% Brett Autumn Maple Lift Bridge
BeRazzled
Blue Palms 3rd Anniversary Sour Raspberry Lambic
Bottleworks XII
Carmen With Cranberries Lost Abbey, The / Port Brewing Co.
Carmen With Raisins
Collaboration Series: ISO:FT  10 Commandments
Collaboration Series: Marron Acidifie Amazing Grace Ale
Gueze Style Ale with Blueberries Anti Ox
Kriek Cable Car
Oude Tart Carnevale
Oode Tart with Sour Cherries Cuvee de Tomme
Sour in the Rye Double Cherry Red Poppy
The Wanderer Double Cuvee De Tomme
Vitis Series: Pinotlambicus Double Raspberry Framboise De Amorosa

Duck Duck Gooze
Bullfrog Brewery Duck Duck Guava

Framboise de Amorosa
Beekeeper Isabelle Proximus
El Rojo Diablo Le Woody Brune
Frambozen Red Poppy Ale
Liquid Sunshine Reserva Just Another Barrel #2
Magic beans Saints Red Barn
BeeSting Gone Wild Russ
Busted Lawn Mower Kegs Gone Wild Sinners Blend 2010
Citra-Delic Wheat Gone Wild Soured Avant Garde
El Diable Deluxe Veritas 008
Hop Harvest 2009 Gone Wild Veritas 009
Inspiration Wild
SamO Blend #667 (aka The Neighbor of The Beast McKenzie Brew House
The Jaspers
Tim and Kathy's Strawberry Fields Black Et Bronzage
Water of Life Kegs Gone Wild Version Irma Extra
Wits End Gone Wild Tristessa


Cambridge Brewing Company Midnight Sun Brewing


Benevolence Pride
Berliner Kendall Open Container
Cerise Cassee American Sour Ale Whatever
Consternation
Creaky Bus New Belgium Brewing Inc.
Double Happiness
Honey Badger Lambic La Folie Wood Aged Beer
Kriek Du Cambridge 2009 Le Terroir
Nom De PlumPisser Mauvais Transatlantique Krie
Reckoning Black Folie
Resolution #9 Felix
Rose De Cambrinus Eric's Ale

Erics Ale Bourbon barrel Aged
Captain Lawrence Brewing Co Fall Wild Ale

Imperial Berliner Style Weisse
Barrel Select Batch 1 Vrienden
Cuvee de Castleton Love (Apple Whiskey Barrel Aged)
Flaming Fury Love (Blackberry Whiskey Barrel Aged)
Little Linda’s Liquid Love (Foeder #3)
Rosso e Marone Love (Peach Whiskey barrel Aged)
Funky Sour Cherry #2 Oscar
Gueze  Shadow of the Foudre
Saturday's Sour Blend 2011 Tart Lychee
Xtreme Blend 2011 Trip III

Trip VII
Cascade Brewing @ Raccoon Lodge Twisted Spoke 15th Anniversary


Apricot Ale New Glarus Brewing Co.
Blackberry Ale
Cuvee du Jongleur R & D Golden Ale
Kriek Ale Raspberry Tart
Nightfall Blackberry Unplugged - Berliner Weiss
Sang Royal Unplugged - Imperial Saison
The Vine Unplugged - Old English Porter
Vlad the Imp Aler R & D Bourbon Barrel Kreik
2011 Kriek Blend With Bourbon R & D Gueze
80 Shilling Sour Scottish Ale Unplugged Cranbic Ale
Apple Pie
Bahri Date Bain New Holland Brewing Co.
Barrel 323
Bourbon Belgium Quad Blue Sunday
Beck Berry Moxie Sour Ale
Blauw Van Der Jon Berry
Bourbonic Plague Odell Brewing Company
Cherry Gold Yeller
Funk II Saboteur
Gold Yeller Flagship in Oak
Noyeaux Friek
Sang Noir Hiveranno
Sang Rouge DeConstruction Golden Ale
Sang Royal Shenanigans
Spring Gose Sour Olde Ale
Straight Bourbonic The Revolution
Summer Gose Weiss Versa
Winter Gose
Bourbon Double Red W/Bourbicide Pizza Port / Port Brewing Company
Figaro
Flanders Red Le Woody Brune
Honey Ginger Lime Mo' Betta Bretta
Honey Ginger Rye Pizza Port Synergy
Lipsmacker Gose Synergy
Port Reserve
Pre-Bourbonic Russian River Brewing Company
Sweetartz
Vintage Red Beatification

Compunction
Cigar City Consecration
Grandma's Funky Sour Berry Deification
Guava Grove -Wild Depuration
Jolly Guava Deviation - Bottleworks 9th Anniversary
Vuja De Framboise For A Cure
Vuja De - Red Wine Barrel Aged Sanctification

Sour Pumkin
Cisco Brewers Inc. Supplication

Symposium Sour Brown Ale
Cherry Wood Temptation
Dark Woods Toronado 20th Anniversary Ale
Feral Barrel
Full and By Rye Saint Somewhere
Lady of the Woods
Monomoy Kriek Lectio Divina
Pechish Woods Lectio Du Chene
White Woods Pays Du Fleurs
Winter Woods Pays Du Soleil


Craftsman Brewing Co Santa Fe Brewing Company


El Prieto Sour black Ale Wild Ale #1
Extreme Braggot Wild Ale #2
Flanders Red Wild Ale #3
Honesty Ale Wild Ale #4
Sour Grapes Wild Ale #5
Summers End Sour Wild Ale #6 Bordeaux Barrel Series

Wild Ale #7 (Surf Mountain Sour)
Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project

Sixpoint
Good Glory
Pure Guava Petite Sour Sour Diesel
Wild Wild Brett "Rouge"

Ska Brewing Co.
Dark Horse Brewing Company

Ska Sour
Lambeak Wants Peachy
Richard in Mouth W/ Kumquat Stillwater Artisanal Ales
Whiskey Richard Lambeak
Lambeak Wants Raspberry Red 33

Chardonnay Barrel-Ages Stateside Saison
Deschutes

Surly
The Dissident
Green Monster Pentagram
Solace Rose Five
Sour Cherry Porter

Telegraph Brewing Company
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Gypsy Ale

Obscura Amber
Festina Pêche Obscura Arborea
Fungus Tea'Mungus Obscura Volpine
Midas Touchstone Petit Obscura
Goser The Gosarian Reserve Wheat Ale


Drake's Brewing Co. Trinity Brewing


Brett Butler Old Growth
Brett Soul Glow Sour Ale TPS Report
Brettamber Buddha Nova
Imperial Stout with Brett The Flavor
Bi-Pod
Chardi's Trippel Tröegs Brewing Company
Dark Diggler
FrankenBerry Splinter Blue
It's Fity Splinter Gold
Simian Sour Splinter Red
Tropic Thunder
Dark Duck Two Brothers Brewing Co.
Volte-Face
Wyld Stallyns 10

Askew
Dry Dock Brewing Co. Moaten

Public Domaine + 10
Apricot Lambic

Upland Brewing Company
Flat Earth Brewing

Blackberry Lambic
Extra Medium Blueberry Lambic
Rode Haring Cherry Lambic

Kiwi Lambic
Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery Strawberry Lambic

Dantalion Dark Wild Ale
Candor Peach Lambic
Cranky Nate Persimmon Lambic
Decadence Raspberry Lambic
Kyra Festiv-Ale Sour Blend
Roselare Saison Valley Brewing Company
Rosie Pom

Calambic
Freetail Brewing Company Chelie Wonka

Decadence Grand Cru 2009
Ananke Dysfunktion Ale Part Deux
Ate Fat Freddy's Freaky Kriek
Bandito Olallieberry Sour
Bareliner Weisse Stockton Sour (Phil's Mild Wild)
Figgy Wood'n
Fortuna Roja White Birch Brewing
Self ReGarde
Solera (All Batch Numbers) Commemoration Ale
Solera Fin Barrel Aged Brewers Reserve American Wild Ale
Woodicus Elysium

Indomitus 
Funkwerks Morning Breaks

Night Falls
Wild Apricot Rye Four
Chardonnay Barrel Blonde Berliner Weiss
Bastille Haystack Havoc
Belgian Resistance Night Falls
Casper Wild AKA
Cherry Saison Wild Ale
Cochon
FC Collusion 2011 Weyerbacher
French Resistance
Hibiscus Resistance Riserva
Key Lime Rye Rapture
Maoir King
Saison Victory
White

Wild Devil
Grand Teton Brewing Co. Helios


Who's Brett??


***This list isn't complete and most of these beers you will never ever be able to get but it gives you an idea of what breweries are gettin their funk on!  If I'm missing a brewery that you love that makes Funky shit please let me know and I'll add it to the list. Eventually I'll have links and all sorts of good stuff on this page.

***Gotta give credit to Where The Wild Beers Are for starting me down this quest.  To create this post and compile this list, I originally looked at their list, and then realized I wanted to update and expand the US section which is what I have here.  Three years ago I attended this event in Minneapolis and it's created an acid beer obsession for me.   It's a great event that is held in October in Minneapolis.  If you get cold hanging outside at this event, just wrap yourself in a horses blanket and try not to shiver like a wet dog.   Cheers!

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