Wild Smoked Wheat Ale
Batch Size: 2.0 gallons
Boil Volume: 1.75 gallons
2.0 lbs White Wheat
1.0 lbs Weyermann Rauchmalt
.50 oz German Tettnanger (3.2 AA%) @ 60
.50 oz German Tettnanger (3.2 AA%) @ Flame Out
Wild Yeast
Estimated Efficiency: 70%
Estimated Attenuation 75%
Estimated OG: 1.040
Estimated FG: 1.010
Estimated ABV: 3.9%
Estimated IBU: 17
Estimated SRM: 3
The decision to brew a 2 gallon batch was born out of worry that my wild yeast starter was infected, and the desire not to expose my normal brewing equipment to it. I also decided to hedge my bets by brewing a second beer. That way if the wild yeast flops, the brew day will not have been a total loss. And really, brewing two beers simultaneously doesn’t take that much longer than brewing one, especially with Jesse lending not only a hand, but also the use of his stove with two large burners. What luxury.
I had been wanting to brew both a Munich based ale and an oaked IPA for a while now, so I figured why not combine the two. Bippity, boppity, Oaked Munich IPA.
Oaked Munich IPA
Batch Size: 5.0 gallons
Boil Volume: 6.5 gallons
10.0 lbs American Munich 10L
1.0 lbs Carastan (30-37L)
1.0 lbs Flaked Oats
0.5 lbs Cane Sugar @ 15 minutes left in boil
1.0 oz Willamette (4.8 AA%) @ First Wort Hopped
.75 oz Chinook (10.9 AA%) @ 60
.50 oz Willamette (4.8 AA%) @ 30
1.50 oz Willamette (4.8 AA%) @ Flame Out – Steeped @ 180(F)
1.25 oz Chinook (10.9 AA%) @ Dry Hopped (primary, days 7-14)
1.0 oz Medium+ Toasted Oak Chips (primary, days 1-14)
Safale US-05
Estimated Efficiency: 70%
Estimated Attenuation 75%
Estimated OG: 1.059
Estimated FG: 1.015
Estimated ABV: 5.7%
Estimated IBU: 51
Estimated SRM: 14
Being so low in diastatic power, I wasn’t sure if the Munich malt would be up to the task of converting the other grains. My maths showed that it should work…barely. To give it a fighting chance, we did a long, low mash: 4 hours at 152(F).
For our extra care and effort, we were rewarded with a God-awful mess of a stuck mash. I’m not sure if the problem was the stupidly fine crush I received from the homebrew shop, the flaked oats, the 4 hour mash or some combination thereof. In any case, there were definitely some flow issues. Wee spent the better part of an hour prodding at the braided-hose filter to keep the wort trickling out. With the grain bed in constant flux, it never had a chance to set and a huge amount of particulate made its way into the kettle. 1 1/2 Whirfloc tabs also made their way in for good measure.
If the hop schedule looks familiar, that is because it was lifted from Denny Conn’s Rye IPA, with a slight tweak to the Chinook additions to keep the IBU hovering around 50. For the flame out hops, I employed a technique learned on Homebrewtalk.com. The wort was quickly cooled to 180(F) then the hops were added and steeped for 30 minutes before further cooling. Supposedly, this process extracts more flavor and aroma than putting the hops in right at flame out. We’ll see in a few weeks if the difference is noticeable (or if it’s all been a pack of lies – Genesis Editor).
The oak chips were soaked overnight in Bourbon, then rinsed in water and finally steamed to sanitize them. They were added to the fermenter along with the yeast and will remain there until I rack to secondary. I would have liked to have used an English ale yeast, but US-05 is currently the only non-Belgian strain in my fridge. I would have also liked to brew a slightly stronger beer, but with 5 gallon mash tuns, I’m pretty limited on the size of my grain bills. Even with 12 lbs or grain, there wasn’t room for a mash out infusion. We had to pull a decoction and add it back to reach my mash out temp. Despite all these issues, we still hit our target starting gravity spot on.
Unlike the IPA, the wheat beer brew went flawlessly. Ironic since at ~67% wheat malt, it is the one I was worried about sticking. The only issue arose when I took the hydrometer reading; we were way under target. I think this is a result of not sparging. We mashed pretty thin and were able to fill the smaller kettle with just the initial runnings, and probably not all of them. Not the end of the world, I can just pretend I’m in Utah while drinking my 3% beer.
My fears were also confirmed when I pitched my wild yeast. While decanting, I poured off 3 little bacteria islands that were most likely the parties responsible for my starter’s lemony zing. Again, no worries, this is why I keep my equipment separate. I am still looking forward to the outcome of my wild yeast experiment. Also, there are now several other people attempting to culture there own local yeasts on the Homebrewtalk Thread that prompted my experimentation. Well worth the read if you have a few minutes.
Finally, while typing this up, I realized that I have not yet written about the dark mild I brewed a couple months back; half fermented with a trappist yeast, half distilled into a non-alcoholic beer. I’ll try to have a post about it up in the next few days.
Cheers!
Kevin
I’ll start my saying it is wrong to compare Pinkus Muller’s brew to other German Alts. It is the lone commercial example of the Munster style; an altbier worlds apart from its Dusseldorf and Northern German cousins. The two most striking traits of Munster Alt are its use of malted wheat and its exposure to lacto during conditioning. The result: a beer that seems more at home with Berliner Weisses than with its fellow Altbiers.
Munster Alt pours a slightly hazy, golden color; a deceptive cover for its malty, well-rounded body. The flavor is a balance of wheat and bready Munich malt. The Alt yeast and long, cool fermentation give the beer a clean, minerally, lager-like quality. The lactic acid, while not nearly as pronounced as in a Berliner Weisse, is still apparent and provides the same drying finish and refreshing sensation.
Munster Alt’s highlander status prevents me from rating it against its style; after all, it IS the Munster Alt style. So, eschewing style conformity and assigning a rating base solely on merit, I give it a well-deserved A.
Munster Alt is a unique beer that is truly in a category all unto itself; an over-used an often inaccurate, but in this case, completely fitting description. It also carries a more than reasonable price tag. The 16.9 oz bottle pictured above came from the newly-expanded beer section of my local Fred Meyer, priced around $3.50.
And for those of you whose Lord Northbournes gets all erect when you hear the “O” word, I’ll mention that Munster Alt is certified organic. Actually, Pinkus Muller is one of the pioneers of organic brewing. They started producing organic beer in 1980 and later became the first brewery to use entirely organic malts and hops.
Well, there you have it. A small review with a little bit of history. My work is done.
Cheers!
Kevin
Just a few short [...]]]>
Just a few short years ago, I was positive Fat Tire was the be-all end-all of craft beer. Hell, I didn’t even know what “craft beer” was at the time; New Belgium made micros. Then, through one of those friend-of-a-friend things, I got a chance to try a test batch of what we all know (and love) now as Total Domination. Talk about a game changer. From that first enamel-stripping sip, I knew there was no going back. My name is Kevin and I am a hops addict. For the next year I asked/begged/pleaded for Ninkasi IPA at every bar or restaurant I visited. Daddy needs his fix. Luckily, Eugene was just as much a Ninkasi junkie as I, and my requests were rarely denied. The rest is history: I drank more beer. I obsessed about it. I brewed it. I prattled endlessly about it. I bored my wife. I started a blog. Oh, and Ninkasi got bigger too.
On Saturday my wife and I escaped the heat in the shade of Ninkasi’s newly finished patio area, where we unknowingly celebrated Beer and Coding’s first anniversary. I enjoyed a sample tray containing Nuptiale Cream Ale, Quantum Pale, Tricerahops, Radiant and an unnamed dry-hopped IPA while my wife had a Believer. It’s hard to image that only a few years back, I would have been sipping my Fat Tire while my wife drank a Coors Light or Widmer Hef.
As you may have deduced from the introduction, the rest of this post will be a stereotypical, sappy gush-fest, looking back over the first year of Beer and Coding. Won’t you join me?
In The Beginning…
When I get into a hobby, I go deep. Craft beer was my new mistress and my wife was tired of hearing about her. My friends and coworkers probably felt the same way. Fortunately we have this thing called the Internet, and anyone with one of these computer thingies can blather on all day about whatever tickles their undercarriage without threat of recourse. That founding ideal, plus a clever pun for a title, and we have inception. Beer and Coding.
Initially, I wanted my blog to sound similar to the way I talk. Unfortunately, as I muddled through my early posts, I realized they had the cohesiveness of a caffeine-addled squirrel that had taken one too many falls from the old oak tree. I now understand much better the confused look on my wife’s face after I have been talking for a few minutes. This was followed by a short stretch of posts where I dabbling in a more serious tone. But for me, serious writing is analogous to tedious writing and dabbling is best left for college dorms. I think I have finally found my “voice,” and at least the act of writing feels like it has better flow. The biggest variable at this point is use of imagery, which seems directly proportional to the hour at which I am writing. It is 9:07 p.m. if you are wondering. Now if only I could figure out a way to transcribe my thoughts faster, so I am not finishing this at midnight again. Moving along…
Want Beer, Will Review
One of the best things about this beer blogging shtick has been getting invited to beer events, or at least having a semi-plausible (by “wife standard”) reason to attend them. The Fresh Hop Festival, Holiday Ale Fest, KLCC Brewfest, Zwicklemania, Sasquatch and OBF are all recent notches on the bedpost. And I can’t even begin to count the tastings and bottle releases. I am glad I don’t live in Portland; the little life I have outside of beer would be completely gone.
Over the last year I have reviewed several beers, most of them purchased, but occasionally grafted. At first, I made it a point to review without using any “beer snob” terminology. I wanted to write reviews for people in my position – those who liked craft beer, but didn’t care about descriptions like “cloying” and “horse blanket”. I quickly realized that people aren’t in my boat for too long. The palate develops pretty quickly, and at the end of the day “horse blanket” is the best way to describe something that has a horse blanket taste. I still find the term “nose” pretentious, but have conceded to using “notes” and “hints”. See, I can grow as a person.
Beer and CODING
I’ll admit it, I’m still lagging on the coding front. Who would have thought that after writing code for eight hours, I wouldn’t be keen on doing it when I got home? I mean I think about beer all day and I still want one when I get home. Anyway, I do have a few coding projects in the works that I will get around to finishing at some point, but I will leave that for the Future section. Which brings us to…
The Future
When looking back, it’s always good to end looking forward. I’m sure there’s a pun in there somewhere, but it’s getting late.
In year two, expect more reviews and event reports; the bread and butter, or meat and potatoes for those of you with a more carnivorous leaning. As I’ve mentioned before, Eugene beer culture is growing rapidly and as it does, my posts will grow increasingly local. Of course, I’ll never turn down an opportunity to travel.
I am also picking back up my exploration of nanobrewing. I started with a primer back in February, but Mt. Tabor and Naked City were the only nanos that returned my call (or more accurately e-mails). Since then, my initial post has been referenced quite a bit around the interwebs and recently I have received e-mails from a couple prospective nanobrewers, asking for advice. Not being in the business of brewing myself (dare to dream), I am reminded of the old adage, “Those who can’t do, teach.” And teach I shall (attempt – Honesty Editor). In addition to the two aforementioned breweries, Hess Brewing, Healdsburg Beer Company and Beetje Brewing has all answered the calling. I am currently compiling their responses to some questions I asked, and the first article should be up soon. Thanks again guys! If any of you other nanobrewers want to pitch in, shoot me an e-mail.
On the coding side, the Beer Test is partially written using the Android SDK and I have also started a tasting notes app. All the parts are sitting in a SparkFun shopping cart to turn my Arduino into a temperature controller for a fermentation chamber. When I pull the trigger, you can follow along as I build my lagering freezer. And not one to look a gift segue in the mouth, I’ll use the opportunity to transition to homebrew.
My home brewing is getting a little out of control, more and more of the garage’s floorspace consumed by the hobby. I recently installed a conditioning fridge and yesterday picked up a new (used) wort chiller from a great guy named Adam who threw in 100+ bottles and about a pound of home-grown Cascade, Chinook and Magnum hops. Still going is the starter of wild yeast I cultured from the plum tree in my yard. I’m excited to brew a “Eugene” beer with my yeast and Adam’s hops. Anyone growing some barley they want to throw in?
Conclusion
Once again, I want to take the opportunity to thank the craft brew community, both brewers and bloggers. This is the most fun I have ever had learning. Remind me again why they don’t teach beer in school?
In typical PBS fashion, I am going to end with a serene montage. In this case, pictures from my trip to Ninkasi. Here’s looking at another great year!
Cheers!
Kevin
Saturday, I picked up a couple pounds of DME from the homebrew shop and began my quest to culture yeast/exhaust from plums. I made up a 1 quart starter of 1.040 wort in a spare growler and went outside to gather some plums. Unfortunately, with the recent heat, my tree had already dropped all its fruit. I managed to scavenge about a dozen intact windfalls, all but two (pic, far right) already starting to brown. Oh well, in you go.
After about 48 I had signs of fermentation. There was a foamy krausen occupying space between the floating fruit. There was also a yeasty aroma and a good deal of sediment in the bottom of the growler. Liftoff.
Tuesday I made a new 1/2 gallon starter, lightly hopped with some left-over Columbus. My plan was to decant the first starter and pitch the settled yeast into the new one. When I opened the growler, I was met with a strong yeast aroma. A strong Belgian-esque yeast aroma; quite similar to the smell my Wit had while fermenting. Excited, I charged my wife, growler in hand, yelling for her to smell the jar. I was met with a fist.
Back on my feet, I took a hydro sample while decanting the growler. The gravity was still about 1.040, but there was a ton of yeast in suspension. The picture below shows the new starter, directly after the yeast was pitched. Ooh, so cloudy.
Within a couple hours, the new starter had developed some splotches on the surface. Had this been several days in, I would have been firing off shoddy picture-laden “Is My Beer Infected?” posts to all the homebrew forums. But at sub-three hours, I don’t think anything but the yeast had time to take hold. Here is the starter at 24 hours; you can see the pile of yeast building in the bottom of the container.
Since I don’t own a stir plate, I have been giving the starter a good shake a few times every day. I am currently fermenting around 75 (F), but this will probably rise over the next few days as the outside temperature starts to climb again. I plan to let the starter go until I see a noticeable change in gravity, or get some horrible infection. If the yeast succeeds in fermenting the starter, I’ll give it a real beer to chew on. Assuming this all works out, anyone interested in a beer swap (Watch it. The OLCC could be reading – Legal Advisor) where we all brew the same recipe and ferment with locally cultivated yeasts? Could be fun.
Cheers!
Kevin
Willamette Valley Blues and Brews Festival
Tomorrow afternoon, the 2nd Annual Willamette Valley Blues and Brews Festival kicks-off in Springfield’s Island Park. All of the information for the 2-day event is available on the Festival’s Website. Here is the festival’s beer list, cuffed from their website and reformatted for easier perusing.
| Brewery | Beer | ||
| Block 15 | Boneyard Beer | Bone-a-Fide Pale Ale | Black 13 |
| High St. (McMenamins) | Copper Moon Pale Ale | Hammerhead | |
| Hop Valley | IPA (no name given) | Blonde (no name given) | |
| Hopworks | Rise Up Red | HUB Lager | |
| Kona | Longboard Lager | Wailua Wheat | |
| Ninkasi | Total Domination | Radiant Summer Ale | |
| Oakshire | Watershed IPA | Line Dry Rye | |
| Redhook | Copperhook | Blonde Ale | |
| Sierra Nevada | Pale Ale | Anniversary | |
| Three Creeks | Knotty Blonde | Old Prospector Pale | |
| Widmer | W’10 Pitch Black IPA | Drifter Pale Ale | |
Three blonde ales out of 23 beers, apparently the festival has a type. Block 15 and Three Creeks are a couple nice additions for us townies who can’t be bothered to make the trek to Corvallis or Sisters.
I know the festival is still in its infancy, but it could only help if they spent some extra time securing beers and publicizing the ‘brews’ aspect of the event. For example, while the list of performers is displayed prominently on the main page of the festival’s website, to find the list of beers, you have to select ‘Brewers’ from the ‘Vendors’ dropdown. And up until a couple weeks ago, only Ninkasi and Sierra Nevada were listed. Eugene/Springfield is hungry for more quality brewfests. I would hate to see this become the Willamette Valley Blues Festival (with beer garden).
4th Annual Whiteaker Block Party
Saturday welcomes the return of the Whiteaker Block Party, a free community gathering and street fair that shows off the best of Eugene’s most eclectic neighborhood. 37 bands are scheduled to play across 6 stages; a schedule is available at the Event’s Website.
Ninkasi, who happens to be located in the heart of Whiteaker, will once again be hosting one of the stages and a beer garden at the brewery. The newly-finished patio area should be a welcome change to the paved lot of years past.
Interestingly, two of the bands playing at the Blues and Brews Festival, Volifonix and Jerry Zybach, will also be appearing at the Whiteaker Block Party.
So, there you go. I don’t want to hear any complaining that there is nothing to do this weekend. Get your lawns mowed early and go have some fun.
Cheers!
Kevin