Sah'Tea #2

Okay, my first attempt at a sah'tea may have gone a little awry (given that there's rye malt in the wort, no pun intended...well, maybe just a little...), but only because I'd use a hefeweizen yeast that, on my first use, has so far produced a LOT of banana aroma in the hefe.  It's likely not going to end up being anywhere close to what I had hoped, and may end up getting renamed to "LCpl's Tears #2", or something similar.

This time, I'm going to go with a wort that's a bit lighter in color, but with good body.

Brew Day: 22 May

Partial Mash:
12 oz Belgian Munich malt
5 oz rye malt
1.5 oz CaraPils

Boil (60 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME (@ 60 min)
2.5 oz table sugar (@ 60 min)
10 g Huell Melon hops (AA: 4.5%) (@ 60 min)

10 g crushed juniper berries and 3 black tea bags (@ 10 min)

Yeast: Safale K-97

*I followed my normal process for the partial mash, cooling the wort, and pitching the yeast.

Addendum, 27 May: While I was preparing to bottle the "300 Hefe" this morning, I went ahead and put an air lock in this fermenter.  Things seem to be moving along nicely.

Addendum, 7 Jun: Bottled tonight; got 8 regular bottles and one re-purposed soda bottle.  Should do nicely.

Addendum, 3 Jul: Tasted the beer tonight, from what I'd put into a soda bottle.  I just about hit the nail on the head with this one!  Very, very close on color, body, and flavor...even have just a bit of bitterness/"mouth feel" from the tea.  Very good, definitely sticking with this recipe, with the minor exception of upping the juniper addition to 12 grams.

Hefeweizen

I wanted to do a couple of things with this brew...use up the Munich LME I have, use the red wheat I got from Jay's Brewing (LHBS), and try a hefe with a different yeast.  In this case, I'm going to be trying the Pure Pitch WLP 300 yeast, which suddenly gives the picture to the right some context, doesn't it?  See what I did there?  WLP 300, a picture from the movie "300"...

Anyway, I still have some of my previous hefe left, but then it's getting to be that time of year where I get out to mow the grass, and when I'm done, I may want to enjoy a nice cold hefeweizen as my reward.

Brew Day: 11 May 2016

Partial Mash:
1 lb Red Wheat
1.5 oz flaked wheat

Boil (60 min):
1.3 lb Munich LME
3 oz table sugar
10 g German Perle hops (FWH)

Yeast: WLP 300

*I followed my usual processes for the partial mash, cooling the wort, and pitching the yeast.

Note: I checked on the beer about 6 hrs after pitching the yeast, and it's doing really well.  The yeast is really doing a it's thing!

Addendum, 12 May: As part of my normal Thu morning routine (trash day), I checked in on the brew, and I had to replace the blow-off bottle.  The bottle was completely overwhelmed with krausen, and the padding I'd placed under it (4 paper towels) was completely saturated.  So, I put some fresh sanitizer in another bottle, and cleaned up and replaced the padding, as well.  It was messy, but a good sign.

So far, my experience has been that if you want a good hefeweizen, liquid yeast is the best way to go.  Yes, I've gotten some nice banana notes from the T-58 yeast, but that's more for a Belgian style beer.  Also, letting the beer sit for a bit longer is a great idea; it applies to the hefes just as well as it does to the IPAs.

Addendum, 27 May: Bottled the "300 Hefe" today.  I got 8 good bottles out of the fermenter.

Addendum, 16 Jun: My wife tried one of these last night...the Munich LME was overpowering.  I figured it would be, due to the color, and I had guessed right.  The color and flavor are definitely of a caramel malt, and the flavor overwhelms any aroma of banana.  Comes out as heavy-bodied, malt-forward wheat beer with strong caramel notes.

Not a keeper for a hefe recipe - lesson learned, do not use any caramel malt (grain or extract) in a hefeweizen.

Sah'Tea

I wanted to try something a bit different, and figured I'd go back to something I'd considered last year.  I still haven't been able to find DogFish Head Sah'tea in the stores, so I thought I'd take a shot at making one of my own.

From the Sah'tea page at the DogFish Head web site:

...the beer is fermented with a German weizen yeast. In addition to juniper berries foraged from the Finnish countryside, Sah'tea is flavored with black tea.

I've got a copy of Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing, and there's a recipe on pg. 244 for a Finnish Sahti.  I'm using something of a variant of that recipe, going with a partial mash, but I wanted to get an idea of how to go about adding juniper berries to the recipe, and in what amount.  I've been doing research on the subject and what I've found is that there are some resources available on the Internet that both praise and condemn the use of juniper berries in beer, but few that include recipes or proportions.  The recipe in the book calls for 1 oz of crushed berries in a 5 gal batch, and juniper branches are included in the mash.  I'm not going to include the branches in this attempt, but I may in future attempts.  I have a juniper bush in my front yard and snipping off a few small branches to include in the boil might not be a bad addition.

For this first attempt, I'm going to got with crushed berries, added to the last 10 min of the boil, in a muslin bag.  I'll do a gentle crushing using a mortar and pestle, and I don't want little bits and pieces of the berries floating around in my beer; the muslin bag will take care of that.

Ingredients

Brew Day: 6 May 2016

Partial Mash:
9 oz Briess Rye Malt
3 oz Crystal Rye Malt
1.5 oz Carapils

Boil (60 min):
1.6 lb Munich LME (@ 60 min)
3 oz table sugar (@ 60 min)

Hops: 10 g German Perle, AA: 8.4% (FWH)

Additions: 10 g Juniper berries (crushed), black tea (@ 10 min, remained in the wort during cooling)

Yeast:  WLP380 (wanted to go with something that imparts less banana, more clove)

*I followed my usual process for the partial mash, cooling the wort, and pitching the yeast.

Addendum, 7 May: Going through my normal morning routine, I checked in on the beer; the yeast was pitched about 13 hrs ago.  It's bubbling quite nicely; there's a bit of blow-off in the blow-off bottle, but not a lot, and the bubbles rising in the fermenter are as many as the stars in the sky.  ;-)

I will say that the beer is a bit more brown than I would have like, but that's a result of the LME and crystal rye.  We'll see how the combination of additions works on the flavor, but the next attempt at this may be more along the lines of an all-grain brew.

Addendum, 8 May: Checked in on the beer this morning, found that the blow-off bottle was completely overflowing, and was glad that I'd put paper towels underneath it.  I replaced the blow-off bottle with a new one (I use spent Gatorade bottles), and was able to see the flow of bubbles; they were small, a little over  second apart, but there was a steady flow.  Now, I'll just let the beer sit and let the yeast keep doing it's thing.  I'll likely put an airlock on the fermenter in about a week, and I'm looking at bottling either the 18th or maybe the 20th.

Addendum, 12 May: My wife had one of the hefeweizens I made with the WLP380 yeast, and she really likes it...a lot!  She opened it and poured it into a glass, and I could smell the banana from across the room.  As such, I'm wondering if the juniper berries and tea will overwhelm the banana esters, or after a couple of weeks of sitting, the reverse will be true.

What I may need to do with the next attempt at this brew is try the K-97 yeast.  I know that the description from the DFH site says "weizen" yeast, which is "wheat" in German.  The K-97 is described to be a German ale yeast, so that may be the way to go.

Right now, I'm somewhat on the fence regarding other changes.  Part of me says, "...make documented, atomic changes...", but the Marine in me says, "...make BOLD dope changes!!" It might be best if, when tasting this brew, the banana is overpowering to just change the yeast used, and nothing else.

Addendum, 21 May: Bottled today, before heading out to an anniversary dinner with my lovely bride!  Got a full six-pack, plus two repurposed soda bottles worth of beer.  During the transfer, the beer had a bit of banana aroma already; I didn't try it because I wanted it all in the bottles.  It will be interesting to try this one in 2-3 weeks.

WhatNot

Wasn't sure what to call this post...ideas, thoughts, whatnot...so I just went with "whatnot".

My wife had an Abbaye tonight, and told me that she REALLY likes it!  This from someone who's favor leans toward Dominion Candi and Leffe Blonde...yes, she has excellent taste.  She is also a fan of the LemonDrop Saison I did as a test of the LemonDrop hops.

Speaking of the LemonDrop hops, it's been a week since I bottled the Everlong IPS.  I think I'll put one in the fridge soon, and try it on Sunday or Monday.  Given the amount of hops in this one, it'll likely be another week or so before it smooths out a bit, but I have that partial fill in the soda bottle that will be good to try.

So, upcoming brews...it looks like I need to do the LemonDrop Saison again, which is a very good brew.

I'm also planning to do a Sahti soon, based on the DogFish Head description.  I've got black tea bags, and a good weizen yeast (WLP380), and all I need is the juniper berries.  Fortunately, I saw some on the rack at Jay's Brewing HBS.

A couple of ideas for beers that I've been bouncing around:

- A hefeweizen, using WLP300 yeast (known for producing banana esters), and dry hopped with melon hops, and...

- A BaMM IPA, using Brewer's Gold, Melon, and Mosaic hops.

Finally, I was running errands the other day and saw a sign for Mustang Sally Brewery in Chantilly, VA.  With a name like that, how can you not want to stop by?

Brewer's Gold + Mandarina IPA

I really like what I got out of the two hops that I've used individually before, so I wanted to see what I'd get out of using them together.  This may seem like a really over-the-top IPA based on the total amount of hops I'm using, but the Mandarina isn't really high in alpha acids, and I'm using the Brewer's Gold (generally 8-11% AA) later in the boil.

Brew Day: 12 Apr 2016

Partial Mash:
7 oz Vienna malt
4 oz Gambrinus Honey malt
1.5 oz CaraPils

Boil (60 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
3.5 oz table sugar

Hops
14 g Mandarina (AA: 7.4%) - FWH
9 g Mandarina + 9 g Brewer's Gold - 10 min
9 g Mandarina + 9 g Brewer's Gold - flameout

Yeast: Safale US-05

Dry Hop: 10 g Mandarina + 10 g Brewer's Gold

Addendum, 16 Apr: Put an airlock on today; the bubble activity through the blow-off tube had settled down significantly, and since I was dry hopping the Everlong IPS, I went ahead and put an airlock on.  I'll probably end up dry hopping on Wed, 20 Apr.

Addendum, 20 Apr: Dry hopped tonight.

Addendum, 27 Apr: Bottled tonight, with 1 oz table sugar.  It was a little passed the time that I wanted to bottle, mostly due to my schedule.  The beer was very clear when I bottled.  I got 8 regular bottles and one "repurposed" Dr. Pepper bottle out of it.

Addendum, 15 May: I tried one of these IPAs tonight.  I'd put it into the fridge to chill last Fri, and tried it before dinner tonight (while my palate was still "clean").  Very good, very drinkable IPA, not overpoweringly bitter or harsh.  Excellent body, good color.  This one had been in the bottle for about 2 1/2 wks; my experience with IPAs has been that 3 - 4 wks is better, so I'll chill another one later this week and try it on Sunday.  I have to say, though, that this is a really good combination of hops to use.

Collaboration Brew - Everlong IPS

A bit ago, I did a brew to test out LemonDrop hops, and it turned out pretty well.  In fact, from the comment that Thomas from Jay's Brewing left, it was pretty darned good.

Now, having tested the LemonDrop hops, and after Mr Rufus has tried out his side of the experiment, it's time to put it all together and

Okay, the name...I'm a child of the '80s, and Phil (Mr Rufus) is "from" a decade later.  But I'm also a fan of the a lot of '90s music (Foo Fighters, etc.), so we decided to go with "Everlong IPS", which is a nod to David Grohl.  The "IPS" is for "India pale saison" (as opposed to "IPA", for "ale"), because of the saison yeast we're using. This promises to be fruity, crisp and tart.

Brew Day: 5 Apr 2016

Partial Mash:
12 oz Vienna malt
1.5 oz flaked wheat

Boil (60 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
3 oz table sugar

Hops:
7 g LemonDrop hops (FWH)
7 g German Brewer's Gold + 7 g LemonDrop hops (10 min)
7 g German Brewer's Gold + 7 g LemonDrop hops (flame out, 10 min steep)

Yeast: Danstar Belle Saison

Dry hop #1 (2-3 days):
14 g LemonDrop hops

Dry hop (2-3 days):
14 g German Brewer's Gold, 12 oz raspberries (frozen, sanitize by bringing to 160 deg F for 5 min)

Addendum, 12 Apr: Dry hopped with 14 g LemonDrop.

Addendum, 16 Apr: Dry hop #2, 14 g Brewer's Gold hops and 12 oz raspberries (frozen, pasteurized at 160 deg F for 5 min) - Looking to bottle on 20 Apr

Addendum, 20 Apr: Bottled tonight.

 The image to the left is the beer resting on the priming sugar.

I ended up with 6 bottles, a large bottle, and a partial fill on a sanitized Dr Pepper bottle.

Addendum, 3 May: First taste test; I decided to go with the soda bottle partial fill.  Yes, I used a soda bottle for bottling.  I've done this before and it's worked really well, not changing the flavor of the beer, but keeping it quite nicely and allowing the pressure to dissolve carbon dioxide into the liquid.

Opening the bottle proved to require a bit of effort, as the pressure had built up pretty well.  The beer poured easily, without a substantial head.  Full blast of berries in the nose.  The initial taste is of light bodied beer with a hoppy bitterness, followed by a hint of the berries going down, with no aftertaste of any kind.  This has only been in the bottle for two weeks, and all of my previous IPAs had the hoppy bitterness settle out after 3 or more weeks, so I'll let the other bottles for a bit longer.

This is definitely a lighter-bodied beer, with a mild tartness from the berries.  I'm definitely going to let this sit for another week or two before trying it again.  Stay tuned.

Addendum, 27 May: Finally got around to having another one, and man, is it good!  Right after the pour, there was a nice, pillowy pink head on the beer, and I got a full nose of berries.  The raspberries are definitely coming through much better in the flavor this time, and there's a slight tartness on the back.  The beer has a nice moderate body, with excellent flavor and lacing.

Addendum, 6 Jul: Chilled and cracked a 22 oz bottle of this tonight...I'm still amazed at the pink

beer, with a pink, billowy head and some moderate lacing.  REALLY good beer!  A nice fruit nose from the berries, and the flavor on the tongue is a nice IPA zing with a bit of berry tartness. Not too much of either, but just enough!

Fruit-forward IPA: Calypso + Jarrylo

A recent edition of Zymurgy had an interesting article on "Modern Day IPAs", with some fascinating tips, as well as some recipes.  One of the things that sort of bothers me about the commercial IPAs, and even some of the craft IPAs, is the overpowering bitterness that some have.  For example, I recently tried Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Tropical IPA, and maybe my palate isn't nearly sensitive enough, but I wasn't really getting much in the way of "tropical".

I liked how my Calypso IPA turned out, as I did get some dried apple in the flavor.  The Calypso hops have a pretty high alpha acid, so they'd definitely be good for bittering.  I also want to round out some of the flavor with some of the Jarrylo hops that I have left over from the 4 oz I received last summer from my AHA membership.

Brew Day: 25 Mar 2016, early morning brew, because I love the smell of hops in the morning...

Partial Mash:
5 oz Rahr 2-row malt
5 oz Vienna GoldPils malt
2 oz Gambrinus Honey malt
1.5 oz Carapils

Boil (60 min):
1lb Extra Light DME
4 oz table sugar (@ 60 min)

Hops:
7 g Calypso, AA: 13.3 % (FWH)
7 g Calypso, AA: 13.3% +  7 g Jarrylo, AA: 14.2%  + 7 g Mosaic, AA: 12.8% (flameout, steep)
(projected) 14 g Calypso, AA: 13.3% (dry hop)

Yeast: Safale US-05

*I followed my usual processes for partial mashing and pitching the yeast.

Addendum, 4 Apr: Dry hopped tonight with 14 g Calypso, and 7 g Galaxy (AA: 14.5%), all while doing my best Tim "The ToolMan" Taylor grunt.  Why the additional hops?  Because it was there, and because I can.  I'll likely be bottling this one on Thu.

Addendum, 7 Apr: Bottled today, got two 22 oz flip-tops and 6 regular sized bottles.  The beer smelled really good while transferring it onto the priming sugar, a little bit like apple juice.

Addendum, 10 May: Chilled and enjoyed one of these tonight.  Very good.  I really like the hint of tart dried apple that results from the Calypso hops.  This one is definitely a keeper.

Addendum, 22 May: I chilled one of the 22 oz bottles of this tonight, and had some while I was making dinner.  The beer pours with a fine, pillowy head and the beer is a crystal clear straw color.  Excellent flavor, not bitter as one would expect in an IPA, but instead with hints of dried apple and pear.  Still enjoying this one, and it's going to be sad to see that last bottle of this be emptied.

Hefeweizen, Again

If it appears that we like hefeweizens...you're right, we do.  I wanted to try a different yeast this time, and I found some WLP380 Pure Pitch at Jay's Brewing the other day that, based on the write-up, I wanted to give it a try.  I opted for a low AA hop in a first wort hopping that might do a little bit to emphasize the reported apricot from the yeast, or at least not overwhelm it.

Brew Day: 15 Mar 2016

Partial Mash:
10 oz Rahr Red Wheat
4 oz GoldPils Vienna
1.5 oz CaraPils

Boil (60 min):
1lb Bavarian Wheat DME
10 g Huell Melon hops (AA: 4.5%, FWH)

Yeast: WLP380 Pure Pitch (Jillian at Jay's Brewing recommended this one...)

*I followed my normal process for partial mashing, boiling, and pitching the yeast.

Addendum, 18 Mar: Checking on the beer this morning, I saw a bubble come up out of the blow-off tube (in the bottle).  I had replaced the blow-off bottle yesterday, so the contents were pretty clear.  However, closer inspection of the fermenter cap revealed two cracks, one large enough for me to slid my thumbnail into; so I sanitized another cap and an airlock, and placed those on the fermenter.  I'm pretty sure that the beer is fine; it has at least another 7 days before I even think about bottling.

Addendum, 26 Mar: Bottled today (1 oz table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water).  When I racked the beer on to the priming sugar, I picked up a strong aroma of banana, and some other sweet fruit.  I got 9 good bottles out of this one.  If this yeast works out pretty well, I think that the next thing I might try is dry hopping.

Addendum, 5 Apr: Chilled two bottles and poured one for Terri tonight, and she really liked it.  This one had more body that what you might associate with a hefe and definitely more than a wit...Terri mentioned that the body reminded her more of a Lefe Blonde.  I caught a whiff of banana as I poured the beer into the glass, but I'll have try another one to see if there were notes of apricot.

I think for the next hefe, I'll use the same yeast, but back off of the malt just a bit.  I might also give dry hopping a shot, using some melon hops.

Addendum, 10 May: Had another one of these hefes tonight; initial pour was with a mild head consisting of big bubbles.  I could smell banana from about 3 ft away; at first, I thought the aroma was from rinsing out the bottle.  When I did a big inhale over the glass, it was clear that the aroma was from the beer.  As I was drinking it, the head got thinner but really smooth, almost creamy.  Excellent flavor, I really enjoyed this one.

Cider

My previous attempt at a cider wasn't bad, but it could have been better.  This time around, rather than making small incremental changes and seeing how they turn out, I'm going to fall back on my military training...specifically from the rifle range...and make  BOLD "dope" changes ("dope" referring to settings on the iron sights of the rifle).

A recent issue of Zymurgy had an article on malted cider that was interesting, but more importantly, I wanted to try something a bit different, and make a cider with a bit more body for my daughter's college graduation.  She's the cider drinker in the family, and I wanted to make something special.  NorthernBrewer had a recipe for a dry-hopped cider, so I thought I'd combine a couple of different aspects of the various recipes...organic brown sugar, frozen juice concentrate, and dry-hopping.  See what I mean by "bold dope changes"?

Brew Day: 15 March 2016

Yeast: SafCider

I picked up an 11.5 oz bottle of pasteurized Simply Apple juice and 4 qts of HT brand Gravenstein apple juice.  I poured the small bottle of juice into a pot, topped it off to two cups, and heated it to 170 deg F.  Once it reached that temperature, I dissolved 3.5 oz of organic brown sugar in the heated juice, and then added that to a fermenter.  I then topped the fermenter off to about a gallon, and pitched the yeast.

Addendum, 18 Mar: The cider is still fermenting away; the blow-off bottle is pretty clear, and the bubbles coming out of the tube make a steady "thump, thump" that's exciting to hear.

Addendum, 25 Mar: Dry hopped with 10 g Jarrylo; very apple-y smell during the transfer.  Looking to bottle on Monday.

Addendum, 29 Mar: Bottled tonight with 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup of boiling water.  I got 9 good bottles and 1 partial fill, which I'll try around mid-April.

Addendum, 22 May: I had tried the partial fill of this cider a bit ago, and I didn't much care for it...but then, I'm not a cider drinker.  I'd decided to put a bottle in the fridge, and keep it for my daughter, and then empty out the rest of the bottles.  Well, she tried one tonight, and liked it!  Who knew?  In fact, she had a second one.

The juice I used this time included some apple material at the bottom of the bottle, and I went ahead and included that in the mix.  This, of course, settled out in the bottles, as well.

I do think that regardless of the yeast used, and in particular with this one, it might be a good idea to include some apple juice concentrate for extra sweetness.  I also tossed out the idea of soaking apple sticks (apples sliced up in sticks) in vodka for a day or two and then including several of them in the bottles.

Going for the berries (again)

Keeping with my trend of fruit-forward IPAs, I wanted to use up the Brewer's Gold hops that I had remaining from my second run of the "hop bomb" IPA.  The first one turned out really well, and with what I have left, I wanted to try a shot at a fruit-forward pale ale or IPA without the Mosaic and HBC-438 hops, and use just a single hop.  I'm hoping to get that black currant that are associated with the hops.

Brew Day: 1 Mar 2016

Partial Mash:
6 oz Vienna malt
4 oz Pilsen malt
1 oz CaraPils

Boil (60 min):
1 lb Munton's Extra Light DME (60 min)
3 oz cane sugar (5 min)

Hops (German Brewer's Gold, AA: 5.9%)
7g Brewer's Gold (FWH)
7g Brewer's Gold (5 min)
11g Brewer's Gold (dry hop)

Yeast: Safale US-05

*I followed my usual process for the partial mash, as well as for cooling the wort and pitching the yeast.

Addendum, 13 Mar: First thing this morning, I dry hopped the beer with the last 11 g of Brewer's Gold hops that I have left.

Addendum, 15 Mar: One of the things I love about home brewing is being able to take the bull by the horns and do whatever is I like with my beer.  This morning, I dry hopped this beer with 14 g of Mosaic (AA: 12.8%)!  While I was racking the beer into the clean fermenter on top of the hop pellets, I could smell a wonderful sweet berry aroma from the beer.  After I was done, I removed the racking crane from the old fermenter and inhaled deeply...WOW!  I'm really hoping that the tropical fruit aroma that Mosaic is known for imparts just a bit more aroma of sweetness to the beer.  I'm going to bottle early on Thu morning.

Addendum, 17 Mar: Bottled with 1 oz of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water.  I cannot wait to try this one...it smelled so good during bottling!

Addendum, 31 Mar: Tried one of these tonight, got some definite notes of tropical fruit in the nose, as well as on the palate.  Very good.

Addendum, 4 Apr: I have to try another one of these soon, to see if the flavor from the previous tasting persists.  I have to admit that I'd chatted with a friend to whom I'd recommended the hops, and his taste of his test brew indicated notes of tropical fruits and passion fruit.  When I opened one of my beers 5 days ago, I really came away with a sense of similar flavors.  I find this pretty interesting because a lot of the beers that I've tried that are described as having notes of tropical fruit end up being too bitter to taste much else, but these controlled home brews allow for a recipe where the subtle notes from the hop oils (not acids) are allowed to blossom.