Unfermented Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019

This will be a double batch of Sour Blonde beer that I'll use to top up my Sour Blonde Fermenters after making several blends in the last couple months (Plain, Cherry, Raspberry, and Nectarine).  I had previously topped up the fermenters half way with an already fermented beer (see post here).  This batch will fill them up the rest of the way with unfermented wort which I hope will give the microbes enough to chew on over the next year.

Like my other recent sour blonde ales this will be made with a mix of pilsner malt and raw wheat which I will cereal mash.  I'm lightly hopping this to hopefully keep Lacto restrained as my beers seem to be getting more and more sour over the generations. 

Additionally, like last batch, I'll be adding a half a lb of flour to the beer in the boil kettle to increase the starch levels and give the slower microbes more to chew on.  I did this in my last top up batch and made the mistake of dumping the dry flour into the boil kettle which resulted in lots of lumps.  This time I'm going to add the liquid to the dry first and add to the kettle after the flour is well incorporated into the water.

Feeding my fermenters

Anyway, these sour blonds seem to be doing well year to year.  Hopefully the prep work I'm doing today will sow the seeds for another good one next year.

Recipe Details:

• Grain/Adjunct:
• 15 lb Pilsner
• 2 lb Light Munich
• 4 oz Acid Malt
• Cereal Mash:
• 8 lb Raw Wheat
• 2 lb Pilsner
• 8 oz White Flour (added to the boil)
• Hops:
• 1 oz Fuggle (Pellet, 4.7% AA) at 15 min
• Yeast:
• NA - Directly into Sour Blonde Fermenter
• Water:
• 12 gal Spring Water
• 8 gal Tap Water
• 1 tsp CaCl
• 1 tsp Irish Moss at 15 min

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 13 gal
• Mash:
• Cereal Mash:
• Rest at 110 F, 155 F and then boiled for 20 min
• Main Mash:
• 160 F for 60 min
• Boil:
• 90 min
• Fermentation Temperature:
• Ambient Basement Temperature
• Primary Duration:
• NA
• Secondary Duration:
• 1-3 years

Results:

• OG:
• 1.053 (Target 1.050)
• Efficiency:
• 73% (Target 71%)
• FG:
• Target 1.000
• Apparent Attenuation:
• Target 100%
• ABV:
• Target TBD

Brewing Notes:

• 11/17/2019 - Brewday - 11:00 AM to 6:30 PM- Including Cereal Mash, a lunch break, setup, and cleanup
• Cereal Mash:
• Milled my cereal mash grain into 3 gal of hot tap water
• Let the mash rest for 10 min
• Heated to 150s and then let rest for 20 min
• Heated to a boil for 20 min
• Let this rest while I went out for lunch

• Heated 8 gal of strike water up to 190 F
• Milled the main mash grain
• Added 7 gal of strike water to the mash tun and cycled through the RIMS at 170 F until the temperature had settled
• Temporarily halted the rims.  Added the cereal mash.  Then started the RIMS again.  Ended up with about 10 gal of volume at this point which didn't leave enough room for the main mash (in the 11 gal mash tun).  Pulled off about 1.5 gal of starchy liquid into the boil kettle.
• Stopped the RIMS and added the grain.  This ended up being a very thick mash that I could barely stir.  Started the RIMS again and just about got a stuck sparge.  Ended up cycling the RIMS very slowly to account for this.

• Mashed for 60 min
• Slowly drained the mash tun into the boil kettle.  Started heating after collecting a few gal and had it at a boil after collecting about 8 gal.  Probably boiled for 45 min before I finished the sparge 
• Mixed water into the flour mix until it was a milkshake consistency. Added this to the boil

• Boiled for probably 20 min more after the mash was done as I was stilling at about 12 gal
• Added the hops and Irish moss at 15 min.  Put the hops in a double layer cheese cloth sack to avoid them escaping.
• Added the chiller to sanitize
• Chilled down to 70 F

• Collected 11.25 gal of wort that measured 1.062 SG.  This is right about on target for efficiency.  I'm going to dilute with 1.75 gal of spring water to get down to about 1.053
• Transferred the beer into my sour blonde fermenters.  It is a very cloudy wort.  Used it as follows:
• 1 gal each into fermentors 1-6, and 8 & 9
• 0.5 gal in fermentor 10
• 2.5 gal in fermentor 11
• 2 gal in fermentor 12

Lessons Learned:

1. Mixing water into flour worked well to avoid clumps (didn't find many at all at the bottom of the boil kettle) and it produced a very starchy wort.  It will be interesting to see if these beer clear for me and if they'll have a bit higher FG due to this
2. Added the cereal mash to the mash tun before the main mash grain was a terrible mistake as I couldn't mash normally due to the sticky and starchy cereal mash partially clogging the false bottom.  I was trying to avoid a significant temperature change when adding the cereal mash but this was worse.

Nectarine Sour Blonde (2019)

This year I'll be making a fourth blend of Sour Blonde beer with Nectarine I picked from a local SE PA Orchard (Highland Orchards).  Nectarine is a stone fruit very similar to peaches with the major difference being that the skin is smooth rather than fuzzy.  Some people say they are a bit sweeter as well.  I have about 17 lbs which I picked in mid summer and then froze.  They have a nice flavor and lovely perfume like aroma (although I find the texture off putting enough to not eat them).  I believe they will work nicely in this beer.  It's not a fruit that is traditionally put in Lambic beers but Lindemans has made a peach version and De Cam has a Nectarine Lambic as have many homebrewers.  I plan to use all 17 lbs in this batch.

I cut the fruit in quarters in preparation and save off some of the pits to go in the beer.

For the beer blend I'll be using my more mild beers to let the fruit take center stage - this is based on my latest Sour Blonde Status Report.  In my Raspberry and Cherry Blends this year I went with 5-6 gal and had to pull off beer in the process of adding fruit due to beer cresting the top of the fermenter.  I'm going to go with 4.5 gal of this beer to try to avoid that.

I've chosen the following beers to make up this blend:

• Fermenter #1:
• Overview:
• Aged with Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
• Sitting on Toasted and Chardonnay soaked oak for the last year
• Mix of beers brewed with Pilsner Malt and Wheat
• Very lightly hopped beers
• Aged in a very full glass carboy with a vented silicon bung

• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Earthy with a mineral character.  Slightly wine like aroma as well
• Appearance:  Light gold and slightly hazy
• Flavor:  Lightly sour with a lemon-like character.  Also get a bit of mineral flavor and bit of earthy funk
• Mouthfeel:  Light-medium bodied.  Fairly dry.  Pretty smooth - no real prickliness.
• Overall:  The flavors are pretty bold - particularly the lemon like sourness.  Not all that complex as the supporting flavors are fairly far in the background.
• Volume:
• 1 gal
• Fermenter #2:
• Overview:
• Aged with Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #1 and a bit of Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
• Sitting on Toasted and Chardonnay soaked oak for the last year
• Grain bill of Pilsner and Raw Wheat
• No hops in this one
• Aged in a mostly full glass carboy with a vented silicon bung

• Tasting Notes:
• 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.
• Volume:
• 1 gal
• Fermenter #4:
• Overview:
• Aged with Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
• Mix of Pilsner and Flaked wheat malt
• Very lightly hopped
• Aged in glass carboy with 1 gal of head space

• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Funky with a bit of fruit and an almost solvent like smell
• Appearance:  Straw colored and little murky
• Flavor:  Very slight sourness with a bit of fruit flavor.  Slight funk along with a bit of mineral
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied.  Has a slight bit of sweetness.  Prickles the back of the throat
• Overall:  Mild in flavor without all that much complexity.  Rough drinking with the astringency.
• Volume:
• 0.5 gal
• Fermenter #5
• Overview:
• Aged with ECY01 Bug Farm
• Mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat malt bill
• Lightly hopped
• Aged in glass carboy with 1 gal of headspace

• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Fruity and wine-like with a bit of funk.  Also get some malt coming through  Pretty bold aroma
• Appearance:  Light gold and very clear
• Flavor:  Quite sour.  Malty with a bit of fruit flavor and some earthy/leathery funk.  Some bandaid like brett character comes through in the finish
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  Slight prickling in the back of the throat
• Overall:  Bold flavors with a fair amount of complexity.  A bit too sour on it's own but could be a very nice part of a blend with a milder beer
• Volume:
• 1 gal
• Fermenter #12:
• Overview:
• Brewed with Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #3
• Grainbill was a mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat.  To attempt to better simulate a cereal mash I drew off a quart of very starchy wort from the cereal mash and added this to the boil
• No hops in this batch
• Aged in a bucket with a solid bung

• Tasting Notes:
• 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.
• Volume:
• 1 gal

Blending Notes:

• 11/10/2019 - Blending Day
• Pulled off 4.5 gal of beer into a bucket fermenter

• Added the 17 lbs of fruit

• I'm going to let this age for a couple months.  I'll probably back sweeten in the bottle and pasteurize.
• 6/14/20 - Bottled today with 1.5 lb of Invert #1 and a pack of rehydrated Champagne yeast (Red Star Premier Cuvee).  The fruit comes through pretty strongly both in aroma and flavor.  It isn't so strong that the base beer is obscured though.  Got 59 12 oz bottles from this batch.  I will monitor progress of carbonation and pasteurize to preserve a bit of sweetness

• 6/25/20 - Bottle pasteurized in a hot water bath.  30 min between 140 and 180 F.  I caught these a little later than is ideal as the bottles are highly carbonated enough to make pouring a bit difficult.  I had one bottle explode in the process of pasteurization.
• 6/4/22 - Tasting Notes - This is really nice fruit forward beer.  The Nectarine is boldly flavored but (at these usage levels) leaves a bit of room to let the base beer come through and add complexity.  The fruit and beer compliment each other nicely.  The level of sweetness retained in this beer is very nice as it counters what could have been an overwhelming level of acidity

Hard Apple Cider Take II - Tasting Notes

I made this batch of Hard Cider in December 2018.  I let it ferment and condition for 3-4 months and then bottled in April.  I made 5 gal of Plain Cider and blended another 5 gal with 12 lbs of raspberries grown in my large home garden.

This is my second batch of cider (read about the first here).  In my first attempt I backsweetened half the batch with some fresh cider just before bottling and then bottle pasteurized once they'd carbonated.  I found the sweetened half of the batch to have a much nicer apple flavor and that the slight sweetness helped the balance a bit.  For this batch I decided to sweeten both the raspberry and plain halves with some cider.  I did so with 1 gal each of cider (I used a local PA cider that is pasteurized using UV light rather than chemicals).  I realized after the fact that this was only half per volume of what I'd used for the previous batch.  This years ended up a bit drier as a result.

These ciders have been in the bottle for 6 months now and I've been drinking them quite a bit here of late.  They're tasting good but not getting any better.  Time for an official tasting for the record.

Plain Hard Cider:

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Nice apple aroma along with a slight earthy/musty character.  I also get a bit of alcohol
• Appearance:
• Straw colored and pretty clear.  Pours without any foam - some bubble cling to the side of the glass and there are some cascading bubbles though
• Flavor:
• Light tartness up front with a dry white wine like character.  Light apple flavor comes through after that.  The finish has a light bitterness
• Mouthfeel:
• Light bodied and dry.  Has a light astringency in the finish
• Overall:
• A light and refreshing drink - pretty easy to consume a few of these as dry as they came out.  The flavors are pretty mild overall and it isn't as apply or as complex as I would have liked.

Raspberry Hard Cider:

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Raspberries and apple aroma are about equal and pretty potent taken together.  They blend nicely.  A bit of alcohol comes through as well
• Appearance:
• Dark red and pretty clear.  This one poured with a 1 finger head that dissipated almost immediately
• Flavor:
• Lightly tart up front which transitions to a lightly jammy raspberry flavor.  The apple comes through with the raspberries lightly.  Finish has the light bitterness I got from the plain but the berries also linger into the finish
• Mouthfeel:
• Light bodied and dry.  Easy drinking with slight astringency in the finish
• Overall:
• I think the raspberries are a really nice addition.  They don't overwhelm the cider at this level of usage certainly but they add another dimension which increases the interest in drinking it a bit.  Still a pretty mild drink overall though