Sunday, October 16, 2011

Tis the Holiday Saison (2011)

Brew #: 27
Brew Date: October 16, 2011

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. (bittering)
0.5 oz Glacier hops @ 60 min  (bittering)
22 g. (0.67 oz) Glacier hops @ 30 min.  (flavor)
0.75 oz Glacier hops @ 5 min. (aroma + flavor)
1.0 oz Saaz hops @ 0 min. (aroma)
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 1.0 gals of 165F water and held at between 148F and 162F for about 1 hr.  Sparged into boiling kettle 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 85F, racked to fermenter and pitched yeast.

Gals in fermenter:  5
Gals. in Keg:
O.G.: 1.076
F.G.: 1.010
A.B.V.:  8.6


Fermentation Notes:
10/17 attached FermWrap heater
10/2* evident fermentation subsided.  Unplugged FermWrap.
11/12 transfered to secondary fermenter with addition of 0.5oz of Kent Goldings pellets
11/20 Racked to keg and connected CO2

Tasting notes:
Background off-flavor, described as "slightly medical" .   Has persisted despite aging.

Next time brew earlier in year (Aug. or Sept.) and eliminate artificial heating during fermentattion altogether.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Mild Ale

Brew #: 26

This recipe takes off using Charlie Papazian's Righteous American Real Ale, from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, as a starting point.   The primary variations are use of California ale yeast instead of an English-style yeast, and the addition of grains to add a reddish tint.

5 lbs amber DME
6 oz. Carafa III malt
1.5 oz. Cascade hop pellets (6.4% AAU) - bittering
0.5 oz. Kent Goldings hop pellets - aroma
1 tablet Whirfloc clarifying agent
6 gals. Arrowhead bottled water
2 vials of White Labs California Ale Yeast (WLP001)


Brought 1 gal water to 110*F. Added Carafa malt to it and raised temp and held to ~170*F for more or less 10 mins.

Brought 5 gals of water to boil in pot, sparged grain water into this.  Returned to boil, and added DME and bittering hops.    At 1 to end of boil, added aroma hops and clarifier.  Removed from heat at 45 min. mark.

Cooled wort and racked to fermenter.   Pitched yeast at 77*F.

Gals. in boil: 5
Gals. in fermenter: 4.75
Boil: 45 mins
OG: 1.044
FG: 1.010
ABV: 4.5%
IBUs: 35.3 - 38.8

10/15: Racked to secondary fermenter.
           Tasted beer.  Initial impression: light, refreshing, nice bitterness.
10/18 Transferred to keg for carbonation stage.

Monday, August 22, 2011

"Closed for Maintenance"

I have emptied and cleaned all three kegs, and run sanitizer through the lines and taps on the kegerator.  Soon I will install the new Perlick faucets, and the homebrewery will be ready to be put back into action.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Pouring at the Bay Area Craft Beer Festival

Today I got to spend the afternoon tasting some excellent craft beers and pouring Club DOZE homebrew, including my own Saison, for the public at the Bay Area Craft Beer Festival.

Following the good reception given a homebrew tasting booth at another recent festival, DOZE was invited to share its members' homebrews at this iteration of the Craft Beer Festival.

It was great time, and our booth was one of the more popular ones, with many repeat visitors looking to taste our varied offerings.




A curiosity of the event was that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Enforcement regulations limited us to pouring into small plastic cups, even if someone tried to hand us their festival-issued glassware.  I expect that it was that as homebrewers we were not licensed to dispense beer to the public, thus we could not "serve" beer but only offer folks  a 2-3 oz. "tasting" sample.

Even so, by a bit past halfway through the event we finished off my keg of Saison and three others, and by the end of it we had drained fourteen corny kegs of homebrew!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Pouring at the Bay Area Craft Beer Festival!



It turns out that DOZE has been invited to set up a booth at the Bay Area Craft Beer Festival next week and to serve our homebrews.

I'll be donating my keg of Saison to the effort, and look forward to pouring it for the public.  So, if you're there, stop by for some!