Friday, December 30, 2016

Vienna Lager


Over the past year, I took a strong interest in lagers, particularly German lagers. I researched a number of varieties and tried several commercial beers. Eventually, Vienna Lager made it onto my list of beers to brew. I understand it's not of German heritage, so it doesn't really fit the German theme, but for this beer I used German yeast (34/70), German malt (Avangard Vienna), and German hops.


I kegged this beer nearly three months ago, and it cleared nicely without the use of gelatin or other clarifying agents (aside from Irish Moss in the boil). However, this keg is stored elsewhere, and the CO2 tank with it is too large to fit in the fridge, so I just attach the gas when I want to draw off a pint. The end result, though, was dwindling carbonation. The beer in the photos is under-carbonated. I later utilized the shake method to force carbonate the beer, which rendered it cloudy again.


How does it taste and smell? The aroma is of slight caramel, sweetness, bread. The taste is bready, with hops lacking. Commercial examples (including the fantastic Sierra Nevada Vienna Lager) I've had were prominently hoppy. The upside is that the restrained hops allow the malt to shine through nicely, and it does. Taste is not quite as complex as the nose. When crystal clear, meaning that all the flavor-impacting solid particulates have dropped out, it even has a tangy, fruity quality--apparently in the realm of citrus, according to my dad. Perhaps some residual hops? This beer tastes extremely clean, so I don't believe any esters made it through.

Finally, I have to say I'm quite pleased with 34/70 yeast overall. It's pretty easy to use and produces a tasty beer. There might be a limit to the number of generations you can use it before it starts throwing off flavors (this last packet I used three times, with Helles 5 being the last), but when it's doing what it's supposed to, it's excellent. Cheers!

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/vienna-lager-2-72f3ce

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Helles 5


This is probably the best helles I've brewed to date. It has the perfect mix of grainy flavor and lager crispness, without the astringency or metallic notes from prior versions.



It is yet another simply smash beer, with 100% Weyermann pilsner malt and 3.2% AA Hallertauer hops (purchased a couple years ago, but they worked out fine).



I kegged this beer over three weeks ago, in hopes that that would be enough time for any yeast and chill haze to settle out. But it didn't. So I hit it with gelatin on Sunday night (October 23), and the beer was clear by Tuesday night. It is really looking nice.



A little under-carbonated at this point, but it tastes great.





























Further clarification: http://m.imgur.com/a/V9qkw.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Helles 4 - failure



They can't all be winners I guess. I fermented this beer with yeast I cultured up from a can of White River Fall Creek Lager, an oktoberfest. I began culturing the yeast before I knew exactly what strain it is. The brewery replied that it is 34/70, which was disappointing as I had used that yeast many times.

Nonetheless, I continued trying to build up yeast cells. However, I think I rushed it, and as a result, my starter wasn't strong enough. I decided I wanted to brew one day and that was the yeast I had on hand, so I went for it. I didn't think much of the lag period, as that's typical for a first pitch of 34/70.

In retrospect, though, I think I massively underpitched. This beer tastes heavily of clove and maybe a touch of banana. If I didn't know better, I'd think it was some sort of Belgian beer, such as saison. A helles is all about malt, and there is no malt flavor in this.

I purchased the grain for this beer with a gift card I got for my birthday, so I feel bad about just dumping it. So I've been more or less choking it down -- overly strong language, actually. It's not undrinkable. Just not a helles. Oh well, live and learn!

Sunday, September 11, 2016

Helles version 3 - kellerbier?



Lagers have quickly become my favorite type of beer to brew, and buy, for that matter. If I had to add up the receipts for all my commercial beer purchases this year -- at least for the last six months -- lagers would certainly be the majority.

true color. other photos are filtered.


I've brewed so many, I think, because I realized I love them; the (perceived) challenge; and lack of commercial availability, at least locally.

Like any beer you make, though, it takes awhile to figure them out. There are a million different grain, hop, and yeast cominations, and each will lead to varying results.



With this beer, I think I've found one that I really like. It's another SMASH, with 100% Avangard pils and an ounce of Tettnanger hops at 60 minutes.

If you look at the beer advocate definition of kellerbier, it would seem to fit: unfiltered cloudy lager, which this definitely is. But this helles will clear up over time, and was actually quite translucent going into the keg. I guess kellerbier remains cloudy, which this won't, so maybe that's the difference. The style guidelines don't seem to distinguish it from other styles aside from cloudiness. In fact, the BJCP definition for kellerbier is extremely ambiguous, noting that "the style is somewhat hard to pin down" and that it is often just young beer. Which this is. So maybe this is a kellerbier helles.



The past helles I've brewed needed some lagering, but this is tasting great already. It has a tasty grainy, corny flavor that I really like. If I didn't know better, I wouldn't think there were any hops in it, aside from apparent yet subtle bitterness.

This beer is nearly white; it has just a twinge of yellow. Perhaps out of style? I really like the taste of just pilsner malt. Maybe I could add some color through decoction. Yet my brew days are long enough as they are, so decoction is probably not in my future, at least any time soon.

Did I hit upon a good malt/hop combo, or have I settled on a recipe that suits my preferences? I've brewed two prior helles. The first had avangard pils, a touch of munich, and two ounces of hersbrucker hops. As I recall, the sample from the fermenter as it was kegged tasted pretty good. It's hard to say for sure how it was, though, since the beer was ruined by a paperclip in the keg.



Version 2 used 100% Rahr pils and Hallertau hops, one ounce at 45 minutes. This one sort of had a metallic flavor at times. No paperclip this time, but I've read that noble hops can taste metallic.

I currently have two additional versions fermenting. Both smash beers. One is a Rahr/Hallertau combo and the other is a Weyermann/Hallertau combo. I'll see how they compare.

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/helles-version-3

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Random lager - or just a lighter dunkel?



So often in brewing I reach a point where I have a little bit of a variety of different ingredients. I had a bunch of munich and pilsner on hand but not enough to make anything for which I'd need a substantial amount of either of those. So I just threw a bunch of grains together: munich, dark munich, pilsner. And caramunich II and carafa iii for color.

I didn't intend to adhere to any specific style in brewing this beer, and in fact, I was deliberately avoiding a particular style. Nonetheless, it occurred to me later on that I had basically made another dunkel. This one is much lighter and less sweet, having a FG of 1.008.



It's a solid beer. Good color, good clarity and flavor.

This beer is the first one I've clarified with gelatin. I kegged it on July 11 and the next night I added 1/4 cup and about a teaspoon of gelatin to the keg. About 20 hours later -- obviously less than the recommended 24 hours -- I drew off a pint or two of yeasty clumpy beer and discarded it. From there on, the beer has cleared up quite well. I think I will use it on all pale or semi-pale lagers going forward. It seems to create clear beer much more quickly than my typical method, which is to let the keg sit in the fridge for awhile. But I can't resist drinking/sampling the beer, so the first half or 2/3 of the keg is cloudy and yeasty and not as good as the last 1/3, which is bright and delicious. But by then the beer is nearly gone.

I don't mind cloudy beer for pale ales and IPAs. The hops are so prominent that any protein or yeast in suspension is overridden. But I have found that lagers need to be clear in order to taste right. They need crispness that only comes from clear beer.



Flavor: caramel. Malt. Moderate sweetness. No hops. Lager tanginess and crispness.

Appearance: deep amber. Good clarity.

Overall: pretty solid beer for something that I just threw together. It's fairly dry, so it's quite drinkable on a hot day.

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/lager-37e65e

On another note, I really wish there were more "craft" lagers available to purchase. Right now it seems mostly what you see is IPAs, stouts, and sours. I think lagers are quietly making a resurgence though. For example, Stone, of all breweries, just came out with a pilsner. More and more you'll see them on the shelves. They're really delicious beers and are quite underrated.

I think someone looking to get into commercial brewing could carve out a niche by specializing on lagers. Sure, there are some that already do that, but the vast majority focus on ales. Which leads to a lot of "sameness." After awhile, an IPA starts to taste the same everywhere you go. Make it pale and use popular fruit-forward hops. That's the current trend. You see that everywhere and they taste the same. But you just don't see lagers all that much. A nice helles somewhere? Rare. A Vienna lager? Nope. A dunkel? What? The world of lager is vast and overlooked; that needs to change.

Update: This beer looking (and tasting) really nice on a hot day: http://imgur.com/93tWVH7.

Monday, July 18, 2016

helles version 2

Helles #1 turned out to be a disaster, due to brewer packaging error. All that research and waiting time for naught.

Before I realized a paper clip in the keg ruined that beer, I decided I'd give helles another shot, before perhaps just giving up on lagers altogether. So I brewed a very simple smash helles. Simply Rahr pilsner malt and hallertau hops.

After it was brewed, I dumped helles #1 and found the paper clip, which lifted my spirits, as I realized there wasn't a problem with my water or brewing process. Again I was encouraged when my dunkel turned out really well.

This beer was in the fermenter for about four weeks. Brewed on May 22; kegged on June 20. It stayed in the fermenter longer that I intended. I worried that that might have a negative impact on the beer. But I don't think it did. I tried a sample of the beer as it was being kegged (and thus warm and flat) and it tasted like warm, stale beer. That was concerning. But it tastes great now that it's cold, carbonated, and cleared up.

OG was 1.050, volume at about 5.25 gallons. Racked onto yeast cake that fermented the dunkel and helles #1. FG was 1.012.

I'm still trying to achieve something that tastes like Kansas City Bier Company helles or Weihenstephaner Original Premium. I'm not there yet. But this is a good beer. It reminds me of Gordon Biersch's Golden Export, which uses the same yeast and hops as mine (not sure what grain they use).

I've found that these beers just need to clear up to taste good. I don't really think there's any magic that happens with "lagering." Given time, gravity, and low temperatures, yeast, protein, hops, and other particulates will drop out of suspension, leaving behind a clear, crisp, clean, flavorful beer.

Clarity is important for this style of beer. In my opinion, a lager should be crisp, and it simply won't be crisp if it's hazy and yeasty.

Appearance: Very clear, but not crystal clear. Clearing with every pint drawn from the keg. Golden, with a faint haze.

Taste: Grain. Maybe a touch of astringency. Clean. No diacetyl, no off flavors. No hops. Except maybe a touch of a metallic hop flavor. NOT a paper clip this time. Grass. Hay. Bread. Little in the way of hop flavor. But there is a certain metallic flavor there. Incidentally, I had a miller lite in Myrtle Beach a few weeks ago. It tasted kind of like this beer. Not sure what to make of that. I'd be curious to find out what the PH of this beer is. It's got just the slightest touch of crisp, tanginess that a typical lager has.

Aroma: a hint of sulfur. grain. malt sweetness.


Overall, I'm pleased with this beer. I would definitely brew it again. I am fermenting these with a swamp cooler and ice bottles. I encourage anyone to give lagers a try.

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/munich-helles-version-2

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Munich Dunkel - Tasting



I really wanted to get to know some other types of lagers after I recently discovered helles. So I branched out to dunkel, among others. The natural progression from there was to attempt brewing my own. I listened to podcasts, read blog posts, reviewed the brewing classic styles version, and studied the style guidelines.



Mine probably isn't quite to style. It has a fair amount of cara- malt, for example. However, I pretty much strictly create my own recipes. The beer that I brewed is based on pretty much the initial recipe; it was tweaked to a certain extent. But I really wanted -- and always want -- to make these beers my own, based on my own creativity and research.

It might be a touch dark, and just ever so slightly sweet. If I were to brew it again, I'd at least reduce the cara- malt if not eliminate it altogether. Moreover, I might increase the bitterness slightly and reduce the mash temp in an effort to increase attenuation. That said, in terms of sweetness, it is moderate, without being cloying or bone-dry. OG was 1.060 (before adding 500 mL of water) and FG was 1.012. I fermented this beer with 34/70.

Taste is of... malt? The color seems to play tricks on the mind: surely it must be roasty, caramely right? But no. It is mainly just clean, pale malt. There might be just a hint of caramel, or perhaps coffee. Maybe just a bit of dark fruit. There seems to be a hint of caramel sweetness in the aroma. No hop flavor or aroma at all. Low bitterness. It is very clean; absolutely no phenolics, diacetyl, or sulfur. 



It is a nice-looking beer with good clarity, a rich ruby color, and a tan head that fades to a ring of bubbles on the edges of the glass.

Overall, I am pleased with this beer and relieved to know that I can brew a decent lager, notwithstanding my helles fiasco that made me consider giving up on them. And you can too. I encourage apprehensive homebrewers to give lagers a try. They're much more straightforward than the standard homebrew conventional wisdom would lead you to believe. I have to credit the Brulosophy experiments for encouraging me to brew lagers. Cheers!

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/munich-dunkel-2f0eef


Saturday, June 4, 2016

Tasting March 26 IPA



Nice beer. Has cleared up really well. A definite bitterness is apparent. At times was sweet to the point of being overly so, but that seems to have resolved itself.

Tasting Munich Helles version 1



























Metallic. Unfortunately, that's the only way to describe this beer. I'm not sure what went wrong, but there is an extremely apparent metallic aftertaste that completely dominates the beer.

The beer in the pictures above was from a bottle filled from the keg. The bottle was in my fridge for over two weeks, and went from fairly cloudy to quite clear. I had hoped that the metallic flavor was due to yeast and other solid particulates in suspension, but no, the metallic flavor persists in the clear beer.

How to explain this "off flavor"? I don't know. Could it be my water? I've made pale, lightly hopped beers, such as saisons, in the past, using the same water. No metallic flavor. The keg or the CO2? I've used this keg and CO2 many times without issue. The hops? I've read that noble hops can taste metallic. I used two ounces in this batch. This seems unlikely though.

I have a second helles in the fermenter, this time using a different brand of pilsner malt and half the hops, and at 45 minutes, not any after that. If the problem continues, I'll have to consider tinkering with my water or perhaps leave pale lagers to the pros.

Update 6/11/16:

I left this beer alone for a couple weeks. Yesterday, I decided I'd try the kegged beer again. Ugh! The metallic flavor seemed to be even stronger. I even opened up the keg and dipped a cup in, to make sure the metallic taste wasn't from the post. It too was extremely metallic. So I decided I wasn't drinking anymore of it. I went outside and dumped it in the yard.

Then I took a look inside the keg. At the bottom, I saw a black paperclip. Suddenly I realized why I was tasting metal. I had used the paper clip as a handle on the pressure relief valve. It somehow fell in the keg. And ruined five gallons of helles. Oh well!


Saturday, April 30, 2016

Munich Helles - brew day - April 23, 2016

My drinking experience began with lagers. I imagine that's the case for most Americans. But as my interest in and knowledge of beer has increased (largely in the past 2.5 years, which coincides with the inception of my homebrewing hobby), I've largely dismissed them. That's for a number of reasons. I hadn't drunk too many of them, because I assumed they were mostly flavorless, in the vein of an Anheuser product. I never attempted to brew one, either, owing to my assumed dislike for them, but also because lagers are more technically challenging, or at least that's the conventional wisdom.

A year ago, I happened to visit Grünauer in Kansas City for the first time. Being frugal minded, I chose KC Bier company's helles, the least expensive draft beer on the menu. I really enjoyed it. I can't recall if I had had that particular beer before then, but it's possible, since I had a flight at KC Bier Company some time before that.

I didn't give the style much thought after that. In March of this year, though, I ran across this post, which got me thinking about lagers. I did a bit more research, reading blogs and what not. Somehow, helles caught my attention, maybe because the name is curious, but also, I think, because I read this other post. The author mentions Weihenstephaner. I set out over my lunch break to buy that beer, and I did. I drank it later that night and was extremely impressed. There was that same bready, slightly sweet flavor that I associated with KC Bier company's version.

But I recognized those flavors, I think, from prior drinking experience, in the 2000s, before I relaly got into craft beer. I used to drink Stella Artois from time to time, so maybe that is why. And the occasional import. Incidentally, I had Stella on draft last weekend, and there was that same bready, sweet flavor, with just a touch of grassy hopiness.

Why had I forgotten about these beers? Why was I so quick to dismiss them? I think it's because, also in the mid 2000s, I got into pale ales, the first, as I recall, being Boulevard Pale Ale. From there, I seemed to really focus on drinking that style. But again, prior to homebrewing, I dabbled in all kinds of styles. For example, I had a Sierra Nevada Summerfest this week, since I've been exploring lagers, and I have drunk that beer before. I was enjoying a Czech Pilsner many years ago without even realizing it.

Around the time I started homebrewing, though, I began drinking, and brewing, almost singularly ales. Especially pale ales and IPAs. I've tried almost every IPA I've come across at the liquor store. And there are tons. IPA, as most beer enthusiasts know, and perhaps lament, has exploded in popularity in recent years. This explosion of popularity in IPA has been accompanied by a general increase in flavorful ales in general. So now the shelves are dominated by hops, stouts, belgians, and even sours.

At the same time as this massive increase in popularity for ales, there seems to be a general disdain for lagers among craft beer drinkers. Myself included. I'd look past even craft lagers, assuming they must taste like Budweiser.

After trying several lagers, however, I feel that my beer drinking has come full circle. I've recently been seeking out and tasting all kinds of lagers, including dunkel, helles, dortmunder export, and pilsner. After consuming many different examples, I have an idea of what I like in these beers, and the way they should taste.

The next step was to try to craft my own. I knew I wanted to brew a helles after reading the Meek Brewing post, and I felt confident that I could do so after reading the Sui Generis blog, as well as doing a lot of research on fermenting lagers at higher temperatures. As part of that research, I read the articles on the Brülosophy lager experiments. All of this combined to make feel confident that I could attempt my first lager.

Everything finally came together yesterday. I had all my ingredients together. More research in the intervening time lead me to create and tweak a helles recipe. For example, I initially thought I'd use Saaz hops, since I had a large amount on hand, but realized Saaz is more appropriate for pilsner. Then I recalled that Yakima Valley Hops, in my last order, sent me two ounces of Hersbrucker for free. So I used those instead. I believe I intially planned to use two pounds of Munich and seven pounds of pils, but I reduced the Munich to one pound. Ultimately, I settled on the one written out below.

Brew day went smoothly, and I was finished in just under five hours. Mashed at around 149-152; the temperature varied depending on where in the mash I placed the thermometer, but in the end I just went with it. OG was 1.056-58, which was unexpectedly and frankly disappointingly high. After researching Avangard Pilsner, though, I've found that this malt is associated with a higher specific gravity than you might anticipate. But that's ok, I'm sure this will still be a tasty batch of beer. Pitching temp was 64 F.

prior to pitching

I'm fermenting in a swamp cooler. I'm trying to keep the water in the upper 50s to low 60s. So far that is working as planned. I simply add frozen bottles every 12 hours or so.



As for taste, I think I have a pretty good idea of how it will turn out. The wort tasted just like the finished beer does. Bready, a touch of corn, low bitterness, perhaps just the slightest tinge of hoppy, herbal, grassiness. Which makes me wonder: what does lager yeast add to a beer, aside from alcohol, if, as they're supposed to do, they ferment a beer so cleanly? Perhaps just a touch of residual diacetyl and sulfur?

wort sample

In any event, now it's time to wait. As I write this, nearly 24 hours after pitching (i.e., sprinkling, per the instructions, the yeast on top of the wort), there is no activity to be seen. In fact, the yeast seems to have decided to simply float on top of the wort, despite my best efforts to shake the better bottle slightly in an attempt to sink it. This has happened before, though, and I must remember that old homebrewing adage: relax, don't worry...

Recipe:

8 lbs Avangard pils
1 lb light Munich

1 oz Hersbrucker at 60
1 oz Hersbrucker at 30

Saflager W-34/70

Update 4/30/16:

I babied this beer all week. I exchanged frozen water bottles as often as I could in an attempt to keep the temperature in the 50s. The temperature varied throughout the week from about 49 to as high as 62. It was in the 50s the majority of the time.


























beginning to show signs of fermentation

The krausen had started to settle out by Thursday and is pretty much gone now, save for a thin layer of bubbles on top.

I removed the fermenter from the swamp cooler today to start a week-long diacetyl rest. I also couldn't resist sampling it. I took my thief and drew off a bit of it and checked the gravity as well. Gravity is around 1.012-14. Very cloudy. Clean flavor. I initially thought of a saison I brewed a couple years ago with English hops, either Fuggles or EKG. It tasted a bit corny, which made me wonder if that's a normal attribute of the pilsner malt, or if it's DMS and I didn't boil long enough. On the other hand, the commercial examples I've been drinking lately have a touch of that corny, grainy flavor.

Body is a bit thin. Will it seem thicker after carbonation? There's maybe a touch of a savoriness in the finish. Is that diacetyl? I've never tasted actual diacetyl, so I'm not sure what to look for.

In any event, this beer needs to sit for awhile. I imagine resting in a keg in a cold fridge will really round out this beer, just as it does the IPAs that I make.

Monday, April 25, 2016

Tasting: March 12, 2016 Kitchen Sink IPA



It's interesting to think about the evolution of beer. If all you see is the end product, it may not occur to you. It happens on the commercial side, with filters, centrifuges, bright tanks, and various techniques such as dry hopping, etc. It for sure happens on the homebrew side, too, and this particular beer is a good example.

Early tasting notes, dated March 27, mere hours after kegging:

First tastings of kitchen sink IPA

The name kitchen sink really does a disservice to this beer. I set the beer at 30 psi yesterday afternoon around 4:30 PM. I just sampled it tonight around 10:15 PM. It is already pretty well carbonated. And wow what an explosion of flavor!

It is absolutely amazing how dry hopping will completely transform a beer. Yesterday the beer was somewhat translucent and golden amber and very fruity. Now it is an explosion of juice and super hazy. Even though this beer doesn't use wyeast 1318 yeast, which supposedly leads to a lot of haziness, I wonder if some of these famous northeast breweries are achieving this hazy look with tons of dry hopping.

In any event, I can tell this beer is going to be a real pleasure to drink. Tonight I also tried something I don't normally do with my dry hopped beers. I removed the beer and CO2 lines and set the keg on its side and rotated it several times in an effort to distribute the hop oils throughout the entire beer. I've heard that this
[circulation of dry hops throughout the bright tank] is something that commercial breweries do.




Indeed, those early samples were quite murky. And tasted sweet, nearly to the point of cloying.

Fast forward a few weeks, and having drawn off a couple gallons from the keg here and there, the beer has brightened substantially and really hit its stride. 



It's hazy without being murky. It's very 'juicy,' and sort of reminds me of eating a jolly rancher. It sort of has this artificial fruit flavor, but in a good way. I think I just threw in so many hops that they just kind of combined forces into a random fruit conglomeration. Either way, it is extremely fruity, tropical, and a bit sweet, but thankfully bitter enough to rein in that sweetness. It is extremely fragrant as well.

Overall, I am very pleased with this sort of one-off shotgun-approach IPA. I probably will never brew it again, but it's up there with the best I've made.

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Brew and keg day

Another keg is about to kick, so that means it's time to brew again. I've been drinking a ton of commercial IPAs lately, so I figured it's time to make yet another one of my own. Whereas last fall I made a lot of IPAs that tasted more like pale ales, given their lower bitterness and low ABV, this time I'm focusing on higher ABV, maltier IPAs. By malty I mean more body and sweetness, to support a ton of aroma and flavor.

Earlier in the week, I sampled the March 12 kitchen sink ipa. FG was at 1.016, which seemed high. The krausen had completely fallen, though. Yet, the airlock was bubbling regularly. Tasted delicious though. I was pleased (and relieved) to know that I could reawaken a yeast slurry that had sat in my fridge for over three months. A touch sweet. Very fruity. No one hop stood out, which was interesting since I used a 15-minute hop-stand with the experimental grapefruit. There was no onion, garlic, or skunkiness.

However, I was concerned about the elevated FG. Was that due to a high mash temperature, or had the fermentation not completed? I decided to leave it alone until today. Once again, I took a gravity reading. Still at 1.016. I knew I wanted to brew today, and figured the yeast had probably done all it could do, so I called it done. It tastes good. Same floral, fruity flavor. Tons of aroma, too, which contrasts with the IPAs I brewed last year, at least for non-dry-hopped samples directly from the fermenter. And finally, a touch of minty spiciness in the finish, perhaps from the rye. The beer is golden amber. There is a lot of stuff in suspension. Proteins? Yeast? Hard to say for sure, but hopefully it will settle out once it hits the fridge.

I dry-hopped this beer with two ounces Columbus, one ounce Galaxy, and one ounce Citra. I considered tossing in an ounce of vic secret, as well, but that hop seems to have a harsh character. I noted that harsh smell as I cleaned out the vic secret beer keg today.

As stated, this was also brew day. Another IPA. Same OG. This time no crystal or rye. And I used two pounds of Munich. Eight pounds of german pale ale (Avangard) crushed by the homebrew shop. Two pounds that I crushed using my coffee grinder (nearly to a fine powder). Finally, I had a touch of oats left over -- four ounces -- so I ground them up and added them in as well.

As for hops, I chose El Dorado, Azacca, and Centennial (2013; the other two are the 2015 crop). And as I mulled over the recipe some more, I decided to throw in a couple ounces of Columbus at flame-out. This beer has 10 ounces of boil hops. Perhaps I overdid it? Hope not.



Brew day was relatively smooth, although I had a few boil-overs. The final one sent a ton of hops on to upper edges of the kettle, so I took a sanitized spoon and pushed it back into the wort. I chilled the wort to 167 and did a 30-minute hop stand. Checked original gravity, which was 1.070, following a full chill to about 73 F. I then racked onto the kitchen sink yeast cake. This one should be ready to keg in about two weeks.

Up next: Helles!

Friday, March 18, 2016

First brew of 2016: another kitchen sink ipa



I went on a brewing tear last fall. I brewed about six or seven beers in a two month period. I filled up all four of my kegs. By the time I brewed the last one, in December, I was done for awhile. Both because I had more than enough beer to drink, but also because brew days are long and physically demanding, and I just didn't have the time or energy recently to devote to creating a new beer.

Last Saturday, March 5, I took an inventory of my hops and also sketched out a simple beer. I had a lot of old hops, including a pound of Columbus from 2013 and nearly a pound of Chinook, from the same year. The Chinook had been opened, and didn't smell all that fresh and hoppy anymore, so I figured I would use them for bittering. I also had citra and galaxy on hand, among other things. Those are still fresh, and I figured they'd make up for or mask any shortfall from the older Columbus hops. I couldn't summon the energy to brew that day though.



So another Saturday rolled around -- this past one -- and I had a full day ahead of me. I'd been getting the brewing itch again, and have gotten kind of bored with the beers I have on tap; plus, the kegs are getting pretty close to empty. Therefore, it seemed a good time to make some beer.

I looked over my hops again, and in addition to the ones mentioned above, I also threw in centennial, vic secret, and the remainder of the experimental grapefruit hops. 10 ounces of hops total.

This was a smooth brew day, with no hiccups at all. I was finished in 5.5 hours, and that included a lengthened mash due to working out and getting food.

I used US-05 slurry that I reserved from the experimental grapefruit IPA back in December. I took out the container at the beginning of the day, and placed it in warm water midway through. As the yeast warmed, bubbles were rising to the top of the jar, and slurry was seeping out the top. I considered this a good sign, as it indicated to me that this yeast is still viable.

OG was around 1.068-70. Right around 5.25 gallons. I pitched about 24 ounces of US-05 slurry. At around 72 degrees. Mashed at what I thought was 154, but at the end of the extended mash, the temp was actually 156. I'm looking for a malty IPA this time, so that's fine.

I pitched the yeast around 5 pm, and there was no activity as of 5 pm Sunday, nor at 10:30 that night. There were several visible clusters of bubbles visible as of 8 AM Monday, though, and much more around 1 pm. That's a relief, as I've had problems using old slurry in the past. But I'm hopeful and encouraged that this will be a successful, delicious beer.

As of Friday, March 18, the beer is nearly finished fermenting. There's still a layer of gooey bubbles on top, but the krausen has mostly sunk. I'd say this will be ready to keg in just a few more days.



Sunday, January 17, 2016

Chocolate Coffee Porter



This beer had been on my mind for a long time. Having had a delicious coffee porter at Cycle Brewing earlier this year and of course Founders breakfast stout, I knew I needed to make one myself. I threw a recipe together one night after work, but was concerned that the pale chocolate malt I had was too old to use. It will be two years old in June. That necessitated a few quick tests. I steeped the grains in hot water and tasted it. It seemed ok so I went with it.

The beer fermented quickly, but I was not able to package it since all of my kegs were full. After nearly four weeks, though, on January 4, I had an empty keg and it was ready to keg. I ground five ounces of Heroes Coffee espresso. I added that along with five ounces Askinosie cacao nibs to a paint bag. Incidentally, it had a few small holes. I also used three stainless steel spoons to weight it down. After siphoning the beer to the keg, I placed the bag in the beer. It floated. I had to remove it, open the bag, and add more spoons. Six were enough to make it sink.



From there, I waited. Of course, curiosity got the better of me the next day and the following days. I had to try it. Very coffee forward. No chocolate. A touch sweet and viscous. Cloudy, with bits of ground coffee. And flat. I waited some more, hoping it would carbonate quickly. Eventually I turned the gas to 30 psi and it was still not carbonating. But I left the gas on.

Finally, on Friday, the carbonation was at a drinkable level. Somehow, however, the beer quickly switched from flat to overcarbonated. I turned the gas all the way off in hopes that it would settle down, but it's still really foamy. The coffee seems to have faded slightly, it tastes drier, and the chocolate seems to be more pronounced. It's not too dry, however. And roasty.



If I made this beer again, I might try adding more coffee. I also wouldn't grind it as much. Too much grinding made the coffee very fine, allowing it to escape through the paint bag's tiny mesh holes. I'd also make sure I was using a paint bag with no holes. This leads to some small coffee particles ending up in the beer. Which, it occurs to me, may create nucleation points and hence a foamy beer.

Couldn't I just add the coffee and nibs to the fermenter? Sure. I like the keg method because I avoid the possibility of infection. I've taken to not opening the fermenter until I'm ready to keg the beer. I just wait two weeks and it's ready to go. I haven't had any issues with under attenuation. This all just makes me feel like there is a lot of room for innovation in homebrewing. Plastic fermenters, siphoning... There has to be a better way. And a better way to dry hop, too. For now I dry hop in the keg, which works well, but, again, there has to be a better way.

All that said, overall, this beer is pretty solid and measures up to what I had hoped for. With a few tweaks, it can be even better.

Final gravity: 1.018-20.

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/chocolate-coffee-porter-8a16e6

Update 1/18/16:

This beer definitely needs a few tweaks. Quite a few flecks of coffee bean continue to make it into the beer, distracting from an otherwise attractive appearance and probably contributing to a very foamy pour, and killing the head. Other than that, seems to taste pretty good.