Catch-up post. Mild, Saison, Oktoberfest

I've fallen behind on the blog. It happens. Life. Since the last post, I've brewed 2 ales, built a fermentation chamber and brewed Oktoberfest using Kolsh yeast, so technically also an ale in a lager costume.

Brews

English Pale Mild

This brew was based off a recipe from Experimental Homebrewing's session recipe collection. Specifically, Drew Beachum's Oat Mild.

Grain/Sugars:

6.0 lbs. Maris Otter

2.0 lbs. Oat Malt

0.6 lbs. Crystal 60

Hops:

0.10 oz. Nugget @60. (A: 16.8%)
0.22 oz. Perle @30. (A: .5%)

Yeast:

WLP005 British Ale

Extras:

0.5 tsp Wyeast nutrient

1 tablet Whirlfloc

 B

Saison with Hibiscus

This brew was also based off a recipe from Experimental Homebrewing. This we Beachum's goto saison recipe, Saison Experimentale. This one is made extra special with the addition of family grown and dried hibiscus flowers. My awesome parents plucked and dried each and every hibiscus blossom from their garden all summer long. This was also the second time I've use Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison. The first time, I followed standard procedure and experienced the famous 'stall' from this yeast. This time, I followed Drew's open fermentation procedure and low and behold, the yeast attenuated all the way down to 1.004 in about 2 weeks. Amazing.

Grain/Sugars:

8.75 lbs. Pilsner

0.50 lbs. Flaked Wheat
1.00 lbs. White table sugar

Hops:

0.50 oz. Magnum@60. (A: 12.9%)

Yeast:

Wyeast 3724

Extras:

0.5 tsp Wyeast nutrient

1 tablet Whirlfloc

0.6oz Dried Hibiscus flowers in secondary for 3 days

(m)Oktoberfest

My favorite brew season is fall because of this style. I absolutely love it. Until now however, I've never had the correct temperature control to even attempt it. This is the first brew to test out the new chamber. I choose this recipe instead of an all-in lager to take it though it's paces. This brew was based off a recipe from Brülosophy author Marshall Schott. 

Grain/Sugars:

5 lbs. Vienna

2 lbs. 8oz Munich
2 lbs. Pilsner
8 oz Crystal 60
8 oz Honey Malt
2 oz Special B

Hops:

1.0 oz German Hallertau (whole leaf)@60.
1.0 oz Czech Saaz @60
0.5 oz Czech Saaz @15

Yeast:

WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch (2 packs)

Extras:

0.5 tsp Wyeast nutrient

1 tablet Whirlfloc

Build

I found a great site with instructions for a fermentation chamber build. Followed this as a general guide and adjusted to my needs. So far, it's working like a charm!

Stout for Summer - brew day

The Brew

Continuing the Summer of Sessions with a stout. More specifically, with a variation of a Irish Dry Stout. Recipe primarily verbatim from Brewing Classic Styles with the one tweak being the use of Dry English Ale yeast instead of the more traditional Irish Ale strain. Simple recipe, hopefully tasty beer.

The Recipe

Grain/Sugars:

7.0 lbs. Maris Otter

2.0 lbs. Flaked Barley

1.0 lbs. Roasted Barley

Hops:

2.0 oz. East Kent Goldings @60. (A: 5.7%, B: 2.9%) 20 ibu

Yeast:

WLP007 Dry English Ale

Extras:

0.5 tsp Wyeast nutrient

1 tablet Whirlfloc

Brewday

Originally this was going to be my Fathers Day brew. But when Saturday afternoon opened up, I took the opportunity to avoid the 100+ F Sunday forecast and get the brew in.  Setup solo to start it off in the garage. Used the BIAB setup again for this brew. Heated up 8 gallons of water to about 154F and mashed in for 60 minutes. Mowed the lawn during the mash. Cleaned out the car during the boil. Very productive brew day.

At 60 minutes fired up burned and started mash-out. Pulled the bag, light squeeze and fired up burner to full. Measured 7.5 gallons of 1.035 preboil wort. Simple 60 minute boil was startedAdded hops per schedule, chilled, pitched yeast and set to ferment. OG landed perfectly at 1.045. Target FG is 1.011, which if hit, should leave a dry stout holding about 4.4% ABV.

Slamable Saison - brew day

The Brew

I decided after the last brew's low ABV that perhaps this was a good trend. So I am formally kicking off my Summer of Sessions. So every brew I make to drink this summer will be less than 5% ABV. (One exception will be a mid summer Russian Imperial Stout brew, but that one doesn't really count because we won't drink that until Christmas time). So if the Berliner style was the first, then beer number two in this Summer of Sessions is a take on an old favorite from last Spring, a saison made with the fermentation monster Wyeast 3711 French Saison strain.

The Recipe

Grain/Sugars:

4.5 lbs. Pilsner

1.0 lbs. Wheat

0.75 lbs. Vienna

0.25 lbs. Acidulated Malt

0.25 lbs. Flaked Oats

0.25 lbs. Flaked Corn

Hops:

1.0 oz. Willamette @60. (A: 5.1%, B: 3.8%) 20 ibu

1.0 oz. Czech Saaz @10. (A: 3.6%, B: 4.2%) 5 ibu

Yeast:

Wyeast 3711 French Saison

Extras:

0.5 tsp Wyeast nutrient

1 tablet Whirlfloc

Brewday

Brewday was a cloudy Saturday afternoon made available by rained out baseball and soccer. Lemons to lemonade! Setup solo to start it off in the garage. I decided with such a small grain bill to use the BIAB setup today, so i heated up 8.75 gallons of water to about 152F and mashed in for 60 minutes. During the mash got all the boil additions measured and even started on this very write-up.

At 60 minutes fired up burned and started mash-out. Pulled the bag, light squeeze and fired up burner to full. Measured 8 gallons of 1.030 preboil wort. With the high percentage of pilsner malt, the recipe called for a 90 minute boil. Added hops per schedule, chilled, pitched yeast and set to ferment.

WILBiER Weisse - Berliner style ale - brew day

The Brew

All the rage right now in the homebrewing world is a concept called "sour worting". The general idea is to quick sour a beer by pitching a Lactobacillis bacteria into unboiled wort to pre acidify it. One of the more creative approaches to this is to use an alternative source (those other then the standard homebrew yeast producers) of this souring bacteria. The Facebook group "Milk the Funk" (MTF) is a treasure trove of information on this topic and was the inspiration for this brew.

The Berliner Weisse style of beer is a historical style from Germany, more specifically as the name implies, the city of Berlin. It is typically a very sour, sessionable wheat beer. Traditional serving includes adding a sweet syrup at serving time to cut the acidity, however, many now are just drinking it as a straight sour.

Recipe base is from the MTF wiki recipe page for this style.

The Recipe

Grain/Sugars:
 4.75 lbs. Pilsner (DE) [66%]
 2.50 lbs. Wheat (CA) [34%]

Hops:
 0.50 oz. East Kent Goldings

Yeast:
 Lactobacillus Plantarum - Goodbelly JuiceDrink Mango - 1 carton
WLP644 Saccharomyces "Bruxellensis" Trois - 2nd generation repitch

Extras:
 1.0 oz 88% Lactic Acid

Brewday

4/15/2016 Step 1: Wort production and souring phase
The initial wort production was completely standard. With such a small amount of grains and some

time limits I went BIAB. Heated up 6.1 gallons of tap water to 151 F. Doughed in the grains and watched it settle right in at 148 F mash temp. Put the cover on, wrapped the pot in blankets and let it do it's converting. After about 50 minutes pulled and drained the bag, collecting about 5.75 gallons of 1.036 wort. Chilled that down to 100 F as per the MTF recipe (this still seems really hot to me). Added some lactic acid to pre-acidify the wort prior to pitching the lacto bacteria. Rack the wort onto the entire carton of the Goodbelly JuiceDrink. Moved the carboy down to the warmest part of the basement and left it for 3 days. *Unfortunately my PH meter is not working so i don't have measurements.



4/18/2016 Step 2: Pasteurization and saccharomyces fermentation
After the 3 days allowing the lacto to chew on the wort, it had a hint of sour, but not over the top as I was expecting. Schedules being what they are, I had no other opportunity to finish this later, so it was what it was. Transferred the wort back to the kettle. Added in half an ounce of old EKG hops and brought lit the fire. Held temp around 180 for 5 minutes and killed the flame.
Chilled it down and pitched the second generation WLP644 yeast.


After a week in primary on the clean yeast, initial tastings have been very reminiscent of lemonade, not super sour, but a good tart flavor. Regardless, it should be a really easy drinking session-able ale for summer.