tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22655242637479859162024-02-07T12:38:35.579-08:00Spontaneous FunkA blog devoted to craft beer and homebrewing, with an emphasis on saisons, wild ales, and other farmhouse beers. Home to recipes and tasting notes for Ambrosia Farmhouse Ales.Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-6747729514909165502018-06-13T06:30:00.000-07:002018-06-13T06:35:24.599-07:00Recipe: Namur (Third Edition) [Batch #106]<br />
Retro post as I'm going through old homebrew notes to try to organize them. This one came up as I was trying to locate my notes for a batch that "dry hopped" with basil in a keg. Full recipe and timeline posted below.<br />
<br />
The recipe for the full batch is as follows:<br />
<br />
Batch Number: 106<br />
Brew Date: July 16, 2016<br />
Bottle/Keg Date: See notes below.<br />
Batch Size: 20 Gallon<br />
OG: 1.042 (est. and measured)<br />
FG: See below.<br />
Fermentation Temperature: See notes below<br />
<br />
IBU: 30.0 (modified Tinseth)<br />
ABV: 4.9% (est.)<br />
SRM: 4.0<br />
<br />
Mash: Single infusion for 60 minutes at 150*F.<br />
Boil: 60 minute<br />
<br />
<u>Fermentables</u><br />
<br />
25.00 lb French Pilsner (70%)<br />
7.00 lb Wheat, Flaked (20%)<br />
3.5 lb Acid Malt (10%)<br />
<br />
<u>Salts & Water</u><br />
<br />
5.0g Calcium Chloride (all added directly to the kettle)<br />
10.0g Calcium Sulfate (all added directly to the kettle)<br />
12.0g Sodium Chloride (all added directly to the kettle)<br />
<br />
Resulting water profile is as follows:<br />
<br />
Mash pH (est.): 5.22<br />
Calcium: 68<br />
Magnesium: 12<br />
Sodium: 51<br />
Chloride: 104<br />
Sulfate: 79<br />
<br />
<u>Hops</u><br />
<br />
9.0 oz Strisselspalt (3.5 AAU, but see below), pellet, at 60 minutes<br />
3.0 oz East Kent Goldings (7.2 AAU, but see below), pellet, at 10 minutes<br />
3.0 oz Hallertau Tradition (4.4 AAU, but see below), pellet, at 10 minutes<br />
<br />
<u>Other</u><br />
<br />
4 tsp. Wyeast Yeast Nutrient at 10 minutes<br />
<br />
<u>Yeast</u><br />
<br />
Imperial Organic Rustic<br />
<br />
<u>Notes</u><br />
<br />
07.13.2016: Starter based on <a href="http://yeastcalculator.com/">http://yeastcalculator.com</a><br />
<br />
Have two cans of Imperial Yeast "Rustic" canned on May 19, 2016. Per site, these are at 62% viability. Each can has 200 billion cells, so this means there are currently 248 viable cells.<br />
<br />
For a 1.040 beer (20 gallons), I need 567 million cells. Per the calculator, four liters of 1.030 wort with intermittent shaking will get me to 586 viable cells.<br />
<br />
Added 245g of DME to 3L of water plus 1/4 tsp of yeast nutrient. Boiled 10 minutes, chilled, and pitched into a 5L flask with a can of starter wort and a pint of water. The flask is covered with sanitized foil.<br />
<br />
07.15.2016: Per past order notes, Saaz hops were ordered in March 2012 so should be from the 2011 harvest and are almost five years old at this time. Per <a href="http://brewerslog.appspot.com/HopAlphaCalc">http://brewerslog.appspot.com/HopAlphaCalc</a>, alpha acids have gone from 3.4 to 1.5 even though they have been stored in the original package at 10*F. Will decide whether to use them based on aroma upon opening the package.<br />
<br />
Dupont mash schedule: "113°F (45°C) mash-in, gradually raised to 162°F (72°C) over more than 90 minutes." <a href="https://beerandbrewing.com/VMvilisAAKGj51nr/article/belgian-beer-youre-probably-doing-it-wrong">https://beerandbrewing.com/VMvilisAAKGj51nr/article/belgian-beer-youre-probably-doing-it-wrong</a>. IBUs are around 32 and carbonation is approximately 3.5 volumes.<br />
<br />
From Farmhouse Ales: "Note: Brasserie Dupont uses a different approach, favoring a “rising temperature” infusion mash. Dupont starts with an initial temperature of 113 ° F (45 ° C) and continuously heats the mash (while constantly stirring) by approximately 0.5 ° F (0.25 ° C) per minute over the course of 108 minutes (1: 48) until the mash temperature reaches 162 ° F (72 ° C). The intention is to maximize fermentable sugar production in order to get the characteristic attenuation (when an appropriate yeast strain is used) and low terminal gravity of 1.0 to 1.5 ° P (1.004 to 1.006 SG)."<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
07.16.2016: Saaz hops are from 2011. Ordered in March 2012 from Northern Brewer.<br />
<br />
Mashed in at 124*F and then ramped too quickly. At 152*F after 15 minutes. Turned off the flame at this point and let it go for 60 minutes longer. Mash temperature of 148*F 30 minutes after the flame was turned off. At 146* 40 minutes after the flame was turned off. At this point, turned the burner back on low to start heating toward mash out. At that point, bumped the burner up to quickly get it to 170*F. Took about 10 minutes to go up to 170*F. Turned off the pump, shut the valve from the boil kettle, and let the mash drain to the kettle. Kettle temp is at 182*F.<br />
<br />
By the time the mash was empty, the kettle was at 200*F. At this point, it's about 2.5 hours fromwhen I turned on the water to start filling the kettle.<br />
<br />
The kettle has approximately 25.75 gallons of wort.<br />
<br />
Per http://brewerslog.appspot.com/HopAlphaCalc, Strisselspalt that is from 2014 (so about 600 days old) is now at 2.4 AAU instead of 3.5 AAU. Per same, 2014 Hallertau Tradition marked down from 4.4 to 3.4 AAU. Per same, 2015 EKG marked down from 5.1 to 4.3 AAU at 270 days old.<br />
<br />
7 hours after chilling, wort is at 78*F. Pitched after decanting and adding 120 seconds pure O2. Fermenting in a Blichmann conical.<br />
<br />
Temperature controller is set at 74*F. I usually pitch saisons in the low-70s and let it gradually go up to 80+*F, though should be fine given the yeast. Bob at Saint Somewhere pitches around 80*F and lets it go to 90*F: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2014/06/american-saison-reimagining-farmhouse.html<br />
<br />
Dave Logsdon also suggests pitching at a high temperature: http://www.babblebelt.com/newboard/thread.html?tid=1108752780&th=1191674019&pg=&tpg=1<br />
<br />
Blaugies pitches around 80.6*F: https://farmhousebeerblog.wordpress.com/2015/07/12/yeast-brasserie-de-blaugies/</div>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
07.17.2016: At 12 hours, probe showed 77*F with 1*F differential, so bumped to 80*F. Plenty of obvious fermentation activity as I can hear it chugging along inside the conical. I also lifted the weight setting on the lid hatch to let pressure escape.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
82*F at 24 hours. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
07.18.2016: At 36 hours, bumped to 84*F. 86*F at 48 hours.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
07.19.2016: At 60 hours, very little activity left and the krausen is gone. Turned off the heater since we were leaving for vacation, but should stay plenty warm in the garage since it's supposed to be over 90*F all week.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
07.24.2016: Temperature is at 78*F.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
07.25.2016: Turned heater back on at 83*F with a 1*F differential. Gravity reading yesterday was 1.012 but that seems unreliable as there was so much carbonation that it wasn't all gone after the sample sat out all night after being heavily agitated. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
07.29.2016: I checked this morning and the beer has a pellicle. I'm guessing this is from the stainless thermowell not being properly cleaned, or from general infestation of all of my equipment. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
07.31.2016: Turned off the temperature control.</div>
<br />
09.24.2016: Added 15g of macerated lime basil to the keg in the keezer in a hop bag. Did not wash beforehand. Clean from garden. No pesticides or any other chemicals used.<br />
<br />
12.17.2016: Rustic keg tastes incredible. Strain does very, very well with some time and under pressure. Likely some Brett involved given that it's my equipment (and that there was a pellicle in the fermenter!). Filled barrel with Vert, Rustic with Saaz and Basil, and base Rustic. Tapped Rustic 3726 with Sudwerk dregs. Need to save cake.</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-43431968863906711102016-12-30T08:38:00.000-08:002016-12-30T08:38:01.700-08:00Afterthought Brewing CompanyI haven't been able to post much over the past few months as I've been working on opening up a commercial brewery -- Afterthought Brewing Company -- which will focus on saisons and other mixed-fermentation beers. For a general guide to my thoughts on brewing and the types of beers that I like to produce, here's my <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2015/01/saisons-farmhouse-ales-general-thoughts.html">post</a> from early last year on the class of beers that can be loosely described as saisons. <br />
<br />
The brewery will be quite small with batches coming in around 1.5 barrels with two brew sessions per month for a total of about 3 barrels being produced per month. In the end, that's approximately 93 gallons per month, which translates to around 35 cases of 750mL bottles per month when accounting for waste and spillage. A lot of the initial production will go into barrels, so the releases will slowly roll out over time. <br />
<br />
Our final equipment delivery is later today, so we'll be ready to go as soon as we have TTB and Illinois approval, which will hopefully be this spring, meaning that bottled beer should be available for sale in late spring or at some point during the summer. Below are a few very-early pictures of the space. Follow our brewery's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/afterthoughtbrewing/?fref=ts">Facebook page</a> for continued updates on progress, releases, and (hopefully) an eventual membership club.<br />
<br />
Here's to a saison-heavy 2017!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/12794446_817429831718869_2240930650969511787_n.jpg?oh=1f2d7689b9d45b8abe49e0d25dbe53b4&oe=58E446F8" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/12794446_817429831718869_2240930650969511787_n.jpg?oh=1f2d7689b9d45b8abe49e0d25dbe53b4&oe=58E446F8" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15726969_1038521682943015_1786138229705404160_n.jpg?oh=825a7f37986e3edaac57e9e1e8db8891&oe=58D896A4" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15726969_1038521682943015_1786138229705404160_n.jpg?oh=825a7f37986e3edaac57e9e1e8db8891&oe=58D896A4" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15665799_1038521676276349_2796068994931128736_n.jpg?oh=7976a4dd7c579edb267c1518d4de5f3a&oe=58F30CC5" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15665799_1038521676276349_2796068994931128736_n.jpg?oh=7976a4dd7c579edb267c1518d4de5f3a&oe=58F30CC5" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-52756627043926979582016-07-07T07:02:00.000-07:002018-06-13T05:54:41.549-07:00Recipe: Blank Space (First Edition) [Batch #105]<div style="text-align: justify;">
Back in May, I had some friends over for a brew day, and we decided to do a saison with key lime juice and zest. We wanted hops to complement that citrus character, and decided to use newer hops that would give additional "green fruit" character. Namely, Hallertau Blanc, Nelson Sauvin, and Sorachi Ace. Together, these hops should impart some gooseberry, lime, white grape, and lemon/lime character. (I know that some people get unusual flavors like dill from Sorachi Ace, but I've always ended up with a nice citrus character, though I've never used them in a beer that didn't also feature citrus zest, so who knows what they're like all by themselves.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Not only am I a big fan of all these flavors, but I knew that by the time this beer was done with primary fermentation, <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2016/06/barrel-number-01-process-timeline.html">my oak barrel</a> would be empty and I thought this would all work well with a bit of oak and its accompanying characteristics. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I ultimately decided that I wanted to have a non-barrel-aged portion of the beer that I could also dry hop to have an ultra-refreshing (and low ABV!) beer for the summer. Because of that, a portion of the barrel will end up with some other blonde saison as a component of the fill. I nearly always have some sort of blonde saison around, so that shouldn't be a problem, especially since I use the same <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/02/ambrosia-yeast-blends.html">Ambrosia 005 blend</a> as part of nearly all of my fermentations. This is particularly true given the fact that all of my carboys and buckets are scratched and certainly house plenty of that culture, although I recently purchased a conical that I'll use for "clean" saisons going forward that I can either bottle/keg that way, or introduce specific Brett strains and/or other bugs at packaging to see how they work in secondary.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I mentioned above that a plus to this beer is its low alcohol content, but that doesn't really make this beer any sort of outlier. As those who read this blog frequently have likely noticed, it's extremely rare for me to brew a beer that ends up over 6% ABV, as I like my saisons light, refreshing, and consumable in (relatively) large quantities.</div>
<br />
The recipe for the full batch is as follows:<br />
<br />
Batch Number: 105<br />
Brew Date: May 14, 2016<br />
Bottle/Keg Date: See notes below.<br />
Batch Size: 20 Gallon<br />
OG: 1.042 (est.)<br />
FG: 1.004 (measured)<br />
Fermentation Temperature: Room temperature, fluctuating around 65*-70*F. <br />
IBU: 67.0 (modified Tinseth)<br />
ABV: 5.0% (est.)<br />
SRM: 3.0<br />
<br />
Mash: Single infusion for 60 minutes at 154*F.<br />
Boil: 60 minute<br />
<br />
<u>Fermentables</u><br />
<br />
20.00 lb French Pilsner (57%)<br />
9.00 lb Wheat, Flaked (26%)<br />
<div>
3.25 lb Acid Malt (9%)<br />
3.00 lb Oats, Flaked (9%)<br />
<br />
<u>Salts & Water</u></div>
<div>
<u><br /></u></div>
<div>
All salts added directly to the mash along with the strike water. I'm now using a <a href="http://www.blichmannengineering.com/products/breweasy">Blichmann BrewEasy system</a>, so everything is recirculating between two pots. All the liquid is then drained into the boil kettle at the end of the mash.<br />
<br />
5.0g Calcium Chloride<br />
8.0g Calcium Sulfate<br />
12.0g Sodium Chloride<br />
<br />
Resulting water profile is as follows:<br />
<br />
Mash pH (est.): 5.30<br />
Calcium: 64</div>
<div>
Magnesium: 12<br />
Sodium: 51<br />
Chloride: 104<br />
Sulfate: 69<br />
<br />
<u>Hops</u><br />
<br />
2.0 oz Sorachi Ace (10.4 AAU), pellet, at 60 minutes</div>
<div>
5.0 oz Nelson Sauvin (13.2 AAU), pellet, at flameout</div>
<div>
4.0 oz Hallertau Blanc (16.8 AAU), pellet, at flameout</div>
<div>
2.0 oz Sorachi Ace (10.4 AAU), pellet, at flameout</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Dry hop forthcoming to the non-barrel-aged portion.</div>
<div>
<br />
<u>Other</u><br />
<br />
4 tsp. Wyeast Yeast Nutrient at 10 minutes</div>
<div>
2 Tbsp. Key lime zest (5-gallon portion only)</div>
<div>
100 mL Key lime juice (5-gallon portion only)<br />
<br />
<u>Yeast</u><br />
<br />
Ambrosia Blend 005</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<u>Notes</u></div>
<div>
<u><br /></u></div>
<div>
05.31.2016: Added key lime juice (100mL) and zest (2 Tbsp.) to a 5-gallon portion of the batch being fermented in a bucket.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigx4_HsA-svBXZtL-MGVr9doIlTeKM4zWcOVLMTquHou_FPMqDatmFIwk_IkcTGGe0bEfpZ-7dYoe3c6-WV-11w1RdM-4kIRBiQematdLaaRVJX2blWntHNhJBJVe9mvZ7lGKC2-xHDlZu/s1600/Key+Lime+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigx4_HsA-svBXZtL-MGVr9doIlTeKM4zWcOVLMTquHou_FPMqDatmFIwk_IkcTGGe0bEfpZ-7dYoe3c6-WV-11w1RdM-4kIRBiQematdLaaRVJX2blWntHNhJBJVe9mvZ7lGKC2-xHDlZu/s320/Key+Lime+.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPJdhvkt2KRNz2QHF_zOd2M38OhItvA2-5FnPA_YUymmDt3hAWx-DtvEL7akrO2v0fvsrGJ-LtRwnIHQJNNYlf3NS-5JEZTeA8kXgHuEKvJr3FhlYeWUSxx4oDc8rrzSmImXK-bYP63Ayc/s1600/Key+Lime+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPJdhvkt2KRNz2QHF_zOd2M38OhItvA2-5FnPA_YUymmDt3hAWx-DtvEL7akrO2v0fvsrGJ-LtRwnIHQJNNYlf3NS-5JEZTeA8kXgHuEKvJr3FhlYeWUSxx4oDc8rrzSmImXK-bYP63Ayc/s320/Key+Lime+2.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
7.06.2016: I rinsed the barrel with several rounds of hot water followed by a spray-out with the hose, then several rounds of cool water. I then purged the barrel with CO2 and started adding beer:</div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">4.5 gallons of Blank Space (carboy-fermented). SG of 1.006. Light lemon and green grape with definite backing flaked grain body and feel.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">5.5 gallons of Blank Space (bucket-fermented). SG of 1.004. Flavor is similar to the carboy version but with a little bit of sulfur in the nose at first, though that quickly dissipated. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">3 gallons of Wallonian-fermented wort from the 04.29.2016 WPA batch (Batch 104). SG is 1.004.</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I added the rest of the Wallonian Farmhouse portion of Batch #104 to the carboy fermented with Ambrosia 005 from that batch. That carboy is now at max capacity, and I plan to transfer that beer onto some watermelon juice soon.<br />
<br />
12.17.2016: Emptied the barrel into kegs.<br />
<br />
01.01.2017: One full keg of Black Space received 33g of Galaxy pellets. The other received 43g of Nelson Sauvin. Both kegs bottled after dry hopping was complete.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />01.14.17: 3 gallon keg remained (approximately). It's been carbonating in the keezer and has a bit of sulfur and is a bit too oaky. Added 1oz of Denali pellets in a muslin bag. Keezer at 45*F.</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-9769274635344511412016-06-16T08:59:00.002-07:002016-06-16T08:59:25.110-07:00Recipe: Demeter Auran (Batch 5; Barrel Fermentation Batch 1) [Batch #103]<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
This post relates to my fifth edition of Demeter Auran, a blonde saison brewed with citrus zest, rose hips, and citrusy American hops. This batch features blood oranges along with Citra, Mosaic, and Amarillo hops. For the malt bill, I added a little bit of honey malt, as I really enjoy the character that brings out in a blonde saison assuming I'm not going for something that's more floral and grassy, leaning toward a more-traditional phenolic base. More importantly, this was my first time doing barrel fermentation. This beer went into the barrel for primary fermentation right after I cleared the barrel of Dionysus #3. See <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2016/06/barrel-number-01-process-timeline.html">this post </a>for background on the barrel and the beer that was in the barrel prior to this batch of Demeter Auran. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
With the barrel fermentation, I'm really hoping to pull out a bit of oak over the three to four week fermentation period. Furthermore, I want to gain additional experience working with barrels, as when I eventually open up a commercial brewery, I plan to start with everything being fermented in oak. From there, perhaps I'll eventually get some stainless fermentors for saisons without any sort of Brett or lactic acid bacteria, but from the start I think barrels will be the best way to showcase the kind of beers that I want to make, and there's the added bonus of barrels being significantly cheaper to work with compared to stainless fermentors.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCXY0bPZ_pJks2GNBtfa2ngURPsN5US69tIUgFMIqtnwKOmHNKprrSmyTPuZFCG6aVSDH0qfCqfOaMVIloet6932T_2VOq93zTwTUHHX0lwon5IPIcsKaqnorwmQ9CbnZoTTbOtltrmk57/s1600/IMG_3028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCXY0bPZ_pJks2GNBtfa2ngURPsN5US69tIUgFMIqtnwKOmHNKprrSmyTPuZFCG6aVSDH0qfCqfOaMVIloet6932T_2VOq93zTwTUHHX0lwon5IPIcsKaqnorwmQ9CbnZoTTbOtltrmk57/s320/IMG_3028.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Blood oranges ready to be zested.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">The recipe for the full batch is as follows:</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Batch Number: 103</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Brew Date: February 6, 2016</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Bottle/Keg Date: See notes below.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Batch Size: 20 Gallon</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">OG: 1.032 (est.)</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">FG: 1.002 (measured)</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Fermentation Temperature: Fluctuating around 65*-70*F.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">IBU: 43.0 (modified Tinseth)</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">ABV: 4.0% (est.)</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">SRM: 4.0</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Mash: Single infusion for 60 minutes at 150*F.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Boil: 60 minute</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><u style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">Fermentables</u><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">16.00 lb French Pilsner (46%)</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">6.00 lb Wheat, Flaked (17%)</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">5.00 lb Oats, Flaked (14%)</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">3.00 lb Munich (9%)</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">2.81 lb Acid Malt (8%)</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;">2.00 lb Honey Malt (6%)</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /><u>Salts & Water</u><br /><br />10.0g Calcium Chloride (all added directly to the kettle)</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
8.0g Calcium Sulfate (all added directly to the kettle)</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
11.0g Sodium Chloride (all added directly to the kettle)<br /><br />Resulting water profile is as follows:<br /><br />Mash pH (est.): 5.33<br />Calcium: 69<br />Magnesium: 12<br />Sodium: 40<br />Chloride: 102<br />Sulfate: 61<br /><br /><u>Hops</u><br /><br />3.0 oz Mosaic (11.6 AAU), leaf, at 60 minutes</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
3.5 oz Citra (13.0 AAU), leaf, at flameout</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
3.5 oz Amarillo (8.8 AAU), leaf, at flameout</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
3.0 oz Mosaic (11.6 AAU), leaf, at flameout</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<u>Other</u><br /><br />4 tsp. Wyeast Yeast Nutrient at 10 minutes</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
56g blood orange zest at flameout</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
21g dried rose hips at flameout</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
400mL blood orange juice at flameout<br /><br /><u>Yeast</u><br /><br />See notes below.</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; font-family: -webkit-standard; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8yOF1Aqd4W_htn_ir7E28GpqVx8X2Z54NBqk6PqBBXC2ZCimjNPUlnERLOyg8jLgq0sQm5Mm94hT81srXCxpY6v0T1M3nd-BQeXUUWAhuwZikUgAXdRtcXm_SgyZ-k12XihverENitAEQ/s1600/IMG_2601.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8yOF1Aqd4W_htn_ir7E28GpqVx8X2Z54NBqk6PqBBXC2ZCimjNPUlnERLOyg8jLgq0sQm5Mm94hT81srXCxpY6v0T1M3nd-BQeXUUWAhuwZikUgAXdRtcXm_SgyZ-k12XihverENitAEQ/s320/IMG_2601.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Transferring the wort into the barrel.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /><u>Notes</u></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">02.03.2016: Created a starter with 7.75oz DME into 4L of water with 2 tsp of yeast nutrient. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Y</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">east:</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">3724 manufactured 12.06.2015 (x2)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">OYL Saisonstein's Monster manufactured 12.15.2015</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">3724 manufactured 08.26.2015</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">3726 manufactured 07.22.2015</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">WLP645 expired 06.19.2015</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">WLP644 expired 07.19.2015</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">1 cup Farmhouse Mild thick slurry (at least 50% yeast) from 03.16.2014 (kept in fridge since then)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Added all the old stuff to 1 L of the starter wort. It was about 500ml of yeast in total. I then added the two new packets of 3724 and Omega Saisonstein's Monster to 3L of starter wort.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">02.07.2016: Heavy fermentation 24 hours after pitching. At 48 hours, bumped the temperature to 70*F for the carboy version. Sitting previous to this at ambient at 65*F. Barrel remains at 65*F.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwMbEro6o2a_UH-AFrPRADoNmrdHYpT5_VDTAErDZeJzDNhCUWJA8za64fR_yrCw72wl2-CddL_MNRRubhCZ8KP68iQU5HLPvIGo_2YmPoSA5QYSES1YECXWSkeYYzT4g9g5iWVZ5NbK6f/s1600/IMG_3039.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwMbEro6o2a_UH-AFrPRADoNmrdHYpT5_VDTAErDZeJzDNhCUWJA8za64fR_yrCw72wl2-CddL_MNRRubhCZ8KP68iQU5HLPvIGo_2YmPoSA5QYSES1YECXWSkeYYzT4g9g5iWVZ5NbK6f/s320/IMG_3039.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Fermentation.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">02.10.2016: At 60 hours, the carboy is at 69*F. Raised to 72*F with a differential of 2*F. At 7</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">2 hours, raised to 76*F with differential of 2*.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">02.11.2016: At 84 hours, I raised the carboy temperature to 78*F with differential of 2*F.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">02.14.2016: Added dregs of 2012 3F Golden Blend to the barrel</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">02.16.2016: Barrel sitting at 66*F.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">03.23.2016: Carboy finished at 1.002. Transferred 5 gallons from the carboy to a keg with 2.0 oz of Hallertau Blanc. Transferred </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">3 gallons of the barrel to a carboy with 14oz of passion fruit pulp. Transferred 5 gallons to a keg without any dry hops. Finally, I bottled 5 gallons with 7oz raw sugar aiming for 3.5 volumes (probably under as CO2 escaped from the barrel during the fermentation process). Yield of 23 750ml bottles.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKu0lj07UJRjVrPl-Fb7mVdbjUV59efE9iIzqPatmvqp9Y6r5A76yY7yjzoLwtacp_siezpp3LIJHyoLwXNzaG_2A480VoIL37CCNAs1l0WR402PEGyLRqlMG0HEk0zmApDgaiqR4Mkug/s1600/IMG_2691.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKu0lj07UJRjVrPl-Fb7mVdbjUV59efE9iIzqPatmvqp9Y6r5A76yY7yjzoLwtacp_siezpp3LIJHyoLwXNzaG_2A480VoIL37CCNAs1l0WR402PEGyLRqlMG0HEk0zmApDgaiqR4Mkug/s320/IMG_2691.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Transferring from the barrel into the bottling bucket.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-81209460615793119222016-06-13T15:33:00.001-07:002018-06-13T05:56:54.521-07:00Barrel Number 01: Process & Timeline<div style="text-align: justify;">
In January 2015, I ordered a 13.2-gallon barrel made of a new Hungarian Oak from MoreBeer. Barrel aging was something I had done a bit in the past with a 3-gallon whiskey barrel. That experience was fairly limited, however. I first filled the barrel with a stout to scrub a lot of the oak and whiskey character, and then subsequently added <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2012/04/ruby-batch-01-recipe.html">my first batch of Ruby</a> (a Flanders Red-inspired beer). However, while the next beer was in the barrel (another batch of Ruby, I believe), I unfrotuantely discovered some mold growing on the bottom of the barrel due to excess moisture in the basement of the house we were living in at that time, and I ended up ditching the barrel as I didn't want to ruin another batch. (That barrel still serves as a nice decoration in our basement pub, however.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For this barrel, I made sure to read all that I could about cleaning and maintenance. The post I leaned most-heavily on was <a href="https://embracethefunk.com/2014/06/23/barrelcleaning/">Embrace the Funk's Barrel Cleaning and Storage post</a>. I also followed the instructions from the barrel maker (Vadai), which indicated that a thorough rinse with hot water would be necessary to pull some of the "new oak" character out of the barrel. The <a href="http://www.vadaiwinebarrels.com/barrel-prep-instructions.html">instructions</a> also call for swelling the heads of the barrel by putting boiling water on top of them, as well as a few other steps, so make sure to read the full instructions if you plan to use the methods discussed here and you're not relying on instructions from your barrel supplier or elsewhere on the web. I'm sure there are plenty of ways to properly hydrate a barrel and prep it for storage, but these methods worked for me so I'll be following them in the future.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
With those thoughts in mind, I spent a few nights filling the barrel with boiling water, bunging it up, and rolling it around. Then I would rinse and repeat. I initially used the wooden bung/peg that came with the barrel as that swelled as water soaked into it, allowing it to form a better seal and stick inside the barrel as I rolled it back and forth. Then, in ordered to remove it, I gently tapped it back and forth with a rubber mallet. (Safety note: Make sure to very slowly pull the bung out and have it pointed away from you the whole time as the steam from the boiling water will create quite a bit of pressure.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After the barrel was prepped using Vadai's methods, I added a "holding solution of citric acid and potassium metabisulfite (KMS) at a rate of 4g citric acid 8g KMS per gallon of barrel volume" based on <a href="http://www.midwestsupplies.com/media/downloads/422/barrel_care_sheet.pdf">instructions from Midwest Supplies</a> since, at that point, I didn't have enough beer ready for the barrel. When using the KMS, but sure to be in a well-ventilated area and follow proper safety precautions, as the KMS has an extremely-strong odor that will certainly sting your lungs and make you cough quite a bit if you're not careful.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
On May 30, 2015, I was finally ready to fill the barrel. At that point, the holding solution had been in the barrel for around four months. I drained out the holding solution, and then gave the barrel several rinses with hot water, followed by several rinses with cold water. I wanted to make sure I had rinsed all of the holding solution so as not to adversely affect the beer going into the barrel. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The initial barrel fill was a mix of <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/06/citrine-batches-07-08-recipe.html">Citrine (spontaneous)</a> and <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2015/07/farmhouse-mild-batch-06-recipe.html">Farmhouse Mild (Batch 06)</a>. The ratio was approximately 10 gallons of Farmhouse Mild to a little over three gallons of Citrine. This was based mostly what I had on hand (as I was quite anxious to get the barrel filled at that point!), though of course I did a test blend in a small glass to confirm that I liked the ratio before filling the barrel. The combination of tropical fruit and light funk from the Farmhouse Mild paired really well with the earthy funk, lemon, and pineapple notes from the Citrine. Blending these two beers was nothing new to me, as earlier iterations of these beers had been used to blend the first beer in my <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/09/science-art-series.html">Science & Art series</a>. The tasting notes for Science & Art #1 can be found <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2013/12/science-art-1-tasting-notes.html">here</a>. At this point I was just using a standard auto-siphon to get the beers into the barrel, though I've since moved on to a barrel-transfer tool that is quite useful (more on that below).</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz3kDz0qEElvtUPtbQOtbFvUWHvfeD2HK0Og2IUgn66dbE3T1kAAkS4JnBB9A0NuA5Scs7QJsRhDCRedt2fxdak9hj4wTf2EdRtzsMSNhyPCg_vJog8NiTEM6fDzAP5Pk4yM185YmQhaUS/s1600/IMG_1712.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz3kDz0qEElvtUPtbQOtbFvUWHvfeD2HK0Og2IUgn66dbE3T1kAAkS4JnBB9A0NuA5Scs7QJsRhDCRedt2fxdak9hj4wTf2EdRtzsMSNhyPCg_vJog8NiTEM6fDzAP5Pk4yM185YmQhaUS/s640/IMG_1712.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Original barrel fill (May 30, 2015)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Of course, I checked on the barrel the night after filling and there was either some residual fermentation going on or some trapped CO2 from the beers was released, as the bung popped out a bit (photo below).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Following other oak-aged beers that I had done in the past, the name for pulls of blonde saison from the barrel have been known as Dionysus #3.</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpD43h92L29iuxt6gVXMYtWqHaYG8cZBolYnUQxeKy53IMxyEaKM6gmBL9bmmJSlnjQdDVCvZC1u0B4X5dtPiP0fuOYEYwE5spUHuU-FWSa0tsUajvzZKH_g-hs3OkBTMEqj3ziXERPYLG/s1600/IMG_1714.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpD43h92L29iuxt6gVXMYtWqHaYG8cZBolYnUQxeKy53IMxyEaKM6gmBL9bmmJSlnjQdDVCvZC1u0B4X5dtPiP0fuOYEYwE5spUHuU-FWSa0tsUajvzZKH_g-hs3OkBTMEqj3ziXERPYLG/s640/IMG_1714.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Additional fermentation (or release of trapped CO2) (May 31, 2015)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The remainder of this post is a timeline devoted to the barrel. I had incorporated notes on the barrel's path to date, and will continue to update the post as beers move into and out of the barrel, posting links to recipes for the beers that spend time in the barrel, as well as tasting notes for each beer that comes out of the barrel. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u>Timeline</u></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
07.05.2015: I pulled my first "true" barrel sample. (I had previously used a small pipette to take tiny tastes to check on progress, as I really wasn't sure how long it would take to get the character I was looking for.) The beer smelled and tasted of pineapple and lemon with a light acidity. There was a bit of background funk and citrus pith. Delicate, with some oak notes emerging. Aside from the oak, the beer has a delicate white-wine character. Hint of white grape and green gooseberry underneath the more-prominent pineapple and lemon.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
09.07.2015: I transferred 5 gallons from the barrel to a keg and then topped off the barrel with <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2016/06/recipe-demeter-auran-fourth-edition.html">Demeter Auran (Batch 101)</a> and a little bit of the <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2016/06/recipe-wallonian-pale-ale-fifth-edition.html">Yeast Bay Wallonian portion from Batch 100</a>. </div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdD7fNQ64zFszRgCFLt8GB4Xtb-H-y7ZqgyMfa1LElX4mfcNVnWL_T-jBZYnd0CTekFHh-llg4HnDv4x1qJmosDxlDrbb6kpRUqDckFO_jdO_cjebl0TOXmIm_lUsNBBka-HtzERGVCOPm/s1600/Dionysus+%25233+Barrel+Sample.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdD7fNQ64zFszRgCFLt8GB4Xtb-H-y7ZqgyMfa1LElX4mfcNVnWL_T-jBZYnd0CTekFHh-llg4HnDv4x1qJmosDxlDrbb6kpRUqDckFO_jdO_cjebl0TOXmIm_lUsNBBka-HtzERGVCOPm/s320/Dionysus+%25233+Barrel+Sample.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Transferring from the barrel (09.07.2015)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
09.12.2015: After the initial pull was carbonated, I was eager to start drinking it. Unfortunately, I thought that the beer was a bit too oaky, especially when poured from the tap at a cooler temperature, so I mostly used this first batch as a blending component, filling glasses with a few ounces of this before filling the rest with other saisons that I had on tap at the time.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
11.10.2015: Barrel gravity of 1.002 and pH of 3.59. Still a bit too oaky for my tastes. Transferred three gallons to 14oz passion fruit pulp and three gallons to 2 lb of mango chunks.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Topped off the barrel with <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2016/06/recipe-noble-namur-batch-102.html">Namur 3724 (+dregs) (Batch #102)</a> at 1.004 and pH 4.41. All of one carboy and a bit of another.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
02.06.2016: Pulled the entirety of the barrel and then filled with a <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2016/06/recipe-demeter-auran-batch-5-barrel.html">batch of Demeter Auran</a> This pull had less oak, mild acidity, lemon, hay, touch of vanilla, and tropical fruit. Really, really pleased with it all around. It might be the best beer I've brewed to date.<br />
<br />
03.23.2016: Emptied the barrel of the Demeter Auran. I didn't have anything at the time to re-fill the barrel and I wasn't brewing again for a bit after that, so I rinsed the barrel with warm water and filled it with the same holding solution I used after first cleaning it after the original acquisition, as described above. <br />
<br />
I emptied the barrel with a very handy stainless transfer tool, pictured below. Here are the <a href="https://abeerdiary.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/my-pressure-racking-cane/">plans</a> I used to build it.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKu0lj07UJRjVrPl-Fb7mVdbjUV59efE9iIzqPatmvqp9Y6r5A76yY7yjzoLwtacp_siezpp3LIJHyoLwXNzaG_2A480VoIL37CCNAs1l0WR402PEGyLRqlMG0HEk0zmApDgaiqR4Mkug/s1600/IMG_2691.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKu0lj07UJRjVrPl-Fb7mVdbjUV59efE9iIzqPatmvqp9Y6r5A76yY7yjzoLwtacp_siezpp3LIJHyoLwXNzaG_2A480VoIL37CCNAs1l0WR402PEGyLRqlMG0HEk0zmApDgaiqR4Mkug/s320/IMG_2691.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
07.06.2016: I rinsed the barrel with several rounds of hot water followed by a spray-out with the hose, then several rounds of cool water. I then purged the barrel with CO2 and started adding beer:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>4.5 gallons of <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2016/07/recipe-blank-space-first-edition-batch.html">Blank Space</a> (carboy-fermented). SG of 1.006. Light lemon and green grape with definite backing flaked grain body and feel.</li>
<li>5.5 gallons of Blank Space (bucket-fermented). SG of 1.004. Flavor is similar to the carboy version but with a little bit of sulfur in the nose at first, though that quickly dissipated. </li>
<li>3 gallons of Wallonian-fermented wort from the 04.29.2016 WPA batch (Batch #104). SG is 1.004.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
12.17.2016: Filled barrel with Vert, Rustic with Saaz and Basil, and base Rustic.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
12.29.2016: Added dregs of 10.27.2015 3F OG to the barrel.</div>
</div>
</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-3841558489669574472016-06-10T18:51:00.000-07:002016-06-10T19:05:15.225-07:00Recipe: Noble Namur [Batch #102]This was a batch of Namur, which is my "plain" saison that's generally fermented clean. I ended up pitching some bugs into the 3724 portion when it stalled at 1.024. However, a separate 5-gallon portion was fermented with Omega's Saisonstein's Monster and got down quite low. That portion I dubbed "Noble Namur" given the use of classic hops in combination with the clean saison yeast profile. <br />
<br />
In the end, I really, really enjoyed the Saisonstein's Monster portion and will definitely be making a full batch of this again in the future, simplifying the malt bill quite a bit (this one was more of a "get rid of some stuff" profile) so that it's essentially a pilsner fermented with a saison yeast that's more peppery and earthy rather than fruity, even though I generally prefer saisons that fit into the latter category. <br />
<br />
Finally, the water profile on this one was a bit more sulfate-heavy than my typical saison, as I wanted the bitterness to stand out a bit more. Although, in the end, this one ended up just a bit too bitter, so I'd probably pull back the IBUs to 25-30 the next time around.<br />
<br />
The recipe for the full batch is as follows:<br />
<br />
Batch Number: 102<br />
Brew Date: October 2, 2015<br />
Bottle/Keg Date: See notes below.<br />
Batch Size: 20 Gallon<br />
OG: 1.033 (est.)<br />
FG: See below.<br />
Fermentation Temperature: Started at 72*F and ramped up to 82*F.<br />
IBU: 36.0 (modified Tinseth)<br />
ABV: 4.1% (est.)<br />
SRM: 3.0<br />
<br />
Mash: Single infusion for 60 minutes at 154*F.<br />
Boil: 60 minute<br />
<br />
<u>Fermentables</u><br />
<br />
12.00 lb French Pilsner (46%)<br />
7.00 lb Wheat, Flaked (27%)<br />
2.00 lb Munich (8%)<br />
1.81 lb Acid Malt (7%)<br />
1.50 lb Oats, Flaked (6%)<br />
1.50 lb Rye, Flaked (6%)<br />
<div>
<br />
<u>Salts & Water</u><br />
<br />
1.1g Calcium Chloride (all added directly to the kettle)</div>
<div>
13.1g Calcium Sulfate (all added directly to the kettle)</div>
<div>
17.5 Sodium Chloride (all added directly to the kettle)<br />
<br />
Resulting water profile is as follows:<br />
<br />
Mash pH (est.): 5.24<br />
Calcium: 68<br />
Magnesium: 12<br />
Sodium: 77<br />
Chloride: 128<br />
Sulfate: 102<br />
<br />
<u>Hops</u><br />
<br />
9.0 oz Strisselspalt (3.5 AAU), pellet, at 60 minutes<br />
4.0 oz Sterling (8.0 AAU), pellet, 90 minutes after flameout (30-minute hopstand)</div>
<div>
<br />
<u>Other</u><br />
<br />
4 tsp. Wyeast Yeast Nutrient at 10 minutes<br />
<br />
<u>Yeast</u><br />
<br />
Wyeast 3724 (Dupont)<br />
Omega Saisonstein's Monster<br />
<br />
<u>Notes</u></div>
<br />
10.02.2015 Mash temp 152*F. 4oz of Sterling added after 1.5 hours natural cooling. Temp was 165*F. After removing the hops, I let the wort sit for approximately 8 hours before pitching at 68*F with temperature regulator set at 72*F and the differential set at 1*F.<br />
<br />
30 seconds of oxygen to each 5-gallon portion. The 3724 packs were both manufactured on 08.11.15. Omega Saisonstein was packaged on 09.01.15. Controller probe placed in the carboy with the Omega.<br />
<br />
10.03.2015: At 24 hours, moved to 74*.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
10.04.2015: At 48 hours, loved to 76*. Moved to 78* and 80* at single-day intervals. Continued to 82* at next day. Leaving at 82*.<br />
<br />
10.15.2015: Omega at 1.002. 3724 at 1.024. Controller turned down to 70*F. Planning to add bugs to the 3724 carboys.<br />
<br />
10.16.2015: Created a blend of Saccharomyces Trois, Brett C, Brett Drei, and ECY 03-B plus dregs from Demeter Automne and Demeter Facile. 250mL and split between each 3724 carboy. The temperature is sitting at 69*F. Eventually got down to less than 1.002.<br />
<br />
11.10.2015: Kegged Noble Namur. FG is 1.001 and pH is 4.51.</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-76852536117586569652016-06-10T06:08:00.002-07:002016-06-10T06:08:53.280-07:00Recipe: Demeter Auran (Fourth Edition) [Batch #101]<div>
Continuing with the recipes, this is a batch of Demeter Auran (the fourth time I've brewed this beer), most of which ended up going into my 13.2-gallon oak barrel. For the portion that I kegged, I didn't end up taking formal tasting notes on any of the batch, even though I would have liked to as half was dry-hopped with Citra and half was dry-hopped with Galaxy.</div>
<br />The recipe for the full batch is as follows:<br /><br />Batch Number: 101<br />Brew Date: August 15, 2015<br />Bottle/Keg Date: See notes below.<br />Batch Size: 20 Gallon<br />OG: 1.037 (measured)<br />FG: 1.004 (measured)<br />Fermentation Temperature: 76-78*F.<br />IBU: 51.0 (modified Tinseth)<br />ABV: 4.2%<br />SRM: 3.0<br /><br />Mash: Single infusion for 60 minutes at 154*F.<br />Boil: 60 minute<br /><br /><u>Fermentables</u><br /><br />16.00 lb French Pilsner (53%)<br />9.00 lb Wheat, Flaked (30%)<br />3.00 lb Oats, Flaked (10%)<div>
2.00 lb Acid Malt (7%)<br /><br /><u>Salts & Water</u><br /><br />10.0g Calcium Chloride (all added directly to the kettle)</div>
<div>
8.0g Calcium Sulfate (all added directly to the kettle)</div>
<div>
11.0g Sodium Chloride (all added directly to the kettle)<br /><br />Resulting water profile is as follows:<br /><br />Mash pH (est.): 5.35<br />Calcium: 82<br />Magnesium: 12<br />Sodium: 50<br />Chloride: 125<br />Sulfate: 70<br /><br /><u>Hops</u><br /><br />2.0oz Citra (13.0 AAU), leaf, at 60 minutes<br />8.0oz Citra (13.0 AAU), pellet, at flameout</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
5 gallons of the batch was dry-hopped with 2oz of Citra leaf, and another 5 gallons was dry-hopped with 2oz of Galaxy pellets. The remaining 10 gallons went into the barrel after fermentation and did not receive any dry hops.<br /><br /><u>Other</u><br /><br />4 tsp. Wyeast Yeast Nutrient at 10 minutes<br />56g Orange Zest at flameout<br />20g Rose Hips at flameout<br /><u><br />Yeast</u><br /><br />Fresh pack of Wyeast 3726 (Blaugies), 200ml of Wyeast 3726 slurry, and 200ml of Wyeast 3724 (Dupont) slurry.<br /><br /><u>Notes</u><br /><br />08.16.2015: Pitched at 77*F 15 hours after cooling. I pitched late as chiller only went down to 88*F. Temperature controller off for now.<br /><br />08.17.2015 (8:00 AM) Temperature has been sitting between 76* and 78*F without any assistance. Water bath container seems to have a small leak.<br /><br />09.07.2015: Transferred 5gal to keg with 2oz Citra leaf.<div>
<br />11.02.2015: FG is 1.004 and pH is 3.50. Dry hopped with 2oz of Galaxy pellets. Transferred with CO2 using stainless setup.<br /></div>
</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-6831750237909004682016-06-08T12:16:00.003-07:002016-06-13T06:16:37.636-07:00Recipe: Wallonian Pale Ale (Fifth Edition) [Batch #100]<div style="text-align: justify;">
It has unfortunately been a long, long time since my last post, but I'm hopeful that, starting with this post, I'll be back to posting frequently. I have 4-5 recipe posts (some with accompanying tasting notes) in the backlog. I need to work through those over the next several weeks so that I can really focus on a post that will combine quite a few of these recipes -- an all-encompassing post on the work that I've started to do with barrel-aging and barrel-fermenting saisons, including plenty of blending. Once up, I will use that post going forward to track everything that goes into and comes out of the 13.2-gallon oak barrel that I have in our basement.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For now, below is a recipe for my fifth iteration of Wallonian Pale Ale, which essentially an America IPA malt and hop base then fermented with a blend of saison yeasts, Brettanomyces, and some lactic-acid bacteria. Even though the IBUs are quite high, a bit of acidity still comes through. The grain bill on this one was a bit of a mess as I tried to get rid of some older adjuncts that were used to lighten up the body a bit in order to let the yeast and hops shine through. For hops, I used a nice blend of American hops and went with a 90-minute hop stand at the end of the boil, which is a technique I've used in the past with this beer to really lock in the hop character over a relatively-long (at least for hoppy-beer standards) fermentation period.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Here are the full details on this batch:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Batch Number: 100</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Brew Date: August 8, 2015</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Batch Size: 16 Gallon</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
OG: 1.049 (est.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
FG: 1.004 (est.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
IBU: 52 (modified Tinsmith)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
ABV: 6.0% (est.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
SRM: 6</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mash: Single infusion for 60 minutes at 154* F</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Boil: 60 minute</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<u></u><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u><u>Fermentables</u></u></div>
<u>
</u><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
16.00 lb Dingemans Belgian Pilsner (47%)</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4.19 lb Wheat Malt (12%)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
3.00 lb Munich (9%)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2.00 lb Flaked Oats (6%)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.88 lb Acid Malt (6%)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.75 lb Flaked Rice (5%)</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.75 lb Flaked Corn (5%)</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.25 lb Rye Malt (4%)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<u></u><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u><u>Salts & Water</u></u></div>
<u>
</u><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
12.5 g Calcium Chloride (all in the boil kettle)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
13.5 g Gypsum (all in the boil kettle)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4.5 g Sodium Chloride (all in the boil kettle)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Resulting water profile is as follows:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mash pH (est.): 5.20</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Calcium: 110</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Magnesium: 12</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sodium: 27</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Chloride: 115</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sulfate: 114</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<u></u><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u><u>Hops</u></u></div>
<u>
</u></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
3.0 oz Mosaic (pellet, 11.6 AAU), at 60 minutes </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
8.0 oz Mosaic (pellet, 11.6 AAU), at flameout (hopstand for 90 minutes)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4.0 oz Galaxy (pellet, 15 AAU), at flameout (hopstand for 90 minutes)</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4.0 oz Belma (leaf, 11.6 AAU), at flameout (hopstand for 90 minutes)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
8.0 oz Styrian Bobek (pellet, 3.9 AAU, 2.5 years old), at 60 minutes</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<u></u><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u><u>Other</u></u></div>
<u>
</u><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4.0 tsp. Wyeast Yeast Nutrient at 10 minutes</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<u></u><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u><u>Yeast</u></u></div>
<u>
</u><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/02/ambrosia-yeast-blends.html">Ambrosia Blend 05</a><br />
Yeast Bay Wallonian</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-68765853161961846382015-10-19T20:42:00.000-07:002015-10-19T20:42:22.448-07:00Saison Faible (Batch 02): Tasting NotesIt's been a long time coming as this keg has (unfortunately) long since kicked, but below are the tasting notes for the second batch of Saison Faible (<a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2015/07/saison-faible-batch-02-recipe.html">recipe here</a>), which is designed to be a light, easy-drinking saison. This is the portion of the batch that was fermented with Wyeast 3726 Farmhouse Ale. The beer was carbonated in the keg to approximately 3.0 volumes of CO2.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://untappd.akamaized.net/photo/2015_08_19/c1e6eddbb3c9d03d521b21e998f78738_640x640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://untappd.akamaized.net/photo/2015_08_19/c1e6eddbb3c9d03d521b21e998f78738_640x640.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Appearance: Heavy, creamy head atop a hazy golden beer. Great retention and heavy lacing on the way down. One of the best-looking beers that I've brewed. As I think I have mentioned in the past, I love the rustic look of a hazy saison as opposed to one that pours crystal clear. <br /><br />Nose: Strong with notes of mango, orange zest, honey, and a bit of pear. Almost a light, vanilla-like character as it warms. <br /><br />Taste: Similar to the nose, but actually has a bit of tart cherry in the background. It's not a sour beer by any means, but there is a very faint tartness through the finish. Just a hint of earthy spice. <br /><br />Mouthfeel: Full and creamy up front, but finishing quite dry. The oats and wheat added plenty of proteins, and it seems like this yeast produces plenty of glycerol, together leading to a lovely feel. At the same time, finishing around 1.002-1.004 doesn't leave much there, and the finish is accordingly quite dry.<br /><br />Overall: Not much I would change about this one, and I'm looking forward to brewing another batch. This is something I plan to have on tap year round at the future tap room, and is making me think twice about doing all oak fermentation with Brett in everything. While there is undoubtedly a bit of Brett going to work here (given that there was a pellicle at the time of kegging), its character is relatively muted compared to the Saccharomyces and hops.Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-45752675633262871482015-07-18T12:23:00.000-07:002016-06-12T10:27:56.492-07:00Saison Faible (Batch 02): Recipe<div style="text-align: justify;">
This was my second time brewing <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/01/farmhouse-mild-recipe-version-4.html">Saison Faible</a>, which is intended to be a light, fruit- and hop-forward saison without the funk and light acidity of <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2015/07/farmhouse-mild-batch-06-recipe.html">Farmhouse Mild</a>. For this one, I wanted to experiment with a few different yeasts, so half the batch was fermented with non-saison Belgian yeasts. It was a 20-gallon batch, so I ended up with around 5 gallons of portions fermented with each of the following: Wyeast 3724 (Dupont, Wyeast 3726 (Blaugies), White Labs 510 (Bastogne, which is Orval's primary-fermentation strain), and White Labs 550 (Achouffe, which is, or at least was, Jolly Pumpkin's primary strain).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After this, I plan to start experimenting a little bit more with European and old-school American hops, as I'd like to see how much of the fruity profile of many of my beers is a result of the yeast and bacteria strains I use, and how much is related to the generally-copious amounts of American and Southern Hemisphere hops I use at flameout.</div>
<br />
Here are the full details on the batch:<br />
<br />
Batch Number: 99<br />
Brew Date: June 15, 2015<br />
Keg/Bottle Date: See notes below<br />
Batch Size: 20 Gallon<br />
OG: 1.040 (est.)<br />
FG: 1.003 and the 3724 and 3726; 1.008 for the 510 and 550 (measured, prior to Brett/dreg additions)<br />
Fermentation Temperature: See notes below<br />
IBU: 32.0-66.0 (wildly-different estimates from BrewCipher based on the hop stand, and I also don't know how much the aged 60-minute hops affected things)<br />
ABV: 4.9% (est.) for the 3724 and 3726; lower for the 510 and 550 (until I decided to add dregs to each)<br />
SRM: 3.0<br />
<br />
Mash: Single infusion for 60 minutes at 152* F<br />
Boil: 60 minute<br />
<div>
<br />
<div>
<b>Fermentables</b><br />
<br />
14lb 8oz Dingemans Belgian Pilsner (46%)<br />
9lb 8oz Flaked Wheat (30%)<br />
2lb 0oz Munich (6%)<br />
2lb 0oz Flaked Oats (6%)<br />
1lb 11oz Acid Malt (5%)<br />
1lb 0oz Flaked Rye (3%)<br />
1lb 0oz Honey Malt (3%)<br />
<br />
<b>Salts & Water</b><br />
<br />
1.0g Calcium Chloride (all in the boil kettle)<br />
13.1 Gypsum (all in the boil kettle)<br />
17.5g Sodium Chloride (all in the boil kettle)<br />
<br />
Resulting water profile is as follows:<br />
<br />
Mash pH (est.): 5.30<br />
Calcium: 67<br />
Magnesium: 12<br />
Sodium: 75<br />
Chloride: 123<br />
Sulfate: 99<br />
<br />
<b>Hops</b><br />
8.0oz Styrian Bobek (pellet, 3.9 AAU, 2.5 years old), at 60 minutes<br />
1.0oz of Galaxy (pellet, 15.0 AAU), after flameout*<br />
4.75oz of Mosaic (pellet, 11.6 AAU), after flameout*<br />
4.25oz of Calypso (leaf, 12.0 AAU), after flameout*<br />
<br />
* No hops right at flameout. Turned the burner off and let it cool to 190*F. Added the hops at that point for a 90-minute hop stand, with final temperature around 150*F.<br />
<b>Other</b><br />
<br />
4.0 tsp. Wyeast Yeast Nutrient at 10 minutes<br />
<br />
<b>Yeast</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Wyeast 3724: Pitched into a water bath at 72*F. At 12 hours, bumped to 74*F. At 72 hours, bumped to 76*F. All temperatures are setting on controller with a 1*F differential. At 5 days, bumped to 78*F. Removed temperature control at 8 days.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Wyeast 3726: Pitched into a water bath at 72*F. At 12 hours, bumped to 74*F. At 72 hours, bumped to 76*F. All temperatures are setting on controller with a 1*F differential. At 5 days, bumped to 78*F. Removed temperature control at 8 days.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">White Labs 510: Fermented in the basement at room temperature, generally 67-68*F.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">White Labs 550: Pitched into bath at 72*F. At 12 hours, bumped to 74*F. At 72 hours, bumped to 76*F. All temperatures are setting on controller with a 1*F differential. At 5 days, moved to ambient garage temperature, generally 70-75*F.</li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<b>Notes</b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b>06.19.2015: Starters:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOskQII65gdBLqjq15OhaLLxhSY2q5UPmXqT-NGwbmuzVa18TJ8bmDv0JGct8HR7qklY1zfW9cieGI5nF47HgnHWg0FyHZhlE4vDIXCrU0WH-rSeTW9Y8sgijjCZSv8DbV3WQXzYXuCC_U/s1600/IMG_1807.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOskQII65gdBLqjq15OhaLLxhSY2q5UPmXqT-NGwbmuzVa18TJ8bmDv0JGct8HR7qklY1zfW9cieGI5nF47HgnHWg0FyHZhlE4vDIXCrU0WH-rSeTW9Y8sgijjCZSv8DbV3WQXzYXuCC_U/s320/IMG_1807.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
06.15.2015 - 06.23.2015: See "Yeast" section above for temperature adjustments.</div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
06.15.2015: Bastogne finished at 1.008 after sitting for 15 days at 67-68*F ambient temperature. Pint of slurry harvested. Very clean with little sediment. Flavor is a bit leafy and earthy in the background with some faint phenolics. Apricot and peach up front. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
550 finished at 1.008. Lighter profile than the Bastogne. A bit of pear and honey with a light touch of bread dough. Very faint fruity notes, quite a bit less than the Bastogne in that area. Fuller mouthfeel than the Bastogne despite finishing a bit drier.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Blaugies is extremely carbonated for coming out of primary. Sitting at 1.004. Dupont is also sitting around 1.004. Both are fairly tropical and have notes of peach and apricot, but the Blaugies is more subdued. Many of the fruity aspects are likely coming from the hops. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
07.06.2015: Transferred the Bastogne version to a keg to begin carbonation. Not sure I like the combination of the fruity hops with the more floral, earthy, and leafy yeast. I'll have to try this again with Noble hops, as those will complement those yeast aromas/flavors.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
07.07.2015: Decent pellicle already going on the Blaugies fementor not too many days after it was removed from the hot water bath. (Obviously, even filling these buckets with StarSan solution and letting them sit for a while doesn't get rid of all the bugs I have in the buckets and lids.) My theory on the sudden Brett takeover is that the saison yeast really takes over at higher temperatures, but as the temperature is lowered and the gravity drops, it becomes more dormant and the Brett takes over.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
07.09.2015: Added the dregs from two year-old 375mL bottles of Bam Biere to the WLP550 version, as I wasn't terribly happy with the profile, and it has been a long while since I've used Jolly Pumpkin dregs.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
07.18.2015: The Bastogne version was on tap, but I'm still not happy with how the yeast character clashes with the hops, so I pulled the keg and plan to add some Orval dregs to let those go to work over time, which will also allow for the hop aromatics to fade a bit.<br />
<br />
11.09.2015: Added Orval dregs to the Bastogne keg.<br />
<br />
03.04.2016: Added dregs from a bottle of 03.11.2014 Jolly Pumpkin Luciernaga to the Bastogne keg.<br />
<br />
05.31.2016: Was never happy with the 550 version, so that one ended up going down the drain, as I didn't have anything to blend it with that I thought would actually work out. I'm likewise not particularly pleased with the Bastogne version, but I'm still holding out hope for further development with that one.</div>
</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-60137867915468853222015-07-15T18:30:00.000-07:002015-07-18T12:23:33.194-07:00Farmhouse Mild (Batch 06): Recipe<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
This was my sixth time trying out this recipe, a petit saison with Brettanomyces and miscellaneous bacteria, plus a slew of saison strains. This was also my first beer brewed since my wife and I had twins in November, and I was also testing out quite a bit of new equipment, including a Blichmann 30-gallon kettle and a 13.20-gallon oak barrel! The vast majority of this beer headed to the barrel. I can't wait to have that around on tap and in bottles for a long time to come as soon as it's ready.</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
Since I'm not writing this four months after the beer was brewed (not to mention that it's the sixth iteration of the recipe), I'll keep the post fairly short and straightforward. However, now that I'm brewing regularly again, I should hopefully have a steady stream of recipe posts.</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
Here are the full details on the batch:</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
Batch Number: 98</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
Brew Date: March 15, 2015</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
Keg/Bottle Date: </div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
Batch Size: 20 Gallon</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
OG: 1.035 (est.)</div>
<div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
FG: 1.004 (est.)</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
Fermentation Temperature: 65-70* F (room temperature)</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
IBU: 30.0 (modified Tinseth from BrewCipher)</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
ABV: 4.2%</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
SRM: 3.0</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
Mash: Single infusion for 60 minutes at 154* F</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
Boil: 60 minute</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
<b>Fermentables</b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
10lb 0oz Dingemans Belgian Pilsner</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
7lb 0oz Flaked Wheat</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
3lb 0oz Vienna </div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
3lb 0oz Flaked Oats</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
1lb 12oz Acid Malt</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
1lb 8oz Flaked Rye</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Salts & Water</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
9.3g Calcium Chloride (all in the boil kettle)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
7.6g Gypsum (all in the boil kettle)</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
11.0g Sodium Chloride (all in the boil kettle)</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Resulting water profile is as follows:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mash pH (est.): 5.24</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Calcium: 82</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Magnesium: 12</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sodium: 50</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Chloride: 125</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sulfate: 70</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Hops</b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2.0oz Mosaic (pellet, 12.0 AAU) at 60 minutes </div>
</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
3.0oz of Galaxy (pellet, 15.0 AAU), at flameout</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
3.0oz of Mosaic (pellet, 11.6 AAU), at flameout</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4.0oz of Belma (leaf, 11.6 AAU), at flameout</div>
</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Other</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4.0 tsp. Wyeast Yeast Nutrient at 10 minutes</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Yeast</b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: start;">Portions of the batch split between </span><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/02/ambrosia-yeast-blends.html" style="color: #cc6611; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><i>Ambrosia Blend 005</i></a><span style="text-align: start;"> (10 gallons at room temperature), along with 5 gallons fermented with Wyeast 3724 (Dupont) and 5 gallons fermented with Wyeast 3726 (Blaugies). The latter two were ramped up from 70*F to 84*F over a period of 11 days (see below)</span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Rather than chill before pitching, I set the beers out in my brew pots to chill overnight:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Z5jWfDQBWHSOPd_amOdPtWipJtkYo99P5lSPyOf_0y2vtTHOTQCWKdPk9zUyZh0JZjM3lAw0hsVBt_SzQ-2vkqNsvmLf5fyGqbcULSCwGYVKtd_vegQPVO9RxDWEbibRsCluVHJ9UfuS/s1600/Coolship.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Z5jWfDQBWHSOPd_amOdPtWipJtkYo99P5lSPyOf_0y2vtTHOTQCWKdPk9zUyZh0JZjM3lAw0hsVBt_SzQ-2vkqNsvmLf5fyGqbcULSCwGYVKtd_vegQPVO9RxDWEbibRsCluVHJ9UfuS/s400/Coolship.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cage to keep out all the raccoons and other critters near our house, and the box as it was supposed to drizzle a bit that night, and I didn't have a clean tarp.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Notes</b></div>
</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
03.15.2015: Into the Coolship at 138*. Hops were sitting in beer for 2.5 hours. Used spigot to drain 10 gallons into other pot. Total of 21 gallons. Current temperature is 57* (9:45 PM)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
03.16.2015: At 8:00 AM, beers around 60*. Each got 30 seconds of O2. Accidentally left Mosaic bittering bag overnight in Blichmann kettle. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Set water bath to 72*F. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
650mL total of AMB005. 50mL to 750mL of wort for continuing culture. 300mL to each 5 gallon batch. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
10 hours after pitching, basement bath doing well. Both have airlock activity and bath sitting at 70*F due to the 2* differential.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
03.18.2015: 2 days after pitching, good activity in basement water bath. Was down to 69* and heat turned back on. Bumped setting up to 74* with 2* differential.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
03.19.2015: Three days after pitching, bumped to 76*.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
03.21.2015: 4.5 days after pitching, at 75*. Bumped controller to 78*.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
03.23.2015: 7 days after pitching. Probe said 77* and actual temp of each was 76*. Bumped to 80*. Each at 1.010. 3726 more mild with some light fruit and hints of spice. 3724 a fruit bomb with pineapple and juicy fruit.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
03.24.2015: Bumped to 82*. For wild portion, one at 1.008 with beginning of bubbles for pellicle, and other at 1.006 with bubbles covering almost the entire surface.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
03.25.2015: Bumped to 84*.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
03.26.2015: Bumped to 86*. Differential still at 2*, so beer currently at 84* with heater on.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
04.06.2014. Water bath below the probe level, but beers still at 80*F. Removed the temperature control.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
June 2015: Of the 20 gallons, some was blended into Science & Art #8 (a future post), and the rest was added to a newly-acquired 13.2-gallon Hungarian Oak barrel.</div>
</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-18680893524130450642015-02-26T06:07:00.000-08:002015-07-18T12:23:43.669-07:00Garnet: Tasting Notes<div style="text-align: justify;">
Background and tasting notes for a blonde sour (<a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/01/citrine-batches-5-recipe.html">Citrine Batch 5</a>) aged on tart cherries.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
While at this point I've done plenty of fruited saisons (<a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/02/demeter-auran-batch-03-recipe.html">Demeter Auran</a>, <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/08/demeter-vert-batch-03-tasting-notes.html">Demeter Vert</a>, <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2013/12/demeter-sinis-batch-02-recipe.html">Demeter Sinis (Cranberry)</a>, <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2013/12/demeter-spectre-tasting-notes.html">Demeter Spectre</a>, etc.), this was only my second time preparing fruited sours. The first was way back when I blended the first three batches of Citrine, adding gooseberries, rhubarb, blueberries, and kiwi to different portions. The gooseberry version was a disaster, as the puree that I purchased tasted more like twigs than any sort of gooseberry that I've ever tried. The blueberry version was okay, just a bit plain without enough funk and acidity to back up the berry flavor. The kiwi and rhubarb versions were both quite good, in my opinion, and are something I need to get back to. Luckily, after a few trips to farms around Michigan last summer, I have a decent stockpile of fruit to work through.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This beer went more traditional, using Montmorency tart cherries from a farm in Southwest Michigan. Alongside this, I also added black raspberries to a Flanders Red to create Amethyst, a beer I'll have notes on in the future. Amarelle and Morello are the two main tart cherries types grown in the United States. Montmorency cherries, a type of Amarelle, don't give nearly as deep of a red color as Balaton, a type of Morello, because while <a href="http://www.hrt.msu.edu/faculty/Iezzoni/Balaton/What.html">the skins of Amarelle cherries are bright red, the insides are more of a pale yellow. In contrast, with Morello cherries, both the skin and flesh are dark</a>. That's why Garnet, pictured below, isn't that deep red color one often expects from a kriek, even though I used a typical ratio of two pounds of fruit per gallon of beer (actually two pounds of fruit per gallon of available fermentor space, filling to the top with aged blonde sour).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The process for this one was relatively simple. I took roughly 3 gallons of the ECY20 version of that Citrine batch and transferred onto 6 pounds of tart cherries that we picked up in Michigan over Fourth of July weekend, all in a 3-gallon Better Bottle. This Citrine base was lightly acidic, but a little plain. The was pH down to only 4.2, even with gravity at 1.002. Some faint melon character. I was hoping the cherries will add some depth and acidity, especially with the inclusion of the pits. While I took a bit of a gamble here not having the most interesting Citrine base, I also thought that the beer would have time to evolve while the cherries fermented away, and I didn't want to go with a base that was too acidic, as I still wanted the base beer to be quite drinkable, as I really loathe overly-acidic beers, particular when acetic acid becomes involved. As indicated in the notes below, I may have been a little too conservative using a "bland" base as the resulting beer could certainly use more depth, but the acidity is just where I want it and the drinkability is quite high.</div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d1c8v1qci5en44.cloudfront.net/photo/2015_02_22/f47003215ef983614a5d1a3afc136058_640x640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d1c8v1qci5en44.cloudfront.net/photo/2015_02_22/f47003215ef983614a5d1a3afc136058_640x640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Appearance: Bright deep pink with a nice bubbly head. Pretty clear beer without much, if any, fruit sediment, as the cherries stayed mostly intact during the secondary fermentation period and through the transfer.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Nose: Bright cherry with a bit of skin. Backing wheat with some lemon and moderate acidity. Could use a bit more funk, and also potentially a cherry blend. Next time I'll consider going with a blend of Montmorency and Balaton, both of which I'll hopefully be able to find this summer. I won't have that problem in a few years, as my wife and I will be planting Montmorency and Balaton cherry trees in our backyard this spring, alongside a new apricot tree and a few cider trees that we planted last year.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Flavor: Similar to nose with a bit more lemon. Definite cherry dominance. Could use more earth and skin with more-pronounced Brett and funk. This would work really well with just a bit of something like Ruby, for a bit more funk and earthiness. As it warms, there's just a bit of biscuit and pie crust in the background rounding out the flavor profile.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mouthfeel: Very light and crisp and moderate acidity. Super clean lactic character with just a bit of lemon juice. Moderate carbonation. Could maybe use just a bit more, though doesn't need to be at saison levels. Super clean, falling off the palate quickly after swallowing.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Overall: A bit simple, but I really like it for what it is. As detailed above, this wasn't the most-inspiring Citrine base and was fairly young, but is a great showcase for the profile of these cherries. With just a bit more depth, and an increased cherry ratio or blend, this could be a really winner. I would maybe even increase the cherries by 50% if using straight Montmorency again. I could see doing a little blend with this for a future beer in the Science & Art series, blending with a Flanders Red, or putting a bit into a blonde Brett saison to add a bit of extra fruit character.</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-69752633263672473462015-02-09T05:00:00.000-08:002015-02-09T06:12:57.243-08:00Science & Art #7: Blend & Tasting Notes<div style="text-align: justify;">
Where <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/11/science-art-5-blend-tasting-notes.html">Science & Art #5</a> and <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2015/02/science-art-6-blend-tasting-notes_4.html">Science & Art #6</a> drifted in new directions for <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/09/science-art-series.html">the series</a> by being most a blend of dark sours (#5) and bottle conditioned with fruit juice (#6), Science & Art #7 goes right back to where the series started, utilizing only two components. Similar to what was done with <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2013/12/science-art-1-tasting-notes.html">Science & Art #1</a> and <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/07/this-is-my-second-in-line-of-science.html">Science & Art #2</a>, this blend takes a blonde Brett saison and marries it to Citrine, creating a fruity, tart, and slightly-funky offering. In this case, heavy emphasis on fruity given that the blonde saison base for this iteration in the series, Demeter Facile (<a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/10/demeter-facile-recipe.html">recipe</a>; <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2015/01/demeter-facile-tasting-notes.html">tasting notes</a>), is one of the fruitiest beers I've brewed to date, even though it had no actual fruit additions.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The process to this blend wasn't terribly complicated, as I had an extra fermenting bucket full of Demeter Facile as well as several carboys of fermenting Citrine (my house blonde wild) to pick from. In this case, I selected a batch of Citrine (<a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/01/citrine-batches-5-recipe.html">dreg blend version</a>) that was mildly funky and tart, but had a nice lemon and pineapple character, as I thought that would pair quite well with the orange, lemon, and tropical fruit character coming out of the Demeter Facile. I was aiming for something that would be dry and lightly-acidic and would be popping with fruit character, even though it would contain almost no residual sweetness.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For this blend, the final ratio was 5 gallons of Demeter Facile and 1 gallon of Citrine. To accomplish this, I transferred the Demeter Facile to a bottling bucket, and then used an auto-siphon to rack the 1 gallon of Citrine into the bucket, keeping the tubing inside of the Facile that was already transferred. I flushed the bucket with CO2 prior to adding the Facile, and also added a blanket of CO2 on top of the Facile prior to adding the Citrine. I also purged the auto-siphon with CO2. All of this was certainly overkill, as the beer was set to condition with Brett, which would pull out any oxygen pickup quite quickly. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I then added the priming sugar, aiming for 3 volumes, and carefully mixed that in. This was a little bit lower than my typical blonde saisons, but given the fruity profile I was going for, I knew it wouldn't be as crisp as many blonde saisons that I've done, and I wanted the carbonation to be a little bit lighter so that it would linger on the palate a bit longer.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d1c8v1qci5en44.cloudfront.net/photo/2015_02_04/02a90b2c29d64df93b9ceac95287ed26_640x640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d1c8v1qci5en44.cloudfront.net/photo/2015_02_04/02a90b2c29d64df93b9ceac95287ed26_640x640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Appearance: Slightly-hazy light orange color with a big, fluffy head that lingers for quite a long time, leaving plenty of lacing on the glass on the way down.</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Nose: Orange and lemon with a bit of pineapple and other tropical fruit. Light grass and a bit of wheat. Excessively fruity, just as I was hoping for. As with Demeter Facile, this beer is quite reminiscent of SweeTarts up front.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Flavor: Loads of fruit with oranges, lemon, pineapple, and guava. Moderate tartness. Just a bit of chewy wheat on the backend. Subtle funk coming from the Citrine, but the Facile really dominates here. Almost the same flavor and tartness that you'd get from a "tropical"-flavored candy or ice cream.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mouthfeel: Light-medium body with plus carbonation and a light acidity through the finish. Super fruity and tart throughout. Great body with ample carbonation; never seems too thin. </div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Overall: The Citrine didn't add too much, but I think it rounds the beer out nicely. This is just over-the-top fruity and reminds me a bit of some Fantome beers I've had (minus the peach), as well as some aged Sanctification. Not saying this is in the same league as those beers, but this definitely has similar qualities. I will definitely make this again, and as with many beers, will experiment with conditioning this with honey or fruit juice. I'd really enjoy seeing what would happen if I conditioned this with something like passion fruit, apricot, or mango juice. Maybe juice from some of the <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/05/farmhouse-mild-lemon-guava-tasting-notes.html">lemon guavas</a> that I'm so fond of.</div>
</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-55131569613711249282015-02-04T08:31:00.000-08:002015-02-04T09:26:52.696-08:00Science & Art #6: Blend & Tasting Notes<div style="text-align: justify;">
Science & Art #6 was a first in <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/09/science-art-series.html">the series</a> in that in addition to blending several beers, I also blended in fruit juice to add the sugar necessary to bottle condition the batch. To start, I had plenty of Demeter Automne (<a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/08/demeter-automne-recipe.html">recipe</a>; <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/11/demeter-automne-tasting-notes.html">tasting notes</a>), as that was a 10-gallon batch and I didn't really need 10 gallons of funky pumpkin saison to get me through the fall season, so I knew that wanted to do something interesting with the second half of the batch. I considered adding red wine-soaked oak cubes or blending in some dry commercial French (or French-style) cidre such as <a href="http://www.calvados-dupont.com/en/cidre-bouche.htm">Etienne Dupont Cidre Bouché</a> or <a href="http://virtuecider.com/our-ciders/">Virtue Percheron</a>. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Ultimately, when I found tart cherry juice without any preservatives at a local specialty foods shop, I decided to blend that in and use its sugars for conditioning, as that has been something I have wanted to try. It's a nice twist on conditioning with honey, and <a href="http://www.farmhousebeer.com/home.html">Logsdon Farmhouse Ales</a> has done a great job with this method, conditioning its beers (mainly saisons, including the outstanding <a href="http://www.farmhousebeer.com/our-beers.html">Seizoen Bretta</a>) <a href="http://www.artisanales.net/breweries/logsdon-farmhouse-ales/logsdon-2/">with pear juice</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Once I knew what I was working with, I decided which batch of Citrine I would use to blend with the Demeter Automne. I ultimately, selected a <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/01/citrine-batches-5-recipe.html">batch of Citrine</a> that was fermented with <a href="http://www.eastcoastyeast.com/wild-stuff.html">East Coast Yeast 20 (Bug County)</a>, as that wasn't too acidic and added a nice, subtle fruitiness and mild funk that I thought would complement both the Demeter Automne and the cherry juice. At the point of blending (September 2014), the Citrine was about nine months old. The final blend ratio was 3.75 gallons of Demeter Automne, 1 gallon of Citrine, and 45 ounces of Montmorency tart cherry juice. Based on my calculations, the sugars in the juice used should create about 3 volumes of CO2, toward the low end of where I like my saisons, but I generally go around there for darker saisons. The total yield was 39 375mL bottles and 6 750ml bottles. <br />
<br />
In order to determine the amount of cherry juice that I needed to use, I first used a priming calculator to figure out how much sugar I would need in grams. Since the sugars in the cherry juice should be 100% fermentable, I could then figure out how many grams of sugar I would need from the juice. From there, since the nutrition label would tell me how many ounces of juice I would need to use to reach the right number of grams of sugar. Regrettably, I didn't write down the exact numbers. <br />
<br />
However, as an example, assume that the priming calculator told me that for 4.75 gallons of beer, I would need 100 grams of sugar. Then, I look to the nutrition label and see that one serving of cherry juice is 8 fluid ounces and each serving contains 20 grams of sugar. That would then tell me that I would need 5 servings of juice to get to 100 grams of sugar. Multiple 5 servings by the serving size of 8, and I'd be using 40 fluid ounces of juice in that scenario.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A picture and full tastings notes are below. At this point, the beer is around 4.5 months old.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d1c8v1qci5en44.cloudfront.net/photo/2015_02_04/814ce4b44b1a5de26c097743b772e72f_640x640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d1c8v1qci5en44.cloudfront.net/photo/2015_02_04/814ce4b44b1a5de26c097743b772e72f_640x640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Appearance: Light mahogany color with an eggshell-white head that's fairly long-lasting. Plenty of visible active carbonation. Quite clear.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Nose: Bright, fresh tart cherry with backing earth and mild funk. Just a touch of background clove, maybe a hint of cinnamon. A bit of the biscuit character of the base beer as it warms.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Flavor: Cherry pie with a light acidity. Earthy with a bit of pie crust and biscuit. Slight spice and fall notes without being too far in any one direction. A bit leafy through the finish.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mouthfeel: Very dry finish, though a bit chewy initially. Acidity is above a tartness, but not at all to the level where I'd consider it too acidic or even distracting. It very much reminds me of a tart cherry as opposed to any specific lactic or acetic character. Moderate to high carbonation, just about where I want it. The cherry character lingers through the finish.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Overall: I quite like this beer. I like the base beer of Demeter Automne well enough, but this is much, much better. It's amazing how much just enough cherry juice to bottle condition really changed this beer alongside the Citrine addition. I would like to try again next year and also use some fresh-pressed juice from cider apples, but this one will definitely stay in the repertoire and hopefully be a future seasonal once we open Ambrosia.</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-8872298565323314822015-01-27T07:14:00.002-08:002015-01-27T07:14:29.427-08:00Demeter Facile: Tasting Notes<div style="text-align: justify;">
After nearly three months in the bottle, I'm getting around to posting tasting notes for Demeter Facile (<a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/10/demeter-facile-recipe.html">recipe</a>). The idea behind this one was to go with a (relatively) simple malt bill and fairly-minimal hop additions so that I could get a beer that showed off the character of my current house blend (<a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/02/ambrosia-yeast-blends.html">Ambrosia 005</a>) of saison yeast (Saccharomyces), Brettanomyces strains, and lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Overall, I'm quite happy with the results, and this is something that I will most definitely be brewing again in the future. I'll also plan to do an oak-aged version soon enough.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxm4c2c_B8YDnaDW1SkZcEfH0QlqfYI5KHcWBiNP1-F9uy1Ss9ereM1Fjc6pyMiESFsI1yPqHs2ezuJLCnifcN9AkM9J2gqLiHqZOl2Ccm_D9NominD0_T53ckc6pxJ6p9Pz3_Vm-Rd34N/s1600/Facile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxm4c2c_B8YDnaDW1SkZcEfH0QlqfYI5KHcWBiNP1-F9uy1Ss9ereM1Fjc6pyMiESFsI1yPqHs2ezuJLCnifcN9AkM9J2gqLiHqZOl2Ccm_D9NominD0_T53ckc6pxJ6p9Pz3_Vm-Rd34N/s1600/Facile.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Appearance: Quite clear. Color is a medium yellow with a sizable initial head that fizzles down a bit quickly. Could be better in this area, though the retention isn't horrible. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;">Nose: Begins with yellow and orange SweeTarts, leading into faint tropical fruit. A bit of apricot. Light grass and wheat. Some honey as it starts to warm, potentially from the bit of honey malt that I used in this one. (While I wanted to keep it simple, I love honey malt in saisons and couldn't resist). Hints of lime zest as well, lingering after the more-upfront mango and tangerine subside.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Flavor: Similar notes as the nose, but with a light-to-moderate tartness through the finish. Just where I like it, tart without really being sour. Maybe a bit of pineapple that I wasn't really getting from the nose. Mango, tangerine, and light lemon/lime seem to be the dominant characteristics. I'm guessing this is mostly from the yeast and bacteria rather than the hops, as I didn't use much Centennial, and it's not the light orange and generic citrus that I typically associate with Centennial.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Mouthfeel: Light and airy, definite saison carbonation. Could use a bit more body. Might need to up the adjuncts next time. Really easy drinking; the bottle goes down way too quickly.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Overall: I really like this beer and am pretty damn pleased with what my standard blend did with an otherwise-simple base beer. I'd like to try bottle conditioning this with honey at some point, and also potentially with a tropical fruit juice. As mentioned above, a bit of oak could also add a bit of complexity. </span></div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-7409016607801426752015-01-14T15:54:00.000-08:002015-01-15T12:54:28.510-08:00Commercial Review: Crooked Stave Surette Reserva (Dry Hopped)<div style="text-align: justify;">
Long before I started focusing on brewing saisons and similar beers, I was frequently seeking out any and all new saisons, sours, and similar beers. While my focus now is more on homebrew, I still try to seek out great commercial examples of these beers. As much as I homebrew, there are still so many commercial examples with unique ingredients, processes, yeast/bacteria combinations, etc., and trying them out is a great way to get a feel for something unique without having to brew a different batch. This is great, of course, since I'm frequently coming up with way more ideas than I can possibly execute. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I've been trying to get better about taking actual notes (meaning more than the 140 characters allowed by Untappd) when I try beers, and while I'm on my (hopefully) short brewing hiatus (twin boys born in November 2014!), I thought a good way to keep up the blog would be to have my thoughts on some commercial breweries and beer. I'll start things off here with a beer review, and plan to include more commercial reviews, and also have brewery profiles where I will give background on a brewery, its equipment and production volume, special beers, and the person or people behind that brewery. Brewery background is something I've really been focused on as I start very preliminary planning for eventually opening up my own small place. Of course, to the extent possible, I focus on breweries specializing in saisons and mixed fermentation beers. I closely followed/am following the development of places like <a href="http://www.caseybrewing.com/">Casey Brewing & Blending</a><u>,</u> <a href="http://hawriverales.com/">Haw River Farmhouse Ales</a>, and <a href="http://www.wolvesandpeople.com/">Wolves & People</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
With that background behind us, below are some thoughts on <a href="http://www.crookedstave.com/">Crooked Stave</a>'s Surette Reserva (Dry Hopped), which is a dry-hopped version of their standard Surette, which itself is a mixed fermentation saison that is part of their year-round lineup. Per a <a href="https://twitter.com/CrookedStave/status/555828791285538817">response</a> from Crooked Stave's Twitter account, the dry hops were a mixture of Pacifica, Motueka, and Wakatu.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8LadJaKfQQy6cWQPOVgEyEhqbEOXK-YWguSq-hl6v8f-QuQJazitvE8v_NkbPStxy3lBNeIRpGK3AC8I-s32cAoKffpr2wH3doXWOWtdIySlMx-4AWfFamJku51V9svOem9PXCAPWJ9Mx/s1600/Suretta+Reserva.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8LadJaKfQQy6cWQPOVgEyEhqbEOXK-YWguSq-hl6v8f-QuQJazitvE8v_NkbPStxy3lBNeIRpGK3AC8I-s32cAoKffpr2wH3doXWOWtdIySlMx-4AWfFamJku51V9svOem9PXCAPWJ9Mx/s1600/Suretta+Reserva.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Appearance: Pours hazy with a light peach color. There's an initial two-finger white head that quickly dissipates down into a collar around the edges of the glass, leaving a bit of lacing behind. No apparent rising carbonation.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Nose: The first whiff does not bring forward as much New Zealand hop goodness as I was expecting. It doesn't quite explode with hop character like some other dry-hopped Crooked Stave beers have, <i>e.g.</i>, Dry-Hopped L'Brett d'Or. Instead, the nose is more muted, with faint hints of gooseberry and green grape. As it warms, there's just a hint of oak. It could use a little more oomph, but overall it's nice enough.</div>
<br />
<span style="text-align: justify;">Flavor: Here's where the beer really shines. While the hop character is still pretty subdued, the light Brett fruitiness and light-to-moderate acidity fit together quite well. The mouthfeel is fantastic. It could use a bit more carbonation, but the body is light without being too thin, and the acidity is slightly puckering, but certainly not to the point where it detracts at all from drinkability. As with the nose, hints of barrel come through toward the back end.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Overall: A really nice beer that I would happily consume on a regular basis if given the chance. It's fairly similar to the regular Surette, but with a bit more tartness and less oak and funk. Although they don't stand out too much, the hops have to be contributing a decent dose of fruitiness, as this beer tends more toward the gooseberry, white-wine-type character you get from New Zealand hops, as opposed to a more stone-fruit character in the regular Surette.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Homebrew Thoughts: This is the sort of beer that I would really love to be able emulate on the homebrew scale. I'm planning on getting some smaller barrels in the coming years, and would love to make sure that all of my saisons (or at least most of them, keeping a clean petit saison as a crushable, everyday brew) take a pass through. The dry-hopping is something I love, and Crooked Stave has done a great job with. Using tropical and citrus-heavy hops as dry hops in a wild and/or sour beer is a great idea, as they play off of the fruity character that many Brett strains create. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-61002736061678903212015-01-07T11:18:00.000-08:002015-01-12T14:39:46.619-08:00Saisons & Farmhouse Ales: General Thoughts & Brewing Overview<div style="text-align: justify;">
Recently there was a thread in the homebrew forum on <u><i><a href="http://talkbeer.com/">TalkBeer.com</a></i></u> where a user had some questions on brewing saisons and farmhouse ales. I eventually posted plenty of my thoughts <u><i><a href="http://www.talkbeer.com/community/threads/saison-recipe-critique-insight-criticism-opinions-etc.16406/page-2#post-437829">here</a></i></u>, but the thread also gave me the idea to do an overview post on my saison brewing process and thoughts on brewing saisons in general. I've been brewing for just over four years now, and the last 2-2.5 years have been focused almost entirely on saisons and other mixed fermentation beers. For the most part, my saisons tend to have Brettanomyces and/or lactic acid bacteria (LAB). I feel that this offers greater opportunity to create complex flavor profiles, and also keeps away comparisons to <u><i><a href="http://www.brasserie-dupont.com/dupont/en/6967-saison-dupont.html">Saison Dupont</a></i></u>, which is nearly impossible to rival when dealing with clean saisons (though Off Color comes damn close with their <u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.offcolorbrewing.com/beer/">Apex Predator</a></u>). At the same time, I have found a place for light, clean saisons as a way to bring an approachable example of the style to those who are otherwise unfamiliar with beers of the farmhouse tradition. When I eventually start up my own brewery, it'll focus exclusively on saisons and wilds, but everything won't be too crazy, as I'd love to offer a low-ABV saison with a fairly-light yeast profile to get people started down the farmhouse track.<br />
<br />
A word of caution. Portions of like may seem like a bit of stream-of-consciousness rambling. I think about saisons and future brewing plans constantly every day, so it's been hard to contain and edit my thoughts, though hopefully I haven't gone too overboard. Since I feel like every good blog post should have a picture, below is one that seems appropriate. It's a picture of one of my saisons in a glass with the future logo of <u><i><a href="https://untappd.com/ambrosiaales">Ambrosia Ales</a></i></u>, sitting atop a table littered with coasters from many fantastic saison, lambic, and other wild beer producers.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2y-_lfOwd60PnRfbDderYypgKVSYK2414mvnvHJfUAP3KbpBc8uHFY7PX39CLpm5LbgENKCfW9SxBa1cQxDXVu7PSutygGLH-WRklruWDInHF-YD8qYEThtzg4ivXN6i_sGW3J2Q4yrcq/s1600/SA4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2y-_lfOwd60PnRfbDderYypgKVSYK2414mvnvHJfUAP3KbpBc8uHFY7PX39CLpm5LbgENKCfW9SxBa1cQxDXVu7PSutygGLH-WRklruWDInHF-YD8qYEThtzg4ivXN6i_sGW3J2Q4yrcq/s1600/SA4.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<b>GENERAL</b><br />
<i><u><br /></u></i>Since the question always comes up, what is saison? The following is simply my opinion; there are certainly many valid opinions, including Shaun Hill of <u><i><a href="http://hillfarmstead.com/">Hill Farmstead</a></i></u> recently indicating that the term shouldn't even be used by American brewers in this <u><i><a href="http://goodbeerhunting.com/gbh-podcast/2014/12/19/episode-31-part-ii-of-the-fest-by-shelton-brothers">interview with Good Beer Hunting</a></i></u>. I take a very broad approach, using the label for any beer that is yeast-forward using a Belgian strain with or without Brettanomyces or lactic acid bacteria. The only other requisite characteristic as far as I'm concerned is that the beer finishes quite dry. From there, it doesn't matter to me whether the beer is light or dark; high or low ABV; or makes use of fruit, spices, or other adjuncts. To differentiate, I will sometimes use "saison" to refer to beers that are clean and crisp, rendering them quite drinkable, whereas farmhouse is a term I use for beers that are more toward the pre-Industrial beers of Wallonia that would have been funky and/or sour.<br />
<br />
As mentioned above, I typically gravitate toward saisons that utilize Brettanomyces, LAB, and/or other non-traditional (or traditional, depending on how far back you look) fermenters in addition to Saccharomyces. Given that, most of this post will focus on beers along those lines, but I'll first provide some quick thoughts on "clean" saisons that are fermented solely with one ore more Saccharomyces strains.<br />
<br />
I've long thought that if a brewery is going to offer something to introduce saison to a broader set of customers, something along the lines of a sub-5% ABV clean saison would be perfect. When sticking with a beer fermented solely with a saison strain, the first question is whether you want to go with a beer that is phenolic and spicy, or tends toward the fruity side of things. Comparing to other styles, I think you could go toward the spicy side to "replace" something like a pilsner. You would want to keep the phenolics to a low level, complementing the dryness of the beer without being overpowering. The drinker should smell and taste something beyond clean grain/malt, but without being able to specifically say what it is. I've encountered this effect when introducing light-beer drinkers to something like <u><i><a href="http://penrosebrewing.com/beer/detail/devoir">Penrose Devoir</a></i></u> or <u><i><a href="http://www.stillwater-artisanal.com/classique.html">Stillwater Classique</a></i></u>, both fantastic beers and excellent examples of what an approachable saison can be. I would keep hops and malt relatively simple, focusing on the yeast without too many distractions. I haven't truly brewed something like this, but plan to in the future, likely utilizing <u><i><a href="http://www.wyeastlab.com/pressrelease_detail.cfm?pressreleaseID=8">Wyeast 3726 (Farmhouse Ale)</a></i></u>, which is reportedly the <u><i><a href="http://www.brasseriedeblaugies.com/">Blaugies</a></i></u> strain. Another option would be using one of the abbey/Trappist strains, which are often used for Belgian Blondes, a style that can have considerable overlap with saisons, often times seeming to be one in the same. For example, are the great beers from <u><i><a href="http://brasseriedelasenne.be/EN/">De La Senne</a></i></u> (such as <u><i><a href="http://brasseriedelasenne.be/EN/?portfolio=zinnebir">Taras Boulba</a></i></u>) saisons, Belgian Blondes, or something else? (Not that it truly matters what you call these beers; they're absolutely delightful no matter the terminology.)<br />
<br />
On the fruity side, I think you can go a bit more complicated, as this would be less of your straight light-beer substitute, and be more comparable to something like an introductory American Pale Ale. The idea here is that you'd have something with light-to-moderate bitterness (probably sub-30 IBU) and use the yeast and hops to accentuate citrus and/or tropical fruit notes. In my experience, I've found that strains/blends like <u><i><a href="http://www.eastcoastyeast.com/ale---lager-yeast.html">East Coast Yeast 08 Saison Brasserie</a></i></u> can pair perfectly with flameout additions of American hops to offer an easy-drinking beer. This is example what I did when I brewed my initial batch of Saison Faible (<u><i><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/01/farmhouse-mild-recipe-version-4.html">recipe</a><span id="goog_697790175"></span><span id="goog_697790176"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></i></u>; <u><i><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/02/saison-faible-tasting-notes.html">tasting notes</a></i></u>), a beer I definitely intend to brew again in the future. The aforementioned Apex Predator is a great example of a very fruit-forward clean saison. While the comparison to an APA is further off than a lightly-phenolic strain to a light beer, it still offers consumers a starting point, drawing parallels to the fruitiness that American hops bring to pale ales, while taking things in a slightly-different direction.<br />
<br />
<b>INGREDIENTS</b><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u><i>Yeast/Bacteria</i></u></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
First, and most importantly, the yeast and other fermenters. Since saison is such a wide-ranging "style," a lot of your yeast decision depends on what you're looking for, as people certainly have different goals. If you're shooting for something that's more funky, spicy, and phenolic, I'd recommend just going with Saccharomyces in the primary, letting it get down quite low, and then adding dregs/Brett in secondary or at bottling. Nearly any saison strain should work for that, though as many others do, I would caution using <u><i><a href="https://www.wyeastlab.com/rw_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=199">Wyeast French Saison (3711)</a></i></u> as it tends to get overly spicy and one dimensional. It will get your beer dry, but doesn't offer the complexity of things like <a href="http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp566-belgian-saison-ii-yeast"><u><i>White Labs Saison II </i></u><u style="font-style: italic;">(WLP566)</u></a> and Wyeast Farmhouse, which are both a bit more spicy rather than fruity. However, many brewers do have success blending in a little bit of 3711 with a more-interesting saison strain, as it is a workhorse that will ensure the beer finishes dry no matter the recipe and fermentation temperature.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If you prefer saisons that are fruitier with some tartness, I'd go with something along the lines of <u><i><a href="http://www.theyeastbay.com/brewers-yeast-products/wallonian-farmhouse">The Yeast Bay Wallonian Farmhouse</a></i></u> or ECY08 (Saison Blend). I would then also pitch this alongside a healthy dose of Brett that tends to be fruity-heavy in primary before it starts working on the Sacch.-created compounds. Here, best bets in my opinion are <i><u><a href="http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp645-brettanomyces-claussenii">Brett Claussenii (WLP645)</a></u></i> and <u><i><a href="http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp644-brettanomyces-bruxellensis-trois">"Brett" Trois (WLP644)</a></i></u> (<u><i><a href="http://suigenerisbrewing.blogspot.com/2014/12/brett-trois-riddle-wrapped-in-mystery.html">not really Brett</a></i></u>). I use both. You could then also go with some fruitier American hops at flameout or for dry-hopping. Think intense tropical- and citrus-forward hops, just only use a third or a half of what you'd use for a bigger IPA.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In terms of fermentation temperature, I've honestly had success anywhere from the low 60s to the upper 70s when going with a fruitier saison strain paired with Brett, with fermentations taking about 2 weeks at the upper end of the range, and more toward 4 weeks at the lower end. However, the flavor profiles aren't <i>too </i>noticeably different. Thus, when using Brett, I think you can go with a more Laissez-faire attitude. Results will likely differ, but that's part of the fun of brewing these beers. Each batch is unique. With that said, you can always achieve more-consistent results through blending.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now, with regard to temperature, you need to be much more careful if you're going to be barrel-aging or using other methods of fermentation that may expose the fermentation to oxygen. If this is the case, you need to ensure you keep temperatures down, as otherwise you run the risk of dealing with an acetobacter infection. Saisons should be crisp and refreshing, and the vinegar produced by acetobacter completely destroys that possibility. When dealing with strict Saccharomyces fermentations, also make sure to maintain temperature control and take detailed notes, as a clean saison fermented at 70*F will taste much different from one fermented at 80*F. With clean fermentations, I also recommend starting in the upper 60s or maybe low 70s, and then let the yeast free rise or slowly push it upward into the upper 70s or 80s. Going too quickly may result in fusel alcohols and other off flavors.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
One final note on using bacteria (and this is more of a preference than a hard and fast rule), and that is to keep the bacteria in check. Aside from avoiding vinegar, you also want lactic acid kept to a background note. Saisons are great with a nice tartness, but should not be overly sour to the point where that is the dominant character of the beer.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Finally, as saison is a style that originated in the agricultural regions of Belgium, using locally-harvested yeast or that borrowed from nearby farms, catching your own wild yeast to use as a sole fermenter (if you're lucky) or, more likely as part of a blend offers great opportunities to add depth, nuance, and a distinct house character. This has been done by breweries such as <u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://jesterkingbrewery.com/on-farmhouse-ales-our-fermentations-authenticity">Jester King</a></u> and <u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://livingdef.blogspot.com/">Plan Bee</a></u>.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><u>Water</u></i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For the most part, when I've seen discussions surrounding water profiles for saisons, people tend to recommend high sulfate levels (often over 100 ppm) to accentuate the dryness of the beer. I'd offer advice to the contrary. Personally, I find that the very low finishing gravity (approaching 1.000) that can be achieved through proper fermentation procedure (especially when saison yeast is paired with Brett and/or LAB) achieves the requisite dryness. Instead, I like to keep the sulfate at a moderate level and instead accentuate the malt flavor and give some perceived body through chloride and sodium additions. I generally put the sodium levels right around 50 ppm, thereby accentuating the flavors of the beer without approaching any sort of actual salty flavor. With chloride, I'll push toward 100 ppm, thereby providing some grain and malt flavor to complement what the yeast and hops are doing for the flavor profile. This also protects against the beer seeming overly thin.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
One minor caveat to my statement about sulfate additions is that I will push the levels to 100 ppm when I'm doing a very hoppy saison, <i>e.g.</i>, my <u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/11/wallonian-pale-ale-batch-04-recipe.html">Wallonian Pale Ale</a></u>. Even here, however, I keep the sulfate at the same level as the chloride.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When dealing with mineral additions, and throughout the saison brew process, pH is also incredibly important. First, since many saisons are using exclusively or nearly-exclusively Pilsner malt, you really need to make sure your mash pH is in order and doesn't get too high. The ideal mash range is often given somewhere in the area of 5.2 to 5.5. Personally, I like to keep it right at the bottom of that range for saisons, as the lower pH tends to soften the overall profile of the been, enhancing the overall perception and drinkability. If you're adding your minerals to the mash rather than to the kettle, keep in mind what effect they'll have on pH, and then use either acid malt or lactic/phosphoric acid to adjust to the appropriate level. Depending on your base water, malt profile, and mineral additions, the amount of acid malt that may be required could be enough to give a little bit of acidity to the finished beer.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If you're taking care to adjust the pH of your mash, make sure to pay attention to the pH of the sparge water as well. It's important here to keep that pH low so as to not pull tannins from the mash as you sparge. I typically just use lactic acid to adjust the sparge water to the same pH as I had the mash.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For all my pH adjustments (actually, for the entire recipe), I use the <u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B-9BMe0xDqppODg1NjVjM2QtNjBjMC00YmM5LTgzN2UtYmNhYzk0ZTg0YWNm&usp=sharing">BrewCipher</a></u> spreadsheet. With regard to mineral additions, I generally add everything to the kettle so that I can use only acid to adjust mash and sparge pH. I can then adjust mineral additions for flavor without worrying about their effect on mash pH. Starting around a year ago, each recipe post on this blog details the mineral and acid additions, including timing and (sometimes) rationale.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><u>Hops</u></i></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Really, this is mostly going to be about personal preference. The one "rule" I would have is that IBUs should be kept in check, as the dryness achieved by the extreme attentuation will enhance bitterness levels. Thus, for a typical saison, I recommend sticking at 30 IBU or less, potentially then pushing things up to 50 or so IBUs if you're looking for a really hoppy saison akin to the Wallonian Pale Ale that I mentioned above. Even then, I wouldn't go much higher as you'll be getting that dry, bitter profile and can then focus more on flavor and aroma hops so that the beer really pops.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
From there, the hops you use will really depend on what your goal is. If you're doing a clean saison that tends toward the phenolic/spicy side of the style, sticking with Noble and other European hops (and their American counterparts) is probably the best bet, keeping aroma and flavor additions to a minimal, and using minimal (if any) dry hops. This same advice would like apply if you're using Brettanomyces to achieve a funky, earthy finishing profile. On the other hand, if you're using a more-fruity, ester-heavy strain, then American and Southern Hemisphere hops work really well. You can go with citrus-heavy or tropical hops, as both will play well with the fruity character created by something like The Yeast Bay Wallonian Farmhouse or East Coast Yeast Saison Brasserie. These hops also work quite well when you add in a little bit of tartness through the addition of bacteria.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><u>Grain</u></i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Malt might not be the least-important of the four main ingredients, but it's my least-favorite component, so it goes last. In practice, there are so many different directions that you can go with the malt profile of a saison, so I really can't give too many broad generalizations. I'll give a bit on my preferences and general techniques, offer a few pointers, and then discuss things to avoid because, in reality, by altering the water profile and fermentation of a given beer, you can turn almost any malt bill into a saison. I say almost because caramel/Crystal malt has no place in a saison. None. (Okay, maybe a bit of CaraMunich for color, but I'd even discourage that.) Other than that, let the experimentation begin.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Non-barley additions work fantastic in saisons, providing some additional mouthfeel and comlexity, particularly when you're dealing with a Pilsner base. It's always nice to get at least 10-20% wheat, spelt, oats, rye, flaked corn, etc. in there for some additional mouthfeel. One caution with rye is that it can get fairly spicy as you go above 10% of the grain bill, so be careful crossing that threshold if you're already using a yeast that's going to put out plenty of phenolics, as that may result in any overly-peppery, one-dimensional beer. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Aside form these adjuncts, using 5-20% of something like Munich or Vienna is nice as well if you want to have a bit more bready flavor than what you'd get using only Pilsner for your barley component of the mash. Higher than that and I think you get too much of a bready or doughy character that can begin to detract from the yeast. Personally, I also like using 5-10% honey malt, as that adds a nice layer of flavor without detracting from other components of the beer. (Of course, you can use actual honey, too.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When dealing with a dark saison, I recommend against overly-roasty malts, as those will contrast with the flavors created by the yeast. When going with a darker beer, I recommend using something like Carafa II or III for most of the color, and then accenting the beer with malts like Chocolate or Special B, if you're looking for chocolate or dark fruit character, respectively. Again, I'd stay aware from any straight caramel/Crystal malts, as those add caramel-like sweetness that contrasts the dry nature of the beer, while Special B at least offers some dark fruit notes that can add a nice twist to a darker example of the style. If you want to call me an idiot and say I'm way off base with the caramel/Crystal thoughts, just point me toward <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFoOH_ASdA" style="font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline;">this interview</a> with Alexandre Dumont de Chassart of <i style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://alexandre%20dumont%20de%20chassart%20from%20brasserie%20de%20jandrain-jandrenouille/">Brasserie de Jandrain-Jandrenouille</a></i>, one of Belgium's best saison producers, where he discusses using caramel malt in their beer <u><i><a href="http://www.sheltonbrothers.com/beers/jandrain-jandrenouille-v-cense/">V Cense</a></i></u>.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><u>Fruit, Spices, & Other Additions</u></i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Given that the idea behind saison really depends on dryness and being yeast-forward, there really isn't anything out of bounds here. Cherries or other fruit? Sure. Citrus zest? Most definitely. Spicing to complement the yeast? When used in moderation, absolutely. Coffee in a dark saison? Works as well. Really, here, just let experimentation run wild. Keep things to a minimum at the beginning, as you can always add more.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
With fruit additions, I think that you want to be considerate of the underlying beer, so my rule is to cut the typical lambic level in half, starting at one pound per gallon for common fruits like cherries, raspberries, grapes, etc. If you're going with some more exotic and pungent, <i>e.g.</i>, passion fruit or pineapple, think about cutting that down to half a pound per gallon or less. You want the fruit to complement the yeast profile of the beer. If you're just going to have the fruit dominate, you might as well just brew a clean ale and add all the fruit to that beer.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Since there's such a wide range of possibilities here, instead of going through everything, I'll offer a few examples of my own recipes that use fruit and/or spices:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/02/demeter-auran-batch-03-recipe.html">Demeter Auran</a></u>: blood orange zest and rose hips</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/08/demeter-automne-recipe.html">Demeter Automne</a></u>: nutmeg, black cardamom, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, clove, and roasted pumpkin</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/05/demeter-rouge-recipe.html">Demeter Rouge</a></u>: cherries and passion fruit</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2013/12/demeter-sinis-batch-02-recipe.html">Demeter Sinis (Batch 02)</a></u>: portions with cranberries and pomegranate, in addition to the lavender and black cardamom of the base beer</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><u><i><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/11/demeter-sinis-batch-03-recipe.html">Demeter Sinis (Batch 03)</a></i></u>: lavender and black cardamom</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2013/10/demeter-spectre-recipe.html">Demeter Spectre</a></u>: peaches, raspberries, and strawberries</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/07/demeter-vert-batch-03-recipe.html">Demeter Vert</a></u>: lime zest/juice</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/05/farmhouse-mild-lemon-guava-tasting-notes.html">Farmhouse Mild</a></u>: lemon guava</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/01/namur.html">Namur</a></u>: Satsuma mandarins and Meyer lemons</li>
</ul>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As you can see, I've tended to use fruit more often than spices, but there are plenty of commercial examples using nearly anything you can imagine. Some things I'd like to work with in the future include grains of paradise, grapefruit zest, rhubarb, yuzu, sumac, wine grapes, hibiscus, lilac, tea, and plenty of oak cubes soaked in different wines/spirits.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>PROCESS</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Some of these things I've gone over above, but here's more of an overview of how process might differ from a typical ale. Again, first and foremost, temperature and pH are going to be key throughout the saison brew and fermentation process. If you want to achieve the requisite saison yeast character and mouthfeel, these are two most-focus variables.<br />
<br />
A few other things you may want to consider:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<ul>
<li>If you want the resulting beer to be more ester heavy, go with a little bit less oxygen. I use 30 seconds of pure O2 through a diffusion stone per 5 gallons, as opposed to the general recommendation of 45-60 seconds for an ale of standard strength in the range of 1.040 to 1.050. (Remember, many saisons will ferment down to near 1.000, so the alcohol will build up fast compared to a beer that finishes at 1.010-1.015.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>If you're looking for more acidity and/or funk, starting out (and also to shorten the timeline), I recommend doing a cleaner saison with just Sacch. and Brett, and then always keep on hand some base blonde wild for blending (even half a gallon of that in 5 gallons of beer without lactic acid will make a noticeable difference). For ideas and notes on blending, see my post (and accompanying links) on my <u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/09/science-art-series.html">Science & Art series of blended saisons and wilds</a></u>.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>I always use double the recommended rate of yeast nutrient per the recommendation in <u><i><a href="http://www.brewerspublications.com/books/farmhouse-ales-culture-and-craftsmanship-in-the-belgian-tradition/">Farmhouse Ales</a></i></u>. I don't know if it really makes a difference, but it's not hurting anything and the stuff isn't expensive.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>If you're messing with water profiles, a lot of people recommend heavier sulfate additions in saisons. Again, I really don't like this. The finishing gravity is low enough to make it dry, and 25-30 IBUs will give it a nice bitter edge. I favor keeping chloride and sulfate roughly the same, aiming for no higher than 75-100 ppm.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>If you're dealing with pH, keeping the mash pH down in the range of 5.2-5.4 (room temperature) really helps smooth things out. There's a very-detailed discussion at <u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_pH_affects_brewing">this Braukaiser page</a></u>.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>For mash temperature, you really can't go wrong. Different temperatures will yield different results, but if you know your fermenters, you'll be able to get the beer sufficiently dry. For a clean saison, I like something that finishes fast and dry, and would recommend staying under 150* F. For something with Brett or bacteria, push that number up for increased funk and acidity levels. The higher you go, the more you'll allow the non-Saccharomyces fermenters to do the work, though saison strains can tackle plenty of complex sugars all on their own.</li>
</ul>
<b><br /></b>
<b>CONCLUSION</b><br />
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
Saison has become such a wide-ranging idea that it's really difficult to place in a neat box. Here, I've only scratched the surface with what you can do. For instance, I haven't tackled thoughts on barrel-aging (yet). If nothing else, hopefully this post has served to pique people's interest in brewing dry, refreshing beers with a Belgian influence. There are many other great resources out there. If you're interested in learning more about the subject, I can't recommend Phil Markowski's <i>Farmhouse Ales</i> enough. In particular, the essay on saison from Yvan de Baets (of the aforementioned De La Senne) is phenomenal. </div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
Any thoughts, questions, or concerns? Did I leave anything out? I'm always up for saison discussion, so please comment away! In the future, I hope to have a post or set of posts highlighting the different characteristics of most of the available commercial saison strains and blends, pairing plenty of them with different Brettanomyces offerings and/or lactic acid bacteria. I also plan to do a post on what I believe the ideal saison-focused brewery would offer and how it would operate, as it's something I've put a lot of thought into and would like to attempt in the not-so-distant future.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Cheers!</div>
</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-38931070562657101782014-11-20T11:33:00.000-08:002014-11-23T17:46:34.821-08:00Science & Art #5: Blend & Tasting Notes<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
With <i><u><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/11/science-art-4-blend-tasting-notes.html">Science & Art #4</a></u></i> being unique as the first in the <i><u><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/09/science-art-series.html">series</a></u></i> that didn't use <i><u><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/06/citrine-batches-07-08-recipe.html">Citrine</a></u></i>, this one is unique in that it is the first dark blend. It's also the beer blend that uses something other than different saisons as a sizable portion of the blend, with a Flanders-style wild being the largest component of the blend. In the end, this one ended up being 50% Flanders-style wild and 50% dark saison. The Flanders-style component is made up of two batches of Ruby (Batch 02 (recipe lost due to a computer issue, unfortunately) and <u><i><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/02/ruby-batch-03-recipe.html">Batch 03</a></i></u>), and the saison component is made up of <i><u><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/05/demeter-rouge-recipe.html">Demeter Rouge</a></u></i> and <i><u><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2013/12/demeter-sinis-batch-02-recipe.html">Demeter Sinis (Cranberry)</a></u></i>. The final blend was as follows:<br />
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">2 gallons of Ruby (Batch 03) </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">2 gallons of Demeter Rouge </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">0.5 gallons of Ruby (Batch 02) </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">0.5 gallons of Demeter Sinis (Cranberry) </li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Overall, I think this blend really captured what I was looking for, which was to take the fruitiness of Demeter Rouge, but cut back on the acidity created by the passion fruit. Oddly enough, this was accomplished by cutting the beer with a sour Flanders-style base, albeit versions of that beer that were more funky than acidic, particularly given the age of the "young" Ruby that was used. The Demeter Sinis (Cranberry) added a nice bit of cranberry alongside some earthy, spicy notes from the black cardamom and lavender used in that beer. Finally, the Ruby additions allowed some mild funk along with notes of strawberry, raspberry, and general jam character, which is something I've had in my recent dark wild beers, particularly <i><u><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/06/biere-de-nord-tasting-notes.html">Biere de Nord</a></u></i> (which I actually thought about using a bit of in this blend, but determined it wasn't necessary).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In terms of process, the Demeter Rouge, Ruby (Batch 02), and Demeter Sinis (Cranberry) were all already carbonated, so I had to be careful on that front. The Demeter Rouge was carbonated to around 2.0 volumes in a keg, and the latter two had already been bottle conditioned and were probably around 2.5 and 3.0 volumes, respectively. Given this, I opted to only aim for 2.0 volumes when using the priming calculator, assuming that this would eventually get me somewhere in the 2.5-3.0 volume range. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the future, once I hopefully open up a small brewery and have my own little barrel room, I'll be able to blend components without worrying about needing to pull from previously-bottled batches. One thing I'm planning on doing in the future to have more for blending is to take a half gallon or gallon of each batch and let it continue to age in a growler or gallon jug. That way, I can have uncarbonated beer for blending, and also add wine- or spirit-soaked oak cubes to portions of a batch for greater complexity. I've done smaller portions with oak cubes in the past, but never with the general intention of saving that beer for blending.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
With that, the full tasting notes for this blend are below. Follow additional views on this beer, take a look at <i><u><a href="https://untappd.com/b/ambrosia-farmhouse-ales-science-art-5/760338">its page on Untappd</a></u></i>.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigmVQqCiyESygBfPKJRADS7aB_ahb_GLjNVzYLTtlC2wecP1iRqUr1zvkZSnMDGdKdMuOtvPOHNpNpl1i-XNOHQ0zJ0fcykDXD-upYCnqXc-Yn_-dhaXJqdxLFveuKcYvznzQgxiudadeo/s1600/SA5.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigmVQqCiyESygBfPKJRADS7aB_ahb_GLjNVzYLTtlC2wecP1iRqUr1zvkZSnMDGdKdMuOtvPOHNpNpl1i-XNOHQ0zJ0fcykDXD-upYCnqXc-Yn_-dhaXJqdxLFveuKcYvznzQgxiudadeo/s1600/SA5.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Appearance: Deep mahogany with an even stronger reddish hue under bright light. Head fizzes up light brown, a bit darker and thicker than with cola. Could go for better retention and stability, though it's not too bad considering that a decent chunk of this beer is Flanders-style wild.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Aroma: Initial nose is quite fruity with cranberry and cherry leading the way. A hint of orange zest alongside faint coffee and chocolate notes. A touch of roasted malt and hints of cardamom. Lactic acidity in the back along with a touch of earthy funk. There's a general fruity, berry-jam character to it as well, which I attribute to the Ruby variations included in the blend. Strawberries and raspberries more and more as it warms. Just a hint of tropical fruit. The cranberry, of course is from the cranberry version of Demeter Sinis, and the cherry comes from the Demeter Rouge. The passion fruit in the Demeter Rouge is only there in faint tropical notes. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Flavor: The tropical character comes through plenty more in the flavor, along with more noticeable acidity. Cherry, cranberry, and jam there as well. A bit of earth and funk, though that's relatively minor. Hints of red wine.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mouthfeel: Medium-light and moderately acidic. Carbonation moderate as well, hitting about where I wanted it to be. It's elevated over typical clean ale levels, but not nearly high enough to be at saison level. The beer is a bit light, and could use some extra body. It would have been great to have been able to put this in a red wine barrel, picking up some oak character, tannin, and body.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Overall: I'm quite happy with this blend. Other than the aforementioned lack in body, there isn't too much that I would change here. I think this one definitely accomplished the foremost blending goal of creating something more interesting and enjoyable than any individual component.</div>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-8CVC-pcnKzg%2FVGj8D2F860I%2FAAAAAAAAAk8%2FmxxE5qVnOKM%2Fs1600%2FSA5.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigmVQqCiyESygBfPKJRADS7aB_ahb_GLjNVzYLTtlC2wecP1iRqUr1zvkZSnMDGdKdMuOtvPOHNpNpl1i-XNOHQ0zJ0fcykDXD-upYCnqXc-Yn_-dhaXJqdxLFveuKcYvznzQgxiudadeo/s1600/SA5.jpg" -->Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-72381788482995024712014-11-16T15:56:00.000-08:002014-11-16T15:56:13.584-08:00Farmhouse Mild (Watermelon): Tasting Notes<div style="text-align: justify;">
This was a <u><i><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/07/farmhouse-mild-batch-05-recipe.html">batch of Farmhouse Mild</a></i></u> that had the Pedio in the fermentation blend kick up some diacetyl after I had kegged the beer and before I tapped it. In order to clean this up, I added some extra Brettanomyces, and since I had been wanting to try a beer with watermelon juice, I decided to add that here to provide some extra sugars to jump-start the Brett. I ended up adding the juice from 8 pounds of watermelon into roughly 5 gallons of Farmhouse Mild, and then let it ferment for about a month. The resulting beer had a nice watermelon character, with a nice taffy-like character.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF_HQiUhc_B2kTzMFeiRp9_4vwJ_FraRYcnbVw3USPOnTay8geKO1RCCevLeqNigMeqwYleO3wUkJbvcSiEBw1qvu5-Tkw8a3GpOBni3sC9ELitoXKxf8_Z3HGRsfSizcdyRMEYH-wIyMg/s1600/FM+Watermelon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF_HQiUhc_B2kTzMFeiRp9_4vwJ_FraRYcnbVw3USPOnTay8geKO1RCCevLeqNigMeqwYleO3wUkJbvcSiEBw1qvu5-Tkw8a3GpOBni3sC9ELitoXKxf8_Z3HGRsfSizcdyRMEYH-wIyMg/s1600/FM+Watermelon.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Appearance: Pours a hazy light peach color with just a touch of pink in the light. Big, fluffy white head with good retention, and plenty of sticky lacing on the way down.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Aroma: Nose starts out with a nice watermelon-taffy aroma, and then fades into some slight lactic acidity as well as a bit of plant-like watermelon rind. The latter isn't off-putting at this level, and reminds me of the "green"-type flavor you get from something like watermelon gum. Speaking of, I was pretty shocked how well watermelon taffy/gum apparently captures the flavor of watermelon juice. (Well, at least how watermelon juice tastes after it's been fermented and mixed with saison.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Flavor: Similar to the nose. Quite juicy and refreshing. It's too bad I'm only a few months late on this one, as it snowed half an inch in the Chicago area last night. (In fairness, I've had this on tap since mid-October, though it's not like it was super warm then either.) Watermelon really leads the way, dominating over any other character, though the watermelon itself is not overpowering. I like the level here, even though the base beer doesn't shine through too much. There's a touch of grain/grass in the background. Though the hops from the base beer have mostly faded, there is still a generic "fruitiness" that I wouldn't attribute to the watermelon, and I'm guessing is lingering from the initial American hops.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mouthfeel: Light and extremely refreshing. This is something I could drink a gallon of after doing yard work in the summer. Even as I sit here cold and watching football, it's hard to put down. Super crisp with heavy carbonation, it's light and airy, yet the flavor still lingers quite well.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Overall: I'm quite pleased with how this one turned out, especially given that it was an experiment with a beer that had developed some issues. I will absolutely return to this one next year, and this pretty much firms up my thoughts lately that there's no reason for me to brew fruited Berliners when I can instead just go with a session saison and add fruit (particularly when adding fruit juice, which creates a swift secondary fermentation).</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-68579923208534245662014-11-16T06:21:00.001-08:002014-11-16T07:01:21.914-08:00Science & Art #4: Blend & Tasting Notes<div style="text-align: justify;">
This is my fourth blend in the <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/09/science-art-series.html"><i>Science & Art Series</i></a>, a group of blended saisons and wild ales. The components of this blend were <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/07/demeter-vert-batch-03-recipe.html"><i>Demeter Vert</i>,</a> <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/01/namur.html"><i>Namur (Meyer Lemon)</i></a>, and <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/06/flowerfield-stickman-collaboration.html"><i>Flowerfield</i></a>. The idea behind blending is to create something that's better than the sum of its parts. Here, I had three beers that ranged from okay to quite good, with each one either having something that I didn't quite like (Namur and Flowerfield), or that were almost there, but could use an extra boost (Demeter Vert).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Demeter Vert was going to be the star of the show, as the lime saison base was something that I really enjoyed. I've been tweaking the recipe for that one across batches and think that I have most things generally dialed in, but this batch was lacking a bit of extra oomph. I think this is due to the fact that this beer was my first time using my yeast/bacteria <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/02/ambrosia-yeast-blends.html"><i>Blend 05</i></a>, and the Brett and bacteria weren't a big enough portion of the blend. Based on that, I was looking for something that could give this base a bit more flair.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For each of the previous versions of Science & Art, <i><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/06/citrine-batches-07-08-recipe.html">Citrine</a></i> -- which is my house blonde wild -- had been a component of the blend, adding some acidity and fund. In this case, I was looking for something that was clean and not really funky, though I was hoping for a bit of acid to boost the overall flavor profile. My first thought was Namur (Meyer Lemon), which was just far too lemony. That beer was my first time using Meyer Lemon (or any type of lemon, for that matter) in a beer, and it was far too much. I was a bit surprised by this, as the use was generally in line with other citrus beers that I've done (<a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2013/03/demeter-auran-recipe-round-two.html"><i>Demeter Auran</i></a>, the above-discussed Demeter Vert, and a few others), and those generally have hints of citrus without being too overpowering.</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The lemon juice that was used alongside the zest in that batch of Namur created a good amount of acidity, and the beer itself was very clean and not at all funky, so after a few quick small-scale blends with Demeter Vert, I knew that I'd like to add that to the blend. That blend was still a bit citrus-heavy (though not obviously heavy on either lemon or lime), so I looked for something else to add in.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The perfect answer was a bit of Flowerfield, which is a collaboration that I did with Matt over at Stickman Brewing (he runs <a href="http://matthumbard.wordpress.com/"><i>A Ph.D in Beer</i></a>) over Memorial Day weekend 2014. We brewed that as a blonde Brett saison with Nelson Sauvin. To ferment that batch, I used the <a href="http://www.theyeastbay.com/wild-yeast-and-bacteria-products/saison-brettanomyces-blend"><i>Yeast Bay Saison/Brettanomyces Blend</i></a> and I wasn't a huge fan of the profile. There was something in the finish that was slightly acidic and just didn't quite agree with my palate, though others enjoyed it. (Matt, for one, agreed with me.) There wasn't anything wrong with the beer, so I didn't want to get rid of it, but I though blending would be a good option for some of what was remaining in the keg.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After messing around with the ratio of the three beers using a pipette and sample glasses, I settled on a blend that was four parts Demeter Vert, one part Meyer Lemon Namur, and one part Flowerfield. From there, I transferred into a bottling bucket, mixed in the priming sugar, and bottled. Since the Flowerfield portion was already kegged and carbonated and the Meyer Lemon Namur was in bottles, I needed to reduce the sugar so that I didn't get too far over my goal of 3.0 volumes of CO2. (Since the Namur was in bottles, I added that portion last, slowly pouring from chilled bottles into the bottling bucket with the neck submersed in the liquid in the bucket.) Given this, I decided to put the target at 2.2 volumes (almost purely guesswork) in the priming calculator, and then used that as my sugar level for bottling.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And now for the tasting notes, which are coming around 3.5 months after I bottled up the blend. For tasting notes from others, you can follow the beer <u><i><a href="https://untappd.com/b/ambrosia-farmhouse-ales-science-art-4/760331">here on Untappd</a></i></u>.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2y-_lfOwd60PnRfbDderYypgKVSYK2414mvnvHJfUAP3KbpBc8uHFY7PX39CLpm5LbgENKCfW9SxBa1cQxDXVu7PSutygGLH-WRklruWDInHF-YD8qYEThtzg4ivXN6i_sGW3J2Q4yrcq/s1600/SA4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2y-_lfOwd60PnRfbDderYypgKVSYK2414mvnvHJfUAP3KbpBc8uHFY7PX39CLpm5LbgENKCfW9SxBa1cQxDXVu7PSutygGLH-WRklruWDInHF-YD8qYEThtzg4ivXN6i_sGW3J2Q4yrcq/s1600/SA4.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Appearance: Clear, bright light yellow with a fluffy white head. Good retention and plenty of lacing as it went down. Visible carbonation bubbles rising through the liquid. Has just about all it needs for a saison. I generally don't pay too much attention to whether my saisons are clear or hazy so long as they have a nice head of foam and good retention, as hazy beers seem a bit more rustic, which is something I don't mind at all when dealing with saisons with Brett and/or lactic acid bacteria (LAB).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Aroma The citrus citrus isn't too strong in the nose, and is mostly generic but tending a bit more toward the lemon. Lime there as well. I'm glad that most people haven't been able to pick out the exact citrus, as one of my goals here was to really knock down the lemon of the Namur variant, while preserving the lime from Demeter Vert. At this point, I think I was pretty successful there, likely only picking out the distinct citrus fruits as I know what went into the beer. As it warms, there is also a bit of an almost honey-like character, mixing with a bit of apricot. Maybe a bit of green grape there as well, which could be coming from the Nelson Sauvin that was used fairly heavily in Flowerfield.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Flavor: Lightly tart with just a hint of backing grain. Very clean without any funk, focusing in on the light acidity and citrus character. Maybe a bit simple, but I wasn't looking for this to be an overly-complex beer. The citrus character is just about where I want it, with some Brett-induced fruitiness in the background. The light acidity comes from the citrus, as well as from whatever lactic acid bacteria are now in this fermenting blend. (I typically use buckets that I use a carboy brush to clean, so there are plenty of scratches for LAB from dreg batches to take hold.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mouthfeel: Again, quite light, and also extremely crisp. The carbonation is high without gushing or being too bubbly. Clean finish, not much lingering taste. This would be a great beer for the summer, though I'm not sure I'll have much, if any, last until then. <a href="http://www.theyeastbay.com/brewers-yeast-products/wallonian-farmhouse"><i>The Yeast Bay Wallonian Farmhouse</i></a> is the base yeast for the fermentation blend of Demeter Vert, and I think it contributes a nice bit of body in beers that are otherwise bone dry. That's certainly apparent here. The water profiles of the base beers also likely contribute to this, as I tend to go relatively heavy on the chloride for saisons, where it seems like many other saisons are too sulfate heavy for my tastes. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Overall: I'd describe this as simple, but elegant. Really easy drinking and is something that I'll try to re-create in the future, potentially all in the same beer by using the base for Demeter Vert and then adding in just a touch of Meyer Lemon and also maybe dry hop with some Nelson.</div>
</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-45363960318622196562014-11-14T06:31:00.000-08:002015-03-09T14:32:24.918-07:00Wallonian Pale Ale (Batch 04): Recipe<div style="text-align: justify;">
This is my fourth time trying out this recipe, a very hop-forward saison with moderate bitterness. I absolutely loved my second batch of this (<u><i><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/08/wallonian-pale-ale-batch-02-recipe.html">recipe;</a></i></u> <u><i><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/09/wallonian-pale-ale-batch-02-tasting.html">tasting notes</a></i></u>). The third batch was basically the same recipe as the second, and I didn't feel that it warranted its own post. This was especially true as I was brewing with a friend (his half of the batch was fermented with basic Chico yeast) and I wasn't able to take many notes. This attempt is slightly different, as I plan to change up the hop profile a bit, and will also probably dry hop each half of the batch differently.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Here are the full details on the batch:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Batch Number: 97</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Brew Date: October 18, 2014</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Keg Date: November 9, 2014</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Batch Size: 10 Gallon</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
OG: 1.045 (est.)</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
FG: 1.003 (est.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Fermentation Temperature: 65-70* F</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
IBU: 56.0 (modified Tinseth from BrewCipher)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
ABV: 5.5%</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
SRM: 5.0</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mash: Single infusion for 60 minutes at 154* F</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Boil: 60 minute</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Fermentables</b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
10lb 8oz Dingemans Belgian Pilsner</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4lb 0oz Munich Malt</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2lb 0oz Flaked Wheat</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
0lb 14oz Acid Malt</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
0lb 12oz Flaked Oats</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Salts & Water</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
6.6g Calcium Chloride (all in the boil kettle)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
7.1g Gypsum (all in the boil kettle)</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2.5g Sodium Chloride (all in the boil kettle)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
5.5mL lactic acid added to the sparge water to get that pH to approximately 5.3. </div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Resulting water profile is as follows:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mash pH (est.): 5.34</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Calcium: 96</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Magnesium: 12</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sodium: 25</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Chloride: 100</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sulfate: 100</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Hops</b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.5oz Pacific Gem (pellet, 16.0 AAU) at 60 minutes </div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4oz of Mosaic (pellet, 11.6 AAU), 30 minutes after flameout</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2oz of Belma (leaf, 11.6 AAU), 30 minutes after flameout</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2oz of Galaxy (pellet, 15.0 AAU), 30 minutes after flameout</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Let the hops sit in the wort for about an hour total, as I ended up leaving them for a long time with Batch 02 of WPA and really enjoyed the character.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Dry Hops</i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
01.02.2015: This one has been on tap for about two weeks, and I'm finally getting around to adding some dry hops in the keg. I've been way behind, as my wife and I had twin boys in November! I had planned on doing a blend of 3-4 hops and using some leaf, but I discovered that I'm out of large hop bags and don't have the time to reseal that many packages. Thus, I ended up going with only two varieties of pellet hops, adding them to a hop bag (without weights, also can't find those) and dropping that into the keg attached to some unwaxed/unscented floss.<br />
<br />
I went with 4 ounces of 2014 Mosaic and 1 ounce of 2013 Columbus. The Columbus came from a 1-ounce package. I usually have those around since I like to use them for bittering. The Mosaic came out of a 1-pound bag. I put the bag into a gallon Ziploc and put it back in the freezer. Hopefully I'll have time to vacuum seal sooner rather than later.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Other</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2.0 tsp. Wyeast Yeast Nutrient at 10 minutes</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Yeast</b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: start;">Full batch used </span><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/02/ambrosia-yeast-blends.html" style="text-align: start;"><i>Ambrosia Blend 005</i></a><span style="text-align: start;"> (now the seventh generation) from the cake of an September 27, 2014 batch of </span><u style="text-align: start;"><i><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/10/demeter-facile-recipe.html">Demeter Facile</a></i></u><span style="text-align: start;">. Per </span><u style="font-style: italic; text-align: start;"><a href="http://yeastcalculator.com/">yeast calculator.com</a></u><span style="text-align: start;">, I needed 320 billion cells for the entire batch. At 40-60% solids, this would mean 250mL for the whole batch. I went with 500mL, as I was pulling from a wine thief and didn't have the best view, and I'd rather overpitch than underpitch, and didn't have time to let everything settle out before measuring.</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Notes</b></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
11.09.2014: Kegged each half. Will wait until closer to tapping to add the dry hops.</div>
</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-36998755835491566952014-11-14T06:12:00.000-08:002015-03-12T12:59:17.434-07:00Demeter Sinis (Batch 03): Recipe<div style="text-align: justify;">
This was my third time brewing Demeter Sinis, the winter seasonal in the Demeter series. As I have been pretty happy with it since the first batch, I didn't really change anything up here. I'm also pretty excited as it has been a long time since I've had "straight" Demeter Sinis available. This is due to the fact that last year's <u><i><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2013/12/demeter-sinis-batch-02-recipe.html">Batch 02</a></i></u> was all fruited, with the pomegranate portion getting kegged and the cranberry portion was bottled. Thankfully I do still have a few bottles of the latter. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As I've cleaned up my temperature control equipment for the season making way for a steep drop-off in brewing over the next few months (twin boys coming soon to the Thorpe family!), I decided to just ferment this one at room temperature. In my experience, I've gotten yeast-driven character that's pretty similar no matter the temperature I use with my current yeast/Brett blend, it just takes a bit longer when fermenting in the 65-70*F range as opposed to the 75-80*F range. I really do need to do some actual split-batch experiments with temperature next year though.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The recipe for the full batch is as follows:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Batch Number: 96</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Brew Date: October 4, 2014</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Bottle Date: November 2, 2014</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Batch Size: 10 gallons</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
OG: 1.045 (estimated)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
FG: 1.002 (estimated)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Fermentation Temperature: 65-70* F (room temperature)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
IBU: 27.0</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
ABV: 5.5% (est.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
SRM: 17</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mash: Single infusion for 60 minutes at 154* F.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Boil: 60 minute</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Fermentables</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
7lb 8oz Belgian Pilsner</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4lb 0oz Wheat Malt</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4lb 0oz Wheat, Flaked</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1lb 0oz Acid Malt</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
0lb 12oz Rye Malt</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
0lb 8oz Oats</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
0lb 8oz CaraMunich</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
0lb 8oz Carafa II</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
0lb 4oz Chocolate Malt</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Salts & Water</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
5.5g Calcium Chloride (all added directly to the kettle)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4.3g Gypsum (all added directly to the kettle)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
6.1g Sodium Chloride (all added directly to the kettle)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
All of the salts are added directly to the kettle to achieve the ultimate water profile that I am looking for. Acid malt is being used to get the mash pH almost to where I wanted it. I also added 4mL of lactic acid to the mash.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Resulting water profile (based on EZ Water Calculator v3) is as follows:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mash pH (est.): 5.21</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Calcium: 78</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Magnesium: 12</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sodium: 50</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Chloride: 127</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sulfate: 70</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I also added 5.5mL of lactic acid to the sparge water to get the pH of that liquor to 5.2.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Hops</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.0oz Nugget (pellet, 13.3 AAU) at 60 minutes</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.0oz Willamette (leaf, 7.5 AAU) at flameout</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Other</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2.0 tsp. Wyeast Yeast Nutrient at 10 minutes</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
6.0g Lavender, dried, at flameout*</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.0g Black Cardamom, at flameout</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Yeast</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Full batch used <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/02/ambrosia-yeast-blends.html"><i>Ambrosia Blend 005</i></a> (now the seventh generation) from the cake of an September 27, 2014 batch of <u><i><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/10/demeter-facile-recipe.html">Demeter Facile</a></i></u>. Per <u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://yeastcalculator.com/">yeast calculator.com</a></u>, I needed 160 billion cells for the entire batch. At 40-60% solids, this would mean 250mL for the whole batch. I went with 500mL, as I was pulling from a wine thief and didn't have the best vie, and I'd rather overpitch than underpitch, and didn't have time to let everything settle out before measuring.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Notes</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
11.02.2014: Bottled around 9 gallons, aiming for 3.0 volumes of CO2 based on the <u><i><a href="http://tastybrew.com/">tastybrew.com </a></i></u>priming calculator.</div>
</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-22865889713118212612014-11-09T15:55:00.001-08:002015-03-12T12:59:38.077-07:00Demeter Automne: Tasting Notes<div style="text-align: justify;">
After about two months in the bottle, it's about time to write out some tasting notes for this batch, which is my first time brewing Demeter Automne, a fall saison (<u><i><a href="http://5%20gallons%20of%20demeter%20facile%20and%201%20gallon%20of%20citrine.%20%20175g%20of%20sugar%2C%20aiming%20for%203.0%20volumes./">recipe</a></i></u>). I'll say that early on, I thought the finish was too biscuit-heavy, but that character has certainly died down over the past month, and is now just about where I want it. </div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d1c8v1qci5en44.cloudfront.net/photo/2014_11_09/2a8ca53d7754877cb7302387031180b2_640x640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d1c8v1qci5en44.cloudfront.net/photo/2014_11_09/2a8ca53d7754877cb7302387031180b2_640x640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Appearance: Medium to dark amber with a puffy light tan lasting head. Fairly clear.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Nose: Toasty biscuit alongside faint pumpkin spice. Earthy and leafy. I think the combination of light spicing and Willamette at flameout got me what I was looking for -- something that isn't too heavy in any one direction, but is instead just reminiscent of fall.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Taste: Earth and toast with a bit of fall spice. Nothing stands out too much. Some pumpkin in the background as it warms. I'm glad that I used fresh-roasted (then frozen) pumpkin in this recipe, as I think the squash flavor does actually come through. Some light funk on the backend, alongside a faint acidity.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mouthfeel: Dry finish, though the body itself isn't too light. Carbonation just where I want it for a darker saison. Easy drinking without any one element becoming too dominant. Light tartness through the finish.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Overall: For a first attempt, I'm quite happy with this one. I'm not sure there's anything that I would change up too much. Next year, I think I may increase the Willamette addition at flameout just a bit, adding a bit more of the leafy/earthy character that I really like in this beer. As mentioned above, at first I thought the biscuit malt was too much, but I think after a month of being fully-carbonated, that character is just about where I want it. </div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now that I have the base recipe down, I think I'll likely do a few batches of this next year, as I'd like to try a few "barrel-aged" variants. I'm most interested in trying a version with wine-soaked oak cubes, and then another version with brandy-soaked oak cubes.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-80447366087843139892014-10-23T05:31:00.003-07:002015-01-27T07:15:10.082-08:00Demeter Facile: Recipe<div style="text-align: justify;">
With this beer being my sixth time using <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/search/label/Ambrosia%20Blend" style="font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline;">Ambrosia Blend 005</a> to ferment, I wanted to try something very neutral in order to really pick out the yeast and bacteria profile that I have going. This meant brewing a beer with a fairly-simple blonde malt profile, keeping the hops in check, and not using any spices or fruit. Based on this process, I decided to go with "Facile" (French for "simple") as the name for this beer in the Demeter series. For those who haven't been reading for too long, the Demeter series is a line of saisons using Brettanomyces and/or lactic acid bacteria, and have up until this point contained some sorts of fruit or spicing. The name of the series comes from Greek mythology, where Demeter is the goddess of the harvest.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
With the simple base beer, I'm hoping to be able to pull out fruity aspects that are coming from the yeast and bacteria blend, perhaps with a little bit of spice as well. While I do appreciate saisons that tend toward the phenolic side, I vastly prefer to brew (and drink) saisons that focus on fruity esters. I've generally picked out a lot of tropical fruit and citrus notes so far when using Ambrosia Blend 005 to ferment, though I've never been sure how much of that was due to hops and other aroma/flavoring agents I've added to those beers. Here I use a bit of Centennial for some hop character, but by no means an excessive amount (1.5 ounces per 5 gallons). For the grist, I used mostly pilsner, adding in some Munich, honey malt, spelt, and wheat to give a little extra flavor and up the mouthfeel a bit.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Here are the full details on the batch:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Batch Number: 95</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Brew Date: September 27, 2014</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Bottle Date: October 25, 2014</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Batch Size: 10 Gallon</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
OG: 1.044 (est.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
FG: 1.002 (est.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Fermentation Temperature: ~65*F. (This is being fermented in the unfinished portion of our basement, which generally hovers in this area, staying warm throughout the winter as the boiler is located in the corner.)</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
IBU: 29.0 (modified Tinseth from BrewCipher)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
ABV: 5.7%</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
SRM: 5.0</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mash: Single infusion for 60 minutes at 152* F</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Boil: 60 minute</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><b>Fermentables</b></b><br />
<br />
14.0 lb Pilsner Malt</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.50 lb Raw Spelt</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.00 lb Flaked Wheat</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.00 lb Munich Malt</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.00 lb Honey Malt</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><b>Salts & Water</b></b><br />
<br />
All salts added to the kettle. Also added 14mL of lactic acid to the mash to get the pH to around 5.24.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
5.2g Calcium Chloride</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4.3g Gypsum</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
6.1g Sodium Chloride</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Resulting water profile is as follows:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mash pH (est.): 5.24 (BrewCipher estimate)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Calcium: 77</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Magnesium: 12</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sodium: 50</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Chloride: 125</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sulfate: 70</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><b>Hops</b></b><br />
<br />
1.5 oz Centennial (8.7 AAU), pellet, at 60 minutes</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
3.0 oz Centennial (8.7 AAU), pellet, at flameout</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><b>Other</b></b><br />
<br />
2.0 tsp. Wyeast Yeast Nutrient at 10 minutes</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><b>Yeast</b></b><br />
<b><b><br /></b></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Full batch used <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/02/ambrosia-yeast-blends.html"><i>Ambrosia Blend 005</i></a> (now the sixth generation) from the cake of an August 23, 2014 batch of Wallonian Pale Ale. Each 5-gallon portion got approximately 125mL of dense slurry from that cake. (Estimate based on 73% viability calculated at <u><i><a href="http://yeastcalculator.com/">yeastcalculator.com</a></i></u>.) </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><b>Notes</b></b><br />
<b><b><br /></b></b></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'm planning to take a portion of this batch and transfer on top of the spent fruit from two other batches that I currently have going. The first is a Flanders Red that has been sitting on black raspberries that Amy and I picked in Michigan this summer, and the second is a version of Citrine that has been sitting on whole Montmorency cherries that Amy and I picked up at that same farm. I stole this idea from <u><i><a href="http://jesterkingbrewery.com/">Jester King</a></i></u>, which uses this method with raspberries (<a href="http://jesterkingbrewery.com/beers/#beers_355"><i>La Vie en Rose</i></a>) (<u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://jesterkingbrewery.com/introducing-jester-king-la-vie-en-rose">process</a></u>) and cherries (<u><i><a href="http://jesterkingbrewery.com/beers/#beers_401">Detritivore</a></i></u>) (<u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://jesterkingbrewery.com/introducing-jester-king-detritivore">process</a></u>).<br />
<br />
11.01.2014: I ended up not using a portion of this batch on the spent fruit, as the black raspberries had completely come apart, and were creating problems when I tried to bottle Amethyst. Given that, I'll have to try the "second use" idea next year. Instead of fruiting the second half of this batch, I blended it with some Citrine to create Science & Art #7.<br />
<br />
For the first bucket, which stayed as straight Demeter Facile, I had around 4.5 gallons, so I used 130g of sugar, targeting 3.0 volumes of CO2. For Science & Art #7, I combined 5 gallons of Demeter Facile and 1 gallon of Citrine, and added 175g of sugar, aiming for 3.0 volumes.<br />
<br />
01.27.2015: <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2015/01/demeter-facile-tasting-notes.html">Tasting notes</a>.</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2265524263747985916.post-82849826552655101592014-09-26T05:11:00.001-07:002015-07-18T14:16:26.247-07:00Science & Art Series<div style="text-align: justify;">
This post will serve as a repository for recipes and tastings notes of the beers in my Science & Art series. The series is a line of blended saisons, often also incorporating portions of wild ales that I have brewed. It's amazing what just 10% blonde sour will do to a beer that was otherwise only saison yeast and Brettanomyces. With the name, I wanted something that I could keep around for awhile, as with these blends, I thought it would be easier to go with a standard name followed by numbers or years, such as Lost Abbey Veritas, Hill Farmstead Civil Disobedience, and Cantillon Zwanze. Given that these beers will be blends of wilds and saisons, I thought "Science & Art" would be appropriate. One of the things I love about brewing, and particularly about saisons, is that there is so much room for creativity. However, at the same time, there's still the base science behind beer making and, most importantly for my purposes, fermentation. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Each beer in the Science & Art series is meant to be a concept, such that I will attempt to blend beers to achieve the same results on multiple occasions. For example, I have already blended two separate iterations of Science & Art #1 and Science & Art #3. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos-g.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xap1/10507893_1508173106082566_1849608814_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://photos-g.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xap1/10507893_1508173106082566_1849608814_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo of Science & Art #2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u>Science & Art #1</u></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">A blend of Farmhouse Mild and Citrine at a ratio of 85-90% to 10-15%. The resulting blend is extremely fruity, lightly acidic, and finishes very dry and clean. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Batches:</li>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">01: <u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2013/12/science-art-1-tasting-notes.html">Tasting and blending notes</a></u> can be found here. Original blend was on October 6, 2013.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">02: The second blend was done in mid-March 2014, with the entire batch being legged.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u>Science & Art #2</u></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">A blend of Dionysus #2, a blonde saison with white wine-soaked oak cubes, and Citrine. Mildly fruit with some tropical and stone fruit notes, with underlying citrus and faint acidity.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Batches:</li>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">01: <u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/07/this-is-my-second-in-line-of-science.html">Tasting and blending notes</a></u> can be found here. Blend and bottling occurred on March 1, 2014.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u>Science & Art #3</u></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">A blend of Farmhouse Mild, Citrine, Dionysus #2, and Demeter Passion. Pungent and fruity with passion fruit along with peach, orange, light oak, and hints of white wine. Very dry with a nice tartness through the finish.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Batches:</li>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">01: <u style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/07/science-art-3-tasting-notes.html">Tasting and blending notes</a></u> can be found here. The original blend was on June 4, 2014, and the entire batch was kegged. However, I did bottle some for the <u><i><a href="http://www.talkbeer.com/community/threads/talk-beer-homebrew-club-competition-saison-head-count-and-general-overview.9363/">TalkBeer Saison Homebrew Competition</a></i></u>. The beer won the competition with an average score of 39.36. The competition judges were pretty harsh (I know I was), as second place came in at 34.54, with third averaging 33.00.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">02: This was blended and bottled on July 28, 2014. This blend left out Dionysus #2, as I only had one bottle left. Based on initial tastes, blend 01 was much better, with the oak from Dionysus #2 really upping the complexity.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u>Science & Art #4</u></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<ul>
<li>A blend of Demeter Vert, Namur (Meyer Lemon), and Flowerfield. The beer is delicate with a bit more body than previous blends. The Nelson from Flowerfield comes through well underneath the citrus coming out of the Demeter Vert and Namur (Meyer Lemon). The lemon has a stronger presence, but is nowhere near dominating like in that version of Namur. I've had a few people taste the blend without telling them what's in it, and most have just said "citrus" without specifically identifying lemon or lime.</li>
<li>Batches:</li>
<ul>
<li>01: Blended and bottled on July 28, 2014. Full blending and tasting notes can be found <i><u><a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/11/science-art-4-blend-tasting-notes.html">here</a></u></i>.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
<u>Science & Art #5</u></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>The first dark beer in the series. A blend of Demeter Rouge (cherries and passion fruit), Demeter Sinis (Cranberry), and two different batches of Ruby. The beer is dark and fruity with cherry, red wine, and dark fruits. Moderately acidic, though still not entirely "sour."</li>
<li>Batches:</li>
<ul>
<li>01: Blended and bottled on July 28, 2014. Full blend and tasting notes can be found <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2014/11/science-art-5-blend-tasting-notes.html">here</a>.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
<u>Science & Art #6</u></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>An idea that came from the fact that I brewed 10 gallons of Demeter Automne for fall 2014. Instead of bottling all of that, I decided to also go with a new addition to the Science & Art series. For this, I took about 90% Demeter Automne and blended in 10% Citrine, and then bottle conditioned the blend with Montmorency tart cherry juice. The resulting beer has cherry in the nose, with the flavor being more earthy and lightly spicy, with some background notes of biscuit. A bit leafy. Cherry comes through in the finish with a light acidity. Very reminiscent of fall, at least in my opinion. A great bonfire beer.</li>
<li>Batches:</li>
<ul>
<li>01: Blended and bottled on September 1, 2014. Full blend and tasting notes can be found <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2015/02/science-art-6-blend-tasting-notes_4.html">here</a>.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
<u>Science & Art &7</u></div>
</div>
<div>
<u><br /></u></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>This is a blend of Demeter Facile, a blonde Brett saison, and Citrine. I had originally planned to use the second half of the 10-gallon batch of Demeter Facile to add to the "spent" fruit from batches of cherry and black-raspberry wild ales, but had some issues on bottling day, so decided to go with this blend instead. The blend was 5 gallons of Demeter Facile and 1 gallon of Citrine.</li>
<ul>
<li>01: Blended and bottled on November 1, 2014. Full blend and tasting notes can be found <a href="http://spontaneousfunk.blogspot.com/2015/02/science-art-7-blend-tasting-notes.html">here</a>.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Michael Thorpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18308792576392626355noreply@blogger.com3