tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89073142024-03-07T18:03:28.668-06:00Marcobrau Brew JournalAn account of my adventures in homebrewing.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger302125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-91567802629028578672021-12-20T20:57:00.001-06:002021-12-20T20:57:09.146-06:00I'm moving. And in the course of getting ready to move I have realized that I have a lot of beer. Not just commercial beer, of course, but an immense amount of homebrewed beer. Let's face it, I am drinking less beer. I am drinking less homebrew. I have been drinking less homebrew for the last couple years. So what am I saying? I think I'm saying that I might be done -- I might finally be done with home brewing. Perhaps it's a pause. Time will tell. But for now? I'm hanging up my mash paddle. I've home brewed off and on for the last 30 years. Obviously I'm getting older and I'm feeling it. The brew day is much harder than it was 20 or 25 years ago. I've brewed extract, partial mash and all grain. I feel like I've summited the mountain. I feel like I have nothing left to prove. So maybe a good time to walk away, at least for a while, if not forever. This domain started as a website and a guide to finding good beer with additional information on how to make your own beer. That was back in 1999. That feels like a long time ago. It's been more than 20 years. That's a pretty good run. I'm not quite sure what the future is for this domain. I'm certainly going to hang on to it. I might point it at my Tumblr account where I post pictures and succinct reviews or commentary on beers. Or I may redesign this blog into something else, but I kind of feel like it should still stand on its own as a historical account of my homebrewing adventures. Cheers friends!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-48266929517013406012021-09-16T19:18:00.000-05:002021-12-20T20:45:54.843-06:00<p> This is the story of yellow cap beer. I've always been bad about labeling my beer so I try and at least mix up the color for the caps. I have some silver cap and some yellow cab bottles right now both in different boxes. I picked a yellow cap bottle today to test. Just upon pouring the beer I can immediately tell that this is not my most recent batch. The last batch I brewed was a Saison style beer. This beer has more malty estery aroma and is an amber color. This is the Belgian Pale Ale I brewed from the kit a few months ago. I had a Palm Speciale last night at the Hopleaf in Chicago. Hopleaf is a Belgian beer bar that is quite popular and famous in the city. They have a rotating list of about a dozen or so Belgian beers on draft. Many other craft beers and many more Belgian beers and bottles can be had at the Hopleaf. I would say that the beer that I brewed is not that much different than the Palm. It is a touch too sweet but not bad. That said, I will definitely go back to using grains for the next Belgian pale ale I brew. Again, just a bit too sweet for my tastes even though it fermented quite dry.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-38928688452701376332021-07-14T20:44:00.000-05:002021-07-14T20:44:23.515-05:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlg9qbvDxs4o6SggfZaiiR8QR9IEUeVNm9RY2oOma66bsTDUBG8QclB22m5Tnhtj9zUcaqq_SV9xufRIbBUrBVVYlEbJ8hfj6Fn9TQiIDfuN1vyzPUDP8IaFuQKiRyr0QSHw09hQ/s4032/PXL_20210715_013638164.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlg9qbvDxs4o6SggfZaiiR8QR9IEUeVNm9RY2oOma66bsTDUBG8QclB22m5Tnhtj9zUcaqq_SV9xufRIbBUrBVVYlEbJ8hfj6Fn9TQiIDfuN1vyzPUDP8IaFuQKiRyr0QSHw09hQ/w113-h200/PXL_20210715_013638164.jpg" width="113" /></a></div>Finally brewed again. A simple saison-style beer. All extract. Three pounds of Munton's Extra Light, one pound of light and one pound of wheat. A winning combination based on past batches. Added one ounce of 7.7 percent AA First Gold hops for bitterness. Boiled the hops for the 35 minutes. Added two ounces of Huell Melon in a muslin bag at the end of the boil and steeped for 25 minutes. Pitched Omega Saisonstein liquid yeast at 74 degrees. Ambient temp is 80. Not using the Brewjacket Immersion Pro this time. This beer will ferment at ambient temperature. No problems with the batch except that running the air conditioner and the Gigawort electric brew kettle at the same time tripped the circuit breakers in the apartment. <br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-68140895141732979252021-07-01T16:50:00.000-05:002021-07-01T16:50:34.495-05:00<p> Been too busy to brew the last couple months but there's still plenty in the cellar. This afternoon I'm revisiting Bière de Juin which I brewed last summer. This is one of my saison-style beers. The pour releases a ton of carbonation but the voluminous head eventually falls to a rocky landscape, a dense, pillowy head on top of pale golden beer. The aroma is very fruity, suggesting orange and lychee. Beneath those aromas are a lactic note and just the tiniest amount horse hair Brett funkiness and phenols. A much more easy going version of Boulevard Tank 7 if you will. </p><p>I may have opened the last bottle which is a shame because this beer is still drinking great a year later. Hopefully I have some more stashed somewhere.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-80634166133567186732021-04-06T15:42:00.002-05:002021-04-06T15:44:48.331-05:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG3teJGbK9DZiIDRfjsjfZjRyXVRZt9GaGfVlw9GGfTGT9Ed5bMZYVG0IP9cQWnz-x-ZtZQsHcGkxh9cFA7hNoEFBr-McIAfFLt1tKIqstIkuaSmbo6lj2HI0vQdH1hZJEAuDYbg/s4032/PXL_20210406_200111663.MP.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG3teJGbK9DZiIDRfjsjfZjRyXVRZt9GaGfVlw9GGfTGT9Ed5bMZYVG0IP9cQWnz-x-ZtZQsHcGkxh9cFA7hNoEFBr-McIAfFLt1tKIqstIkuaSmbo6lj2HI0vQdH1hZJEAuDYbg/s320/PXL_20210406_200111663.MP.jpg" /></a></div> I recently conducted an experiment. Many, many years ago a company called <a href="https://brewferm.com/">Brewferm </a>sold Belgian-style beer kits. Very simple kits -- a can of extract, some no-name yeast and add the sugar of your choice -- and voila! Biere! I stumbled upon a new website for these kits (I think it was an Instagram ad) so I pulled the trigger and bout the kit for a blonde ale. I didn't not use the included use, nor did I follow the instructions, I added the can to the recommended amount water which I heated in my <a href="https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/gigawort-electric-boil-kettle?variant=30234289831980&gclid=CjwKCAjwjbCDBhAwEiwAiudBy_ZFRpie4KjCbDF_zT9tCtZzS_xVuhtPgbk7OmQFUHmyDBBCl0gzNhoCDVkQAvD_BwE">Gigawort </a>to 165 degrees and held the temp for about 20 minutes mixed in one pound of Golden liquid candi syrup. I chilled with my copper coil immersion chiller and pitched some <a href="https://fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/SafAle-BE-134_Rev2.pdf">BE-134 yeast</a> instead of the included packet. Pitched at about 78 degrees, set my <a href="https://www.homebrewfinds.com/2018/02/hands-on-review-brewjacket-immersion-pro.html">Brewjacket Immersion</a> to 73 and raised to 75 after a day. The beer took off and fermented completely in four days. After three days at the same gravity (an astounding 1.001) I bottled. That was today. Filled 11 22-ounce bottles. Not much, but the beer is 8.66 percent alcohol be volume. And I will tell you that this 50-year-old appreciated moving around a fermenter that was half as heavy as normal!<br /><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-39532269838435208052021-02-27T19:03:00.004-06:002021-02-27T19:03:52.057-06:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA_Z3GCqZVzwIjrVQC57Fn1HJnV7MCIgTnq0R26KeKaW7xge56CGVT1tSt7xw0lLJj95JyuTcklgnBEndyEZPMJXw_iVTZZp1zclMUPBagHkjTkQo6VEJqCAFjSmWx2CjkbtW02g/s4032/PXL_20210228_003018883.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA_Z3GCqZVzwIjrVQC57Fn1HJnV7MCIgTnq0R26KeKaW7xge56CGVT1tSt7xw0lLJj95JyuTcklgnBEndyEZPMJXw_iVTZZp1zclMUPBagHkjTkQo6VEJqCAFjSmWx2CjkbtW02g/s320/PXL_20210228_003018883.jpg" /></a></div> The weather has kept me from my studio apartment where I've been brewing the past several months. I've finally made it to the apartment, chilled some of my latest homebrew, opened a bottle and it seems to have turned out pretty well. Certainly much better than the last batch. The beer is an English bitter with an American twist: more hops. The hops are most assertive toward the finish, but more so than most English bitter. The UK crystal malt shines through and I believe the body and head are enhanced by the addition of torrified wheat. Thirty-three IBUs might be a little too assertive for a 4.4 percent beer in a British style but it's not bad. A lot of chill haze though. Need to pick up some Irish Moss.<p></p><p>I'm not sure what I'll brew next but most likely something less hoppy. Maybe a pseudo heller bock or bière de garde. Also thinking about brewing a dark mild. There is not enough brown ale in the world today.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-60605403008146339652021-01-11T22:08:00.003-06:002021-01-11T22:08:52.655-06:00<p> Decided that I had the time to brew again so I picked up ingredients at my LHBS. Going for an English-style pale ale (bitter) again. A partial mash brew with three pounds of UK pale ale malt, a half pound of UK 60L Crystal and and a half pound of torrefied wheat along with three pounds of Munton's Light DME. Boiled one and a half ounces of UK First Gold hops for 60 minutes and another half ounce 15 minutes before the end of the 60-minute boil. Pitched a packed of Fermentis S-04 yeast. My only concern with the batch is that I pitched the yeast into 53-degree wort. Pretty cold. My tap water was 42 degrees so if I brew gain this winter I will need to remember that and let the wort warm up a bit after topping up with tap water. The ambient room temperature is 77 degrees so I'm not too concerned about the beer reaching the bottom end of it's recommended wort temprature of 59 degrees. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-55525289281875320272021-01-10T20:04:00.000-06:002021-01-10T20:04:03.592-06:00Well, the brown ale, which is the first batch that I've brewed in the apartment is holding up well. My attempt at a bitter went south, however. I dumped most of the batch tonight after realizing all the bottles were gushers. I think the beer was infected in the fermenter as it the finishing gravity was surprisingly low. At first I thought the low finishing gravity was due to a very efficient mash but after gushing bottles I'm pretty sure the batch was infected. I cleaned and sanitized all the bottles and I plain on replacing my fermenting and bottlng buckets. I also need to buy some iodophor to make sure the rod for the <a href="http://www.brewjacket.com/">Brewjacket </a>was not a source of infection. I lightly santized the rod this last time because I was out of iodophor. It may have been the source of the infection.As far as the beer goes -- it doesn't taste sour or tart, just very dry with a spiciness that to me seems like Brettanomyces. Not sure what I'll brew next. I was thinking of Bire de Garde but I go with something a little less complicated post-infection.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwl-CO6HfZXOAcQkvxA-8aRKdQnbUJGeVK0gKz-08YxoRxw5FrP68NRH5SMeJMnOZZOc0w-OX1aq4k' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-73818504111176772122021-01-01T22:20:00.000-06:002021-01-01T22:20:16.336-06:00<p> I am notoriously bad at labeling my bottles. Not a problem when you brew a batch, drink it and brew another one, but I tend to brew often enough that I have multiple batches in bottles. As I grow older and drink less the problem is exacerbated. I keep a lot of my beer in storage due to living in a condo (and now also an apartment.) I visited my storage facility which acts as my beer cellar and found some unlabeled bottles. Some had gold caps and other ones had silver caps. I also picked up some red cap beers (which I know is a Quad that I brewed last year.) I cracked open a gold cap and it poured fairly clear with a voluminous head. Once the head settled it had a peculier fruity aroma. Despite this beer being very carbonated the bottle did not gush. This beer is very dry and lightly phenolic with a tart finish. I don't really detect much hoppiness and it certainly is not bitter. Some of the fruitiness may be from the hops but it seems more like a yeasty fruitiness and because of this I'm guessing that this is a saison I made last year that I fermented with a combination of Wyeast 3724 and Fermentis BE-134. As I recall, this particular saison finshed very dry. </p><p>The second beer, the silver cap...well....seems like the same beer. So, although I usually try and keep the color of the cap the same for an entire batch, I clearly mixed the colors on this batch. Having had two bottles of this beer now I'm not sure I'm that happy with it. It is quite dry. It's taken a quite a few years to figure out how to best get my saisons dry. I've determined that it requires patience (especially when fermenting with Wyeast 3724 or WLP565, but I've learnd that using another yeast to dry out the beer (if impatient or if the fermentation stalls) is not sacrilege. I've also leaned that a longer mash and converting more of the starches to sugars results in a drier beer and that hardening the water emphasizes bitterness and dryness. That said, this beer has a touch too much sweetness up front and not enough bitterness or spiciness to make it that interesting....and the sweetness up front along with some light phenols get in the way of drinkability. It's a peculier beer, but I'm not entirely dissatisfied with it. A summer night instead of winter one help make it more appealing...who knows.</p><p>Finally, I decided to open a red cap beer. Eek! A quadrupel! There was no hiss as I opened the bottle. I gave a good pour, which resulted in some foam but mostly just bubbles. The beer is essentially flat.but it is quite strong. I have to wonder if the yeast was just too tired to carbonate the beer. A lesson here may be that with really strong Beligan-style beers it's a good idea to add more yeast before priming. That said, I don't really miss the carbonation because the beer is quite strong. The alcohol almost immediately hits the brain...but it also has delightful flavor. Malty, yet dry with a very pleasant fruitiness and caramel malt flavor not too much unlike a double bock...but dammit....it's pretty much flat. Thank goodness it's as strong a wine otherwise the lack of carbonation would be more dissappointing.</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-33872867161120311012020-12-26T12:45:00.004-06:002020-12-26T18:47:56.543-06:00<p> This might be my next beer. I can't believe my brown ale is almost gone. I'm down to less than 12 bottles. After the this recipe I might be an Alt or a Stout. What do you think this is going to be?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMiQBYUDla8tX9PVerAJW06F76ONTzNAVzp2_OH2p5KbLOOgo-MLkVCZbsQLewdudBJJPsdVgkQ1G4wqZJbVn_sB3Edmi8hbbaGg2NqzBkdeWad9-5tJLCQLHpdRUv8-9erlZaJg/s780/BdG.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="780" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMiQBYUDla8tX9PVerAJW06F76ONTzNAVzp2_OH2p5KbLOOgo-MLkVCZbsQLewdudBJJPsdVgkQ1G4wqZJbVn_sB3Edmi8hbbaGg2NqzBkdeWad9-5tJLCQLHpdRUv8-9erlZaJg/w640-h240/BdG.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-40845242012994615742020-12-17T20:05:00.000-06:002020-12-17T20:05:01.310-06:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLBgn2oikR3qdLENmG1EDc7pYiwTaWUY4T2bFJxl7YjUJZyy1H75gOWFrlrrtGvuPVZECFxqxK5EuTO5YQNM2cpHO0nvUm8LbdxYNsA1kFeOkKGKO-xdla1a5TDnAQ5IDqoQf-yg/s4032/PXL_20201218_004508232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLBgn2oikR3qdLENmG1EDc7pYiwTaWUY4T2bFJxl7YjUJZyy1H75gOWFrlrrtGvuPVZECFxqxK5EuTO5YQNM2cpHO0nvUm8LbdxYNsA1kFeOkKGKO-xdla1a5TDnAQ5IDqoQf-yg/w113-h200/PXL_20201218_004508232.jpg" width="113" /></a></div> Bottled the bitter this evening and as I did I noticed that the I didn't top up the fermenter to five gallons. Only netted four gallons in my bottling bucket. I made a hop tea again with one ounce of UK First Gold pellets. Last time I made the tea with the priming sugar, this time I prepared the priming sugar in my 5000ML flask and made the hop tea in a small sauce pan. I put the hops in hop sock and heated the mixture up to about 160 F and held that temp for about 20 minutes and then the tea cool for about a half hour. The beer is bit darker than I expected. It has an earthy, malty aroma which I suspect might changed as the hop tea integrates into the beer. There's a light spicy hop character and a moderate bitterness. There's a touch of minerality towards the finish which is moderately bitter and long with the hops coating the tongue. Definitely something along the lines of a Fuller's ESB.<br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-71281726557992595752020-12-10T20:40:00.002-06:002020-12-10T20:40:11.083-06:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB5MqO4DPFssoL0a_zdWlYv1JdNgQmyvkbmuwj84NhSlgMMfPYiG06By5mr1XwtgN8304pC4bH99khCW85lHJ7Z1des76De0F7BeYy-E1k5WxLbVKdmSlrXC9A_SVfGL6hH48XtQ/s4032/PXL_20201211_022709848.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB5MqO4DPFssoL0a_zdWlYv1JdNgQmyvkbmuwj84NhSlgMMfPYiG06By5mr1XwtgN8304pC4bH99khCW85lHJ7Z1des76De0F7BeYy-E1k5WxLbVKdmSlrXC9A_SVfGL6hH48XtQ/w113-h200/PXL_20201211_022709848.jpg" width="113" /></a></div> Another update on the Wyeast 37424/BE-134 saison that I brewed earlier this year. The beer is still good and is remarkably clear. It pours with plenty foam (my pour foamed over) and the head settles to an ice quarter-inch collar of foam with just a bit of lacing. The esters have faded with a little more phenolic character coming through. Perhaps a touch of oxidation possibly because the beer was bottled about seven months ago. It's still a very drinkable beer with an earthy character along with some fruitiness and lots of <a href="http://www.hopslist.com/hops/aroma-hops/east-kent-golding/">East Kent Goldings</a> flavor. It has a very dry, somewhat bitter and slightly tart finish with a late smack of hop bitterness. I would definitely brew this again but would change up the hop to a more modern blend. I'm thinking Mandarina or Mosaic. I also would probably dial back the bitterness and employ the hops later in the boil as it's rather robustly hoppy and bitter for 27 IBUs.<br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-84443830572954361702020-12-08T20:36:00.003-06:002020-12-08T20:36:45.284-06:00I have a Best Bitter fermenting right now. It's been going since last Thursday. The base malt is four and a half pounds of Maris Otter along with a half pound of Munton's 60L Crystal. This is a partial mash as I also used two pounds of Munton's light DME. Hops used were Super Styrian. I'm getting about 30 IBUs out of them. One ounce for 60 minutes and I'll add one ounce as a a hop team at bottling. I'm monitoring the fermentation with my <a href="https://tilthydrometer.com/">Tilt hydrometer</a> and so far I've been impressed at the ability of my Brewjack Immersion Pro to ferment the beer at 64 F in a aroom with an average ambient temperature of 75-80 degrees. I plan to raise to a diacetyl rest starting tomorrow, raising the temperature to at least 70 degrees. Hope to be able to bottle a few days later. <div><br /></div><div>I tested a botttle of the brown ale last Thursday and was impressed with the level carbonation so I put half of the batch in the refridgerator. It was still very green but my hope is that keeping it cold will improve the flavor in the long run, sort of poor man's lagering. It will be interesting to see if there's a detectable difference between the batch that in the fridge and the other half left room temperature. This beer carbed in an impressive five days.</div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMBiP634dGw3cb1iFW40ye736nVciPqik1F-bUurGntos6EokIYoM9Ki1zTA0KorKnjeq4wycmdCJow2SHT1NrAPmvEE6AwUxJSJcQWp9R4CUlkj_-XkSVvxZtsVZkUDZQVly-2A/s4032/PXL_20201209_022949682.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMBiP634dGw3cb1iFW40ye736nVciPqik1F-bUurGntos6EokIYoM9Ki1zTA0KorKnjeq4wycmdCJow2SHT1NrAPmvEE6AwUxJSJcQWp9R4CUlkj_-XkSVvxZtsVZkUDZQVly-2A/s320/PXL_20201209_022949682.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Flat, but smells and tastes great</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Looking back through my posts I realized that I neglected to post about the Quadrupel I brewed back on 9/21. I fermented eight pounds and 12 ounces of Briess Pilsner DME along with two pounds of candi sugar (one light and one dark.) A full seven and a quarter ounces of Sterling hops were used for bittering for 24 IBUs. No hops for flavoring or aroma were added. This beer started at 1.083 and fermented down to 1.014 using a half-liter starter of <a href="https://wyeastlab.com/yeast-strain/belgian-abbey-style-ale">Wyeast #1214</a>. I packaged a few 22-ounce bottles for sharing and a case a third of 12-ounce bottles, along with two recycled botttles from Dovetail brewery used to for the spontaneously fermented beers. The caps didn't seem to fit right on the Dovetail bottles and sure enough they did not carbonate. Opened the first one a few weeks ago and opened the second tonight -- no hiss upon prying the cap off and no bubbles. That said, it is still a tasty beer. A lot of fruity esters in the nose, big time Bananas Foster aroma and no detectable phenols. The beer is pleasantly sweet and fruity with a strong caramel note with a bit of banana flavor that leads to a boozy, surprisingly spicy finish. This beer fermented towards the top end of the recommended temperature range for the yeast, 76 degrees F, but the flavors are great. Lots of esters and impressively dry. I would like to try a Tripel with the yeast. The ABV is an impressive 11.3 percent.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-69538545683357234382020-11-29T11:26:00.002-06:002020-11-29T11:26:59.238-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaekwWOBJyEYgF-IHgKJsSrysNlOpPd-akwwp8g8naw6BMvR2SGB2Guj6fWYcYesS9FlWclQ23QuceWsqt9zuOS55t5tJz33mXodvu_6D6Cod3aFUR82AatqaCyL6Rc1XH84QTlA/s4032/PXL_20201128_192952844.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaekwWOBJyEYgF-IHgKJsSrysNlOpPd-akwwp8g8naw6BMvR2SGB2Guj6fWYcYesS9FlWclQ23QuceWsqt9zuOS55t5tJz33mXodvu_6D6Cod3aFUR82AatqaCyL6Rc1XH84QTlA/s320/PXL_20201128_192952844.jpg" /></a></div><br />The brown ale has been bottled. It was a bit of a troublesome brew as my <a href="https://wyeastlab.com/yeast-strain/london-ale-iii">Wyeast 1318</a> packet turned out to be a dud. There was no change in gravity after three days, so I pitched a packet of Safale S-04 that I happened to have on hand in case of emergency. Fermentation kicked off about 24 hours later. The fermentation temperature was 64F for the first five days of and then I raised the temperature to 68F upon noticing that the gravity was stalled at 1.012. Raising the temperature and rousing the yeast seemed to get one more degree of fermentation out of it. I bottled four days later as the gravity did not change. At bottling time the beer was drier than expected. My <a href="https://tilthydrometer.com/">Tilt </a>hydrometer reported the ABV as 4.46 percent. A very gentle brown ale along the lines of the old formulation for Newcastle (not the current version brewed at Lagunitas.) The Tilt spreadsheet for this recipe (<a href="http://www.brewersbestkits.com/assets/1016_englishbrownale_recipe.pdf">Brewer's Best Brown Ale kit</a>) is <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/131h8y8M6sYwJvZzhdeW_whkepYm7F5hc8TdcvwydbeI/edit?usp=sharing">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-29345639290030914872020-11-16T21:38:00.001-06:002020-11-16T21:38:11.766-06:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5GSK31erXJ-JTh-qV06Awm1jQ8fRV0naeNqIfrS8VF5mX6kNonQMP2A3L4JbmHTBB2UFmLa6Hm0RJGb4aGEId0uYUnes28Znvuh0eDY55grKCQVRwpuEq3sm-ntWgQjUTfTPxaQ/s3840/PXL_20201117_030823324.NIGHT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3840" data-original-width="2160" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5GSK31erXJ-JTh-qV06Awm1jQ8fRV0naeNqIfrS8VF5mX6kNonQMP2A3L4JbmHTBB2UFmLa6Hm0RJGb4aGEId0uYUnes28Znvuh0eDY55grKCQVRwpuEq3sm-ntWgQjUTfTPxaQ/s320/PXL_20201117_030823324.NIGHT.jpg" /></a></div>Brewing a brown ale tonight. A British brown ale fermented with <a href="https://wyeastlab.com/yeast-strain/london-ale-iii">Wyeast London Ale III</a> (#1318), a liquid yeast alternative to the <a href="http://www.brewersbestkits.com/assets/1016_englishbrownale_recipe.pdf">Brewer's Best Kit</a> that I bought. Yes, sometimes I just want to brew from a kit. There's nothing really that wrong with the <a href="https://fermentis.com/en/fermentation-solutions/you-create-beer/safale-s-04/">Fermentis S-04</a> yeast that comes with the kit, but I like the London Ale III as it does well up to 74 degrees and since I'm brewing in a new environment I want a little leeway in terms of temperature. I started renting an apartment for work and play last year and although it has turned out to be more of a work space than I originally intended (thanks coronavirus), I've also decided to move the home brewery. I think my first batch was a brown (isn't everybody's?) and since it feels a bit like starting over, I decided to brew a brown. <br /><p></p><p>Meanwhile, I've cracked open a bottle of the porter that I brewed several months ago and it is still quite good. A fine aroma of toasted malt and chocolate with more chocolate on the palate and surprising dryness. Hops kept very much in check for more of an English-style porter. This porter is just shy of sweet but I quite like it. Not everything needs to be hoppy, but a little bit of a hop nose might have been nice.</p><p>Back to the brown: brewing from the kit worked well. I put the grains in the muslin bag that came with the kit and tied it to one of the handles on my <a href="https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/gigawort-electric-boil-kettle?gclid=Cj0KCQiA48j9BRC-ARIsAMQu3WRPbwNi0X-N10Egu67es3kXYzfFvYgxvvUJf5jmqV_ZIR-FEtjz7MoaAgYBEALw_wcB">Gigawort</a> so it stay off the bottom of the kettle. I feared the the liquid malt extract in the kit might sink to the bottom and trigger the run dry sensor in the Gigawort -- and it did -- even though I killed the heat and let it sit for five minutes. Adding the dry extract went fine and got the kettle going again. Putting the recipe into <a href="http://beersmith.com/">Beersmith</a> I found it to be a bit too bitter for an <a href="https://byo.com/article/northern-english-brown-ale-style-profile/#:~:text=Northern%20English%20brown%20ale%20is%20a%20flavorful%2C%20malt%2Dfocused%20beer,in%20an%20overall%20balanced%20beer.">English brown</a> so I adjusted the hop schedule, adding the second ounce of <a href="http://www.hopslist.com/hops/aroma-hops/willamette/">Willamette</a> hops at five minutes left in the boil. I also decided to added on piece or one "star" of star anise at the end of the boil for a little complexity. I chilled the wort with my copper immersion chiller and got the wort down into the 60s in about a half hour. I pitched the yeast into 65 degree wort about an hour ago and the temperature of the wort has already risen to 71, so I have my <a href="https://brewjacket.com/">Brewjacket Immersion Pro</a> set to 64 as I'm afraid that the heat produced by fermentation could push the wort temperature above it's recommended maximum of 74. Cloud logging is working with my <a href="https://tilthydrometer.com/">Tilt </a>so I'll be able to monitor the temperature remotely. I won't be able to adjust the temperature remotely but just knowing what's going on will be comforting. <br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-9584666191260134262020-07-29T20:22:00.002-05:002020-07-29T20:22:46.010-05:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKrYMu8WdDNQ0s5shV4Re1ngRmPhFzXecMXbLvLemeTX5jSBz05A3cTGG7x-_k-Dof05xfVkHGpXyX9JzrTWmSfDLt7hEwzUTMB_5a4GUx5_njrbqRZSt2IDyqkSH89e20jDkOtA/s1600/20200729_201038-01.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKrYMu8WdDNQ0s5shV4Re1ngRmPhFzXecMXbLvLemeTX5jSBz05A3cTGG7x-_k-Dof05xfVkHGpXyX9JzrTWmSfDLt7hEwzUTMB_5a4GUx5_njrbqRZSt2IDyqkSH89e20jDkOtA/s320/20200729_201038-01.jpeg" width="240" /></a>The Wyeast 3725/BE-134 saison has turned out pretty well. I'm a bit impressed with the clarity. Of course I gave beer a careful pour, but still impressed. Carbonation is a little lower than I'd like but I prefer that to a beer being over-carbonated. It's an earthy spicy saison with a bit of tartness and a surprisingly luxurious mouthfeel. The nose is rather clean for the style and the bitterness is rather robust. It could almost be a pilsner except for the lack of hop aroma and bubblegummy yeasty esters that linger on the palate. The Goldings really express themselves in this beer giving it a near English IPA hop quality. I would have liked something a little less bitter for this time of year, so I may dip into my stash of saison from last year. I also still have some Kölsch, Bière de Garde and Bière de Juin (which turned out hoppy, but not bitter, like this beer.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-45891891755299016372020-06-28T21:18:00.003-05:002020-06-28T21:19:04.232-05:00The saison-style beer that I brewed a few weeks ago has been bottled. I ended up adding some BE-134 yeast to speed up the fermentation. The Wyeast 3724 slow down but I think I was just impatient after previously fermenting a beer with the BE-134. The orginal gravity 1.047 fermented down to 1.004. This was 91.49 percent attenuation and 5.64 percent alcohol by volume. I bottled after the beer stayed 1.004 for four days. There's definite Dupont character with this beer so adding the BE-134 didn't overwhelm the Wyeast 3724 character. The fermentation seemed to stall at 1.018, but again, I think I was just being impatient. The fermentation temperature started at 82 and I ramped it up to 90 after a few days to try and speed up fermentation. When it seemed to stall I piched the BE-134 and dropped the temperature down to 80. This was all done using the Brewjacket Immersion Pro. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8zUIZG4P0l2_PG7Oq6GrEsfCLfaPKQAijLNLyaaHprLO2CRV1tNZDcFMUqfmoxFz6ntbHKFENu0j4b8rbszxrXqnqjb4Xgx-agp8QEsJHepvH5duH-a7Gqea0B0bRtFH_HVd_JA/s603/saisonmorency.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="207" data-original-width="603" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8zUIZG4P0l2_PG7Oq6GrEsfCLfaPKQAijLNLyaaHprLO2CRV1tNZDcFMUqfmoxFz6ntbHKFENu0j4b8rbszxrXqnqjb4Xgx-agp8QEsJHepvH5duH-a7Gqea0B0bRtFH_HVd_JA/w625-h216/saisonmorency.JPG" width="625" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-4880564899446201252020-06-07T20:18:00.001-05:002020-06-07T20:18:24.609-05:00Brewed a saison today with six pounds of Briess pilsner DME, one pound of Caravienne malt, East Kent Goldings and Aramis hops fermented with Wyeast 3724 (the famous Dupont strain.} I boiled two ounces of Aramis hops for an hour and one ounce of the Goldings for 20 minutes. I steeped another ounce of Goldings for about 30 minutes starting at 150 degrees. The brew session went well except for miscalculating the evaporation rate. Topped off the fermenter with a little too much water to almost six gallons so I missed my intended original gravity by 10 points. I have the Tilt hydrometer going and the gravity is 1.047 and the temperature is 70. I have the Brewjacket Immersion Pro set to 90F which is supposed to be the outside temperature for the next two days. This will be the first time using the Immersion Pro to raise the temperature to roughly 15 degrees above ambient room temperature. I haven't been able to get the Tilt 2 app for the hydrometer logging correctly. Not sure why. Might try using my other tablet to see if I get better results. Eventually I would like to set up a Tilt Pi.<div><br /></div><div>I'm drinking some of the Japanese Sunshine that I brewed 14 months ago. This a saison-type beer that I make with 70 percent pilsner malt with 30 percent rice. I didn't use rice this time and instead used a William's liquid malt extract that is 70 percent two-row barley and 30-percent corn. I replaced the Sorachi ace hops with Polish Lubelski and then I got wild and added lemon and sweet orange peel and fermented it with Wyeast 3724 which got stuck, so I added some Wyeast 3711 dregs. It's turned out pretty good, buti is perhaps a touch too sweet. <div><div><br /></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-52210023525028300442020-05-12T21:11:00.002-05:002020-05-12T21:11:49.481-05:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2g0YnqOPSisZxBhsMB7D43rhTbhyadZrDGDL5-xb3DFQ6UJjCyMh8650v4-8Q5EcFmV-IZm_N-Y-vgPLO-wQSkx-0xRP_nBZXSnSRiVD4bu_R3yV7XSxxSN8Jottd6Qemf2EzxA/s1600/biere+de+juin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="560" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2g0YnqOPSisZxBhsMB7D43rhTbhyadZrDGDL5-xb3DFQ6UJjCyMh8650v4-8Q5EcFmV-IZm_N-Y-vgPLO-wQSkx-0xRP_nBZXSnSRiVD4bu_R3yV7XSxxSN8Jottd6Qemf2EzxA/s320/biere+de+juin.jpg" width="239" /></a>Earlier this evening I bottled my most recent batch, which I'm now referring to as Bière de Juin. It has turned out to be a very spicy, very pale ale. The BE-134 yeast is a monster, taking the beer from 1.043 to 1.004 in about five days. I've bottled on the eigth day of fermentation and the beer is 90 percent attenuated. I feel like this yeast would have fermented more if had not used a portion of wheat. An all malt beer would probably be even drier. The BE-134 yeast throws a tone of esters. It is POF+ in a very big way with pronounced clove flavor and aroma at bottling time. There is a background peppery note which is suitable for saison but so much clove is almost off-putting. We'll see if it dissipates with time, but I'm ont sure I would use this as my primary yeast for a saison. As a secondary yeast it could help to fully attenuate a fermentation and could add some complexity without hitting the drinker over the head with clove. With that said, I think it could be good for more of a winter saison with additional spices or Grand Cru type Belgian-style strong ale,. I'm probably going to keep using my trusted liquid strains for Saison; strains such as Wyeast 3724, Wyeast 3711 and Omega Saisonstein's Monster.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-55212046968430980312020-05-11T23:01:00.000-05:002020-05-11T23:01:27.896-05:00I plan to bottle the BE-134 Saison tomorrow. I have enough bottles and I appear to have hit terminal gravity at 1.004. That's a 90 percent attenuated beer. I'm guessing it's not going any lower than that because I employed use some wheat extract. I'm anxious to see how this batch turns out. I have a feeling I might want to dry hop it or add some Brett, but we'll see.<br />
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I had a bottle a the <a href="http://marcobrau.blogspot.com/2019/11/so-biere-de-garde-is-indeed-bit.html" target="_blank">hoppy red</a> from December in the back of the fridge. Since I need all the bottles I can get, I decided to open this bottle up that I was kind saving for posterity. The batch of an over-carbonated mess, but I don't think it is infected. I just I bottled it too soon with too much priming sugar. Looking back at my notes I think the beer probably hit terminal gravity, as I raised the temperature to 74 (and now I know from using my Tilt Hydrometer that it was probably a few degrees warmer than that.) So I'm sticking with my theory of too much priming sugar. Patience is rewarded with this beer as the foaminess eventually settles leaving a rocky head. The nose if hoppy and so is the flavor with a bit nutty character to go along with caramel malt. Big time Chinook hop flavor in this beer. It finishes quite dry and bitter. Would have been a really good IPA had I not over-carbed it!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-2118068194171695952020-05-10T10:06:00.001-05:002020-05-10T10:06:20.974-05:00OK. Thought I posted about this already, but I used some credit card points to be buy a Tilt Hydrometer. After testing and calibrating it, I eargerly started planning for my first batch of beer with hands-off remote gravity testing!<br />
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The beer I chose to brew as a simple extract Saison-style beer with about 90 percent pilsner malt extract and 10 percent wheat. I boiled for 60 minutes with one ounce of Huell Melons hops and steeped another ounce of the same hops for five minutes at 194 degrees. I had wanted to pitch a yeast from old batch of "wild ale" but failed. I tried to resuscitate some yeast from a bottle of a Saison-type beer I ended up calling Near Wild Heaven that I originally referred to as simply the "<a href="https://marcobrau.blogspot.com/2012/04/fermentorium-full-of-blondes.html" target="_blank">wild blonde</a>" that I made about eight years ago. The base yeast for this beer was supposed to be Wyeast 3942, but I ended up using some EC-1112 champagne yeast and added the dregs from a <a href="https://marcobrau.blogspot.com/2012/09/this-evening-im-sampling-brew-i-made.html" target="_blank">few bottles</a> of "wild ales" until I liked that the tates. I can recall a big cherry pie aroma but it’s much cleaner now and very dry. Not as funky, except in the nose. I was so happy with how this "wild beer" turned out I wanted to try and save the yeast blend. I knew my chances of getting the yeast from less than 12-ounces of such an old bottle of beer to propagate would be slim, but I tried anyway. I failed and ended up using the starter to test a packet a BE-134 dry yeast. I pitched this into the Saison after about a day and it took right off.<br />
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I started the current batch of beer on May 4 and so far I've been very pleased with the Tilt. It took some time to figure out how to log my results to the cloud, but I know have a spreadsheet of gravity and temperature readings at 15-minute intervals. It's pretty awesome to see the ups and downs of fermentation. For example, the beer seemed to stall a couple days at 1.028, so I roused the fermenter and raised the temperature and it seemed to get going again. As I've written, I do almost all fermentations inside of a Brewjacket Immersion Pro and this was my first time using the Immersion to raise the tempeartue of a fermentation. I started the ferment at about 74 and raised to 78 over the course this week. The Tilt, however, has reported actual wort temperatures as high as 80. I was bit suprised that it hit 80 degrees as the weather outside has been cool with nighttime temperatures in the 30s and 40s. Surprised, but not alarmed though, as the recommended fermentation temperature range for BE-134 yeast is 64 to 82 degrees. With the Tilt and the Immesion I feel like I have a lot of control over my fermentations now. I hope to continue to have success with the both the Tilt and the Brewjacket Immersin Pro.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-9926206793893054482020-04-23T21:48:00.001-05:002020-04-23T21:48:53.688-05:00I have a lot of homebrew right now. I've been brewing more since the start of stay-at-home orders. Beers that I have on hand include from (oldest to newest) are Near Wild Heaven (American Wild Ale made with dregs of Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere), Wee Heavy (Northern Brewer recipe from 2012), a few different Saison from the last five years or so, the Ardennes Porter, Robust Porter, Bière de Garde and now Kölsch.<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyxVcp1ygwd9qcsj7Xe8kB2cBZTu4ZGsmE9_TZN_ZyrY974ER34rVKyHWnol5VbGe5UtpjAwRxonD7WE8_EMpZ3vLlEQKf-iMLqDmsJlTTTyqyfluMnb0NP-T4g0AJn4jz609-Fw/s1600/result_1586554093349.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyxVcp1ygwd9qcsj7Xe8kB2cBZTu4ZGsmE9_TZN_ZyrY974ER34rVKyHWnol5VbGe5UtpjAwRxonD7WE8_EMpZ3vLlEQKf-iMLqDmsJlTTTyqyfluMnb0NP-T4g0AJn4jz609-Fw/s320/result_1586554093349.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The rocky head on the B-d-G trying to get away.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Tonight I've cracked open a bottle of Bière de Garde. The recipe included Briess Pilsner DME, Aromatic and Vienna malts along with Aramis and Styrian Goldings hops. I used the K-97 yeast which is the same that I used for the Kölsch that I just bottled. The Bière de Garde was really phenolic at first as it fermented well above it's range. The Brewjacket Immersion that I was using at the time seemed to have short-circuited and the fermentation temperature went up into the 80s. That was back in October. The beer has since mellowed and is quite as phenolic, quite dry and pours with a rocky, persistent head (left.)</div>
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<br /></div>
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As I mentioned in an earlier post, I think my next beer will be a Saison, I just have to figure out if I want to a bigger batch and be more of a Grisette. I would need to acquire some good dregs to add the requisite tartness if I make a Grisette. I would otherwise make four gallons of a standard "export" type of Saison in the vein of Saison DuPont.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-67295523734087597512020-04-20T20:30:00.001-05:002020-04-20T20:30:58.886-05:00The Grodizskie was a disaster. It fermented fine, but by bottle crapper broke after capping just one bottle. I ended up filling a two-liter swing top growler that I remembered I had. Need to chill it down at some point and see if it carbonated. Kind of waiting for party since it's two liters of beer....but parties are kind of banned now due to the ongoing pandemic. Yes, there's a pandemic now. A coronavirus called COVID-19 has shutdown restaurants, bars and most retail except groceries. So I expect homebrewing to become more popular. It seems like homebrew shops are still selling supplies online. I bought some supplies a few weeks ago early on in the stay at home order part of the pandemic response in my area. I have enough ingredients to brew another batch of beer...yes, another batch. My first "pandemic" batch got bottled today.<br />
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Pandemic Pale Ale (because why not) is a really pale ale, a blond ale in fact. I fermented it with Safale K-97 yeast. It was a simple batch of Briess and Munton's light DME along with Styrian Goldings and Sterline hops. I added and ounce of the Sterling at one minute left in the 60-minute boil while the Styrians boiled for 60 minutes (they were only 2.8% AA) for bittering. I fermented at 62 degrees to start and then raised the temerature slightly after five days to 64. I bottled tonight, on the tenth day of fermention, with the gravity at 1.008. The starting gravity was 1.047. I packaged about 14 liters of beer. Most of it was put into 500ml bottles I recently purchased and a few my cobalt blue swingtops that I have left.<br />
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I have a lot of homebrew right now. I have a case or more of the Ardennes Porter and a case of the Blond Biere de Garde I brewed awhile back. Both of these beers are overcarbonated. I looked back through my notes and searched my memory and I think I simply added too much priming sugar. For both of these batches I measured 2/3 of a cup of priming sugar for some reason which I believe to be too much. It could also be that both of these weren't quite finished or perhaps a non-spoiling bacteria. I also have a case of Robust Porter that turned out very nice and is NOT overcarbonated.<br />
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My next batch will likely be a farmhouse ale as I have some Safale BE-134 in the fridge and plenty more Sterling hop as well as some Huel Melon.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-81777849622851490732020-02-24T20:35:00.002-06:002020-02-24T20:38:58.813-06:00This poor little neglected blog....a lot has happend since November 2019. The black ale I brewed back in September has turned out pretty good except for being over-carbonated. No gushing bottles, but it is very carbonated. This of course lends itself to a lasting rocky head. One just needs to be patient though as to not swallow a bunch of gas. I haven't opened a bottle of Belgian-style black ale in months. I've dubbed it Porter des Ardennes. It is deep brown and quite like a Batlic porter brewed with a Belgian yeast. My tasting notes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
Whoa...lots of carbonation...but not a gusher...just think I added too much priming sugar. Need to measure on the scale and hot the measuring cup/glass. Sustained head. Deep dark brown color. Candi sugar aroma with raisins, plums and dark chocolate. Very little discernable hop nose. A bit prickly on the tongue due to the high level of carbonation. Sweet up front with baker's chocolate bitterness and black rum but finishes long with a bit winey and tart with a bit of bitterness that fades to candi sugar and toffee. Hard to believe it's been six months in the bottle.</blockquote>
I haven't tasted the Biere de Garde in quite awhile, that will likley happend another night. In the meantime, I need to update this blog with the details of three other batches of beer: the red ale that I brewed for Christmas, another Porter and a Grodziskie. The red ale is almost gone. I gave away a few bottles but stopped after noticing a possible infection (yes, gushing bottles.) I haven't been able to tell if the beer is infected but there is a sort of rose water character that my wife likes but that I think is a sign of infection. The beer is otherwise drinkable and fairly tasty once it settles down. Following the red ale I brewed a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Brewers-Best-Robust-Porter-Ingredient/dp/B07L46L1WZ" target="_blank">Brewer's Best Robust Porter kit</a> in which I substituted the Hallertau finishing hops for Chinook. Following that I brewed a Grodziskie (also known as a Gratzer), an ale made with entirely oak smoked wheat malt. I used the Hallertauer hops from the Brewer's Best kit for bittering this beer and some Styrian Goldings at the end of the boil for finishing. The Grodziskie is still fermenting but will likely get bottled in the next day or two. Both the Porter and Grodziskie were fermented in my <a href="https://brewjacket.com/" target="_blank">Brewjacket Immersion Pro</a> with the temperature set in the 60s. I pitched Nottingham dry yeast for the Porter and Safale K-97 for the Grodziskie. The Nottingham fermented at 66 to start and I raised it to 70 after the first four days. The K-97 started at 64 and I let it rise to 68 after the first five days. It'll be 10 days in the fermenter in another day. I'm a bit worried about using too much gypsum in the Grodziskie but want the beer to have a bracing bitterness. We'll see how it turns out.<br />
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Here's the three-gallon recipe for the Grodziskie:<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8907314.post-83632487351512713812019-11-24T20:00:00.002-06:002019-11-24T20:00:05.881-06:00So the Bière de Garde is indeed a bit phenolic, but interestingly not in the nose, but in the finish. There is sort of a hot boozy finish I hope will mellow as this beer sits. The black bière which I'm calling a Belgian-style Porter (as the hoppiness failed to show up) has turned out very nice....for a porter. My calculations in Beersmith for this beer showed had it getting most of its IBUs from late steeped additions and these IBUs simply did not materialize.<br />
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About 20 days ago I brewed a hoppy red ale for the Christmas that is my take on the classic Rogue Santa's Private Reserve recipe. I was able to get Bairds malt for awhile but I haven't been able to find in less than bulk amounts so this recipe is not as much of a clone as it used to be, but it's still Munich and three different degrees of crystal malt. I've been using Wyeast 1318 for this recipe as long as I can remember except for on time I used Wyeast 1332 which I believe is from Hale's (not Rogue.) I've never been able to get my hands on PacMan yeast. The recipe is below. I did not make a starter and pitched the Wyeast 1318 directly into the wort. I fermented at 66F and raised the temp to 72 after five days and then let it set at roome temperature after that (which was about 74 degrees.)<br />
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So I bottled the beer above this evening and the hoppiness was on point. Lots of sediment resulted in only 20 22-ounce bottles being filled. My bottle filler clogged on me towards the end (the kind with spring inside) so I filled the last three bottles direct from bottling bucket spigot. I have to remember not to give those ones away.<br />
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I have three batches from the last few months in bottles right now. The hoppy red, the blonde Bière de Garde and the porter. I'd like to brew maybe something dark and low in ABV like a mild or Irish stout next but I'll need to move some beer into storage.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0