Sour Blonde 7.1.1 and 8.1.1

Today I'll be brewing up yet another Sour Blonde.  This will get me up to my goal of having 12 active batches of this beer.

I'll be doing a 10 gal batch which I'll split between two Bootleg Biology Brett Cultures (Funk Weapon #2 and Funk Weapon #3).  I ordered these 3 or 4 months ago so they may be a bit beyond their ideal age.  I expect them to be slow starters.

Same grainbill as the last few Sour Blond Beers which leverages Raw Wheat and a Cereal Mash.  The raw wheat gives the beer a really nice bready malt flavor that seems to stand up with time.  I'd like to think that it also give the beer more to chew on than a standard infusion mash (more starches making it through to the fermenter).

To try to give the microbes even more food I'll be pulling off about a gallon of the starchy liquid from the cereal mash during the first rest.  I'll boil this to halt any conversion and then add it to the kettle during the boil.  This seems sort of like a lazy man's turbid mash.  Probably wont make any difference by it makes things more interesting to mix things up a bit.

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 10 lb Pilsner
• 2 lb Light Munich
• 6 oz Acid Malt
• Cereal Mash:
• 7 lb Raw Wheat
• 2 lb Pilsner
• Hops:
• None
• Yeast:
• 7.1.1:
• Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #2
• 8.1.1:
• Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #3
• Water:
• 16.5 gal of RO Water
• 1 tsp CaCl
• 1 tsp Gypsum
• Extras:
• 2 oz of Chardonnay soaked oak

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 10 gal (I considered topping it up to 12 gal but opted not to mess with it)
• Mash:
• Standard Cereal Mash:
• Rests at 125 F and 155 F and then boiled for 20 min
• Main Mash:
• 160 F for 60 min
• Boil:
• 60 min
• Fermentation Temperature:
• Mid 60s (ambient basement temps)
• Primary Duration:
• 4 Weeks
• Secondary Duration:
• 1-3 years

Results:

• OG:
• 1.058 (Target 1.054)
• Efficiency:
•  76% (Target 71%)
• FG:
• TBD (Target 1.012)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• TBD (Target 79%)
• ABV:
• TBD (Target 6.02)

Brewing Notes:

• 6/24/18 - Brewday - 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM - Including Setup and Cleanup
• Cereal Mash
• Milled my grain.  Double milled the raw wheat after finding quite a few grain that hadn't been cracked on the first pass.  Reduced the gap in the mill to the minimum spacing between passes.  Will be interesting to see if this impacts efficiency
• Added 3 gal of spring water to my small pot
• Added the grain to the small pot and stirred well to avoid dry spots
• Heated to 125 F on my turkey frier
• Let this sit for 20 min
• Decided to try some thing new to more closely match a turbid mash - I ladled out a little more than 3 quarts of the very starchy wort into a separate pot which I then boiled to denature the enzymes.  I'll add this back during the boil
• Added an equivalent amount of spring water back to the cereal mash
• Brought the cereal mash up to 150 F and let sit for 15 min
• Brought the cereal mash to a boil and boiled for 20 min
• Let this sit for a couple hours to cool down prior to proceeding with the main mash
• Heated 5.5 gal of spring water to 180 F for dough in
• Milled the remainder of my grain
• Added CaCl and Gypsum to the milled grain
• Added 2 gal of 180 F strike water to the mash tun
• Added the Cereal Mash - temperature settled to 160 F.  There was some scorching in the cereal mash which slightly darkened the wort added from the cereal mash - we'll see how much impact this has on the overall batch color
• Cycled the RIMS slowly to warm the system up - this settled to 165 F
• Added the grain and stirred well to eliminate dough balls
• This made a very thick mash so I added the remaining 3.5 gal of strike water
• Temperature of this settled out in the mid 150s
• Cycled the RIMs set to 165 F (had the beer up to 160 F within 10 min)
• Mashed for 60 min
• Heated up 10 gal of spring water to 180 F for the sparge
• Fly sparged.  Drained down to the surface of the grain bed and then added water as I went.  Collected 12 gal of wort

• Boiled for 60 min.  Ran out of gas part way through and switched to a new tank so the boil wasn't super-vigorous the whole time.  Got pretty close to a boil over a few times.  Added my starchy wort from the cereal mash about half way though the boil
• Put the wort chiller in with about 5 min left to sterilize
• Chilled to 80 F
• Drained the beer into two bucket fermenter and pitched the yeast

• Collected 10 gal and measured gravity as 1.058
• 6/27/18 - Three days in and there is no airlock activity from the Funk Weapon #2 batch (7.1.1) and some very slight airlock activity in the Funk Weapon #3 batch (8.1.1).  Might have been a good idea to build a starter with these.  I'm not worried yet.
• 8/24/19 - Status Report:
• Sour Blonde 7.1.1:
• Aroma:  Very interesting fruity aroma from this beer.  I get citrus, peach, and pineapple maybe.  Also get a bit of brett funk
• Appearance:  Golden and slightly cloudy
• Flavor:  Medium sourness with a very fruity flavor.  Also has a bit of funk going on.
• Mouthfeel:  Light-medium bodied and dry.  Slight prickling
• Overall:  This beer has a very bold fruit flavor which is unlike any of the other beers.  Very pleasant with good complexity.
• Sour Blonde 8.1.1:
• Aroma:  Musty and funky aroma along with a slight fruity character
• Appearance:  Golden and slightly cloudy
• Flavor:  Lightly sour with some fruity flavors and a bit of brett funk
• Mouthfeel:  Light-medium bodied and slightly sweet.  Smooth drinking
• Overall:  Fairly mild in flavor but it has some interesting and fairly unique elements compared with the other beers.

Lessons Learned:

1. Got better efficiency than normal with the tightened grain mill.  Will be interesting to see if this continues into my next batch