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?
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Monday, July 9, 2018
"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.
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.
Monday, July 2, 2018
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)