Sour Blonde 1.6.1 & 6.1.1

Today I'll be brewing another double batch of Sour Blonde Ale.  I'm getting very close to putting together three blends and I need some extra beer to backfill the pipeline.

For the first beer in the batch I'm going to be doing my sixth pitch onto a Wyeast Belgian Lambic blend cake.  I last pitched onto this back in January 2016 with Sour Blonde 1.5.1 which has been on it ever since.  I haven't been impressed with the blend overall but 1.5.1 turned out to have a nice complexity.  As with that batch, I'll be doing a separate primary on a blend of lacto and Trapist Ale yeast.  This will ensure that it gets reasonably sour right out of the gate - this primary blend usually halts around 1.020 as well which should give the Lambic blend plenty of leftover sugar and starches to chew on.

For the second beer I'll be using Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #1.  This is reported to be a culture based on a culture from a brewery in the Flanders Region of Belgium.  I'm excited to see what the culture is capable of and hope it gives me some additional interesting blending options going forward.

I'll be doing a mix of Pilsner malt and 33% Raw wheat which I'll do a proper cereal mash for.  I've been happy with the richness and flavor of the wort produced using this method for the last few beers.  Additionally, I'm going to try adding some Whole Wheat flour towards the end of the mash to ensure a good level of starchiness.

Given that my kettle is only 15 gal I'm planning on collecting 12 gal of wort, boiling for 1 hr which should reduce this to 10 gal, and then adding 2 more gal of top up water to get 12 gal of beer.  I would normally collect two more gal than needed but I think this starchy wort will be a bit more likely to boil over than a normal beer.

I had been using Maltodextrine for these beers but I've run out and I'm not really convinced that it does much for me that I'm not able to do with the raw wheat and a very high mash (160 F).

I've decided to try temperature controlling the initial parts of fermentation for these beers on the warm side (74 F).  This will benefit the lacto in 1.6.1 and it will be interesting to see if it helps Funk Weapon #1.

Anyway, I'm excited for my double brew day - nice to get two batches for the time required to make one.

Recipe Details

• Grain/Adjunct:
• 10 lb Pilsner
• 2 lb Light Munich
• 6 oz Acid Malt
• Cereal Mash
• 7 lb Raw Wheat
• 2 lb Pilsner
• 12 oz Whole Wheat Flour
• Hops:
• None
• Yeast:
• 1.6.1:
• Primary:
• Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II
• WLP 672 Lactobacillus Brevis
• Secondary:
• Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend (Sixth Pitch)
• 6.1.1:
• Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #1
• Water:
• 18 gal spring water
• 1 oz Gypsum
• 1 oz CaCl
• Extra:
• 2 oz of Chardonnay soaked white oak (toasted at 400 F)

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 10 gal topped up to 12 gal
• Mash:
• Main Mash:
• 160 F for 60 min
• Cereal Mash:
• 20 min at 120 F
• 20 min at 160 F
• 20 min boil
• Boil:
• 60 min
• Fermentation Temp:
• 74 F
• Primary Duration:
• 1 Month
• Secondary:
• 1-3 years

Results:

• OG:
• 1.045 (Target 1.045)
• Efficiency:
• 71% (Target 71%)
• FG:
• TBD (Target 1.004)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• TBD (Target 91%)
• ABV:
• TBD (Target 5.38)

Brewing Notes:

• 3/25/18 - Brewday - 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM including cereal mash, setup, and cleanup
• Double milled my cereal mash grain
• Cereal Mashed with 3.5 gal of water.  Did rests at 125 F and 160 F for 20-30 min each and then boiled for 20 min.  Let the cereal mash cool for a couple hrs while I ran some other errands

• Brought 8 gal of strike water up to 170 F
• Milled my grain.  Added the CaCl and Gypsum to the grain
• Cycled 4 gal of wort through my mash tun, grant, and RIMS until everything was at 175 F.  Ended up with 3 gal in the mash tun and 4 gal in the system total
• Added the cereal mash which brought the volume up to 7-8 gal
• Added in the remaining grains and stirred well to eliminate doughballs
• Attached a cycling return device.  Sunk it down into the grain bed.  Cycled the RIMS at 160 F at probably a quart or two a minute.  Had to tweak the flow rate a bit during the mash.  Wort started to run clear after about 20 min and the flow rate steadied out

• Mashed for 60 min - maintained the desired 160 F mash temp the entire time (measured at the RIMS as well as the mash tun's reading at the bottom of the mash and my thermometer at the top of the mash.  Happy to be using the RIMS again.
• Heated 8 gal of sparge water up to 180 F
• Added wheat flour with 10 min left in the mash
• Fly sparged until I'd collected 10 gal.  Ended up running out of sparge water and had to add a couple more gal of batch sparge.  The wort didn't seem starchy enough so I stirred the mash a bit.  This seemed to slow the sparge up quite a bit but did get it to be quite a bit more turbid
• Boiled the wort for 60 min
• Added chiller with 5 min left to sanitize
• Chilled to 70 F
• Transferred into the two fermenters.  Collected 5.5 gal of 6.1.1 and 5 gal of 1.6.1.  Pitched the culture for 6.1.1 during the transfer.

• Gravity was 1.050
• Topped the beers up until I had 6 gal of each - this brought it to about 1.045 F
• Moved to my fermentation chamber with a reptile heating pad to keep it at 74 F
• 3/26/18 - 1.6.1 was bubbling vigorously by the next day.  No airlock activity on 6.1.1
• 3/28/18 - Finally started getting airlock activity in 6.1.1.  1.6.1 seems to be about done.
• 6/3/18
• Transferred Sour Blonde 1.6.1 onto the yeast cake from Sour Blonde 1.5.1 (yeast cake is at least a gal now) - I'm calling this Fermenter #7 now.  Added 1 oz of Chardonnay soaked oak to this.  The beer is very sour - also has a slight fruity aroma and some funk.  My yeast/lacto blend took this one down to 1.010.  I'm saving this yeast cake for a later batch.

• Transferred Sour Blonde 6.1.1 into a glass carboy previously used, and containing the dregs of, Sour Blonde 1.2.1 (I'm calling this Fermenter #2 now).  Measured the gravity as 1.020 so it has a lot more room to ferment.  It has a bit funk in the aroma but not much in the flavor - there is a slight tartness but mostly the flavor is of wheat malt.  This one will need some aging - hopefully it will get more interesting over time.  Added 1 oz of Chardonnay soaked oak to the fermenter for the aging period.

• 8/24/19 - Status Report:
• Sour Blonde 6.1.1
• Aroma:  Fruity (citrus or peach maybe) with a bit of earthy funk.  Very pleasant
• Appearance:  Light gold and pretty clear
• Flavor:  Lightly sour.  Earthy funk and a fruity flavor are most prominent
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  Slight prickling in the back of the throat
• Overall:  Bold flavor and aroma on this one.  Has a nice amount of complexity which makes for an interesting beer.  I really like this one.
• Sour Blonde 1.6.1:
• Aroma: Light fruity and wine like aroma mixed with a bit of earthyness
• Appearance: Straw colored and very murky. Quite a bit of yeast in suspension - I may have drawn from too deep in the fermenter.
• Flavor: Medium sourness with a citrus and fruity character. Has a bit of malt character in the background along with a slight earthy brett character
• Mouthfeel: Light-medium bodied. Dry with a slight prickling.
• Overall: This is a really ugly looking beer but the flavors are pretty bold and quite nice. Not a whole lot of complexity

Dark Saison

I will be brewing a Saison today using Bootleg Biology's Mad Fermentationist Saison Blend.  This is a mix of Saison Yeast, Brettanomyces, and Lactobacillus.  This was farmed from The Mad Fermentationist's house saison culture.

I decided to make this a "Dark" Saison (my third Saison - read about the first and second) partially inspired by The Mad Fermentationist's series of beers and partially based on the fact that I had some homemade "Belgian Candi Syrup" on hand.

The Candi Syrup was made with ~2 lb of Raw Sugar, Citric acid (to invert the sugar) and Di-Ammonium Phosphate which promotes Maillard Reactions.  I heated this up to 290 F.  It produced a very dark syrup (too dark for my intended purpose of using it to back sweeten Flanders Red) and has a nice caramel, toasted marshmallow, dark fruit flavor.  This will be responsible for transforming a light saison into a dark saison (will be the only dark component) and will also provide some easily fermentable sugars to dry out the beer.  I think the flavors will compliment the yeast character as well.

For the grainbill I am using Pilsner malt along with quite a bit of flaked malt (oats, wheat, and rye).  Flaked malts will be 50% of the grainbill.  I hope these will provide some residual starch that the Brett in the blend can munch on for an extended secondary (I plan for 3 months).  I will mash in the low 150s to help it dry out.  I am shooting for a pretty high OG for this beer (1.061) which, if the beer attenuates as it should, would give me a pretty potent beer (>7% ABV).

The Mad Fermentationist's beers are typically aged on dried fruit.  I will be aging mine on Raisins which should play well with the Candi syrup - these will be added in secondary.

I'm going to ferment as high as I can (hopefully low to mid 80s) to promote a fruity ester profile.  I'll be using a reptile heating pad in my fermentation chamber to promote this.  I plan to reuse this yeast cake multiple times - it will be interesting to see how it behaves at various temperatures and with different beers.

Recipe Details:

• Grain/Adjunct:
• 6 lb Pilsner malt
• 2 lb Flaked Wheat
• 2 lb Flaked Rye
• 2 lb Flaked Oats
• 3 oz Acid Malt
• 1.75 lb Dark Candi Syrup (home made)
• Hops:
• 1 oz Hallertau (Pellet, 4.1% AA) at 60 min
• Yeast:
• Bootleg Biology Mad Fermentationist Saison Blend
• Water:
• 10 gal spring water
• 1 tsp CaCl
• 1 tsp Gypsum
• 1 tsp Irish Moss at 20 min
• Extras:
• 23 oz Raisin
• 1 oz of 350 F Toasted Oak soaked in Cabernet

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6 gal
• Mash:
• 151 F for 60 min
• Boil:
• 60 min
• Fermentation Temperature:
• 80 F
• Primary Duration:
• 4 weeks
• Secondary Duration:
• 3 Month

Results:

• OG:
• 1.061 (Target 1.061)
• Efficiency:
• 72% (Target 72%)
• FG:
• TBD (Target 1.004)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• TBD (Target 93%)
• ABV:
• TBD (Target 7.48%)

Brewing Notes:

• 3/18/18 - Brewday - 1:30 to 5:30- Including setup and cleanup
• Heated 10 gal of strike water to 180 F
• Added 3 gal to the mash tun.  Settled out at 167 F
• Milled my grain.  Added in the flaked grains and 1 tsp of CaCl as well as 1 tsp Gypsum

• Added the grain to the mash tun - stirred well.  The mash was a bit thick so I added 1 additional gal of water.  The temperature settled to 151 F
• Mashed for 60 min
• Heated 6 gal of strike water up to 200 F
• Fly sparged.  Collected 8 gal of 11 brix wort

• Started heating during the sparge.  Had it to a boil 10 min after completing the sparge
• Boiled for 60 min
• Added hops after the hot break cleared

• Added Irish Moss with 20 min left int he boil
• Poured in my Candi Syrup with 15 min left.  Had to fill the jar with hot wort a few times to clean it all out
• Added the wort chiller with 5 min left to let it sanitize
• Chilled the beer to 90 F
• Transferred to a bucket fermenter.  Let the wort fall a couple feet to aerate.
• Poured in the yeast/bacteria culture during the transfer
• Collected 6 gal of beer.  Measured the gravity as 1.061 - right on target.
• Moved the fermenter to the chest freezer with a reptile heater that will let the beer get up to 90 F
• 3/20/18 - Took a while but the airlock is finally showing some activity.  The beer is fermenting in the high 70s/low 80s.
• 3/25/18 - Moved the beer out of the warmed fermentation chamber.  It will age at ambient basement temps (high 50's currently).
• 5/5/18 - Transfered to secondary as follows:
• Sauteed 23 oz of raisins until they had caramelized and then deglazed the pan using port wine.  Put these in the glass carboy I'll be using to secondary the beer

• Added 1 oz of oak that I'd toasted at 350 F and soaked in Cabernet for 6 months
• Transferred the beer on top of these
• Measured the gravity of the beer as 1.002.  It has little yeast character and a pretty strong alcohol component.  No brett or acidity to the beer so far.

Lessons Learned:

1. I enjoy fly sparging with my current setup.  It feels like a much more controlled way to collect wort than the batch sparging method (collect until the desired pre-boil volume is hit).  I typically run out of water before the fly sparge completes which is the one slight annoyance.  I think I might be better off having a lot more sparge water than I need (10-15 gal) and then saving the water for the next brew day

English Barleywine Vertical Tasting - 2017

A few months late (but better late than never) I'll be doing a vertical tasting of English Barleywine I've brewed for the last 4 years on Memorial Day (2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017).  Each beer was brewed with different malts and different yeasts so they're each slightly different but they shared a lot of the overarching goals for flavor profiles and body.

Left to Right:  2014 Plain, 2014 Brandy, 2015, 2016, and 2017

You can read about my previous three tastings here:  2014 Tasting, 2015 Tasting, 2016 Tasting

One thing I've learned from doing these is that the beers do hold up very well and that the age does improve them.  They soften and mellow considerably.  I also think that the malt flavors become more complex with the aging.

It is becoming more and more challenging to do these tastings as I add more beer.  This includes takes notes as well as setting up the photos.  I also wasn't able to finish all the beer this time.  I'm thinking next year I might try to get a couple more people involved to give some more notes.

I am exciting to see  how they've aged over the last year (tasting was done with cellar temperature beer).

2014 Plain Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Rich caramel and malt most prominent with a bit of fruity ester.  Has a bit of musty and overripe fruit smell to it.  Rather sweet smelling
• Appearance:
• Very clear with a lovely red color.  One finger head after a vigorous pour.  Quickly fades to nothing.
• Flavor:
• Rich caramel and sweet malt flavors dominate.  The finish has a bit of alcohol presense.  No bitterness or hop character.  Subtle yeast character in the background.  Has a bit of roast malt character that lingers in the finish.
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied and fairly dry.  Very smooth beer.  Slight alcohol warming
• Overall:
• Lovely smooth beer with a rich malt and caramel flavor.  This one is continuing to age nicely.  Has a really nice complexity.  My favorite beer this year.

2014 Brandy and Oak  Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Very similar to the plain.  Almost has a maple syrup aroma
• Appearance:
• Same as plain
• Flavor:
• Caramel malt flavors like plain although it is slightly different - more caramel and less dark malt somehow (bottle to bottle variation maybe?)  It has a bit less fruity ester as well.  A bit firmer alcohol presence and I think I get some of the oak used in this half.  I think I also get some of the maple I picked up in the nose from this one.
• Mouthfeel:
• Almost the same as the plain but with a slight bit of astringency
• Overall:
• Similar to the plain but has a bit more sharpness in terms of alcohol and astringency.  Still a lovely and complex beer but I prefer the plain half.

2015 Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Bready malt with some fruity ester.  Also has a bit of musty and earthy aroma
• Appearance:
• Copper color and a bit hazy.  Pours with a couple finger head that settles to a light ring
• Flavor:
• Fruity with bready malt.  Has an interesting ester character which balances out the malt and caramel.  A bit of alcohol character hits in the finish.  Yeast ester flavor lingers.
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied with a nice sweetness.  It is more than slightly astringent which hits in the finish and serves to balance the sweetness a bit.
• Overall:
• Interesting yeast character with some nice malty complexity.  I don't enjoy it as much as the others due to the astringency.

2016 Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Very malty with caramel aroma.  Maybe get a bit of tea-like or herbal aroma which I'm guessing is from the hops.  Very nice smelling beer
• Appearance:
• Pours with a couple fingers of head.  This lasts quite a bit longer than the others.  Light brown with nice clearity.
• Flavor:
• Rich malt flavors in this one with a caramel sweetness (experience is almost like eating a cookie - quite nice).  I has a bit of bitterness in the finish
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied and slightly sweet.  Slight astringency.  A bit of warming alcohol.
• Overall:
• Really nice malt complexity in this beer.  Hides the alcohol nicely

2017 Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Bready malt with some fruity ester
• Appearance:
• Golden with nice clarity.  Pours with a couple finger head that fades to a thin layer fairly quickly
• Flavor:
• Bready malt with a slight sweetness.  A bit of fruitiness balances this.  Not a lot of alcohol comes through.  I don't really get any hop flavor and only slight bitterness.  Malt flavors carry through to the finish
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-full bodied.  A little sweet.  Very smooth
• Overall:
• Nice rich malty beer.  Not as much fruit character as some of the others but still complex in its own right

Berliner Weisse Take III (with Grapefruit Zest)

Being able to make Berliner Weisse at home was one of the major draws of homebrewing for me.  I really enjoyed drinking them but, back in 2014, they were very rare to find (in the Phoenix area at least).  Since then, they've become much more common but I've found that it's still not easy to find good ones - I've tasted quite a few that had some off putting flavors and many that were just bland.  So, I was surprised to see that it's been almost two years since I brewed my last one.  Time to correct that.

For this batch I'll be souring with a culture of Belgian Trappist Ale Yeast and Lacto Brevis that I've been using to primary ferment my Flanders Red and Sour Blonde for the last couple years.  This culture produces a firm but not overwhelming level of sourness that I've felt would be appropriate for a Berliner Weisse (to my tastes anyway).

Some considerations when using this yeast:

• I'll be skipping bittering hops with this batch to avoid inhibiting the lacto
• The beers I make with this culture typically stop at 1.020 with this yeast when Mashed in the high 150s.  I'll mash this beer somewhat lower to allow it to ferment a bit drier.
• I'm going to ferment in the mid 70s to help the lacto develop the right level of acidity

I would like this beer to end up at ~3% ABV.  To this end, I'm going to shoot for ~1.030 OG.  I plan to just heat the collect wort up to boiling to sterilize but will not be boiling to concentrate - I expect my efficiency will suffer as a result of this.  I've chosen my amount of grain so that I'm more likely to undershoot than overshoot my OG.

I'll be using raw wheat in this batch with a cereal mash.  I think the raw wheat produces a really nice wheat flavor and starchiness to the wort that will come through in the final beer.

Finally, I've decided to experiment with Grapefruit Zest in this batch.  The acidity of a Berliner Weisse is often reminiscent of citrus - I think a bit of Grapefruit flavor would be complimentary.  I'm  going to use 1 oz of zest in secondary which I'm hoping will be sufficient to be noticed but not overwhelm the normal flavors.  I've decided to also dry hop this beer with 2 oz of Cascade hops.  I believe these should compliment the grapefruit zest nicely (I believe I often get some grapefruit-like flavors from them).

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 4 lb Pilsner Malt
• 4 lb Raw Wheat
• 2 oz Acid Malt
• Hops:
• 2 oz Cascade Pellet Dry Hop for 7 Days
• Yeast:
• Blend of Belgian Trappist Ale Yeast and Lacto Brevis
• Water:
• 9 gal of spring water
• 1/2 tsp CaCl
• 1/2 tsp Gypsum
• Extras:
• 1.25 oz Grapefruit Zest added in Secondary

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6 gal
• Mash:
• 154 F for 90 min
• Boil:
• 5 min
• Fermentation Temperature:
• 76 F
• Primary Duration:
• 2 Weeks
• Secondary Duration:
• 2 Weeks

Results:

• OG:
• 1.026 (Target 1.032)
• Efficiency:
• 53% (Target 66%)
• FG:
• 1.003 (Target 1.004)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 88% (Target 87%)
• ABV:
• 3.02% (Target 3.68%)

Brewing Notes:

• 3/10/18 - Brewday - 8:00 AM to 1:30 PM - Including setup and cleanup
• Cereal Mash:
• Milled 4 lb of raw wheat and 1 lb of pilsner malt into a 5 gal pot with 2.5 gal of water
• Heated this up to 120 F, stirring frequently, and then let sit with the flame off for 15 min with the lid on
• Heated up to 155 F, stirring frequently again, and then lest sit for 15 min
• Brought to a boil for 15 min
• Let this sit with the lid on to cool down to mid 150 F

• Heated 6.5 gal of strike water to 180 F.  Added 3 gal of  this to the mash tun which got things to settle at 167 F.
• Added the CaCl and Gypsum
• Added the cereal mash and stirred in well.  Mash settled out to 159 F with this.

• Added the remaining grains.  Stirred well to eliminate dough balls.  Temperature settled to 154 F
• Mashed for 90 min
• Moved my yeast out of the fridge to warm up to pitching temps

• At the end of the mash I added the 3.5 remaining gal of sparge water to the mash tun
• Drained the mash tun until I'd collected a little more than 6 gal
• Heated the 6 gal of wort up to a boil
• Added the wort chiller to sanitize.  Stopped the flame once it was back up to a boil
• Chilled down to 80 F
• Transferred to a bucket fermenter.  Pitched the yeast during the transfer

• Measured the gravity of the wort as 1.026.  Collected 6 gal of wort
• Moved it the the fermentation chamber wrapped in a towel and with a reptile heating pad to keep it in the 80s (had cooled down to 74 F during the transfer - hopefully it will warm up a bit)
• 3/24/18 - Zested two red grapefruit to get 1.25 oz of zest.  Transferred the beer onto the zest in a glass carboy for secondary.  Measured the gravity of the beer as 1.003.  It is a cloudy beer and has a pretty nice level of sourness.  I'll give this two weeks of secondary (dry hopping starting next weekend).

• 3/31/18 - The beer has formed a pellicle.  Added the dry hops.

• 4/8/18 - Bottled with 5 oz of priming sugar.  Ended up with 6 gal of beer which netted me 56 12 oz bottles of beer.  It is a really lovely smelling and tasting beer.  The grapefruit comes through strongly and the sourness of the beer and dry hop character are complimentary to it.  Hope it retains these flavor for a good while.
• 5/18/18 - Tasting Notes - Very refreshing beer that is easy to drink in quantity.  I think the sourness is at a really satisfying level and it has a pleasing level of complexity.  The grapefruit is a subtle addition but I think it blends in with the overall flavor profile nicely.  The hops were quite nice but I think I prefer it without them.