Tag Archives: home brew

Rice Paddy Lager (Japanese Lager)

Posted on by
My Grandmother's Hanko

My Grandmother’s Hanko

Japan is a part of my heritage. Quick version, my paternal grandmother and grandfather married in Japan and then moved back to the states. I have always been a little interested in the Japanese culture, but never really delved into it. Going through some of my grandmother’s belongings I found where she signed some documents and then there was a red stamp beside her signature. This was her seal, or hanko. I wasn’t quite sure of this, but it intrigued me. And I was able to find her Hanko. Which that was a very surreal moment for me. I never knew her maiden name until I saw the documents. Yamada.  A quite common surname in Japan. It’s meaning mountain rice paddy or mountain field. I found one site to say yama meaning mountain and ta meaning field, rice paddy. I decided to set sail and brew myself a rice lager, this is where I came up with the name, Rice Paddy Lager. I admit, I don’t know the Japanese culture very well. Just scratched the surface. So if I have things wrong. I apologize. The internet is my only source now.

Now onto the recipe development. I worked hard on this, seriously. I watched a YouTube video. If you guys aren’t watching the Clawhammer Supply YouTube channel, I’d highly suggest it. Their care free attitude towards brewing is what makes this hobby great. You can either go all out and be super nerdy with it, or you could just brew what you like and how you want it. It’s your choice. I pretty much just followed their recipe. See their video on brewing a Japanese Rice Lager. 

The main difference I did is that I used a medium grain rice. It’s my go to rice, rarely will you find a long grain rice in my house, unless we’re making a Cajun dish. Also I just used 1 ounce total of Sorachi Ace. This high alpha acid hop, I didn’t want to accidently introduce that much bitterness to it.

Also, this wasn’t my typical brew day. We one of those 20 year ice storms heading our way. I gathered everything I could to brew this beer inside my house, because I didn’t want to try to run my heater, and vent the beer in the brew shed, because once I turn on the vent, bye bye heat that my heater worked so hard to warm up.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5.5 gal 60 min 18.1 IBUs 2.7821558 1.043 1.010 4.3 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
International Pale Lager 2 A 1.042 - 1.05 1.008 - 1.012 18 - 25 2 - 6 2.5 - 3.2 4.6 - 6 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pilsner (2 Row) Ger 5 lbs 52.63
Rice, Flaked 4 lbs 42.11
Acid Malt 8 oz 5.26

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Sorachi Ace 0.4 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 13.4
Sorachi Ace 0.6 oz 0 min Boil Pellet 13.4

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 4.20 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Calcium Chloride 1.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) 1.00 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Saflager Lager (W-34/70) DCL/Fermentis 75% 48°F - 59°F

Mash

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

Notes

Used nishiki rice. 4 pounds. Was approximately 8 cups of rice. Used 12 cups of water. Rice was pretty much cooked all the way through, there were some crunchy bits though. Volumes were a bit high because the rice was already saturated with water. Will need to reduce the water down a touch. Used approx 8 gallons of water, got 7.5 pre boil volume. Since I was using a 7 gallon pot, I boiled roughtly 1.5 gallons another pot until I can get enough boiled out of the big pot to add them. I will add the 60 minute hop addition once I can combine the two worts together for a full volume boil.

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file
Rice Paddy Lager

Tasting Notes

Aroma

Doughy and cracker like malt character. Moderately-low lemon and low herbal hop notes. No esters present. Ever slight note of DMS. 

Appearance


Straw in color, fairly clear (it is now as I am reviewing it, I know the pic is quite hazy. haha), poured a white head that is lasting. Beer leaves a lacing on the glass as I enjoy the beer. 

Flavor

Cracker and doughy malt character. Hop flavor is lemony and herbal that is of a moderate level. Fairly well balanced that finishes very dry. 

Overall Impression

I have really enjoyed this beer. There are a few small tweaks I would like to do next time. I want to drop the acidulated malt down to probably 4 ounces instead of 8 ounces. I was following Clawhammer’s recipe as a base. All in all I am really pleased with this beer. I will brew again. 

Brings All The Boys to the Yard IPA / Saison

Posted on by

My homebrew club does a a intra-club competition that we call the Makeshift Mashout. We have everyone put ingredients into 3 hats: a brewing ingredient, a hop, and a yeast. I believe I entered oats, mosaic hops, and Vermont Ale  yeast because I’m kind of on a New England IPA kick, yes, I’m brewing with the trends these days, excuse me there. The three ingredients that were selected were oats (WOOT!), CTZ hops, and saison yeast. I started on my journey of formulating a recipe. Where do I go to none other than The Mad Fermentationist Blog. I found a recipe of his using Columbus hops and oats. I used his Softer, Juicier, and Uglier APA recipe as the basis for this beer.  I didn’t have any Nelson Sauvin hops and me being me, I didn’t want to buy a pound of them. I ordered 8 ounces of El Dorado hops. The descriptors of these hops were pear, watermelon, and stone fruit. This is exactly what I’m looking for in this IPA. I had some Amarillo stashed away in the freezer and ordered some CTZ hops with the El Dorados and now I’m about ready to fire up the kettle.

My grain bill was missing malts that would drop the mash pH in the effective range, this is why the initial grain bill called for acidulated malt. If you’re wondering no, I don’t have a reliable pH meter, I’m going all on gut instinct, which, well probably isn’t the best method. A reliable pH meter is on my wish list which will happen sooner than later. The acidulated malt I had in stock was overrun with weevils. It was disconcerting the amount of bugsthat had taken over the malt. I ditched them out in the yard and went onto something else. Since it was just for lowering mash pH, I added phosphoric acid to my mash water. At least this was a quick fix. Have I mentioned I need to go ahead and buy a reliable pH meter?

Harvester of Aqua

Also to note, I harvested my water from a spring that is 20 miles south of where I live. The water is very pure tasting and it has made some fantastic beers. I would love to get my hands on the analysis report. I do have a Total Dissolved Solids meter and it read 13 PPM. Pretty pure if you were to ask me. I built up a small water profile by using a 2:1 ration sulfites to chloride. Why the small numbers in these? Well I only had 6.6 grams of gypsum, so there you go. I wanted to use 2 grams of gypsum per gallon of water used, that didn’t happen as you see. No problem though, at the end I’ll still have beer.

Now onto my fermentation, this thing was super active which made me a happy brewer. The saison yeast was a few months past the prime, but I did a yeast starter and both yeasts were happily fermenting.

NE IPA and the “saison” fermenting away nicely. #homebrew

A video posted by wickdawg (@wickdawg) on

I can’t wait to write up some tasting notes on this bad boy. When I open the chest freezer to check on my babies in there, it smells glorious. I hope that transpires into what I am about to enjoy.

This beer has had a lot of life so far. There is a local artisan bakery in town. I sent him a text the morning of my brew day and told him this was a little different grain bill than usual and he was interested in what I had. He came by a few hours later to pick up my spent grains and he made some lovely loafs of bread. If you ever want to know what a brew day smells like, this bread delivered those aromas to his customers. It smelled of sweet grains and wort to boot. It was mighty tasty bread. I believe it might have been my favorite bread to come out of his bakery.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
11 gal 60 min 56.5 IBUs 3.9 SRM 1.061 1.012 6.4 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
American IPA 21 A 1.056 - 1.07 1.008 - 1.014 40 - 70 6 - 14 2.4 - 2.9 5.5 - 7.5 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt (2 Row) US 14 lbs 56
Oats, Flaked (Briess) 5 lbs 20
Wheat Malt, Bel 5 lbs 20
Carafoam (Weyermann) 1 lbs 4

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Columbus (Tomahawk) 2 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 17.8
El Dorado 3 oz 0 min Boil Pellet 13.9
Amarillo 1 oz 0 min Boil Pellet 7.2
Columbus (Tomahawk) 1 oz 0 min Boil Pellet 17.8

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 6.60 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Calcium Chloride 3.30 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Leeuwenhoek Saison Blend (WLP564) White Labs 78% 64°F - 90°F
London Ale III (1318) Wyeast Labs 73% 64°F - 74°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 152°F 60 min

Notes

Heated 8 gallons of water in the BK to mash. Doughed in with 170 degree water. Initial mash temperature was ~142 degrees. Boiled ~1 gallon of water to add to mash to raise the mash temperature. Added to the mash, the mash was inconsistent as far as temperature, but was averaging around 152 degrees. Added 1/2 tsp of phosporic acid to mash water to help lower pH. I do not have a pH meter, just blindly did this.

Heating 8.5 gallons of water in the HLT with my immersion circulating heater covered with foil to keep heat in.

Anvil FIAK
—————
Wyeast 1318 London Ale III
12 hours after pitch - 1 ounce El Dorado Hops
1 ounce El Dorado - 14 Days
1 ounce Amarillo - 14 days
.5 ounce Columbus - 14 Days
1 ounce El Dorado - 7 Days
1 ounce Amarillo - 7 Days
.5 ounce Columbus - 7 Days

6 Gallon Glass Carboy
———————————
WLP564 Leeuwenhoek Saison Blend
1 ounce El Dorado - 14 Days
1 ounce Amarillo - 14 Days
1 ounce Columbus - 14 Days

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

Forks and Corks Porter

Posted on by

2016-07-30 07.34.00Going back to my Busty Porter recipe I brewed at the first of this year and my other robust porter recipes, the Busty Porter was just stuff I had sitting around at home because it was not my normal porter recipe. Well, this time I made sure I had everything. This is also going to be one of the quickest turn-around on a beer I’ve ever done. I brewed this beer exactly 2 weeks before the event. Racked to the keg after being in the fermenter for 11 days, thew it in the kegerator, and used the Blichman QuickCarb the next day to carb this puppy up. I pushed this beer through Strange Brew Coffeehouse House Blend beans to have a coffee porter at the event. It turned out pretty good for such a quick turnaround beer. Would I normally do this? No, not really, but I’ve had a lot going on lately at the house (ahem, bathroom reno). This is why I went back to the cooler mash tun instead of my direct fired mash tun. I have everything stored away right now. The direct fired isn’t very portable right now, which this is something I need to change.

2016-07-30 07.36.03But why did I brew 8 gallons? Well, before I started my boil, I pulled off some wort. A friend wanted to make pastrami and wanted to braise it in beer. I suggested braising it in sweet unhopped wort. I suggested this when braising the meat you wouldn’t make the wort more bitter while letting it break down the fats. I thought this was a really cool idea. The final product was really good and interesting. I think beer wort has some potential to do some really creative things in the kitchen.

 

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
8 gal 60 min 28.1 IBUs 37.0 SRM 1.063 1.014 6.6 %
Actuals 1.063 1.01 7.0 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
American Porter 20 A 1.05 - 1.07 1.012 - 1.018 25 - 50 22 - 40 2.3 - 2.9 4.8 - 6.5 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt, Maris Otter 13 lbs 67.1
Munich Malt 2 lbs 10.32
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 1.25 lbs 6.45
Black (Patent) Malt 10 oz 3.23
Cara-Pils/Dextrine 10 oz 3.23
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L 10 oz 3.23
Chocolate Malt 10 oz 3.23
Pale Chocolate 10 oz 3.23

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Goldings, East Kent 2 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 5
Willamette 1 oz 15 min Boil Pellet 4.8
Goldings, East Kent 0.5 oz 0 min Boil Pellet 5
Willamette 0.5 oz 0 min Boil Pellet 4.8

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Safale American (US-05) DCL/Fermentis 77% 59°F - 75°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 152°F 60 min

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

Wit Gone Indie

Posted on by

2016-05-03 18.12.12Michael Tonsmeire wrote the book on American Sour Beers. He also has a pretty slamming blog (The Mad Fermentationist). Y’all should give it a follow. Last summer he posted his Indië Wit recipe, I thought it sounded amazing. I’m not a huge IPA brewer, but I have made my share of them. Anyways I wanted a spring time beer and this is exactly what I wanted. I am very pleased on how this turned out.

Tasting Notes

Aroma- Sweet oranges (almost orange juice like), tropical fruit and citrus hop aromas. The witbier component is a bit tough to pick up in the background, but it’s there. The spices and hops are sharing the monkey bars on the playground, but the hops are the alpha of the two.

Appearance- Very cloudy, gold in color, white fluffy head that’s retaining

Flavor- very large orange, tropical and citrus hop flavors, pepper, coriander, bready malt on the verge of showing some tartness, your sour heads would even think this is tart at all. It is more of a Witbier with a large hop character. The hop stand didn’t add very much bitterness. Which leads to a very drinkable beer.

It is very interesting how different both batches are. they are both very similar, but the kegged beer and the bottled beer are different. Personally I believe the kegged version has much more hop flavor than the bottled version. I might need to do a side by side comparison soon and up date this post.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
11.5 gal 60 min 72.4 IBUs 3.5 SRM 1.048 1.012 4.6 %
Actuals 1.046 1.01 4.7 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Specialty IPA 21 B 1.05 - 1.085 1.008 - 1.018 40 - 100 5 - 40 2.2 - 2.9 3 - 10 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt (2 Row) US 11 lbs 53.01
White Wheat Malt 5 lbs 24.1
Wheat, Flaked 4 lbs 19.28
Acidulated (Weyermann) 12 oz 3.61

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Warrior 26 g 60 min Boil Pellet 15.6
Citra 56.7 g 20 min Aroma Pellet 14.1
Mosaic (HBC 369) 56.7 g 20 min Aroma Pellet 11.5
Simcoe 56.7 g 290 min Aroma Pellet 11.6
Citra 56.7 g 9 days Dry Hop Pellet 14.1
Mosaic (HBC 369) 56.7 g 9 days Dry Hop Pellet 11.5
Simcoe 56.7 g 9 days Dry Hop Pellet 11.6

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Coriander Seed 12.00 g 5 min Boil Spice
Blood Orange Peel 1.00 oz 5 min Boil Spice

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
French Saison (3711) Wyeast Labs 80% 65°F - 77°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 158°F 45 min

Notes

Heated 7 gallons of water
Mashed at 158 degrees for 60 minutes
Raised mash temp to 170
Recirculated at mash out temp for approximately 20 minutes

Added gypsum at 60 minutes

At flame out added orange peel, coriander, and all whirlpool/hop stand hops. Whirlpooled for 20 minutes started wort chiller.

One carboy filled to 5.5 gallons
- Two yeast packs (dated 11/29/2015 & 2/8/2016)

One carboy filled to 4.5 gallons
- One yeast pack (dated 2/8/2016)

Started fermentation around 66 degrees, plugged in heat lamp and set controller to 70 degrees.

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

3/17/2016 – Dry Hopped both carboys
Carboy 1
28 g. Citra (14.1% AA)
28 g. Mosaic (11.5% AA)
28 g. Simcoe (11.6% AA)

Carboy 2
28 g. Citra (14.1% AA)
28 g. Mosaic (11.5% AA)
28 g. Simcoe (11.6% AA)

3/26/2016
Bottled one carboy (Gold Medal winner)
Kegged other

Busty Porter

Posted on by

2016-01-01 13.57.02I’ve built myself a new brewing system. It has been nothing but trial and error with it. The gas portion of the system is giving me a lot of its and I’m starting to get a twitch I believe. But all that aside, I am still making beer. Now that I’ve upgraded I’m making a lot more beer these days. Since I can brew double batches I’ve been pitching different yeasts into each carboy. It’s been very interesting to see how each one has come out.

What did I want to brew first on my new direct fired and recirculating mash getup? Something dark and something drinkable. I’m going to brew me a robust porter. I love a good porter. Here is to hoping the first brew on my new system quaffable.

Yes, I have slacked on getting my blogs up on the site. I’m going to work on a lot of them here in the next few days to get them out and caught up. Yes, this brew date was on New Years Day. But I’m still drinking this beer. I’ll have tasting notes up soon.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
12 gal 60 min 44.1 IBUs 36.0 SRM 1.061 1.013 6.3 %
Actuals 1.058 1.01 6.3 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Robust Porter 12 B 1.048 - 1.065 1.012 - 1.016 25 - 50 22 - 35 1.8 - 2.5 4.8 - 6.5 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt (2 Row) US 21 lbs 73.68
Munich Malt 3 lbs 10.53
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 2 lbs 7.02
Chocolate Malt 1.5 lbs 5.26
Black (Patent) Malt 1 lbs 3.51

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
East Kent Goldings (EKG) 3.5 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 4.5
East Kent Goldings (EKG) 1.5 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 4.5
Willamette 1.5 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 5.1

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
California Ale (WLP001) White Labs 77% 68°F - 73°F
Edinburgh Ale (WLP028) White Labs 73% 65°F - 70°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 152°F 60 min

Notes

Starkville Water Profile - Water machine in Wal-Mart
Recirculated Mashed at 152 degrees for 60 minutes.
Batched sparged at 170 degrees.

Brewed on 1/1/2016

Pithced WLP001 into one carboy
Pitched WLP028 into the other.

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

Diacetyl: What the ale is wrong?

Posted on by

The scientific definition of diacetyl is a vicinal diketone with the molecular formula C4H6O2. In simpleton terms, it is a movie theater butter or butterscotch flavor. Yes, I have heard that movie theaters actually are using diacetyl when they ask you if you want your popcorn buttered. Is this fact? I’m not saying no, but I wouldn’t doubt it. But diacetyl is a common problem in homebrew. I have even had a lot of commercial examples that have loads diacetyl. But this is is not a flaw in some English style beers.

So how does diacetyl get in our beer? Diacetyl is produced during fermentation.  It starts to show up in the low krauesen phase. Huh? Low krauesen? This is the phase of fermentation when the yeast has finished growing and you’ll start seeing a foam wreath develop in the middle of the surface.  The yeast has not completely adapted to the environment and ready to start metabolizing those sugars you worked so hard to create.  Ok, maybe I need to go in depth on the yeast development cycle one day.  It is quite interesting what all those yeasts do during fermentation.  Back to diacetyl.  It can start showing up in the low krauesen phase and the yeast will start cleaning up by products that were developed during late krausen phase.

Ok, so now we know when diacetyl can show up in our beer. Now why am I tasting it in my beer Well, it can be a lot of things.

  • If you have a long lag phase (from when you pitch to when you get to the growth phase of fermentation) which can be caused from poor yeast health or insufficient aeration.
  • Some bacteria strains can cause diacetyl production. Here is where I use that sanitation word. Any homebrewer has heard sanitation probably 3.7 million times. Seriously. Sanitation, so that’s 3,700,001 times.
  • Premature racking out of primary. See earlier? You might not be able to see when your beer in late krauesen. So make sure your beer is done fermenting by checking your final gravity for a couple days straight to make sure your gravity is not dropping.
  • Under pitching. Huh? So you’ve never made a yeast starter? You’ll improve your beer ten fold by making yeast starters. Take the plunge, get a stir plate and you can make sure you’ll have enough yeast to pitch.
  • Too much oxygen. Wait one minute. I bet you remember me mentioning earlier about insufficient aeration? Well of course I did, there can also be too much. Yeast absorb all the oxygen it can during the growth phase. Well if there is too much oxygen there will still be oxygen lingering when the fermentation is over. Most homebrewers don’t filter their beer. If there is still oxygen left over, the yeast will still be feeding off of it and still trying to go through fermentation phases. Also minimize oxygen exposure after fermentation started, e.g. while racking to the keg or bottling bucket.
  • Increase your fermentation temperature. That is use a diacetyl rest. A diacetyl rest is a common practice for lager beers. When you warm up the yeast it becomes a bit more active and it will help clean up the yeast. You can also use a diacetyl rest for ales, but most of the time you are fermenting at the correct temperature for the diacetyl to be cleaned up.
  • Use a less flocculant yeast strain. Flocculation is the state of yeast of being clumped together and falling out of solution. If the yeast is still in suspension it will be a little more efficient when cleaning up diacetyl.

Diacetyl will most of the time be a flaw in lagers, but not in every ale style. It is acceptable in a Czech Pale Lager, English and Scottish style beers and also a dry stout.

I’m sure we have all had this problem show up in our beers. This is one of the major issues that I fight with, especially since I started doing lagers.

Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew.

References:
How to Brew
Beer Judge Education Course

Deciphering Judge Comments

Posted on by

I think I’m going to do a series on the blog about this. I just entered two more beers that have been in competitions this year. This will be something good to write about in an upcoming blog post.

I’ve entered quite a few homebrew competitions, and I have really tried to take the feedback as constructive criticism. It is hard to take when someone rips your beer. I’ve sent soured beers, flawed beers, and some good beers. I have been fortunate to get some good feedback, but I have never really been told your beer sucks, which is a good thing. When studying for the BJCP, I learned that the overall impression is not just your impression, but using your brewing knowledge to suggest what the brewer can do to make that beer a better fit into the style in which it was entered. What will make this beer a 50 point beer. I’ll give you a couple examples of what judges have said on my sheets, and just maybe this will help lure you to enter more competitions.

Category 4C: Schwarzbier – Two Sides of the Schwarz

2013 National Homebrew Competition

Judge 1 – National – A fairly nice beer that suffers from a little diacetyl. Aside form a diacetyl rest at 68 degrees F 75% of the way through fermentation (75% x (OG – FG)) maybe aerate more and/or lager longer. Otherwise nicely done.

Judge 2 – Certified – This is a good beer. That has balance between the base malt and the roast. Also has enough hops to balance the malt.

2013 War of the Wort

Judge 3 – Recognized – Light smooth roast with malty richness made a very nice beer. Hop character was a little low in flavor and ok to be hidden in the aroma. Would like to see a little more hop flavor, although with a lighter roasted schwarz this is not completely a bad thing. Very nice beer!

Judge 4 – Certified – Enjoyable well brewed schwarz. I think the bitterness is a tad too intense. Suggest reducing hop bitterness and backing down a little on the sharpness of the roast. Very dry.

Let me note, these entries were from the same keg. So technically unless something was wrong with the bottle, these should have been the same beer. But you know that finicky home brew. So what can I do to make this beer fit better into style? One judge noted diacetyl. Shall I worry too much about the diacetyl that was noted? Not really since I should make my diacetyl rest good practice. It wasn’t a major flaw noted. So what did the judges tell me that will make this a 50 point beer? Not too much. Judges 3 and 4 both noted hop character, but in different aspects. This beer has been lagering since January so of course hop flavors would have dropped out. Judge 4 was the only one to note hop bitterness was harsh. Was it hop bitterness, or did I extract too much roasted bitterness? To conclude, they all four thought it was a well brewed beer, but it wasn’t a great beer. What can I do to make it great? Other than the detected diacetyl, which I do not typically detect in my beers until someone tells me. Mirror? Hello? Then the more hop character. This style has a low to moderate hop character, so I do not believe I will change my hop schedule. My major issue that I get out of these four comments is the diacetyl I need to work on my lagering practice. Patience is not my friend, so that means lagers aren’t my friends either, but I do enjoy drinking a well brewed lager.

Category 13C – Oatmeal Stout – Quaken Oaten Stout

2013 Bluff City Extravaganza

Judge 1 – Non-BJCP – a very drinkable beer. I would have liked some more sweetness and or oatmeal character. As the beer warmed I noticed a slightly tinny/metallic notes though were not overwhelming.

Judge 2 – Non-BJCP – Beer suffers from off flavored and over carbonation. Not sensing oatmeal character. Could be a good beer with tweaking.

2013 War of the Wort

Judge 3 – Provisional – Good beer very drinkable. Maybe try changing mash temps to try to get more unfermentable sugars to balance the bitterness. I would like more oatmeal character too.

Judge 4 – Certified – the beer was not too far off style, but balance was problematic. Tweaking of recipe or procedure is recommended. Needs more oatmeal sweetness/slickness.

These are two different batches, so technically these are different beers, but I want to show you that the judges’ comments are not too different. But it is the same recipe with similar ingredients I could not get Maris Otter for the War of the Wort batch, so I did substitute the base malt for what the home brew shop had in stock. I did have a slight issue with the beers sent to the Extravaganza being over-carbed. Was my fermentation not complete? Apparently not. That was a ding there. That beer sat in the carboy for 3 weeks, guess I needed to raise my fermentation temps up towards the end of fermentation. I am baffled by the way  WLP002 flocculates and it appeared to finish pretty quickly.

I have had trouble getting that oatmeal sweetness/slickness that judge 4 mentioned. Body has been a problem for me with this beer. I need more dextrines. Is the way I handle my oats wrong? I use Quaker oats from the grocery store. Should I use quick oats? Should I cook the oats like I would for breakfast before I mash? I do bake the oats to try to bring out more nutty characters. I will need to ramp up my saccrification rest to 156, I normally mash at 154. This will also help get those long chained sugars I need for more dextrinous wort. This is a beer I want to to nail down as I really enjoy drinking this style.

I know this beer is not a 30 point beer in the oatmeal stout category. It fared better in the War of the Wort. My goal is to perfect this recipe. I will.

–

How many beers have you let your friends drink and they tell you it’s awesome? It’s great? Well this oatmeal stout, no one has told me to my face it is not quite right, as an oatmeal stout that is. Do they know better? Some of them do. I’ll still drink this keg, sorry rose bush, you’re not getting this beer. I know this, but I wanted some feedback on it outside my circle of friends.

I hope this kind of put a bug into your ear about entering competitions and how they can help you brew better beer. If you only enter one a year, enter the War of the Wort next year, if you enter two, enter HBAMM’s Monster Mash, which will be held in the Oct/Nov time frame.

Cheers!

Albino Squirrel

Posted on by

If you have ever been to Starkville, MS then I’m sure you have heard of Strange Brew Coffeehouse. He has created this coffee house as a staple for StarkVegas. I decided that an attempt to take the flavors in his signature drink and put them into a beer. Yeah, what can be wrong about this, right? The Albino Squirrel has my wife by her reigns. If the thought of Strange Brew pops into her head she instantly think do I want it iced, frozen, or hot. Well, since I’ve been doing some more off the wall things lately with my brewing, I’ve decided I am going to try to recreate this.

For those of you who have no idea what an Albino Squirrel is. I apologize, you’re missing out. You’ll want to get to Starky ASAP, or when he opens his new location in Tupelo next year. It is a coffee drink with white chocolate and hazelnut. Now how in the world am I a going to get white chocolate in my beer? Well white chocolate is essentially cocoa butter, sugar and some milk solids. Well I’m not. My plan is to use cacao nibs in the secondary and then some awesome vanilla at kegging. This will not be exactly white chocolate flavor, but I think it will be pretty close.

Here are some notes at my attempt thus far.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5.5 gal 60 min 14.4 IBUs 4.2 SRM 1.053 1.015 4.9 %
Actuals 1.053 1.01 5.6 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer 21 A 1.03 - 1.11 1.005 - 1.025 0 - 70 5 - 50 2 - 3 2.5 - 12 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt (2 Row) US 6 lbs 54.55
Barley, Flaked 2 lbs 18.18
Oats, Flaked 1 lbs 9.09
Cara-Pils/Dextrine 8 oz 4.55
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L 8 oz 4.55
Milk Sugar (Lactose) 1 lbs 9.09

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Northern Brewer 0.5 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 8.5

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
English Ale (WLP002) White Labs 67% 65°F - 68°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 156°F 45 min

Notes

Starkville Water Profile - Water machine in Wal-Mart
Batched sparged at 170 degrees.

Brewed on 9/20/2015

Cacao Nibs soaked in vodka, added after primary fermentation has finished.
Approx 24 oz of weak cold brewed coffee added at kegging
1 ounce of Bourbon Vanilla Paste added at kegging
2 ounces of Hazelnut Extract added at kegging.

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

Dry Hopped Golden Sour

Posted on by

2015-08-13 21.32.35My first attempt at a kettled-soured Berliner Weisse went awry. I tried to use the yogurt souring method that is posted on the Milk the Funk wiki. Living in the south where we are accustomed to 90+ degree days for two months I pick the one weekend to kettle sour a beer where the lows for the night are in the 60s, go figure right. I whipped up some starter wort and chilled it and then threw my flask into a water bath and turned on my sous vide heater. After about 24 hours I tasted the wort I inoculated, it was a clean yogurt like sour. I then proceeded to brew the Berliner. Brewed, pitched the soured starter, bubbled 30 seconds of CO2 into the wort, covered with plastic wrap, then the lid and forgot about it. The next day, I went outside to check on it, my wort was sitting at 70 degrees. Yes, it felt glorious outside, and a cold front coming through in August. *head slap* I let it sit one more day and it still tasted like sweet wort with just a twinge of sour in the background. *head slap* Well the expierement was watering my grass. Ahh, well. Yes it took me all this to tell you why I was brewing this “Golden Sour”. My all knowing self really believed that I had enough grains to brew another Berliner and use the Omega Yeast Labs Lactobacillus blend. I thought wrong. *head slap* Kitchen sink time, I already knew I wanted to brew this evening so here we go.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5.5 gal 60 min 0.0 IBUs 4.9 SRM 1.047 1.008 5.2 %
Actuals 1.046 1.01 4.7 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Style 1.035 - 1.055 1.008 - 1.015 10 - 30 2 - 10 2.2 - 2.8 2 - 5 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt (2 Row) US 7.75 lbs 75.61
Barley, Flaked 1 lbs 9.76
Rye Malt 12 oz 7.32
Aromatic Malt 8 oz 4.88
Acidulated (Weyermann) 4 oz 2.44

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Meridian 2 oz 7 days Dry Hop Pellet 5.5

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
American West Coast Ale (BRY-97) Lallemand/Danstar 77% 59°F - 71.6°F
Lactobacillus Blend (OYL-605) Omega 72% 68°F - 95°F
Brevis/WLP011 European Ale Home 72% 64°F - 69°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 148°F 75 min

Notes

Brewed after work on a Friday evening.

Process:
----------
Chilled to approx 95 degrees. Called it good enough, pitched Lacto blend. Let it sit in my carport for approx 48 hours. Put the carboy in my fermentation chamber at 66 degrees. Let it cool down to ambient temp in the chamber then pitched the slurry.

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

2015-09-04 23.46.56After 3 or 4 days I noticed that I did not see any sign of fermentation. Hmmmm. This is not good. I checked my gravity and I was hovering around 1.038. Something needs to happen, because I’m ready to drink this beer.

I dug around in my fridge and found lots of dry yeast. I have way too much yeast on hand, but I decided to give it a go and pitch a pack of the Lallemand BRY-97. The next day I walk outside to check on the fermentation and I see signs! Whew! I let go for about 4 days, I check my gravity once again I’m sitting at 1.010. I go ahead and dry hop it and now it is almost ready to package.

2015-09-13 09.06.22Getting a dry-hopped sour ale has really challenged me. I guess this one of many reasons I brew. The sample I pulled tasted pretty good and I am really looking forward to this beer. These experiments have really kept me going lately.

“Bourbon Barrel” Aged Let’s Stout It Out (2015)

Posted on by

If you ask people about the style of beer that I’m most known for the answer will be an imperial stout. I have brewed one at least once a year for the past four years. Well this year has been no different. I brewed one in January and now this is my second iteration of Let’s Stout It Out this year. But I am putting a twist to this batch. I have some oak chips soaking in bourbon right now. I normally let my RIS go about 6 weeks in the fermenter. I’ll strain the bourbon off the oak chips and throw them right in, then will sample it every so often to make sure I don’t get too much bourbon character. I’m looking forward to enjoying this beer come Thanksgiving this year.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
6 gal 60 min 58.4 IBUs 51.6 SRM 1.092 1.027 8.6 %
Actuals 1.092 1.01 10.9 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Imperial Stout 13 F 1.075 - 1.115 1.018 - 1.03 50 - 90 30 - 40 1.8 - 2.6 8 - 12 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt, Maris Otter 19 lbs 80.85
Roasted Barley 1.5 lbs 6.38
Special B Malt 1 lbs 4.26
Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L 8 oz 2.13
Caramunich Malt 8 oz 2.13
Chocolate Malt 8 oz 2.13
Pale Chocolate 8 oz 2.13

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Warrior 1.5 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 15.6

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Edinburgh Ale (WLP028) White Labs 73% 65°F - 70°F
Scottish Ale (1728) Wyeast Labs 71% 55°F - 75°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 155°F 60 min

Notes

Longview Water Profile - Straight from the faucet through a carbon filter

Batched sparged at 170 degrees.

Brew day at my house with Ron. He brought his equipment and brewed a Lemon Lime Wit that day. This was my second brew for the Labor Day weekend.

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

2015-09-10 06.20.16I missed my numbers pretty badly with this beer. My SG should have been in the 1.085 range and I believe I was hovering around 1.075. My volumes were more like 7.75 gallons than 7.25. I boiled it hard for an extra 30 minutes or so to get my SG. That is when I put the hops in. I may have been a bit under my 5.5 gallons into the fermenter, but that is just fine.

Yes, I used two different yeast companies. I knew I wanted to brew this beer and I went to a LHBS and he did not have another vial of WLP028 so I bought the Wyeast smack pack off of him. 2000 mL starter for 3 days, cold crashed and then another 2000 mL wort on top of it. I had a nice healthy pitch for this beer. As you can see from the looks of my messy fermentation chamber. It blew the little white cap off of the carboy cap and I have beer in the bottom of the fermentation chamber. I just cleaned up the chamber from an exploding hefe. Yes, blow off tubes need to be use, but this is less than 5.5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon carboy, surely I had enough head space. No sir! I have brewed this beer 6 or 7 times and I have never had a blow up like this. First time for everything I suppose.
2015-09-22 07.37.419/27/2015 – Soaked 4 ounces of medium toast oak chips in bourbon for 3 weeks. Added everything that was in the mason jar to the fermenter.