Double IPA - Tasting

I brewed this Double IPA about a month and a half ago and have been drinking it for the last couple weeks.  It smelled so great going into bottles that I couldn't resist drinking several during that first week of bottle conditioning.  I have been drinking several of these a week since.

It's a terrific beer.  The hop character is intense.  I was a bit skeptical that the amount of hops being used were really being put to good effect.  Still not 100% sure about that but it is one of the hoppiest beers I've ever had.  If (or "when" most likely) I make this beer again I wouldn't do anything differently on the hopping though.

In the two weeks I've been drinking this beer I wouldn't say that the hops have fallen off in any substantial way.  They may have mellowed very slightly and the aroma is probably not quite as intense as it has been but it's still a major assault of hops on the palate.  Now seems like a good time to put together some tasting notes for the beer.

I ended up drinking two in one night once and the 8% ABV took it's toll.  It's a palate wrecker but it's so easy drinking - dangerous stuff.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Heavy hop aroma.  Citrus fruit dominates along with a bit of pine aroma.  I'm not sure I can really pick out any yeast or malt character past the hops.  It's really great smelling beer.  The aroma was even more profound a couple weeks back.
• Appearance:
• Copper colored.  Pours with about a finger of head that quickly fades to a thin layer of foam.  Leaves lacing down the glass.  The beer is pretty cloudy.
• Flavor:
• Up front the flavor is primarily fruity hops.  They seem to impart a sweetness to the beer.  It has an extremely rich and full hoppy flavor (pine, citrus fruit, maybe some melon, and a dank earthiness are all in the mix).  There is a firm bitterness to the finish but it comes along with the fruity sweet hops that linger which seems to give it some balance.  Like with the aroma, I can't really pick out any contributions from the malt or yeast - they are either very well integrated or overwhelmed by the hops.
• Mouthfeel:
• It is medium bodied.  Has a dry finish.  The strong hop flavors linger on the palate for quite some time.  Pretty smooth and easy drinking for a really bitter high alcohol beer.
• Overall:
• Without question this is the best beer I have made so far.  The hop character is fantastic.  It seems that the complex hop schedule delivered a beer that has an equally complex range of hop flavors.  It's really surprising how easy drinking a beer this big and this bitter can be.  I would say the beer is a reasonable match for some of the best commercial Double IPA that I've had and better than some very good ones.  I've gone through about half the batch so far.  It will be interesting to see how the character changes as it ages and the hops start to mellow a bit more.

Flanders Red 1.5.2

This Flanders Red is the partner batch to 1.5.1 where this one is pitched directly onto yeast cake of Roeselare for primary while the first beer underwent a primary fermentation with ale yeast and lactobacillus.

I will use the same grain bill and mashing schedule for this batch that I used for 1.5.1 except that I will swap out the 2 row for Maris Otter as I have a sack of that on hand now.  I don't anticipate that this will have all that much impact.

I decided to try to tighten up the gap in the grain mill rather than waiting another batch.  Ended up getting a close enough gap where I could barely get my credit card between the rollers.  Hopefully I don't get a stuck sparge as a result.

I will be pulling aside 1 gal of wort for batch to sour with Lacto as I have with the last couple batches to hopefully get a bit more sourness.

It is starting to get cold here.  The basement is down in the low 60s to high 50s.  Prior to starting this batch I've transferred 1.4.2 over to a glass carboy to age and to free the yeast cake.  It has gotten quite sour in it's 3 months of aging.  I think that must be due to the heat down in the basement.  The question I have now is whether the mature yeast cakes I've built up will get a beer very sour or if the heat is mostly responsible.  If not, this could give me some good blending options if I'll have beers of varying levels of sourness based on when they were fermented.

Recipe Details:

• Grain/Adjunct:
• 4 lbs Maris Otter
• 3 lbs Dark Munich
• 12 oz CaraMunich III
• 12 oz Aromatic Malt
• 12 oz Special B
• 12 oz Maltodextrine (not factored into efficiency calculations - 5 gravity points)
• Cereal Mash (not factored into efficiency calculations)
• 1 lb 8 oz Corn Grits
• 6 oz Maris Otter
• Hops:
• None
• Yeast:
• Wyeast 3763 Roeselare Ale Blend (Fifth Pitch)
• WLP 672 Lactobacillus Brevis (Third Pitch)
• Water:
• 10 gal spring water
• 8 gal tap water
• 1 oz Calcium Chloride (Forgot to add)
• 1 oz Gypsum (Forgot to add)
• Extras:
• 1 oz of oak cubes from previous batch
• 1 oz of port soaked oak cubes
• 8 oz of Rice Hulls

Batch Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6.5 gal (Target 6 gal)
• Mash:
• Step 1:  165 F for 45 min (160 F for 45 min)
• Step 2:  Ramp up to 175 F in 25 min (Ramp up to 175 in 25 min)
• Boil:
• 60 min (Target 60 min)
• Fermentation Temperature:
• 60 F to 70 F (Ambient Basement Temps)
• Primary Duration:
• 3 months (1 gal will sour with lacto for 2 weeks)
• Secondary Duration:
• TBD (15 to 33 months)

Results:

• OG:
• 1.042 (Target 1.045 - with 5 points from Maltodextrine)
• Efficiency:
• 71% (Target 71%)
• FG:
• TBD (Target 1.004)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• TBD (Target 91%)
• ABV:
• TBD (Target 5.38%)

Brewing Notes:

• 10/18/15 - Brewday - 8:15 AM to 12:45 PM including setup and cleanup
• Measured out and crushed the Maris otter grain

• Heated 10 gal of spring water and cycled through the Mash tun and RIMS until the system was at 165 F - took 45 min
• Ended up with 4 gal above the false bottom (forgot to add my brewing salts)
• Added the grain and 5 handfuls of rice hulls which I figured was about half a pound.  Stirred well to eliminate dough balls
• Set the RIMS for 165 F and cycled at about 2 qt per minute
• Added cereal mash grain to a small pot on my turkey fryer and mixed in 2 gal of 190 F spring water from the HLT

• Checked the main mash temp after 10 min - was at 160 F.  Stirred well to ensure even heating
• After 10 min rest I heated the cereal mash up to a boil.  Stirred frequently and let boil for 45 min
• Checked the main mash temp after 30 min - was 165.  Gave it another stir
• Brought 8 gal of sparge water up to 200 F
• After mashing for 45 min I brought the RIMS up to 185 F to get the mash up to 175 F
• Once the main mash was up to 175 F I added the cereal mash to the main mash and stirred in.  Cycled for 5 min.  I actually got a stuck mash which surprised me  Ended up having to stir the mash to free it up.  The cereal mash had burned to the bottom of my pot which wasn't good.  Didn't seem to have any flavor impact though
• Transferred the grant volume to the mash tun
• Fly sparged at about 5 min per gal - ended up taking 25 min
• Stirred the mash a few time during the sparge
• Started heating the kettle after collecting about a gal
• Gravity at the grant was 4 brix after collecting 8 gal
• Added the maltodextrine with 30 min left in the boil
• Ended the boil after the targeted 60 min
• Added the chiller at flameout to sanitize
• I had a couple qts of DME based worth I'd been using to keep my lacto culture going.  Added 3/4th of that to the fermentor
• Once the worth was chilled to about 90 F I added a gal to the lacto dregs.  Set this down in the basement wrapped in a towel to sour up
• Transferred the wort to the fermentor once it had chilled to 70 F.  Let it fall a foot or so to aerate.  The oak cubes from th previous batch had sunk to the bottom.  Swirled the cake with a bit of left over wort part way through draining

• Added the port soaked oak to the beer
• Moved down to the basement to ferment
• 10/20/15 - The beer is bubbling
• 10/22/15 - The bubbling has either slowed down significantly or stopped.  It is 62 F in the basement
• 11/6/15 - Added the lacto portion to the main batch.  Left behind the dregs and about a cup of beer to pass on to the next beer.

• 2/20/16 - Transferred the batch into a glass carboy with a vented silicon stopper for long term aging.  Took a bit of the yeast cake with the beer during the transfer.  There was a very slight pellicle on top of the beer.  Measured the gravity as 1.003.  The beer is brownish red and pretty cloudy.  The aroma is mostly brett funk.  It, like Flanders Red 1.5.1, is missing the fruity character that the previous batches had.  I wish I knew whether this was going to arrive in time or if something has changed about the yeast cake which will stop those flavors from developing.  The beer is very sour with a bit of earthy brett character.  It seems like the lacto may be dominant contributor to the beers flavor.  It may be that the acidity that the lacto is quickly creating is somehow stifling the other microbes.  I may try some other experiments to keep it a bit more in check (start using some hops again maybe).  With this yeast cake free I will be taking 5 oak cubes for the "B" portion of Flanders 3.1.1 and I'll be adding Flanders 1.6.1 portion "B" to the fermenter for long term aging.
• 7/23/17 - Status Report:
• Earthy and fruity aroma.  Pretty rich.  Get a bit of leather as well.
• Orange/red and clear
• Light sourness.  Bold fruity character.  A bit of Brett funk in the finish that is earthy and leathery.  Some malt comes through on the finish
• Good bold flavors with nice complexity
• 9/4/17 - Used 3 gal of this beer in Flanders Red Blend #2.  Transferred the remaining portion of this beer into the fermenter with it's blending partner, Flanders Red 2.2.1.

Lessons Learned:

1. The wort generated with this grainbill is more brown than red.  The original grainbill was a really nice red.  I'm going to see if I can make any minor tweaks in the next batch to try to get more of a red color.

Pale Mild - Tasting

I brewed up this Pale Mild over a month ago using an original recipe.  I wanted a nice, malty, sessionable beer to drink between the many hoppy beers that I had available.  I put together a number of specialty malts in small volumes that I thought would make for a bit of complexity in this malt driven beer

I also used this beer as a large starter for a vial of Conan yeast that I was using as a warm up for a Double IPA.  Not sure I got any

I ended up bottling this beer after 2 weeks which is my quickest beer so far.  I initially thought I might have been getting some Diacetyl from the beer but I've decided that the flavor is probably a combination of the biscuit and honey malts.

It ended up at less than 3% ABV so it is a true session beer.  I've been drinking these pretty quickly as a result.

Tasting Notes;

• Aroma:
• Sweet malt aroma is pretty much all I get.  No hops.  There could be some yeast aroma in there but it's either very subtle or very well melded with the malt.
• Appearance:
• Very clear beer.  An aggressive pour gets a an inch or so of head which leaves a bit of lacing.  It's is a pretty dark gold color.  This is pretty much what I had in mind for color.
• Flavor:
• Primary flavor is bready malt.  Biscuit and some sweet honey flavor are mingled in there are linger on the finish.  There is a slight hop bitterness in the finish as well.  It's not an exciting or complex beer by any means but there is enough going on in the flavor for it not to be bland.
• Mouthfeel:
• Light bodied.  Very smooth and easy drinking beer.
• Overall:
• Not an exciting beer.  It's a lot like eating honey nut cheerios actually.  The dark mild seems like it has a bit broader palate with the roast flavors.  The pale malts that I restricted myself to here might be a bit too plain to take center stage.  Maybe using a higher percentage of them could have done the trick.  It's a tastefully done beer as is though - I suspect that specialty malts could easily be overdone in a beer like this.  Not sure I would brew this exact recipe again but it could be a good starting point for another pale-ish mild.

Robust Porter

For this batch I'll be brewing a Robust Porter based on a recipe from homebrewtalk.com.  This is a well regarded beer of a style I haven't tried yet.  I have decided to go with a different base malt (Maris Otter vs 2 Row), yeast (London Ale III rather than Nottingham) and secondary hop (Centennial rather than Cascade).

I have a new barley crusher so I have picked up a 55 lb sack of Maris Otter which I'll use in my next few batches.  This will get me some pretty good savings in the long run as buying by the sack is probably half the cost of buying it crashed at the homebrew store.  I expect that my efficiency may be a bit of an adventure at first as I'll be starting with the factory delivered spacing.  This recipe is for a big beer (OG of 1.065) and it will not annoy me too much if it comes in a bit lower on gravity/alcohol.  Unless I get ridiculously low efficiency I should still be well within the OG range of the beer (1.048 - 1.065).  As I get a better hang of how to store these grains I think I'll likely pick up some other grains to keep around.

I decided to use Wyeast London Ale III based on the description of it as a fruity and characterful yeast.  I plan on reusing this cake on a re-brew of the RIS with Brett I made last fall.  I am thinking the estery yeast might give the brett a bit more to chew on.  It has a recommended temperature range from 64 to 74 F.  I expect that it will have reasonable yeast character at around 70 F.  It is getting cold now and the basement is down to the mid to low 60s so I will be using a reptile pad in my chest freezer to try to keep this beer and the next one around 70 F.  I'll still have the controller hooked up to the freezer so I can bring the temperature down if needed.  If this works it should give me good bit more flexibility for my brewing over the winter.

I chose to use a different hop as I have quite a bit of leftover hops from my Double IPA a few weeks back.  I don't imagine that this substitution will have much practical impact as it only being used for bittering.

No FG was specified.  Based on the stats for this yeast I'm projecting I'll get somewhere close to 1.015 which would be mid 70s for attenuation percentage.  The Maltodextrine called for in the recipe might throw a monkey wrench into this projection though.

Temperature Control Probe, Reptile Heating Pad, & Blow Off Tube

I'll be going with a blow off tube on this batch as the yeast seemed to have had pretty strong krausen in the starter - better safe than sorry.

Recipe Details:

• Grains/Adjuncts:
• 11 lbs Maris Otter
• 1 lb Chocolate Malt
• 1 lb Crystal 40L
• 8 oz Flaked Barley
• 4 oz Black Patent
• 1 oz Roasted Barley
• 8 oz Maltodextrine (Not factored into efficiency - 3 gravity points)
• Hops:
• 1 oz Northern Brewer (Pellet, 9.6% AA) at 60 min
• 0.5 oz Centennial (Pellet, 8.8% AA) at 60 min
• Yeast:
• Wyeast 1318 London Ale III
• Water:
• 10 gal spring water
• 5 gal tap water
• 1 tsp Calcium Chloride
• 1 tsp Gypsum
• 1 tsp Irish Moss at 20 min

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6 gal (Target 6 gal)
• Mash:
• 150 F for 60 min(Target 150 F for 60 min)
• Boil:
• 80 min (Target 60 min)
• Fermentation Temp:
• 70 F
• Primary Duration:
• 4 weeks
• Secondary Duration:
• NA

Results:

• OG:
• 1.057 (Target 1.065)
• Efficiency:
• 64% (Target 74% - not including malto)
• FG:
• 1.018 (Target 1.015)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 67% (Target 76%)
• ABV:
• 5.12% (Target 6.56%)

Brewing Notes:

• 10/3/15 - Built a starter with 1.4 liters of 1.040 wort and pitched the yeast.  It was going pretty strongly after a few hours.
• 10/4/15 - Brewday - 12:10 PM to 5:00 PM including setup and cleanup
• Heated 10 gal of strike water to 155 F.  Cycled through mash tun and RIMS until the entire system was at 155 F.  This took 40 min
• Ended up with 4 gal above the false bottom and 6.5 gal in the system as a whole
• Added CaCl and Gypsum to the mash tun
• Doughed in.  Stirred the grain to break up dough balls.  It seemed like there were a lot more dough balls than normal for this batch - wonder if that is due to a crush difference from my new mill

• Cycled at about 2 qt per minute with the RIMS set to 152 F
• Checked the mash after 10 min - was at 153 F to 155 F.  Gave it a good stir
• Brought 8.5 gal of sparge water up to 200 F
• Checked the mash after 30 min - was right about 150 F.  Gave the grain another stir.
• Gave the mash a final stir at 50 min - mash was still at 150 F
• Ended the mash after 60 min.  Drained the grant back to the mash tun.
• Added about a gallon of water prior to sparging to get about an inch of water above the grain bed
• Fly sparged at 1 gal per 5 min
• Gravity at the start of the sparge was 15 brix (1.061)
• After collecting 3 gal, which took 25 min, started heating the kettle.  Gravity at the grant was 9.2 (1.037) at this point.

• Gravity at the grant was 4 brix (1.015) after collecting 8 gal.  Decided to drain the grant into the kettle so I ended up with 9 gal of wort.  Fly sparge took 50 min
• Had the wort up to a boil prior to the end of fly sparge
• Added the hops when I'd boiled down to 8 gal
• Added the malto with about 30 min left
• Added the irish moss with about 20 min left
• Put the wort chiller in to sanitize at flameout
• Chilled down to 70 F
• Measured the gravity as 14 brix which is a SG of 1.057
• Drained into the fermentor by letting the wort fall a couple feet to help aerate
• Pitched the yeast starter and moved the beer down to the fermentation chamber with an airlock
• 10/5/15 - The beer is holding steady at 70 F thanks to the temperature control.  It is bubbling very vigorously with some krausen being forced up through the bow off tube.
• 10/10/15 - Still bubbling this morning
• 11/1/15 - Bottled today.  Ended up with about 6 gal.  The beer has fermented down to 1.018.  There was still a layer of krausen on top of the beer.  I primed with 3.5 oz of corn sugar.  Ended up with 56 12 oz bottles.  It tastes nice but I wouldn't say it really had much fruity ester character advertised by the manufacturer.
• 1/23/16 - Tasting Notes - The beer has some fairly bold flavors and a nice level of complexity.  The level of roast character is pleasant - it dominates but doesn't completely overshadow the other aspects of the beer.

Lessons Learned:

1. I got lower than normal efficiency which I suspect is due to the crush from my new mill being a bit coarser than what I'm used to.  I will keep it at it's current setting for my next batch (Flanders Red 1.5.2) which is a grain bill I've used before.  It will serve as a nice sanity check.