tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43544857648588101612024-03-13T20:38:15.616-07:00Kilned BrewingBeers, Sour Beers, Microbe Culturing, and Beer Appreciation!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-63579286722664756432015-12-29T13:50:00.001-08:002015-12-29T13:50:38.406-08:00Apfelbier Tasting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtZF1AbrjVKemAca8Z4tJvDzO5iZ1Q9DSYsF4zQhvs9SX_PoFf734DOuhSwx1mdeNGYm4DBfj8AC5PZ2Koh7VUr1UxyV-CroU2ko16ejAj0369dDXo8oWha7O-jOMbsEKmrP8lhh2rvkt_/s1600/DSC_0562.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtZF1AbrjVKemAca8Z4tJvDzO5iZ1Q9DSYsF4zQhvs9SX_PoFf734DOuhSwx1mdeNGYm4DBfj8AC5PZ2Koh7VUr1UxyV-CroU2ko16ejAj0369dDXo8oWha7O-jOMbsEKmrP8lhh2rvkt_/s320/DSC_0562.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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Very cloudy beer, even after over a month in the bottle.<br /><br />Appearance: Hella cloudy. Darker shade of yellow. Fluffy persistent white head.<br /><br />Aroma: Malty/grainy, cidery and a little bit spicy<br /><br />Flavour: Crisp and very dry with a very slight tartness following the swallow. Hints of cinnamon and pie spices, but it's subtle rather than in your face.<br /><br />Mouthfeel: Small bubbles of carbonation, thin and very dry. Slightly bitter, a bit acidic.<br /><br />Overall: I think it's good. The beer is very drinkable, and I appreciate that the spice is more subtle than in your face. My only qualm is that it is really dry and doesn't have any residual sweetness. I should have added a fraction of honey malt or something to favor the cider and spice flavors.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-48614012481626812532015-12-08T16:55:00.000-08:002015-12-08T16:55:46.839-08:00Apfelbier, because pumpkin spice is so last year.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfAeZdaHZqg0RRd26BGNDCcktFYubh_4XnENN18G4lbFs4NfAuF7b1PQCFJs3gKwny_8drnLVjfELQdUB-lT440fCXJx2v3MQIdZaltU8M8mZFBvwOK0asPCWpZMF7ZYSrVFkaCvsm52fx/s1600/DSC_0457.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfAeZdaHZqg0RRd26BGNDCcktFYubh_4XnENN18G4lbFs4NfAuF7b1PQCFJs3gKwny_8drnLVjfELQdUB-lT440fCXJx2v3MQIdZaltU8M8mZFBvwOK0asPCWpZMF7ZYSrVFkaCvsm52fx/s320/DSC_0457.JPG" width="180" /></a><br />This is the last time this beer would be this clear (Racking from kettle to carboy)</div>
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As we in the northern hemisphere face the dark winter, a yearning for solace from the cold fills our hearts. While typically I have made a pumpkin spice beer each year around this time I decided this year that I was sick of pumpkin spice and wanted to do something a bit different.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVxXqyZSWF4nsBejq4dm3d6d9jv3rsaiMy3BvTA6xk98FwSmqeX_pYGeNGlnxwhgbAA2_oJBmlxJY71TKwfOkyR1n0NNH3sv8wYlvSvbtw6Mdd4eYmMWmLzhKq-jDv4yKHB8OPUK7UiDBJ/s1600/DSC_0493.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVxXqyZSWF4nsBejq4dm3d6d9jv3rsaiMy3BvTA6xk98FwSmqeX_pYGeNGlnxwhgbAA2_oJBmlxJY71TKwfOkyR1n0NNH3sv8wYlvSvbtw6Mdd4eYmMWmLzhKq-jDv4yKHB8OPUK7UiDBJ/s320/DSC_0493.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I have done beers aged on apples and crabapples before, but those were always raw apples. This time, I got the idea of a sort of apple pie beer with cooked apples. I had an idea of the flavor of cooked spiced apples in my head. I took about 10# of different apples (Gala and ambrosia) and blended them as I cooked them into an apple sauce. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP719SwTCMUwRHnugoyI2YxBa_S75MOuSe6fG8vXSGuWYzssY5DmTzvi9T33j7Sufwt2UzR6LM4AZGdxnn0WSoBO1M1T39rQuybq10JupSaymSWWpgTbjx6u9G-THTagqcls9nKvjPoZzH/s1600/DSC_0497.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP719SwTCMUwRHnugoyI2YxBa_S75MOuSe6fG8vXSGuWYzssY5DmTzvi9T33j7Sufwt2UzR6LM4AZGdxnn0WSoBO1M1T39rQuybq10JupSaymSWWpgTbjx6u9G-THTagqcls9nKvjPoZzH/s320/DSC_0497.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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Following this, I added the apple sauce into a carboy.<br /><br />Here's where I had a dilemma: I had recently decided to make a bunch of lagers, so this beer was made with bohemian lager yeast from Wyeast. Because I was adding it back onto the apples after primary was complete, I was thinking that a second fermentation could make byproducts that I didn't want in my lager. After racking the beer onto the apples, I fermented it cold at 51*C and then did a second diacetyl rest. Despite being lagered for almost 3 weeks (fast lager method) and receiving two separate doses of gelatin finings, the beer was super hazy from the pectin which came from cooking the apples. I hadn't taken the initiative to add pectinase, and didn't think the enzyme would work very well at lagering temperatures anyways.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimlEzNo7HFmAqzu71skozaH1DNcyFq-ZTNsCA5cfh6tUgUBBxpc93ow2lsuS94L9IxazyKrQpjDPsU7DL6mfzU_TFh17o9J_QltXQ5f2YD8d0Lg5_H_eJ2fBvXNGMBL6X8yFtRDeeRQoT3/s1600/DSC_0505.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimlEzNo7HFmAqzu71skozaH1DNcyFq-ZTNsCA5cfh6tUgUBBxpc93ow2lsuS94L9IxazyKrQpjDPsU7DL6mfzU_TFh17o9J_QltXQ5f2YD8d0Lg5_H_eJ2fBvXNGMBL6X8yFtRDeeRQoT3/s320/DSC_0505.JPG" width="320" /></a><br /><br />Before bottling, I made a tea of cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom, ginger and black peppercorns, and added this to the beer.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT2Dzg1p58tYGoZQbXavMxRwdfHg7KkUEcTh4MeHXmdNzMpsVKEjzsw6aNGRfZtWxa3AA32Nya7RcOwEVRnmYhwKoYj2HdvZrzosEEviLvkvwIScPC9MoozXmsdUBfE-BmuSQCSM3AlAJ1/s1600/DSC_0521.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT2Dzg1p58tYGoZQbXavMxRwdfHg7KkUEcTh4MeHXmdNzMpsVKEjzsw6aNGRfZtWxa3AA32Nya7RcOwEVRnmYhwKoYj2HdvZrzosEEviLvkvwIScPC9MoozXmsdUBfE-BmuSQCSM3AlAJ1/s320/DSC_0521.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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After racking the beer into the bottling bucket, a very thick cake of applesauce remained along with some very hazy beer.</div>
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Recipe:<br /><br />OG: 1.050 IBU: 17 4 SRM<br /><br />5# 2-row malt<br />2# Wheat malt<br />2# Rye malt<br />0.25# Honey malt<br /><br />1,5oz Hallertauer (60 mins)<br /><br />2 cinnamon sticks<br />6 cloves<br />6 green cardamom pods<br />1 tsp ginger<br />3 crushed black peppercorns</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-3872319289148528742015-11-06T17:01:00.000-08:002015-11-06T17:01:12.938-08:00Oktoberfest, Marzen, a Belated Tasting.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTWOykp2kkscOyoTHAWux7pFIo52p5lEvkHrmVrshG-39r6e1hYBOdJEk_loi3Gv_FnqSaZSN_VQxzeIivYz-Uw6PdTisWQK0gRWHDj8o96oA7BcR5kwulhMlmYyCwJGcBOo1pL1Wb2oSz/s1600/DSC_0510.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTWOykp2kkscOyoTHAWux7pFIo52p5lEvkHrmVrshG-39r6e1hYBOdJEk_loi3Gv_FnqSaZSN_VQxzeIivYz-Uw6PdTisWQK0gRWHDj8o96oA7BcR5kwulhMlmYyCwJGcBOo1pL1Wb2oSz/s320/DSC_0510.JPG" width="180" /></a><br />Malty Goodness<br /><br />This beer turned out very well. I've been staying true to a lager-kick I have going on. I'm slowly tuning the malt darker and darker in the lagers in this series. I began with a Helles that was aged on 10# of cooked apples and some spices (still lagering), have moved on to this amber malty oktoberfest, will next be brewing a Munich dunkel, and as the finale I think I will make a sweet-stout in the style of schwarzbier.<br /><br />Appearance: Mostly clear, but not perfectly so. could probably be crystal if I left the bottles in the fridge for a few days. Burnt-orange colour, but a pure white head that persists for the entirety of the glass.<br /><br />Aroma: Cracked grain, very grainy and bread like.<br /><br />Flavour: Similar to aroma: very grainy, bready and malty. Slight fruitiness from the munich malt. Finishes with a slight graham cracker flavor.<br /><br />Moutfeel: Moderate carbonation, not thin but not chewy or heavy. Very quaffable.<br /><br />Overall: Pretty much everything I was hoping for. It's malty and grainy, not really any bitterness to speak of, and very acceptable to the average friend that wants a beer.</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-36520465885894555242015-10-13T16:48:00.002-07:002015-10-13T17:21:52.998-07:00Berliner-Ryesse with Lemon zest, GOP and black pepper (Tasting)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-PxvaoUwDmkYfHWSWUEddDy6qnopAMU9GD0TjhiSAWyxKiyotQkZPndFuvdDV7kEUUHoEVsxnh8aPEAy8lkkaQv3o5IasCidA05tmvRBlYxb8PD21SIAs1IZVuc3IQw758X6_1ABqNds/s1600/DSC_0453.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-PxvaoUwDmkYfHWSWUEddDy6qnopAMU9GD0TjhiSAWyxKiyotQkZPndFuvdDV7kEUUHoEVsxnh8aPEAy8lkkaQv3o5IasCidA05tmvRBlYxb8PD21SIAs1IZVuc3IQw758X6_1ABqNds/s320/DSC_0453.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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<i>A dark picture for a dark outcome</i></div>
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This has been my first berliner (weisse) experience. As seen in my post <a href="http://kilnedbrewing.blogspot.ca/2015/04/no-sparge-no-hops-no-boil-berliner.html">here</a>, I decided to go the traditional route by not boiling the wort at all, and I innoculated with a starter I made from grain.<br />
For most people, Berliners can be pretty quick turn around sour beers that can be done in a month or two, or much sooner if you do kettle souring, but for me I had to leave this beer for several months.<br />
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Here's the problem:<br />
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Tomato soup.<br />
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It smelled like tomato soup for a long time.. not enough like tomato soup to dump it, because by the second or third sip you could get past the taste and wonder if it was still there. It was just a hint.. just enough tomato soup.<br />
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What could have caused this? Well, DMS is usually the contributor that is blamed for tomato soup. I've heard that when doing no boil you should aim to mash a little bit lower in order to avoid any DMS formation that can occur during the mash. Others have said that they mash normally to no ill effect. Could it have been the quasi wild innoculation? Certainly, it could have been. I've read several reports of people getting tomato soup from their grain bacterial culture, but I was reassured that it would age out.<br />
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Did it age out?<br />
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Kind of.<br />
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The taste faded a bit, but it was still present for sure. I'm stubborn and I don't find it particularly unpleasant so I decided to keep it. I'm very much against throwing out food that isn't revolting or potentially lethal.<br />
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Full disclosure then: I used the lemon zest, grains of paradise and black pepper in order to mask the taste of the tomato soup a bit. I plead guilty, but I plead so with the sneaking suspicion that I am not the first or the last to do so! How many of us have tried to fix beer rather than dump it? I would rather administer medicine to the beer than to waste time, resources and foodstuffs.<br />
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For my next iteration which may be a gose, I bought a bunch of probiotic pills with bacteria in them in order to make a bacterial starter beforehand. Post to come!<br />
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Tasting notes:<br />
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Appearance: very slightly cloudy and a very light colour. Minor head which dissolves quickly.<br />
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Aroma: Lemon, grain, acid, a bit of funk and a bit of DMS<br />
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Flavor: <i>Very</i> sour. Makes your mouth water and your face pucker, but not quite warhead sour. Lemon comes alongside a grainy flavor and fades with a minor taste of pepper. Hint of barnyard and DMS.<br />
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Mouthfeel: Undercarbonated, thin mouthfeel backed by the minor carbonation. Very sour.<br />
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Overall: Decent. I can drink it, I enjoy it, but it's not good enough. I want to make a good berliner, so I will repeat using a probiotic culture next time.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-8552506176287067642015-09-29T13:57:00.002-07:002015-09-29T13:57:49.003-07:00101 Ways to use 100# of zinfandel grapes (just kidding, it's 3 ways)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_esKvAi1l4JVlOjMyMPjS9V2iO8jzdf4V6E6IPZHYfeDZYJbLJpeAULaANNj0dzl9O0z6kmYj7B9dU56cD3jLjzWdvFyY-mN3y5ZRaM5ULosq9MpLDcR9lmMiSX7YhK0Wmizhduw5vmu/s1600/DSC_0397.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_esKvAi1l4JVlOjMyMPjS9V2iO8jzdf4V6E6IPZHYfeDZYJbLJpeAULaANNj0dzl9O0z6kmYj7B9dU56cD3jLjzWdvFyY-mN3y5ZRaM5ULosq9MpLDcR9lmMiSX7YhK0Wmizhduw5vmu/s320/DSC_0397.JPG" width="180" /></a><br /><br />I have never made wine before, but my Italian brother-in-law has made it since he was a kid, and he was willing to lend me his wine press for making my first batch.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpCS14b4545wFs6jyoAEIflFqzyw1h5ierg4kwt-aLTJbdCEk42pT2L-93piVc61PVloLGIEeTmOipU1lWljdX2wsC8Zo9bj-8gj93Dxu6iEtpxCme90jVVQdKzsEkpi2TC6N9QUZVIHEO/s1600/DSC_0422.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpCS14b4545wFs6jyoAEIflFqzyw1h5ierg4kwt-aLTJbdCEk42pT2L-93piVc61PVloLGIEeTmOipU1lWljdX2wsC8Zo9bj-8gj93Dxu6iEtpxCme90jVVQdKzsEkpi2TC6N9QUZVIHEO/s320/DSC_0422.JPG" width="320" /></a><br /><br />The first thing you can do with 100# of grapes? Make wine!!! The first step was to destem all those grapes, which was a pain in the ass. I did it by hand, just grapping the clusters and gently pulling off handfuls of grapes trying to avoid pulling off any stem remnants which would impart a strong tannic taste. I washed my feet very well.... because I was going full traditional! I wiped my feet with some alcohol and stomped all the grapes to crush them. All those grapes wouldn't fit into one fermentation bucket so I split it between two different buckets, added campden tablets and the next day I pitched some dry wine yeast to each bucket. Twice a day, you have to push down the "cap" of grapes that rises to the top of the bucket in order to keep them submerged. This punching of the cap works both to prevent acetic acid formation, and to aid the wine in pulling pigment, tannins and flavors from the wine skins. After it had fermented for a week, I loaded it into the wine press (seen above) and filled a 6 gallon carboy with the juice. I was left with an extra 2 litres of red wine, and some still very wine soaked grape pomace. I will leave the wine to age and finish fermenting before aging on oak.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHUYesR721t1603yGZqH3LnK6fBTkPaaXxJVLvJrfjP-_J4w3xGteBGaIEShcGxRH3cqafgvRxv0c2w33BIEjl3DEJO7UVa3qBXPUffP_qtZjy035tx2S_M2ww0JWabfc9XaS1K4LT1-Z/s1600/DSC_0423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHUYesR721t1603yGZqH3LnK6fBTkPaaXxJVLvJrfjP-_J4w3xGteBGaIEShcGxRH3cqafgvRxv0c2w33BIEjl3DEJO7UVa3qBXPUffP_qtZjy035tx2S_M2ww0JWabfc9XaS1K4LT1-Z/s320/DSC_0423.JPG" width="180" /></a><br /><br />Mmmm, 2 litres of extra zinfandel, and tons of grape pomace... What to do??</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4VJGwvRt9yuTnZ_afs2e4UaZtZBNhG4x7DYxnOo_PKOOPOUu_AKXJsGir6fG-LDEyAWDt0LMFSc_OEg1CHNgvu_uUGsyTrJ8Uh6NthdWU7cKR1DylX7vL5bxgFfLUaCBVc8rTSILMgZ7u/s1600/DSC_0427.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4VJGwvRt9yuTnZ_afs2e4UaZtZBNhG4x7DYxnOo_PKOOPOUu_AKXJsGir6fG-LDEyAWDt0LMFSc_OEg1CHNgvu_uUGsyTrJ8Uh6NthdWU7cKR1DylX7vL5bxgFfLUaCBVc8rTSILMgZ7u/s320/DSC_0427.JPG" width="180" /></a><br /><br />Well let's get rid of those grape guts! I spooned them into a bucket, and definitely noted how much wine was still contained in the grapes. I had an idea inspired by the novel trend of wine-beer hybrids.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVLA1KLRq2ig7DRPcoQqFF84CrH0XM-JJMplF6XOjXII86fqZ5IcdrzitdbKOgaaHzX9Z-GUedJS5QnFwKm-owH6I58JdRgAD_Kgss1o6YVyYpCoiaZXzy8o7gAcHOM27iPsO7TaIgHgZf/s1600/DSC_0428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVLA1KLRq2ig7DRPcoQqFF84CrH0XM-JJMplF6XOjXII86fqZ5IcdrzitdbKOgaaHzX9Z-GUedJS5QnFwKm-owH6I58JdRgAD_Kgss1o6YVyYpCoiaZXzy8o7gAcHOM27iPsO7TaIgHgZf/s320/DSC_0428.JPG" width="180" /></a><br /><br /> #2: What's that? I have a wild-fermented beer from the bugs in my back yard that's ready to go? Well hell yeah, let's do that.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hpf-k5L8RYM9RX_a_jBiyrX4axxI-kmJNS9lj8vbM_EZN4zlyIoz1S6O3wgIGe2XVStYoU43SgpVtZmkUKZxAH8HSZLLZU-PNgELGgvwhsYv7eRXS_O6i8mJd7k6-vIuWRQZaQNpWPTh/s1600/DSC_0429.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hpf-k5L8RYM9RX_a_jBiyrX4axxI-kmJNS9lj8vbM_EZN4zlyIoz1S6O3wgIGe2XVStYoU43SgpVtZmkUKZxAH8HSZLLZU-PNgELGgvwhsYv7eRXS_O6i8mJd7k6-vIuWRQZaQNpWPTh/s320/DSC_0429.JPG" width="180" /></a><br /><br />I racked all of the lambic onto all of the grape guts. I tasted it before racking, and it's almost tragic that I'm still not bottling one of my wild fermentations straight because it was tasting great! It nearly filled the fermentation bucket. Now, for my concerns! I did not crush the grapes very much while pressing, but I am still running the risk of taking too much tannins from this experiment, so I must take frequent tastings to prevent that. Secondly, with punching the cap and the fermentation bucket I will get quite a lot of oxygen exposure.. I think that with the sheer volume of grapes and wine I will be racking to a carboy sooner than later, so I will keep a eye on it. I don't think I would mind a hint of acetic, but what a slippery slope.. We will see! I will try to recover as much as I can from these grapes so I may even gamble and try pressing the grapes once this is done. I took a sample the first evening after adding the grapes and it has an amazing wine complement that was never present in my concord grape lambic (even with 10# of grapes in that beer!)</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVLA1KLRq2ig7DRPcoQqFF84CrH0XM-JJMplF6XOjXII86fqZ5IcdrzitdbKOgaaHzX9Z-GUedJS5QnFwKm-owH6I58JdRgAD_Kgss1o6YVyYpCoiaZXzy8o7gAcHOM27iPsO7TaIgHgZf/s1600/DSC_0428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDQ8v1N-9Vc5ZMoXKficwjRN9bX268Qy7DqB8sF9PLuDoiD_IMV_5g7IItbaKpqPW1ETnZvVK-h1BvqIdNYJGgVeEcyLQyRATiC34GeZ_mwhC1XrS0Kvl8N1AODo6sefsnz5WR0b0pzPKt/s1600/DSC_0425.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDQ8v1N-9Vc5ZMoXKficwjRN9bX268Qy7DqB8sF9PLuDoiD_IMV_5g7IItbaKpqPW1ETnZvVK-h1BvqIdNYJGgVeEcyLQyRATiC34GeZ_mwhC1XrS0Kvl8N1AODo6sefsnz5WR0b0pzPKt/s320/DSC_0425.JPG" width="180" /></a><br /><br />#3: Yes, right. What to do with this extra 2 L of wine? Let's get <i>WEIRD</i>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbculkzH9VQPSJJdXV68aqpH02lYbnhbbJGcqYgOQ7kOrtvunIYNGMwqb-6tO3eqMMIUzUni_E-bv3IMGjTHg11xFhFMbRQAByyz-56cUkhR4x5afCKmI5CVUNcOLSY81XN3piWZHM6g-b/s1600/DSC_0430.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbculkzH9VQPSJJdXV68aqpH02lYbnhbbJGcqYgOQ7kOrtvunIYNGMwqb-6tO3eqMMIUzUni_E-bv3IMGjTHg11xFhFMbRQAByyz-56cUkhR4x5afCKmI5CVUNcOLSY81XN3piWZHM6g-b/s320/DSC_0430.JPG" width="180" /></a><br /><br />For this, I made a one gallon batch. What I did was take that 2 L and I topped off the fermentor with my <a href="http://kilnedbrewing.blogspot.ca/2015/02/chthonian-dubbel.html">Chthonian Dubbel</a>, which finished cloyingly sweet. That's not enough though! So I added cultures of Brettanomyces lambicus, clausenii, and bruxellensis (Wyeast). This one gallon jug used to house a house culture of sour bugs from tons of bottles of sour beers but I decided to toss it for this experiment. The bung and airlock were reused, so I have a feeling there may be some bugs getting into this experiment as well! I tried washing it with hot water and sanitizer but plastic is notoriously hard to sanitize. Since this is 50/50 beer to wine, I am debating whether I should bottle it flat as a "malted wine", or carbonated as a "wine beer". I'm hoping the dubbel will compliment with the burnt sugar and dark fruit notes. Who knows, but we will see! I am really excited for these experiments.<br /><br />Thanks for reading!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-85935320694874093682015-09-29T13:21:00.002-07:002015-09-29T13:26:57.799-07:00Ein sehr gut Oktober: Early for Oktober, late for Oktoberfest.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJ2MJYsS8PwDj2jSNz8rvHYdnNvGrXHqRtp-bVbmfhW_0iqQDLmSPKyAQiii75wloWfqxAwHRXhSU9LZXuqIARnscp_sjxdKZpA0zUn9f2SR4qDsTVkAoJIBzHX3JKHsTLmQuYq33KWXL/s1600/DSC_0410.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJ2MJYsS8PwDj2jSNz8rvHYdnNvGrXHqRtp-bVbmfhW_0iqQDLmSPKyAQiii75wloWfqxAwHRXhSU9LZXuqIARnscp_sjxdKZpA0zUn9f2SR4qDsTVkAoJIBzHX3JKHsTLmQuYq33KWXL/s320/DSC_0410.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ah, the smell of malt in the morning! It's been a few months since I've had a beer brew day, and I'm excited to be back in the swing of things. I have a thirst for a malt-bomb, and the seasons have aligned, so I decided on an oktoberfestbier as my coming-back-to-it-beer. There was a part of me that was tempted to brew up a lot of ales in a short time in order to replenish all my stocks, but instead I went for some fun and decided to dedicate my October to lagers.</div>
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Marzen is a beautiful amber colour, full of malt flavor, but without the cloying caramel or very obvious toast. It is a traditional style in Germany that is frequently served at Oktoberfest. Now, traditionally, I would be on time for Oktoberfest (despite my heathen fast lager method), but as time went on the Germans moved Oktoberfest into September to take advantage of better weather so nowadays I would be late for Oktoberfest.</div>
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I have a lot of difficulty writing about your average brew-day because it becomes habit after a while. To summarize: I mashed in at 154*F with a marzen malt bill (see below) and let it mash for about 60 minutes. I batch sparged this time rather than doing no-sparge brewing, and tossed in a dash (1 oz) of some Hallertauer. I always do first-wort hopping for my bittering hops, not because I think it makes much of a difference, but because it's just a habit. I boiled for an hour, chilled with my wort chiller to about 70*F.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJSa6SXyIKAUYQK-O9Q2mFatWkkUFARYgL-geM1ug8WMhfTthIRMwk0SjoQ1EsBbN6jH0a7X8tcASp-tzulV585fV0adgWugqYnLigyO-yU2mQqrbJmJpO8tIptUvWrs5xds469Gngy_nK/s1600/DSC_0413.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJSa6SXyIKAUYQK-O9Q2mFatWkkUFARYgL-geM1ug8WMhfTthIRMwk0SjoQ1EsBbN6jH0a7X8tcASp-tzulV585fV0adgWugqYnLigyO-yU2mQqrbJmJpO8tIptUvWrs5xds469Gngy_nK/s320/DSC_0413.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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I racked the beer to a carboy and added pure oxygen for one minute...</div>
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and I placed the carboy into the fermentation chamber overnight to cool to 50*F and pitched my yeast the next day (3L starter of Wyeast bohemian lager yeast. I follow the fast lager method, wherein I'll allow it to ferment at 50*F for 5 days before slowing raising the temperature to room temperature for another few days and stir up the yeast for a diacetyl rest. After this, I'll chill it to ~2*C and let it lager for a week or two, usually adding gelatin to clarify. When bottling I now make sure to stir the priming sugar in very well now because my last Pilsner had some very overcarbonated bottles and some nearly flat bottles! I assume this is due to the beer being so cold and not dissolving the priming sugar as well.</div>
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Recipe:</div>
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4# Viena Malt</div>
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3# Munich Malt</div>
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2# 2-row Pale Malt</div>
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0.5# Toasted Malt (homemade)</div>
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Mashed at 154*F</div>
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Added 1 oz Hallertauer (60 minutes) for bittering</div>
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Ferment at 50*F, with the addition of a 3L starter of bohemian lager yeast (Wyeast)</div>
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Diacetyl rest after 5 days, and lager for a week or two.</div>
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Cheers!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-9474876394651596112015-09-17T15:44:00.000-07:002015-09-17T15:44:42.607-07:00Apples Two Ways: Wine and funky cider.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRMO6l-WFxnVP6Sxj2UeJX1kcbfdxq6tBTKVVdOb2ylYAtIn0Du9x98T38HLGh4gI-RsGTiMp1EwSck5CIaXeuSoxzBwXs3NMvrQNwF1fpHeBdaYUGXjViH9d13u9py20QcahGBjfeFn2C/s1600/DSC_0406.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRMO6l-WFxnVP6Sxj2UeJX1kcbfdxq6tBTKVVdOb2ylYAtIn0Du9x98T38HLGh4gI-RsGTiMp1EwSck5CIaXeuSoxzBwXs3NMvrQNwF1fpHeBdaYUGXjViH9d13u9py20QcahGBjfeFn2C/s320/DSC_0406.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Each year at my parent's house, I used to pick crabapples with my siblings and my parents. Back then, my mom would make them into jelly, but nowadays I keep trying to take my share for fermentation goodies! It's convenient as well, as my girlfriend has recently discovered a love for cider that had previously laid dormant.<br /><br />Here we have two different preparations of crabapples. On the left we have a wine that was partially prepared by my mother. She took a jam sort of approach to preparing the apples by filling a pot with crabapples and topping off with water before boiling them and draining the liquid. The heat and boiling water pulled out the colour pigments from the skins, as well as quite a bit of acid. I measured the OG and found it to be just 1.025 so I decided to use table sugar to raise up the gravity to 1.070. I also used EC-1118 to ferment it. To be honest, I didn't put too much thought into this one.. Just took the juice my momma gave me and threw some champagne yeast at it. I'll measure FG and see what goes on!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgObdrh1SuRNBIp2oafVpG7XHkpVcZYgADZScK1UmkuoSILx6GN42_v2_0mVNXHVQhimyKbD28WggfS-fyUqvwl-QwAMsSbVQu8uWJqDme9cReMY-TBTpoxUodN7AWAN308OlZhZv2pojeE/s1600/DSC_0380.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgObdrh1SuRNBIp2oafVpG7XHkpVcZYgADZScK1UmkuoSILx6GN42_v2_0mVNXHVQhimyKbD28WggfS-fyUqvwl-QwAMsSbVQu8uWJqDme9cReMY-TBTpoxUodN7AWAN308OlZhZv2pojeE/s320/DSC_0380.JPG" width="180" /></a><br /><br />For the carboy on the right, I made a crabapple cider. For this one, I had originally planned to use a wine/cider press to press the juice.. I froze about 20 gallons worth of crabapples (two different varieties) and thawed them to soften them to make squeezing juice easier. I used a paint stirrer drill attachment to break apart the fruits, and loaded it into the wine press in a few nylon bags. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. The nylon bags exploded their apple-sauce insides onto me, I didn't have enough spacers to get a strong squeeze, and I just got frustrated so I ended up draining the juice using a hanging nylon bag instead. I ended up collecting just under 10 L of juice, and ended up topping off with fresh cider and apple juice. This is actually probably way better so that the normal apple juice cuts the acidity of the crabapple juice.<br /><br />For the cider, I had originally planned to ferment it with 100% Brett that I had isolated from a bottle of cuvee rene, but I ended up using it in combination with EC-1118. The culture of brett had an amazing lambic earthy funky smell to it. I'm hoping that the champagne yeast combo will bring out even more funk and dryness. The OG for this one was right at 1.050 so I'm excited for a quaffable funk cider soon to come!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-65647456846737816982015-09-04T11:56:00.002-07:002015-09-04T11:56:45.043-07:00Notes from the Cellar: Russian Imperial Stout 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUKIpybIWIBkuNxwBXmfffg_iATPR-2glTs-bEkWjisdPJUitJ0Q1lGlNO-a1vVkrMZQmKxKz3RvdydQXRVxQgCSybD_H_G7XjVr-GBPaX8aY1oJE1WEF1PTWRlpg0a96k0tiwdSepd8NF/s1600/DSC_0392.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUKIpybIWIBkuNxwBXmfffg_iATPR-2glTs-bEkWjisdPJUitJ0Q1lGlNO-a1vVkrMZQmKxKz3RvdydQXRVxQgCSybD_H_G7XjVr-GBPaX8aY1oJE1WEF1PTWRlpg0a96k0tiwdSepd8NF/s320/DSC_0392.JPG" width="180" /></a><br />It's a cold, near-autumn day in Alberta. Grey skies and black beer.<br /><br />I know I have not yet accumulated a large viewership on this blog, but I still feel guilty when I haven't posted in a while. I know that on days that I'm looking for beer stimulation I get a little frustrated when my favorite blogs haven't updated in a while, so I apologize for the delays. Work has been finished up, I'm wrapping up my last courses for the summer, and I'm rearing to brew a whole bunch of beer in the coming weeks.<br /><br />Consider this a bit of a placeholder, then. An aperitif to what I hope is a barrage of frequent posts over the months of September and October. I have bottled my berliner ryesse with the addition of lemon zest and grains of paradise, I am pressing crab apples and making batches of crab apple wine with champagne yeast and a cider with 100% Brett (a new strain I isolated from a bottle of cuvee renee), I've got a 100% Wyeast Brett lambicus red wine on my list, and of course several batches of beer, as my summer has all but chewed through my stocks. More empty bottles mean more batches I can make! In the meantime, I have had this - my first RIS - sitting in my basement for ages, and I decided to pull out a dusty bottle and see how it has changed.<br /><br />Originally, I remember this beer coming out overly fruity - almost like a barleywine. It was between the dark crystal malt, the warm fermentation temperature and an ambitious ABV that caused it to be less roast and more wine. I was hoping that with time this fruitiness would fade and yield a smoother RIS.<br /><br />10% ABV, 60 IBU's<br /><br />Appearance: Pitch black, very persistent tan coloured head despite the high ABV.<br /><br />Aroma: Caramel, fruity fusels, apples, coffee, leather.<br /><br />Flavor: Immediately fruity, showing that same sort of fusel and fruit like red wine. Roast comes second to the fruit, and comes as at first like black coffee but deepens into a more firm, dark roast. Finishes with leather and nut alongside the roast, a bit of oxidation? Strong bitterness balanced by sweetness.<br /><br />Mouthfeel: Moderate-low carbonation, thick mouthfeel, lingering bitterness.<br /><br />Overall: Kind of reminiscent of red wine and dark chocolate. The fruitiness did not fade very much at all, so I can duly note that fusel fruitiness does not fade as ester fruitiness fades. I still have 3 bombers of this beer, but I don't feel that they should be held onto much longer as they don't show signs of improvement. I think this will be a brew to redo come the winter - lower ABV, more roasted grains, and cold slow fermentation.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-74166217948448217662015-08-11T18:01:00.003-07:002015-08-11T18:01:59.598-07:00Dry Hopped Solera First Pull Results<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ahh, freshly poured. A dichotomy of aged sour and fresh dry hops!<br /><br />This beer turned out really well. It's a great sign for the solera in my basement. It's almost close to being too sour, where when you take that first sip it goes "POW!" across your cheeks.<br /><br />Appearance: Ended up with a sort of honey colour, with a thick sticky head that takes a few minutes to break down despite the acids. No haze despite the heavy dry-hopping.</div>
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Aroma: Dry hops upfront, orange, mango and peach are dominant, but there is a bit of resin notes from the columbus hops. I was hesitant about this hop initially, but I don't think it clashes. There's a pissy/overripe fruit aroma in terms of funk. Not much barnyard.</div>
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Tate: Puckering sour at first sip! THP right after the first swallow - lingering cheerios, but it's young in the bottle so that should disappear. Fruity hops flavor much like the aroma: orange and peach and a bit of pine/dank. Some leather, must and funk in the finish, but it's not a funk-bomb. The aftertaste is cheerios and peaches and funk.<br /><br />Mouthfeel: Thin, dry, pretty typical. Good carbonation. After the swallow there's a distracting bitterness in the back of the throat and some astringency that may be from the oak in the solera.<br /><br />Overall: Good! Intriguing! The aroma worries me a bit, because when I have my nose in there too long I almost wonder if I'm smelling alcohol notes or if it's solvent/ethyl acetate? Second opinions have so far disagreed so I'm probably paranoid! I'm not a fan of that bitterness in the back of the throat, so I hope that goes away in time.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Z_n2pfEWSIin3U_Bss2wFzV3ni0VAoo44T4kgSoJcRlV0i6Avr9hn7ExtNniGu6ABnJIQktz8r9DmXiXs2PTQA4-Ij17XTYtJvUGOQGKx_ykGE4V1T4HqbwK16x5lIywweeyOntVXwQ7/s1600/DSC_0304.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Z_n2pfEWSIin3U_Bss2wFzV3ni0VAoo44T4kgSoJcRlV0i6Avr9hn7ExtNniGu6ABnJIQktz8r9DmXiXs2PTQA4-Ij17XTYtJvUGOQGKx_ykGE4V1T4HqbwK16x5lIywweeyOntVXwQ7/s320/DSC_0304.JPG" width="180" /></a><br />Any cigar fans? I'm having my first undercrown for a belated birthday!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-50544080420844133252015-08-05T17:43:00.003-07:002015-08-05T18:44:48.302-07:00Brettanomyces and Oak Old Ale Results<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9gMyOoHJAzE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9gMyOoHJAzE?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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Y'all wanna see somethin'?</div>
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I think this video speaks louder than words:</div>
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I have made a snot beer!</div>
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The real cause for this delicious viscosity is an infection. Originally, I wanted to just have a nice funky brettanomyces finished english strong ale. I ended up instead with two cases of buttered popcorn flavored sour snot.</div>
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The thick texture and buttered popcorn flavor are from a bacteria called "Pediococcus", which is an important bacteria in sour beer production. In normal sour beers, this phase where the beer becomes viscous is called the beer getting "sick", and is generally cleared up in a few months. In some beers, this can happen twice, or even happens in the bottle, so some lambic or sour producers keep their sour beers after being bottled to give them time in case this sickness happens again. Many famous lambic producers swear that this actually makes the beer better in the end.</div>
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The thickness is from the bacteria making "exopolysaccharides" - or long chains of carbohydrates or sugar molecules that form on the outside of the bacteria. These chains of starch-like molecules intermingle and form this matrix that give this awesome looking mess. Pediococcus also create a lot of diacetyl, which smells just like buttered popcorn or butterscotch.</div>
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The good news for sour beers that get sick is that the Brettanomyces will come along and digest these exopolysaccharides, and the diacetyl is taken up and broken down as well so that this clears up by the end of fermentation. The bad news is that this beer is already bottled, and pretty much unsalvageable.</div>
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Sources of error? Well, it could be that this carboy was right next to the "Solera top-off beer" which was being soured, but that shouldn't have contaminated it directly. It could be that I may have accidentally double dipped with a wine-theif while trying either of these beers, but I kind of doubt I would be so careless. The third and most likely cause is that I noticed some gunk in my bottling siphon shortly after bottling this beer, which may have been harboring some bacteria from a previous sour.</div>
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So, this beer is a loss. It's tragic because I've been much too busy this summer to brew much, but I will definitely rebrew this batch in the fall to reclaim it! Next time I'll remember to use some English dry hops as well.<br /><br />EDIT: Actually, after chatting with some colleagues over at Milk The Funk on facebook, they all assured me that this beer wouldn't overcarbonate from the Brett digesting the exopolysaccharides. I'm going to leave these bottles and revisit them as time goes on, monitoring them for overcarbonation.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-39458071245117602022015-07-17T17:50:00.002-07:002015-07-17T17:50:51.411-07:00German Pilsner - Is Pilsner Malt Necessary?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1t9kwcKLpXA_Vovj31qIaklFie53oF0AsJ5_d7dmtnkWSMKHHlIVqDk32__CCZ-tOliOWrSqNhGHtMWMpD62xCJ5kzYdoIr-heSSzuGP4RcI0Xu7-g8qlxjXrVAt-pCXNXXwXKmgViZi5/s1600/DSC_0202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1t9kwcKLpXA_Vovj31qIaklFie53oF0AsJ5_d7dmtnkWSMKHHlIVqDk32__CCZ-tOliOWrSqNhGHtMWMpD62xCJ5kzYdoIr-heSSzuGP4RcI0Xu7-g8qlxjXrVAt-pCXNXXwXKmgViZi5/s320/DSC_0202.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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<br />I know that most people will tell you that you don't start brewing beer to save money because with all the equipment and ingredients and such you won't end up saving much, but it doesn't hurt to try. Especially with Canadian beer prices, and especially when you're the typical broke-ass university student, every little bit helps. I try to buy all my hops and grain in bulk, and with my lab equipment I can keep culturing yeasts as long as possible - these things help to save $10 here and there. In buying base grain, To have to buy Marris Otter or other darker base malts, Pilsner malt for especially light malt, and 2-row for neutral american bases gives me 300% the spending that I would have if I were to just buy one type of base malt at a time.<br /><br />So the question remains: Is it completely necessary to buy Pilsner malt to make a Pilsner?</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />I tried my best to do what I could with the 2-row I have. For this recipe it is 100% 2-row base malt, and Hallertauer hops. I really love Saaz hops, but I'm working at a prion research lab for the summer and both my PI's are German, so I figured I would go for it to try for a German Pilsner rather than a Czech Pils. I have a full pound of Saaz so I will definitely be trying to burn through that - Pilsners on the constant rotation!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCVGfRNIMqxAlwBPFHeUcsdDwNIbBYR0sEELGQeDwoKr7hKfYqsvH0ivuKWteVCwKs4OsYIk5r-eA1b35HKDgEfC70pt0aPwjLLItB0ocllOfnGwk7Smu8KW9ayu2vac_mfQIKO7s88OTx/s1600/DSC_0269.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCVGfRNIMqxAlwBPFHeUcsdDwNIbBYR0sEELGQeDwoKr7hKfYqsvH0ivuKWteVCwKs4OsYIk5r-eA1b35HKDgEfC70pt0aPwjLLItB0ocllOfnGwk7Smu8KW9ayu2vac_mfQIKO7s88OTx/s320/DSC_0269.JPG" width="180" /></a><br /><br />I've been told that Pilsner malt is essential for a Pilsner, but I didn't want to go out and buy more malt for one recipe. Pilsner malt - I've been told - has a doughy and light grainy flavour from its lighter kilning which makes it more flavourful than simple 2-row base malt. I definitely noticed such a flavor with my last Czech Pilsner, but it could have been confirmation bias.<br /><br />To try to up the game of maltiness with the 2-row I did a single decoction mash, but the decoction was especially long. I removed about 2 litres of grain from the mash and brought it to a boil on the stove while the rest of the beer mashed. I allowed it to decoct for about the full hour long mash while stirring constantly which was a pain in the butt. I usually toss a bit of Munich malt in my Pilsner as well to get some melanoidins in there, but I didn't even have that, so I guess this could be called a SMaSH pilsner- single malt and single hops.<br /><br />For the water in my Czech Pils I start with distilled and add very little mineral additions to give it a soft profile. German Pilsners typically have a harder water profile with more minerals, so I just used my straight Calgary tap water, which is fairly high in minerals and carbonate.<br /><br />I brewed this beer quite a while ago, but have been quite busy with my research job and some spring courses so I've been putting off posting. The brewday was typical, Mash, sparge, boil, chill, pitch a ton of lager yeast, and ferment cold, and diacetyl rest. I used Brulosopher's fast lager method, which has always worked out well for me! The beer turned out quite well, and the German bosses have said it was their favorite of the ones I gave him, and called it "exceptional" which puts a smile on my face.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA-vTJVT7t5CjV1pFXuwWB8aLQJICs04nRFjDpDouk6Pcr6XOCBvNrJJZKssZpdJ4RLlFZJZYSoKXaynSycPhC0aKEA1zpw4B5S8qUvLlGY2nfMdrIOiOW5nueM5YQooBCCG38s8Zcwuo5/s1600/DSC_0270.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA-vTJVT7t5CjV1pFXuwWB8aLQJICs04nRFjDpDouk6Pcr6XOCBvNrJJZKssZpdJ4RLlFZJZYSoKXaynSycPhC0aKEA1zpw4B5S8qUvLlGY2nfMdrIOiOW5nueM5YQooBCCG38s8Zcwuo5/s320/DSC_0270.JPG" width="180" /></a><br />This is warm, so this picture is a lie.<br /><br />Tasting notes:<br /><br />Appearance: The pictured glass is cellar temperature, and I snapped some pictures before dinner. After refrigeration this beer generally has a light chill haze, so I apologize for the misleading clarity. The head is pure white, and sticks to the glass to make a nice lacing.<br /><br />Aroma: Light floral hops, a bit of a peppery hoppy smell. A bit of grainy aroma, no sulfur, no diacetyl.<br /><br />Flavor: Light hoppiness follows the aroma, same lightly spicy and floral typical of noble hops. There's a grainy finish, but also a tiny bit of a sort of sulfur? flavor that I always taste in Pilsners. It's medium-dry, and quite crisp. The bitterness is pretty firm.<br /><br />Mouthfeel: Moderate-low carbonation. Moderate body. I goofed on this bottling, and must not have stirred the priming solution well enough so I've had a few glasses undercarbonated and a few that foamed to high heaven while I was camping.<br /><br />Overall: I like it, and there's a grainy dough flavor that reminds me of the last Czech pils I brewed, but I'll be honest: it does seem to be missing that je-ne-sais-quoi. I'm tickled and proud that some straight-up Bavarians really liked my beer and requested more of it, and complimented me on it, but this isn't quite perfect to my tastes. I prefer it more hoppy, more Saaz, and some more doughyness that may have been helped by my usual dose of Munich malt. This isn't a good experiment, and there's no side-by-side, but that's just my opinion, man.<br /><br />The beer is good, and there's nothing inherently wrong with it, but there's a difference that may just be in my head. I don't have much in terms of income, so I'll probably stick with the 2-row. For Marris Otter beers, I'll still probably supplement with a portion of amber malt for toastiness. One day I'll have more base-malts, but today is not that day!<br /><br />Recipe:<br /><br />10# 2-row (Canada Malting)<br /><br />2 oz Hallertauer - 60 mins<br />1.5 oz Hallertauer - Whirlpool.<br /><br />Mashed at 150*F, 2 litre decoction for 1 hour.</div>
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Fermented as per Brulosopher's Fast Lager method.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-7072599207915963072015-07-15T09:44:00.002-07:002015-07-15T09:45:04.613-07:00This is my Solera - There are many like it, but this one is mine.<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisE3nkOPAs0R-y2GLGeVBuxX73IXACudW6tKLIwGzhUrqUIgBgY_qIhWx_1t0kOGxzCrgldjYo2MbWqPMuptWVoUaNw_oYGbFi2L6ZFHBT_24xvmtHibc6MZIxmfmYVP9gcvd0vu_OTvQg/s1600/DSC_0254.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisE3nkOPAs0R-y2GLGeVBuxX73IXACudW6tKLIwGzhUrqUIgBgY_qIhWx_1t0kOGxzCrgldjYo2MbWqPMuptWVoUaNw_oYGbFi2L6ZFHBT_24xvmtHibc6MZIxmfmYVP9gcvd0vu_OTvQg/s320/DSC_0254.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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When I first started this solera, I was under the impression that I was special and unique for undertaking this project, but since then I've seen more and more soleras across the internet. Especially for sours, soleras offer an interesting project to undertake.</div>
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The basic premise is this: you start a batch of beer, and every year or so you take off a portion of that beer and bottle it, and top off the fermentor with fresh wort or another batch of beer. The portion that you remove can alter the aging properties of the solera - if you take less out, more of the older beer remains, while the inverse is true. This makes it interesting over several years, as the solera builds to be a blend of several years worth of beers. You have the opportunity to taste the bottled portion and decide whether to change the base recipe if the remainder needs more of a certain characteristic.<br />
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Traditionally, this was done with sherry, port, balsamic vinegar and others, but it was done in oak casks rather than a glass fermentor. The oak barrels would be lined in a sequence in order of age, and when the oldest (which was the solera) is taken from, it would be filled with the next oldest, and so on. The oak barrels gave the benefit of giving oak character, but also a slow oxidation of the product that gives more nuance, or allows for other microbial growth with oxygenation. This oxygenation can be beneficial and detrimental to a sour beer solera, as it can encourage brettanomyces and deepen the character of the beer, but it also risks introducing too much oxygen wherein acetobacter can take hold and create acetic acid (vinegar) flavors.<br />
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I don't have the space or the money for oak barrels, so I ended up creating my solera in a 15 gallon demijohn. Each year I will remove 1/3 - 5 gallons - and<a href="http://kilnedbrewing.blogspot.ca/2015/03/solera-top-off-wort.html"> top off with the same parent recipe</a>. The original recipe is a traditional turbid mashed lambic base with wheat and pale malt. The solera itself was started on a cake of roeselare supplemented with dregs from 3 fonteinen, cantillon and cuvee renee. To replicate some oak, I've added oak cubes and a half an oak spiral to taste.<br />
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At the time of the solera's birthday, it had a pretty noticeable cheerios flavor from THP, which seems to be a recurring problem with most of my sours, so I left it for another few months. 3 months later I've decided to pull it off and put it on a bunch of dry hops.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji8RVNsp3e2r0dZITFL_qJTRFqDGjBJ7k5q-LLQDXDJsH6eguQlTTSMgVs-oEXpXQfoyPhihyphenhyphenN5t2cwYnYf7T_PvC6macj66kV7yMLEOA6XBFou5_4RDGBOc_E4Lc2XTst3oSXhRLKWvm9/s1600/DSC_0251.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji8RVNsp3e2r0dZITFL_qJTRFqDGjBJ7k5q-LLQDXDJsH6eguQlTTSMgVs-oEXpXQfoyPhihyphenhyphenN5t2cwYnYf7T_PvC6macj66kV7yMLEOA6XBFou5_4RDGBOc_E4Lc2XTst3oSXhRLKWvm9/s320/DSC_0251.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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2 oz each of Citra, Cascade, and Columbus</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ARMZ9GzdGc_70R1tG3ufTLMOD3d81yr3x9SICcUGPv5fhcpsI_CxflbZcrsRRvXE6lBUNvj6Oa8pZVxZHC2TQ1pEySpOZDuLw6AMq09YjNmdvSNS2ksZjgurZnRq2Jf42YZ9c1Qsca-d/s1600/DSC_0257.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ARMZ9GzdGc_70R1tG3ufTLMOD3d81yr3x9SICcUGPv5fhcpsI_CxflbZcrsRRvXE6lBUNvj6Oa8pZVxZHC2TQ1pEySpOZDuLw6AMq09YjNmdvSNS2ksZjgurZnRq2Jf42YZ9c1Qsca-d/s320/DSC_0257.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
Dropped relatively clear in time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTe1uGBy5z3KT6mToqFxUCT2oZmRhoq-PMOga7kEYnRIk3DDWXvnsTFlUeRPivrZ9arvDJN9vJ_dNSlkGsI1HIWnXl9daNI7LLSNPLzz2mllZbvtGfx2L4rDBpoHZ424G7eTXzan36mZe6/s1600/DSC_0258.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTe1uGBy5z3KT6mToqFxUCT2oZmRhoq-PMOga7kEYnRIk3DDWXvnsTFlUeRPivrZ9arvDJN9vJ_dNSlkGsI1HIWnXl9daNI7LLSNPLzz2mllZbvtGfx2L4rDBpoHZ424G7eTXzan36mZe6/s320/DSC_0258.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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A nice thick cake of hops!</div>
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I'm not sure about the columbus hops - I probably should have stuck with fruity hops instead of thinking like an IPA and trying to balance with some pine. We'll see in a few weeks when I crack the first bottle.<br />
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Until then, I've topped the solera back up, and even added a bottle or two of my barleywine to the solera for more malts and some complex sugars, and because why not? A week after topping off with pre-soured beer and some bottles, a small krausen had formed and it was bubbling quite well.<br />
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First year on dry hops, and I regret not bottling some straight, but maybe next year.<br />
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Cheers!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-86463267631673842432015-07-02T14:23:00.001-07:002015-07-02T14:23:10.602-07:00Apricot Chamomile pLambic Tasting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5JpypPdslVAdui3jXr8t8I6w3tuPKl4O2CS9WDoct9BcqmZeZZ67XCUgv-56L7b2r3i6mvzWTH3OqC7mryJNLhoSyT_h33ZwjhDZ2TBOqcaWxdfCAV6GpndjMVqHV_zp1PlOCasDM5WW/s1600/DSC_0245.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5JpypPdslVAdui3jXr8t8I6w3tuPKl4O2CS9WDoct9BcqmZeZZ67XCUgv-56L7b2r3i6mvzWTH3OqC7mryJNLhoSyT_h33ZwjhDZ2TBOqcaWxdfCAV6GpndjMVqHV_zp1PlOCasDM5WW/s320/DSC_0245.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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<br /><b>Appearance:</b> Very slightly hazy, mostly bright yellow colour. Spritzy soda like head that dies quickly after pouring.<br /><br /><b>Aroma:</b> Lemon zest, citrus, musty, hay, herbal-floral aroma.<br /><br /><b>Flavor:</b> medium-light sourness, some musty fruit funk followed by the chamomile. Sort of a bubblegum- apricot mixed flavor, somewhat reminiscent of bergamot. Some cheerios flavor present.<br /><br /><b>Mouthfeel:</b> Very spritzy carbonation, dry as a bone, but has a weird slick mouthfeel near the end.<br /><br /><b>Overall:</b> The cheerios (THP) flavor should fade with some time in the bottle, but overall I'm happy. Some bottles still seem to have a hint of the rubber flavor, but hopefully that will fade in time as well. The sourness could be a bit more assertive, but at this stage it is very refreshing and pleasantly sour. I probably used a bit too much chamomile but that also should fade in time. The apricot was not super aggressive, but that's not surprising considering this beer is about 7-8 months past the initial fruiting.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-42498782569428426952015-06-23T21:46:00.002-07:002015-06-29T20:55:34.398-07:00Je suis un homme Français - The champagne method for beer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnuMXt0K0tMvNZvf24cOVMhCkcpOwrME9h0u-h0OlHWwkPSDjBVXCpnQ9YPXAr8fcwRWySYFqYb02xgLTIIQaGdAOhe3SuVuN97FnDSP6FzHMtzZyZeTjEXHB9oWRly0pmJFHXv2byFa5c/s1600/DSC_0222.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnuMXt0K0tMvNZvf24cOVMhCkcpOwrME9h0u-h0OlHWwkPSDjBVXCpnQ9YPXAr8fcwRWySYFqYb02xgLTIIQaGdAOhe3SuVuN97FnDSP6FzHMtzZyZeTjEXHB9oWRly0pmJFHXv2byFa5c/s320/DSC_0222.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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I've had <a href="http://kilnedbrewing.blogspot.ca/2014/10/2013-lambic-splitting-onto-fruit.html">this 2013 pLambic</a> aging on apricots for several months. I wasn't liking the flavor because the wild yeast I picked up seemed to pick up a rubber flavor for a period of time before smoothing out. The <a href="http://kilnedbrewing.blogspot.ca/2015/05/2013-spontaneous-fermentation-aged-on.html">crabapple portion</a> of this beer has been great for a few months now, but this one took a long time to get normal again. I originally wanted to pick a bunch of crabapple blossoms to age with this beer, but ended up using chamomille instead. I bottled it up, but to my dismay it had a thick layer of apricot chamomille sludge at the bottom of the bottles. I tried opening one for a sample but it ended up gushing and turning into a smoothie of fruit, yeast and beer.</div>
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I am a stubborn man. I didn't want to give up on this beer after this long of waiting on aging, then waiting for it to get past it's pubescent "screw you, I'm going to taste like rubbery butthole" phase, then bottle carbonation. I wanted to get rid of the sediment, and that how I came upon "Le methode champagnoise" (the champagne method).</div>
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The method to "disgorge" the schmutz goes like this: you let your bottles sit upside down at an angle, and every day you twist them to loosen the sediment and make it accumulate at the cap of the bottle. Then, you freeze it using a brine, and pop the cap off - shooting the plug of yeast stuff out, then you plug it with your thumb, top it off a bit and recap it.<br />
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The brine is traditionally made with a salt brine which lowers the freezing point ( see <a href="http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/solutions/faq/zero-fahrenheit.shtml">this awesome page</a> for an explanation of the theory). For my brine, I decided to use ~ 22% salt, which translates to 220g NaCl to 1L of water. Importantly, I made the solution with near boiling water to encourage the salt to dissolve. I set the solution in the deep freeze at about -20 C. (0 F)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvjhRVgjHbyRCfP7ATUA9LcqMbUDlLfIDiu7SYH9VxiKxtafEfmZveMjwr3fdNuNwiKIDdBZVDfrooGEyqyFxIPp1g5GO3ozTc6xZz429xZDhaxRJD3nzcEa8tAC356s8sidWXpe4r_HNe/s1600/DSC_0227.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvjhRVgjHbyRCfP7ATUA9LcqMbUDlLfIDiu7SYH9VxiKxtafEfmZveMjwr3fdNuNwiKIDdBZVDfrooGEyqyFxIPp1g5GO3ozTc6xZz429xZDhaxRJD3nzcEa8tAC356s8sidWXpe4r_HNe/s320/DSC_0227.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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After a few days, the broth turned to a slush, and measured -18C. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV8eAaM-oxsJnedOkLANJpCwRMWWH06aEuP0MQLCFrhTRz7SyqMVWgOehk6h2B9MGVmO30lnSHy99vUGhdFcyOVPuFdv6reAwRqqFlggLkeNKdoevSZhqFl-Gnm7tVbf6JGCE4I-3PWIpc/s1600/DSC_0228.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV8eAaM-oxsJnedOkLANJpCwRMWWH06aEuP0MQLCFrhTRz7SyqMVWgOehk6h2B9MGVmO30lnSHy99vUGhdFcyOVPuFdv6reAwRqqFlggLkeNKdoevSZhqFl-Gnm7tVbf6JGCE4I-3PWIpc/s320/DSC_0228.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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I decided to space it out over several days, since the brine would warm up after a few beers and need to be replaced in the freezer. I only had 24 beers to go to, and I just ended up doing about 4 a night until I was finished. A much more efficient method would be using dry ice and ethanol or acetone (with proper washing to avoid contamination) which is mentioned in <a href="http://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/methode-champenoise-beer">this Maltose Falcons article on beer champagne</a>.</div>
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Here is an awesome video on champagne disgorging being done:</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/S1sNq8AfYys/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S1sNq8AfYys?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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Ultimately this gets rid of the fruit/yeast junk, and should still leave an appreciable amount of bacteria and wild yeast in solution. I will post again with the tasting notes and discussion of the results of my disgorged chamomille apricot sour.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-62916841703283034962015-06-09T19:47:00.000-07:002015-06-09T19:47:34.081-07:00"Spanish Cedar" English Bitter or: How I learned to stop scrooging and love the homebrew store.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcgfO9xTnXajswKCOptNd686k5_nBvtlSP4ft0xbKIMhyphenhyphenFvPQQp-LQHBTl6Kp4wfHJMWMHvTHGNC0kmvQpw9j48l-3krNvx9IxKsMdOiQaBCMoG9L6ZsaGpsh_ILS86ZQCkpT3zAq_esZ5/s1600/DSC_0216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcgfO9xTnXajswKCOptNd686k5_nBvtlSP4ft0xbKIMhyphenhyphenFvPQQp-LQHBTl6Kp4wfHJMWMHvTHGNC0kmvQpw9j48l-3krNvx9IxKsMdOiQaBCMoG9L6ZsaGpsh_ILS86ZQCkpT3zAq_esZ5/s320/DSC_0216.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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I have good news and bad news.</div>
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The good news is that the beer turned out well. The bad news is that it turned out well for an English bitter. That is to say that there is no discernible spanish cedar flavor to speak of in this beer. Much like the <a href="http://kilnedbrewing.blogspot.ca/2015/04/spanish-cedar-iipa-results-tasting.html">spanish cedar IPA</a> that I had just finished, this beer refused to accept any contribution from the wood. For this iteration, I had chopped the wood up more finely instead of cubing it, and increased the amount used by almost 2x. Here's the thing though, I was impatient and didn't let it age that long on the spanish cedar and here's why: <a href="http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=373471&page=2">Certain</a> <a href="http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=178837&page=5">online</a> <a href="http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=144411&page=3">threads</a> have lead me to believe that the spanish cedar I acquired is not fresh enough for brewing. People who are using the same spirals as Cigar City Brewing report lots of flavor development within a week of aging it on a spiral (or even half a spiral!) whereas I'm using a f*cking wood chipper's worth to no avail.</div>
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Considering that the chunk of spanish cedar I bought was all of $4 CDN, I'm not at much of a loss in this situation. The only cost to me was the pain of disappointment! I will likely order a pack of the legit spanish cedar spirals for brewing from the internet so I can try again to replicate some awesome peppery IPA goodness. I want to try to make a quasi-clone of "The Matador" by flying monkeys brewing eventually.</div>
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<u>The Tasty Disappointment</u></div>
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Appearance: Gold or burnt orange colour, slightly hazy, thick white head that stays ~1cm thick throughout the glass.</div>
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Aroma: Light fruit esters - orange/apple/pear. Hint of toast. Earthy hops that almost come off a bit funky or herbal.</div>
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Flavor: Assertive bitterness, earthy hops. Light caramel flavor. some toastiness. I can taste why people would say that target hops have a sage flavor to them. Not sweet, quite dry actually. Not much lingering flavor in this beer, but a lingering bitterness for sure. There is a characteristic flavor from the ESB yeast that I can't pinpoint, but it's a nice fruitiness.</div>
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Mouthfeel: Moderate carbonation off the pour. Moderate mouthfeel.</div>
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Overall: Good, but not great. I personally think this beer is a bit too bitter for what I was aiming for. It's better when it warms a bit, but I think the flavors were a bit faded. The fuggles hops I used were from the previous year, so they may be a bit faded. I just opened the bag of Target hops, so I'll be trying a Target bitter soon. I think I prefer the EKG hops in English ales. Also, I fermented this strain on the cool side where I think I prefer some unabashed esters from the ESB strain. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-49432226020846627302015-05-26T20:37:00.001-07:002015-05-26T20:38:12.984-07:00Vienna Lager Tasting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy4d7exZ7eQx0rHToyNRyRf6JErvA1HF7Dym8oku_8bn8HxziKUu3yVtHVnKRK9coLIsr0v5unZS1aO-DiIFm6aJr0Giu9fIzcFy3CGZH2c0mKylm87kPogWVRb6J37vb1LcQCwHendvOx/s1600/DSC_0204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy4d7exZ7eQx0rHToyNRyRf6JErvA1HF7Dym8oku_8bn8HxziKUu3yVtHVnKRK9coLIsr0v5unZS1aO-DiIFm6aJr0Giu9fIzcFy3CGZH2c0mKylm87kPogWVRb6J37vb1LcQCwHendvOx/s320/DSC_0204.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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I have a confession: I'm loving homebrew lagers.</div>
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After much trepidation, anticipation and eagerness, I have finally brewed my first Vienna lager. As I mentioned in my <a href="http://kilnedbrewing.blogspot.ca/2015/04/azoth-vienna-lager-brewday.html">brew-day post here</a>, I have always wanted to try a Vienna lager. The flavor descriptions for this style sound mouth watering: malt-centered, toasty, fairly dry. Brewing this beer also gives me the opportunity to play more with lager yeast and fermentation temperatures. I've really begun to enjoy making lagers due to the fact that they present a difference in techniques, ingredients, and results. I wouldn't say they're that much more complicated than ales as long as you follow the basic guidelines: ferment cold, diacetyl rest as fermentation is dying down, lager until clear and sulfur dissipates, then bottle or keg. The big breath-holder for me about this beer was that the ingredients were expensive this time around. My LHBS charges Vienna and MO as specialty malts instead of base malts, so for MO I usually try to emulate with a bit of amber malt in the grain bill, but for this beer I really wanted to see the difference that Vienna malt makes.</div>
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Here are my tasting notes for this much anticipated (by me) beer.</div>
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Appearance: Red-amber colour, very clear, persistant white head that leaves great lacing on the glass.</div>
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Aroma: Very malty, no hops aroma. Seems a bit sulfury, but that dissipates in the first few minutes.</div>
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Flavor: Malt all the way down! A little bit of a toasted malt kind of flavor that is more sweet than amber malt would be. Slight bitterness in the finish, but it still ends with a sweet note - not cloying. Hint of sulfur.</div>
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Mouthfeel: Medium body, medium carbonation, silky mouthfeel. Touch of bitterness at end, finishes a tad sweet, but still crisp - no lingering sweetness.</div>
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Overall: I thoroughly enjoy this beer for what it ended up being. I think that ideally I should have rested it longer to make sure the sulfur aged out, but I rushed it a bit instead. The sulfur seemed to go away as the beer sat in the bottles, but every once in a while I can notice it. While the beer was delicious, I didn't actually think the Vienna malt made it that much more special. In my next lager, I will be letting it rest longer to allow the sulfur to dissipate. If I brewed something close to this style again I would probably increase the hops a bit for more bitterness, and eliminate the crystal malt entirely. I think maybe I will try to make a kick-ass lagered Irish red in the place of this style next time. Also, I think I would prefer a bit of Munich malt in here as in an oktoberfest beer.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-80625219689544831372015-05-12T20:47:00.002-07:002015-05-16T09:40:59.190-07:002013 Spontaneous fermentation aged on Crabapples<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixF2ZeGLm5czZBPfnqB1gzs-PZk9zvPXXK_yHRRRGtpa6ho9hZX59xFvXw5fSeaFTNt_ZFWXkNHPy5K2NG0yCFA1C88cJsBCY9-ScgDcJp3OYY_dTx7tSAs0c_4SfzPT4S_13g0B9JBOOs/s1600/IMG_20141026_165942.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixF2ZeGLm5czZBPfnqB1gzs-PZk9zvPXXK_yHRRRGtpa6ho9hZX59xFvXw5fSeaFTNt_ZFWXkNHPy5K2NG0yCFA1C88cJsBCY9-ScgDcJp3OYY_dTx7tSAs0c_4SfzPT4S_13g0B9JBOOs/s320/IMG_20141026_165942.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-cP1iR3BOl4MyH-AKvynG6yJVa9hO0wTHi2A2tnB5gz6_bvOSdcqcm16hhRRCgCv-xpFit7M2cVqJB6ANHop6slbAO8WJmGRbyvkct67GDXMWiFMvimnXVMQ31lpLku-6Bk_03mcFbNGG/s1600/DSC_0193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-cP1iR3BOl4MyH-AKvynG6yJVa9hO0wTHi2A2tnB5gz6_bvOSdcqcm16hhRRCgCv-xpFit7M2cVqJB6ANHop6slbAO8WJmGRbyvkct67GDXMWiFMvimnXVMQ31lpLku-6Bk_03mcFbNGG/s320/DSC_0193.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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This beer has been a bit of an ordeal for me - mostly because of the risks involved with spontaneous fermentation. At first, when this culture started fermenting it threw off more sulfur than I've ever smelt from a beer before. The noxious gas I sniffed from the airlock within the first few weeks had me second guessing my choice in this foray into the great unknown, but I held stubborn to the beer anyways. The thing about sours, and especially sours wherein you forego the commercial cultures, is that you can't tell how the beer will be after 8 months, or a year, or 2 years. This one was an adventure in testing my blood pressure.</div>
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When I first pulled a sample of this beer, it tasted... okay I suppose. The first taste was great, mildly tart with some lemon, funk and minerals. The aftertaste, however, had a nasty phenolic burnt rubber sort of taste that had me worried. I would go for a second sample and I wouldn't be sure I tasted it at first, but it wasn't sitting right with me. At the 12 month mark, it seemed to have cleaned itself up, and was tasting quite delicious. The beer at this point was tart with some really great flavors that reminded me of some commercial sours. I was confident that this spontaneous fermentation was a huge success!<a href="http://kilnedbrewing.blogspot.ca/2014/10/2013-lambic-splitting-onto-fruit.html"> I decided to split this beer into 2 smaller carboys and age one half on crabapples, and one half on apricots.</a> Unfortunately, not long after that I took a sample after a month on the fruit and that rubbery nasty flavor was back.</div>
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I was obviously a little bit disappointed at this point.. I thought I was prepared to brew a dumper beer when I made this, since the wild fermentation can result in some nasty flavors if it doesn't turn out, but I was still pretty upset about the nastiness that came back. "Let it ride!" I reminded myself, and left it for a few more months. After a while, the crabapple portion cleaned up nicely, so I bottled it, and here we are several months later now that the carbonation has settled and the THP cheerios flavor has faded. When I bottled it, the crabapples in the bottom of the carboy had disintegrated into a apple-sauce consistency. Unfortunately for this beer's sibling, the apricot portion is still iffy. The apricot portion seems to be cleaning up, and I plan to pick a bunch of apple blossoms in the next few weeks and use them in the beer to see how that treats it.</div>
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Here is the tasting for the crabapple portion:</div>
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Appearance: Very light! It was brewed with 50/50 raw wheat and 2-row with a single decoction, so it seems to be holding up a very classic look. It was exceptionally clear as well. The head frothed up quickly, but died just the same before I could get a good picture.</div>
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Aroma: Lemony, musty, a hint of bubblegum? A bit mousy, and some lighter citrus funk flavors - more pissy than barnyard.</div>
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Flavor: Pleasantly sour, definitely sour but not really assertive nor lacking. The acidity is interesting because you can tell the mixture of lactic and malic acid. The acidity is very reminiscent of biting into a green apple. Leather flavors, and a hint of oak. A touch of grain in the finish.<br />
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Mouthfeel: Puckering, but not extreme. A bit of tannins from the oak or from the crabapple skins help to dry out the mouth and give it a great dry finish. Spritzy, prickly carbonation.<br />
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Overall: Yup. Mhmm. I'm very happy with this one. I wish I had some more sour beer geek friends to share this one with. I'd love to have some more opinions, because I think this is great. I wouldn't mind a touch more acidity, or even a bit more earthy brett funk rather than the light stuff. The bubblegum notes are interesting, I wonder if I caught an interesting yeast strain for that.<br />
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I used the cake from this batch after the split to innoculate the "lambic-style" beer I brewed in Fall 2014. It threw off the same nasty sulfur compounds and has the same weird rubber notes that I'm starting to assume are a kind of quirk of this new wild culture. It seems to clear up and get good after some age, so I'm much less concerned for the next go around.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-81022332340275126522015-05-04T19:49:00.003-07:002015-08-08T11:42:59.850-07:00Double Brew Day - Spanish Cedar English Pale Ale & Sour Stout<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPvbn5n27T9ZUX206TUStpZRLh4BMwvaRbBSB6IQJnRqPLjsOLaAiKlbcjByXfJe4MwL6wfARCJ6S2wzJKGuGUJ8oA4Se1TFrVvVXc1RrMwRU9vCOOVMkxGd1l70V8mJ4s7BlnZMMxuTfc/s1600/DSC_0165.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPvbn5n27T9ZUX206TUStpZRLh4BMwvaRbBSB6IQJnRqPLjsOLaAiKlbcjByXfJe4MwL6wfARCJ6S2wzJKGuGUJ8oA4Se1TFrVvVXc1RrMwRU9vCOOVMkxGd1l70V8mJ4s7BlnZMMxuTfc/s320/DSC_0165.JPG" width="180" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOP972ImSRISZXfapeQjJzn2aTdvGo2LmR6lXkwowXvtO9AQNgCpMu7b9hGCzlzxMM12l36QHTyrTb97zw9oWHbKZll6pxQAhgrlWBQGTVhDWml2TkUkHmoBA2o2Apqo_5lUr9zqqI8EGk/s1600/DSC_0169.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOP972ImSRISZXfapeQjJzn2aTdvGo2LmR6lXkwowXvtO9AQNgCpMu7b9hGCzlzxMM12l36QHTyrTb97zw9oWHbKZll6pxQAhgrlWBQGTVhDWml2TkUkHmoBA2o2Apqo_5lUr9zqqI8EGk/s320/DSC_0169.JPG" width="180" /></a></div>
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The semester has finally come to a rest, and it tastes of success and good beer. I decided to celebrate by brewing up two batches of beer in a day: an English Pale Ale to be aged on spanish cedar brewed in the morning, and a sour stout with my girlfriend in the evening. I really wanted another go at using spanish cedar, and both my girlfriend and I have really wanted to make a batch of sour stout since we first tried a bottle of Tart of Darkness.</div>
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Brew day went pretty typically for the English pale ale. I once again used a no-sparge brew day wherein I used the entire volume of water in the mash so as to not need to sparge or vorlauf twice. Luckily, this time I used enough water so as to not need to water down my wort for it being too strong.</div>
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I pitched Wyeast 1968 ESB yeast, and in the picture above you can see the thick yeast chunks that I love this strain for. It's awesome to watch it on the stir plate when it goes from turbid and cloudy to looking like a spinning egg-drop soup from the strongly flocculating yeast. I fermented it at 65F at first to try to get a medium ester profile in the beer. Due to the extreme flocculation of this yeast strain it's recommended to rouse the yeast and raise the temperature near the end of fermentation to ensure proper attentuation. After 3 days I ramped the temperature up to 69F and stirred the yeast up gently and let it ferment out.</div>
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For the Spanish cedar, I nearly doubled the amount I used last time. I ended up using 130 g of spanish cedar, and this time I used a hatchet to chip it up rather than attempting to use cubed wood. I'm hoping the increase in amount used as well as the increased surface area will help bring some proper flavor. The Spanish cedar I have is likely pretty old, as I bought it from a specialty wood store. I'd recommend to anyone else to just order the Spanish cedar spirals from an online homebrew source, as they are apparently much more fresh and potent. I will be tasting this after a week to see where it's at.</div>
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The sour stout brew day was also pretty uneventful. I used no-sparge and only a dash of fuggles for low IBUs in the bittering addition. For fermenting, I pitched a third generation Roeselare cake alongside some Tart of Darkness dregs, some dregs from my concord sour, some house culture, and some Wyeast Brett lambicus.</div>
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Interestingly enough, the beer had a huge lag time on it. The last time I used the roeselare cake it managed to kick up within 48 hours. This beer was approaching 72 hours before showing any signs and I was starting to get nervous. I pitched some Wyeast 1968 ESB harvested from the English pale ale, and soon it was ripping away. The picture above is showing the calm after blowing off an exorbitant amount of krausen and shmutz. The beer is throwing off some seriously delicious sour notes like cherry and chocolate and brett. I'm going to keep an eye on it and make sure it sours well since I'm not sure whether the explosive fermentation is from the 1968 or the plethora of sour cultures.</div>
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Recipes:</div>
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A British Tar</div>
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30 IBUs OG: 1.056</div>
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9# 2-row</div>
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0.5# Crystal 40L</div>
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0.37# Amber malt</div>
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0.25# Crystal 120L</div>
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1.5 oz Fuggles - 60 mins</div>
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2 oz Fuggles - 10 minutes</div>
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1 oz Fuggles - Dryhop - 9 days</div>
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1.5 oz Target - Dryhop - 9 days</div>
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Wyeast 1968 - 65F 3 days. Yeast was roused and beer raised to 69F for remainder of fermentation.</div>
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130g Chopped Spanish cedar - boiling water sanitized - added at day 7.</div>
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Olde Black Tart</div>
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7 IBUs OG: 1065</div>
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10# 2-row</div>
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1# Crystal 120L</div>
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0.75# Chocolate Malt</div>
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0.5 # Roasted Barley<br />
0.5# Amber malt</div>
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0.5 oz Fuggles - 60 mins</div>
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A whole shwack of cultures added - see above.<br /><br />EDIT: August 2015: After tasting the sour stout (very sour already!), the beer was lacking in roast so I decided to make a tea with some more crushed malt - an extra 0.5 # roasted barley, and 0.25# chocolate malt.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-29757896505229369752015-04-20T15:04:00.000-07:002015-04-23T11:18:31.398-07:00Spanish Cedar IIPA Results & Tasting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhJRkb8-FdX5lsPGntJR9NQT21zuLEPY4HuN3-f2OMg5oKWC32l3pBKCUiY3yWu29GiNjELj-S8J67TdARFKeIQNbwEj5qVHNoGI-C7DrBfUVQRu3lW8pYcERnYl4JA4pAG04YjvrHVhZi/s1600/DSC_0094.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhJRkb8-FdX5lsPGntJR9NQT21zuLEPY4HuN3-f2OMg5oKWC32l3pBKCUiY3yWu29GiNjELj-S8J67TdARFKeIQNbwEj5qVHNoGI-C7DrBfUVQRu3lW8pYcERnYl4JA4pAG04YjvrHVhZi/s1600/DSC_0094.JPG" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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I ended up cubing up some of that block of spanish cedar into roughly oak cube sized pieces. I collected about 75 grams of the cubes which is approximately 2.5 oz of the wood. I wasn't really sure how to sanitize the wood, I poured boiling water over them and let them sit for a few minutes before dumping the water down the drain and putting the cubes into the primary. I think that next time I may use vodka to sanitize in order to preserve some of the more delicate flavors of the wood.</div>
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Sampled at one week: There was pretty much no spanish cedar flavor.</div>
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Sampled at two weeks: Not really any Spanish cedar flavor, but some tannins.</div>
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Sampled at three weeks: Same as week two..</div>
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@ Five weeks: I give up. There's a but of a pepper in the finish?</div>
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Cold crashed w/ gelatin fining, bottled it.</div>
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Tasting</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx3nCYR-EC6xw57FNSn95TW_Zt7vIXgm2ZUC_KRC3jpHUiJdTndEiygDZmcdcEN2y6EQ48uMfBXCzAXmI-MoE_R8YMmMIGJfGG-pXS3aGrZap6x_cuBxswPgvXsp-7BkGMBdQr7ZFmn-LD/s1600/DSC_0159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx3nCYR-EC6xw57FNSn95TW_Zt7vIXgm2ZUC_KRC3jpHUiJdTndEiygDZmcdcEN2y6EQ48uMfBXCzAXmI-MoE_R8YMmMIGJfGG-pXS3aGrZap6x_cuBxswPgvXsp-7BkGMBdQr7ZFmn-LD/s1600/DSC_0159.JPG" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<u>Appearance:</u> Nice gold colour, decent clarity, thick white head that persists from the hop resins. Leaves a thick lacing on the glass as you drink it.</div>
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<u>Aroma:</u> Hops! Mango, pineapple, citrusy, a hint of pine</div>
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<u>Flavor:</u> Decent bitterness, tropical flavors that are coming from both the citra hops and the trois yeast - orange, mango. No spanish cedar flavor to speak of - I want to say I taste a ghost of a pepper flavor in the finish, but that's probably wishful thinking. Some resiny flavor coming through, Finishes with some sweetness from the crystal malts, and a bite from the alcohol content.</div>
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<u>Mouthfeel:</u> There's actually a pretty creamy mouthfeel, maybe a little bit of astringency that might come from the tannins from the wood, but it's not much.</div>
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<u>Overall:</u> Meh, It's hoppy and delicious - not bad, but nothing revolutionary. I feel like the time aging on the cedar was bad for the hops but didn't give me any spanish cedar. This was my first time fining an IPA with gelatin, and I don't think I'll do it again. It seems to have lost some hops. Next time I do an IIPA I'll probably add some table sugar to thin it out because even the bit of crystal I added seems to detract from the beer, and I think I would prefer more crispness. Overall, kind of underwhelming unfortunately.</div>
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Next time: Up the spanish cedar by a lot, or chop it into smaller pieces for more surface area. Maybe buy some legit spanish cedar spirals, because maybe this isn't very fresh. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-31625991334964008252015-04-13T08:36:00.000-07:002015-04-13T08:36:08.940-07:00Azoth Vienna Lager Brewday<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54kPhyphenhyphenc83xZyt880n_4kGVmQCdd8KNwoZlJgkYThxzEoqE3il-yFaEle2XPe3qpqEAM90QV6Ba_eroaStchPoB8ikvPcF52wwikCxxony1FYxFDe1ZIP9nizTImt24tgxnrWq7bP1E-pE/s1600/DSC_0149.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54kPhyphenhyphenc83xZyt880n_4kGVmQCdd8KNwoZlJgkYThxzEoqE3il-yFaEle2XPe3qpqEAM90QV6Ba_eroaStchPoB8ikvPcF52wwikCxxony1FYxFDe1ZIP9nizTImt24tgxnrWq7bP1E-pE/s1600/DSC_0149.JPG" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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Vienna malt has been a very alien thing to me since I started brewing. The problem is that my local homebrew store sells Vienna (and Marris Otter) as specialty grains instead of base malts so you end up paying out the wazoo if you want to make a beer with them. For Marris Otter, I've been subbing in a small amount of victory or amber malt to get some toasty and malty flavors in my English beers, and it works well enough even if it just isn't the same.<br />
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In this case, I decided to just go for it and get the expensive Vienna malt. I've always thought the flavor description sounds great, and I love a beer with some toasty flavor. Couple that with the clean profile of a lager, and the opportunity to use my lagering fridge, and I'm driving home with a heavy bill and a grin on my face.</div>
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For this beer, I decided to again try the no-sparge brewing to up the maltiness and also to save some time for the brewday. I mashed in with 7 gallons of 161*F water to reach a mash temp of 154*F. I let it rest for the typical hour or so, vorlaufed, and let it run into my kettle with 1.75 oz of Hallertauer. I used only bittering hops for this beer, again to push the maltiness. I don't want any hops flavor coming from late additions, just the toasty malt flavor and bitterness to balance it.</div>
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Vienna lager originated in Vienna around 1840, and was hugely popular for a short period of time in Europe before falling out of style and ending up in Mexico where Austrian immigrants revived the beer style with fervor. Typically, it is a darker shade of beer: copper to amber-brown coloured with flavors reminiscent of toast or nuttiness. A dash of caramel or roasted malts is appropriate for colour, but the caramel flavor should be weak, and only complimentary. No flavor should come from the roasted grains, only colour.<br /><br />It is of benefit to me that the description of the beer according to the BJCP guidelines calls for water that is moderately high in carbonates. Calgary's tap water is fairly hard and full of the necessary minerals to give a back to the malt in the beer. It's nice to have a beer style that doesn't need me to buy distilled water to start with.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2rlTnteo7KIOnnXy7_HtY3yR6qjogpb-QdgWcYBHCoUH7hQgKcU08DMHu7zwBopD6IGE4Su7NWpGBHSOry-Vi-qXy_RKr5TwPnoibKmxt3tERSR9d5E1oAQLvdz47cAf0kqq_2iNbByDa/s1600/DSC_0153.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2rlTnteo7KIOnnXy7_HtY3yR6qjogpb-QdgWcYBHCoUH7hQgKcU08DMHu7zwBopD6IGE4Su7NWpGBHSOry-Vi-qXy_RKr5TwPnoibKmxt3tERSR9d5E1oAQLvdz47cAf0kqq_2iNbByDa/s1600/DSC_0153.JPG" height="320" width="180" /></a><br /><br />I'm still getting used to the no-sparge brewing, and I have been tending to overshoot my OG in the last two beers that I've done it with. I didn't end up using enough water to dilute the sugars enough, so I ended up diluting the beer with boiled and cooled water in order to reach an OG of 1.054. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixt1g55Xr_aOIlW5rRbDHkml4A2u2dtC928k9v91RnImz6Vhx3IDI37Y1WVtDe1FMEYwQJc4B6-B6NOsiE6eWdsbPQssUy8X4mHMvSaNz-VQa6fsO1c6U2U97Z1LDS2BPfg-ICkNfngLha/s1600/DSC_0150.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixt1g55Xr_aOIlW5rRbDHkml4A2u2dtC928k9v91RnImz6Vhx3IDI37Y1WVtDe1FMEYwQJc4B6-B6NOsiE6eWdsbPQssUy8X4mHMvSaNz-VQa6fsO1c6U2U97Z1LDS2BPfg-ICkNfngLha/s1600/DSC_0150.JPG" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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I followed these guidelines and everything went rather smoothly besides the overshoot in gravity. I'm looking forward to bottling this one in a few weeks once final exam season is over at the university.</div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">AZOTH Vienna Lager</u></div>
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1.054 OG</div>
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8# Vienna Malt</div>
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1.5# Pils Malt</div>
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0,5# Crystal 40*L</div>
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Palmful of chocolate malt for colour</div>
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Mashed at 154*F</div>
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1,75oz Hallertauer - 60 mins</div>
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Cooled to 55*F.</div>
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3L starter of Wyeast Bohemian Lager,</div>
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Fermented in temperature controlled chamber @ 50*F</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-25939542617025729452015-04-09T14:46:00.000-07:002015-04-09T14:46:17.659-07:00Tonka Bean Stout Tasting Notes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVqwbid2BcWJphNPuCwphcIXuu7HVhAAUqb-7uh1BnP-1WzCjtmpx7Rl_HiOq3fguWnSb1LawbKEOQvpnteK4ULbVnWmVtJ9BVZSnwCu2IXMxY3Dx4xE8aOAZJq_ZWFRd3W-q1WCql5tn3/s1600/DSC_0150.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVqwbid2BcWJphNPuCwphcIXuu7HVhAAUqb-7uh1BnP-1WzCjtmpx7Rl_HiOq3fguWnSb1LawbKEOQvpnteK4ULbVnWmVtJ9BVZSnwCu2IXMxY3Dx4xE8aOAZJq_ZWFRd3W-q1WCql5tn3/s1600/DSC_0150.JPG" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://kilnedbrewing.blogspot.ca/2015/03/tonka-bean-beer-ii-tonka-bean-stout.html">Brewing Notes Here</a></div>
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I bottled this beer just over two weeks ago. While I had done one other tonka bean beer, this one was without any other spice additions. It seems like each bottle gets better, and I'll have to check the flavor after a few more weeks of aging.</div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Appearance:</u> Nearly opaque black, but very minor ruby highlights if held up to the light. Light tan coloured head that falls thin but persists through the pint.<br /><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">Aroma:</u> Tonka bean aromas are present, I swear the smell reminds me of cinnamon rolls. The tonka bean smell isn't too strong, and is backed by typical stout odor: roastiness, dark chocolate with cinnamon.<br /><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">Flavor:</u> Tonka bean is present, but not nearly overpowering. Cinnamon, vanilla and caramel flavors are noticeable from the tonka bean, but fades into a good roastiness from the base stout.<br /><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">Mouthfeel:</u> It's a thick one, the oats have given it the great silky mouthfeel that gives some richness to the stout. Moderately carbonated, and no astringency.<br /><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">Overall:</u> Excellent. I was probably pretty liberal with my application of tonka beans to this beer, but the stout has strong enough flavors to back it all up. The mouthfeel is great as well. I'm really excited about this beer.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-79133573323139514842015-04-02T21:00:00.002-07:002015-04-09T10:25:14.345-07:00No Sparge, No Hops, No Boil Berliner Ryesse ( A very short brew day)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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To ferment a beer using the bacteria naturally present on the grain that you'll use to make the beer is awesome. It's self-sufficient, au naturel, and nerdilicous for a microbio geek like myself. I've wanted to brew a berliner weisse for ages, but it's been put on the back burner over and over again while I've been doing any other beer. I decided to finally just do it, but true to my style I had to make it different by substituting the wheat in the recipe for malted rye.</div>
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I've done research over and over again, I've probably read <a href="http://www.bear-flavored.com/2013/08/which-method-of-brewing-berliner-weisse.html">Bear-flavored's entry</a> on brewing berliner weisse a few dozen times before trying his method out for myself. Basically it's this: make a starter with no hops, add some whole malted grain, and top it off with some soda water to purge the oxygen and make a CO2 blanket. The reason being that some aerobic bacteria can make butyric acid and other nasty compounds that taste like feces, diapers, garbage or vomit. If all goes well, it should taste grainy, lemony and refreshing though.</div>
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After one day</div>
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After two days</div>
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I did just as sensei Derek (Bear Flavored) had written, but I wrapped mine up with a heating blanket and a T-shirt to maintain a culturing temperature of 110*F. I checked the starter one day after adding the grain, and it was super turbid already meaning that something was growing. I poured a little off for a taste and added some more soda water. The starter smelt a bit like tomato soup, kind of vegetable like, which i think could be some DMS somehow. It tasted grainy and clean though, with a touch of sourness. </div>
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There was sediment forming at the bottom of the flask, which was likely bacteria cells settling out.</div>
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There's not too much to say about brew day, I did no-sparge brewing this time which in essence means that I used the whole volume of water for both the mash and the sparge and ran it straight into the fermentor. No sparge brewing supposedly gives a more round and full malt flavor. I'm already a little nervous about the way that the wort ran into the fermentor, and I'm worried that some nasty-ass bugs will use that oxygen from the splashing to make it taste like hot garbage. I didn't use hops because most Lactobacillus spp. will roll over and die if they get a whiff of hops.</div>
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I'm hoping that the beer will taste decent, I kind of regret not doing a decoction to get some maillard reaction flavors to give the beer some more grain presence and flavor.</div>
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No-sparge is generally thought to be less efficient, but my wort ended up being a little too strong at 1.042, so I actually ended up adding some more hot water and effectively sparged it a bit more to water down the wort.</div>
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True to rye, the run-off was slow and tedious because of the high protein content of the grain. I restarted it once or twice and did a very minor vorlauf. The fermentor is now rigged up to the heating blanket and the STC-1000 so that I can maintain a temperature of about 100*F with intermittent tastings to make sure it doesn't get too ridiculous sour. The culture smelt very citric and clean when I sniffed it before pitching it. </div>
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Here's hoping to my first berliner being a success..</div>
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"Very Nice!" Berliner-Ryesse</div>
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20 liter batch</div>
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OG: 1.036</div>
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Mashed at 152*F</div>
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4# Canadian 2-row</div>
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2# Rye Malt</div>
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Lacto bacteria starter (See above)</div>
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Fermented at 100*F for about 3 days, it was refreshingly sour but not sharp. It smelt a bit like tomato soup at this point.</div>
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Pitched a 3L starter of Bohemian Lager yeast at day 3 after cooling the beer to 60*F<br />
Allowed to ferment for 3 days, then removed from fermentation chamber and allowed to rise to room temp. Smelt much more clean and doughy.<br />
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Dregs from a roeselare sour and cuvee rene were pitched at the same time as the lager yeast.</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-50653757710763309492015-03-28T13:35:00.002-07:002015-07-15T09:37:13.024-07:00Solera Top-off Wort <div style="text-align: center;">
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Next week is my solera's birthday, and I'm looking forward to it! With my sour beers it's like I get to celebrate my (beer) child's 1st birthday every year! It's funny to think that I have some beers that are older than my friend's children.. I guess it's kind of morbid to think of it this way since I consume them for my enjoyment, but I digress..<br />
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I know very well that you can make a pretty damn good sour beer without using traditional methods, but I like the romanticism of doing "Ye olde brooing" once or twice a year. I typically do one in October for my yearly spontaneous fermentation, and the second in April for my solera (of course last year that meant "ye olde brooing" 3 days in a row (60L)). I've found that after enough time doing brewing, the brew days can seem a little repetitive, so it's nice to refresh the joy in brewing by playing with new ingredients or new techniques. </div>
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Traditionally, the grist for a lambic is made up of 30-40% raw unmalted wheat with the rest made up of malted barley. In order to get good conversion with the unmalted wheat, a cereal mash is typically done. The traditional way to do a cereal mash involves doing a short mash with 10% malted barley in order to lower the pH and get a small conversion. Following this short mash, you boil the grains in order to gelatinize the starches and burst some of starch stores to make them more available for the amylases in the full mash.<br />
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I then got the full mash going - I went with 30% wheat, with the rest being Canadian 2-row malt and a pound of Munich for some melanoidin character. I mashed high - around 158*F, which is the temperature where many of the beta-amylases denature or don't work as efficiently, while the alpha amylases do their work. This high temperature leaves much longer sugars and dextrins left over for the bacteria and wild yeasts to eat during the year long fermentation, as they are better equipped with enzymes to digest the longer sugars whereas the basic brewer's yeast can only process the smaller simpler sugars. For a turbid mash, a portion of the mash is taken off and boiled within the first few minutes of the mash. This denatures all the enzymes and leaves some starches intact for the bacteria and wild yeast. I removed 3L of turbid liquid and boiled it down.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBScY0is3cxqDO-LwOrYLhuOXu9aQA2VfzKMcS1wd3qSAfAGiMvJEAy9gAKQA4KLrnljuiDTOVcU0Fjt5V6N-GDOtTBVQ9NHFc__y0idlvP2RItTq2EOzmVcK_oEUE37nKdBojeFq1vFOt/s1600/DSC_0124.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBScY0is3cxqDO-LwOrYLhuOXu9aQA2VfzKMcS1wd3qSAfAGiMvJEAy9gAKQA4KLrnljuiDTOVcU0Fjt5V6N-GDOtTBVQ9NHFc__y0idlvP2RItTq2EOzmVcK_oEUE37nKdBojeFq1vFOt/s1600/DSC_0124.JPG" width="180" /></a><br />
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I wanted to try something interesting, so I took the 3 litres, boiled it for the protein break, and then put it into mason jars and pressure cooked it for an hour during the boil. I didn't want to do a super long boil and waste the propane, so i was hoping that by pressure cooking the wort I would see some caramelization in the wort. Previously when pressure cooking wort for starters in order to sterilize it, I've seen caramelization happen in as little as 15 minutes, but even with an hour running the cooker hot there wasn't much caramelization. I added some yeast nutrient hoping that the nitrogen would help with the maillard reactions, but alas there was not that much. I realize now that the reason for the lack of caramelization is likely due to the lack of sugars, since the wort was taken off in the first 10 minutes of the mash and there likely wasn't much conversion from starch to sugar. I'd like to try this same experiment with a Scottish ale.</div>
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The runoff with this beer was painfully slow, and I had to restart it several times. The sparge was a little better. Typically you sparge at 170*F to make the sugars more soluble and easier to take off, but with a lambic you sparge with 200*F water to pull more starches, dextrins and sugars out. Usually you would be worried that the hotter sparge would lead to tannins and astringency, but in this case the super long fermentation with all the different bacteria and yeast leads to the tannins being either digested or precipitated. Following the hot sparge water addition, the wort flowed out a lot easier.</div>
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I used 3 year old whole leaf cascades that have been sitting in a bag in my basement. When hops age they go through cycles, and for quite a while these were smelling like parmesan cheese and grass. On a long enough timeline they will go past the cheesy stage and start smelling just grassy and herby. These have gotten to that stage. Typically, using 3 oz's of hops would lead to quite a bit of bitterness, but as time goes on the alpha acids degrade leading to beta acids in the hops. This means that the bitterness is lost, but some antibacterial ability is conserved. Traditionally, this is much more important in spontaneous fermentation in order to steer the beer to the better bugs you want in a lambic, but again I really wanted to keep this beer as traditional as possible.<br />
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After leaving it overnight to cool in the garage, I racked it into a fermentor and pitched a 1.5L starter of Scottish Ale yeast. I'm fermenting it warm hoping for more esters for the brettanomyces to transform into crazy compounds.<br />
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The solera is plenty sour right now.. I want it a bit more sour but not a lot more sour. I'm hoping that fermenting first with Ale yeast, but leaving a lot of complex sugars and starches will leave enough food for more sourness, but not too much..<br />
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Solera Top-up Wort.<br />
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6 gallons<br />
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Mashed at 160*F<br />
7# 2-row Base Malt<br />
4# Unmalted Wheat<br />
1# Munich Malt - 8*L<br />
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3 oz 3 Year Old Cascades<br />
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Fermented with Wyeast Scottish Ale - Pitched 80*F, fermented at basement ambient<br />
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Calgary north tap water - untreated.<br /><br />Update: Due to THP flavors in the Solera, I'm letting it age longer before pulling from it. In the mean time, I've innoculated this top off wort with sour house cultures from wild captures and collected dregs.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-19289183438637196482015-03-20T19:03:00.001-07:002015-03-20T19:11:09.935-07:00Oude Bruin (Roeselare) Microscopy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBH78GDkt9JxELg3ICbKLw1PAdSYmmA4yEFWeLT3R9niBXgGTAUiyPxiN1MKhj8C4HuldcDzUOz8aGhG_93fs1gRPnvma_5yhreWO2loUxoZHh5NU1AS8uJ8dQIYNpIIjz1ekQ9lrU-vmh/s1600/DSC_0115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBH78GDkt9JxELg3ICbKLw1PAdSYmmA4yEFWeLT3R9niBXgGTAUiyPxiN1MKhj8C4HuldcDzUOz8aGhG_93fs1gRPnvma_5yhreWO2loUxoZHh5NU1AS8uJ8dQIYNpIIjz1ekQ9lrU-vmh/s1600/DSC_0115.JPG" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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I've brewed a lot of lighter sour beers, and I have a 60L carboy with a lambic-style solera, so I wanted some sours with...moooore... I wanted toast, roast even, and caramel, and malt behind the sour and funk characters! I found La Folie from New Belgium brewing to be a little ridiculous sour with not enough funk or malt flavor getting past that puckering. I will release the recipe and full tasting notes probably much later this year after bottling, but when I took a sample it was deliciously toasty and had a decent tartness for the fact that it's only 5 months old, but I can tell you for sure that it is fermented with Roeselare, as well as Tart of Darkness dregs from The Bruery (Fucking amazing beer, so sour!). </div>
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So, through my forgetfulness I let the airlock on the oude bruin dry out a bit too much and I think that a bit too much oxygen got in because the pellicle was starting to get pretty thick even after just 5 months. I was really paranoid about acetobacter, so I took the sample to taste (no vinegar), and took a sample into the lab to take some images.</div>
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I took 2 ml of the beer and centrifuged it down at 10,000 rpm for 5 minutes to pellet the cells a bit, since I thought the cell count in the beer would be pretty low. I resuspended the pellet in about 50 ul of the beer and wet mounted it on a slip. I put it under an inverted DIC microscope and used oil immersion with 60x objective to get these images:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-FdqyuhiWbLsYQhPZ9niv8ybidCsAK295uC1JYO5KgVJYzEZjnStnDfKOqxEHJYNU0CLsxrOl6rJdCtNnUjDxS0EltNOZUM4PUea9HP-_vOEHyFJlmo8CfrpOWDGcQYJ9Lzhlf6HdxU93/s1600/Image_1409.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-FdqyuhiWbLsYQhPZ9niv8ybidCsAK295uC1JYO5KgVJYzEZjnStnDfKOqxEHJYNU0CLsxrOl6rJdCtNnUjDxS0EltNOZUM4PUea9HP-_vOEHyFJlmo8CfrpOWDGcQYJ9Lzhlf6HdxU93/s1600/Image_1409.jpg" height="241" width="320" /></a></div>
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These two pictures are of the same stuff but in a different plane of focus. I think that those big thick elongated cells are Brettanomyces lambicus from Wyeast especially when comparing it to <a href="https://eurekabrewing.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/brettanomyces-lambicus-microscopy-pictures/">Eureka Brewing's microscopy of it</a>. The lower picture was to show those very small round bacteria (coccal morphology) which I think may be pediococcus.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_cz7r6MKmkkF4T5i-RDvUF_SAn_mujMb9O8gvZ2TIQ31YCH_hfMEs7IAdhha9yiVgEp7sjg2w32K-Mwoqg-gCR6S0X_0GODTJBvLhZDz2e0UVYefywVfNI8vmdg3MgmEsEu-nZwMSMlIg/s1600/Image_1411.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_cz7r6MKmkkF4T5i-RDvUF_SAn_mujMb9O8gvZ2TIQ31YCH_hfMEs7IAdhha9yiVgEp7sjg2w32K-Mwoqg-gCR6S0X_0GODTJBvLhZDz2e0UVYefywVfNI8vmdg3MgmEsEu-nZwMSMlIg/s1600/Image_1411.jpg" height="241" width="320" /></a></div>
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More brettanomyces lambicus from the roeselare blend, and another more round cell near the bottom of the frame which may be a different yeast, but there's no way to tell. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8HyMfEY6C8jTqSDcpSscG0nUyPzcLk4LxB7UgsAkirOzC4RLECeyyWqgHSSynnAMCr94pl6PHov2MN4KY4to3mpRbC7IP3db0VabfLJ1Z8yEB-74fTR8qK_mDEPO92u_dMRIa9JNbPGvB/s1600/Image_1413.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8HyMfEY6C8jTqSDcpSscG0nUyPzcLk4LxB7UgsAkirOzC4RLECeyyWqgHSSynnAMCr94pl6PHov2MN4KY4to3mpRbC7IP3db0VabfLJ1Z8yEB-74fTR8qK_mDEPO92u_dMRIa9JNbPGvB/s1600/Image_1413.jpg" height="241" width="320" /></a></div>
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This lemon-shaped cell is a great example of what I've been told is classical brett morphology: kind of pointed at the ends and not nice and spherical like saccharomyces.</div>
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There are very long cells here, which I think are still the same wild yeast exhibiting pseudohyphae formation.</div>
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In this video I wanted to both show the movement inside of the long yeast cell. I have no idea what that compartment is in the cell, if it may be the nucleus and the nucleolus, or is it just a large central vacuole? (DIC can give inverted looking images where protruding parts can look inverted) I love yeast, but to be honest I've never actually learned much about it at school.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAs7KNaPMqwjR3Nc1BxZqMERQ25p4he_dtyIxv1nKwzbcy0sgVY-3T2RFQI6Fn-HSlaPKjh4EiGzMQ_wmEiUPA7Ig_XHvnE3G4nkutBhiRrit4E7xE8XcnWBo7N8FN_43X_-oPi0NHXUQX/s1600/Movie_14.avi" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAs7KNaPMqwjR3Nc1BxZqMERQ25p4he_dtyIxv1nKwzbcy0sgVY-3T2RFQI6Fn-HSlaPKjh4EiGzMQ_wmEiUPA7Ig_XHvnE3G4nkutBhiRrit4E7xE8XcnWBo7N8FN_43X_-oPi0NHXUQX/s1600/Movie_14.avi" height="473" width="640" /></a></div>
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In this one, I wanted to show that little rod shaped bacillus in the upper left quadrant which seems to be wriggling around. I watched it move for a while and I'm curious if it was truly a motile bacteria or not. I'm not much of a taxonomist so I wonder if it might be lactobacillus or acetobacter?</div>
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Questions? Comments? Answers or Ideas?</div>
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Thanks for reading!</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14032345965358088174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354485764858810161.post-82126332430370185582015-03-14T14:06:00.001-07:002015-04-13T08:40:37.966-07:00Brettanomyces and Oak Old Ale Brewday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been wanting to brew this beer for a really long time. Now that I have a nice pipeline of sours lined up for every few months, I wanted to make something funky but not so sour. As much as I like Orval, I find the belgian yeast character kind of distracting, so I would like to make an English stock ale with some brettanomyces character and some oak. The grainbill for this beer is very simple with just some base malt and a bit of crystal malts thrown in for colour and complexity. I'll be doing primary fermentation with Wyeast Scottish ale, but adding a few bottles worth of Orval dregs once the primary is slowing a bit.</div>
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One reason that a belgian yeast would be better is that it seems that the phenols made as a by-product of belgian yeast serve as precursors to the funky compounds produced by brettanomyces. Brettanomyces uses esterases to synthesize ethyl or vinyl esters of phenols and guaiacols which lends the smokey, horsey, funky, fruity wild flavors that are associated with brettanomyces.</div>
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The hops bill is also simple as of now. I added 2 oz of fuggles at 60 minutes in order to give the beer a decent background bitterness. I didn't add any late hops additions because I feel that the long aging time with the brettanomyces will cause whatever hops flavor to fade over that time. Instead I may dry hop it with more English hops - either challenger or target. Once upon a time when I was a beginner brewer I made a one gallon batch of a pale ale which I added oak cubes to. I didn't sanitize the oak cubes, and after a month I added an ounce of willamette hops as a dry hop. I was aware of my oaky mistake, and knew that those lignin cube bastards were infested with something or another.. Of course after a month in the bottle I noticed that the carbonation was getting a little high, but I had them in 1 L fliptop bottles, so every few weeks I would vent it a little.</div>
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The flavor of that oaked pale ale was unlike anything I had ever had.. There was this apple flavor alongside the hops, and this odd juicy-fruit and citrus flavor with some minor funk and oak vanilla flavors. I have not succeeded in replicating that experiment since, but maybe one day I will serendipitously end up with something similar.. </div>
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Maybe this beer is just reaching for that lost love of a beer that has since been drank..</div>
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I know that old ales are typically associated with barleywine and strong ales but I wanted to keep this a bit more moderate.. I'm not a huge fan of drinking strong beers often, and would rather be able to sample a couple of interesting beers rather than one alcohol bomb. That being said, i'm aiming for an OG of 1.060, but with the enzymes in Brettanomyces being able to digest large sugars I'm wondering how low the FG will go and where my alcohol content will end up with it's hyper attenuation..</div>
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Brett Old Ale<br />OG 1.060<br />26 IBUs</div>
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Mashed at 154*F:</div>
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10# 2-row</div>
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0.5# crystal 40</div>
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0.25# crystal 120</div>
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0.25# Amber malt</div>
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2 oz Fuggles - 60 mins</div>
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Wyeast Scottish Ale @ Basement temps (~65*F)</div>
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Dregs of 2 bottle of Orval added after one week, along with 1 oz oak cubes.</div>
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