Duvel Clone or Belgian Golden Strong

 One of my favorite styles of beer is the Belgian Golden Strong, and the classic commercial example is Duvel. When operating the brewery in San Miguel, I always tried to have this beer in the rotation, and as delicious as this beer is, the ingredients are as simple as you can get.

Pilsner malt and refined sugar.

You could complicate it if you want to by producing some inverted sugar to replace the refined white sugar, but I haven't found it to improve the beer, and I like to keep things simple if the results are good. The best yeast I've found over the years that comes the closest to mimicking that unique flavor of Duvel is White Labs WLP545 yeast, and I won't brew this beer if I don't have any to pitch.

Now, as simple as I like to keep this recipe, I was forced to use some acidulated malt in my latest batch in order to drop the mash pH to 5.3.

One other caveat: I didn't get the efficiency from my mash that I calculated the recipe based on. I was expecting to be in the low 80%, but ended up with 78% and was forced to add some additional sugar to make my preferred original gravity. Then, rather than do math, I just dumped in 2.2 pounds of sugar when in fact I only needed 1 pound. Soooo... my O.G. came in at 1.079 instead of the 1.074 that I was shooting for. Sooo... the alcohol came in higher. If I'm not mistaken, Duvel is 8.5% ABV, and this beer came in at 9.3% ABV. Not quite as drinkable at that higher percentage, but it will still be a crowd-pleaser for those that like their Belgians boozy.

The following is my recipe as intended, and I've included the discrepancies in parenthesis for your reference.

Recipe:

I brewed an 11 gal. post boil batch anticipating 2 full 5 gallon kegs after fermentation. I referenced Bru'n water yellow bitter water profile and used 100% reverse osmosis water.

Efficiency 84% (actual 78%),  Attenuation 87% (actual 92%),  ABV 8.5% (actual 9.3), SRM 4.5, IBU 35, OG 1.074 (actual 1.079), FG 1.008, PH 5.3

23 lbs. Pilsner malt (Weyermann)

.75 lbs. Acid malt 

4.4 lbs. or 2 kilos (actual 3 kilos) refined sugar at start of boil

Mash in at 152f. in 6 gal. h2o for 60 minutes.

Sparge with 10 gal. for 45 minutes with 170f. h2o 

Boil 90 minutes with:

60 min. add: 65 gram Warrior 13% a/a est. 34 ibu's

20 min. add: 20 gram Tettnang 2.1 a/a% for est. 1 ibu's

Chilled down to 68f., transfer to fermenter and pitched 3 pkgs WLP545 yeast. 

After 3 days raised temperature to 72f.

After 3 more days raised temp. to 75f.

After 3 more days lowered temp. to 62f. for 1 day.

Transfer to kegs and lagered in kegerator for 2 weeks at 40f.

Lessons learned - Add sugar to achieve gravity a little at a time if needed, checking gravity as I make the additions.

Cheers!

Brewing A Session Beer

 

Is it wrong that I'm getting all of my calories from beer?
I'm learning very quickly that when you're brewing beer in large quantities on a daily basis, you drink way too much!

Session Beer

Let me re-phrase that... you're tempted to drink too much but because all of the beers that are on tap are 6% abv. or more you have to monitor yourself to the point of it being uncomfortable. That's no fun. The solution, a delicious session beer to quench the thirst while the low alcohol allows for focused attention on the brewing task at hand.

Case in point, the new Cerveceria Dos Aves Session Ale. Classically speaking it fits into the English ordinary bitter category. This beer is only 4% abv. but with a nice maltiness balanced well with a moderate bitterness that satisfies the craving for an easy drinking malt beverage and doesn't weigh you down.

I designed this recipe to brew my last Beer School class and found the results so profoundly delicious and drinkable that I brewed a full 16 cases worth to present at the next Dos Aves function here in San Miguel. This beer drinks easy, satisfies my beer tooth and keeps me on my feet even after numerous pints. I'm loving it!

The secret when brewing this low alcohol beer is leaving enough residual sugar after fermentation to leave the body in tact. Plus a good balance of malt sweetness and bitterness. To achieve this it's necessary to mash at a higher temperature thus preventing the enzymes from converting some of the complex sugars to simple sugar. In this case I mashed at 156f. for an hour. This makes it harder for the yeast to metabolize those sugar leaving the final gravity of the beer higher, in other words a lower attenuation (67%). Additionally, I fermented with S-04 English dry yeast which is a moderate attenuating yeast from my experience. I also wanted to make sure I had enough bitterness in the finished beer to offset this higher finish gravity and I did this with a good dose of Chinook hops at the beginning of the boil. Finally, I added just a touch of roasted barley to give a little more color.

To achieve the Burton on Trent water profile I follow Martin's Bru'n Water spread sheet and used only 55% reverse osmosis water and the rest was regular (super hard) San Miguel municipal water along with the addition of calcium sulfate and calcium chloride to achieve my water and mash ph. goal.


The cool room

I don't know if I'll be able to add this beer to the regular line up here but will certainly have some on tap on brew days for personal consumption. If you're in the neighborhood stop by the brewery and ask for a sample, say you read about it here.

In the mean time it's really hot here in San Miguel. When I'm brewing four back-to-back beers in a day, the temperature is getting up in the 90's f. and I've attached a fan to the ceiling to keep the hot air from the brew sculpture flowing out the front door. I've enclosed the back room where I ferment and installed an air-conditioner to keep it cool. Sadly, it has to vent warm exhaust into the room where I'm working but it's worth for me to suffer if my beer is staying at proper (cool) fermentation temperatures. Oh how I sacrifice for yeast.

Fermented Traditional Mexican Ponche

During the festivities of Christmas in Mexico, when you are invited into the family homes you'll soon be offered a sweet fruit punch that is traditionally made for this season. The proportions of ingredients that create the flavors of this warm (yes, it's served warm off the stove top) concoction are as individual as the family that prepares it but all have in common the fruit available at this time of year along with piloncillo (sugar) and spices. This tart and sweet drink is served to family members, guests and traveling strangers that may stop by the house during one of the neighborhood Christmas posadas.

piloncillo

guavas

jamica

Preparation begins by bringing water to a boil in a large olla and then introducing all of the ingredients one by one for as long as it takes to adjust the flavors to the cook's taste as the boil continues.

As I was curious about this drink and I just happen to know a Mexican family I asked them if they would share the process of making punche'. Liz, a friend and a Mexican with some experience making ponche' offered to help me out with this project. Of course I had ulterior motives. That's right, I can't imagine a delicious beverage not being improved with a little fermentation and so I was on a quest to take the traditional and morph it into the slightly non-traditional with the introduction of Belgian ale yeast. Liz was game and so our mission began.

Here's the fruit we used to prepare what I'm calling the 'Lizmark' (dare I say "Sinking of the Lizmark"?) ponche'. Keep in mind that you can add pretty much any fruit you want and there are several that we didn't include in our recipe.

We started with I would guess to be about 12 liters of water and brought it to a boil. I'm guessing 12 liters because Liz doesn't measure anything. It seemed that intuition was more her guide. While the water was heating, she assigned me the task of preparing the fruit by cutting it into bite sized chunks. This included a dozen guavas, several yellow/green apples (not granny smith), a few mango's and a handful of pitted prunes. I tossed all these in as the water began to boil along with two dark colored piloncillo. Piloncillo is a raw sugar that is compacted into the shape of a cone about 5" tall and comes in light brown and dark brown. I then peeled about twenty tamarindo and threw them in without pitting or cutting them up and then I added a fistful of jamica (what gringos would refer to as dried hibiscus flower). Finally I added five or six long cinnamon sticks and let the whole thing boil vigorously. 

naked tamarindo

tamarindo

Liz tasted my effort and suggested I add more jamica and a few more tamarindo to the mix. Because we did this in July we were not able to use any tejocotes which are only ripe and available during the winter. The tejocote fruit are small speckled things about the size of a blemished golfball that grow on a scraggy, spindled shrub-like tree that appears to scream "I'm going to survive in this harsh environment no matter what!" They are a required ingredient for the real traditionalists imparting another dimension of tartness to the ponche'. The first person to eat one of these scary looking things was a brave sole indeed. Some say it has a pear/apple flavor. Personally I don't think they're necessary since the punche' has enough other acidic ingredients in it. My guess is that the importance of including tejocotes comes from a 'waste-not, want-not' attitude and is more nostalgia than anything else. Plus, what else are you going to do with this weird, unattractive fruit?



 The other missing ingredients in our version are pieces of raw sugar cane and maybe some raisins but who's counting?
After Liz was satisfied with the flavor we achieved I turned off the heat and we sat back with a cold Victoria and watched the pot cool. Then we got tired of watching the pot so I took it back to the brewery and transferred the entire content into a sanitized fermentor. I left it to chill naturally over night and returned in the morning and pitched the Belgian yeast. If I recall correctly it was a jar of salvage Whitelabs WLP500. I figured that the phenolic qualities that this yeast brings to the equation would be a good match with all of the fruity tartness of the punch.


cinnamon and prune

I left it to ferment for a week (for those interested, it went from and o.g. of 1.055 down to 1.008 % or about 6% abv.) and then racked it into a 2 liter plastic bottle and forced carbonated. When I transfer the punch out of the fermentor I did this gently as I wanted to leave behind the large quantity of fruit pulp and debris that had settled to the bottom. I set the fairly clear and fully carbonated ponche' in the coolness of the kegerator to age for a bit.

finished product on ice



One month later, I brought our new baby home wrapped in swaddling ice packs to share with Liz, Antonio and their staff at The Beer Company. This carbonated, alcoholic version of the traditional ponche' was a hit. Everyone liked it including me as I enjoyed mine poured over ice. A very nice balance of tart fruit, spice and a sweet but dry finish. I don't care too much for the traditional ponche' because of the high level of cloying sweetness but after fermenting out some of the sugar this drink is quite satisfying.

My plan is to make a larger batch of this again, but at the brewery come this Winter and have it available on one of the taps at The Beer Company. If you're down here for X-mas stop by for a glass. Salud!

Dos Por Uno Cerveza

I brewed the Dos Aves barley wine and just like the high gravity Russian imperial stout this barley wine required enough grain to completely fill my keggle mash tun. Once mashed in I had about half an inch of space at the top to run my sparge water. I have found that the more grain I pack into my mash the lower my efficiency comes in after a 45 minute sparge. In the case of this particular barley wine my efficiency was somewhere near 73% which is about 10 to 15% less than my average strength beers like my pale ale and dry stout. At the end of the sparge I was still drawing enough sugar from the grain to warrant salvaging some for a small beer.
So, while the wort for my barley wine was coming to a boil I heated up some additional sparge water and rinsed another 4 gallons of wort from the grain. Believe it or not I ended up with a gravity reading of 1.035 from this effort and knew I had the potential for some additional beer.

I set this aside while I finished brewing the barley wine as per normal and got it chilled and in the fermentor.

I then set to work on my small brown ale. I wanted the gravity to be a bit bigger so I add some cane sugar to the boil and add some hops sparingly hoping for a mild bitterness. I chilled and left it up to a packet of dry US-05 yeast to ferment.

After fermentation was complete I tasted the beer and found it to be slightly astringent (from the extra sparging I suppose) and lacking in the malt character that I was looking for and since I had come this far with it I figured I'd double down on my effort and decided to see what would happen if I added some local fruit. My thinking was to possibly temper the astringency and additionally create some added dimensions to the beer. In this case I guessed that 3 over ripe papayas and a mango would do the job.

I washed and sanitized the fruit first and then my hands because after peeling and scooping out the fruit I used my bare hands to squish the fruit into a lumpy puree. The odds of my contaminating this beer were high but since I also enjoy a good sour beer I wasn't afraid and some deep part of me actually smiled at the idea of a sour, brown, tropical fruit beer. I poured the fruit directly onto the fermented beer and covered with a lid and airlock. I stepped back and rubbed my hands together in anticipation.



Brown ale with fruit

The following day the fruit pulp had risen to the top of the fermentor along with some foamy krausen as the fruit fermented actively and gave off a large fruity aroma with the rising co2. After about a week and a half the fruit was starting to fall from the surface and I racked to a clean keg and force carbonated. I placed this keg in the kegerator to let it rest for a few days before bottling.

The final results? A mild brown ale with easy drinkability. The papaya aroma come through with the dark fruitiness of the crystal malts but is only slightly detectable in the flavor which is predominantly stone fruit and caramel. The astringency is mostly gone and the bitterness is just a bit higher than I would like but not offensive.

This low alcohol (session brown?) will be a great beer for quaffing on the roof top as the lazy days of summer wind down. If you are here in San Miguel, come by for a pint and give me some honest feed back on this secondary beer you might even get a taste of my traditional Mexican ponche that I fermented for an untraditional alcohol kick. Cheers!

Standard Lager In Mexico

It's hard to ferment a lager at the proper temperatures here in San Miguel. Although I'm able to chill the wort down into the low to mid 50's f. with a plate chiller and post (ice bath) chiller, without a cold room or jacketed fermentor I'm helpless against the impact of the ambient temperature during the fermentation period.

I considered this problem and decided to go ahead anyway and brew a version of my previously successful Pabst Blue Ribbon clone. My original recipe that I brewed while back in California is made up of 75% 2-row, 3% Munich malt and 22% Minute Rice and I generally followed the same recipe and lager yeast with one fairly large exception. In this case I used short grain white rice that I pre-cooked and then mixed in with the mash rather than going the easy course by using Minute rice. I also substituted a small percentage of crystal #20 for the Munich malt I used in the original.

I decided that my best approach for brewing this beer down here was to brew in the middle of January when the daytime temperature was in the low 80's f. but the nighttime temperatures got down into the 40's and 50's and the fermentation chamber was a constant 60f. Secondly, by starting with a low pitching temperature to begin with I could at least minimize the active fermentation temperature rise. I allowed for a full two week fermentation and during the height of active fermentation the temperature rose to 65f. before settling back down to the ambient 60f.

Unfortunately, a negative result from this warm ferment was an abundance of acetaldehyde. The positive result was an attenuation of close to 80% allowing for a very dry beer which is what I wanted but I was still concerned that all was lost because of the taste.

Long story short, this beer was initially undrinkable because of the high level of green apple flavor from the acetaldehyde by-product of the high fermentation temperature. I set the four cases of beer aside hoping that time would heal this wound. These beers sat at room temperature (65f.) for the last three months. I cracked one open the other day to see what was happening with them and was happily surprised to find that the green apple was gone. I was shocked when I tasted a seemingly new beer that is crisp, dry, clean and very enjoyable.



It's nice to know that brewing a lager with non-standard procedures along with a little time and patience can result is a beer that makes you question the conventional wisdom and strict rules that suggest lager brewing isn't for everyone.

 



 

Russian Imperial Stout Comparison

I like North Coast's 'Old Rasputin' Russian imperial stout. It's a good representation of the style that isn't crazy alcoholic and allows for easy consumption. So, when I developed the recipe for my RIS I kept Old Rasputin in mind and focused on big roastiness with balanced drinkability.

I use 85% domestic 2-row and a mix of roasted and Munich malt for the remainder of the grist. I don't use any caramel malt in this brew but shoot for straight forward roasted flavor. The bittering is about a 1 to .75 ratio with a 60, 15 and 1 minute additions that imparts a small amount of citrus/pine from a charge of centennial hops.



Russian Imperial Stouts

Although this beer is extremely young (8 weeks) I couldn't wait to sit down with friend and The Beer Company owner Antonio to do a taste comparison with Old Rasputin. Our focus was to evaluate the differences between the two beers and come to a consensus on improvements needed for future batches.

In the pictures attached, my stout is in the plain glass and Rasputin is in the Delirium glass. As you can see the beers are remarkably similar in head color and retention as both dropped down to a dense and viscous layer that remained that way until the end of the sample.
The mouthfeel was slightly different in that my beer was full and round and the Rasputin felt more resinous and thin but with more carbonation.

My beer has a predominant chocolate presence along with the typical roastiness and some earthy qualities compared to Rasputins up front coffee, caramel and even though both beers come in at 9% abv the Rasputin's alcohol presence is evident, very different from mine in this way. It is also more bitter by I would guess 6-8 ibu's.

Overall I'm pleased with my RIS with it's robust chocolate and coffee qualities but there are a couple small changes I will make on the next batch beginning with higher ibu's and just a touch of crystal #60 for some caramel taste as a minor player.

Midwest Homebrewing Supply - Trappist Ale

I'm in the process of making some mental adjustments since relocating to Mexico, and I was glad to finally get a chance to brew my first batch of homebrew as a way of grounding myself in my new environment. Because it's difficult to get good homebrewing ingredients here, I highly anticipated the shipment of an All-grain kit from Midwest Homebrewing Supply.

Midwest is a huge homebrewing retailer located in Minnesota and they had already shipped my kit even before I arrived in San Miguel. Shortly after getting my equipment set up I received Midwest's Noble Trappist Ale kit in my local post box. The box contained all I needed including a nice mix of pre-crushed grain, Belgian candi sugar, hops and yeast. The grains and hops were already measured out, and because I don't have a scale yet, made it easy for me to jump right in and brew.

A box of goodness from Midwest Supply

The grain tasted good and the noble hops had a clean fresh aroma. The kit also included Whitelabs WLP500 Trappist ale yeast (one of my favorites for it's large phenolic character) and I hope it's still viable having spend some warm lag time in customs at the Mexican border. We'll see in a day or so. The brew session turned out to be an enjoyable day. The equipment performed without a hitch and brewing with the kit was a no-brainer. I glanced over the instructions that came in the box and they were in-line with the way I brew, although they didn't specify when to add the candi sugar to the boil. I chose to wait until the last 15 minutes in an attempt to keep the beer light in color.

Brew tree set up for first batch

Using the large Duda Diesel plate chiller and a post chiller coil in ice water I was able to quickly get the wort down to pitching temperatures. I want a cool ferment so I decided on 64f. to begin with. I may ramp up the temperature to 72f. a few days into the ferment if the yeast doesn't do it on it own. I took some samples for a refractometer reading to confirm I got the gravity I wanted and that it matched what Midwest Supply said I should expect as an original gravity. It was spot on. I also did a quick calculation to determine the 20 IBU hop bitterness as you can see from my notes below.

By the way, here is a quick formula to figure ibu's. (Qty of hops in grams x AA% x Util.%  x .1 / Qty in liters) In this case: 56grams x 2.4aa x 27util. x .1 / 20ltrs = 18ibu's

Sweet wort ready for the pitch

Midwest's Noble Trappist Ale (all-grain) Kit

Batch size 5gal.
Eff. 80%
o.g. 1.054
Ibu's 20

Grain Bill:
Mash at 152f. for 60 min. add candi sugar 15min. prior to end of boil
9lbs. domestic 2-row
8oz. carapils
8oz. light crystal malt
1 lb. light Belgian candi sugar

Boil for 60 mins. with:
2 oz. hallertau (pellet)at for 60 min.
1 oz. styrian.goldings (pellet) for 3 min.

chill to 65f. and pitch 1 tube wlp500 trappist ale yeast.

After spending a few hours in the brewery, I felt rejuvenated and inspired to get busy brewing and filling some kegs and the experience was made all the more enjoyable by the ease of brewing a kit.
I would highly recommend Midwest Homebrewing Supply for their quality brewing kits and the friendly service I received from their sales staff and an easy to navigate website. You can contact Midwest by clicking the link above. If you get a Midwest kit to brew please leave a comment here letting us know how it went for you. Cheers!

Brewing For Students

Today I'm getting ready for next weeks beginner's homebrewing class. This means doing a little advanced brewing. I want to give the students all of the information they will need to brew an easy extract batch of beer at home and an important part of that lesson is the bottling process. So, in order to have beer to bottle next week, today I'm brewing 11 gallons of a simple German hefeweizen.

In class we'll brew a dry malt extract hefeweizen recipe which consists of 4 lbs. of More Beer's Bavarian Wheat (DME 40C, 60% malted wheat and 40% malted barley) along with 1 lb. of cane sugar to help dry it out and a single addition of bittering hops for a 5 gallon batch. Then we'll bottle 5 gallons of the beer that I'm brewing today and each student will get to take home several bottles of the beer to condition at home and then after a couple weeks enjoy the fruits of their labors from class.

yeast starter
 

The recipe I'm brewing today is very straight forward and since one of my favorite styles of beer is the German hefe I brew it often with good results. The secret is pitching a large starter and fermenting in the low 60's.F. This time of year it's difficult for me to keep the temperature consistently low during the high krausen period of fermentation but with my wort chiller and post chiller set-up I'm able to begin with a pitching temperature of 60-62f. which gives me a good starting point while still allowing for a few degrees of temperature rise.

brewer's journal
 

The following is what I'm brewing today:

Beginner Class Hefeweizen
Eff: 85%
Attn: 75-80%%
Abv. 5.5%
Srm 6
Ibu's 15
O.g. 1.051
F.g. 1.011

9lbs. 2-row barley
9lbs. malted wheat

Mash in 5 gallons of h2o at 150f. for 60  min.
Sparge with 10 gallons of h2o at 170f. for 30 min.

Boil for 60 mins with:
1.5 oz. Gr. Hallertau 5.5% a.a. (1.5 x 5.5aa x 27% util. x .75)/ 11 gallons for 15 IBu's

Chill to 62f. and pitch Whitelabs WLP300 starter
Ferment in low 60'sf. for 7 days.

Wish me luck. This beer needs to be racked to a secondary by Sat. 9/22 in order to be ready to take to class on the 23rd.

Imperial IPA With Honey

I'll be brewing this recipe on Wednesday as I get ready for my all-grain class in two weeks. I want to have some beer in a secondary in order to show the students the process of racking to and force carbonating a keg. I'll also be serving this beer (along with a previously brewed hefeweizen) at a homebrew and music event in Santa Cruz in August so I want to make something special.

The idea behind this beer is to create a quality IIPA in line with a Pliney clone but a little more alcohol, alternative hops based on what I've got on hand and with the added dimension of blackberry honey flavor. My plan is to add the honey at flame out. Word on the homebrew street is that honey should be added to the fermentor to retain the highest level of flavor but I'd prefer to add this at flame out in order to provide a more subtle flavor profile, I still want the hops to be the major player.

Blackberry honey

This will be a single infusion mash utilizing mash hops with an expected efficiency of 85%, followed by a 60 minute boil.

Grain bill for 11 gallons:
22 lbs. 2-row
1.25 lbs. carapils
.75 lbs. crystal #15
.75 lbs. crystal #60
.5 lbs. Victory
3 oz. Calypso hops

Boil 60 minutes with:
60 mins. 2 oz. Chinook 10%aa 27% util. for 40 ibu's
30 mins. 4 oz. Cascade 5.5%aa 18% util. for 28 ibu's
10 mins. 2.25 oz. Calypso 14%aa 9% util. for 20 ibu's
5 mins. 3.25 oz. Galena 10% aa 4% util. for 10 ibu's
1 mins. 1 oz. Calypso 14%aa 0% util. for 2 ibu's
0 mins. 1 oz. Calypso 14%aa 0% util. for 0 ibu's
0 mins. 1 oz. Galena 10%aa 0% util. for 0 ibu's

Cascade hops

Add 4 lbs. Blackberry honey at flame out.
chill, oxygenate with O2 and pitch 2 pkgs of US-05 dry yeast. Ferment at 65f.

Targets:
Efficiency 85%
Attenuation 80%
Abv 8.5%
Srm  9
Ibu's 103
O.G. 1.085
F.G. 1.016

I'll try to follow up on how effective I was on brewing this beer and whether it turns out good or not. I'm also planning on dry hopping this beer in the keg when it's ready to serve.

Lowering Gravity With Brett

It's true, good things do come to those who wait, at least this time, and here's why. I took an under-attenuated beer that I thought was destined for that long slow pour down the drain and instead, created something wonderful.

First, a little background history. Back in November of 2011, I was getting ready for my return to San Miguel for the Winter and so was brewing a series of lagers that would age in cold storage here in Santa Cruz for the 5 months that I would be gone. My plan was to come back to a set of delicious beers including a schwarzbier, bock, dopplebock and a Munich dunkel. All went well with the exception of the dunkel which simply would not ferment lower than 55% of it's original gravity. (I discovered much later that I may have mashed at a higher then presumed temperature because my thermometer was out of calibration. While it read 152f. the actual temperature was in all likelihood 158f.)
Unfermentables or long chains of sugar molecules left in solution due to a high mash temperature I believe was the problem although I suspect that a low pitch amount was also a contributing factor. I only stepped my WLP833 yeast up once for an expected cell count of approximately 150 billion. Too low for ten gallons of beer fermenting in the low 50's.

Label your beer - it's the law!

I left this sad sweet dunkel to age with the other beers with the idea that I would deal with it when I returned. When I say deal with it I mean dump it. But, once back here in Santa Cruz it dawned on me that there may be another solution. What if I introduced some bacteria and wild yeast to consume the remainder of the sugars and at the same time create a sort of mock Flanders brown style of beer. I checked with a few trusty homebrewers who although had no personal experience with a scheme like this, still thought it seemed like a reasonable idea. I then shot an email over to Mike at The Mad Fermentationist for advice, someone I've come to respect regarding sour beers and more importantly brewing outside the box. He wrote back regarding my question about what I could expect from re-pitching:

All strains of Brett can deal with chains at least 9 glucose molecules long, so it will certainly dry the beer out given time. Lacto/Pedio are much more variable, but with the queuze dregs something should sour it. Should be good, I've gotten stone fruit aromatics from my few lager fermented sours. New Belgium uses a lager primary for all of their sours.
Good luck! I look forward to reading about your results.
-Mike

With this new encouragement I prepared two different doses of yeast/bacteria, one dose for each Corney keg. The first received a smack pack of Wyeast Rosealare blend and the other the dregs from a bottle of gueuze that I stepped up twice. I kept the kegs at room temperature while I waited for a build up of Co2 to let me know that fermentation was going on. After a few weeks, nothing. I continued to wait, becoming concerned with the inactivity. All of a sudden after six weeks the gravities started to drop and I was venting co2 from the kegs often. It took awhile to get going but when it did, the gravity in both kegs began to go down quickly dropping from 1.026 down to 1.014 in a matter of a couple of weeks.

Dunkel With Bugs

I pulled off a sample and the flavors are good and unique for each keg and I expect the gravity to continue to drop a couple more points before I force carbonate and refrigerate. While writing this I'm sampling the beer with the Roeselare blend and it has a prominent vinegar acidity from acetobactor that plays well with the caramel maltiness from the Munich malt in the grain bill. After that comes tart/sour cherry and green cantaloupe finally ending with mild barn like qualities of brettanomyces. Tasty, thirst quenching and very drinkable. I'm happy and excited with the way this experiment turned out and would recommend it as an option for certain beers that stall out during primary.

Here's the recipe (10gal.) and statistics:
Mash at 158f (?) for 60 minutes 4 lbs. 2-row, 16 lbs. Munich 35, 10 oz. carafa II
Boil 60 minutes with 9/10th oz. Galaxy 12% and 20 min. with 1 oz. cascade 5% (24 IBU's)
Pitch WLP833 stepped up yeast culture
Eff. 90%
O.G. 1.058
F.G. 1.026 Attenuation * 55% (*after re-pitch F.G. 1.014 Attenuation 76% as of 6/6/12)

Finally, I took the opportunity to bottle some of this beer while it was still losing gravity points. My expectation is that as the beer continues to ferment I will achieve some nice natural carbonation and conditioning in the bottle without having to add additional sugar. I borrowed my friend Mark C's corker to get the job done. This is a great machine for corking Belgian style ales and wine. I've included a short video HERE to show the proper use while I bottled my Flanders Oud Dunkelbruin. Cheers!

Oh! Let's not forget that I'm right in the middle of my Kickstarter campaign to raise money to start a Beer School. Please contribute as much and as often as you can. Tell your rich friends, it's a good cause.

Late Hopped Pale Ale

This beer turned out really good and so I'm passing on the recipe that I used. All of the hop additions were late in the boil and I think it made for a smooth flavorful beer without any of the harsh bitterness that can come from some of the high humulone hops that get added for a full boil. This beer also has a nice caramel and fruity quality and a crisp clean finish that I'm really enjoying. Make it. I guarantee a delicious beer.

Late hopped pale ale

This is an 11 gal. recipe with a mash efficiency of 88%
Mash grain in 5.5 gallons of 150f. water for 60 mins.
Sparge to achieve 13 gallons for a beginning boil volume and reduce during boil to 11 gallons.
Eff. 88%
Atten. 81%
Abv. 5.5%
Srm 8
IBU's 29
O.G.1.049
F.G. 1.009


15lbs. 2-row
1 lb. Aromatic
1 lb. carapils
1 lb. Crystal #60
.5 lb. Crystal #40

Boil vigorously for 60 minutes

Hop schedule:
1 oz. Galaxy 12% Alpha Acid for final 20 minutes (17% utilization for 14 IBU's)
1 oz. Columbus 17% Alpha Acid for final 10 minutes (10% utilization for 12 IBU's)
.5 oz. Citra 14% Alpha Acid for final 3 minutes (2% utilization for 3 IBU's)
1 oz. Centennial 11% Alpha Acid for 1 minute (0% utilization for 0 IBU's)

Ferment at 65f. using 2 pkgs. of Safale US-05 (aerate with pure O2 if possible)

Any questions on this beer? Let me know.

P.S. Support my Beer School project by being a sponsor at:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1421572208/brew-your-own-beer-at-home?ref=live

Mexican Homebrew 2012

On this years trip to San Miguel I only brought a few vital brewing ingredients including a couple pounds of specialty grain, 3/4 pound of hops and a few dry yeast packets. For the bulk of my base malts I was relying on one of the relatively new homebrew stores down here that sell on-line, in this case Fermentando out of Mexico City(?). It was easy using my Pay-Pal account and I received my order within a few days or ordering. I was very pleased and would highly recommend them. They also seem to have the largest selection of ingredients and equipment and an easy to navigate website that has an English option.

The following are the three beers I brewed. In each case I used a single infusion mash in a plastic bucket at approximately 150f. for 60 minutes and because the water here is moderate to hard I included 5 gallons of bottled water along with the tap water to achieve a beginning boil volume of 7 gallons. I also used an ice bath to chill each to 65f. before pitching yeast.

IPA
Eff. 75%
Attn. 81%
Abv. 6.4%
SRM 14
IBU 33
O.G. 1.060
F.G. 1.011

9lbs. 2-row
.75 crystal #60
.50 Aromatic

60 min. boil with:
60 min. 1/2 oz. Galaxy @ 12aa
10 min. 3/4 oz. Cascade @ 5.5aa
3  min. 1 oz Centennial @ 11aa
3  min. 1 oz. Cascade @ 5.5aa

Ferment with 2 pkgs. Safale US-05

*In this beer my intention was to brew a simple pale ale. Unfortunately, I ended up boiling off more then I planned for and ended up with a higher gravity then I wanted. Malt and caramel with a substantial citrus hop flavor that comes across slightly sweet.

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IPA
Eff. 79%
Attn. 85%
Abv. 6.8%
SRM 10
IBU 69
O.G. 1.062
F.G. 1.009

10.75lbs. 2-row
.25lbs. Crystal #60
.50lbs. Aromatic
1 cup cane sugar

60 min. boil with:
60 min. 1 oz. Centennial @ 11aa
15 min. 1.25 oz. Cascade @ 5.5aa
5 min. 1.25 oz. Galaxy @ 12aa
5 min 1.25 oz. Centennial @ 11aa

Ferment with 2 pkgs. Safale US-05

*This IPA has a bold and accentuated hop aroma/flavor of grapefruit, tangerine and some slight pepper. The malt is subdued with a bready buiscut quality. A dry beer but with a full mouthfeel.

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Honey Wheat with Jamaica (Hibiscus)

Eff. 78%
Attn. 73%
Abv. 6.4%
Srm 8
Ibu 24
O.G. 1.060
F.G. 1.016

4.4 lbs. Rahr Pilsener
4.4 lbs. Briess wheat malt
2.2 lbs. local wild flower honey
* I mashed at 156f. to keep this beer from drying out too much. I didn't want the jamaica flower to overtake with its drying effect.

60 min. boil with:
60 min. 1/2 oz. Galaxy @ 12aa
2 min. 2 oz. Dried Jamaica Flower (Hibiscus)

Ferment with 2 pkgs of Safbrew T-58

*The beer is a delicious blend of sweet honey and malt with the tartness of the T-58 yeast and the tropical fruit and drying effect of the jamaica flower. It also has a wonderful pinkish color from the flower.


Considering the equipment I have to use and the conditions I have to brew in here, I'm happy with the results of these brews. My next step is to arrange a tasting to see the response from the locals. Any questions about or comments on these recipes are welcome. Salud!

Lambic Brewing For Club Project

I'm contributing ten gallons of beer to the Zymurgeeks homebrew club barrel project this week. This is  a lambic style beer that will be in the barrel for a couple of years. Two years seems like a long time, I hope I'm not dead when the beer becomes mature. If I am, please see to it that some is poured into the urn where my ashes are kept.

My batch is actually just some additional beer that needs to be added to top-off the barrel because of evaporation and I suspect some plain and simple thievery, but I'm happy to pitch in so to speak. I like a good gueuze every once in awhile but I would never brew ten gallons for my own personal consumption. This batch allows me to experience the enjoyment of brewing a new style and be able to draw off some every so often in small amounts.


I'll be pitching Wyeast's lambic blend 3278 for this beer and I've made a starter using (don't tell anyone) cane sugar. The starter already has the smell of  a lambic, sour and funky. I expect the primary fermentation will be complete in 7-10 days at which point I will deliver and transfer it into the barrel which is located up in that God forsaken land of Boulder Creek.







The following is the recipe and if I think of it I'll post some pics of the transfer process in a couple of weeks.

Club Lambic

10 gallon batch with an 82% efficiency
(I ended up only achieving an 82% efficiency and had calculated for 90% so I will try to boil off some to reach my target original gravity.)

10lbs. Pils malt
.5 lbs. flaked wheat - white
4 lbs. flaked wheat - red
1.5lbs. wheat malt

mash in 5 gals. h2o for 60min. at 154f.
Boil 90 mins. with 4oz. of old German whole hops

Chill to 65f. and pitch Wyeast 3278 lambic blend starter
Ferment (in a plastic fermentor bag to protect my fermentor from contamination) until complete and transfer to barrel for aging.

O.G. 1.043
F.G. 1.010 from primary
IBu's N/A
ABV 4.7% from primary
SRM 2-3

The whole hops I'm using are about 5 years old and have a distinctive 'cheesy' smell. They will go into a large mesh bag and stay in for the entire boil.

Beginner Brewing

Earlier this month a couple of students attended a beginner brewing class at my house to learn the fundamentals of beer making. This particular class is structured to be three to four hours long and so we needed to jump right in to get things going and accomplish a successful brew in the limited time. We started by going over the basic equipment needed to brew a first batch of beer and the ingredients that we would use that day, including hops, dry malt extract and steeping grains.

I teach a slightly modified version of a the full boil method with steeping grains. The modified part is that we placed our bag of steeping grains in the boil kettle just as we began heating the water. Thus allowing the grains to leach their flavors and colors into solution during the water temperature rise from 65f. (my tap water temp.) to 170f. At 170f. we pulled the grain bag and continued the temperature rise to boiling. I have not found a good reason to use the typical technique of bringing the water to a temperature of 150f. and then placing the grains in the hot water for a twenty to thirty minute rest. My purpose here is to steep the grains in order to extract color and flavor and I am not concerned with the sugar potential. Consequently,  I have found that I can accomplished the results I desire faster using this method.

I prefer dry malt extract when I brew extract type beers and in this batch it consisted of 6lbs. of the light version of DME. I find that it is easier to work with and provides a slightly lighter color wort than the light liquid extract. We also used a 20% addition of cane sugar. With malt extract beers, I have found that a 15% to 20% amount of very fermentable sugar is needed to ferment down to the preferred attenuation or dryness that I like in my beers. For those concerned about the supposed 'cider' flavors that are associated with the addition of cane, beet or corn sugar, don't worry. It doesn't have that flavor impact, in fact I did a test on this concern awhile back and you can read about it here.

For hopping, we used a couple of standards that I normally have in the freezer with the exception of the final or one minute hop additions which was a new one for me called Galaxy. This high alpha acid hop has a great flavor and aroma component that I suggest you try in any West coast style ale.

The brew went along well with only a minor boil over but we got that under control and took time to sample some homebrews from my kegerator. As the boil progressed we covered a number of homebrew subjects that are important to the beginner starting with the vocabulary and ending with some of the basics of malting.

The brew session ended successfully as we achieved our desired original gravity and pitched two packages of US05 yeast into the chilled wort. The students stated they got a lot out of the class and looked forward to tasting their beer in a few weeks.

I pulled a sample from the keg today and for an extract brew this is a pretty impressive beer. Nice fruity malt backbone with a great citrus and apricot hop character and balanced bitterness. It's difficult to tell this is brewed with extract and I think the students will be very happy with the results when they open their bottle conditioned samples that they took home.

The following is the recipe we brewed and I would encourage you to brew your own, with extract even!

Brew Class IPA

Attn: 82%
AbV 6.6%
SRM 9
IBU's 57
O.G. 1.062
F.G. 1.011

Full boil method -
In 7 gals. water steep:
8 oz. 2-row
8 oz. Munich #35
8 oz. Crystal #15

When water reaches 170f. turn off heat, remove steeping grains and stir in:
6 lbs. Dry Malt Extract (light)
1.5 lbs. cane sugar
Bring to boil for 60 minutes.

Hops:
Bittering - 60min 1.25 oz Chinook @ 11aa
Finings - 15min. Irish Moss
Flavor   - 10min. 1 oz. Cascade @ 5.5 aa
Aroma  - 1 min. 2 oz. Galaxy @ 13 aa

Chill to 65f. , aerate and pitch 2 packages of US05 ale yeast.
Ferment to completion, keg and enjoy.

Cream Ale Recipe

If this recipe looks familiar, it is. Just check out the recipe for my Classic American Pilsner to compare. This is basically the same with the exception of the yeast. In this case I prefer the clean hard working yeast from Safale US05 fermented at temperatures between 60f. and 65f.

This is a quick and easy way to brew an ale that sort of mimics the light lagers that I make during the colder days of winter. With the temperatures rising now I don't have a way yet of producing lagers, so cream ale is a convenient alternative. (If you know about some type of miniture air conditioner that I could place in my fermentation chamber, leave a message in the comment section.) This style of beer is also clean, light, low alcohol and refreshing for the hot days of summer where all you want to do is sit back in the shade and quaff copious amount of cool homebrewed beer. Oh yes.

Yellow goodness

Once brewed, I try and let it sit in my kegerator for as long as possible before tapping,  allowing the beer to mature and clarify. It really just gets better with age. I age it under refrigeration for at least six to eight weeks.

This is also a good introduction beer for friends that are curious about homebrew but drink light lagers because it mimics the flavor of Bud and Coors and my personal favorite PBR.

Anyway, here's my recipe:

Cream Ale
For 11 gallons of wort going into the fermentor
efficiency of 92%
attenuation 75%
abv 5%
srm 5
ibu's 23 (next time I brew this I will reduce the IBU's to 18, at 23 it's a tad bit to bitter)
o.g. 1.048
f.g. 1.012

13 lbs 2-row
.5 lbs Munich
1.75 lbs Minute Rice (some people use corn but I prefer using minute rice because of the convenience and how little flavor and color are produced during its use)

Mash for 60 minutes in 5 gallons h2o at 154f.
Sparge with 11 gallons h2o at 180f.

Boil 60 minutes

Add .8 oz. Chinook hops (aa 11%) for last 60 mins. of boil
Add   1 oz. Centennial hops (aa 9%) for last 10 mins. of boil along with some Irish moss

Chill to 60f. and pitch 3 pkgs US05 or rack to US05 yeast cake from previous ale
Ferment until complete (in this case at on yeast cake at 68f. it took 4 days)
Rack to kegs, carbonate to 2.6v and set in kegerator to age at 47f. for 6 weeks.

I recommend you try this recipe and tell us how it turns out here.

American Wheat Recipe

One of my favorite beers and one that I brew regularly is a traditional German Hefeweizen with its phenolic spice character and banana esters. But, on occasion I enjoy the simple flavors of a straight forward American wheat beer (without the lemon wedge of course). I developed this recipe to mostly satisfy friends that aren't into the over the top hoppy beers that I love but want something that doesn't ask too much of the drinker. A crisp thirst quenching beer with a nice balance of wheat and malt and low hop bitterness that contributes a subtle piney quality.

11 gallons
Eff. 82%
Attn. 79%
ABv. 6%
SRM 6
IBU's 25
O.G. 1.058
F.G. 1.012

Mash at 152F. for 60 minutes in 5gal. h2o
13 lbs. malted wheat
7 lbs. 2-row
2 lbs. Munich

Fly sparge for 40 mins. with 10gals h2o at 170f.

Boil for 60 mins. with
1.25 oz. Chinook (11% aa) 60 min.
1.00 oz. Centennial (9%) 0 min.

Ferment with US05 dry ale yeast (I use 3 pkgs for a 11gal batch or rack to yeast cake for quick fermentation)
Ferment to completion and rack to keg, force carbonate and rest for one week. Serve.

This is a good introductory beer for those that are used to light lagers or Widmer Bros. wheat beer.
Let me know what you think?

Dry Stout Recipe

As is the way with most homebrewers I am constantly trying to perfect my favorite recipes and Dry Stout is definitely one of my favorites. I have to say though, at this point I believe I have achieved perfection with this beer. I've brewed this in the past with flaked barley and a pinch of Carafa II but this version was brewed with simplicity in mind. I was trying to get the roasted grains to provide that coffee/chocolate flavor with a clean dry finish. Here is what I did this time around.

Eff. 90%

attenuation 80%

abv 5.5%

Ibu's 35

O.G. 1.050

F.G. 1.010

16 lbs 2-row

.5 lbs Cry#40

.75 lbs chocolate

.5 lbs roasted

.25 lbs blk patent

60min mash with 5.5gal h2o at 154f.

Boil for 60 min. with 1 tsp. MoreBeers Burton salts and 1 tsp. gypsum

60 min.  with 1.25 oz. chinook (11% aa)

20 min. with 1.5 oz. Saphir (4% aa)

10 min. with 1 oz. Saphir (4% aa)

chill and oxygenate with o2 for 3 mins.

Pitch salvaged US05 yeast (3rd generation)

Ferment for 7 days at 70f.

Kegged, forced carbonated and conditioned for additional 2 weeks at 50f.

The Saphir is a new hop for me that has a very subtle flavor profile. This beer is dry but full bodied with plenty of roast character and easy to drink.

Brewing Lagers

I had the perfect plan to brew beer today when my van broke down again. Apparently there is something called an engine coolant temperature sensor and it decided to stop functioning as I was driving home from my storage unit with a fermentor containing a nice Whitelabs WLP840 lager yeast cake in the bottom.

Rice Rice Baby!

Now that the weather has turned cool here in Northern California, (high 40's to low 50's over night) I decided it would be a good time to get a series of lagers brewed and stashed away to condition for a few months, beers that would be ready for the spring. The idea was to brew three back to back batches, racking the fresh wort onto the yeast cake of the previously fermented batch.

I decided to begin with a standard American lager to be followed by a Munich Dunkel and finally a Doppel Bock. Yesterday I kegged the completed American lager which attenuated to 75%. It was fermented with a yeast starter that I had stepped up a couple of times. I also milled the grain for the Munich Dunkel and measured out the hops for the brew session today. I was in transit with the fermenter full of yeast when the van died on me. Now, at the end of the day I got the van back and the fermenter is sitting in my beer closest downstairs, the new plan is to brew tomorrow.

For those interested in the recipe for the American Lager I'll include it here. Note that I used instant rice, in this case Minute Rice, as an adjunct for the beer. Most homebrewers use rice syrup or flaked rice in light lagers to raise the gravity without adding color or flavor to the beer. Minute rice will provide the same qualities and amount of sugar but is cheaper and convenient. Just mix in the whole grain in your mash with the rest of the grist. I figured a 1.032 gravity per pound per gallon with this instant rice. Note that using regular rice requires pre-cooking prior to adding to the mash.
Anyway, here's my recipe:

Standard American Lager
For 11 gallons of wort going into the fermenter
efficiency of 90%
attenuation 74%

abv 4.75%
srm 5
ibu's 12
o.g. 1.044
f.g. 1.011

12 lbs 2-row
.5 lbs Munich
2.75 lbs Minute Rice (18%)

Mash for 60 minutes in 4 gallons h2o at 155f.
Sparge with 11 gallons h2o at 180f. (I used 6 gals. of this as R.O. water, my water here is pretty hard)

Boil 75 minutes

Add 1.75 oz. Saphir hops (aa 3.5%) for last 60 mins. of boil
Add   .75 oz. Saphir hops (aa 3.5%) for last 15 mins. of boil along with some Irish moss

Chill to 54f. and pitch yeast starter WLP840
Ferment until complete (in this case at 52f. it took 11 days)
Rack to kegs, carbonate to 2.8v and set aside to lager at 50f. for three months.