Wednesday, October 27, 2010

T'is the Holiday Saison 2010

Brew #:25
Brew Date: October 27, 2010

Recipe based on that developed for the mini-mash version of Brother Levonian saison ale.

Ingredients
6 lbs extra-light dry malt extract
2.0 lbs Vienna malt
1.0 lb flaked wheat
0.5 lb flaked oats
12.0 oz sugar
3.0 oz Saaz hops @ 60 min.
0.5 oz Glacier hops @ 60 min
19 g. (0.67 oz) Glacier hops @ 30 min.
0.75 oz Glacier hops @ 5 min.
1.0 oz Saaz hops @ 0 min.
8.0 oz honey, @ 0 min.
0.5 oz fresh tangerine peel @ 0 min
0.25 tsp black pepper @ 0 min
0.25 tsp turmeric @ 0 min
2 vials of White Labs WLP565 Saison Ale Yeast
0.5 oz Kent Goldings, dry hopping


Procedure
Placed grains in 1.3 gals of 151F water and held at between 151F and 170F for 70 mins.  Sparged into boiling kettle with 1 gal of 170F water, to make 6 gals in boil.
Added malt extract and sugar, and brought to boil.
Added 60-minute hops, and proceeded to add hops at times indicated above.
At minute 0, turned off heat and added the honey, 1.0 oz Saaz hops, tumeric, pepper, and tangerine peel.
Cooled wort to 82F, racked to fermenter and pitched yeast.

Gals in fermenter: 4.5
O.G.: not taken
F.G.: not taken

Fermentation
10/27 Pitched yeast at 82F.  Set to ferment with FermWrap to keep temperature above ambient.
11/13 Racked to secondary fermenter, with addition of dry hops.  I would have preferred to have done it a few days sooner, but I had a bad cold.
11/22 Very occasional bubbles through airlock.  Fermentation or evaporation?
12/23 Racked to keg.  Rather later than I would have liked, but I was sick for two weeks and figured it wouldn't be prudent to deal with the beer in that state.   Tasted beer, a bit more bitter than I would have liked in the style.  May  mellow out with time, cooling, and carbonation.

Now, to get it carbonated in time for our New Year's Eve party....

Gals. in Keg:  around 4.
 

Sunday, August 22, 2010

No. 24: Pale

I'd been calling it a "Mild" because that's all I could think of.   It had an OG of 1.045 and around 50 IBUs.   It's light in body and not very hoppy. So "mild" comes to mind.  However, it is not a brown ale. 

Looking at Charlie Papazian's description, it may fall more in the range of an Ordinary or a Special Bitter.
 
NB: Next time try a British yeast?
         NB: at the September DOZE meeting it was generally agreed that it most fit the description of a Pale Ale.

Brew #24
Brew Date: August 22, 2010

Ingredients
  • 7 lbs light liquid malt extract
  • 1 lb Crystal 15°L malt
  • 2 oz. black roasted barley
  • 4 oz. CaraRed malt
  • 1 oz N. Brewer 8.5% AA hops (bittering)
  • 1 oz N. Brewer 8.5% AA hops (flavoring)
  • 1 oz Centennial 9.2% AA hops (aroma)
  • 2 vials of White Labs California Ale Yeast (WLP001)

Procedure 
- Added grains to about 1.5 gals. 180°F purified water, turned off burner, covered and allowed to steep for 20 mins.
- Brought remainder of water to boil in kettle.
- At boil, sparged grain liquor into kettle.
At this point I realized that I had fudged my measurements and ended up with 7.5 gals in the kettle.  To prevent boilover I removed 1.5 gals of wort and ketpt it in reserve.
- Added LME, and brought back to boil.
- Once back at boil added bittering hops.  After foaming had subsided, I returned 1 gal of liquor to the kettle, and returned to boil.
- At 50 minutes added flavour hops, and remaining 0.5 gal of liquor.
- At 59 minutes added aroma hops.
- At 60 minutes removed from heat and turned on wort chiller.
- When wort reached 86°F, transferred to fermenter, leaving about 1 gal, full of sediment, in kettle.
- Pitched yeast at  84°F (actually, not much above room temperature today).

Gallons in fermenter: 5.5


Fermentation:
Active fermentation within 24 hrs.

Kegging/Bottling:
Kegged beer.  Set CO2 at 30 psi to try to carbonate it in time for NCHF.

9/14: Overcabonated it. Oops!   Tastes quite mild, very drinkable on a hot day.    Liz likes it as well.



OG: 1.045
FG: Sample not large enough.  Hydrometer rested on bottom of tube.
ABV:  Unable to calculate. 
IBUs:  46-52