Tag Archives: beer

The Single Monk

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I’ve been brewing more sessionable beers these days and this is a style that I have tasted at homebrew competitions and I really wanted to brew this style for some time. I’m glad I finally took the plunge and did it because I am very pleased of the results.

Also with this beer I used pilsner malt from Riverbend Malt House out of Asheville, NC. When I tried a few of the grains while I milled the malt, and oh my gosh, this stuff was tasty! I was super anxious to try this beer after snacking on the malts during the brew day. Just to note, I believe using a quality flavorful malt enhanced this beer from good to great.

Tasting Notes: Abbey Yeast (WLP 530)
Aroma: Light grainy pilsner malt aromas that also include a faint hint of grass, light spice and floral hop aromas, fruity esters are moderate that are reminiscent of pears. Low levels of the phenolics (clove). Delicate aroma that the fruity esters and hops sort of mingle together with the malt background.

Flavor: Cracker-like with a touch of grass pilsner-like malt flavors. Hop flavor is low with some floral notes. Moderately-low bitterness. Fruity esters are moderate with pears dominating. Finished dry with a slight spice and pear notes throughout the finish.

Tasting Notes: Belgian Ale Yeast (WLP 550)
Aroma: Light grainy pilsner malt aroma, moderately light spice and floral hop aromas. Moderate phenolics that include clove and black pepper. A very faint honey characteristic.

Flavor: Moderate clove and black pepper phenolics dominate the flavor. The malt background is cracker-like with a touch of grass. Hop flavors are low and floral. Finished dry with a lingering clove and spice component through the finish of the drink.

Since I’ve been doing mostly 10 gallon batches, a good percentage of my beers have been how about I pitch different yeasts to see what different characteristics I’ll get out of each beer. I didn’t think this one would be drastically different, but since I’ve been drinking these two beers side by side quite a bit, I do prefer the Abbey Ale yeast over the Belgian Ale yeast. This is not saying that I do not like the Belgian Ale yeast, I just prefer the ester profile of the Abbey Ale over the Belgian Ale in this beer. Trust me, neither of these beers are going to “water” my flowers anytime soon.

Cheers!

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
11 gal 60 min 26.7 IBUs 4.6 SRM 1.046 1.006 5.3 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Trappist Single 26 A 1.044 - 1.054 1.004 - 1.01 25 - 45 3 - 5 2.4 - 3.4 4.8 - 6 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Riverbend Pilsner 18 lbs 90
Biscuit (Dingemans) 1 lbs 5
Sugar, Table (Sucrose) 1 lbs 5

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Hallertau 3 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 3.4
Hallertau 1 oz 15 min Boil Pellet 3.4
Willamette 1 oz 5 min Boil Pellet 4.2

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 7.47 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) 5.91 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Calcium Chloride 4.81 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Lactic Acid 2.50 tsp 60 min Mash Water Agent
Salt 0.74 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Abbey Ale (WLP530) White Labs 78% 66°F - 72°F
Belgian Ale (WLP550) White Labs 82% 68°F - 78°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Saccharification 147.9°F 90 min
Mash Out 168°F 10 min

Notes

9.7g epsom salt….whoops

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Cloud Shadow Hefeweizen

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This past fall I taught a personal enrichment class that focused on beer and food pairings. I brewed a hefe for this class and I also brined my Thanksgiving turkey in this beer as well (which turned out phenomenal by the way). I also baked bread using this beer. Yes, this is a basic hefe recipe, well pretty much a basic hefe recipe. I thought I had more wheat malt on hand that I actually did, so I supplemented the wheat malt with some flaked wheat. I thin it added a little more body to the beer and I don’t believe it really hurt the beer. I also used Hallertau Blanc to bitter as I didn’t want to buy an ounce of Hallertau since I had this variety around.

This beer was just a solid beer and might have a presence in my kegerator on the regular. Mainly because this is one of the top 5 styles that the wife likes, it’s good to have beer on tap that she can appreciate as well.

After you see the pictures below of the turkeys and bread, I am sure you might want to know where I got the recipes. Well you’re in luck because I want to share those with you because you deserve it.

Honey Hefeweizen Boule Loaf

Beer Brined Turkey

  • Mashing the hefeweizen
    Mashing the Hefeweizen
  • Kitty finding a warm blanket to lay on while I brew the hefe.
    Kitty finding a warm blanket to lay on while I brew the hefe.
  • Fermenting the Hefe
    Fermenting the Hefe
  • Hefe Brined Turkey Oven Roasted
    Hefe Brined Turkey Oven Roasted
  • Hefe brined Turkey smoked
    Hefe brined Turkey smoked
  • Hefeweizen Honey Boule
    Hefeweizen Honey Boule

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
11 gal 60 min 13.7 IBUs 3.4 SRM 1.050 1.012 5.1 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Weissbier 10 A 1.044 - 1.052 1.01 - 1.014 8 - 15 2 - 6 2.9 - 4.5 4.3 - 5.6 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pilsner Malt (Rahr) 11 lbs 51.16
Wheat, Flaked 8.5 lbs 39.53
Wheat Malt, White (Rahr) 2 lbs 9.3

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Hallertau Blanc 0.8 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 9.7

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Calcium Chloride 6.60 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 5.27 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) 4.16 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Lactic Acid 2.00 tsp 60 min Mash Water Agent
Salt 0.75 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Weihenstephan Weizen (3068) Wyeast Labs 75% 64°F - 75°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Saccharification 152.1°F 75 min
Mash Out 168°F 10 min

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Triple Hopped Hazy Double IPA

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I just brewed this triple hopped, hazy Double IPA, y’all! I’m just taking a silly jab there. I really don’t know what to call this beer. It’s hazy, it’s hoppy, it’s got a slight warming to it. Hey it’s beer! Brewed this beer with Henry and Brian. Henry found a recipe he liked and he tweaked it to his liking (mainly because we couldn’t find Galaxy hops that weren’t stupid expensive). Am I happy with it? It’s drinkable, and has become more drinkable everyday I pull some off the tap. When I first kegged it and pulled a sample a few days after kegging and dry hopping, but before it was carbonated, I was really concerned. I did some research on dry hopping in the keg and of course the Internet is right, am I right? You know since this post is on the Internet everything I write is true </sarcasm>. Ok, I’m done there, but anyways, I found that some people would get vegetal and grassy characters from dry hopping in the keg. By the way this is what I was perceiving I was not pleased at all. I pulled the keg out for about a week to hopefully extract some of those wonderful lupulin oils into the beer. Those qualities have seemed to have faded into the distance (whew!).

A few tasting notes on the beer. I think we have the malt profile down with this recipe. I want to put something other than 6 oz of Columbus into the whirlpool though. It is super earthy and dank, not the quality I was looking for in this beer. I wanted more fruit flavors in it. If I am to re-brew this I may use the same hop profile I used in the Wit Gone Indie recipe. Or another option is that I did buy a pound of Azaaca recently. It’s pretty bitter, as BeerSmith tells me it’s 110 IBUs. Woah! It’s not offensively bitter though and there isn’t too much malt sweetness to balance it out. The aroma of the beer is fantastic though. But how would you learn if you didn’t brew something you thought you couldn’t improve upon. Lesson learned. But this is not a bad lesson.

And another reason I’m having a bad relationship with this beer is oh my, what a brew day we had! Read my notes below on the massacre of a brew day it was. Not all brew days go well, do they? This one, well I was ready to break up once we were done.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
11 gal 60 min 110.0 IBUs 6.4 SRM 1.090 1.023 9.0 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Double IPA 22 A 1.065 - 1.085 1.008 - 1.018 60 - 120 6 - 14 2.4 - 2.9 7.5 - 10 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pilsner Malt (Rahr) 26 lbs 68.42
Oats, Flaked 4 lbs 10.53
Wheat, Flaked 4 lbs 10.53
Caramel Malt - 20L (Briess) 2 lbs 5.26
Carapils (Briess) 2 lbs 5.26

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Columbus (Tomahawk) 2 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 17.8
Columbus (Tomahawk) 2 oz 10 min Boil Pellet 17.8
Columbus (Tomahawk) 6 oz 30 min Aroma Pellet 17.8
Nelson Sauvin 8 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 12
Citra 4 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 14.1
Mosaic (HBC 369) 4 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 12.3
Columbus (Tomahawk) 2 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 14

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Calcium Chloride 17.75 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) 11.13 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 7.81 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Baking Soda 3.33 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
London Ale III (1318) Wyeast Labs 73% 64°F - 74°F
SafAle English Ale (S-04) DCL/Fermentis 73% 59°F - 75.2°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Saccharification 152.1°F 75 min
Mash Out 168°F 10 min

Notes

What an eventful brew day. Mashed in and there was absolutely no flow coming out of the mash tun. I back flush it with water. I got some flow, and then all of the sudden the flow stops. I try to get going again, let the wort settle down, no dice. We move the mash into one of the old igloo cooler mash tuns. Well, it doesn’t fit in the 10 gallon mash tun. AND! No flow out of that mash tun either!! UGH! I take apart the keggle converted mash tun to find that there is a HUGE amount of grain in the dip tube. UGH!! I see that the false bottom is bent pretty badly. I took a hammer to that thing and attempted to flatten it out. We then move the mash back into the keggle mash tun. BOOM WE HAVE FLOW! Then it comes to a dragging halt. WTF! Ok, Well, I throw my hands up. We’re at roughly 1.065, WAY off the 1.080 we should have been. I start draining the mash tun, then I put in all of the DME I had on hand which is roughly 21 ounces. After the pump seems to have finally pooped out, we scooped out all of the grain for Troy to use to make crackers with. I notice there is STILL a bunch of wort left in the bottom. I use a paint strainer bag in a 5 gallon bucket and we dump all of the wort and left over grain into it. Boom, we got roughly 2 more gallons of wort ouf of the mash that I wouldn’t have thought I got because the pump quit flowing.

Beer finished at 18 brix with 11 gallons of total wort

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Biotransformation Experiment – The Transformed Ale

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Looks like I’m in this whole experimental thing for the long haul. This time the Experimental Brewing Podcast is testing Biotransformation.

Question: Does Dry Hopping a Beer During High Krausen Produce a Organoleptic Difference. Note: If you’re like me, you had the confused puppy look with Organoleptic. Let me help ya, being, affecting, or relating to qualities (as taste, color, odor, and feel) of a substance (as a food or drug) that stimulate the sense organs. That helped me, hopefully that’ll help you also.

This one was an interesting experiment. The difference in the two carboys was the dry hopping schedule. As you can see in my notes. A trip interfered with dry hopping my second carboy, which I think threw it off a touch. But all in all the beers turned out reasonably well and it was not easy to distinguish between the two beers. I am afraid I wasn’t able to have the taste panel I really wanted to have, but you know that happens. I still have plenty of beer left, maybe I can update this post if I can get some other tasters on board.

Here is the tasting panel I held. Nine total testers, three of them picked the odd sample. One of the testers was determined to get it correct so she asked for another triangle test. Well unfortunately, she could not pick the odd sample on her second go around. After the opaque cups were tested, I gave each one a sample in a clear plastic cups. It was interesting to see how the difference in preference was when the samples were given in clear glasses.

Notes on yellow cup (odd sample):

  • Slightly more hop forward
  • Very Bitter, hop flavor astringent
  • firm flavor

Notes on green cup:

  • hint of hops, very similar to purple
  • Strongest flavor of the three
  • lighter, smells off

Notes on purple cup:

  • hint of hops
  • smooth, mild flavor

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
11 gal 60 min 40.6 IBUs 5.8 SRM 1.053 1.013 5.2 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
American Pale Ale 18 B 1.045 - 1.06 1.01 - 1.015 30 - 50 5 - 10 2.3 - 3 4.5 - 6.2 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt (2 Row) US 10 lbs 45.45
Pale Malt, Maris Otter 8 lbs 36.36
Munich 10L (Briess) 4 lbs 18.18

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Centennial 1.5 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 10
Centennial 2 oz 5 min Boil Pellet 10
Mosaic (HBC 369) 2 oz 5 min Boil Pellet 12.7
Centennial 2 oz 14 days Dry Hop Pellet 10
Mosaic (HBC 369) 2 oz 14 days Dry Hop Pellet 12.7

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Calcium Chloride 16.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 16.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
London Ale III (1318) Wyeast Labs 73% 64°F - 74°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 152°F 60 min

Notes

Will dry hop carboy A when it reaches high krausen. Record length from dry hop until terminal gravity is reached. Note number of days until terminal gravity reached. Rack to a keg and keep cold.
Dry hop carboy B when terminal gravity is reached for the same amount of days that carboy A was dry hopped.

Purchased 2 packes of Wyeast 1318, dated April 17, 2017. Each pack of yeast was put into 1000 mL of wort for a SNS starter.

Since the IBU experiment I particpated in, I have been timing my chilling.
10 minutes - 133F
20 minutes - 103F
30 minutes - 90F

Each carboy got 30 seconds of O2. Pitched yeast approximately 7 hours after brew sessions was finished.

Dry hopped Carboy A - 5/15/2017
Kegged Carboy A - 5/25/2017

Dry hopped Carboy B - 6/7/2017
Kegged Carboy B - 6/17/2017

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