Saturday, June 30, 2018

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.

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

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?  ;-)

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

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.

Saturday, June 23, 2018

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.