kentucky common in glass

Common Drive, a Kentucky Common

The Kentucky Common is a historical style showed up on my radar after the release of the 2015 BJCP Guidelines. I am thankful for the research that has been done on historical styles. Especially knowing that there are southern historical styles. Here lately I’ve been naming beers by way of occurrence in everyday life. Common Drive is what we call a network drive at work. Kentucky Common, Common Drive, they share 1 word. Therefore, this is how a name is born in these parts. Now onto the rest of the story.

You need a backstory don’t you?

Remember the C’s of Amber I brewed for our intra-club competition in May? Well, I was fortunate enough to be able to brew in the next round. The style assigned for the next round was Kentucky Common. Oh boy. A style no one in the club has even brewed (that I am aware of). With this batch I bought Epiphany Craft Malts. I’m really enjoying the nuance of the malts that these small maltsters can produce. It’s amazing. To note, when the corn was ordered, it was malted whole corn and a spice grinder was used to mill it. Just imagine how my dull 2 roller mill just reacted when I tried to mill this stuff. Should have grabbed a before pic.

I have only had one commercial example of a Kentucky Common and that is when I visited Ten Mile Brewing in Long Beach California in July 2019. While in Long Beach for a conference, I reached out to a few beer peeops on recommendations on breweries to visit. Ten Mile was on multiple lists. It probably helped that he was a guest on the Experimental Brewing Podcast at one time talking about this Kentucky Common. This experience piqued my interest in the style. Did it intrigue me enough to go brew the style. Unfortunately it did not. This activity forced me to brew the style. It will end up on my rotation again to brew again.

I followed Josh Wiekert’s Make Your Best column for his rendition of a Kentucky Common. I thought a half pound of chocolate rye was a bit steep and would make it more on the brown side instead of being amber, and believe it will make it a touch sweeter than it should be.

Tasting Notes

Aroma: Grainy, cracker, pilsner-like malt aromas, with a slight note of corn sweetness in the background. Caramel notes are moderately low. Low floral notes that appear to be coming from the hops.

Appearance: Brown in color, pours a tan head that appears to retain very well. Has a slight haze.

Flavor: Grainy, cracker, pilsner-like malt like flavors. Moderate caramel and toffee notes that has a background of chocolate into the finish. Finishes medium dry that is balanced to the malt profile. Low bitterness. Hop flavor is fleeting, but is floral when detected.

My Impression: Do I like this beer? YES! Do I want to brew it again. YES! What would I change. I would back off the chocolate rye to maybe 6 ounces, and drop the caramel to 2 ounces, I believe those notes are too dominating the palate. Therefor, I second guessed myself when I was putting together the grain bill for this recipe. Thinking 8 ounces sure was a lot of chocolate rye for such a light bodied beer but these speciality malts are contributing to the body of the beer. I really enjoy the little nuances of the base malts and corn notes.

My Kentucky Common Recipe

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5.5 gal 60 min 16.6 IBUs 14.9 SRM 1.046 1.009 4.8 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Kentucky Common 27 1.044 - 1.055 1.01 - 1.018 15 - 30 11 - 20 2.5 - 3 4 - 5.5 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Epiphany Foundation Malt 7 lbs 71.79
Ephiphany Corn Malt 2 lbs 20.51
Chocolate Rye (Weyermann) 8 oz 5.13
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 4 oz 2.56

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Cluster 1 oz 20 min Boil Pellet 7.4

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 4.50 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) 2.30 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
SafAle German Ale (K-97) DCL/Fermentis 73% 59°F - 75.2°F

Mash

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

Threat Actor NEIPA

I am a software guy by trade. I am not a hacker, but I am facinated with what people can do with computers, networks, or even friggin blenders. Listening to my favoriate non-beer podcast, Darknet Diaries, he had mentioned something as being a threat actor and immediately I think, that is a great name. Especially for an easy drinking NEIPA, because this NEIPA could be responsible for something later in the evening if you happen to have a few too many.

And let me admit it. Sometimes I really hate on NEIPAs and sometimes I really just want one. Yeah, I’m brewing one. Don’t @ me. Well you can, I don’t really mind, it’s just that I have noticed a trend with a lot of the high ABV NEIPAs. If the alcohol isn’t controlled properly it tastes like paint thinner, then combine that with the hop burn that I tend perceive, tat really turns me off. This grain bill I swiped from my buddy that has a tiny brew pub in Jackson, MS. His brewing is not on social media. He sells a lot of beer out of the beer store in which he brews in the back parking lot. Remember, I said tiny brew pub. Oh, but you can find him on Untappd. That’s social media. Take a look for Bicentennial Beer Company, you’ll only find his beers at LD’s in Jackson, MS.

I went nuts the past couple months and have purchased a few too many hops. I am going to play around with my grain bill and hop blends to really nail down what I hope to be an awesome NEIPA. This is my first iteration. I know the percentages of flaked grains in this bill is a touch high if you were to read Scott Janish’s IPA book. This is what I wanted to do this time. I have oat malt and golden naked oats to play around with the next iteration to take the flaked oats out.

I do want to note. All my 20 minute additions in the following recipe details is in the whirlpool. I wonder if Beer XML allows for whirlpool additions. I might have to move to something else for adding beer recipes to the blog. I just wanted to mention this. **EDIT** I have sorta made a fix for this. I’m sure my other blog posts where I added hops to a whirlpool might not reflect my process. **

I also did the cold dry hop on this beer. I did not dry hop during primary fermentation (remember, don’t @ me, but you really can). Here is my fingers being crossed that cold side oxidation didn’t occur and I will not have a brown beer when this is ready to imbibe.

Cheers, y’all.

Recipe

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5.5 gal 60 min 38.3 IBUs 5.3 SRM 1.065 1.016 6.5 %

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 %
Southern Select 7.5 lbs 53.57
Oats, Flaked 2.5 lbs 17.86
White Wheat Malt 2 lbs 14.29
Barley, Flaked 1.5 lbs 10.71
Oats, Golden Naked®™ (Simpsons) 8 oz 3.57

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Citra 3 oz 20 min Whirlpool Pellet 13.3
Mosaic (HBC 369) 1.5 oz 20 min Whirlpool Pellet 12.5
Galaxy 1 oz 20 min Whirlpool Pellet 13.4
Citra 1 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 14.1
Galaxy 1 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 14
Mosaic (HBC 369) 1 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 12.3

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Calcium Chloride 7.78 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 5.42 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) 3.79 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Baking Soda 2.05 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Salt 0.75 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
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

Tasting Notes

Aroma
Moderately-high hop aromas that are citrusy (mainly orange), and tropical like passion fruit, with a slight tinge of floral in the background. Malts are muted and hidden behind the hop aromas.

Flavor
Moderately-high hop flavors that mimic the fruity notes that are listed in aromas. Orange, tropical, passion fruit. Very slight cracker note in the background that are just wanting to punch through that hop character. Ever slight note of fruity esters (mainly pear). Finishes medium-dry.

Mouthfeel
Pillowy, not quite chewy texture that has a moderate creaminess.

Overall Impression
Not my favorite. I would like more of a hop punch in the aroma. The hops that I saved from the dry hop, I put into a freezer bag and I have frozen them. That is an experiment for later. I believe I am going to brew a saison soon and throw those in the whirlpool. The aromas were just too good to throw out in the wood.

What would I change in this beer? I’d back off the flaked grains a touch. I believe I am going to go 80% pale malt, 10% oat malt/golden naked oats, 10% flaked wheat with my next grain bill. The stupid amount of haze in this beer was from the grain bill its self. I do like S-04 on the yeast. It’s just English enough to have a touch of esters that doesn’t screw around with the hops. I’ll dry hop the next batch 24 hours after pitch next time, to see if that makes a difference. I’m running low on citra, so it may just be a mosaic/galaxy hop blend. I haven’t decided yet.

Cloud Shadow Hefeweizen

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

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

Summer of Pilsner

At least for me, and my brewing as of late, I’ve been brewing lagers. Yes I’ve been following the Brulosophy way of “warm-fermented” lagers. I probably will get some haters, it’s all good. But being able to pump out some delicious lagers in approximately three weeks has been what this summer has needed. It’s mid-October and I still break out in a sweat when I walk outside. This has been a ridiculously hot summer. What is better than drinking a cold and crispy Pilsner with a little bit of hop flavor in there to refresh the palate? Not too much.

Now will these lagers win awards if I submitted them into a homebrew competition. I don’t think so. Take this with a grain of salt here, These are pleasing to me, but they might not be award winners, I’m not entering that many competitions lately. Hell, I received the BJCP rank of National and I haven’t even judged a competition lately.

Onto the beers. The first recipe I used the yellow bitter water profile. I did enjoy the beer, but I felt the beer was just a touch too bitter. When I brewed the second pilsner, I went with the yellow dry profile and I believe I enjoyed this one the best. I did use a different yeast for the wedding pilsner. But apparently both of the these yeasts are the Weihenstephaner strain. They both produce a lot of sulfur during fermentation, and they both left the beer pretty dry. The bitterness profile is the difference between the two. But if you were to give them to me blindly, I know I couldn’t tell the difference.

Now you may ask, why the second recipe is called the wedding pilsner. It is because I brewed this beer to be served at two wedding showers. I could have called it the Mandarina Bavaria Pilsner, but Wedding Pilsner is easier to say.

Huell Melon Pilsner

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
11 gal 60 min 32.7 IBUs 2.6 SRM 1.053 1.010 5.8 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
German Pils 5 D 1.044 - 1.05 1.008 - 1.013 22 - 40 2 - 5 2.5 - 3.2 4.4 - 5.2 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pilsen Malt 2-Row (Briess) 20 lbs 90.91
Vienna Malt (Briess) 2 lbs 9.09

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Warrior 1 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 16.7
Huell Melon 4 oz 20 min Aroma Pellet 7.2

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 14.67 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Calcium Chloride 4.45 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Phosphoric Acid 10% 3.00 tsp 60 min Mash Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) 2.88 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Salt 1.54 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Global (L13) Imperial Yeast 75% 46°F - 56°F

Mash

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

Wedding Pilsner

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
11 gal 60 min 41.0 IBUs 2.6 SRM 1.050 1.009 5.4 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
German Pils 5 D 1.044 - 1.05 1.008 - 1.013 22 - 40 2 - 5 2.5 - 3.2 4.4 - 5.2 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pilsen Malt 2-Row (Briess) 20 lbs 90.91
Vienna Malt (Briess) 2 lbs 9.09

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Warrior 1 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 16.7
Mandarina Bavaria 4 oz 20 min Aroma Pellet 10.7

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 7.52 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Epsom Salt (MgSO4) 5.95 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Calcium Chloride 4.84 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Lactic Acid 2.20 tsp 60 min Mash Water Agent
Salt 0.74 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 147.9°F 90 min
Mash Out 168°F 10 min

Triple Hopped Hazy Double IPA

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

Biotransformation Experiment – The Transformed Ale

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

 

 

 

Blichmann QuickCarb Review

Unboxing the QuickCarb

Unboxing the QuickCarb

I attended my first HomebrewCon in 2016 in Baltimore. The number one thing is that I came away from at the conference was how awesome the expo was. I was like a kid in a candy store, no, I was a kid in a candy store. My money was literally burning a hole in my pocket, so I came away from this wondering what I wanted to spend my money on. One of the the most influential item that could be squeezed in my budget was the Blichmann QuickCarb. This was something that shot up to the top of my list on must haves in my home brewery. Why? Recently I have been brewing a lot for events and as most homebrewers will tell you, they are very huge procrastinators. Maybe I’m stereotyping all homebrewers, well that’s because I am. Because there is no way I procrastinate. </sarcasm>

Back onto the QuickCarb. This is something I have never seen before. My eyes widened as the Blichmann rep was explaining the product to me. The things I could do with this thing! Carbonate beers, transfer beer from one vessel to another, ok I don’t have anything else. I was pleased that the second option came up. Having this would only my feed of procrastination, I mean being a planner!

I have used it a handful of times and I wanted to share with you my pros and cons. This may end up being an every evolving list. Maybe this will show up on a Google search so if you are looking into purchasing this, I hope what I say will sway you.

I have enjoyed using this product. Looking back, is this something I would still purchase? I cannot answer that right now, but I will say that I do not regret buying this. I am glad it is in my inventory.

QuickCarb Pros:

Like the the name says, QuickCarb. Your beer will be carbonated in just under an hour.

Will not over-carbonate your beer. If you follow the procedures that are laid out, your beer will be almost perfectly carbonated.

Self priming pump. Yes, you heard me right here, SELF PRIMING PUMP! I have had so many issues with my brewing pump, this is a joy to my ears and my fingers got really excited typing self priming pump. Oh it makes things much easier. Do a quick search for self priming pumps, you’ll find that most self priming pumps are about the same price point as I say is a con.

You can carbonate a beer under an hour. Yes, this deserves two pros. Just saying.

QuickCarb Cons:

Price Point – $180 is a bit steep, but if you’re willing to pay for the convenience of carbonating your beer to a proper carbonation level, then jump onto the ship with me.

Storing – I haven’t really found the perfect way to store this thing just yet. Right now I let it air dry then put it back into the box that it came in, but the box is starting to fall apart now from getting wet. I need to find a case for it.

Bulky – All the lines coming from the keg to the pump from the CO2 tank to the pump, etc. It is just awkward.

Sour beers – Yes we all know you cannot contaminate your equipment with sour beers. I do brew a sour beer here and there, but I realize I would need to purchase another one to accommodate me wanting to quick carb a sour beer. Right now I just carbonate those like I did in 2015. Sigh.

Here is a very short video of the QuickCarb in action. This time I just had the QuickCarb laying on my kitchen counter.

Brings All The Boys to the Yard IPA / Saison

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

Tart Cherry Cyser

2016-09-06-07-47-07First off, I know what most of you are thinking. He really used store bought apple juice? Yes I did. Why? In Mississippi I cannot run down to my local apple orchard and get fresh juice. I have made some pretty good ciders with store bought juice. I used to use a certain kind of apple juice in my ciders, but now I cannot find it anymore which is a bummer. I went with this Wal-Mart brand because it wasn’t from concentrate. Will this make a difference in flavor? Who knows. I know when I pulled a sample before I pitched the yeast, the flavor was really good. It was wifey approved. Also I looked up how to use apple juice in Beer Smith. From the few things I read, was calculate how much sugar is in the juice and just add it in Beer Smith as table sugar. That is what I did. I also made some notes as you’ll see.

Beer Smith said this thing would attenuate down to .988, if US-05 has 77% attenuation as it is listed in there, I would imagine it would get to around 1.010-1.013. That would be my target anyways, I do want some sweetness around. This will not be an 8.6% ABV beverage.

Yield 2.5 gallons in the keg

  • 2 gallons Apple Juice
  • 2 qts Just Tart Cherry Juice
  • 1.5 lbs honey
  • 1 qt water
  • 1 tsp yeast nutrient 
  • 1 pkg Safale US-05
  • 2 tsp lactic acid (added at kegging)

Procedure: Weighed honey in an empty apple juice bottle then added apple juice to mix. Added yeast nutrient to apple juice bottle to shake up and mix. Pitched dry yeast directly onto the must. 

O.G. 1.057

I made this for an event I was pouring at and of course I did not let it finish. Added lactic acid and force carbonated. It was a tad sweet, but people like sweet beverages and it was a hit. After the event, I left the keg outside for a few days to let it ferment down a touch more and it did indeed dry out some. Probably about to where I like it. Eventually this will be a staple on tap at the house. 

Forks and Corks Porter

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