Emerald: Recipe

RETRO: Post written on November 13, 2014, but set to publish on the date of the original brew session to maintain order within the blog.

This was originally designed as a Munich Helles with New Zealand hops, and it ended up going on tap that way.  At the time, I had 5-6 beers on tap, and I ended up with about half a keg that had lost it's hop presence and was too tame for my palate.  Based on this, I decided to sour the remaining portion and add kiwi, which seemed an appropriate fruit based on the New Zealand-based ingredients that I had already used.

The recipe for the full batch is as follows:

Batch Number: 36
Brew Date: April 21, 2012
Keg Date: April 1, 2012
Batch Size: 5 Gallon
OG: 1.051 (estimate)
FG: 1.002 (estimate)
Fermentation Temperature: 65-70*F (room temperature throughout)
IBU: 28.6
ABV: 6.7%
SRM: 4.0 (not accounting for fruit)

Mash: Single infusion at 148*F for 60 minutes

Boil: 90 minute

Fermentables

9lb 0oz Pilsner Malt
0lb 8oz Cara-Pils
0lb 8oz Munich

Salts & Water

At this point I wasn't doing anything besides filtering the water and adding 5.2 buffer, so that's probably it.

Hops

1.0oz Nelson Sauvin (pellet, 12.0 AAU) at 20 minutes

1.0oz Nelson Sauvin (pellet, 12.0 AAU) at flameout

Other

Whirlfloc

Yeast Nutrient
Kiwi

Yeast

White Labs German Bock Lager (2 vials) (WLP833)
Brett and bacteria, as identified below

Notes

04.21.2012 - Brewday began at 7:45 AM. Milled the grain and got the hot liquor going. Used 14 quarts of 168 F water, aiming for 153 F. The initial shot was too high, so I added a bit of filtered water out of the hose to bring it down to 153 F. Set the time to 60 minutes and let the mash sit. Sparged with 6 gallons of 180 F water. The final collection was 7.8 gallons of 1.034 runnings.

Did a starter with each of the two vials. Let ferment for 5 days.

05.01.2012 - Gravity down to 1.018. Put chest freezer temperature up to 60 F for a diacetyl rest.

05.04.2012 - Gravity down to 1.012.

05.07.2012 - Transferred to keg to begin lagering.

08.28.2012 - Not sure why I don't have notes on this until now, but didn't really enjoy the character of this beer after the hops faded, so decided to make a sour lager. While this was originally known as "German Nelson," at some point around the Fourth of July, I added 2lb of kiwi per gallon along with a few lambic oak cubes and some lambic dregs. On 08.28, I transferred to a keg. The beer is now known as "Emerald."

Ruby (Batch 01): Recipe

RETRO: Post written on November 13, 2014, but set to publish on the date of the original brew session to maintain order within the blog.

This was the first batch of Flanders Red/Brown that I've done.  Once it was toward the end of fermentation, it spent some time in a 3-gallon whiskey barrel.  That allowed it to pick up acidity faster, and even though it was the second use of the barrel, the beer picked up some nice whiskey notes.

The recipe for the full batch is as follows:

Batch Number: 35
Brew Date: April 6, 2012
Keg Date: October 14, 2012
Batch Size: 5 Gallon
OG: 1.060 (estimate); 1.056 (measured)
FG: 1.004 (estimate)
Fermentation Temperature: 65-70*F (room temperature throughout)
IBU: 16.1
ABV: 6.8%
SRM: 15.0

Mash: Single infusion at 155*F for 60 minutes

Boil: 60 minute

Fermentables

9lb 0oz Pilsner Malt
1lb 0oz Munich Malt
0lb 8oz Aromatic Malt
0lb 8oz CaraMunich Malt
0lb 8oz Special B
0lb 8oz Wheat, Flaked

Salts & Water

At this point I wasn't doing anything besides filtering the water and adding 5.2 buffer, so that's probably it.

Hops

1.0oz East Kent Goldings (pellet, 4.5 AAU) at 60 minutes

Other

Whirlfloc

Yeast Nutrient

Yeast

Wyeast Roeselare (WY3763)

Notes

Roeselare package was manufactured January 3, 2012. It popped when I hit the smackpack, so I drained the contents into a sanitized measuring cup with foil on top.

Mashed at 155 F for 60 minutes. Did a single-step batch sparge without stirring and collected 7.5 gallons of 1.048 wort for 83% efficiency.

OG is 1.056. Tried siphoning to the carboy after whirlpooling, but ended up with too little beer. Tried to pour through a thin strainer, but still ended up with quite a bit of trub in the fermenter. Will need to transfer to second. Should do so along with red-wine oak cubes from Saison Lambicus.

Gave pure oxygen for 30 seconds and pitched Roeselare blend.

07.04.2012: I transferred 3 gallons of this to the whiskey barrel that previously held Batch 003 -- Kukulcan Imperial Stout. The two remaining gallons were transferred to two separate one-gallon jugs.

07.18.2012: I added approximately 5-6 grams of red-wine-soaked lambic oak cubes to one of the single-gallon portions. This was 4 cubes. I plan to eventually blend the base portion with wine and whiskey portions. I also have one gallon of Monnik Six soured with currants to add to the blend.

LATER: The single-gallon portions had airlock issues and ended up being too acetic, so were dumped.

Strange Wit: Recipe

One of my favorite warm-weather beers is Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca. Since it's not always the easiest to find around DC and is fairly expensive at $12+ per bottle, I thought I'd do something similar. I'm going to brew a traditional witbier, with spicing on the low side, and then add some dregs from one of my sour program beers. Hopefully I'll get a bit of acidity and some moderate funk out of this, and it won't take nearly as long to finish out as my lambic-style beers.

Since I've never done a Wit before, I adapted Jamil's witbier recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. I took down the spice additions a notch, as I generally prefer spicing on the lighter side in witbiers. I also lowered his recommended mash temperature a bit, as I generally prefer dryer, lighter beers. (Also, in this instance, I'd like for everything -- including the bugs -- to finish up quickly, so I don't need to leave many complex chains for the wild stuff to chew up.)

Batch Number: 34
Brew Date: March 25, 2012
Keg Date: TBD
Batch Size: 5 Gallon
OG: 1.045 (measured)
FG: TBD
IBU: 16.4
ABV: TBD
SRM: 3.4

Mash: Single infusion for 60 minutes at 152 F.
Boil: 60 minute

Fermentables

4.5 lb French Pilsner
4.0 lb Flaked Wheat
1.0 lb Flaked Oats
0.25 lb Munich Malt
0.50 lb Rice Hulls

Hops

0.5 oz Centennial (8.8 AAU) at 20 minutes
0.5 oz Centennial (8.8 AAU) at 10 minutes

Other

.25 oz Coriander (crushed) at 5 minutes
.25 oz Orange Peel (bitter) at 5 minutes
1/4 tsp Yeast nutrient at 10 minutes

Yeast

Belgian Wit (WLP400)
Sour Program #1 Dregs

Notes

03.20.2012 Made a starter with White Labs Belgian Wit. I forgot to write down the date, but I think the package was 8-10 weeks old. Probably not a concern given the starter and fairly-low starting gravity. The volume is approximately 1.6 liters.

03.25.2012 Brewday. The starter is still quite hazy, but I'm still going to decant. Even if it's not 100% finished, I wouldn't mind selecting for the more-flocculant cells, as this beer could be served clear.

I mashed at 152 F for 60 minutes, infusing with 15 quarts of 167 F water. Initial mash temperature was 152 F. After draining, I batch sparged with 5.25 gallons of 180 F water. That led to 7.5 gallons of 1.036 runnings.

After a 60-minute boil, I was left with 5.5 gallons of 1.045 wort. The wort was chilled to about 75 F, then I used a funnel to transfer to a 6-gallon Better Bottle. I'll let it sit a bit after room temperature before pitching.

After pitching, I also caved and started the souring/funkifying early, after deciding that I'd rather it get a bit too much wild character rather than not enough. I added about a vial's worth of dregs from Sour Program #1, which is the most acidic out of the three "lambics" I've done so far. I also I also threw in the dregs from a 2011 bottle of Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus, just to get things started. Finally, to keep this mildly authentic in my intentions, I added the dregs from a bottle of Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca (Batch 810; 05.31.2011).

Farmhouse Mild: Recipe

Last fall, I made a Petit Saison with White Labs' Saison I strain. It was a 4% ABV beer with about 25 IBUs and an ounce of Sorachi Ace at flameout. That beer quickly took the place of my Kolsch as my favorite low-alcohol beer, not including, of course, my series of "American Bitters." For round two, I wanted to test out the Wyeast Farmhouse Ale strain. To match the peppery and earthy characteristics, I wanted a bit of fruit, so I went with small hop additions of Citra and Amarillo. My thought on this was that I might be able to capture something akin to very fresh Fantôme Saison, which has beautiful notes of peach and tropical fruits.

Batch Number: 33
Brew Date: March 24, 2012
Keg Date: TBD
Batch Size: 5 Gallon
OG: 1.037
FG: TBD
IBU: 25
ABV: TBD
SRM: 3.0

Mash: Single infusion for 90 minutes at 149 F.
Boil: 90 minute

Fermentables

7.0 lb French Pilsner
0.50 lb Flaked Rye

Hops

0.5 oz Citra (12.4 AAU) at 20 minutes
0.5 oz Amarillo (6.9 AAU) at 20 minutes
0.5 oz Citra (12.4 AAU) at flameout
0.5 oz Amarillo (6.9 AAU) at flameout

Other

1/4 tsp Yeast Nutrient at 10 minutes
Whirlfloc tablet at 10 minutes

Yeast

Farmhouse Ale (Wyeast 3726)

Notes

03.20.2012 Made a starter with Wyeast 3726 Farmhouse Ale. I forgot to write down the date, but I think the package was 8-10 weeks old. I wasn't terribly concerned with the age, as I'm using this to make the second beer in my line of petit saisons. The volume is approximately 1.6 liters.

03.24.2012 Brewday. This is the first brew at our new house. The starter has fully fermented and the yeast is dropped. Very clear beer remains.

I mashed at 149 F for 90 minutes, infusing with 12 quarts of 163 F water. Initial mash temperature was 149 F after adding a pint or two of filtered water. The final temperature in the mash tun was 147 F. After draining, I batch sparged with 6.5 gallons of 180 F water. The final yield was 8 gallons of 1.029 runnings.

After chilling to 70 F, I transferred the wort to a 6-gallon Better Bottle with a funnel, sending over the trub and all. It got some aeration during this time, and also as I sloshed it carrying the carboy down the basement stairs. Give this, and the fact that the OG only came in at 1.037, I didn't feel the need to blast with pure oxygen.

While I normally decant the starter wort, this time I did not, as I hadn't really introduced much oxygen over its course, and also because there was still some yeast left on top, so I thought I'd give it ago. After all, it probably won't affect the flavor much (if at all) and it means an extra 1.5 liters of beer for me.

Demeter Vert (f/k/a Sorachi Lime Saison) (Batch 01): Recipe & Tasting Notes

Batch Number: 31
Brew Date: February 1, 2012
Keg Date: February 26, 2012
Batch Size: 5 Gallon
OG: 1.060
FG: 1.008
IBU: 32
ABV: 6.8%
SRM: 4.2

Mash: Single infusion for 60 minutes at 148 F.
Boil: 60 minute

Fermentables

8.00 lb Continental Pilsner
2.75 lb White Wheat Malt
1.00 lb Flaked Rye

Hops

1.0 oz Sorachi Ace (10.7 AAU) at 20 minutes
1.0 oz Sorachi Ace (10.7 AAU) at 5 minutes
1.0 oz Sorachi Ace (10.7 AAU) at flameout

Other

2.0 Tbsp Lime Zest at 5 minutes

Yeast

Belgian Style Saison Ale Yeast Blend (WLP 568)
Brettanomyces Claussenii (WLP 645)
Russian River Sanctification Dregs

Notes

At the end of the brewday, I had a Russian River Batch 5 Sanctification, and added the dregs from that to the carboy.

Fementation: Ambient temperature in a 6-gallon Better Bottle. Liquid temperature was approximately 72-73 F.



Tasting Notes

Appearance: Pours a moderately-hazy light apricot color with a nice, fluffy white head. Nice retention with some spotty lacing on the way down and a thin collar throughout. 2.5/3.

Nose: The first whiff brings in a bit of lime and citrus plus some backing yeastiness. The Brett may not have been entirely finished out when I decided to keg this one, and it shows in the nose. I was anxious to get this kegged for our moving date, probably at the expense of having a better final product. When I brew this again, I'll be sure to give it some more time. 10.5/12.

Flavor: The taste doesn't have nearly as much residual yeastiness as the nose does. Instead, there's a mild acidity to go along with some zesty citrus character. I think it actually comes through more as lemon, likely because of the Sorachi, though lime is present as well. There's also a slight touch of pineapple character in the background. Fairly complex and enjoyable. 16.5/20.

Feel: The flavor suffers because of the feel. The body is nice; it's quite light and crisp with minimal malt presence in the background. There's a light zest and faint acidity throughout. However, there's not enough carbonation. I let this one sit at 12 PSI for awhile, but that didn't quite give me what I was looking for. I'm coming to the conclusion that I probably need to start bottle conditioning saisons rather than just kegging them. One of these batches I'll need to split the batch by carbonation method and see the differences. With all that said, I really love the faint acidity and citrus character to the background, so probably no change in the recipe, just carbonation. 3.5/5.

Overall: I think this could be a much better beer if I were to give the Brett enough time to really work, and also boosted the carbonation up quite a bit, hitting somewhere around 3 or 3.2 volumes. I'd also boost the lime presence just a bit, probably to around 3 tablespoons. The hops are good where they're at. I think this could end up as a very nice beer with some minor improvements and/or changes in technique. 7.5/10.

Score: 40.5/50

Lost Abbey Veritas Series

Below is all the information I have collected to date regarding Lost Abbey's Veritas series. Big thanks to Beachbum1975 and his blog post (February 24, 2010) for much of the initial information I found regarding blends 001 through 008. Thanks to Beer Served Rare for the rumored bottle counts on 001 through 009 (minus 008). Information stated as coming from Tomme himself is based on what he relayed to a group of friends at the DC Lost Abbey tasting that he crashed. See the videos for that: Part one. Part two.

I will update this information as more becomes available. In the future, I'd like to find specific release dates for each release.


As an initial note, it's likely that each Veritas beer has more components than identified here. After the first blend, which has its components identified by actual percentages, it's likely that additional beers were used but have not been specifically identified by Tomme.

Veritas 001. This is a blend comprised of 2003 Cuvee de Tomme (40%), Old Viscosity (20%), and Red Stone Black Raspberry Mead (20%). The remaining 20% is unclear.

Approximate release: February 2007

Rumored bottle count: 420

Veritas 002. This release is a blend of Avant Garde (barrel-aged and bug-infused versions) plus Black Raspberry Mead and Old Viscosity.

Approximate release: September 2007

Rumored bottle count: 420

Veritas 003 . This variant is a blend of Amazing Grace, Angel's Share, and Cuvee de Tomme. Tomme said that it had cherries and a little bit of Cuvee de Tomme.

Approximate release: January 2008

Rumored bottle count: 840

Veritas 004. The components of one of the most-heralded blends were Cuvee de Tomme, Duck Duck Gooze, and Yellow Bus. Tomme says this was "Yellow Bus light," and used the same peaches as Yellow Bus, but had a different base.

Approximate release: November 2008

Rumored bottle count: 840

Veritas 005. This blend utilized an undisclosed sour base aged in French Oak barrels with wild grapes from Southern California (Temecula). According to Beer News, this beer was once known as Vino Veritas, though this may have been a reference to what became Veritas 007. Tomme confirmed that this used California native wild grapes that are not suitable for wine.

Approximate release: November 2009. Never available as a release to the public.

Rumored bottle count: 72

Veritas 006. This is a blend of Angel's Share (aged on Cabernet Franc grapes) and Sangre del Cristo (Phunky Duck with sour cherries). Other rumored additions include a soured version of Avant Garde, raspberry mead, and tangerines. Tomme indicated that this was "sangria," with a blend of red wine barrel beer and orange zest.

Approximate release: November 2009

Rumored bottle count: 600

Veritas 007. This was rumored to be the famed collaboration Isabelle Proximus aged on Cabernet Franc grapes. Despite this speculation, it's more likely that the base beer was aged in Isabelle Proximus barrels. This was originally intended to be a re-brew of Veritas 005, with a more readily-available type of grape, though it didn't quite work out, and this ended up as Veritas 007 instead of a re-release of Veritas 005. Thanks to BA Masterski for the tip. Tomme confirmed that this was Cabernet Franc grapes with a sour base.

Approximate release: February 2010

Rumored bottle count: 600

Veritas 008. The most-controversial of the series, this is the winner of Lost Abbey's "T.E.A." competition, aka "Traditional Experimental Ale." The base beer was called Mellow Yellow, which itself is Lost Abbey's Port Amigo Mexican Lager aged in wine barrels. The blend then received lemon zest and tea. Tomme said this was a yellow base beer with black tea.

Approximate release: August 2010, as one of the aforementioned selections of "T.E.A." beers at a Lost Abbey event. The bottles were released at the Fourth Annual Barrel Party on November 13, 2010. Each of the 125 attendants received one bottle, and had the option to purchase one additional bottle.

Rumored bottle count: ~250.

Veritas 009. "Veritas 009 is a substantial departure from earlier members of The Lost Abbey’s small batch experimental program, which were generally sour beers aged in French oak barrels for 12 to 15 months. Begun in late 2007 as dark base beer, it was sent to freshly emptied bourbon barrels from Kentucky’s Heaven Hill Distilleries. The beer aged for 15 months before it was moved into French oak barrels previously used for wine (primarily Syrah). Sour cherries were added and the beer was left to rest for another year and three months. Finally, in mid-2010, it was pulled from the barrels, blended, bottled and sent off to condition for an additional 11 months." Description courtesy of The Lost Abbey. Tomme said this was a black base with sour cherries.

Release date: May 28, 2011

Rumored bottle count: 1404

Veritas 010. This beer is rumored to have some sort of relation to Lost Abbey's famed Yellow Bus, as 010 is also a wild ale with peaches. Tomme confirmed this was a yellow sour with yellow peaches. These are different peaches than the ones used in Yellow Bus and Veritas 004.

Release date: November 5, 2011

Rumored bottle count: 250-300

Veritas 011.  From RateBeer: "Veritas 011 is a Barleywine aged in McCall Cognac Barrels for 11 months. We added some fresh nectarines over the summer and hit it with a splash of Brett Clausenii.

It is not sour and may only develop a bit a fruity Brett qualities over time, so we aren’t expecting a full blown sour ale. ABV is 12.85%."

Veritas 012.  From RateBeer: "Veritas 012 will be a Kriek - blend of blond sours with cherries.
Similar profile to our 2011 Cable Car Kriek"

Veritas 013.  From RateBeer: "American Sour with Peaches and Nectarines The 13th edition of the Veritas series is an experiment using 3 separate strains of Brettanomyces, before honey, Peaches and Nectarines were added. The beer spent around 2 years total in French Oak barrels. Notes of fruits Peaches and Nectarines, oaky wood, brown sugar and Toasted Granola with Brett character throughout."

Multiple Appearances. This is a list of base beers and which Veritas variants they have appeared in:

Amazing Grace: 003
Angel's Share: 003, 006
Avant Garde: 002
Cuvee de Tomme: 001, 003, 004
Duck Duck Gooze: 004
Isabelle Proximus: 007
Mellow Yellow: 008
Old Viscosity: 001, 002
Red Stone Black Raspberry Mead: 001, 002
Sanre del Cristo: 006
Yellow Bus: 004

* Label image courtesy if The Lost Abbey.

Allagash Coolship

Allagash looks to be preparing another batch of Coolship Red. Rob Tod a few pictures today, including photos of unlabeled corked and caged bottles, as well as of the blending session.

Resting bottles:


Blending:


Pictures via Rob Tod's Twitter feed.