Sour Blonde 9.1.1 - Spontaneously Fermented

I have been brewing Sour Blonde beer semi-inspired by Belgian Lambic for the last 9 years or so.  This is my latest iteration on the project.  I will be doing a spontaneous fermentation for this batch which involves letting the beer be inoculated by whatever organisms are naturally floating in the air.  This is a practice used by the Belgian Lambic producers and has a long history of producing beers with a strong and complex flavor profile.  I have used this practice once before (Sour Blonde 5.1.1) with mixed results.

These beers are made during cool weather which has been found to be important to limiting the amount of spoilage microbes get into the beer.  They also leverage fairly high hopping rates with aged hops to limit the impacts lactobacillus can have on the beer (as this is hindered by hops and would create acidity too quickly which would hinder the effects of the other microbes) but also not impart high levels of bitterness.  I have waited until December to make the beer to wait for a cold period (although I've chosen an unseasonably warm and damp day for brewing - low 60s and foggy) and have used 3 oz of aged hops for the beer.  My previous attempt at spontaneous fermentation used a small amount of high Alpha Acid hops which I had thought were sufficiently aged but ended up adding quite a bit of bitterness that is only now fading (beer was made in 2017)

The beer is leveraging a small cereal mash with raw wheat in addition to some additional flaked wheat to be used in the main mash.  These beers traditionally use wheat and feature a wort rich in unconverted starches which allow for nutrients to remain in the wort after the simple sugars have been consumed by the wild yeasts and bacteria active early in the fermentation

This was intended to be a 10 gal batch but my efficiency was better than expected so it's going to be more like a 12 gal batch.  I'm shooting for a 1.045 gravity in anticipation of high attenuation which would give me about 5% ABV.  My other beers are a bit higher alcohol so a lower alcohol beer like this could make a valuable blending ingredient.

Anyhow, I plan to blend up some new Lambic style beers here in the next month or so and intent to empty one fermenter in the process which I'll use for this beer and then I'll use the other half to top up the others and add some fresher yeast and nutrients to the mix.

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 10 lb Pilsner
• 4 lb Flaked Wheat
• 1 lb Munich
• 4 oz Acid Malt
• Cereal Mash:
• 4 lb raw wheat
• 1 lb Pilsner
• Hops:
• 3 oz of Homegrown Aged Cascade at 60 min
• Yeast:
• Spontaneous Fermentation
• Water:
• 13 gal spring water
• 1 tsp CaCl
• 1 tsp Gypsum

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 11 gal (Target 10 gal)
• Mash:
• 150 F for 60 min
• Boil:
• 60 min
• Fermentation Temperature:
• Ambient Basement Temperature
• Primary Duration:
• 1 month
• Secondary Duration:
• 1-3 years

Results:

• OG:
• 1.047 (Target 1.045)
• Efficiency:
• 78% (Target 69%)
• FG:
• TBD (Target 1.04)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• TBD (Target 91%)
• ABV:
• TBD (Target 5.38%)

Brewing Notes:

• 12/2/23 - Did an appreciated cereal mash on the stove top by slowly ramping the mash up to a light boil over the course of a couple hrs.  Then left it sitting over night to cool down
• 12/3/23 - Brewday - 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM- including setup and cleanup
• Heated 10 gal of spring water up to 175 F
• Heated the cereal mash back up to near boiling
• Milled my grain.  Added CaCl and Gypsum to it at this point so I wouldn't forget

• Added 6 gal to the Mash Tun and cycled through the RIMS until the temperature had settled to 160 F
•   Added grain to the mash and stirred well to eliminate dough balls.  Added the cereal mash
• Let the mash sit for 10 min to settle
• Cycled the mash at 152 F for 50 min min
• Heated 8 gal of spring water up to 180 F for sparge
• Drained the mash into the boil kettle doing a manual fly sparge until I'd collected 12 gal
• Started heating the kettle after collecting about 3 gal.  Had it at a boil about 10 min after then end of the sparge
• Added the bittering hops as soon as the hot break subsided a bit

• Boiled for 60 min (boiled off 2 gal as expected)
• At the very end of the boil I removed the hops and transported the 10 gal of boiling wort to my raspberry beds  to cool.  I spilled a quart or two during this move.  I'm going to leave the beer out overnight to cool.
• Measured the gravity of the beer at 1.060.  I really want it to be at 1.045 so I'm going to have to add some water (will figure out how much tomorrow)

• 12/4/23
• Carried the boil kettle into the garage (didn't spill any on this trip)
• Transferred the contents into 2 fermenters.  Got 8 gal

• The kettle loses some water cooling like this with the time to steam so the gravity is now at 1.064.  So, I got about 78% efficiency on this batch
• Added 3 gal of spring water to get to 1.047 which is close enough to my target.  This is 11 gal of wort.
• Setup the fermenters with mostly covered lids in my sour beer room which, I assume, is full of microbes that might aid in this process

• 12/8/23 - There is a bit of foam forming on the beer this morning which is a good sign of initial fermentation

• 12/11/23 - The beer has a fruity aroma and the foam hasn't really progressed very much
• 12/14/23 - Growing some mold and a bit of a pellicle.  I've scooped out the mold.  It has some aroma that I'm familiar with from past beers so I'm not that concerned.  Tasted a bit and it is still pretty sweet

• 12/25/23 - Not much change to the beers.  Still growing this yellow slimy mold.  They still smell pretty good so I'm going to let it continue.

• 12/29/23 - One of them is forming some foam which I'm hoping is a sign of some active fermentation

• 2/25/24 - Transferred Fermenter #2 into fermenter #1 (which were each about half full.  Transferred 6 gal of this batch into fermenter 2 which had the yeast cake in it still

Capicolla - Dry Cured Meat

This will be my second attempt at making a Dry Cured Meat (after previously making a Spanish Lomo).  I was very encouraged by the pretty good results I was able to achieve without a temperature and humidity controlled space (this was done through the use of wraps made for dry aging meat in our home fridge).

Capicolla is an Italian whole muscle based product which uses the very fat rich Pork Shoulder - or, more specifically, one special muscle out of the pork shoulder which is the muscle from the pig's neck (called a Coppa in Italian).  I have cooked with Pork Shoulder quite a bit in the past but had never really spent much energy understanding the mass of different muscles that comprise it.  This video from youtube was an inspiration for me to try this and gives a very helpful demonstration on how to locate this cut (he also provides a procedure which I'm not following for this attempt):

I am salting the meat using the "equilibrium method" where you weigh out the amount of salt you want the meat to absorb and then wait enough time for it to be fully absorbed (this prevents you from over salting the meat no matter how much time you give it).  The alternative is to provide more salt than is needed but carefully limit the amount of time spent in contact the salt to prevent it from being overly salty.  I will salt this to 3% which seems like a fairly standard amount.  I'll give the meat 2 weeks to absorb the salt.

For the drying, I intend to shoot for 40% weight loss.  I'm going to try drying it hanging it my basement in a couple rooms that stay between 52 F and 54 F with a 35-45% humidity.  This is a bit dry for drying meat so I plan to use a dry aged wrap like I did before.  I'm thinking, if it works, this will be a bit nicer than taking up space in a crowded fridge.

This style of dried meat is typically rubbed with spices (paprika being a common one).  I intend to do that as well for this.

Anyway, this should take 2 or 3 months to complete but require a very small amount of actual work (which is my favorite kind of project).  I'm excited to see how this goes and will hope that it will be successful enough to motivate to make a third attempt

Ingredients:

• 1029 g Pork Neck
• 32 g Kosher Salt (was shooting for 3%)
• Spice mix of equal parts covering the meat:
• Spicy Paprika
• Black Pepper
• Garlic Powder

Process Details:

• 11/23/23 - Initial preparation:
• Cut the Neck Muscle out of a pork shoulder roast and trimmed it to be a roughly cylindrical shape

• Measured out about 3% of the weight of the meat in salt for curing
• Put the meat and salt in a zip lock bag.  Tried to evenly coat the meat with it (although this isn't terribly important as the idea is that the salt, over a long curing time, will naturally become evenly distributed through the meat

• Moved it to the fridge to cure over the next couple weeks
• 12/14/23 - Drying preparation
• The meat has been in the fridge absorbing salt for the last 3 weeks.  It has absorbed it all and is now a bit firmer

• Measured out 2 tsp each of Black Pepper, Spicy Paprika, and Garlic Powder.  Covered the roast which maybe took half the spice

• Wrapped the roast in dry aging wraps and then put a netting around it to hold the wrap and shape
• Measured the weight of the roast (1075g).  I will shoot for 40% weight loss (target 645g)

• Moved this down to my cool (High-50s) but fairly dry (35% humidity) basement to dry out.  I will check the weight once a week

• 12/23/23 - Weighed the meat at 842g after a bit more than a week drying (that is a 22% weight loss so far
• 12/29/23 - Down to 778 g after another week (28% weight loss).  It is getting dry around the outside but seems to be fairly squishy in the middle still
• 1/4/24 - The meat is now 735 g (32% weight loss).  So maybe a couple more weeks before it's done based on the current weight loss
• 1/13/24 - Down to 692g (36% weight loss).  It is getting very firm now and there is a hard and dry layer on the outside.  I more week most likely to lose the last 4%
• 1/21/24 - It was down to 661g this morning (39% weight loss).  I decided to call that "good enough".  Removed it from the netting and ran it under some warm water to remove the film (it turns to gelatin with this treatment and is easily removed).  Cut it in the middle and slices some thin pieces with my meat slicer.  It is very salty with the spice rub imparting a lot of flavor as well.  The intermuscular fat is really rich and delicious - the outside feels dry but the meat has nice tenderness and texture

Halloumi Cheese

Thanks to Fogo De Chao I recently discovered the great joy which is fried cheese with Honey.  Frying cheese needs to have a high melt point in order to hold together during the cooking stage so you need a special cheese to do this.  Halloumi, which is a Greek cheese, is a variety designed for this use.  It has been a couple years since I attempted a cheese so I've decided to give one another try.  I am using this procedure from cheesemaking.com.

This batch will use 2 gal of supermarket pasteurized cow milk.  The cheese is traditionally made with goat or sheep's milk - maybe I will try to round some of that up if I attempt this again.

Anyhow, it is a fairly simple cheese without any climate controlled ripening required.  The one unusual thing about it is that, post forming curds into small wheels of cheese, they are put into near boiling whey for 30+ min.  This procedure gives the cheese it's high melt point and a "squeaky" texture.

I'm very excited to be make some cheese again and hope to have the time to make more in the somewhat near term.

Recipe details:

• 2 gal pasteurized cows milk
• 1 pack of buttermilk culture
• 1/2 tsp Rennet mixed with 1/2 cup of spring water
• 3/4 tsp CaCl
• 1 tsp of salt in the whey
• 3% salt for the cheese 

Process Notes:

• 10/21/23:
• Heated 2 gal of milk to 86 F in a hot water bath using a Sous Vide circulator

• Added CaCl and the buttermilk culture and stirred well to mix in
• Added the rennet and stirred in well.  Let this sit for 40 min at which point curds had formed and there was a fairly clean break

• Cut the curd into 1 inch grid vertically and then attempted to cut horizontally

• Set the circulator to heat the curds up to 105 F.  Stirred the curd every 5-10 min over the next hour
• Ladled the curds out into three basket forms.  Was careful to scoop them out evenly

• Stacked the forms on top of each other so that the weight would help them drain off the whey
• Once the curds were all scooped out I set the circulator to heat up to 190 F
• Flipped the cheese in the baskets every 10 min or so and changed the order of the stacking so that they would all be about evenly pressed

• Once the whey was up to temperature I added 1 tsp of salt and moved the cheese wheels to it
• Soaked them in the hot whey until they started to float which took about 30 min

• Removed them from the whey to cool and added 3% to each cheese (each weighted between 350 and 360 grams)
• Vacuum sealed 2 of the wheels and put the third in a zip lock back

• Moved the cheese to the fridge to absorb the salt
• 10/27/23:
• The salt seems to have fully absorbed so decided to try the cheese
• Cut a few slices.  Ate one raw and found it was fairly firm and quite salty

• Fried 2 quarter inch slices in a carbon steel pan on medium heat.  It browned nicely while holding it's shape well.  I served this with some home made hot honey

• The cheese tastes great and had the nice squeaky texture.  I think the salt level is pleasing
• 10.29/23 - Moving the two vacuum sealed cheeses to the freezer to be eaten later

Sour Blonde Status Report - 2023

This is a long overdue assessment of my 13 Sour Blonde beers - my last assessment was way back in 2019.  I have been brewing these Sour Blonde beers since 2014 and creating blends which I then age with fruit.  The project is inspired by the Belgian Lambic style of beer to some extent (many beers using raw wheat) but, for the most part, haven't involved spontaneous fermentation or a turbid mash which are traditional.  

Lambic is aged in oak barrels which allow for oxygen exposure which is a contributor to flavor formation.  A side effect of this is that the beers typically aren't good after a few years of aging.  My beers are aged in glass carboy and plastic bucket fermenters.  So far, it seems like their flavor is still pleasant.

These tasting notes (half of which were collected in July 2022) will help guide my next set of blends.  I intend to use a couple gallons from each fermenter this year and then add some fresh new beer to each one to hopefully sustain any of the nice microbes that remain viable after my long period of neglect

I plan on brewing these new beers and putting together my blends over the next couple months.  Should be fun.

Fermenter #1:

• Beers:
• Sour Blonde 1.5.1:
• Portion:
• 4/6th
• Brewed:
• 11/22/15
• Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 7/28/19
• Unfermented Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 11/17/19
• Others:
• Sour Blonde 1.1.1
• Overview:
• Aged with Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
• Includes beer that has undergone a lacto fermentation
• 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
• Status Notes:
• 
  
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Earthy with a bit of overripe fruit (peach maybe) and a bit of a mineral character
• Appearance:  Light gold and very clear
• Flavor:  Lightly sour with a bit of fruity character.  Has some earthy character in there as well as mineral.  It also has a bit of bready character in the finish.  The finish is mostly acidity and this lingers.
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and very dry.  There is a bit of prickling on the palate from the acidity but not at all unpleasant to drink
• Overview:  The fruity character is nice and fairly bold.  It has pretty good complexity as well although the Brett is fairly restrained.  I think it has a pleasant level of acidity.

Fermenter #2:

• Beers:
• Sour Blonde 6.1.1:
• Portion:
• 4/6th
• Brewed:
• 3/25/18
• Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 7/28/19
• Unfermented Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 11/17/19
• Others:
• Sour Blonde 1.2.1
• Overview:
• Aged with Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #1 and a bit of Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
• Includes beer that has undergone a lacto fermentation
• Grain bill of Pilsner and Raw Wheat
• Very little hops in this batch
• Aged in a mostly full glass carboy with a vented silicon bung
• Status Notes:
• 
  
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  A bit fruity (overripe peach maybe) along with an earthy and leathery character.  Also get a faintly mineral character from it
• Appearance:  Light gold in color and pretty clear
• Flavor:  Lightly sour (very pleasant) mild brett flavors and a bit of overripe fruit.  The finish is a balance of acidity and mineral character.
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and fairly dry.  It has only a slight bit of alcohol prickling.
• Overview:  Flavors are fairly mild but are quite pleasant.  I think it has a fairly nice level of complexity.  Level of sourness is very nice

Fermenter #3:

• Beers:
• Sour Blonde 1.3.1
• Portion:
• 4/6th
• Brewed:
• 5/10/15
• Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 7/28/19
• Unfermented Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 11/17/19
• Overview:
• Aged with Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
• Includes beer that has undergone a lacto fermentation
• Mix of Pilsner and Flaked wheat malt
• Very lightly hopped
• Aged in glass carboy with 1 gal of head space
• Status Notes:
• 
  
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Has a lactic sour kind of small along with some earthy Brett character and a bit of fruit (something like a lemon character off this one)
• Appearance:  Light gold in color and slightly hazy
• Flavor:  Lightly sour with something reminiscent of bready sweetness in the middle which is quite nice.  Has a bit of earthy flavor in there as well.  Has a little bit of fruit character.  The finish is a balance of acidity and that bready-like flavor
• Mouthfeel:  Medium-light bodied and dry.  The acidity prickles the back of the throat a bit
• Overview:  The flavors are slightly mild but it has some interesting flavors that give it a pretty good level of complexity.  I like the acidity in this one as well as that odd bready flavor in the middle.

Fermenter #4:

• Beers:
• Sour Blonde 1.4.1
• Portion: 
• 3/6th
• Brewed:
• 8/8/15
• Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 7/28/19
• Unfermented Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 11/17/19
• Berliner Weise:
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 7/11/21
• Overview:
• Aged with Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
• Includes some beer that underwent a fermentation with lacto
• Mix of Pilsner and Flaked wheat malt
• Very lightly hopped
• Aged in glass carboy with vented silicone bung
• Status Notes:
• 
  
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Overripe fruit (peach maybe) and a bit of earthy brett character.  Kind of smells like cider
• Appearance:  Light gold in color and pretty cloudy
• Flavor:  Lightly sour with a fruity flavor.  There is a bit of brett character in there as well - earthy and maybe leathery along with a mineral like character.  The finish is acidity along with the fruity character - gives the slight impression of sweetness although there really isn't any.  Get a slight bit of bready malt character to this on as well
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  It has a prickling sort of acidity that hits in the back of the throat
• Overview:  This is a fairly mildly flavored beer.  Has a fairly nice level of complexity - get quite a few flavors out of it even though they are all subtle.  A good level of acidity to this beer.

Fermenter #5:

• Beers:
• Sour Blonde 2.1.1
• Portion:
• 4/6th
• Brewed:
• 4/10/16
• Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 7/28/19
• Unfermented Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 11/17/19
• Overview:
• Aged with ECY01 Bug Farm
• Includes beer fermented with lacto
• Mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat malt bill
• Lightly hopped
• Aged in glass carboy with silicone bung
• Status Notes:
• 
  
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Strong overripe fruit and a bit of almost medicine smelling brett character
• Appearance:  Light gold and very clear
• Flavor:  Lightly sour with a fruity character.  Get a bit of earthy and mineral like flavors as well.  The finish is a balance of acidity and fruit flavors.  I also get a bit of bready character in there.
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and very dry.  Had a mild bit of prickliness on the back of the throat as well
• Overview:  This a boldly flavored beer with a pretty nice level of complexity.  The acidity is at a nice balanced level in this one as well

Fermenter #6:

• Beers:
• Sour Blonde 3.1.1:
• Portion:
• 4/6th
• Brewed:
• 5/8/16
• Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 7/28/19
• Unfermented Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 11/17/19
• Overview:
• Aged with  ECY 34 Dirty Dozen
• Includes beer that underwent lacto fermentation
• Pilsner and Flaked Wheat Malt bill
• No hops in this batch
• Aged in a glass carboy with vented silicone bung
• Status Notes:
• 
  
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Overripe fruit and some earthy and leathery brett character pretty strong.  Also get a mineral character
• Appearance:  Gold in color and very clear
• Flavor:  Lightly sour with a strong fruit character up front.  This is followed by an earthy brett character as well as a bandaid like flavor.  The finish is a balance of acid and brett.  Has a bit of a bready character as well
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  Very slight prickling of acidity on the back of the throat.
• Overview:  This is a boldly flavored beer with a pretty good level of complexity.  Got a fairly subdued level of sourness to it

Fermenter #7:

• Beers:
• Sour Blonde 1.6.1
• Portion: 
• \5/6th
• Brewed:
• 3/25/18
• Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 7/28/19
• Overview:
• Beer has been aged with Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
• Prior to this it spent a few months on my Belgian Yeast and Lacto house culture
• Made with a mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat
• No hops
• Kept in a Bucket Fermenter with a solid stopper
• Status Notes:
• 
  
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Some fruit along with some earthy and slightly leathery character.  I may be getting a bit of oak out of it as well
• Appearance:  Light gold and a little murky
• Flavor:  Medium-light sourness with a bit of fruitiness (reminiscent of peach).  I also get a bit of earthy flavor.  The finish is acidity and fruit.
• Mouthfeel:  Dry and very light bodied.  This beer makes me salivate a bit which is maybe a new one for me.  Pretty smooth drinking
• Overview:  This one has some nice bold flavors.  Fairly fruit forward with a a pretty assertive acidity.  Not the most complex beer.

Fermenter #8:

• Beers:
• Sour Blonde 2.2.1:
• Portion:
• 4/6th
• Brewed:
• 8/20/17
• Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 7/28/19
• Unfermented Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 11/17/19
• Overview:
• Aged with ECY01 Bug Farm.  This is the second pitch
• Includes beer fermented with lacto
• Grainbill is a mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat
• No hops in this batch
• Aged in a bucket fermenter with a solid stopper
• Status Notes:
• 
  
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Very fruity aroma - peach maybe.  Has a bit of leathery brett character as well.
• Appearance:  Golden in color and a little cloudy
• Flavor:  Lightly sour up front followed by a bold candy like fruitiness.  After that I get a bit of earthy, musty, leathery brett.  The finish is a mild acidity and the fruit.
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  There is a firm prickly acidity that hits the back of the throat.
• Overview:  This is a bold and very nicely flavored beer.  It is mostly about the fruit with a bit of complexity brought by the other flavors.  Up front the acidity is pretty mild but it does have a bit of an acetic acid edge that hits in the finish.

Fermenter #9:

• Beers:
• Sour Blonde 3.2.1
• Portion:
• 4/6th
• Brewed:
• 8/20/17
• Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 7/28/19
• Unfermented Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 11/17/19
• Overview:
• Aged with ECY 34 Dirty Dozen.  This is the second pitch
• Includes beer that has been lacto fermented
• Grainbill is a mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat
• No hops in this batch
• Aged in a bucket fermenter with a vented silicone bung
• Status Notes:
• 
  
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Musty and earthy along with a bit of fruit
• Appearance:  Light gold and a little bit cloudy
• Flavor:  Lightly sour up front.  Has a fruity flavor (citrus like) and a bit of a musty character.  Also get a bready like character and some mineral flavor. 
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied and dry.  Has a fairly sharp acid bite on the back of the throat on the swallow
• Overview:  Pretty bold with a nice fruity character.  Not the most complex beer but it has enough other things going on to make for an interesting beer to drink

Fermenter #10:

• Beers:
• Sour Blonde 4.1.1:
• Portion:
• 5/6th
• Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 7/28/19
• Other:
• Unfermented Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Overview:
• Aged with Omega Yeast OYL-212 Brett Blend #3:  Bring on Da Funk
• Soured a portion of the batch with Omega Yeast OYL-605 Lactobacillus Blend (L. Plantarum and L. Brevis)
• Mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat
• No hops
• Aged in a bucket fermenter with a vented silicone bung
• Status Notes:
• 
  
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Musty with a fruity and slightly spicy character
• Appearance:  Straw colored and a little murky
• Flavor:  Light sourness and some bready flavor.  Slight mineral character with some bready flavor
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied with only a slight prickliness
• Overview:  Fairly mild in flavor and not all that complex

Fermenter #11:

• Beers:
• Sour Blonde 7.1.1:
• Portion:
• 3/6th
• Brewed:
• 6/24/18
• Unfermented Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 3/6th
• Brewed:
• 11/17/19
• Other:
• Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Overview:
• Brewed with Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #2
• 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
• Includes beer fermented with lacto
• No hops in this batch
• Aged in a bucket with a solid bung
• Status Notes:
• 
  
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Bold fruity aroma with a candy-like sweetness
• Appearance:  Light gold and clear
• Flavor:  Light sourness with a sweet fruity flavor.  Has a bit of a honey-like flavor to it.  Maybe a bit of earthy brett character in there as well
• Mouthfeel:  Gives the impression of a medium body and has a smoothness unusual for these beers.
• Overview:  This has a really rich and bold character.  It also has a decent amount of complexity.

Fermenter #12:

• Beers:
• Sour Blonde 8.1.1
• Portion:
• 3/6th
• Brewed:
• 6/24/18
• Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 1/6th
• Brewed:
• 7/28/19
• Unfermented Sour Blonde Top Up Batch - 2019
• Portion:
• 2/6th
• Brewed:
• 11/17/19
• 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
• Includes beer which fermented with lacto
• No hops in this batch
• Aged in a bucket with a solid bung
• Status Notes:
• 
  
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Fruity and slightly musty smelling
• Appearance:  Golden and quite cloudy
• Flavor:  Very lightly sour with a citrus like character and a bit of mineral flavor
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied with a light prickliness
• Overview:  Fairly mild in flavor without a whole lot in the way of complexity

Fermenter #13:

• Beers:
• Sour Blonde 5.1.1:
• Portion:
• 4/4th
• Brewed:
• 11/19/17
• Overview:
• Spontaneously Fermented after cooling off in my side yard next to Raspberry Plants
• Mix of Pilsner and Raw wheat malt
• Hopped with high AA hops for 15 min of boil.  Left these in the beer while it naturally cooled which was a mistake I think.
• Aged with 3 piece airlock which has run dry several times in a better bottle
• Status Notes:
• 
  
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:  Musty with aged beer character.  A bit of skunkiness - interesting.
• Appearance:  Golden and a little cloudy
• Flavor:  A bit of harshness up front - solvent flavor.  Once you get past that there is fruitiness on the finish along with a bready character.  Maybe a slight hop bitterness but very faint.
• Mouthfeel:  Light bodied but a bit harsh on the palate
• Overview:  An interestingly flavor beer.  Not very good on it's own but it could be an interesting blending component in small amounts.

Raspberry Wine (2023)

This will be my fifth version of a Raspberry Wine (read about 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th).  This project has been great way to use up my embarrassment of riches produced by my large Raspberry patch each year.  I have been experimenting with different amounts of fruit and sugar (to achieve different ABV) as well as flavoring with spirit soaked oak to get a variety of flavors.  This year, I've decided to try some spices.

I've opted for a Coca Cola like set of spices here with vanilla, citrus, and a combination of coriander and nutmeg.  I aimed for a fairly subtle spicing level here (based on using the same spices in a Flanders Red before).  I'm hoping this melds well with the tart raspberry.

I'm using the most raspberries so far in this batch - 65 lbs.  I'm adding 12 lbs of sugar which should get me something on the order of 12% ABV.  I'm avoiding adding any water to this one to try to get as intense a raspberry flavor as possible.

I will let this ferment for a few weeks and then age in a glass carboy for about a year to mellow.  I'll backsweeten this (and sterilize with campden tablets) to end up with a sweet and still product in the bottle.

Recipe Details:

• 65 lbs Raspberries
• 12 lbs table sugar
• 6 tsp Pectic Enzyme
• 12 Campden Tablets
• 1 pack of Red Star Premier Cuvee
• 1 pack of Safeale S04 (British Ale Yeast)
• Extras:
• Zest of 2 oranges
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 0.5 bourbon vanilla bean
• 1 cup of Everclear

Results:

• OG:
• 1.092
• Post Fermentation FG:
• TBD
• Back sweetened FG:
• TBD
• ABV:
• TBD

Brewing Notes:

• 6/10/23 
• Filled two buckets with frozen raspberry which weighed out to be 65 lbs

• Added crushed campden tablets, pectic enzyme, and sugar to the raspberries.  The sugar will act to protect the fruit over night

• 6/11/23 - Rehydrated and pitched the yeast.  The raspberries had liquified and sugar had dissolved but it was still a bit cold
• 6/12/23 - Fermentation was underway by today
• 6/22/23 - Fermentation is still underway and the fruit solids have formed a surface for the wine.   I haven't done anything to mess with the fermentation this time

• 7/2/23 - It looks like active fermentation is complete.  Removed the solids and transferred the wine into a glass carboy.  Added 3 campden tablets during the transfer.

• 7/9/23 - Collected my spices in a mason jar and added Everclear to create a tincture.  Let this sit for a few weeks shaking the mix every few days
• 7/23/23 - Pitched the tincture into the secondary fermenter

Munich Dunkel - Take III - Tasting Notes

This is my third attempt at the Munich Dunkel Lager style.  It is a malt forward beer focused on the German Munich Malt.  It is a very drinkable and favorable beer that you don't find on tap very often here in the US.  So, it really is a nice thing being a homebrewer.  From previous experiences brewing this style I learned that 6 gal isn't enough - this time I decided to brew two kegs worth.  I'm thankful past me did that since current me is onto the second keg now.

The beer was made with only Munich malt and I performed a Decoction mash where you boil a grain heavy portion of the mash several times and add it back into the main mash to raise the temperature.  This darkens the beer, helps efficiency of sugar extraction quite a bit (got 85% for this beer when I was expecting 70%), and creates some malty flavors.  It makes for a longer brew day but I would do it again

The beer was hopped with Tettnanger and fermented down to 1.017 with Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager Yeast.  I have been drinking it since May.

I will definitely brew this beer again and would likely use the same basic recipe.  Anyhow, time for some tasting notes.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Bready and malty aroma with maybe a bit of caramel in there.  Has a bit of lager yeast character as well
• Appearance:
• Golden brown and pretty clear.  Pours with a 1 finger head that fades down to a thin foam fairly quickly
• Flavor:
• Lightly toasty and bready malt character up front.  This fades into a slight bit of sweet malt character followed by a mild bitterness in the finish.  There is a bit of light lager yeast character in the mix as well.  The finish has a nice balance between malt and hop character although definitely more malty than hoppy.  There may be a slight bit of hop flavor in there as well - herbal.
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied and pretty dry.  It drinks very smoothly and has a fairly crisp finish that urges one to take another gulp
• Overall:
• I really love the Munich Dunkel style.  I think this is a pretty good one.  The flavors are nice and it has a good bit of complexity.  It is also very drinkable and refreshing to have on tap here during the summer months

Pliny the Elder Clone - Tasting Notes

This was intended to be a clone of the famous Russian River Brewery's Pliny the Elder.  I had attempted a clone of the beer once before with unimpressive results and had thought that several more years of brewing experience would have improved my chances (I've started kegging since then for example).

I've adjusted my recipe here a bit (based on one published by Vinnie their owner/head brewer) and had some very nice bulk hops to use for it.  I hit my OG number pretty accurately so was off to a good start.  Unfortunately, I opted to use some saved yeast I had on hand which wasn't able to take the beer close to the 1.010 target (finished at 1.024 after an emergency second pitch) - was disappointing at the time but will give me a compelling reason for a third attempt most likely

Anyhow, I ended up with a very tasty beer that was a bit weaker than PTE but which probably tasted quite a bit like it (I haven't put in the effort to taste the real thing in the last couple months to say for sure).  I've been expecting a killed keg here for the last couple weeks but have been too busy to write this post.  Thank goodness for a rainy day so that I have the time and energy to capture this post before this beer is gone :)

Tasting Note:

• Aroma:
• Piney and citrusy hop aroma is strong.  Maybe there is some yeast aroma in there as well but can't really pick up any malt character through the hops
• Appearance:
• Pours with a 2 finger head.  It's golden in color and hazy.  It leaves lacing on the glass
• Flavor:
• Bold hop flavors up front - piney and citrus.  This is followed by a slight bit of malt character which then transitions to a pretty strong bitterness in the finish.  The balance is firmly on the side of the hops with just a small bit of malt sweetness in there along with lingering hop flavor.  There is a hint of alcohol in the flavor profile as well and maybe a hint of something I could imagine is yeast.
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium light bodied and pretty dry on the palate.  The firm bitterness makes this a nice drinking beer
• Overall:
• This is a boldly flavored hop forward beer.  I think the hop aroma and flavor have subsided a little bit over the almost 2 months I've had it in the keg but it's still plenty hoppy.  The haziness isn't an intentional trait here but it does look nice (if this weren't intended to be a clone of the clear Pliny).  This was intended to be a 7.9% ABV beer and I only managed to hit 6.3% but this is still a pretty strong beer - I like drinking it but it's not a beer to do 2 of on a week night.