Last night I helped Jesse bottle the Pale Ale we brewed a couple weeks ago. Being our first all-grain batch, the efficiency was only around 61%. I took the hydro reading before we racked and the gravity had dropped to 1.010, .004 lower than expected. The Safale S-05 yeast did a number on the brew, reaching 78-79% attenuation. This puts the ABV around 4.8%, despite the lower starting gravity.

When we popped open the fermenter, we found a beer that was rich amber in color. It also had a strong Cascade hop aroma, which was what Jesse was going for with the brew. I wouldn’t be surprised if the beer turns out similar to Mac’s Amber. The bottling process itself went quickly and within a couple hours we went from this…

…to this.

Yeah, I forgot the camera again, so these pictures all came from the cellular. Anyway, we finished early, so Jesse cleaned out his fermenter and we tossed an Apfelwein in it. For the Apfelwein, Jesse used Ed Wort’s tried and true recipe from Home Brew Talk.

Apfelwein

5.0 Gallons 100% Apple Juice
2.0 lbs Corn Sugar
Safale S-04 Yeast

The one deviation from Ed’s recipe was the yeast. Jesse wanted something that would give him a two week turnaround, so he opted for S-04 over Red Star Montrachet.

Next up is my Wit, which is getting bottled at the end of the week. I took a hydro sample tonight and it is down to 1.010, .002 lower than the target FG. This means it is sitting at 4.9% ABV; a few tenths higher than anticipated, but not something I am going to complain about.

Finally, I’ll mention again that Oakshire is having their O’Dark:30 release tomorrow night at the Bierstein; the festivities are set to begin around 6:00pm. I also want to correct a statement I made a couple posts back about the Portland O’Dark:30 releases. The first release party is at the Eastburn this Friday, the second at Belmont Station next Monday. The Belmont Station release is where the corny of Collaborative Evil-er is being tapped, not the Eastburn as I previously stated. The brew is a Belgian Strong Golden Ale, aged in an Elijah Craig Bourbon Barrel.

Cheers!
Kevin

Last week I received a comment from Alex of Alex Brews, asking how my Belgian IPA turned out. I was going to point Alex to the post reviewing my brew, but realized that I’m a lazy sack and never actually typed one up. Since I’m down to the last 3 bottles, I figured it’s time to crack one open and get to work. Alex, this one is for you.

My Belgian IPA was an attempt to clone Stone’s Cali-Belgique; an occasionally produced version of their flagship IPA, fermented with a Belgian strain of yeast and dry-hopped with Chinook. I didn’t have a lot of information about the Cali going into this brew. My grain bill was cobbled together from various clone recipes of Stone’s regular IPA. The yeast was Wyeast’s Belgian Strong Ale (1388), based entirely on availability. The end result? A good hoppy Belgian Ale, but one that tasted nothing at all like Cali-Belgique.

First of all, my beer is probably closer to a Belgian Pale than an IPA. Since I was only using a partial boil, I didn’t get the utilization out of my hops that I was expecting. I was shooting for around 70 IBUs, but ended up in the 40-45 range. Nothing to sneeze at, but pretty tame by Northwest standards. I also didn’t get the contributions I was expecting from my late additions; the citrus flavor and aroma is noticeable, but not strong. The one thing I did hit spot on was the color, a deep ruby red.

With a grain bill that includes about 10% Carapils, the beer has a huge, meringue-stiff head. And if not poured with the utmost care, your glass will be filled with 10% beer and 90% foam. When I brew this one again, that percentage is getting slashed in half.

The yeast had a stated range of 64-80°F and I fermented near its upper limit, resulting in some very strong esters; bubble-gum and fruit dominating the aroma. These are both big contributors to the brew’s flavor as well. Behind the strong yeast, there are some hints of biscuit malt, citrus hops and a light caramel sweetness. The finish is bitter and clean, the esters not lingering longer than welcome. It is very light bodied and as mentioned above, has over the top carbonation.

Out of the beers I have brewed so far, this one has been the most well received, resulting in a completely decimated supply. As I said, I am planning to brew this beer again, but may have to jump it ahead of some of the others I am planning. Here is the recipe I will be using for my next go-around.

Beer and Coding Belgian IPA

Batch Size: 5.0 gallons
Boil Size: 6.0 gallons

Estimate Attenuation: 75%
Estimated Efficiency: 70%

Estimated OG: 1.064
Estimated FG: 1.016
Estimated ABV: 6.2%
Estimated IBU: 62
Estimated SRM: 10

10.0 lbs 2-Row
1.0 lbs Crystal 40L
1.0 lbs Victory
0.5 lbs Carapils

0.5 oz Columbus @ 60
0.5 oz Columbus @ 30
0.5 oz Centennial @ 20
0.5 oz Centennial @ 10

Wyeast 1388 – Belgian Strong Ale

I also plan to lower the fermentation temperature a few degrees, probably to the 68-72°F range. This should reduce the esters some and let more of the citrus hop flavors shine through.

So, other than the carbonation and the less than taste bud smashing amount of IBUs, I am pleased with how the beer turned out. If nothing else, it encouraged me to continue brewing, which can’t be a bad thing. Several of my friends have tried this beer over the last couple of months, so maybe the comments area will turn up another opinion or two and you won’t be forced to settle for my undoubtedly biased review.

Cheers!
Kevin

While I should have been outside enjoying the sun last Saturday, I was instead holed up in the kitchen all afternoon brewing a Witbier. This was only my second all-grain attempt, the first being the pale ale that I helped Jesse brew last week. The efficiency of our brew last week ended up around 61%, but we figured that a few simple tweaks to our process could push us into the low 70’s.

Keeping temperature during the fly sparge was our biggest issue last week, so we converted to a simpler batch sparge process for the Wit. To solve the temperature issue, we employed a second beverage cooler to hold the heated sparge water, freeing up the brew kettle to collect the first runnings from the mash tun. I also purchased a cylindrical sparge bag at the homebrew shop to line the mash tun, keeping grain from sneaking through the false bottom and into the spout. Using the batch sparge method, we were able to up our efficiency to nearly 70%, falling just .001 short of our target OG.

The recipe we used was:

5.5 lbs German Pilsen
2.5 lbs Flaked Wheat
1.0 lbs Flaked Oats
1.0 lbs White Wheat
0.5 lbs Rice Hulls

.50 oz Mt. Hood @ 60 min
.50 oz Mt Hood @ 20 min
.75 oz Crushed Coriander @ 5
.50 oz Orange Peel Granules @ 5
.07 oz Chamomile (two 1 gram tea bags) @ 5
Zest of two medium oranges @ 5

Fermentis Safbrew T-58 Yeast

Estimated Efficiency: 70%
Estimated OG: 1.049
Estimated FG: 1.012
Estimated ABV: 4.8%
Estimated IBU: 14
Estimated SRM: 3

I was originally set on using Wyeast’s Belgian Wit strain, but a few days before our brew session, a post started on Home Brew Talk about Safbrew T-58; purportedly the strain used by Chimay. Many people were commenting that it produced both peppery phenols and light fruity esters, just about what I was looking for in my Wit. I pitched the yeast at 68ºF, then slowly ramped up the temperature. Right now I’m about 72 hours in and the Wit is churning away in my pantry at 74ºF.

Don’t worry; no leopards were harmed in the making of this beer. After pitching the yeast, I pulled a sample to use for gravity checks. Right now the sample is giving off a hot, pineapple aroma, not far off from MacTarnahan’s Lipstinger. If the beer ends up tasting close to how it currently smells, I’ll be using T-58 again for my next brew, a Farmhouse Ale.

Cheers!
Kevin

Last night I helped my friend Jesse brew up his first 5 gallon all-grain batch of beer. With an array of gear that included a turkey fryer, beverage cooler, camp chair, cutting board, vegetable steamer and Diablo II jewel case, we created a successful fly sparge system. I snapped a few pictures of our Frankensteined brew system with my cell phone. I apologize in advance for the quality, the camera is horrid.

Here is a shot of the fly sparge setup in action.

The brew kettle is a 30 quart turkey fryer. The mash tun, an unmodified 5 gallon Rubbermaid beverage cooler. In the tun is a spring loaded stainless steel vegetable strainer that acts as a false bottom, keeping the grain bed above the spout.

Initially, our plan was to perform a batch sparge; draining the tun into a bucket while we heated sparge water in the boil kettle. But the steamer didn’t fit the bottom of the tun snuggly, so some grain made it into the spout, slowing collection of the initial runnings. The sparge water was up to temp long before we needed it, so we erected the 3-tiered fly sparge system in the picture above.

The turkey fryer, sitting on top of a cutting board, in a collapsible camp chair, acted as a holding tank for the sparge water. The oil dump valve on the fryer let us adjust the flow rate to match that of the tun’s spout. We kept the water in the kettle around 170(F) by adding small amounts of boiling water when it started to dip.

After a while of holding in the tun’s spout by hand, Jesse came up with an ingenious way to automate it.

With a beer cap keeping pressure on the valve, we were free to sit back and enjoy a few beers while we waited for the sparge to finish. In addition to a six-pack of Sierra Nevada’s Glissade, we also cracked open my Smoked Porter and poured one of the last bottles of my Belgian IPA. As for the Diablo II case mentioned above, it was used to stabilize the bucket collecting the wort; receiving not one, but two large cracks for its trouble.

I’m not sure about the efficiency of our set-up yet. I had to leave before the boil finished, but Jesse saved a few ounces of wort before he pitched the yeast. I will be taking a hydrometer reading tomorrow to figure out our original gravity. For our next go-around, I think we are going to line the tun with a large nylon bag to keep the grain from passing through the holes in the false bottom and clogging the spout. I got a spray of hot wort to the leg last night while trying to unclog the tun’s valve and would like to avoid that in the future.

If anyone is interested in the beer that was brewed, here is the recipe. Jesse decided to go with a pretty straight-forward Pale Ale for his first brew.

Jesse’s Pale Ale

Batch Size: 5.0 Gallons

9.5lbs 2-Row
0.5lbs Crystal 60L
0.5lbs Carapils

0.5oz Cascade @ 45
1.0oz Cascade @ 30
0.5oz Cascade @ 15

Safale S-05

Estimated Efficiency: 70%
Estimated OG: 1.054
Estimated FG: 1.014
ABV%: 5.2
IBU: 37
SRM: 7

Cheers!
Kevin

Saturday morning I got to try my hand at yeast farming. I was ready to bottle my Belgian IPA and wanted to save the yeast for future brewing. Originally I had planned on just pitching another beer on top of the yeast cake, but I didn’t want to brew another Belgian for my next beer. I read a great guide on yeast washing HERE and decided to give it a try.

Using the method in the guide, I was able to harvest four yeast starts from my fermenter. Here is a shot of the yeast separating from the trub in a couple quart jars.

After the trub fell out, I transferred the suspended yeast into four pint jars. This shot is of the jars in my fridge, 72 hours after washing. The harvested yeast is the thin layer at the bottom of each jar.

I was feeling pretty good about my accomplishment, so I went ahead and brewed up another batch of beer Saturday afternoon. I decided to step up from an extract recipe and mini-mash a Porter using DeathBrewer’s Easy Partial Mash Brewing guide. Here is the recipe for a 5.5 gallon batch of my Porter.

60% Brewhouse Efficiency

5.0 lbs Extra Light DME

2.5 lbs Munich Malt 10L

1.0 lbs Crystal Malt 80L

1.0 lbs Chocolate Malt

0.5 lbs Wheat Malt

.25 lbs Black Patent Malt

0.5 Columbus Hops @ 60 min.

0.5 Centennial Hops @ 10 min.

Nottingham Yeast – rehydrated

Boil Volume: 6.5 gallons

Batch Size: 5.5 gallons

OG: 1.060

FG: 1.015

ABV: 5.8%

IBU: 30

SRM: 37

The grain bill for my recipe is based loosely on Avery’s New World Porter. I chose the Notty yeast because it will have little affect on the overall flavor of the beer. I am trying to establish a baseline recipe that I can play around with during future brewing sessions. I am planning a Smoked Porter using Briess’s Cherry Wood Smoked Malt and a Belgian Porter, using some candy sugar and my reclaimed yeast.

In another two weeks when my Belgian IPA is carbed up, I’ll crash a couple bottles in the freezer so I can try the brew and write up my early impressions. Once the beer is fully conditioned, I’ll pick up a bottle of Stone’s Cali-Belgique (my brew’s inspiration) and invite some friends over to do a side-by-side. I did fill up a 20oz soda bottle with my IPA, so I could easily check the color and clarity as it conditions. Here it is after a few days in the bottle.

It’s a lot redder that I remember when it went into the fermenter. The aroma has subsided a bit, but I was still getting a lot of citrus and Belgian fruitiness when I bottled. And yes, that is a lot of fall-out in the bottom of the bottle. This was the last bottle pulled from the fermenter, so it got more sediment than the rest.

Cheers!
Kevin