Zappa Pale Ale - Tasting Notes

It is time for a tasting of my latest hoppy pale ale - this one using a newish variety of hop, Zappa, which is a former wild hop from New Mexico.  I had read that the hop produces bold but unusual flavors and I'd confirm that is a correct assessment.  It has a flavor profile unlike any other hop I've tasted - it's fruity but it also has a number of other characteristics that are more earthy and grassy than most hops.

I used 6 oz of the hop in the fermenter for this batch (backing down from the 8 oz of dry hops I've started to move to with other beers).  I brewed the beer in Late June, Kegged after 12 days, and have been drinking it the last couple weeks - I'm happy to say I've been very much enjoying the hop flavor it's delivered.  The beer came out to be just under 4% ABV so it's very easy drinking which is nice and I can always go for another - very good summer beer.

Anyway, I'm drinking this beer quickly so better record some notes before it's gone.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Very interesting aroma.  Slightly fruity with a citrus like character - bitter grapefruit-like smell.  Also has a pine and marijuana like aroma.  Maybe an earthy character as well.  Sometimes I think it smells a bit like gasoline.  It's not really like any other hop I've had before.  Not sure I get any malt or yeast character from it
• Appearance:
• Golden and very clear.  It pours with a 2 finger head that lasts several minutes and leaves lacing on the glass
• Flavor:
• Fruity and piney hop character up front.  The hop flavor lingers into the finish.  There is a medium level of bitterness that lasts quite some time after the sip.  There is maybe a light bit of sweet malt in the finish as well but the balance is strongly towards hop flavor and bitterness
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied and pretty dry.  Smooth and easy drinking beer.
• Overall:
• The hop character is very strong in both aroma and flavor and I find it to be enjoyable.  It is a complex hop that creates many flavors by itself which is nice as well.  I've done a few samplings of the beer next to several fairly fresh Tree House beers and thought the level of hop character delivered by this beer was fairly close to them.  This is a hop I'd gladly use again - will try it as a component in a blend most likely.

 

Milk Stout

This week I'll be brewing my first Milk Stout.  This was one of the styles that got me interested in Craft Beer initially - it's just such a odd and interesting concept to make a sweet stout using milk sugar.  They aren't very common which makes it even more appealing as a homebrew recipe.  I'm surprised it's taken me seven years to finally make one.

For the recipe I've decided to go with yet another historical English Beer published on the Shut Up About Barclay Perkins Blog:  William Younger's Milk Stout.  I haven't had a bad result with one of these recopies yet so I keep coming back for more.  This one has a couple very odd ingredients:  1.  16% corn in the grainbill (I've opted for Flaked Corn rather than the grits originally called for) and; 2. Licorice root (which I've opted to use towards the tail end of fermentation like a dry hop).   It also uses brewers caramel to darken the color of the beer - this is always fun to make

I'm sticking mostly to the recipe with this one.  The notable differences are using american pale malt and Willamette hops rather than Fuggles.  I'm going with late boil hops rather than dry hop as well.  The yeast will be as specified:  Scottish Ale.  This will be my first time using it - I'm interested to see how that goes.

This is going to be a fairly strong beer at around 6% and should be fairly sweet with the unfermentable lactose.  I'll be kegging the beer but wont be in a huge hurry to drink it quickly at this strength.  I'll give it 3 weeks to ferment out before kegging.

Recipe Details:

• Grain/Adjunct:
• 9.5 lb 2-Row
• 2.75 Flaked Corn
• 0.5 Crystal 60L
• 0.5 Black Malt
• 1 lb Lactose
• 8 oz Brewers Caramel
• 3 oz Acid Malt
• Hops:
• 2 oz Willamette (Leaf, 5.7%AA) at 60 min
• 1 oz Willamette (Leaf, 5.7%AA) at 30 min
• 2 oz Willamette (Leaf,  5.7%AA) at 5 min
• Yeast:
• Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale Yeast
• Water:
• 13 gal spring Water
• 1 tsp CaCl
• 1 tsp Gypsum
• 1 tsp Irish Moss at 15 min
• Extras:
• 4 oz Licorice  in Fermenter

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6 gal
• Mash:
• 155 F for 60 min
• Boil:
• 60 min
• Fermentation Temperature:
• 65 F
• Primary Duration:
• 3 weeks
• Secondary Duration:
• NA

Results:

• OG:
• 1.068 (Target 1.066)
• Efficiency:
• 75% (Target 72%)
• FG:
• 1.024 (Target 1.019)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 63% (Target 70%)
• ABV:
• 5.8% (Target 6.2%)

Brewing Notes:

• 7/17/21 - Built a starter using 100 g of DME and 1 Litre of waster.  Let it sit on stir plate over night to propagate
• 7/18/21 - Brewday - from 12 PM to 4:15 PM- Including Setup and Cleanup
• Heated 8 gal of spring water to 180 F
• Milled my grain.  Added CaCl and Gypsum to the grain
• Moved 6 gal of water to the mash tun and cycled until the temperature settled to about 165 F
• Stopped the RIMS and added in my grain.  Stirred well to eliminate doughballs.  Let the mash settle for 10 min
• Cycled the mash through the RIMS at 156F for 60 min
• Made the brewers caramel using Turbinado sugar.  Cooked this using a "dry caramel" process

• Heated 8 gal of sparge water to 180 F
• Drained the mash tun to the boil kettle.  Added water on the top until I'd collected about 5 gal.  Started heating the kettle after collecting about 3 gal
• Filled the mash tun back for a second sparge and let this sit for 15 min.  Slowly drained this into the kettle so that the boil wasn't broken.  Topped up the mash tun with water until I'd collected 8 gal total
• Boiled full volume for 60 min.  Added my bittering hops when the hotbreak cleared
• Added 30 min hops
• With 20-15 min to go I added the Caramel, Lactose, and Irish Moss
• With 5 min to go I added flavoring hops and Wart Chiller to sanitize
• Chilled the beer down to tap water temperature:  ~80F

• Drained into the fermenter.  Let the beer fall a couple feet to splash around and aerate.  Pitched the yeast during this.

• Collected 5.5 gal.  Measured the gravity as 1.075.  This is higher than target efficiency at 75%.  Adding 0.5 gal to get closer to target gravity (1.068)
• Moved to the fermentation chamber to chill down to the mid 60s for fermentation
• 7/19/21 - The airlock was bubbling the next morning
• 8/1/21 - I found licorice root tea which I'll use.  I'd never had it before so I brewed one up using hot water - it is slightly sweet and has a very mild flavor that isn't really that much like a black licorice candy.  I thought it was pretty nice.  I've decided to use 6 bags which I'll add directly to the beer.  I think I'll give this until next weekend before transferring to the keg.

• 8/10/21 - Transferred to a keg today.  Measured the gravity as 1.024.  The beer has a rich malty flavor and is slightly sweet
• 8/29/21 - Tasting Notes - Richly flavored and sweet (but in fairly restrained way) - aroma and flavor are really lovely.  Has a good bit of complexity with a lot of flavors to pick out and quite of interesting notes.  Goes down very easily and I find that 1 glass is never enough
• 12/1/21 - This keg kicked

Berliner Weisse Take IV

This will be my fourth attempt at a Berliner Weisse Beer.  This is low alcohol wheat beer with a lightly sour flavor.  They are traditionally soured with lactobacillus which works fairly quickly.  For this batch, like my last one, I'll be brewing the beer with a blend of brewers yeast and lacto Brevis which produces a nice level of sourness and a bit of complexity otherwise.

It is a very simple beer with pilsner malt, wheat, and no hops (which inhibit lacto).

This will be my first kegged Berliner Wisse (first kegged sour beer in general).  The beer should end up at around 3% which should be perfect for the remainder of the summer.

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 3.5 lb Pilsner
• 3.5 lb Wheat Malt
• 4 oz Acid Malt
• Hops:
• NA
• Yeast:
• Blend of Belgian Trappist Ale Yeast and Lacto Brevis
• Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager
• Water:
• 10 gal spring water
• 1/2 tsp CaCl
• 1/2 tsp Gypsum

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 5.75 gal
• Mash:
• 150 F for 90 min
• Boil:
• 5 min
• Fermentation Temperature:
• Ambient Basement Temps (mid 60s)
• Primary Duration:
• 4 weeks
• Secondary Duration:
• NA

Results:

• OG:
• 1.029 (Target 1.026)
• Efficiency:
• 64% (Target 59%)
• FG:
• 0.998 (Target 1.003)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 100% (Target 88%)
• ABV:
• 4.1% (Target 3.0%)

Brewing Notes:

• 7/11/21 - Brewday - 12 PM to 4 PM - Including Setup and Cleanup
• Took my yeast culture out of the fridge to warm up.  It's been probably 2 years since I used it.  Added a bit of sugar to wake it up.  Will let this sit during the brew day and then I'll decide if it's worth using

• Brought 10 gal of spring water up to 175 F
• Milled my grain.  Added CaCl and Gypsum to it
• Moved 6 gal of spring water to the mash tun and cycled through the RIMS and grant until the temperature was settled to 160 F
• Stopped the RIMS and added in the grain and stirred well to eliminate dough balls.  Let this sit for 10 min
• Cycled the RIMS for 90 min

• Transferred the beer into the boil kettle.  Added water on top of the grain bed as I went to do a modified fly sparge.
• Collected until we had 6 gal or so.  Started heating the kettle after collecting 4 gal and had it at a boil near the end of collection.  Added the wort chiller very soon after bring it to a boil and then brought back to a boil to sterilize.

• Chilled down to 80 F
• Transferred to a brew bucket.  Let the wort fall a couple feet to aerate.  Pitched the entire jar of yeast during the transfer
• Measured the gravity as 1.029.  Collected about 5.75 gal which was a bit over 6 gal when the yeast was added.
• 7/13/21 - No sign of fermentation 2 days later.  My yeast cake must be bad.  I'm adding some lager yeast (WY2124) to hopefully ferment.  I also have some lacto soured beer which I'll use to sour the Berliner up to a good level.
• 7/14/21 - A pellicle has formed on the surface of the beer
• 7/15/21 - The airlock was finally bubbling
• 7/31/21:
• It's been 3 weeks since I brewed the beer. I'm going to transfer to the keg today
• The beer has a bubbly pellicle still

• Sampled the beer.  Measured the gravity as 0.998.  It's not sour at all unfortunately.
• I decided to add in some previously soured beer.  Decided to use 1 gal of soured beer from my Sour Blond Fermenter #4 for this.
• Moved beer to the keg
• 9/30/21 - Tasting Notes - This is a very interesting beer.  It has a nice pleasing sourness to it which makes it easy drinking and refreshing - about on the level I'd expect for a Berliner Weisse and it also has the wheat malt character you get from the style.  The dynamics are quite a bit different though with a fairly assertive Brett character in the beer - it is quite a bit more complex than a just a lacto soured wheat beer will be.  I'd say it's a bit closer to Lambic than Berliner Weisse although the level of sourness is quite a bit toned down compared with my Lambic inspired Sour Blonds.  I think it's very nice although I'd probably stick to the normal lacto soured version for the next one.