Strange Brew

Tasting Stale Porter: Pretty Things East India Porter

2011-11-20T19:38:00.003-05:00

Oh right, that old porter tasting theme... or any posts at all.

This one comes from Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project's Once Upon a Time series. Both the recipe and the liquid in the bottle are getting on at this point. The recipe came from Barclay Perkins circa 1855, by way Ron Pattinson.

A shade darker than 1808 porter. Deep mahogany highlights. Bright coffee notes from the brown malt. The amber malt seems to accentuate both the brown and sweet pale malt. The black malt gives an extra roastiness beyond the brown malt. The bitterness of the hops has mostly faded at this point, only a slight, dusty black tea astringency remains.

I've one bottle left. I want to keep it as long as possible, best to tuck it away in a forgotten box of beers with similar again needs

Tasting Stale Porter: Soured Double Stout

2011-09-28T20:46:00.004-04:00

Not what I had in mind when I blended a bit of sour beer into some stout nearly two years ago (Guinness FES is what I had in mind). I didn't consider what would happen when the lactic acid bacteria and super-attenuating Brettanomyces strains took hold in the lush, smoky stout.

All the roast, toast and smoke is still present. With it there is sharp, sour smelling funk. All present in the mouth along with solvent/plastic. The body torn to shreds. Thin, sharp and sour.

If you've had Madrugada Obscura from Jolly Pumpkin (who are usually great), this is like that. That austere sour character is not meant for stouts. Maybe I will try to mix a little bit into fresh porter to see if it gives a bit of complexity.

Tasting Stale Porter: Stout

2011-09-22T20:22:00.004-04:00

Next up is a rather straightforward stout brewed about a year ago. The full recipe was lost to my old laptop. Pale, Amber, Brown and a touch of Black malt made for an old school (late 19th century). It was very nice fresh and this is the last bottle.

How many ways can I say black with tan head. Molasses appearance with fine crema. Smell has espresso, cherry and a touch of vinegar. In the mouth there's lots of coffee. Not diner coffee, a fruity East African roast from Stumptown put through a french press. It also has a nice sweet - sour balance like Guinness FES. A bit thin but still plenty rich. The year has given it an interesting dimension but I wouldn't give it much more time.

Tasting Stale Porter: 1808 Whitbread with B. Bruxellensis

2011-09-21T23:09:00.004-04:00

I've realized that I have several porters and stouts that have been stashed away for some time. I reckon that all that stale (old) porter will make for a nice series of tastings. All but one are homebrew. That lone commercial beer is a special one, Pretty Things Once Upon A Time: December 6, 1855 East India Porter. For that one I've tried to simulate the voyage to India by leaving the bottle in my cabinet at ambient temperature throughout the summer and giving it a regular roll about a ships hold in the mid Atlantic.

First up is my own foray into historical brewing: August 29, 1808 Whitbread Porter. I added Brettanomyces Bruxellensis to some bottles to mimic the secondary fermentation that old style stouts underwent. Original tasting here. I won't bother with pictures, matter of fact it's all dark.

Large tan head even with a careful, slow pour. Over carbonated, no way around admitting that. First hit on the nose is oak and smoke, likely a product of the Brett B as this recipe had neither component. A deeper whiff finds super dark chocolate (like that 85% stuff) and dried figs, maybe yogurty acidity. Hey, there's the smarties and clove from le gout d'Orval! The taste has changed dramatically from the velvety espresso and cocoa from the fresh beer. The bitterness has faded a bit, joined by a soft lactic acidity. The body is thinner than originally, but not the thin, sharp feel that I expected from previous tastings. A little cocoa powder with clove. All around an interesting beer to taste, much better now than the early samples of the Brett B portion. I am, however, glad that I chose B Claussenii for subsequent batches.

Tasting: Tmave Lezak

2011-06-13T22:11:00.005-04:00

Of the two lagers I brewed back in January the dark one turned out much nicer. It sat quietly until being bottled in May. Then it sat some more down in the basement slowly getting drank through the Spring and Summer. With all that has gone on over the last few months, it's taken a hurricane to sit down and post a review.

Pours a dark brown that shows clear, red highlights when held to the light. Large, tan effervescent head stands tall (started above the rim of that mug and fell to where pictured while I fumbled with cameras) and slowly subsides to a quarter inch persistent cap. Sweet caramel and malt flavor, but ultimately the beer proves dry with a bit of grain husk and nip of Saaz. Maybe a bit of toast. Hardly perfect but nice enough to drink a large glass of. What more can you expect from lagering in a chilly pantry?

Tasting: August 29, 1808 Whitbread Porter

2011-01-30T21:01:00.005-05:00

Final Gravity: 1.020
Alcohol: 6.4 % ABV

Dark brown as expected with light mocha foam. The odd bit of the appearance is the turbity. The beer is very cloudy even though the Wyeast 1099 certainly flocculated. Smells and tastes like brown malt. Hmm, maybe I should include more detail than that. Aroma is coffee and dark chocolate. Some fruitiness... raisin, fig, and black licorice. The taste is more of the same with a long drying hop bitterness that accentuates the roast from the brown malt.

I added Brettanomyces Bruxellensis to some bottles (most Orval skittles to hopefully avoid bombs). That should be interesting in a few months.

Tasting: Bitter

2011-01-26T22:03:00.004-05:00

Since I have a single bottle of bitter left I figured I'd write up some tasting notes. Made from the second runnings of the barley wine with a bit of extra amber malt and torrefied wheat thrown into the mash.

Amber with a small, slightly off-white foam. Perfectly bright - no yeast, no chill haze. Aroma is a soft malt and cherries and maybe a hint of Goldings. The right aromas and intensity to invite a big gulp. Sweet bit of toasty malt and enough bitterness for balance. Not a complex beer by any means, but that is the idea. Something light but with a pleasant flavor. Though it's not the best bitter I've ever had (that would be a Timothy Taylor Landlord on cask in London, which at a different pub was also the worst bitter I've ever had) but a competent beer.

Note that I brewed this beer with all the same equipment that I brew, ferment, and bottle sour beers with. There is no Brett and no lactic tang to be found any where.

1843: Hop and Grain Trade in The Economist

2011-01-26T21:31:00.005-05:00

If I had more free time I might spend some time looking for new bits of beer history. Sometimes you stumble upon a tidbit and today was one of those days. A friend linked to a copy of The Economist from September 16, 1843. Lets see what they had to say about the barley and hop trade. I also included the comments on the sugar trade even though this came from the period in which such "adulterants" would have been prohibited from beer in Britain.

(From Messrs Gillies and Horne's Circular.)

Corn Exchange, Monday, Sept. 11.—The weather continued most beautiful here until yesterday, when we had some heavy thunder showers, and to-day is gloomy, damp and close. The wind, what little there is of it, is north. The arrivals during last week were moderate except of Foreign Wheat and Barley, of which of course there is yet some quantity to arrive. The new English Wheat coming soft in hand, is slow sale at 1s. to 2s. reduction—free Foreign finds buyers for mixing at last week's currency. Barley is dull sale at last week's rates. Oats are 6d. to 1s. lower. Some new Irish have appeared of fine quality. There is no change in Beans and Peas. Flour is the same as last week.
Corn Exchange, Friday, Sept. 15.—The weather threatened to be stormy yesterday, the barometer fell, and we had some heavy drops of rain, but it has since cleared up, and to-day is 10 degrees warmer and beautifully clear, with the wind south east. In Ireland and Scotland there was a good deal of rain on Sunday and Monday, which (we understand) stopped the harvest work for the time, but we hope by this time they have it fine again. The new English Wheat comes to hand softer and lighter than at first; as usual after being stacked, the yield is much complained of, besides that many of the stacks got so soaked by the heavy rains of the 21st and 23rd of August, that the condition of the Wheat is sadly spoiled. The arrivals are moderate this week, except of Irish Oats, several small parcels of which are of the new crop; there is also a small parcel of new Scotch Barley in fine condition, and new Scotch Oats, also good. Almost all the Wheat has been entered at the 14s. duty; we believe it is over 300,000 qrs. New English Wheat is dull sale: Foreign, on the other hand, is more inquired for, and not to be purchased in any quantity except at 1s. advance. Barley is saleable in retail at Monday's prices. Oats are again 6d. cheaper than on Monday, except for very fine samples. The averages lead us to suppose that on the 21st instant the duty on Foreign Wheat will rise to 16s. per qr.; on Barley it will remain 6s.; on Oats 6s.; on Rye it will rise to 9s. 6d.; on Beans it will remain 10s. 6d.; and on Peas, 9s. 6d.

PRICE OF SUGAR.

The average price of brown or Muscovado sugar for the week ending September 12, 1843, is 34s. 13⁄4d. per cwt., exclusive of the duties of Customs paid or payable thereon on the importation thereof into Great Britain.
BOROUGH HOP-MARKET.
Monday.—There was no business whatever transacted during last week, and even the duty remains without fluctuation. In this state of inactivity the effects of the Metropolitan Total Abstinence movement was a topic of interest to the trade. As it appears that nearly 70,000 persons took the pledge, the consumption of malt liquor must seriously diminished, and the demand for Hops will consequently be very considerably decreased. It is fortunate, therefore, for the planters that this year's growth is not large, otherwise the prices would have been seriously low, and although that crop is not only about an average, yet from this diminished consumption, which is likely to progress, the value of the new will not be more than last year, and possibly even less. There have been a few small lots of 1843's at market, which go off very slowly.

Friday.—About ten pockets of new hops have been disposed of this week at from 7l. to 8l. per cwt. We are now almost daily expecting large supplied from Kent and Sussex, as picking is now going on rapidly. In old hops scarcely any business is doing, while the duty is called 150,000l.
Source: The Economist Vol. 1, No. 3, September 16, 1843 via Project Gutenberg

Tmavý Ležák

2011-01-17T22:21:00.006-05:00

Taking a departure from my usual austere Belgians and strong stouts I decided to make use of my chilly pantry (~45 F now in the heart of winter) and brew a couple lagers. First was a světlý which I want to match up to the real thing from the Czech Republic. I neglected to write about it when I brewed a few weeks ago. Basic idea was Weyermann Floor Malted Bohemian Pils put through a triple decoction and a generous dose of Saaz in the boil. Today I brewed the complement, a 12 Plato Tmavý. Compared to last week, today's brew was simple, occupying about half the time.

6.75 lbs Floor Malted Bohemian Pils
1.5 lbs Dark Munich
.75 lbs CaraAroma
.25 lbs Carafa I

2 ounces Saaz (4% AA) 70 minutes
1 ounce Hallertau (2.5% AA) 20 minutes

Mash:
15 minutes at 104 F.
Pulled ~1/3 and slowly brought to boil with stopover at 150.
Returned at 35 minutes. ~130 F.
Dickmaische 2 at 55 minutes, ~1/3 of mash.
Returned at 80 minutes ~155 plus ~2 qts water to thin out mash.
Lautermaische at 105 minutes.
Boiled and returned at 115 minutes. 162 F. Let stand for 20 minutes.

OG: 1.048
Racked onto yeast from světlý (White Labs 802)

Can't wait to drink this one and raise a pint to Švejk (or whatever standard serving size is in Bohemia).

August 29, 1808 Whitbread Porter

2011-01-07T14:18:00.012-05:00

A recipe courtesy of Ron Pattinson at Shut Up About Barclay Perkins. Whitbread Porter from 1808, about the year that "stout" surpassed "porter" according to the Google Ngram. The most relevant posts are here and here. The ingredients are simple, mostly pale malt, some brown malt and a heap of hops. The mash is mindboggling complicated with 3 gyles making for a long brew day. I tried to stay as true to the details that Ron emailed me. Exact ingredients and process are below. The original stats were OG 1.052.9, FG 1.010.2, ABV 5.64%.

Malt:
6.75 lbs Maris Otter
3.44 lbs Thomas Fawcett Brown Malt

Hops:
1 oz 5% Kent Goldings (whole leaf)
3 oz 5% Kent Goldings (pellet)

Mash:
1st gyle: ~2.25 gallons of 160 F. Mashed 2 hours at 145 F. Ran off 3 gallons and boiled for 1 hour.
2nd gyle: Added ~3 gal 170F water. Mash at 162 for 1.5 hours. Ran of 3 gallons and boiled 1.5 hours.
3rd gyle: Added water at 165. Temp had fallen. Stood 0.5 hours at 158 F. Ran off 4 gallons and boiled for 3 hours.

Hops additions:
1st gyle: 1.5 oz EKG 5% (1 leaf, .5 pellet) at 60 min. 0.5 EKG pellets at 30 min.
2nd gyle: Returned hops from 1st boil plus 1 oz EKG pellets.
3rd gyle: Returned hops plus 1 oz EKG pellets.

Yeast: Wyeast 1099 Whitbread. Pitched at 66 F.

Measured OG: 1.069
Efficiency: 94% (!!!!)

Below there are pictures of a sample of each gyle and all 3 blended together. The samples were taken directly out of the boil kettle so they have a bit of trub floating about. I figured the color would drop off more between gyles. Although this porter is not black like modern porter it still ended up darker than I expected. The mash was a real pain in the ass. Nearly twelve hours to get a regular strength wort. Despite the amazing efficiency, I won't go to all that trouble again.

Mystery Beer

2010-12-21T16:30:00.002-05:00

Not sure what to brew, I just went to my LHBS yesterday and began collecting ingredients. This is what I came home with:

4lbs Dark Wheat malt
2 lbs floor malted Bohemian Pils
2 lbs US 6 row
1.5 lbs Belgian Pale Malt
.5 lbs Belgian Aromatic

1 oz Spalt
1 oz Kent Goldings
1 oz Fuggles
1 oz Hallertau

I'll add some sugar in the boil and ferment with Wyeast 3942 saved from the last fermentation.

Barley Wine and Bitter

2010-11-28T17:18:00.005-05:00

Parti-gyled from 14.5 lbs of malt. The strong one will be a malt worms' delight as it is a mix of Maris Otter and Briess Ashburne Mild Malt. A starting gravity of 1.103 will make for plenty of alcohol for the coming winter. On the other, we a nicely balanced bitter at 1.030. Kent Goldings and Fuggle whole leafs all around.

This has been a long brew session for me. usually I can crank out my saison in 5-6 hours. Already 9 hours in today and the bitter still has over a half hour to boil.

Les Framboises du Mal: Vintage 2010

2010-11-15T21:58:00.002-05:00

The fresh one. Fruity and juicy with enough acidity and funk to balance things out. Darker than previous years as some of the raspberries were actually blackberries.

Still not quite in condition but quite enjoyable.

Les Framboises du Mal: Vintage 2009

2010-11-15T21:04:00.002-05:00

This one still tastes like raspberries, but not as cloyingly as it did a year ago. Still very sour but seems to be getting more funky with time.

What to do with the remaining bottles? They should continue to age well but the raspberry flavor will fade. With this year's batch ready that should serve as a fruity sour beer and I could keep the 2009 around to let it's funk progress and do its thang.

Les Framboises du Mal: Vintage 2008

2010-11-15T20:14:00.004-05:00

2 years in and no more raspberries. The funk has won. Le goût d'Orval! Mais rouge.

That was the last bottle. Makes me want to brew a batch of beer, add Orval dregs in secondary. Then stick it in the basement and forget about it for several years.

October Brewing

2010-10-02T16:38:00.004-04:00

The Boston Public Library's flickr stream has several poster's from old Boston breweries. This P.B. Ale has to be my favorite, and not only because it fits the season. Its just pretty and makes me wish I could try a bottle. Now off to look for a recipe.

Saison avec mes amis.

2010-09-12T20:47:00.003-04:00

If you read these modest scribblings, I think I can assume that you know the pleasure of sitting down and relaxing with a beer after a long brew day. I hope you are also familiar with the pleasure of teaching friends to brew. If not, please acquaint yourself with that feeling.

The brew was my tried and true saison recipe as I did not want any surprises while teaching the basic process. My friends arrived right on time for mash in and everything proceeded smoothly with good conversation and a couple beers tasted.

I'd post a picture or write some more, but I'm tired and there's beer and football to consume.

Rhubarb Sour

2010-08-22T23:10:00.003-04:00

Here it is, the crazy rhubarb sour beer.

Hazy burnished orange. The rhubarb added some color but not the vibrant red of its ripe stalks. Some small chunks of rhubarb appear to have made it through the sieve at bottling and float suspended in the beer but aren't perceptible when drinking. The aroma is mostly lactic sourness and a bretty funk with a slight earthy vegetal note in the background. The flavor starts off with a sharp, austere acidity and morphs into a rounded earthy, herbal bitterness. Not hop bitterness, but, well, rhubarb bitterness. The finish is bone dry, but not harsh despite the acidity and slight bitterness. Still, this is not a beer for the non-lambic lover.

I'm pleased with the rhubarb sour overall. I think one gallon was about the right batch size. Maybe I'll make more someday if I can get more rhubarb. The 11 bottles won't last long as everyone I told about this has been pestering me to try it for the past few months. I know which of them will be agog over it and which will just gag.

Tasting: Foreign Stout

2010-08-19T22:15:00.003-04:00

Take a gallon of Double Stout, blend with a bit of funky-sour beer and age for nine months.

All the 90% dark chocolate, espresso and peaty smoke is still there. Time and funk has brought out faint cherries, port and leather notes. The rough edges have been smoothed out but the beer still finishes dry with a nice roasted bitterness. That dry finish makes it suitable for a hot summer evening. This will likely continue to improve until I can no longer resist those last few bottles.

Tasting: Summer Saison

2010-08-10T21:56:00.005-04:00

I got in two saisons before getting fed up with the heat this summer. Given a couple slight changes I thought it prudent to drink aside each other so the effect of those changes stick out.

Another out of stock yeast at the LHBS again forced an on the fly substitution. This time I had to use the notoriously slow to finish Wyeast 3724 (DuPont) in place of the well-behaved 3711 French Saison. For the second batch I made sure to buy a package of 3711 in advance AND make a from-the-bottle starter of Dupont yeast (which I've never had trouble with) for a mixed ferment. Now on with the comparison...

As the summer tempuratures rose, so did my impatience with this yeast and I bottled before terminal gravity was reach. I paid the price of a couple cracked bottles and excessive carbonation. The taste is good though. Grassy hops, pepper and late summer fruit (apples, plums and overripe peach) dominate the aroma. The taste has a nice rusticity from the dried out base malts (Belgian pale, US pale, and Vienna) and noble hops (excepting the Styrian Goldings) used for all additions. A nice refreshing summer beer.

For the summer's second batch of saison I changed the late additions to just Saaz (an ounce each at 15 minutes and knockout). The blend of Saaz, Hallertau, and S. Goldings produces a nice flavor but I wanted to see if I could get away with something simpler. This one attenuated to 1.001 in a reasonable amount of time, so no over-carbonation problem. I'm not sure this one is quite ready yet as it has a raw yeasty smell that I've found with bottles that have not undergone enough conditioning time. There is a nice saison there, but I will have to show some patience for it to shine.

Next tasting: Rhubarb Sour.

Tasting: Les Fleurs du Mal 2010

2010-08-09T22:38:00.003-04:00

The beginning of August marks the start of my annual month long sabbatical from brewing. Only beers not in bottles are the sours, which calmly do their thing in the corner just passing the time until it's their turn. It is too hot and humid for brewing to be any fun. And there is fun to be had out of doors. But this is a good month to drink some beer and write, neglecting this blog a little less. First up in the August tasting notes series is Les Fleurs du Mal.

This one presented a bit of a challenge when I went to buy ingredients at the LHBS. With Wyeast 3942 (De Dolle) out of stock, I was left scratching my head for a substitute. 3864 (Unibroue) seemed a reasonable substitute. No Amarillo whole leaf hops also forced a choice between Cascade leafs and Amarillo pellets for dry hopping. I chose the pellets and I'm not sure it was the best choice as they were a pain to separate from the beer and they seemed to affect the flavor.

OG: 1.070
FG: 1.010
ABV: 7.9% ABV

The medium amber color is decidedly darker than previous years. I account for this with unexpected efficient and color extraction as the grist did not change much. Just two months after bottling, the citrusy aroma of the hops is fading. The Amarillo pellets for dry-hopping seemed to give a harsh edge to the flavor and aroma that I've not found in my whole leaf dry-hopped beers. The fading hops have struck a nice balance with the yeast and malt. There are fresh pears and apples. Maybe a bit of mango? A bit a honey sweet malt gives way to a bone dry finish accented by just enough bitterness.

I had not sat down and focused on the flavor of this brew but I'm glad I did. Even with the on-the-fly changes I am pleased with how this turned out. I doubt I will let more than a bottle or two get much older as previous batches turned too sweet, almost syrupy, when the hops faded.

Let There Be Funk

2010-07-01T22:47:00.004-04:00

George Clinton once said "If the funk was going to happen, I wanted to be there." He best get to my apartment to encourage this year's Les Framboises du Mal, not that it needed any, just look at that pellicle.

Fooling Around

2010-06-02T17:21:00.003-04:00

A batch of saison is brewing. But the foolishness stems from the combination of a gallon of pale sour beer and a pound of rhubarb.

Tasting: La Fontaine du Sang

2010-05-31T23:16:00.003-04:00

After a frustrating bottling session (never using pellet hops for dry-hopping ever again) I am ready to sit down and drink a couple strong, tasty beers. So here is a comparison of the original bottling of La Fontaine du Sang and the most recent from a few weeks ago.

Original: Bottled September 19, 2009
Dark cherry color. Big cherry smell. Tart cherry taste. There is more though, mostly funky aromas and flavors. Mostly the same since it was bottled, just a bit less sweet than I remember. I wonder if the wine yeast I used at bottling killed off the Sacc. and Brett?

Fresh: Bottled May 14, 2010
This batch is a blend of a pull off the solera and fresh, non-soured beer. The solera was refilled with the fresh beer that did not go into the bottle. Straight solera beer could have stood on its own and would have been fantastic. But I wanted something with a sweet-sour balance for summer slurping.

The color is nearly the same for this version. The aroma has more barnyard funk and earthiness aside lemony acidity. The cherries are there, but faintly in the background. The taste is similarly skewed towards funk more than acidity. But this is actually drier than the first and makes the light sourness more enjoyable. I did not bother with wine yeast to condition this batch so it will likely be more interesting to age.

Brew Updates

2010-05-20T11:04:00.003-04:00

April and May have been slow months for brewing and beer drinking in general. The beers I have brewed in Springs past were all I could find time for. Les Fleurs du Mal just received an ounce of Amarillo dry hops. Les Framboises du Mal is in primary fermentation and should be ready for raspberry additions when the early summer fruit season begins. Yay. A sharp jump in efficiency will result in both beers being stronger than past versions, both creeping towards 8% ABV.

I blended and bottled La Fontaine du Sang a week ago. A tasting and comparison to the previous bottling will be coming shortly.

Solera: La Fontaine du Sang

2010-03-13T15:50:00.004-05:00

In the brewpot right now. The plan is to ferment clean then blend with a pull off the solera. The pre-hopped wort is sweet and almondy.

From the Cellar:* Smuttynose Farmhouse Ale

2010-03-10T23:15:00.003-05:00

After absolutely adoring this one on tap last summer, I went out and bought several bottles (for a reasonable price as Smutty tends to be). Unfortunately, the bottled product did notmatch what was on tap. It had an overpowering fruity sweet - syrup that stuck out. Things have changed.

It certainly looks the part of a saison, orange-straw under a big white cap of foam. The aroma got lotsa fruit: bosch pear, a hint of peach, and fragrant apples (Macoun or Roxbury Russett). Like a farmstand in late August. There's also a straw and earthy smell, presumably hops, that hints at balance. The sweetness has left, thankfully, leaving a refreshing dryness along with all that fruit. Moreish. Indeed I will buy more next summer and not open any for at least six months.

*A box in the back of the pantry

Tasting: Tweaked Saison

2010-03-06T18:53:00.004-05:00

It's always fun to split a batch at some point in the brewing process then compare the final results. In the case of this beer I split the Tweaked Saison at bottling. Half plain and half with 1.5 gallons of some low gravity beer that has been aging, getting funky and sour.

Plain
Pours a very light copper with big, slightly off-white foam. The beer is almost as clear as if I had proper wort chiller. Aroma from the yeast is melons and clove that mingle with the oranges and grass of noble hops. The mouthfeel is soft with a very fine carbonation. Appropriately thing for a beer that is somewhere between a Saison and a Belgian pale ale. The taste is a lovely balance of sweet malt, fruity yeast, and refined bitterness, which lingers unobtrusively. I do prefer the saison made with Dupont yeast but wouldn't mind this beer any time.

Funky
The bugs from the funky brew seems to have done some work and created higher carbonation. That extra CO2 caused the yeast to get stirred up when opened and poured so it ended up cloudy in the glass. Not a problem for me though. The fine hop aroma plays second fiddle to the funk. Yogurt and tropical fruit, mango mostly. There is also the smell and taste of Flemish sour beers that I'm not sure what to call it. There is certainly a slight acetic component, albeit subdued, thankfully. The taste lacks the hops bitterness from the plain portion. Replaced by bit of tartness that doesn't overpower allows for savoring of the fruitiness and funk from each part of the blend. This turned out about as good as I could have hoped for.

Saison, Tweaked

2010-02-08T00:30:00.004-05:00

I made a few tweaks to my saison recipe to investigate how they will affect the beer. The main change was using De Dolle yeast in place of Dupont yeast. Both produce a lovely beer but there I have no way of getting the Dupont yeast warm enough to finish in the dead of winter. I also plan on blending at least some of this batch with a low gravity sour to make it a bit ghoulish. The other minor changes were the addition of a rest at 136 F and adding a third of the hops as a First Wort addition.

Fermentation started explosively, blowing the lid off the fermentor twice within 12 hours of pitching.

Tasting: Belgian Chocolate

2010-01-19T22:49:00.007-05:00

The brown liquid out of the bottle
finds itself much darker in a monk's goblet
and pushes up a toffee foam,
invites a whiff.
cocoa
figs
plums
and pepper.

A sip through the lips,
plums and blackberries
play on the tongue.
Dry and bitter,
the soft brew slides down
into a happy belly.

On Pumpkin Beer

2009-12-08T22:46:00.003-05:00

A few days ago I made a comment on Appellation Beer about horrid pumpkin beer. It spurred a few replies spanning a wide spectrum of sanity and coherence. I feel that I need to expand on my little rant and defend my detest of gourdy libations.

First up is Lauren Buzzeo's reply to criticism of her list that sparked Stan's post and subsequent debate. I enjoyed her reply and she certainly showed some journalistic professionalism, even suggesting a survey of brewers about pumpkin beer. In light of other replies, I am content to agree to disagree.

The other comments in response to mine were somewhat bewildering. I was accused of short-sightedness. My comment was misinterpreted as railing against adjuncts. I WILL NOT BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY... damnit.

This might be fine if bitter or pils were the subject. But the subject is a group of beers of which every one I've tasted (unfortunately too many) has been obnoxiously spiced mix with stomach churning aroma, taste and body. Every time I give another one a chance I'm reminded of Lewis Black's rant on candy corn, its even seasonally appropriate. As that rotten liquid runs over the back of my mouth... SONUFABITCH! I've never seen anyone want a second serving of pumpkin beer. Even the people who do like it struggle to put away a full pint.

It is true that pumpkin beer has been made for centuries. But those colonial brewers were not using pumpkins to add flavor. They were short on barley and were looking for other things to make booze. They also fermented parsnips and wood shavings. Maybe some "innovative" brewer should concoct parnsip and wood shaving ale fermented in a pumpkin. It will be great!

It seems I'm rambling so I will head toward some final grandiose point. I'm not too concerned about the comments in response to mine in particular. But seems people find a problem with not liking, even hating, something. The defenders of pumpkin beer are reminiscent of Mac fanboys, though not quite as ravenous.... yet. So I will just say all pumpkin beers are disgusting and I don't care who knows it or what they think about it. Actually, I hope my local brewers get the message.

Tasting: Double Stout

2009-11-30T22:29:00.004-05:00

I have been hotly anticipating this stout. As I had mentioned before, I have yet to brew a stout I was happy with. A new water profile after moving and a new recipe gave me hope that this would turn out well...

Pours the way an ideal stout should like used motor oil under a thick tan cap. Sticking my nose in the glass reveals many layers of roasted malt, from dark toast, chocolate and coffee to a bit of peaty smoke. The taste is more roast malt and bitterness. The hint of smoke is not the smooth campfire smoke of rauchbier, rather the peat and salt of scotch. But that is just a background note in the full on dark chocolate and toast that is the main flavor. Ultimately the body is not so heavy as to prevent repeated sipping. Finally I've brewed the stout I imagined.

Belgian Chocolate

2009-11-11T21:53:00.003-05:00

I took advantage of the day off from class to brew and bottle some deliciousness. Out of the fermentor was the Double Stout, finishing at an adequate 1.012 and 8.1% ABV with wonderful smoky and roasted flavors. Into the fermentor was a Belgian-inspired brew with cocoa powder (fka Dubbel Chocolate). I changed the recipe from last to tone down the chocolate and up the fuitiness. Also no oak this year. I plan to add some frozen blackberries and plums in secondary to accentuate the fruit. Details below.

Tasting: La Fontaine du Sang

2009-10-28T23:09:00.005-04:00

The foam starts building in the bottle as soon as the cap is pried off. An experienced drinker, I have a special glass ready for my precious libation. This one shows some odd behavior when poured. The bubbles roll around slowly in suspension before lazily rising to the top, as if in a highly viscous liquid. The bubbles deceive though, the beer is actually quite light in the mouth. The color, a gorgeous deep burgundy, fits the name.

Quite a bit of complexity in aroma and flavor. Cherries and plums. Raisins and dried fruits. Apricot maybe. There is enough malt sweetness for this to be recognizable as beer but the underlying acidity accentuates the fruit and funk. I am very happy with how this turned out and it will take great patience to wait on the next pull from the solera.

Happiness is a Fresh Saison

2009-10-27T23:47:00.001-04:00

SS Stout

2009-10-13T19:53:00.007-04:00

I have yet to brew a porter or stout that has satisfied my picky taste in dark beers. I have high hopes for this hefty brew though. The recipe was formulated with the knowledge of stouts brewed in Britain in the late 19th century. How do I know what British stout recipes were like in the late 19th century? Well clicking here would be a start. The slight liberty I have taken is the use of Cherry Smoked Malt, which I can justify using to approximate the smoky flavor that some Brown malts of the period produced.

OG is an adequate 1.074. When I finished my kitchen looked the way my garage did after my first attempt at changing motor oil.

Vertical Tasting: Les Framboises du Mal

2009-10-04T22:13:00.005-04:00

With this year's batch of Les Framboises du Mal bottled and ready to drink I decided to open my second to last bottle of the 2008 brewing for a vertical tasting. I started with the the 2008 vintage...

Les Framboises du Mal 2008

Big foamy head over a deep red-orange beer that is perfectly clear to show off the streaming columns of plentiful CO2. Very fruity aroma with raspberries, light caramel malt, and the elusive pineapple brett scent. The Orval yeast is very apparent as aged Orval is a huge component of the aroma. The raspberry smell is more forward than I remember which could be the funky yeasts' doing. Finally taking a sip gives a soft dryness accompanied sub-acidity to tartness. A light malt sweetness remains. The raspberries appear in the middle which then giveway to some earthy mustiness. The 7+ percent alcohol makes no appearance. Time has been kind to this brew. I will try to hold off on the last bottle until next year in hopes a three year vertical tasting.

Les Framboises du Mal 2009

This bottle has yet to reach full carbonation so no head sat atop the shade more red than polished brass liquid. In contrast to the 2008 only an occasional buble meanders upward through the viscousity. The first whiff reaks of pungent lambic with a load of barnyard funk and a touch of almond nuttiness (odd but still nice). However, in the mouth the acidity level is much lower than a lambic but still quite tart. This beer is still rather sweet with plenty of raspberry and stone fruits. The sweet-sour balance is tilted more towards a true lambic to please me but hopefully not so far that it puts off my friends that have been anticipating this one. There is also the ropy mouthfeel you get in a real lambic. Worth the wait and I'm-afraid-to-add-up-the-cost-of-fruit. While this would cower in the shadow of the Rosé de Gambrinus, I feel I could fool some people in a blind tasting of lambics that what I have here is an honest to goodness Senne Valley blend. I plan on putting at least a case of this away for long term aging.

PS. Can you guess what I plan to brew next?

Funky Brewings

2009-09-20T23:29:00.005-04:00

Finally another post for anyone that actually reads this modest brewing information repository. Between moving across the city and starting graduate school, blogging time has been nonexistant. Brewing history posts will, unfortunately, be even more seldom for a while and I will most likely only have time for quick posts on brewing activities.

Ahh, fall, time to start brewing again. The cool weather arrived early this year which means I have already brewed twice this fall. I cooked up another batch of saison early in September and this weekend I filled Saturday afternoon with a parti-gyle brew and bottling La Fontaine du Sang and Les Fleurs du Mal.

Only part of The Fountain of Flood was bottled. The remaining half was refilled with the first gyle to begin a solera. The second gyle received oak and a portion of my sour starter.

Dog Days of Summer Brew Update

2009-08-11T21:47:00.004-04:00

When the temperature and humidity in the 90s, brewing just can't be any fun. Thus, since stocking up on saison in early July, nothing more intense than bottling has happened. I do have some aging beers that I can squeeze an update post out of.

Belgian Barleywine
When bottling the base beer I drew off one gallon to age some more with an "infected" oak spiral. Only bubbled a bit occasionally but never put up a pellicle. I figure at nearly 13% ABV that the bacteria and Brett. were killed off. Not much funk when I tasted it last week but it was still boozy and hot despite the extra aging time. I put it in the back of the refrigerator in hopes a few cold weeks will calm it down a bit. That main portion of the batch never carbonated so I will use wine or champagne yeast at bottling time.

La Fontaine du Sang
After two months in secondary, this one has just put up a bubbly and ropy white pellicle. A sample last week still tasted fairly clean and mostly like sweet caramel malt. Quite a ways to go for this one.

Les Framboises du Mal
I've added all the fruit I can afford to dump into beer, which now totals 5.5 lbs of raspberries and 12 oz plums from the fantastic Kimball Fruit Farm. The samples have tasted very sour and funky but I was dissappointed with the lack of fruit flavor and hue of the raspberry color, so I added plums to help rectify those problems. Although I have never heard of plums added to sour beer. The raspberries floating on top have beautifully disgusting crust.

The Difference Between Porter and Stout

2009-08-03T21:00:00.004-04:00

With Ron wasting the summer writing about trivial subjects like lager and travel, little progress has been made recently in droning on about important matters. Those matters of course are porter and stout, and the difference between the two. So here is a quote from and industrial chemistry manual published in 1921.

"Stout, with a very dark color, malt flavor and sweet taste, brewed stronger than ale, and possessing a tart taste in the aged product, but less alcohol than ale; usually lively. From worts of about 16 to 18 per cent extract.

Porter, with a dark color, brewed like stout, but not so strong."
-"Industrial Chemistry: A Manual for the Student and Manufacturer.", page 921.

Tasting: Saison

2009-07-30T21:38:00.005-04:00

What a wonderful feeling to open that first bottle of a much anticipated brew, raise it up to your nose, that first whiff encouraging glass to lips and take in all that goodness and hard work, comforting you that you made a beer just the way you drew it up in your mind.

Soft on the palate, a round maltiness (thank you Weyermann Vienna) gives way to a delicate bitterness. Then comes a yeasty pepper flavor along with floral and grassy flavors of several noble hops. A dry bitterness lingers. A spectacular beer for a night when both heat and humidity begin with an 8.

Crap, my glass is empty.

Saison

2009-07-09T22:10:00.006-04:00

Inspired by a couple great beers, Saison Dupont and Ommegang Hennepin, I heeded the siren call of saison. To me, saison is four basic ingredients of beer combined in perfect harmony. Nothing fancy. Just the finest malts and hops fermented with a difficult yeast. That was the aim of this recipe.

Grain:
4 lbs. Belgian 2-row pale malt
4 lbs. US 2-row pale malt
1 lb. Vienna Malt

Hops:
60 Minutes - 0.75 Amarillo % AAU
60 Minutes - 0.5 ounce Saaz 6.8% AAU
15 Minutes -0 .75 ounce Noble mix*
0 Minutes - 0.75 ounce Noble mix*
*.5 ounce each of Saaz (6.8 AAU), Hallertau (3.8 AAU), Styrian Goldings (2.0 AAU).

Mash
113 - 20 minutes
145 - 50 minutes
162 - 20 minutes

Yeast:
pitched starter built up from Saison Dupont Vieille Provision
OG: 1.053
78 % Efficiency.

Update: Version 2 brewed 7/16/2009 using the same recipe. 1.051 OG.

7/16/2009: 1.020 SG. First batch racked to secondary.

7/28/2009: Bottled 5 gallons, primed with 3.5 oz table sugar. 1.004 FG, 6.1 ABV, 92 % AA.

Tasting: Les Fleurs du Mal

2009-07-01T22:22:00.007-04:00

This has proved again to be one of my favorite recipes. The marriage of fruity Belgian yeast and American citrus hops has shown itself to be an excellent combination. I had only planned one batch of this for the summer but it has gone so fast I may have to brew up another to quench my thirst.

The color splits the difference between orange and amber and puts up big off-white head from the high carbonation. Oranges dominate the aroma among other tropical fruits with a grassy, herbal note adding some complexity. In the mouth, it presents a prickly carbonation and bitterness up front with a slight caramel sweetness and burning alcohol, which provides just enough kick to please a Scotch drinker, in the middle. The bitterness returns for a long, dry finish. Well chilled, its an ale that is very refreshing on a hot summer's eve.

The only change I would make would be to substitute pale malt of some, if not all, of the pils to give some extra malt to interact with the hops and yeast.

Beer in Colonial America, Odd Mixtures and Small Beer

2009-06-22T22:55:00.005-04:00

Here are some interesting drinks from the late 17th century. They range from pleasant to downright nasty.

An historical writer of that time gives a list of the beverages which were then drunk in America. Among others he mentions "manatham," which was made from small beer, rum, and sugar; "tiff" or "flip," prepared in the same manner, with the addition of a piece of toast and butter; "hotch-pot," a beverage made of warmed beer with the addition of rum; and "sillibub," which was a mixture of warm milk and beer.

Then there was small beer, which was made from syrup by heating some water and adding a quantity of molasses and a little malt. The brew was then thoroughly shaken and afterwards a small quantity of hops and yeast was added and the whole was put in a barrel and allowed to ferment. The following day the beverage was cleared and was ready for use. "The Brewing Industry and Brewery Workers' Movement in America", page 36.

Suddenly I have the urge to stroll up to the bar at Drink and demand that the bartender (fuck you yuppies, I'm calling your precious mixologists what they really are) toss together a sillibub.

Beer in Colonial America, Regulation

2009-06-16T23:03:00.004-04:00

Today's post is another excerpt from TBIBWMA (ooooh, an unwieldy acronym). I'm surprised that it took the colonists seventeen years to begin regulating beer production. Maybe they were just too busy figuring out how to stay alive.

The government of the colony made various regulations in regard to the preparation, price, and sale of beer. In 1637 the brewers of Massachusetts were forbidden to sell stronger beers to tavern keepers than such as cost eight shillings a barrel. In 1640 it was decreed that no one should be allowed to brew beer unless he was a good brewer. The price of beer was also regulated. Beer that sold for threepence per quart had to contain six bushels of malt per hogshead; beer for twopence per quart, four bushels; at one penny a quart, two bushels; and less proportionately. In 1645 the price of beer was fixed at twopence a quart. In 1677 is was officially decreed in Massachusetts that beer which contained three bushels of malt per barrel was to be sold at threepence a quart. Every additional bushel of malt per barrel raised the price of beer one penny. In spite of all their piety, the Pilgrim Fathers seem at an early time to have known the adulteration of beer. In 1677 the General Court of Massachusetts established a regulation according to which beer might only be prepared from good barley malt. Additions of syrup, raw sugar, or any materials other than malt were punishable with a fine of five pounds for each offense. The authorities also looked out for the comfort of travelers and in October, 1649, the General Court issued an order that each hotel keeper must keep good beer, so that travelers should not be compelled to buy expensive wines.
"The Brewing Industry and Brewery Workers' Movement in America", pages 24-25.

The author does not cite his sources so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the prices and punishments, but the specific nature is encouraging.

Beer in Colonial America, Parsnips and Wood Shavings

2009-06-16T22:24:00.006-04:00

I have slowly been working my way through The Brewing Industry and Brewery Workers' Movement in America by Hermann Schlüter, from 1910 and available on Google Books.

I will start with a passage on obtaining the necessary ingredients in the first years of colonization.

In the first year of the settlement the colonists planted the grain necessary for brewing beer, but with poor result, for the soil of Massachusetts was not well suited for the raising of barley. They therefore imported the materials for brewing, and also some beer itself, from England. In the year 1629 forty-five barrels of beer and four hundred weight of hops were brought to Massachusetts Bay at one shipment. Malt was also imported after the attempt to make it from maize had been tried with but slight success. A poem of that time informs us that the Pilgrim Fathers had such a tremendous thirst after alcoholic drinks that for want of beer they made intoxicating beverages out of pumpkins, parsnips, and shavings of walnut wood.
"The Brewing Industry and Brewery Workers' Movement in America", pages 24-25.

Barley and hops couldn't grow for shit in the rocky soil and harsh New England climate, no surprise there. Compared to beer from parsnips and wood shavings, corn beer doesn't sound so bad.

This post powered by Ten Fidy, the wonderful imperial stout from a can by Oskar Blues Brewery.

Les Framboises du Mal

2009-06-10T22:22:00.008-04:00

Last year I experimented with making a funky raspberry beer. It turned out great but had one problem, I only made one gallon. The pre-fruited beer is fairly similar to Les Fleurs du Mal but with some wheat malt and the hops turned down to let the funk and raspberries shine after several months of aging. As with Le Fontaine du sang, half a gallon was removed and funkified with "infected" oak. Raspberry season should be just starting when primary fermentation finishes.

Grain:
85% Belgian 2-row pale malt
10% Wheat malt
5% Crystal 20

Hops:
80 Minutes - 0.45 Galena 12.2 % AAU
80 Minutes - 0.3 ounce Saaz 6.8% AAU
15 Minutes - 0.18 ounce Perle
15 Minutes - 0.18 ounce Cascade, 9.3 AAU
0 Minutes - 0.18 ounce Perle
0 Minutes - 0.18 ounce Cascade, 9.3 AAU

Mash
113 - 20 minutes
145 - 60 minutes
162 - 20 minutes

Yeast:
repitched De Dolle yeast from Le Fontaine du Sang

OG: 1.069
72 % Efficiency.

6/22/2009: Down to 1.004 SG. Blended in the funkified half gallon portion, which had a wonderful bright lactic, yogurty acidity and a bit of bretty funk. Like a low gravity lambic! Might be another week or two before raspberries arrive at the farmer's market.

6/26/2009: Racked to secondary with 10.5 oz raspberries from farmer's market.

7/1/2009: Added 14 oz raspberries from farmer's market.

7/8/2009: Added 10 oz raspberries from farmer's market.

How to See Boston in 1890

2009-06-09T20:10:00.004-04:00

Here we have an excerpt from a guidebook on touring Boston's brewing district. The area is certainly no longer the pastoral outskirts of a busy city, though Franklin Park and Arnold Arboretum still provide a leafy respite for the weary city dweller. Only the Haffenreffer Brewery (called Boylston Brewery here) lives on as the headquarters for the Boston Beer Company.

"ROUTE No. THIRTEEN-

JAMAICA PLAIN, WEST-ROXBURY DISTRICT.

"By this route we 'do' the most rural of the outlying districts of the city. Within it are elegant country estates and charming rural homes, and the walks about it are exceedingly pleasant. In this district, also, are the great Franklin Park, yet to be improved, but already a most inviting place ; the Bussey Institution and Arnold Arboretum, connected with Harvard University ; and Forest-Hills Cemetery. The latter can best be reached by steam-cars over the Providence Division of the Old Colony Railroad ; and there are street-cars direct to Forest Hills, through the Roxbury District, and to Franklin Park by way of Oakland Garden, by the street-railway.

"Street-cars for Jamaica Plain start from the Tremont House, Tremont Street, a short walk from our general starting-point ( Scollay Square ). The ride out is directly through Tremont Street and the South End.

"At the Roxbury Crossing of the Providence Railroad, just beyond the Roxbury station, Tremont Street turns to the right. The Brookline cars here follow the line of Tremont Street, while the Jamaica-Plain cars continue almost straight ahead up Pynchon Street.

"We are here in the midst of the breweries district. Over to the right, across the railroad-track, we can see the great Burkhardt and Vienna breweries. Burkhardt was one of the pioneer German beer brewers of Boston and vicinity. His brewery is the solid, substantial, stone structure. The Vienna brewery is of brick, and a more modern building.

"As we enter Pynchon Street, we can see up Roxbury Street, on the left, Prang's extensive art-establishment, which we have already noticed in a previous route. Soon we pass, also on the left, the immense brewery of John Roessle—a fine structure of brick, with yards and outbuildings well-kept, all wearing an air of substantial prosperity. Next to the Roessle brewery is that of Pfaff, and, beyond that, the Norfolk brewery. Across the way, at the right, on streets parallel with Pynchon Street, are the great Highland Springs and Burton breweries. Farther along, not to be seen from the car, but not a great distance beyond, is the Boylston brewery. Others are in this neighborhood."

-How to See Boston: A Trust Worthy Guide-book By Grand Army of the Republic National Encampment. 24th, Boston, 1890, National Encampment, Grand Army of the Republic

La Fontaine du sang

2009-05-27T22:43:00.006-04:00

This beer was inspired by several Belgian styled red ales that are similar to Rodenbach ales but are higher in alcohol. Those beers would be Oerbier and La Roja from Jolly Pumpkin. I am aiming for an acidity level between those two wonderful ales. I took the grist from my red ale that showed quite a bit of potential but need less aggressive hopping. For bittering, Saaz replaced the Cascades that overpowered the beer.

To achieve a good level of acidity and funk I took a half gallon and added the oak spiral from the Brett beer that had been soaking in lambic dregs. I plan to blend this portion back into the rest of the beer for the secondary conditioning.

I like the idea of naming beer after a Charles Baudelaire poem (or even his entire master work). The concept provides a combination of literary allusion and awesome imagery. And they are in French for added snob appeal. This brew shall be named La Fontaine du sang (The Fountain of blood), perfect for a strong, sour red ale.

Grain:
60% Belgian 2-row pale malt
20% Munich malt
5% Belgian Aromatic
5% Crystal 90
5% Special B
5% Dark Wheat malt

Hops:
80 Minutes - Saaz 6.8% AAU

Mash
113 - 20 minutes
145 - 45 minutes
160 - 15 minutes

Yeast:
repitched De Dolle yeast from Les Fleurs du Mal.

OG: 1.064

6/10/2009: 1.010 FG. 7.07% ABV. Racked to secondary with sour portion and ½ oak spiral soaked in red wine then sour slurry.

7/13/2009: Took sample. Dark Amber/Caramel to slightly red (see picture above). Smells like an oud bruin but taste has more bitterness and very subdued acidity. Could be bottled now but aging will bring out the full brett flavor.

Tasting: Belgian Barleywine

2009-05-19T22:49:00.003-04:00

This is the first tasting of the Belgian Barleywine, two weeks after bottling. It has yet to carbonate but I wanted to get this tasting in before summer arrives and barleywine is not on the mind.

Appearance: Deep dark amber. Nearly no carbonation despite re-yeasting at bottling.

Aroma: Pear, raisins, caramel, and molasses. A bit boozy.

Flavor: More pear, raisins, caramel, and molasses. Nugget hops provide a firm bitterness and earthy, spicy flavor to counteract the sweetness and fruitiness. The 12.7 ABV makes itself well known with a long boozy burn at the finish.

Overall an good first attempt to make a beer this big. The alcohol burn and lack of carbonation detract quite a bit from what could be an outstanding beer. Some age may be able to take care of this. Hopefully these problems can be resolved in the funky portion or next brewing.

1906: Beer in New Hampshire

2009-05-11T20:29:00.004-04:00

I have taken some time lately to search through Google Books for historical information on New England breweries. The 1906 report from New Hampshire State Board of Health has provided the best information on types and strength of beer. The gravities range from 1.043 to 1.068, the latter being the highly regarded P.B. Ale from Van Nostrand Brewing Company in Boston. Thirty of seventy-nine samples tested positive for some for of adulteration. All but one of those thirty contained either salicylic acid or sulphorous acid.

Les Fleurs du Mal

2009-04-27T22:16:00.006-04:00

This is an all grain adaptation of the Hoppy Belgian that I brewed last Spring with excellent results. The grain bill is simple to let the yeast and hops shine. I brewed several batches of this last year and aimed for similar hop additions to the one that has aged best.

10 lbs Dingemans Pilsner malt
.6 lbs 20 L Crystal malt
1 lb sugar, inverted*

60 Minutes - 0.88 ounce Nugget, 14.6 AAU
15 Minutes - 0.25 ounce New Zealand Hallertau, 7 AAU
15 Minutes - 0.5 ounce Cascade, 9.3 AAU
0 Minutes - 0.25 ounce New Zealand Hallertau, 7 AAU
0 Minutes - 0.5 ounce Cascade, 9.3 AAU
Secondary – 0.5 ounce Cascade, 9.3 AAU

Mashed 113 F – 145 F – 160 F
1.067 OG
75 % Efficiency

*Heat 1 lb sugar with 1 cup water and 1 tspn lemon juice. If I had a candy thermometer I would aim for certain temperature.

5/5/2009: Racked to secondary with 0.5 ounce Cascade flowers. 1.020 SG.

5/29/2009: Bottled 5 gallons with 4 oz local blueberry blossom honey. 1.010 FG. 7.5% ABV.

7/1/2009: Tasting posted.

BBeer* Tasting

2009-04-15T23:35:00.004-04:00

I bottled four gallons of the all Brett beer just over a month ago. One gallon was combined with sliced Gala apples and put away to age. Worried about over-carbonation and exploding bottles, I only added 1 ounce of sugar at bottling. My worries have been unfounded as an aggressive pour gives no more than a weak head that immediately falls apart. This color is a cloudy orange.** Lots of fruit in the aroma; green apples, cherries, oranges. The flavor is more of the same with some tartness developing that was not present at bottling. There is also some fresh oak character in the aroma and taste like you would find in white wine.

Overall, I have yet to make up my mind on this beer. It seems very young so I will slowly drink my through the batch. I tasted it with three different cheese, Brie, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and Vermont cheddar. All three were an excellent match.

*The extra 'B' is for Bbrettanomyces Lambicus.

**I keep a single clear bottle in rotation to monitor color and clarity. The flocculation has been so slow that there is a visible difference between the fine and murky parts of the beer. Oddly enough, the portion that I mixed with apples is brilliantly clear.

Lovibond Porter

2009-04-14T22:34:00.007-04:00

Bottled after 7 days (4/7/09) with 2.5 ounces white sugar.

The pour produces a tan head that quickly recedes into a ring of foam around the edge of the glass. The color is black with brown-red higlights. There aroma is sweet and roasted malt with a bit of yeasty fruitiness and hops in the background. Just enough residual sugars and carbonation to give a full mouthfeel but remain suitable for quaffing, which the 3.7 % ABV suits as well. Still a bit green but has a nice sweet malt and roasty flavor balanced by just enough hops.

As a bonus, here are some numbers for several porters from just after the turn of the century. For comparison, mine has a 1.022 SG, 3.7 % ABV and absolutely NO adulterants.

Anniversary Guinness

2009-04-08T10:52:00.006-04:00

A bottle of Guinness Bi-Centenary stout at the storehouse
at St. James Gate. They keep all the bottles in a glass
case ensuring than any pictures will be crap.

Guinness has announced today that they will be unleashing a limited 250th Anniversary Stout in the United States. From the write ups I cannot tell what to make of this new stout. MSNBC has a convenient comparison between Guinness Draught and the Anniversary Stout. (The date section for plain draught provides amusement. "Sometime after 1799.") There are reasons for optimism and cynicism. My inner optimist's and cynic's dialogue whilst reading the article:

Optimist: A stronger, maltier stout sounds encouraging.

Cynic: Hardly Foreign Extra Stout though.

Optimist: At least its not nitrogenated.

Cynic: But carbonated for more refreshment and zing!

Optimist: No two part pour, that should be refreshing.

Cynic: Don't forget the "double brew stream that combines two types of malts, ale and stout."

Cynic: Oh, oh it also has "triple hops" just like Miller Lite!

Brewing Historic Porter

2009-04-01T23:21:00.013-04:00

Over at Barclay Perkins, Ron has written a bunch times about mid 19th century porter grists. Recently he posted about a particular porter found in the Lovibond Brewery logs. According to W.L. Tizard, a porter consisting of only amber malt and black malt resulted in an exquisite beer. A fan of dark beer and historic beer I had to brew for myself.

This beer presented a couple challenges with regards to malt choice and mashing. Finding Amber malt proved to be harder than I had anticipated. I needed a lightly kilned pale malt that retained most of its Diastatic power. [source] While reading the Dingeman's malt descriptions I noticed that they alternatively call their Aromatic malt "Amber 50" and the description matched the historical description. As an added bonus, Dingeman's Aromatic malt is widely available. I declare it good enough. I hope Ron reads this so he can tell me why that is a stupid declaration.

Without a true base malt I tempered my expected efficiency down to 70% from my usual 75+%. Turned out not to be enough as I ended up at 60%, so I added a half pound of brown sugar to raise the OG to range I was shooting for, 1.05-1.06. For hops, .5 oz Nugget boiled for 60 minutes and another .5 oz Nugget boiled for 10 minutes. Kent Goldings would have been more likely but I like Nuggets, so much for historical accuracy. At least I used Whitbread yeast.

After 20 hours of fermentation, yeast was cropped. The gravity had fallen to 1.042 from 1.051. The taste already attained an excellent balance of big malty flavor and an obvious but not overpowering roastiness. After 6 days the measured gravity holds steady at 1.022 (1.027 real SG, a paltry 47% attenuation and 3.7% ABV) and is ready for bottling. Never mind the terrible attenuation, this tastes great!

Malt Sourdough Bread

2009-03-12T15:58:00.004-04:00

Inspired by other baking homebrewers I decided to try my hand at putting all that spent grain from the barleywine to good use. I used a low hydration figuring that the malt would bring along plenty of water. I aimed for 50% hydration but neglected to account for the starter and ended up at 57% before the malt was added. All measurements are by weight.

16 oz King Arthur Bread Flour
8 oz filtered water
5 oz sourdough starter (100% hydration)
5 oz still wet mashed malt
.3 oz kosher salt

-Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and let rise 20 hours.
-Shape and let rise another 2 hours.
-Bake for 30 minutes in 450 F oven.

The bread had a good flavor with a nice combination of sourdough and malt. (Good enough that I ate it all before I thought to take a photo.) The only problem was the texture turned out a bit too wet and dense. Next time I would either push the hydration even lower or use some grain that has not been mashed. Some crystal or honey malt could be tasty.

Belgian Barleywine

2009-03-09T14:11:00.006-04:00

This ale was inspired by Stille Nacht from De Dolle Brouwers. I am quite enamored with their beers, if that was not already obvious. I'm not in the mood to make up the tables that I did for the previous batches but the recipe is quite simple. A heap of pale malt, whole Nugget hops (I love the earthy spiciness of Nuggets), a healthy dose of sugar, a long boil and Oerbier yeast. OG at 1.110.

The only question is which oak spiral to add to secondary: one that has been soaking in red wine or the one that just came out of the B. Lambicus beer. Maybe both. Maybe split the batch and use both.

3/22/09: Racked to Secondary. 1.010 SG apparent(90%), 1.026 real(75%), 12.7% ABV.

5/5/09: Racked 1 gallon to 1 gallon jug w/ half medium toast French oak spiral soaked in lambic dregs. Bottled 3 gallons with 2 oz corn sugar. Smells very fruity and sugary with pear and Nugget hops. Taste of fruit, spice, molasses, caramel, hops with a rocket fuel burn afterward.

Mild! Tasting

2009-03-03T19:46:00.007-05:00

I bottled the mild after only 7 days of fermentation with 4 oz brown sugar. It attenuated to 1.005 SG (86% apparent attenuation) making for a nice light 4% ABV. I cracked open a bottle three days after bottling and was pleased to find it already carbonated.

With a vigorous pour down the center of the glass the beer releases a nice two finger head of light foam. The color is a light orange with a brownish tint from the brown sugar at bottling. Decent clarity. A distinct yeast fruitiness, oranges mostly, blends with the earthy hops to create a pleasurable but not overpowering aroma. The taste is similar with some bready warmth and honey sweetness from the biscuit and honey malts. The hops assert themselves in bitterness and flavor and make me want to call this an IPA. The body is a bit Kate Moss but that makes for extreme gulpability. Overall I am pleased with this brew but might aim for a higher finishing gravity next time I get a craving for session beer.

Quadrupel Imperial Double Mild

2009-02-10T14:28:00.005-05:00

Back to brewing. I started getting anxious to bottle the B. Lambicus beer but it needs at least another month to finish attenuating and aging. And while the Dubbel Chocolate and Stout are tasty, after couple of either I find myself wanting something lighter in flavor and alcohol yet still tasty.

For this ale I aimed at 1.037 OG with the character coming from an interesting the malt and special yeast (De Dolle yeast repitched from a previous batch). I brewed this last Friday, February 6 and plan on bottling early next week. Like all my brew, this hardly fits in any category. Maybe a Belgian single/ankel (if there is such a thing) or mild in terms of gravity but not any other way. I decided to have a little fun with name and poke fun at the need of many brewers to increase hops and alcohol for the sake of hops and alcohol.

This is my official joining of the session beer project. I look forward to enjoying this ale with lunch.

Irish Beer, Part III

2009-02-09T11:45:00.004-05:00

I'm eager to get back to covering brewing activities so here is a quick round up of Irish beer with notes on the few stragglers. Occasionally I found an Irish beer available outside a brew pub at a non-beer bar. These were all pleasant surprises to the usual Guinness/lager/cider choices.

Galway Hooker: A pale ale from a craft brewery in the west. They deliberately limit distribution to certain pubs where it would be tasted with open minds. It tasted like a three quarter strength Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA. Nothing amazing but a nice every day beer. Galway Hooker on the web.

O'Hara's Celtic Stout: A stout from the Carlow Brewing Company. I found this one in bottles at an off-license so thankfully I could taste it without flavor obfuscating nitro-kegging. Smooth and roasty; exactly how I wish Guinness would taste. The best Irish stout I've tasted. Carlow also brews a red and a wheat which I did not try.

Kinsale Lager: As far as I can tell this is the only offering from Kinsale Brewing Company in Kinsale. After a 3 km walk each way to Charles Fort in Summercove, a pint of this lager showed its strengths. A refreshing, light body carrying bready malt combined with just enough noble hops.

Overall I was surprised at how awful the beer selection was in Ireland. Finding these craft brews was rare and each of these were only in one location. I only found Franciscan Well to have decent distribution, but only within Cork city. I think that Irish culture can be extremely conservative in certain aspects, especially when it comes to food and drink. So any change in the beer available will come slowly but there is a start with the brews I've mentioned.

Irish Beer, Part II

2009-02-03T22:05:00.008-05:00

From Cork I moved on to the big city, Dublin. Beer was a fairly low priority in my travels but I found some time to search out something beyond Guinness. I made the requisite visit to St. James' Gate and found the tour tedious and exhausting. The tour could be whittled down to the advertising section without losing anything. At the end I opted to make my free beer a bottle of Foreign Extra Stout, thankfully served only slightly chilled. Beer in hand, I fully enjoyed the 360 view from the Gravity Bar on that Waterford crystal clear day.

Tired of the throngs of tourists I figured a mid-afternoon trip to the Porterhouse brewpub would provide a sanctuary from directionless drones that plague large tourist attractions. Wrong. But at least there was some decent beer.

Plain Porter: Not quite as dark as Guinness porter. Nitro-kegging dulled any subtle flavor it had to offer.

Oyster Stout: A deft combination of a dry, roasty stout and salty oysters. Further evidence that stout and oysters are a natural combination. Unfortunate nitro-kegging. Why, why, why?

An Brainblasta: Supposedly the brewery's top of the line. Seemed to me that the malt, hops and yeast were fighting each other instead of complimenting. Not awful, just meh.

TSB: A 3.7% ABV bitter. An excellent session with a very English balance of malt and hops. Moreish. The Porterhouse's best beer is its lowest strength beer.

Due Up for Part III: Beer not from brewpubs.

Irish Beer, Part I

2009-01-29T12:52:00.006-05:00

I recently returned from Ireland, a place known for beer. Painfully though, that is only one type of beer mainly from one brand that frankly sucks. Slowly though, Irish craft beer is making headway.

My first respite from nitro-stout came in Cork thanks to the Franciscan Well Brewery, which has been brewing since 1998. Their beers are available in Cork's better pubs with the Rebel Red reaching ubiquity. I find extensive tasting notes tedious to write and pompous, but here is my opinion of their beers.

Shandon Stout: Nitro-kegged stout. A step up from Guinness-Murphy's-Beamish with a bit more roastiness.

Blarney Blonde: A light, easy drinking blonde ale. Lacks character.

Friar Weisse: The brewery's wheat beer. The yeast character tasted like it needed more maturation time.

Bellringer: A spiced winter beer. Over spiced to near undrinkable. Why do brewers make these insipidly spiced beers? I have yet to drink one doesn't puzzle me.

Rebel Red: A wonderful red ale that shames industrial Irish red ales. Very fruity with distinct rasberry flavors. At 4.3% abv Rebel makes a great session beer (very important for beer in Ireland). By far the brewery's best and a beer I would gladly drink any time.

I only found these beers within Cork. Apart from the brewpub, Blarney Blonde, Friar Weisse, Shandon Stout and Rebel Red can be found at the Mutton Lane Inn and Sin É. You can also drink Rebel Red at the infamous Hi-B bar until you, like me, get kicked out for no good reason.

Brettanomyces Lambicus

2009-01-04T22:08:00.005-05:00

We want the funk.

Now here we have a beer I am really excited about (more so than usual). A single strain Brettanomyces beer. For this one I kept the malt and hops simple to let the B. Lambicus shine. Unfortunately, I think using a new oak spiral may have negated that effort.

Higher than expected efficiency resulted in an OG of 1.064, a few points higher than I wanted. After 19 days the gravity had dropped to 1.020. I racked 1 gallon onto a pound of sliced Gala apples and the other 4 gallons to its own secondary fermenter. Other than taking longer, fermentation appeared normal.

At racking the beer smelled of cherries, pears, apples, tropical fruit and a touch of barnyard funk. The taste was similar but with the oak fighting for prominence.

Dubbel Chocolate

2009-01-01T23:52:00.006-05:00

This ale is an adaptation of an extract recipe I made last winter. The original beer combined a fruity witbier yeast with some dark malts and a little chocolate powder in the boil. For this version I kept the malt bill the same and added an extra ounce of chocolate to bring out that flavor a bit more. In the previous batch I used a pound of the dark rock candy that the home brew store sells. It tasted great but was much too expensive. I substituted dark maple syrup and white sugar that I caramelized the night before brewing. An oak spiral was added to the secondary fermenter.

This brew started with a step mash similar to what is recommended in the excellent Brew Like a Monk. Mash in at 104 F 15 minutes and use infusions to raise the mash to 145F for 45 minutes and 158F for 15 minutes. Efficiency hit nearly 75% with this mashing scheme.

Notes:
1 tspn Irish Moss
4 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder
1 lb caramel
375 ml maple syrup

Apparently I forgot to write down the final gravity but I think it was around 1.015. That would mean 77% apparent attenuation and 6.5% ABV.

Now for one of my favorite activities, writing extensive tasting notes.

Color: dark, off white head

Smell: Chocolate, oaky vanilla some dark fruit.

Taste: oak, vanilla, fruit, chocolate, dark malt, bullshit.

Overall: Good but too much oak.

Table Beer

2009-01-01T22:20:00.004-05:00

I mentioned in my post on the red ale that I made a table beer from the second runnings off the mash. A 3% ABV beer ought to really test brewing skills, sanitation and all that.

As for recipe I collected 4 gallons of wort boiled with some Perle hops. Post boil I had 3 gallons of wort at 1.030 OG that fermented with White Labs 500 (a strain cultivated from Chimay). With little work to do the yeast settled out enough to bottle after 5 days. Final Gravity was 1.006. 3.1% ABV.

The resulting beer is similar to a watery Chimay Cinq Cents. The hops and yeast prickle the tongue with spiciness. There is also a touch of infection that has not increased in the three months since bottling.

Overall not a bad effort. Since most of my home brew is high gravity rocket fuel it is nice to have something light to reach for when I don't want to get knocked on my ass.

(PS. Can you name that coaster?)

New England Cider and Wild Cider

2008-12-14T21:19:00.004-05:00

Back in October during the peak of apple season here in New England I decided to experiment with some cider. I bought 4 gallons of unpasteurized cider from a local orchard.

Three gallons went into a fermenter with 1 cup chopped raisins and 12 0z molasses. The raisins and molasses were boiled with some water to sanitize. The total volume ended up at 3.5 gallons at an OG of 1.060. Fermentation was done with Lalvin 1118 Champagne yeast. When fermentation finished White Labs 675 Malo-lactic bacteria (I think this is just Pedioccocus and Lactobacillus) was added. This is supposed to smooth out harsh acidity from the apples. After six weeks I bottled the cider with an ounce of corn sugar for a slight bit of carbonation

The fourth gallon of fresh cider went into its own fermenter by itself. I wanted to find out what happens when the cider is left to its own devices and yeast. After about 2 weeks there was a small krausen and after another week the airlock was releasing at 5 second intervals. Even though I was encouraged by the apparent fermentation the sulfur smell was off putting. Even though fermentation has finished and the cider cleared brilliantly I am holding off on bottling in hopes that the unpleasant smells will dissipate.

1883 Guinness Porter Tasting

2008-12-14T20:55:00.004-05:00

The beer appears to be black as its poured but a close looks shows a dark red. Given that Crystal 40 and Chocolate malt added up to only 15% of the grist this is surprisingly dark. One finger of foam can be coaxed with an aggressive pour.

The aroma is a bit fruity from the yeast. The taste gives an interesting combination of fruitiness at the start followed by an unusual roastiness (spell check tells me that roastiness is not a word, I'll say empyreumatic instead). I presume this empyreumatic flavor comes from mashing/boiling the chocolate malt separate from the main mash. The hops play their supporting role well.

Overall an interesting brew. Next time I brew a porter or stout, I will remove the Crystal malt in favor of some Amber and Brown malt. A cleaner yeast that does not compete with the malt might be nice as well.

1883 Guinness Export Stout/Porter

2008-11-16T20:46:00.005-05:00

As an obsessive reader of Shut up about Barclay Perkins, it was only a matter of time before I brewed a historical stout recipe. I decided on 1883 Guinness Export Stout since it is likely the closest to Special Export Stout that Guinness only sells in Europe. The recipe has probably changed over the last 125 years but this is a historical brew, sort of. The malt ratios and hopping rate can be found here. The brewing store does not stock amber malt so I substituted Crystal 40. The reasoning for 400 L Chocolate malt is "Properly made black malt had an even chocolate brown colour..." according to W.L. Tizard in "The Theory and Practice of Brewing." (Source) I also boiled the chocolate malt separately from the mash as recommended by Tizard.

10/26/2008: 4:00 PM - Pitched starter of yeast collected from Red Ale (originally from Oerbier).
10/26/2008:9:00 PM – Fermentation started.
10/27/2008: 10 AM – cropped yeast.
11/1/2008: Racked to secondary. 1.014 SG.
11/14/2008: Bottled with 2.5 oz corn sugar.

55 percent efficiency knocked the gravity down below even the 1883 Guinness Porter. Oh well, this should still turn out as an interesting historical brew. The fermentation starting within 5 hours amazed me. That Oerbier yeast seems to be some sort of Barry Bonds like freak. Surely, we'll find out in 5 years about its steroid use.

As the picture shows, the beer looks the part of Guinness. The taste is very fruity at first then gives way to a great lasting roastiness. And I do mean lasting. I could taste it for a good ten minutes after finishing the sample. The fermentation character up front was still somewhat rough at bottling. I hope that calms down when conditioned after several weeks in the bottle. An update will surely be coming!

Red Ale

2008-11-09T18:15:00.000-05:00

This beer was my first all grain brew. I hoped to create a beer similar to Oerbier from De Dolle Brouwers. I guessed at the grain bill just from what I could taste in Oerbier. I guessed at the hops as well. Though looking back I do not know why I put two ounces of 6.3 AAU Cascade hops into a beer that is supposed to feature the malt and yeast character. Overall the brew went fairly smoothly. Because I party-gyled this, making a Table Beer from the second runnings, I am not sure if I can accurately calculate the mash efficiency.

Notes:
9/28/2008: 4:00 PM Pitched starter made from Oerbier sediment into 4 gallons wort.
9/29/2008: 10:00 AM (18 hours) – Airlock releases every few seconds.
9/30/2008: 3:30 PM (48 hours)Top Cropped ½ cup yeast. SG: ~1.030.
10/3/2008: Racked to secondary. ~1.013.
10/26/2008: Bottled with 4.5 oz honey.

I forgot to measure the OG before pitching but from the Pre-Boil OG I calculated 1.088. That gives an astonishing 91% attenuation and over 10% ABV. The attenuation seems wrong given its a grain only beer mashed at 158 F (I was aiming for 150 F).

The beer pours a deep clear red (although my awful photography fails to show this) with a off white head that quickly subsides. I can't decide exactly what it smells like. Malty. Fruity. Yeasty. The first sip immediately tastes grainy that changes into hop bitterness, which dominates the flavor throughout. There is some great malt and yeast flavors hiding behind the bitterness. The beer is very green right now and definitely needs some aging.

Overall I was happy with this as a first try at all grain brewing. The beer turned out alright but not great. The grainy flavor likely came from a hot mash and/or not monitoring the mash pH. I will likely tweak the recipe for lower alcohol, attenuation and bitterness.

Hoppy Belgian

2008-11-05T21:51:00.000-05:00

This first beer is probably the best beer I've made. That makes for a good place to start. The goal of this beer was to combine the fruity flavors of a Belgian yeast strain with American citrus hops. Amarillo hops to be exact. I just made a British person cringe. "I say, proper beer does not taste like grapefruit." As for yeast food, pale dry malt extract and Caramel 20 gave the beer everything it needed. I will go into more detail when I get to the all-grain brews. To really bring out the hop flavor I dry-hopped with Amarillo flowers then bottle conditioned using honey.

The taste is resembles this year's Stone Vertical Epic. Considering I brewed this three months before the release of that I beer, the Stone beer gave me conflicting feelings. I was happy to not be alone on the idea of combining Belgian yeast with citrus hops, but now my beer was not so unique. I would say my beer is distinguished by the honey in the bottle and the touch of sourness from the fermentation. The honey adds no sweetness because its sugar is completely fermented. It does add to the wonderful aroma and a delicate spiciness to the flavor. The fermentation gave a touch of acidity (nowhere near a lambic or even an oud bruin) to accentuate the citrus and fruit flavors. Because fruit, especially citrus, contains some acid, the acidity in the beer was a natural combination.

This beer turned out exactly how I had hoped. Next time I brew it will be in the Spring and it will be an all grain batch. I might leave out the Caramel 20 malt to try to push the attenuation over 90%.

(Pardon the crappy picture, my camera sucks. Uh barman, my beer is blurry. And why is it in a wine glass?)

Obligatory Introduction

2008-11-05T21:11:00.000-05:00

Hi, my name is Tim and I brew beer. In my kitchen. That is not unusual. But some of my beer wanders outside the bounds of normal brewing. Odd flavor combinations. Sour beer. Historical beer. Thats what I like and I have had the most success brewing. But I still have a lot to learn. So this will be a documentation of my tests and trials, successes and failures.