Something New

I was doing some research recently, looking for new hops, and ran across N1/69 Experimental Hops at NorthernBrewer. The description states that the hop varietal "imparts great pineapple, citrus, and melon flavors, along with some Juicy Fruit and Kool-Aid notes".  Who can say "no" to that!?!  I ordered 2 oz for my typical hop schedule, and immediately began planning what I hope to be a very fruit-forward NE-style IPA.

Brew Day: 11 Dec 2018

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
14 g N1/69 (FWH)
1 oz N1/69 (flameout)
14 g N1/69 (dry hop)

Yeast: US-05

After I pitched the yeast into the fermenter, I had a bit more hopped wort left over than I usually do, so I sanitized an Adroit Theory bomber and put about a quart of the mix into the fridge.  I'll use this for an upcoming IPA, it should make for some interesting flavors.

Addendum, 21 Dec: Dry hopped on 14 g of N1/69 hops.

Addendum, 27 Dec: Bottled tonight on 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c of boiling water.  Got 8 good bottles, as well as 2 8.5 oz re-purposed soda bottles, and 1 partial fill.

Another NE IPA

I'm a fan on fruit-forward IPAs (see what Jake says about "NE IPAs" here...), and not having been able to find one commercially, I figured it was time to make another one that I'll likely enjoy after Christmas.  I have some cashmere hops left (I'm going to use some to dry hop a Belgian), so I'm going to do first wort hopping, a massive Mosaic-Citra-Cashmere hop "bomb", and dry hop.  The dry hop is going to be around the size (total number of grams) I usually use, because much more and I won't be able to get the hop bag out of the fermenter!  ;-)

Brew Day: 2 Dec 2018

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
FWH - 4 g each Mosaic, Citra, Cashmere hops
Flame-out - 19 g Mosaic, 19 g Citra, 36 g Cashmere hops
Dry hop - 4 g each Mosaic, Citra, Cashmere hops

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 13 Dec: Dry hopped.

Addendum, 17 Dec: Bottled today; got 7 good bottles, one full re-purposed soda bottle, and one soda bottle partial fill (about half).

Sour Beer

I have some Good Belly Straight Shots left over, and while I don't have a specific plan for a beer, I thought I'd at least start by brewing the sour batch up.

Brew Day: 30 Nov 2018

Partial Mash:
6 oz Special B
3 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
6 oz table sugar

Once the boil is complete, chill the wort in an ice bath, and add the wort to a sanitized fermenter with (2) Good Belly Straight Shots; place on a warming plate (wrapped in a towel) for 48-72 hrs.

Boil #2 (20 min): 3 Dec 2018
20 min boil to kill the bugs.

By the time I got to the second boil, I'd decided to do another "barrel aged" sour ale.  As such, later this week, I'll prepare the oak chips in a manner similar to the way I did so previously.  This one is likely going to be a barrel-aged brown or red sour (BABS, BARS) ale.

Hops: 14 g Styrian Golding hops

Yeast: BE-134

Addendum, 9 Dec: Boiled 1.2 oz of oak chips in water for 5 min, then placed them in a sanitized tupperware container.  Covered the oak chips in Woodford Reserve (90.4 proof); it took 2 small bottles, 100 ml.

Addendum, 17 Dec: Racked the beer on to oak chips placed in a hop bag.  I saved the Woodford off for inclusion in baked beans.

Addendum, 21 Dec: Racked to secondary.

Addendum, 12 Jan: Bottled on 1 oz table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water.  Got 9 good bottles out of it.

Dry hopped Belgian

For my last Belgian, I decided completely on a whim to dry hop it with Cashmere hops.  It turned out that my wife really liked the flavor, and so while I still have some of these hops, I'm going to do this one again, albeit intentionally.

Brew Day: 26 Nov 2018

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
6 oz table sugar

Hops:
14 g German Hersbrucker (FWH)
14 g Cashmere hops (dry hop)

Yeast: BE-134

*I followed all of my normal procedures.

Addendum, 8 Dec: Dry hopped today; 14 g Cashmere hops.

Addendum, 15 Dec: Transferred the beer to secondary.

Addendum, 12 Jan: Bottled on 1 oz of table sugar, dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water.  Got 8 good bottles out of it.

Sah'ti

Wow, I haven't done a sah'ti variant in a while, looks like it's time to brew another one!

Brew Day: 30 Oct 2018

Partial Mash:
4 oz Munich
4 oz Crystal Rye
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Bavarian wheat DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops: 14 g German Hersbrucker (@ 20 min)

At 10 min into the boil, add 22 g of crushed juniper berries and 3 black tea bags, in a hop bag, to the wort.  Keep the bag in the wort through the cooling process.

Yeast: K-97

Addendum, 31 Oct: Checked on the beer this morning; the yeast kicked off rather nicely and is doing it's job very well.  I may need to change out the blow-off bottle in the next day or two, depending on the activity.

Addendum, 12 Nov: Transferred to secondary.

Addendum, 25 Nov: Bottled today, on 1 oz table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup of boiling water.  Got 9 good bottles.

Sour Cashmere IPA

With the cashmere hops I have available, I wanted to try a side-by-side comparison of an IPA against a sour IPA.  So, same recipe, same everything, the only difference is this one was soured via my usual process.

Brew Day #1: 26 Sept 2018

Partial Mash:
12 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Brew Day #2: 29 Sept 2018

Boil (20 min):

Hops:
14 g Cashmere hops (FWH)
21 g Cashmere hops (@flameout, 20 min)
21 g Cashmere hops (10 min after @flameout, 10 min)
14 g Cashmere hops (dry hop)

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 8 Oct: Dry hopped

Addendum, 11 Oct: Bottled on 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water.  Got 9 good bottles.

Addendum, 26 Oct: Opened a chilled bottle tonight.  The sour was very pronounced, so much so that the flavors I found in the cashmere IPA were overwhelmed.  The beer was well carbonated but none of the other characteristics were present; minimal head, no lacing, etc.  Very much an example of a sour beer.  Same body as the IPA, and just as enjoyable beer to drink.

Cashmere IPA

I received an ad from an online home brew supply store, and it mentioned having  a blonde ale available made with Cashmere hops.  I did some research on this one, and found sites like DraftMag that had descriptions of what this hop has to offer, and immediately thought to myself that I would LOVE to try this in an IPA, as well as a sour IPA.  The description at BSG has some very interesting notes...I'd really like to see how 'secondary notes of coconut' smells and tastes.

I did a search on Amazon and found an 8oz bag of the hops that would set me back less than purchasing 4oz from the online store, and they showed up the other day.  I can't wait to try them out in a beer, and to get a good whiff of the hops themselves.

One description suggests that this hop would do really well alongside Mosaic, and based on my recent experience, I couldn't agree more.

Brew Day: 27 Sept 2018

Partial Mash:
12 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
14 g Cashmere hops (FWH)
21 g Cashmere hops (@flameout, 20 min)
21 g Cashmere hops (10 min after @flameout, 10 min)
14 g Cashmere hops (dry hop)

Yeast: US-05

Addendum, 7 Oct: Dry hopped on 14 g of Cashmere hops.

Addendum, 11 Oct: Bottled on 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water.  Got 8 good bottles and one partially filled re-purposed Dr Pepper bottle.

Addendum, 26 Oct: Opened the re-purpose soda bottle tonight.  Beer poured with a golden brown color, good carbonation and a moderate, pillowy white head.  Consistent lacing throughout the glass, similar to a Bell's Two-Hearted.  Nothing specific jumped out in the aroma, but the palette was different; there was sweetness followed by a creamy mouth-feel reminiscent of coconut.  Very enjoyable IPA; body is a bit heavier than I'd want for a summertime beer, but overall, a very good drinking experience.

YAB (Yet Another Belgian)

The last Belgian turned out pretty well, and it's a very good beer that I like to keep on-hand.  So, having some of the yeast that really makes this one turn out quite nice, I brewed up another batch on a rainy Sunday.

Brew Day: 16 Sept 2018

Partial Mash:
12 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
8 oz table sugar

Hops - 14 g German Hersbrucker (at the beginning of the boil)

Yeast - BE-134

*I followed all of my usual procedures.

Addendum, 23 Sept: Completely spontaneous dry hop onto 14 g of Cashmere hops today.

Addendum, 27 Sept: Racked the beer to secondary.

Addendum, 28 Oct: Bottled tonight; got 8 good bottles and one partial fill.

Addendum, 11 Nov: Taste test.  Terri tried it without me telling her what the beer was; she guessed that it was a Belgian but also said that there was a smoothness to it, as well.  I told her that I'd dry hopped the beer with the cashmere hops, and that the hops was described as imparting "coconut".  With the IPA, I'd gotten that not as a straight coconut flavor, but more an impression, based on mouthfeel; there was a slight sweetness and a smoothness that I'd associate with coconut milk. I tried it, as well, and found that I really enjoyed it.  This may be "the new thing"...dry hopping a "normal" beer to impart a little something different.  Some options might be Huell Melon, for a hint of strawberry, in a Belgian or a hefeweizen. 

Sour Beer

With the fall coming and the stores all overwhelmed with pumpkin ales and fall beers for Oktoberfest, I felt that I needed to start preparing some sour beers for the fall season.  One of the great things about homebrewing is that I can have what I want, when I want it!

Brew Day #1: 4 Sept 2018

Partial Mash:
14 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

After the boil, chill the wort to 80 - 90 deg F, and add to a sanitized fermenter, on (2) Good Belly Straight Shots.  Place an air lock in the fermenter cap, and place on a warming plate, wrapped in a towel.

Brew Day #2: 7 Sept

Boil #2 (20 min):

Hops:
FWH: 14 g Jarrylo (AA: 14.2%)
Flame out #1 (20 min): 6 g Jarrylo, 10 g Mosaic (10.8%), 10 g Citra (13.3%)
Flame out #2 (10 min): 6 g Jarrylo, 10 g Mosaic, 10 g Citra
Dry hop: 7 g Mosaic, 7 g Citra

Yeast: US-05

As soon as I took the wort off of the burner, I added the first flame out hop addition, and then added the second 10 min later.  At the 20 min mark, I put the wort in an ice bath to cool it to about 80 deg F, and pitched the yeast.  I then inserted a blow-off tube in the fermenter cap, and put the beer in the basement bathroom.

Addendum, 18 Sept: Dry-hopped the beer this evening.

Addendum, 21 Sept: Bottled; got 7 good bottles, one partial fill, and on repurposed Mountain Dew bottle.  This beer smelled very fruity during the bottling.

Addendum, 7 Oct: Opened the soda bottle tonight.  The beer poured with a hazy golden color, typical of the sours I've made.  There was mild carbonation and no head, also inline with sours.  The beer was mildly tart, and had a hint of fruitiness.

Wai-iti IPA

Not long ago, I was at my local home brew supply shop and found some Zythos hops for an IPA.  I was interested in some hops that would impart fruit, specifically pineapple, and had gone to the shop looking for Denali hops.  While I was there, Arthur latched on to my thoughts regarding a hop variety that would provide something akin to pineapple (or another sweet fruit), and came up another hop variety called Wai-iti. I liked the description enough to go ahead and get some on the spot, and I finally found the time to put together an IPA.

Wai-iti Hops:
Band of BrewTuber's review
MoreBeer description
Hopslist description

Brew Day: 28 Jul 2018

Partial Mash:
12 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
7 g Wai-iti hops (FWH)
14 g Wai-iti hops (20 min steep, @ flameout)
21 g Wai-iti hops (10 min steep, 10 min after flameout)
14 g Wai-iti hops (dry hop)

Yeast: US-05

I followed all of my usual procedures.

Addendum, 7 Aug: Dry-hopped the beer today; got some very fruity aromas during the transfer on to the hops, and the beer was hazy.

Addendum, 9 Aug: Bottled tonight, on 1 T of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water.  Got 6 good bottles and two 22 oz flip top bottles.

Tasting Notes, 10 Sept: Opened a bottle tonight that I'd filled all the way up to the top; usually when filling bottles, there's some room left when I remove the racking crane, but with this bottle, I'd let some of the remaining beer trickle into the bottle, filling it up all the way.  As such, there was no head space in the bottle, and the beer was well carbonated.  The beer poured with a pillowy, white head, and the beer itself was a golden color.  There's a definite aroma of sweet fruits in the nose, as well as on the palette.  There was definitely a dearth of any bitterness at all, and no pine resin (as with the Zythos IPA).  This is a very juicy IPA, although I'm not getting a definite impression of any one particular fruit (pineapple, mango, guava, etc.).  Very good, very drinkable beer.

I had an opportunity to enjoy the Tangerine Technique Pale Ale at Kindred Spirit Brewing this past weekend, and the Wai-iti IPA has a bit more body, and a bit more flavor, as well.

As I was enjoying this beer, I noticed some definite lacing going on along the glass; not as much as, say, a Bell's Two Hearted, but very definite lacing.

Good gravy, but I do enjoy a juicy IPA!  Why go bitter if you don't have to?

"Barrel-aged" dark sour

I recently ran across an article that gave me some new insights into using oak chips in brewing a beer.  I really like DuClaw's Midnight Due, and I thought, why subject myself to a "limited release", when I can brew my own? My first attempt at using oak chips didn't turn out so well, and think that it was because I hadn't properly sanitized the chips, nor did I let the beer age long enough.

Brew Day #1: 9 July

Partial Mash:
6 oz Special B
6 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Bring 3 qt of water to ~ 160 deg F, pour into a 1 gal thermos container.  Add grain bag with grains, making sure all of the grain gets saturated.  Seal the thermos for at least an hour.

Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Raise 3+ qt water in the brew kettle to at least 170 deg F.  Remove grain bag from thermos, transfer to brew kettle, steep for ~ 10 min.  Remove grain bag, add wort, DME, sugar, and boil.

Cool the wort in an ice bath until it reaches ~ 80 deg F.  Rack on to (2) GoodBelly StraightShots that have been brought up to room temp.  You can fill the fermenter all the way up; place a sanitized air lock in the fermenter cap, wrap the fermenter in a towel, and place on the warming plate for 48 - 72 hrs.

There will likely be some wort left in the kettle, so save it off in a bottle, placing it in the fridge until the second boil.

Begin preparing the oak chips.  Add 1 oz of oak chips to boiling water for 5 min; drain, and place in a sanitized glass bottle, and just cover with whisky (Johnny Walker Black Label, 86.8 proof).  Let set for 7 days, the contribute the whisky to the sink, and just cover the chips with bourbon.  Let sit for at least 5 days, and then rack the beer on to the chips and bourbon for several days.

Boil #2  12 July (20 min):
Pour the contents of the fermenter into the brew kettle, and then add the contents of the bottle, and about half a bottle again of tap water.  Boil for 20 min to kill the "bugs" (i.e., souring bacteria). Cool hopped wort to ~ 80 deg F in an ice bath, then transfer to a sanitized fermenter, aerate, and pitch the yeast.

Hops: 14 g German Hersbrucker (AA: 2.3%, @ 20 min)

Yeast: BE-134

Okay, so this one turned out to be a real mish-mash of styles...it's going to be more red than brown, it's sour, uses a Belgian yeast, and I'm still going forward with the oak chips.  This one is going to be real interesting!

Addendum, 16 July: "Contributed" the Johnny Walker whisky that the oak chips had been soaking in to the sink this morning, and added a couple of ounces of Maker's Mark bourbon whisky (90 proof); not enough to cover the chips but over the next couple of days, I will be rotating the container.  The beer itself is still bubbling away quite nicely.

Addendum, 21 July: Racked the beer on to the oak chips; I did not include the bourbon (saving that for baked beans this weekend).

Addendum, 26 July: Racked the beer off of the oak chips and into a clean fermenter; now, to wait.

Addendum, 16 Sept: Bottled today, on 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water.  Got 8 good bottles and 1 22 oz flip top bottle.  Also, I tried something a bit different...I added a very small amount of BE-134 yeast to the fermenter while racking the beer on to the bottling sugar.  I did this because historically, the sour beers have always been lightly carbonated, and this beer has been sitting for longer than any other beer I've made thus far.  As a precaution, I moved all of the other bottles out of the tub where I keep the carbonating beers; that way, if there is a bottle burst, I won't loose, or have to clean, so many bottles.  We'll see how this turns out; it may have been completely unnecessary.

Addendum, 30 Sept: Finally tried one of these last night...WOW!  I'd thought to try one on Friday, but when I went to uncap the bottle, the neck just below the cap split apart.  I did pour the beer into a glass through a strainer (in case there were small shards of glass) but the beer was clearly not carbonated.  I chilled another beer, and poured it last night.  The carbonation was subtle and the color was a reddish-brown.  There was nothing distinctive in the aroma, but the flavor was tart up front, with a woody vanilla on the back end.  Had it had a hint of acetic acid, I might have thought that it was a Flanders ale.  I really enjoyed this beer, and it's definitely one that I would enjoy by itself...just the beer, nothing else, and that would be it.  I'm definitely going to try the oak chips again, but this time, I think I'll put them in a hop bag so that they're a little easier to manage/handle. 

Oak Chips

My first attempt at "barrel aging" on oak chips didn't turn out too well, likely for several reasons.  For one, the beer got infected...it was clearly soured, and that wasn't the intent.  Further, there were really harsh tannins in the flavor. 

However, a recent issue of Zymurgy had a Dragon's Milk clone recipe (by Amahl Turczyn) that had some really good advice on preparing the oak chips for use:

- boil the chips for 5 min
- soak the chips in cheap whiskey or bourbon for 7 days, then "donate" the booze to the sink or to a marinade recipe
- soak the chips on good bourbon for 4 - 7 days
- after the beer has fermented, rack on to the chips and monitor the beer until you have "noticeable vanilla notes"
- rack the beer into secondary (off of the chips) and let it mellow for a month or two

I see a good opportunity for a "barrel-aged" sour in the near future.

Another Belgian

The Belgian I made earlier this year turned out really well...the key seems to be letting the beer sit in secondary for a while.  I wanted to brew another batch to get it fermenting and ready for later this summer, because my wife really enjoys it.

Brew Day: 30 Jun 2018

Partial Mash:
10 oz Munich
4 oz Crystal rye
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
6 oz table sugar

Hops: 14 g German Perle @ 20 min

Yeast: BE-134

Addendum, 11 July: Racked to secondary.

Addendum, 9 Aug: Bottled tonight on 1 T of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c boiling water.  Got 7 good bottles, a partial fill, and a 22 oz flip top bottle.

Lallemand WildBrew

Source: lallemandbrewing.com

My copy of Zymergy showed up yesterday, and as I am want to do, I pay close attention to the ads.  Yes, I admit it...well, the recipes and the ads.  I've come across some interesting items, including but not limited to new yeast strains available, and this time was no different.  This time, I saw an ad that immediately caught my eye, for Lallemand Brewing's new dry WildBrew Sour Pitch sachet.

I've read the data sheet for the yeast blend, and it will be interesting to see how my process for making a sour beer would change/need to be modified to use this product.

Also, I'm a fan of NE-style IPAs, and there's apparently a LalBrew New England yeast available now specifically for this style of beer.

Hhhmmm...so what happens if I want a sour NE IPA?  ;-)

Watermelon Sour

I picked up a watermelon in May, and saved some of the juice left over after cutting it up, chilling it, and sharing some of it with the horses and donkey (some love it, others not so much).  I made a sour saison last year with an addition of watermelon that turned out really nice, so I thought I'd do it again, with different hops, etc.

Brew Day: 26 Jun 2018

Partial Mash:
12 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

After the boil has completed, cool the wort in an ice bath to 80 deg F, and add it to a fermenter with 2 GoodBelly Straight Shots.  Wrap in a towel and place on a warming plate for at least 48 hrs.

Boil #2 (20 min): 29 Jun 2018

Something of note; I had been downstairs yesterday, around the time the wort had been souring for 48 hrs or so, and everything looked fine.  I have the fermenter wrapped in a towel and I usually just slip the palm of my hand under the towel and press it against the fermenter to check the temperature.  When I went to retrieve the fermenter today, there seemed be indications of fermentation...the airlock had bubbles in it, and there seemed to be some of the same material I usually see during fermentation pushed up into the tube of the airlock.

The wort smelled fine as I poured it into the kettle, and whatever was apparently growing is going to be killed off by the boil.

Hops:
Azacca (AA: 9.8%) and Citra (AA: 13.2%) are both from BSGHops
7 g Azacca, 7 g Citra (FWH)
7 g Azacca, 7 g Citra (whirlpool, 20 min)
7 g Azacca, 7 g Citra (whirlpool, 10 min)
7 g Azacca, 7 g Citra (dry hop)

Yeast: US-05

Chill wort to 80 deg F in an ice bath, aerate and pitch yeast.

Addendum, 30 Jun: Checked on the fermentation early this afternoon; apparently, some of the hops and trube had collected in the blow-off tube and backed up the gas which then built up and rather explosively pushed the end of the tube out of the fermenter cap.  The force of the explosion was enough to send material not just all over the walls of the shower, but also on the ceiling.  I put a fresh blow-ff tube in place, and the fermentation continued, so I think maybe I got to it in time.

Following the first boil, I cooled the wort and racked it on to the Straight Shots.  I was able to fill the fermenter almost to the top, as there's no fermentation activity that takes place.  After placing the fermenter on the warming plate, I was able to collect another whole Gatorade bottle of wort, which I placed in the fridge, to await the second boil.  Even with the full fermenter and the additional bottle, the effect of the boil (evaporation) and the amount of liquid absorbed by the two post-flame-out hop additions left just enough of the hopped wort in the kettle such that a good amount of the first addition of hops was deposited in the fermenter.

For future brews, when following this process, the ideal method would be to add not just the additional collected wort to the second boil, but also some additional water.  This would allow me to rack the hopped wort into the fermenter and minimize the additional materials added.  This isn't necessarily something I face with other brews.

Addendum, 11 July: Dry hopped today.

Addendum, 16 July: Racked beer on to 12 oz of watermelon juice.  Prepared the juice by squeezing it out of watermelon chunks, placing it in a sealed container and freezing it.  This morning, I placed the sealed container in a warm water bath, until the juice got to room temperature.  I then measured out 12 oz into a sanitized fluid measuring cup, and then added that to a sanitized fermenter.  I then racked the beer on to it.

Addendum, 21 July: Bottled, on less than an ounce of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c. boiling water.  I figured the fruit juice contributed some sugar, and after sitting for a bit, there was likely some left for the yeast to dine on while in the bottle.  Got 9 good bottles, and one re-purposed soda bottle that was almost completely full.  That one will be sample bottle in a bit more than 2 weeks.

Zythos IPA

I was at my local homebrew supply shop the other day, picking up some supplies for some upcoming brews, and I ran across Zythos hops.  I had been researching hops earlier that would impart pineapple, and had been looking for Denali hops for possible inclusion in a sour IPA with watermelon, but I had also read about Zythos.  So, I picked up 2 oz of the hops, and decided to give it a shot.

Brew Day: 23 Jun 2018

Partial Mash:
12 oz Munich I
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops: Zythos AA: 9.2%   Beta: 5.2%
7 g Zythos (FWH)
21 g Zythos (whirlpool, 20 min)
14 g Zythos (whirlpool, 10 min)
14 g Zythos (dry hop)

Yeast: US-05

I followed all of my usual procedures for the boil, cooling, and pitching the yeast.

Addendum, 4 July: Dry hopped on 14 g Zythos hops.

Addendum, 9 July: Bottled today, on 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water.  Got 6 good bottles, and 2 re-purposed soda bottles out of it.

Tasting Notes, 19 Aug: Beer pours easily with a soft, pillowy head, without becoming too much.  Mild lacing all the way down the glass, throughout the time enjoying the beer.  Faint sweet fruit in the nose, with an up-front fruitiness, followed by a mild resin on the back.  Very enjoyable beer.  Color and flavor puts it up there with a Bell's Two-Hearted, but with less bitterness.

Abbaye

Time for another abbaye ale!  Actually, I went to my local homebrew supply store a bit ago, and they didn't have some of the yeast I was looking for in stock, so I got a sachet of BE-256, and figured I'd go ahead and put another abbaye ale in the mix.

Brew Day: 22 May 2018

Partial Mash:
12 oz Munich 1
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
8 oz table sugar

Hops: 7 g German Perle, @ 20 min

Yeast: BE-256

I followed all of my usual procedures for mashing, boiling, chilling, aerating and pitching the yeast.

Addendum, 6 Jun: Racked to secondary.

Addendum, 29 Jun: Bottled today, on 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c. boiling water.  Got 8 good bottles and one partial fill in a re-purposed soda bottle, which will be used for the initial tasting in about 3 wks.

MAC Sour

I really like hopped sours or sour IPAs, and as such, I'm going to try something a bit different, in that I'm going to try a combination of hops.  Most of my previous hopped sours have been really good, the most notable of which was the Huell Melon-hopped sour.

This time, I'm going to use a combination of the following hops:
Mosaic (AA: 10.8%)
Azacca (AA: 9.8%)
Citra (AA: 13.2%)

I'm sure you can see where the "MAC" comes from. Something I'm going to do with this brew is create an IPA without the sour, and try it side-by-side.  So, I'll make the following recipe again, albeit without the souring.

Brew Day: 21 May 2018

Partial Mash:
12 oz Munich 1
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Once wort has cooled to 80 deg F, pitch on to (2) Good Belly Straight Shots, then set fermenter on warming plate for 48 - 72 hrs.

Boil #2 (20 min): 24 May 2018
Boil for 20 min to kill the bugs, hop and pitch the yeast.  First whirlpool pitch of hops sits for 20 min, second sits for 10 min, then place kettle in ice bath to cool to 80 deg F, to prep for pitching the yeast.

Hops:
4 g of each of the hops (FWH)
8 g of each of the hops (20 min whirlpool)
8 g of each of the hops (10 min whirlpool)
4 g of each of the hops (dry hop 1)
4 g of each of the hops (dry hop 2)

Yeast:  US-05

Addendum, 7 Jun: Dry hop #1

Addendum, 10 Jun: Dry hop #2

Addendum, 16 Jun: Bottled today, on 2 1/2 T of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 c. boiling water; got 6 regular bottles, a 22 oz flip top bottle, and a repurposed Dr. Pepper bottle out of it.

Addendum, 2 Jul: First taste of this beer tonight, and WOW, is it good!  The very first thing I noticed was the aroma...I got some sweet fruit aroma with just a hint of citrus.  The first taste was amazing!  The body was nice, not too heavy, but good.  Definite fruity sweetness with a mild tartness on the finish.  There is very little bitterness, if any at all.  Very enjoyable beer!

Mosaic IPA

I picked up some Mosaic hops recently and based on the description, I really wanted to try an IPA using this hop variety.

Brew Day: 14 Apr 2018

Partial Mash:
20 oz Munich malt
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar
7 g Mosaic hops (@ 20 min)
21 g Mosaic hops (@ flameout)

Yeast: T-58

Addendum, 19 Apr: Replaced the blow-off tube with an airlock. During the process, got a whiff of some of the hops, wow!

Addendum, 30 Apr: Racked on to 14 g of Mosaic hops for dry hop #1.

Addendum, 4 May: Dry hop #2, 14 g of Mosaic hops.

Addendum, 7 May: Bottled today, got 8 good bottles.

Sour Summer IPA

I picked up some Summer hops a bit ago, and after the success I had with sour IPA hopped with Huell Melon hops (for the strawberry essence), I wanted to try the Summer hops.  This hop is described as having aromas of stone fruit and tropical fruit, with other descriptions mentioning apricot and melon.  I thought that would be a very nice aroma profile to go along with a light-bodied sour beer.

Brew Day: 10 Apr 2018

Partial Mash:
1 lb Vienna malt
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

After the boil is complete, cool the wort to 80 deg F, and fill a fermenter on top of 2 Good Belly Straight Shots.  Place the fermenter on a heat plate, wrapped in a towel, for 3 days.

Boil #2 (20 min): 13 Apr 2018

Hops:
7 g Summer  (AA: 5.8%, @ 20 min)
21 g Summer (@ 0 min)

Yeast: BE-134

Boil and pitching of yeast, followed my usual processes.

Addendum, 14 Apr: Checked in the beer this morning, because I'm superstitious that way.  Anything brewed on Friday the 13th needs constant supervision.  Actually, that isn't true...I was returning some of my cleaned equipment to the shelf, and caught a some-what hoppy whiff coming from the fermentation area.  In last night's brew, I hadn't placed the late hop addition in a hop bag; rather, I'd added it directly to the boil, at flameout, and as such, there was a good bit of hop material in the kettle after I chilled the wort and began racking the wort into the fermenter.  There was a good bit of fermentation activity overnight, but not a lot of the wort had been pushed down the blow-off tube into the bottle.  There was, however, some hop material in the tube and bottle, as well as a very interesting, fruity aroma with a bit of hoppiness.

Addendum, 19 Apr: Replaced the blow-off tube with an airlock.

Addendum, 30 Apr: Racked on to 14 g of Summer hops for dry hop #1.

Addendum, 4 May: Dry hop #2, 14 g of Summer hops.

Addendum, 7 May: Bottled today, got 8 good bottles.

Addendum, 20 May: Tried one bottle tonight after chilling.  Mild tartness, full body, fruity, juicy flavor.  Definitely a delicious hopped sour; going to let this age just a bit more, maybe another week, before trying another one.

Addendum, 20 Jun: Had another one of these last night, very good! There was a slight tarty-sharpness to it, and also a sweetness at the same time.  I believe that some of the characteristics imparted by the yeast (as opposed to the US-05 that I usually use for these beers) subdued the sour aspect of the beer, but not to an overwhelming level.  I definitely liked the effect imparted by the hops, as well. 

Sah'ti

My last sah'tea turned out pretty well; my wife liked it a lot, I thought it lacked a bit of juniper-ness.  With this brew, I added a bit of crystal rye, and went back to adding the crushed juniper berries to the second half of the boil.

Brew Day: 7 Apr 2018

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
5 oz rye
4 oz English crystal rye
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Bavarian Wheat DME
4 oz table sugar
14 g Styrian Goldings Hops (@ 20 min)
14 g crushed juniper berries (@ 10 min)

Yeast: K97

I followed all of my usual processes.

Addendum, 19 Apr: Racked to secondary.

Addendum, 7 May: Bottled today; got 9 good bottles.

Addendum, 20 May: Opened one bottle tonight after chilling.  Carbonation was very light, not mature enough at this point.  Even so, Terri liked the flavor.  The beer pours with a medium brown color, with some light bubbles around the edge of the glass.  I didn't try enough of it to really get a sense of the flavor, going to let this one rest for at least another week. 

Belgian

I recently read about a new dry yeast available, BE-134, and wanted to give it a shot.  My wife likes Belgian style beers a bit more than I do, and I like to make her beer that she likes.  This particular yeast seems to have some really good characteristics, and I'm looking forward to trying it out.

Brew Day: 31 Jan 2018

Partial Mash:
1.5 lb Munich malt
2 oz Carapils

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops: 14 g German Perle (@ 20 min)

Yeast: BE-134

I followed all of usual procedures in prep, boil, cooling the wort, and pitching the yeast.

Addendum, 7 Feb: Transferred to secondary today; due to my schedule, this is going to sit for just over a month before I do anything more with it.

Addendum, 28 Mar: Bottled today, on 2 1/2 T of sugar dissolved in 1/2 c of boiling water.  Got 9 good bottles out of it.  During bottling, this one smelled as if it might be pretty close to the Belgians that Terri likes!  Can't wait to see what this one tastes like!

Addendum, 20 Jun: Finally, after a couple of months, my wife stopped reaching for her Leffe's in the fridge and grabbed one of these, and she was glad she did!  Her first comment, after her first sip, was how much this one tasted like a Leffe!  Later in the evening, she wanted another beer, but only a half pour, so I split a bottle with her, and I have to say, this one is very close to a Leffe.

Another Brown Ale

The first brown ale I made turned out pretty well, and I wanted to kick it up a notch with a little something extra.  So, this time, I'm going to make a similar recipe, but add a little something special in secondary...

Brew Day: 29 Jan 2018

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
4 oz Special B
4 oz flaked oats
2 oz chocolate malt
2 oz Carapils

Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops: 14 g Styrian Goldings hops (@ 20 min)

Yeast: DanStar Nottingham Ale

With this beer, I'm going to try something new (for me)...shortly after brewing this beer, I'm going to start soaking 1 oz of French oak chips in American Honey. I'll put the oak chips in a small, sanitized glass container, and just cover them in American Honey.  As they sit, I'll check on them to ensure that all or as much of the chips are soaking as possible.  After primary fermentation, I'll rack this beer into secondary, and let it rest on the oak chips.  My hope is that this will give the beer an "aged in bourbon oak barrels" flavor.  If it works, I'll continue to use this process with some sour beers in the very near future.

Addendum, 31 Jan: Fermentation of the beer is going very well.  Began soaking 1 oz of French oak chips in American Honey, by putting the chips in a sanitized glass container and just covering them.  I'll be checking on them regularly to see if they need any more added.

Addendum, 7 Feb: Transferred to secondary today, racking on to the soaked oak chips (which smelled incredible!).  Due to my schedule, this is going to sit for just over a month before I do anything else with it.  I should be able to try the first bottle of this around the end of March.

Addendum, 17 Feb: Decided, due to the weather, to bottle the beer today.  I figured that resting on the oak chips for 10 days would be a good start to see how this turned out, and from there, can adjust the timing.

Addendum, 11 Mar: Tried the partial bottle tonight, after chilling the beer.  The bottle opened with a noticeable fizz, but the beer itself was not carbonated.  There was no noticeable vanilla in the nose, and the beer itself was flat and sour, with a very noticeable flavor of tannins.  I'm thinking that the soaking of the oak chips in the booze did nothing to sanitize the oak chips, and bacteria was introduced.

Doing a bit of research, and asking a friend who's a professional brewer (thanks, Phil!), I've decided to update the process to include boiling the chips first, for at least 10 min, to kill any bugs and also remove some of the tannins.  The American Honey whiskey is only 35% ABV (70 proof), and that may not have been enough to kill any bugs.  Maker's Mark is 45% ABV (90 proof) which might be better, but why chance it, right?  Given the volume I'm brewing, letting the chips sit in the booze for 7-10 days, and then letting the beer sit on the chips for 7-10 days should be enough, and longer can only be better. 

Ekuanot IPA

I read about Ekuanot hops recently, and really wanted give them a shot in an IPA.  YCH Hops describes the hops as providing the aroma of "melon, berry, orange peel, papaya, pine, and peppers", while the Hoptimus Rex bag says, "Lemon, lime, papaya, apple and green pepper".  All right, then...let's do this!

Brew Day:  28 Jan 2018

Partial Mash:
1 lb Vienna malt
4 oz flaked oats
2 oz Carapils

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
14 g Ekuanot (FWH)
1 oz Ekuanot (10 min whirlpool @ flameout)
14 g Ekuanot dry hop

I used the hops from Hoptimus Rex, which says "Alpha: 14.2%" on the bag.

Yeast: Safale US-05

Addendum, 8 Feb: Racked into secondary, dry hopping on 14 g of Ekuanot hops.

Addendum, 13 Feb: Bottled today; got 6 regular bottles, 1 22 oz flip top, and 1.5 repurposed soda bottles.  Smelled great during bottling, really looking forward to trying this one.

Notes

I've been doing some research in order to do some new things in my brewing, and wanted to document a good bit of the notes I'd been keeping, sharing them in hopes of getting input, insight, feedback, etc.

Oak
I brewed a brown ale a bit ago that turned out rather well, and I've been considering making another move in my brewing adventures.  I'm going to extend the recipe a bit with some changes to the grains, but I also wanted to see about adding something of an "aged in oak barrels" flavor to the beer.  I started looking around online for a bit and decided to talk to the folks at the local home brew supply store, and that really ended up being the way to go!  I got some great input into how to go about the whole process, as well as a recommendation for using French oak chips, based on the flavor they'd impart on the beer.

In addition, during my research, I'd run across a great site that discussed using oak chips, which turned out to be very helpful.

The idea I had for the brown ale was to recreate my first brown ale recipe (again, with a few mods to the ingredients), and make use of oak chips soaked in American Honey.

I'm also working up a recipe similar to the Hex Dark Sour Ale, using French oak chips soaked in Maker's Mark, rather than the red wine recommended for the Hex Sour.  That would be one way to go; another would be to replicate the Hex Sour recipe, soaking the oak chips in a nice cab.

As a bit of a side note, a bit more than 2 years ago, I brewed an IPA that I ended up naming "LCpl's Tears".  It's a name I like for a beer (given my military background; just thinking about the name makes me laugh), and I'm thinking that a dark sour ale, aged on French oak chips (the use of French oak chips paying homage to Belleau Wood) soaked in bourbon, and fermented with a Belgian-style yeast.

Fruit
I've brewed a couple of beers where I've added fruit, or more accurately, the juice of some fruit.  The first was the Everlong (yes, a Foo Fighter's reference) IPS, a collaboration brew I made with Mr. Rufus.  The raspberry juice was pasteurized (heat to 160 deg F and hold it there for about 10 min...do NOT boil), and that turned out really well.  Then there was the sour saison I made where I had a combination of pineapple and watermelon juice, and I sanitized it by freezing it, and then warming it back to room temp before adding it to the beer.  In each case, I've learned just a little bit more, and the next step for me is to add fruit juice or zest during bottling, in order to preserve/impart some flavors that may not hold out as well through the fermentation process.

I recently ran across this blog post at GreatFermentations that describes the process that a brewer uses to create a dreamsicle cream ale.  The article goes into some great detail regarding the ratio of fruit used, when it was added during the brewing process.  There is also mention of the use of the zest, and the specific use of zest that was frozen prior to use in order to "burst the cell walls".  There are also some really good notes in the article that describe how to prepare vanilla beans (not extract) for use in making beer.

Additions
Something I've been looking at recently is changing when I make certain additions to the beer, and seeing what effect that has on the results.  For example, in my last ginger saison, I made a "tea" by boiling the fresh ginger, and I added the priming sugar to that as part of the bottling process, rather than adding the ginger to the last 10 min of the boil.  I'm taking a similar approach with the juniper berries and black tea in my next sah'tea.  The plan is to boil the crushed berries and tea bags for a few minutes, and then add the priming sugar to that as part of the bottling process.

My thinking/hope is that more of the flavors I'm looking for will be preserved, as they're not subject to the fermentation process.  We did a side-by-side taste test with the ginger saisons, and my wife's comments centered around the fact that the older beer had a good deal more maturity in the carbonation; in particular, the head was much more pillowy.  There was not a great deal of difference in the flavor, particularly what stood out as the ginger.  I'll see how things fare with the sah'tea, even though I don't have anything available to do a comparison.

Speaking of additions, Medusa IPA is one of my favorites, and for my most recent brew of the recipe, I'm doing a two-stage dry hop.

Brewer's Gold IPA

It's been a while since I've used Brewer's Gold hops, and the first time I tried them, the IPA turned out REALLY well.  The hop is said to impart berry and dark currant flavors and I really got a lot of berry from that first batch.  This time around, I'm going to take the opportunity to see if I can get a good combination of malts to get more of a red color in the malt, something I'm testing out for future brews.

This is another brew day where we had a good bit of snow, enough that I was able to use snow right off of my deck for the ice bath for cooling the wort.

Brew Day: 17 Jan 2018

Partial Mash:
1 lb 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat
2 oz Caramunich
14 g chocolate malt

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
14 oz Brewer's Gold (FWH)
1 oz Brewer's Gold (@ flame out, 10 min whirlpool)

The hops are BrewCraft US Brewer's Gold, Alpha: 10.5%, Beta: 5.1%

Yeast: US-05

Followed all of my usual procedures.

Addendum, 26 Jan: Dry hopped, on 14 oz of Brewer's Gold hops.

Addendum, 29 Jan: Bottled tonight; got 6 regular bottles, 2 re-purposed soda bottles, and 1 partial fill on a soda bottle.

Medusa IPA

Medusa hops are one of my favorite hops for straight New England style IPAs, and I've still got some hops available, enough in fact to do a 2-stage dry hop IPA.  I had a couple of ounces of different malts available, and thought that this would be a good opportunity to use 'em up.

This is a couple of the things I really love about home brewing...not only can I try new things and discovery things I like that aren't commercially available, but I can also make and enjoy them whenever I like!

Brew Day: 6 Jan 2018

Partial Mash:
8.5 oz 2-row malt
7.5 oz Munich malt
2.5 oz Victory
2 oz flaked wheat

*Heat 3 qts water to 160 deg F, put in thermos container and add above grains in a bag.  Let sit for 75 min.  Heat 2.5 qt water in a stove-top kettle to about 170 deg F, and at the end of the 75 min, remove the bag of grain from the thermos container, draining it, and move it to the kettle.  Let it sit for about 10 min, remove it, add the wort from the thermos, and begin heating the wort to boiling.

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
13  g Medusa hops (AA 3.0%, FWH)
1 oz Medusa Hops (AA 3.0%, 10 min @ flameout)

Yeast: Safale US-05

Given the recent temperatures around our parts, I opted to use snow off our deck instead of running out for a 10 lb bag of ice in order to cool the wort.  Worked great.

Addendum, 18 Jan: Dry hop #1, racked the beer on to 14 g of Medusa hops

Addendum, 21 Jan: Dry hop #1, racked the beer on to 14 g of Medusa hops

Addendum, 26 Jan: Bottled; got 6 good 12 oz bottles, and two re-purposed soda bottles.

Sah'tea

It's been a while since I made a sah'tea, and I was feeling a bit like I wanted to make another one, and this is a good beer to make for the first beer of 2018.  I also wanted to take something of a different approach to the juniper and tea additions, boiling them separately to produce a tea, and then adding that tea to the beer just prior to bottling.  This is something I tried with the most recent ginger saison I made.  My hope is that by not adding the juniper and tea during the boil, that a good bit of the flavors won't be reduced by the yeast during fermentation.

Brew Day: 1 Jan 2018

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
6 oz rye
2 oz Carapils
4 oz Victory
2 oz CaraMunich
*I'm sure folks are going to have questions about the specific choices I made regarding the malts, but as with several other of the beers I've made, it was more about what I had on-hand.  The same is true with the hops additions (below).

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops:
4 g Styrian Golding hops (5.7% AA, @ 20 min)
4 g German Perle hops (8.2 % AA, @ 20 min)

Yeast: K97

Addendum, 2 Jan: After what happened with my last beer, and given the fact that I had to put some of my brewing stuff back on the shelves, I checked on the beer.  The yeast seems quite happy, and there were no spontaneous, explosive events this time.  I'll let the fermentation run for about 10 days or so, then rack this into secondary for a bit.

Addendum, 11 Jan: Racked the beer to secondary.

Addendum, 18 Jan: Bottling - Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, with 14 g of crushed juniper berries and two black tea bags.  Boil gently, let steep for a few min, then pass through a strainer to remove the chunks of crushed berries to get 1/2 c. of hot 'tea'. Dissolve 2 1/2 T (1 oz) of table sugar in the tea.  This is the priming solution.  Got six good regular bottles, one flip-top, and 1 1/2 soda bottles; I'll be trying the soda bottles (in particular the partial fill) in two weeks.

Addendum, 7 Feb: Tried one of the soda bottles last night; didn't get much of juniper at all, mostly came out as a dark wheat beer.  So far what I'm finding in this process is that additives such as ginger and juniper berries are just as good, if not better, added to the boil, rather than during bottling.  That is, at least using the procedures I've outlined in my attempts.  It's still good beer, just not what I was looking for, specifically.