Pale Ale Version 2

Brewed a second Pale Ale today using the same recipe as the one from two weeks ago but added the hops in the fashion I'm used to - during the boil. I read that hop additions should be adjusted by 1/3 to 1/2 between the two techniques, so I modified as followed:

• 10 lbs. North American 2-row malt
• 1 lb. medium crystal malt (40L)
• 1 tbsp Irish Moss (at 30 minutes)
• 13.2 AA units Chinook (1 oz.) at 75 minutes
• 12.2 AA units Citra (1 oz.) at 15 minutes
• 16.2 AA units CTZ (Columbus) (1/2 oz.) at 5 minutes 
• 1 package Safale US-05

I used the same brewing method as last time - a single step infusion mash. The temp of the mash was supposed to be 150 but was more in the 148 range. I also sparged to gather 9 gallons of wort, which was boiled for 75 minutes. I managed to collect a little over 5 gallons for the fermenter, and made a yeast slurry before pitching the dry yeast. I didn't do that last time and it took longer than I anticipated for fermentation to start. Interested to see if this makes a difference. I remembered to take the original gravity, which was 1.040.

I also tried a suggestion from the new book, which recommends putting the wort chiller in the brew pot to sterilize it. I probably won't do this again since it added a bunch of hop particles to the wort in the pail I use to chill to pitching temp. I've never had an issue sterilizing it with One-Step in the bucket before running the boiled wort for chilling into it. 

While the mash and boil were going on, I transferred the previous Pale Ale as well as the Oatmeal Stout to secondaries. I got a little less than 4 gallons of the Pale Ale and just about 5 of the Oatmeal Stout. I didn't try the Pale Ale but it smelled very good and a small sample of the Oatmeal Stout has me full of anticipation for the final product. It was delicious at only three weeks!

Pale Ale - Hop-Bursting

Two Saturdays ago I brewed my first Pale Ale and tried a different approach to the hop additions - hop bursting. It is discussed in Home Brew: Beyond the Basics by Mike Karnowski, one of the new brewing books I recently purchased. Instead of adding the hops during the boil, they are added at the end and allowed to steep for 45 minutes before chilling the wort. The theory is this method allows for more hop flavors and aroma with a smoother bitterness so I'm interested to see how this beer tastes and smells as compared to others. Perhaps I should brew the same recipe but add the hops to the boil...

• 10 lbs. North American 2-row malt
• 1 lb. medium crystal malt (40L)
• 1 tbsp Irish Moss
• 26.4 AA units Chinook 
• 24.4 AA units Citra
• 16.2 AA units CTZ (Columbus)
• 1 package Safale US-05

Despite my desire to take a more measured and informed approach to brewing in 2016, I forgot to take the specific gravity of the wort before it was transferred to the fermenter. Next time.

Oatmeal Stout

First brew of 2016: Oatmeal Stout

Decided to do this so it has a long-enough runway to taste really good in the winter of 2016-17. Found this recipe and followed it pretty much spot on:

• 6.5 lbs. Pale Malt - Maris Otter
• 1 lb. rolled oats
• 0.5 lb. roasted barley
• 0.5 lb. chocolate malt
• 0.5lb. crystal malt 120L - Briess
• 1 oz. Willamette (5.2% AA) added at 60 minutes
• 1 packet Safale S-04 ale yeast (dry)

This was one of the more "by the book" all-grain batches I've done - perhaps I'm getting the hang of it. By that I mean everything went according to schedule. Sometimes the steps take a little longer because I'm waiting for water to get to the right temperature, etc. but this time I started some water on the stove while I was getting out the brewing equipment. I also had two pots of water heating at various times so I had the ability to adjust water temp as I went. 

This was a single infusion mash, resting at 153 degrees for 60 minutes, with a mashout temperature of 170. My only "off-schedule" moment was that the water I needed for the mashout wasn't to 200 degrees when the mash hit 60 minutes so it went for about 70 minutes.

I can't remember the last time I used a dry yeast so fingers cross the pitch was a success. I've read some good reviews of this yeast, which makes me think I'll be fine.

I also am finding my trusty Brewmaster's Bible to be a little short when it comes to all-grain batches so I ordered a few new brewing books, including one that is supposed to be helpful in designing recipes.  I think my next equipment upgrade or modification will be something that aides in sparging. I'd like to devise a way that adds sparge water at the same rate as the runoff. 

Dry Hoppin'

After one of the most vigorous fermentations I've seen in a long time, and 11 days (supposed to have been 10) in the primary, the Session IPA was transferred to the secondary last night and dry hopped with:

• 1 oz Centennial Hops (10.7% AA)
• 1 oz Amarillo Hops (9.5% AA)

I didn't taste it like I normally due at this point because I figured the hop additions would change the flavor so much it would be hard to judge if everything was going according to plan. Four days in the secondary, then a cold crash and bottling.

Pilsner Update Update

After several days, the fermentation in the pilsner started. Slowly. And remained slow. So I let it go for probably way longer than I should have but when it was transferred to the secondary on March 12, it tasted pretty good. This weekend I rigged a lagering system - the carboy is in a large wooden barrel that I lined with a heavy duty trash bag. I filled the barrel with water to the height of the beer in the carboy and have been changing out two frozen 1/2 gallon jugs of water daily to keep the temp around 35 degrees. Only about seven more weeks of lagering (maybe more if I want to push it) before bottling!

Session IPA

The IPA has been my go-to recently. It took me a long time to embrace this style, often finding it  too bitter. I guess, maybe, as I'm aging or refining, perhaps my taste buds are too. Whatever the case, I'm enjoying most IPAs these days. My favorite as of late are session IPAs like Founders All-Day IPA or Ithaca Brewing's Green Trail. So now that I like to drink it, why not try to make it, right?

A little internet research and trip to E.J. Wren, and we were on our way. The plan is to drink this, along with the pilsner started a few months ago and now lagering in the basement, at our wedding in July. Fingers crossed this comes out... 

As a guide, I used this recipe for a clone of the Founders. I probably should've read it more closely because I made an error in the first hop addition and did some on-the-fly learning about hop stands. The first hop addition was supposed to be a FWH, or first wort hopping, addition at the time of the runoff. Without a control, I'm not sure if there will be a noticeable difference but if this is a keeper, maybe the second time I'll try it and see what happens.

• 7.5 lbs American Pale 2-row
• 2 lbs crystal/caramel 20 
• .75 oz Cascade Hops 60 minutes (6.8% AA)
• 2 oz Amarillo Hops 5 minutes (9.5% AA)
• 2 oz Centennial Hops for a hop stand 15 minutes (10.7% AA)
• .25 oz Cascade Hops for a hop stand 15 minutes (6.8% AA)
• Wyeast 1056 American Ale

I haven't gotten to this step yet but will be dry hopping in the secondary for four days with:

• 1 oz Centennial Hops (10.7% AA)
• 1 oz Amarillo Hops (9.5% AA)

I single infusion mashed at around 152 degrees for 60 minutes. I'm not sure if I raised the temp enough at the end of 60 minutes but I maxed out around 165 degrees when there was no more room in the mash tun... 

After recirculating the first gallon or so of the runoff, I sparged with 160-170 degree sparge water to get about 6 gallons. As previously mentioned, I missed the FWH addition so instead added the Cascade Hops at 60 minutes. This was also my first hop stand - I added the Centennial at flame out and let stand for 15 minutes covered. The temp dropped to about 190 at the end of 15 minutes just before I added the Cascade. I stirred at this point to create the whirlpool and let stand a final 15 before transferring to the bucket for chilling. I pitched the yeast at 67 degrees and fermentation was rockin' and rollin' within 12 hours. 

Pilsner update

After about 12 hours, there's still no noticeable fermentation activity. This had me a little worried but after reading this, I think I'm going to ride it out a little longer before pressing the panic button.

Triple Decoction Pilsner Experiment

Hello world, we're brewing again. Having made the conversion to all-grain batches, and the winter weather bringing colder temps to the basement, thought it time to try an all-grain pilsner. The only all-grain pilsner recipe in the The Brewmaster's Bible was a complicated and new (for me) triple decoction... so we're giving it a whirl.

After a visit to E.J. Wren's for supplies, and some very helpful advice given the availability of ingredients and conversion of a 9-gallon recipe to a 5-gallon, the batch is boiling. Recipe is as follows:

• 8 lbs. Pilsner Malt
• 1.5 lbs. Carapils Malt
• 1 oz. Santiam hop pellets (7.2% AA) added at 1 hour
• 2 tsp. Irish Moss added at 15 min
• 1 oz. Mount Hood hop pellets (4.5% AA) added at 8 min
• 1 oz. Czech Saaz hop pellets (3.6% AA) added at 3 min
• Wyeast Bavarian Lager #2206

The triple decoction process was, well, a process. For each decoction, about 1/3 of the mash (a mixture of the liquid and grains) was removed, two cups of water added, and everything brought to a boil. This was then added back to the mash tun. The correct temperatures were achieved after the first two decoctions, but fell 10 degrees short after the third. As per the Bible's guidance,  2 quarts of water were used per pound of grain. The same amount of water was used for the sparging process. A runoff of 6.5 gallons was boiled for 1.5 hours, with the above ingredients added as outlined. 

Yeast pitched with wort chilled to 50 degrees F. Primary fermentation started in the basement, where the current temp is ~50. 

Acer Wit All Grain Recipe

The past few batches I've brewed have been all-grain recipes. I think after nearly 14 years of brewing, I'm finally a convert. This latest batch, an all-grain wit using maple sap in place of water, is based off this recipe. The brew store didn't have all of the ingredients so some substitutions were made, as well as modifications to the mashing process. Fingers crossed everything comes out as planned... It is still in the primary awaiting a little more clarification before transfer to the secondary.

Logan’s Libations Acer Wit (all-grain)

------------------           

10 gallons maple sap from the Somerlot's 

4.5 lbs. Pale Malt-Briess

4.5 lbs. Wheat Malt

1 lbs. steel cut oats

Added at 90 minutes:

0.5 oz German Northern Brewer hops (9.6% AA)

Added at 30 minutes:

1 oz German Tettnang hops (4.5% AA)

Added at 5 minutes:

1 oz German Tettnang hops (3.5% AA)

Added at flameout:

0.5 oz crushed coriander seed

1 oz bitter orange peel

0.25 oz chamomile

Wyeast Belgian Abbey (#1214)

Notes:

Step mash all grains at 98 degrees for 30 minutes with 1 quart/lb. Raise to 122 degrees by adding 2.5 quarts boiling sap for 15min. Raise to 155 degrees by adding 5 quarts of boiling sap for 45 min. Sparge with 170 degree sap to get ~8 gallons wort.

Of the noblest intents

Tonight I transferred the Righteous Pils into the secondary. This brew contains a number of "firsts" for my brewing repertoire:

• First lager fermentation - thankfully, although some may argue with this, the spring temps have remained unseasonably chilly, keeping my basement cold enough to enable temps suitable (I hope) for lagering without needing extra measures of refrigeration. They've hovered in the low 50s.
• First dry hopping - A final addition of hops added during the fermentation stage.
• First clone - I've tried recipes similar to commercial brews before but never one that was explicitly stated to be a clone. 

I'm looking forward to a crisp, refreshing pilsner for the start of the 2013 summer.

I wasn't exactly sure why Sam Adams called their beer a Noble Pils but curiosity about the recipe lead me to discover that noble refers to the types of hops used. According to a commonly referenced source found on the interweb, noble hops are races of hops that are high in aroma while being low in bitterness. These are traditionally Hallertau, Tetnanger, Spalt and Saaz. The clone also called for Hersbrucker but I had to use a substitute. This explains the exceptionally aromatic brewing environment! Here's the final recipe:

Righteous Pilsner                                                                       

------------------                                                                       

6 lbs. Muntons Extra Light DME

7 gal. water

Added at 60 minutes:

0.25 oz Liberty hops (3.9% AA)

0.25 oz German Tettnang (4.5% AA)

0.25 oz German Hallertau (4.3% AA)

0.25 oz German Spaltz (5.0% AA)

0.50 oz Czech Saaz (3.2% AA)

Added at 15 minutes:

0.25 oz Liberty hops (3.9% AA)

0.25 oz German Tettnang (4.5% AA)

0.25 oz German Hallertau (4.3% AA)

0.25 oz German Spaltz (5.0% AA)

0.50 oz Czech Saaz (3.2% AA)

1 tsp. Irish Moss

Added at 2 minutes:

0.25 oz Liberty hops (3.9% AA)

0.25 oz German Tettnang (4.5% AA)

0.25 oz German Hallertau (4.3% AA)

0.25 oz German Spaltz (5.0% AA)

0.50 oz Czech Saaz (3.2% AA)

Added to secondary:

0.25 oz Liberty hops (3.9% AA)

0.25 oz German Tettnang (4.5% AA)

0.25 oz German Hallertau (4.3% AA)

0.25 oz German Spaltz (5.0% AA)

0.50 oz Czech Saaz (3.2% AA)

Wyeast Bohemian Lager yeast (#2124)

Keeping my fingers crossed!

Righteous Pils

For the first time in many months, the intoxicating smell of hops is wafting through the house. I'm finally feeling the inspiration to brew again, which has unfortunately waned for a while. My first libation creation of 2013 is a Sam Adams Noble Pils clone loosely based on this recipe. I'm modifying the hops varieties and amounts, as well as DME instead of all-grain for the malt, but am keeping my fingers crossed that it comes out drinkable. The aroma of five hop varieties is making me thirsty...

Apple Jack, Baby!

Although I like to both brew and imbibe a wide variety of alcoholic beverages, I have stayed away from distilled spirits for 3 main reasons: it is illegal, tricky (read expensive), and bad for me. In reverse order of importance.

But, my brother-in-law started brewing this year, by making a batch of hard cider, and like all newbies, was saddened by the amount of product left behind after racking.  So, he researched freeze-distillation and decided to put the lees to good use and make apple jack, that classic beverage of southern Onondaga County and bootleggers of lore north of the Mason Dixon. He brought a mason jar of it to dinner last nite, and it was exceptional.  I drank about 8 oz of what I am guessing is at least 30 proof hooch, the color of the original cider, and strongly tasting of apple goodness, and can report no ill effects: no headache, and vision intact. Just a slight and mellow buzz and red face. Even the ladies took cautious sips and declared it "not as as nasty as I was expecting".

Thus, he seems to have broken the trifecta of distillation nastiness; it is legal, easy (cheap), and not so bad for me.  Now I REALLY want to build an oak barrel(s).  Cause when its this cold out, you should use it to make something to keep you warm.

Ode to Maple

It has been somewhat a difficult task to get to the point of being able to write this, but we lost our mascot Maple last week due to a freak accident. While naming this blog after her was a somewhat random act at the time, upon reflection, it is fitting - she always loved the company of the beer-swilling type, she was happiest being outside, she did not take herself too seriously but certainly tried hard at having fun. All good measures of a life well lived, and characteristics this blog will let her human friends play out in their own lives/loves.

Home Brewing in CNY

Home brewing is alive and well in CNY as reported in this article from the Post Standard.

Homebrew fit for the President

Looks like the President (and his staff) share similar tastes with me in homebrew recipes...

Ale to the Chief sounds very similar to the Honey Hefeweizen from a few years back.

Summer's lookin' real good

Just finished bottling the last of the late winter/early spring 2012 brews - the second iteration of Acer ESB. If all of these brews turn out as planned, it is gonna be a great summer! Here's what's in store:

• Acer Wit - (12) 750ml and (23) 12 oz
• Acer ESB - (12) 750ml and (12) 12 oz
• Ginger Saison - (47) 12 oz
• Blood Orange Hefeweizen - (40) 12 oz

Here's to hoping they all fair well!

Acer ESB & Wit

The early sap run this year provided a jump on brewing some batches with maple sap. For 2012, I was fortunate to have Chris give me enough sap for two recipes. I decided to try and repeat the Acer ESB but also give one of my standbys, Belgian White, a try. I was torn between that and a Pilsner but decided to stick with something I have a pretty good track record with instead of risking a skunked beer, wasting some of Mother Nature's sugary elixir.

The Acer ESB is pretty similar to last year's recipe (as near as I can tell because for some foolish reason I didn't document what I did...)

• 2 lbs. Muntons amber DME
• 2.5 lbs. Muntons light DME
• .75 lb. 45 Degree Crystal Malt
• 1 oz. UK Fuggles (4.2% AA) @ 60 min
• 1 oz. UK Fuggles (4.2% AA) @ 30 min
• 2 tsp. Irish moss @ 20 min
• 1 oz. US Golding (4.9% AA) @ 7 min
• .5 oz. US Golding (4.9% AA) @ 1 min
• Wyeast 1272 American Ale II

As I brought the sap into the cellar to keep it cool during the freak 70 degree March weather we had, I removed the frozen rings of water that had developed. I am hoping this concentrated the maple flavors a little more than last year, when I just melted the rings into the wort.

I steeped the crystal malt in one gallon of sap and sparged with another gallon or so. I then brought added more sap until I estimated I had about 7 gallons in the brew kettle. I added all of the ingredients as indicated above, chilled, pitched the yeast, and am waiting now to find the time to bottle. I plan on priming again with maple syrup that Chris and Kelly made from this year's sap.

The Acer Wit is made using a tried and true recipe, with a few adjustments. Instead of the Belgian Abbey yeast, I went with Wyeast 3944 Belgian Wit. I also used coriander we harvested from our garden last year after the cilantro went to seed. And obviously I used maple sap in place of water - about 8 gallons. This, like the Acer ESB, is waiting to be bottled and will be primed with Somerlot Maple Syrup.

Blood Orange Hefeweizen

Took a stab at another hefeweizen this weekend. First one was a Honey Hefeweizen, this one involves blood oranges, which I still have not ever eaten. Perhaps some day I shall, but for now I will try drinking them as an adjunct to my beer!

This recipe, like the saison, is from the Extreme Brewing book by Sam Calagione. I modified it a bit by adding 1 oz. of Saaz hops instead of the 1/2 oz. called for in the recipe. This deviation was unintentional, a result of me not reading the recipe correctly.

• 6.6 lbs. Muntons wheat malt extract (liquid)
• 1/2 oz. Hallertau hop pellets (4.6% AA) @ 60 min
• 1 oz. Saaz hop pellets (3% AA) @ 20 min
• 1/2 oz. Hallertau hop pellets (4.6% AA) @ 10 min
• Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan
• 4 blood oranges

The recipe called for peeling the oranges and slicing them into pieces small enough to be easily added to (and removed from) the fermentor. I thought to increase flavor I would peel the individual wedges so as to expose the swollen cells of blood orange juice. This took 40 minutes so I am hoping this extra effort paid off. I also grated the orange rind from two of the oranges into the tea that was steeped at 170 degrees for about a 1/2 hour before adding it to the cooled wort. I am hoping this wasn't too hot because the recipe called for 160 degrees...

The fermentation was fast and furious for nearly two days but has no dropped off to almost nothing. Like the saison, I don't plan on putting it in a secondary before bottling because these beers are traditionally more cloudy in nature. Speaking of the saison bottles, I decided to make a label for this batch.

Chris also called this evening and said that there is some extra sap waiting to be transformed into some Acer ESB... good thing because we drank the last one a few weeks ago! This was one of my favorite beers to brew and drink so I am looking forward to trying to see if I can repeat. Just wished I marked the recipe I used last time...

The Most Important Ingredient

Turns out its patience. Ridiculous amounts of patience. Tonite, in pursuit of bottles to cut in half, Kelly grabbed a couple bottles from old batches I had given up for skunked but not had the heart to dump: a 2007 Merlot from a kit and a 2004 white peach wine from the last peaches we harvested from the peach tree at our old house on Otisco, which Kelly's great-grandmother Florence (Nightingale) had planted. Presumably from a pit of a consumed peach (I guess she was frugal like that).

The Merlot I was not terribly surprised about; it had enough tannins to enable it to stand up to time pretty well. It did still taste a little flat (not enough sulphite I bet) but it was undeniably Merlot. Not sure any more time will help that one out, though.

The Peach wine was out of left field. It was made with a base of white grape juice, and was supposed to be prime at 6mo, a year tops, after that it did not have enough tannins to improve. However, this time, it was... was, summer in a glass. Campfire in the pit, wind in the hair, summer on the Lake. Back in my early days, I was a little over-eager in my use of sulphites, as evidenced by the residue in the bottle and residual sweetness.

So the lesson learned is that sulphites are not just good sanitizers for bottling, they serve a purpose in aging too. Oxygen is the enemy. And the other most important ingredient: patience, bordering on stubbornness.

Give a man a beer...

"Give a man a beer, he'll waste five minutes. Teach a man to brew, he'll waste a lifetime."

Not sure it'll waste a lifetime, but it is good to know homebrewing is alive and well in CNY.

Ginger Saison

Following (mostly) a recipe in Extreme Brewing by Sam Calagione, a Ginger Saison is in the works.

• 4.5 gal water
• 1 lb. crushed Cara-Munich barley
• 6.6 lbs. Muntons extra light malt extract
• 1 lb. Muntons extra light dry malt extract
• 1.5 oz. Hallertau hops (4.6% AA) - bittering at 60 min.
• 1 lb. candi sugar - 15 min.
• .5 oz. Hallertau hops (4.6% AA) - flavor at 10 min.
• 1 tsp. Irish moss - 10 min.
• .5 oz. Styrian Golding hops (4.5% AA) - aroma at 5 min.
• 2 oz. crystalized ginger cut into pea-sized pieces - 1 min.
• Wyeast Belgian Saison 3724

I really enjoy Omnegang's Hennepin so when I came across this "extreme" saison, I thought I'd give it a whirl. I skunked my last batch of Belgian white (very off flavors coming from who knows what) so I was particularly diligent about making sure that everything was fresh and clean. After four days, the primary is still bubbling away. After about another six days, it should ready for bottling - I am skipping the secondary on this batch. In about five weeks, we'll be giving it a first try. Hope the ginger makes a nice refreshing early summer beer.

Something to brew on...

Came across an article about the Finger Lakes Beer Trail recently. I am pretty sure there are some out there not listed, but still a good place to start thinking about linking a few breweries together on a road trip (via car or bike). Drink responsibly.

Well this is a first

This evening I ventured into the beer cellar to put the labels on the Acer ESB. Upon entering, I noticed something amiss. Either a new type of vermin had figured out how to score glass at the base of beer bottles or I'd experienced my first exploding bottle as a result of over-carbonation. While both are a potentially very scary scenario, I am hopeful glass cutting vermin are still a long way down the evolutionary continuum. So I am going with the over-carbonation-weak-bottle theory. And my suspicion is this isn't too far fetched as many of the Irish Stouts we've tried have been on the foamy side. This does cause me concern for (a) the potential for lots of sticky beer in the beer cellar and (b) the safety of others during the process of transporting and opening the bottles. Perhaps I should think about setting the rest of the batch in a fridge to chill them, which I believe will decrease the carbonation activity.

Acer ESB in the bottle

Last week we bottled the Acer ESB. 44 bottles are now aging in the basement, awaiting there new labels. I tried a little of what was leftover and am quite thrilled with the result. I am hopeful that the finished product only continues to improve.

The priming sugar was one cup of the Somerlots stellar maple syrup - the best I've tasted yet!

The sap on it's way to being the base for the brew - all 6 or so gallons. It was pretty cool how it froze into a hollow cylinder.

This weekend we also tried the farmhouse cheddar I made a few months ago with a gallon of milk from Wake Robin and Wegmans each. It turned out very mild, but still was a recognizable cheese. Next time I will let it age longer (much longer) and also be more precise in getting the whey out. I think it was too wet.

Acer ESB

Last weekend, using the sap donated by Chris to another brewing experiment, I made an ESB using 6 gallons of sugar maple sap. I read about using maple sap in place of water in the 3rd edition of "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing" by Charlie Papazian. I chose to go the ESB route because I am hoping the generally mild flavor of it will allow the woody, smokey overtones predicted to be the effects of using sap to come be revealed. I'll be transferring to the secondary soon.

I also intend to use maple syrup from Chris and Kelly to prime the bottles so if all goes as planned, this'll be a totally maple-based brew - hence the Acer ESB!

Putting down time to use

I've been a bit under the weather the past few days but tried to make the most of it by putting some time into learning more about brewing. I've started reading The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian, which has thus far been more digestible, or should I say drinkable, in content for understanding the art and science behind beer brewing. My other book, Brewmaster's Bible, is richer in recipes, is a great resource for picking what you want to brew, and knowing what to get. Papazian's doesn't contain as many recipes, but I feel is on its way to providing me with the knowledge for developing my own recipes. This could be interesting...

I also discovered Syracuse has a brew club, The Salt City Brew Club, something I probably shouldn't be surprised to find in a city that once had 40 breweries! We're now at 3, so not quite ten percent what we used to be, but it's a start! To learn more about the brewing history, and current trends in the 'cuse, check out the YNN three part series, What's Brewing in Syracuse? Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. A shout out to the blog I found the YNN series on, Young Grubber Beer & Brewing Blog. Looks like some really great stuff is going on over there.

A few "resources"

Science Friday story/interview on beer, making me curious about a degree in brewing.

Good things comes to those who wait

96 clean, sterilized bottles and the new (left carboy) and old brews waiting to be blended

As Chris highlighted in his last post, sometimes patience is rewarded, even if you don't know how long you have to wait. That's my hope, at least, with the brew we bottled on Sunday. After well over a year and a half in the carboy, I finally got my nerve up to try the sour ale. It tasted pretty decent, so I brewed a new batch to blend with the old. It has been so long since I brewed the original batch, I didn't remember adding oak chips to the carboy...

After devising a blending apparatus - a t-fitting in two the bottling wand - 96 bottles of sour ale or old bruin (old brown) ale have been produced. I only had one bag of priming sugar, so I added it to the new batch for carbonation. I anticipate these will be a little on the flat side, or perhaps with finer carbonation bubbles.

Bottling blender - red or blue? How 'bout a bit of both?

I am pretty excited about the possibilities for this beer. If all goes as anticipated, with another 3-4 months of bottle conditioning, I'll have successfully brewed one of, if not my favorite beers. This stuff (if you can find it) sells for $50 a case, $20 a four pack, or $10 a pint. I spent ~$80 in ingredients. It's pretty exciting to me to have, on hand, a great supply of hard to find, kind of expensive, and very delicious brew.

No Wine Before Its Time

The difficulty in applying the golden rule of wine drinking, drink no wine before its time, is that it is not easy to determine when its time is. This turned out to be especially true for these two wines. With home-made wines, where you don't calibrate the level of acidity, tannins, or filter, etc, estimating age until peak is especially difficult. The only upper hand you have is that you produce so much wine for so little cost you can take a bottle out every year to taste it, and if its not good just dump and wait until next year.

The recipe for the peach wine said it was a light bodied wine (due to the white grape must base) and it would be in its prime in 6 months, and definitely past in 12. It never tasted very good, but I never had the heart to dump them, as I loved that little peach tree. Kelly's great grandmother planted it from a pit of a tasty peach at the lake house we used to have, but the tree got killed off in the winter after we harvested the fruit for this wine. So, I just never could bring myself to dump it. We hit a critical shortage of white wine last week, and I decided to brush the cob webs off one of these bottles. It was awesome. Very peachy, but not in the way fruit wines that are just spiked with flavorng are. It was peach wine, everything I had hoped for when I made it. And based on how nicely 5 1/2 extra years treated this wine, I bet another year will make it even better. Now comes the period of trying to slow down consumption until you really do hit the peak.

The apple wines were not from a recipe. Kelly worked at an orchard one fall, and I got into a little competition with the owner over who made the best apple wine. His recipe was to fill a 5 gallon bucket with a secret blend of cider, add a lump of beef (god knows what for), let it ferment throught the fall (with wild yeast, obviously), and leave it outside over winter to freeze-distill it. This is known colloquially as apple jack, and is a very old fashioned LaFayette recipe. The downside is that it can make you blind, or worse. Really. I never had any.

My "recipe" was to make 6 different varietal apple wines. I started with the 6 gallons of cider Kelly hand-pressed from specific apple varieties (one variety per gallon) into plastic gallon milk jugs. I simply drew off a cup of cider from each container, added sugar until I got an SG for a 12% wine, pitched some red star dry white wine yeast, and added an airlock. I bulk fermented them in these low budget primaries for over a year, and then racked them straight into bottles with sorbate and no extra sugar. The honeycrisp and gala peaked early, followed by the cortland and now the empire. Again, none of them were great, but they were drinkable. I sampled one of the remaining bottles of empire wine, and as the picture indicates, it was very drinkable. I think the lesson here is that the more tannin, the longer it takes to age, but the better it will be. Another lesson is to not bulk age on the lees in your primary, as the morning after I drank this bottle with dinner, I was actually hung over, indicating there were a lot of esthers and byproducts from fermenting on the lees. Good thing I did not try the apple jack. If I make apple wine again, I will bulk age in secondaries after racking twice, and then filter and blend the varieties for bottling.

Sour Ale v.2

Earlier today, I tried the sour ale started in February 2009. It has been doing its thing in my beer cellar, growing some funky mold and other interesting creations over the past 22 months or so. This has left me skeptical on the outcome but, aside from an occasional tanginess, it is pretty much what I hoped/expected. I decided to counter the tinges of tanginess by doing what I've heard some brewers do with sour ales, and that's to combine the original batch with a fresh/new one. So today I bought the ingredients and am trying to recall what I did 22 months ago. Thankfully, I blogged about it pretty extensively and am also using the recipe I based that experience from (with the help of the friendly folks at E.J. Wren). Next time, I'll just try the Oud Bruin recipe in The Brewmaster's Bible. For now, here's version 2.0:

• Add 22 liters of room temp water to 14.5# of pale malt and 2.2# of 45L crystal malt. Step mash beginning at 50c as in step 9 of this method. Stir occasionally to distribute the heated grains at the bottom of the pot.
• At same time as step mash is started, ~2 gal room temp water, 2.5# bulgar wheat and handful of plain malt heated t0 65c and rested for 30 min. Then bring to a boil.
• Added the bulgar wheat mash (post boil) to the malt mash to help raise it to 65c.
• Continued the step mash through to 75c.
• Brought ~4 gal water to 170f.
• Mashed out at 75c.
• Let mash steep at 75c in lauter tun for ~15.
• Sparged with 170f water to produce ~7 gal of wort.
• Brought wort to a boil.
• Added 1 oz of Kent Golding hop pellets (4.5% AA) and boiled one hour.
• Cooled with wort chiller to ~68f
• Pitched Wyeast Belgian Abbey 1214.

Will rack into secondary in a week. After that, a method of combining the two batches has yet to be determined. Stay tuned.

An art, a craft

There are only a few times in my life I've tasted a beer and been instantly changed, realizing the bar had been elevated yet again. This most recently happened on Thursday when a friend introduced me to Chimay Blue, or Grand Reserve. Brewed by Trappist monks in Belgium, this exquisite brew is unlike anything I've ever tasted. At a potent 9% ABV, I expected it to be strong tasting but it is very well balanced, and can be consumed too easily (as I discovered a little too late). Another brew to add to the list of "can I do this too?"

I also recently tried Tusker Premium Lager, which I was pleasantly surprised to find not like any other lager I've ever tried. It was truly crisp and refreshing, and didn't leave me wishing I'd gone with an ale instead.

All this to say, I've finally gotten up the gumption to try the Lilac Sour Ale and... it's not so bad. So a trip was made to E.J. Wren's for supplies to brew a new batch to cut with the old - to temper the sourness - and get the ingredients for what at first was going to be a porter but switched to an Irish Cream Stout from The Brewmaster's Bible. Tweaked things a little:

• 1/2# English crystal malt (120L)
• 1/4# chocolate malt
• 1/2# roasted barley
• 2 4# cans Mountmellick dark plain malt
• 1 oz. U.K. Northern Brewer hop pellets (Northdown) 10.6% AA
• 1/2 oz. Kent Golding hop pellets 4.5% AA
• 1 1/2 oz. Kent Golding hop pellets 4.5% AA
• 1/2# lactose
• 1 package Burton water salts
• Wyeast London Ale 1028

Didn't really know how to suspend the hops in the fermenter so wound up dropping the bag in... we'll see how easy it is to get out in three days.

Stout's currently in the primary and now on to the Sour Ale.