This beer was brewed with a classic English Bitter recipe (which included invert syrup #3 and flaked maze) and hopped with the American Hop Cascade (dry hopped with a friend's home grown hops) - therefor I called this an American Bitter.
It has been 2 months since I bottled this beer. It started out with a very pronounced hop flavor and aroma. This faded after the first few week and has left a beer with a nice balance between bitterness and a nice malt backbone.
After a few weeks in the bottle I noted the beers had developed a slight pellicle. None of the bottles have over carbonated or shown any signs of infection in the flavor.
I've been drinking these quickly (my only fresh hoppy beer left). Happy to finally be getting around to recording some tasting notes.
Tasting Notes:
Aroma:
Bready malt and earthy/herbal hops on the nose. The hop aroma has faded quite a bit in the two months since bottling.
Appearance:
Golden/light copper color. Very clear. Pours with a 3 finger head that slowly dissolves down to a thin layer. Leaves lacing on the glass. Light carbonation after the pour.
Flavor:
Up front the flavor is primarily the malt which is bready and slightly sweet. There may also be a bit of caramel mixed in. Grassy and herbal hops come in strong in the middle and then linger into the finish with a smooth bitterness. The balance is tilted a bit towards the hops but the sweet malt is able to come through nicely as well.
Mouthfeel:
Medium-light bodied and fairly dry. It is a smooth and easy drinking beer with no astringency.
Overall:
This is a really pleasant, flavorful, low alcohol beer. I find the malt character to be nicely complex and very enjoyable. Fresh, the beer was somewhat similar to a session IPA with some pretty pronounced floral hops. Now that those have faded it is very much like an English Bitter - I've enjoyed all phases of it's evolution.
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.
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:
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
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
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
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.
This is my fourth English Barleywine in a series of beers that I've brewed up on Memorial day going back to 2014 - I've made slight variations each year. For this one I have used Wheat as a major component (20% of the grainbill) and have aged the beer on raisins soaked in rum for 5 months. I will do a verical tasting to assess the differences between the beers next week.
Most of these have had same two basic goals:
Light color
Finishing Gravity in the mid 1.02s for body
In previous batches I've ended up both a bit darker than desired (due to extended boil) and a bit more attenuated than expected. With this beer I've finally ended up with the right color and have gotten it to finish with the level of sweetness that I was hoping for.
I've been drinking this beer for the last month or so and have been really enjoying it (exclusively at cellar temperature - which this tasting is done at).
Tasting Notes:
Aroma:
Fruity yeast ester dominates - raisin-like. Sweet malt mixed in. Also get a bit of caramel. No alcohol and no hops come through. Has a very rich aroma.
Appearance:
Dark gold and quite clear. Pours with a 3 finger head that quickly settles down to a thin ring.
Flavor:
Fruity up front with a sweet, rich, malt backbone. The fruit is raisin-like. The malt is a mix of bready wheat and caramel It finishes with a bit of hop bitterness which provides some nice balance. I get a bit of alcohol from the beer but it doesn't taste like a 10% ABV beer. I don't really get any strong oak or rum character from the beer (these might just be well integrated with the other flavors) and the raisin could very well be intermingled with fruity yeast character.
Mouthfeel:
Medium bodied and little sticky on the palate. Mild astringency on the finish (oak's contribution maybe). A bit of warming alcohol as well.
Overall:
A complex Barleywine with a really lovely balance between fruity yeast and sweet malt. I'm happy with the color and the balance of the beer at the higher FG (1.034).
I really enjoy a Whiskey Barrel Aged Stout. For my money there is no better version than Goose Island's Bourbon County Brand Stout. It is incredibly rich and flavorful and has a really profound bourbon character that no other beer I've tried has matched. I've brewed a couple "bourbon barrel" beers previously (Bourbon Barrel Oatmeal Brown Ale & Bourbon Barrel Chocolate Imperial Stout) and, while both turned out okay, neither were particularly rich or boasted the sort of bourbon character that I had been after.
I have decided to look to the masters and attempt to brew up a proper clone of BCBS. I'm going to use roughly the same grain bill used for the real BCBS which was generously published in this video (see 27:58):
This will be the biggest beer I've made so far with an OG of 1.129. Given the size of the beer I'll be assuming a conservative ~60% efficiency. To get 6 gal of this very sweet wort I'll need a huge 37 lbs of grain. This is a lot more grain than my mash tun can handle. To work around this I will do 2 mashes with half the grain in each.
Each will have as much water as the mash tun will fit, probably about 8.5 gal. I'll mash for 60 min at 155 F and then drain off the wort until I have 7 gallons in the kettle - this will be all the first runnings and then maybe a gal or so of sparge water. I'll boil this for 2 hrs which will get me down to about 3 gal of wort. In order to hit my gravity target I'll need the pre-boil wort to be at least 1.055 SG. I think I should be able to hit this number pretty easily unless something goes seriously wrong with the mash.
Concurrently with this first boil I'll run the second mash with the other half of the grain. I'll collect 7 more gallons from the second mash which will get me up 10 gallons in the boil kettle. This 10 gal needs to be 1.078 or better to get 6 gal of 1.129 beer. I'll boil this for 2 more hours or until the target gravity has been reached.
I'm going to bitter with 60 IBU of hops - I've chosen Magnum and Willamette to accomplish this.
For yeast I'm going with US-05 which I'm hoping will stop at around 12% ABV which will give me the desired 1.040 FG. I'll ferment at 66 F. I'm going to start fermentation in two vessels to provide lots of head space which will hopefully limit my blow off losses. Will combine the two batches after a week or two to let all the beer finish out together.
I do not have a used bourbon barrel to age this beer in unfortunately (no way in hell I could come up with 55 gal of this wort anyway). Given that, I think the biggest challenge for this beer will be getting the right kind of oak flavor. I've used Medium Toast Hungarian Oak cubes in multiple batches of beer and found that they consistently produce a wine like flavor (even when soaked in bourbon for extended periods). The lack of the char that is put on the inside of a bourbon barrels is a very likely explanation for this (I credit the Bertus Brewery Blog for opening my eyes to this concept - also note two very helpful links: HBT and Artisan Distiller). To try to address this potential shortfall I've decided to make my own toasted and charred oak cubes (having control over the level of toast and the dimensions of the the oak cubes is exciting - I feel like this will just be scratching the surface in terms of possibilities with this batch) I did this as follows:
Bought a couple board feet of white oak from a local wood working shop
Cut this into 6x0.75x0.75 inch pieces
Toasted these in the oven at 450 F for 2 hours wrapped in foil (based on some research into the flavor contributions). The oak really gave off a wonderful vanilla aroma during this toasting
Toasted vs Untoasted
Charred these with a propane torch. Put the fire out with a spray bottle
Put the wood into a jar of Makers Mark Bourbon to take on some whiskey character and soften the wood character. Let this age for several months prior to brewday
I will let the beer primary for 4 weeks and then I will cold crash it to drop the yeast. I'm going to age this in a secondary fermenter (likely a bucket) with 1 or 2 sticks of oak for 6-8 months.
This is an ambitious project and will be a very long brewday. I feel optimistic that I'm prepared enough and experienced enough to hit the desired OG number (my refractometer will be my friend in this process) - fingers crossed that I hit my FG number though.
Recipe Details:
Grain:
24 lb 2 Row
8 lb Light Munich
1.5 lb Chocolate Malt
1.5 lb Crystal 60L
1.5 lb Roasted Barley
12 oz Debittered Black Malt
2 oz Acid Malt
Hops:
2 oz Magnum (Pellet 14.1% AA) at 60 min
1 oz Willamette (Pellet 4.8% AA) at 30 min
Yeast:
2 Packs of US-05 "Chico" Ale Yeast (2nd Pitch for one pack)
Water:
20 gal Spring Water
TBD gal Tap Water
2 tsp CaCl
2 tsp Gypsum
1 tsp Irish Moss at 15 min
Extras:
4 oz Bourbon Soaked Oak
Aged with 2 oz for 4 months
Added 2 oz more for the remainder of the aging
Process Details:
Batch Size:
6.5 gal - diluted to 7 gal (Target 6 gal)
Mash:
155 F for 60 min
Boil:
4 hrs (Target 4 hrs)
Fermentation Temperature:
66 F
Primary Duration:
4 Weeks
Secondary Duration:
6-8 Months
Results:
OG:
1.140 diluted to 1.130 (Target 1.129)
Efficiency:
69% (Target 58%)
FG:
1.046 (Target 1.040)
Apparent Attenuation:
62% (Target 67%)
ABV:
13.05% (Target 13.73%)
Brewing Notes:
1/28/18 - Brewday - 9:30 AM to 6:15 PM including setup and cleanup
Heated 10 gal of water up to 185 F
Milled half the grains. Added half the CaCl and Gypsum to the grains
Moved 6 gal to the mash tun - let the temperature settle for 10 min. Ended up at 173 F. Added 1 quart of cool spring water and stirred in. Temp had settled down to 167 F after 10 more min
Added the grain. Stirred in well to eliminate doughballs. Added the base grain first and then the specialty malts. Mash Tun volume was a bit less than 9 gal with the grain and water. Temperature was 155 F after adding the grain. It had fallen to 154 F after 10 min.
Mashed for 60 min. Stirred the mash every 15 min - added 1-2 quarts of 200 F water prior to each stir to try to keep the temperature between 154 F and 155 (was successful for the most part).
Added half a gal more 200 F water to get up the very brim of the mash tun
At the end of the mash I vaurlaufed to clear the wort. Measured the gravity of this sample as 20 brix which is 1.083
Slowly drained the mash tun into the grant and pumped into the boil kettle. Topped up the mash tun with more hot water as I went (Added 5 more gal of sparge water during the process).
Gravity in the kettle was 19 brix after collecting 3 gal. Gravity in the grant was down to 15 brix at this point
Started heating the kettle after collecting 4 gal
After collecting 5 gal the gravity in the kettle is 16.6 brix and the gravity in the grant is 13 brix
After collecting 7 gal the gravity in the kettle is 16 brix and the gravity in the grant is 12 brix
Decided to use the last gal in the grant. The increased me up to 8 gal of 15 brix wort. So, I think I've gotten a bit more sugar out than I had anticipated
Had the kettle to a boil once the sparge completed. Set the timer to boil for 2 hrs.
Added ~7 more gal of water to the boil kettle for the next mash and heated up to 200 F
Drained off the remaining wort from the mash into my small 5 gal pot. Got ~2 gal of this. The gravity of this wort is 8 brix. I am going to include this in the next mash
Cleared the grain from the MLT
The boil started to slow a bit so I swapped out the propane tank part way through this first boil
Milled the other half of the grains - added CaCl and gypsum
Added second running to the mash tun - these were 135 F
Added 200 F water up to 6 gal in the mash tun - this settled out at 163 F
Added in the grain with 1 hr left in the first boil - stirred well to eliminate dough balls. It turns out I forgot to add the 2 oz of Acid malt I'd set aside. The temperature settled to 154 F. I added 1 gal of kettle water at 190 F. The temperature fell to 151 F in the mash tun. I checked the temperature at the top and it was 158 F. Decided to let it ride
After half an hr of mashing I added a gal of 210 F water. This raised the mash temp to 152 F at the temperature probe (was still 158 F at the top of the mash).
With 15 min left I added another gal of hot water
Drained my previous beer off the yeast cake for use in this batch.
At the end of the 2 hr boil I had just about 3 gal of wort. The gravity is too great for the hydrometer to measure (above 35 brix or so). Target is 30 brix so I'm doing considerably better than the 58% efficiency on the first mash.
Sparged slowly. Added hot water to the top as I went
Checked gravity on the vaurlauf sample and got 21 brix
After a gal collected the gravity at the grant was 18 brix
Collected pretty much all the first runnings - got 10.5 gal of wort. Gravity of the final running's were about 10 brix. Measuring the kettle gravity was not possible as samples taken from the bottom of the kettle were ~5 points higher than those taken from the top. The top was about 18 brix and the bottom was 23 brix.
Started the heat during the sparge. Was a boil shortly after the completion of the sparge
Boiled for 2 hrs
The beer was amazingly frothy during the 3rd hr of the boil. Had one pretty significant boil over where I lost maybe a pint of beer. After than I was able to avoid further boil overs by adjusting the heat down when the foam got close to the top
The second hr of the boil was much calmer fortunately
With 1 hr left I added the bittering hops - had about 9 gal of wort at this point
Rehydrated a second pack of dry yeast
Added the 30 min hops
Added Irish Moss at 15 min
The beer measured 30 brix with ~7 gal of beer at 15 min. I'm going to end the boil as planned
Put the wort chiller in to sanitize with 5 min left
Chilled the beer down to 70 F
Transferred 4 gal of the beer into my SS Brew Bucket onto the second pitch cake and 2.5 gal into a better bottle with the new, rehydrated yeast
Measured the gravity of the beer as 1.140. So, I overshot my target OG by 8%. I am going to add some spring water to get to 1.130 - this will require 0.5 gal. Added 3 cups to the 2.5 gal portion and 5 cups to the 4 gal portion. I verified that the new gravity was 1.130
Moved these to the fermentation chamber set to 66 F
1/29/18 - The batch that went onto the yeast cake took off very quickly and is fermenting very vigorously this morning (~12 hrs after completion of the batch). The portion with the fresh yeast hasn't started to show signs of fermentation yet.
2/2/18 - Fermentation has gone strong this week in both batches. There is still quite a bit of airlock activity in both fermenters today (5 days out).
2/5/18 - My curiosity has gotten the better of me so I've taken a gravity sample 1 week out from pitching. It is down to 1.050. Still have a bit of airlock activity so I'd guess it will come down a bit more. It is quite sweet and has a nice roast/chocolate flavor. Also pretty boozy and rough at this point.
2/10/18 - Transferred the 2.5 gal from the better bottle to the main fermenter. The krausen has mostly fallen from both of the beers. Ended up collecting up to a bit less than 6.5 gal of beer. Will give it a couple more weeks to finish up before transferring to secondary.
2/22/18 - Checked the gravity again - it is 1.048. I think it has gone as far as it is going to
2/26/18 - Cold crashed the beer down to 32 F
2/28/18 - Added gelatin for fining
3/2/18 - Transferred the beer to a bucket fermenter with a vented silicone bung to secondary. Added two toasted and charred oak sticks that had soaked in whiskey for several moths to age with the beer. Ended up with a little more than 6 gal in separating it from the yeast cake.
4/1/18 - I moved the beer into a non-climate controlled room off the garage. I hope the temperature changes through summer help draw out more oak and bourbon flavor
4/12/18 - Took a sample. The aroma has a pretty strong whisky and oak influence - very close to BCBS in the regard. These come through in the flavor as well but it isn't anywhere near the levels in the real thing just yet.
5/3/18 - Took another sample. Bourbon is barely perceptible in the aroma and not present at all in the flavor. Not sure how that happened since there was a pretty pronounced aroma of bourbon and oak a month ago. Otherwise the beer is tasting pretty nice - rich, smooth, and pretty complex with dark chocolate notes. Will check on it in another month.
5/4/18 - Moved the beer into a room of the house that has been getting a bit warmer (70s-80s) in the hopes that heat will help the beer penetrate further into the oak in order to draw out more flavor.
6/15/18 - Took another sample which I've compared with the real BCBS. The aroma of my beer has a bit of whisky but not quite as much as the real thing. The flavor of mine is significantly less whiskey forward than BCBS. More time with the oak is definitely needed. Mine tastes nice at this point even when compared head to head with BCBS which I think is a good sign
7/8/18 - The beer has now been aging on the oak for a bit over 4 months so I'll do another side by side comparison between it and the real BCBS (2017 version). Both beers have a very boozy aroma and both have a rich chocolate/coffee smell - the real BCBS has a stronger bourbon/oak presence. Both beers have very pleasing and complex flavors but, just like last tasting, the flavor of the real BCBS has a lot more bourbon character than my version. I don't think mine has picked up any more oak than it had last month and, based on this, I think it is unlikely to pick up much more over the next 4 months. I could be happy with my beer but I really want that bourbon flavor that BCBS provides so I'm going to add two more sticks of oak that I've continued to soak in bourbon.
8/10/18 - 5 month mark tasting side by side with a 2017 BCBS. Mine has picked up quite a bit of whiskey aroma after the addition of two more oz of oak. Not quite as much as the BCBS but it has closed the gap. Also a lot more whiskey flavor to my beer this month but still quite different than the BCBS. My beer is quite a bit smoother than the BCBS. Three more months to go. Will be interesting to see how it turns out.
9/14/18
6 month tasting site by side with a 1017 BCBS. In terms of aroma my beer is basically indistinguishable. Both have very prominent and pleasant bourbon aroma. Flavor wise they are still a fair bit different. The BCBS has a much firmer bourbon bite than mine. Mine has similar level of bourbon flavor but is quite a bit smoother in the finish with more prominent chocolate and coffee notes than the real thing. Both beers are excellent. Some theories regarding the differences:
Maybe the barrels have more really oaky/concentrated whiskey saturated than my sticks brought to the beer. This could cause their beer to have more whiskey than mine
I soaked these sticks in 45 proof makers mark. Whiskey is aged in the barrel at 60+ proof typically. This 60 proof spirit is what is mixing with the BCBS. The stronger spirit seems like a good candidate for the stronger bite in theirs.
I ended up 10 sg above the suggested FG. It could be the sweeter/fuller body of the beer would change how the whiskey were perceived even if all other process details were creating the same whiskey character BCBS has.
I plan to brew another one of these in October/November to try out some of these ideas
I'll age this current batch for another couple months
11/2/18 - Bottling day - measured the FG as 1.046. Bottled with 4 oz of priming sugar and some Primier Cuvee wine yeast. Collected 6 gal of beer which got me 32 ~16 oz/~500ml bottles and 15 12 oz bottles. Happy to have this one done!!
2/11/19 - Tasting Notes - This is a big, rich, and complex beer. The base beer brought a real rich set of flavors which stand up nicely to the the whiskey and oak. This was intended to be a clone of BCBS but I'm thinking I likely missed the mark a bit in terms of the strength of the whiskey character. Even so I think the beer strikes a very nice balance of it's own. I'll be brewing another one of these.
2/16/19 - Side by Side Comparison My Beer vs BCBS 2017
Aroma:
Both beers have a fairly pronounced whiskey and oak character but the BCBS has a more pronounced booze character. I get a lot more chocolate and caramel malt out of mine than from the BCBS
Appearance:
The two beers are pretty much an exact match for color. Carbonation seems about the same as well - about equal amount of head on an agressive pour. The BCBS head lingers a bit longer than min.
Flavor:
My beer has bold set of malt flavors that then sort of fade into oak and whiskey. The BCBS seems to be more whiskey and oak forward right out of the gate and malt is playing more of supporting role. In the finish my beer has lingering alcohol presence, some malt, and a bit of hop bitterness. The BCBS is a bit firmer in terms of alcohol burn and has a really lovely chocolate malt component that lingers. A lot of similar flavors but the balance is quite different.
Mouthfeel:
The beers are very similar in terms of body and sweetness (full and slightly sweet). Mine is a bit smoother where the BCBS is a bit prickly. Both have noticeable alcohol warming. BCBS burns the nose a bit when swirling it in my mouth.
Overall:
I think the major difference between the two beers is the intensity of the alcohol. Both have a whisky and oak presence but the balance is shifted much more towards the whiskey with BCBS than in My Beer. Both are pleasant but I think I prefer the balance struck by the real BCBS.
As an experiment I added some Whiskey mixed with a few drips of water to the mix. The difference in terms of Whiskey character between my beer and BCBS is much less than the difference between BCBS and whiskey.
9/6/20 - Performed another vertical tasting comparing this beer to my 2019 version as well as the real BCBS. The beer has held up very nicely. I don't have too many of these left at this point. I'll need to restrain myself if I'd like to have the opportunity to include it in a vertical tasting next year.
Lessons Learned:
I found that the temperature at the top and bottom of the mash were not equal for this beer. I probably would have been better off recirculating this one
Found that the gravity at the top and bottom of the boil kettle were also quite different which made tracking of efficiency a bit tricker
The double mash worked out very nicely. My timing of the cleanup from one mash to setting up an executing the next one fit very well within the 2 hr boil
I'm worried that my wort chiller may have formed a small leak. I didn't get a good to drain it and I could have sworn that I saw a bit more dripping that is normal. I need to test it before the next brew day.
