UPDATE: America Brown Ale (HB#6) now in bottles

This is going to be a pretty pitiful post, but better than nothing. The day before I left for Massachusetts (3/28) I finally got around to bottling the American Brown Ale. It had been sitting in buckets for about 5 and half weeks, which is a week and half longer than intended. Because the beer was dry hopping in secondary for the extra 11-or-so days, the hop aromas are very strong, which I am very pleased with. However, the extra time in the fermenter also resulted in more of the sugars being eaten up by the yeast, so the final gravity was 1.006, which is about .012 points of what it should have been. This is not the end of the world, but it does mean that I will have a higher ABV than intended, and the beer will have less sweetness and a much lighter body, which may not be characteristic of the American Brown Ale style. For what it is worth, the un-carbonated sample tasted quite good so that is a good sign of things to come.

Homebrew #7: Saison Typique

I know, it is pretty lame to name a beer before you even taste  it. However, since this is the second saison I brewed, I decided I need to use more descriptive and interesting names than just "saison" in order to keep things straight. Because saisons are traditionally regarded as French ales (from a French part of Belgium) I thought it would be appropriate to use a French word. I went with Typique because it translates into "typical" or "simple." My goal for this brew was to brew a very basic saison and see the flavors and aromas the yeast instills in the ale without being muddle by fruit, spices, or other adjuncts. It seemed appropriate to name such a simple but lofty goal of a beer Saison Typique.

Homebrew #4:  (Imperial) Saison had additions of crushed coriander and sweet orange peel during the boiled, and at flame out I threw in a bag with pink peppercorns that sat in the carboy throughout the entire period in the bucket. I am not going to go too much into the Imperial Saison since I did so in depth not too long ago, but overall it has a very hot mouth-feel to it that is in major part to the high alcohol percentage (~11.5%) which is accentuated by the peppercorns. If/when I brew this again, I think I will either take the peppercorns out before pitching the yeast or only letting them sit for a week or two (though I am not sure if it would be during primary or secondary).

But I digress. Saison Typique is inspired by a recipe in Brewing Classic Styles that was simply malted grains, hops, water, and yeast. It might sound lackluster, but the yeast is a huge part in the taste and smell of a beer. It is truly a simple recipe that is probably (somewhat) representative of the first farmhouse ales in French-Belgium.

Sparge 2 in the mash tun

Here it is...

Brew Day: 3/3/12

Target Info:
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.039
Original Gravity: 1.058
Bitterness (IBUs): 27
Est. ABV: 6.9%

Grains:
Pilsner (2 Row) Belgium    8 lbs 8.8 oz
Munich Malt:                            15.5 oz
Wheat Malt                               9.8 oz
Caramunich Malt                       2.7 oz

Mash Schedule:
Mash in: 12.9 quarts of 162*F water. Hold @ 147 for 90 minutes

The cane sugar

Sparge 1: 3.25 gallons of 168*F water
Sparge 2: 3 gallons of 168*F water

Pre-boil volume: 7.5 gallons
Pre-boil gravity: 1.040



Boil Schedule:
1.82 oz German Hallertauer hops    90 min
13.1 oz Cane Sugar                       60 min
0.75 oz German Hallertauer hops     0 min

I put the flaked hops into a
hop bag to prevent a lot
of sediment

*I lengthened the boil to 90 min to reduce DMS, but up to this point I have always been a little unsure what to do with the hop additions. I have been pushing them back to 90, but I have been reading you should just keep them where they are if you want the target IBUs to be correct. So in this recipe the IBUs would be less than the target since I pushed the first addition of hops back to 90 minutes. However, the hops I got are slightly more bitter than the ones in the recipe, so it should balance out (somewhat)*


Post-boil volume: 5.5 gal
Original Gravity: ???

*I got ahead of myself and pitched the yeast before taking a sample, so I didn't get a chance to take an OG reading. I am going to say it is pretty close considering I nailed the pre-boil gravity and post-boil volume. I am going to start printing out brew day sheets so I stop forgetting important figures*

2 packages of Wyeast Labs 3724 (Belgian Saison) yeast were pitched.

The primary fermenter rose naturally up to about 75*F. I am now holding it at 77 with a heater, but will let it come back down naturally in a day or two.

Collaboration, not Litigation

Avery and Russian River brewed there sixth annual batch of Collaboration Not Litigation this year, and I got my hands on a bottle. The story behind this beer is worth mentioning: Both Avery and Russian River brewed a Belgian ale called "Salvation" and instead of going head to head on who gets rights to the name, they decided to bring their beers together in a collaborative effort to make a "super" version that they so fittingly call "Collaboration Not Litigation."

What makes this beer so interesting is that is actually a blend, not just a singular recipe. Russian River brewed their Salvation (a Belgian Dark Strong ale) and Avery brewed there Salvation (a Belgian Strong Golden ale), and they literally mixed (or blended) the two together in order to capture and compliment the flavor profiles of each. I am hoping to get my hands on another bottle so I can age it for a year or so, but we will see...

In the glass, Collaboration Not Litigation looks orange (almost red), but with some light going through it the color appears to be more of a darker amber. The aroma is largely dominated by what I would assume are yeast derived spices, and a faint scent of sweet fruit with little to no hops.

The upfront flavors start very spicy, like the nose, with some raisin-esque sweet fruit notes. There is also a bit of banana and some cloves (though that might just be the spiciness I am picking up) that appear in the finish. A hint of alcohol appears, being that this beer is 8.69%, but it works well with the spiciness of the yeast and the sweetness of the Belgian candied sugar so as to not be too overwhelming.

All in all, Avery and Russian River did not fail to please (not that I ever though either would). This only further strengthens my growing obsession for Belgian style beers, whether brewed the same way they have for hundreds of years by Belgian monks or interpreted by American craft brewers to offer a more "modern" perspective. If you see this beer anywhere, be sure to drink it.

How the (Imperial) Saison (HB#4) is shaping up...

First off, let me start by officially "upgrading" Homebrew #4 from a saison to an Imperial Saison. Because I came up about a gallon short of my target volume, this beer had a very high original gravity (1.088) and finished with a very low at 1.006. TastyBrew.com has a calculator that gives an ABV based on original and final gravity as well as fermentation temperatures. The equated percentage has to be taken with a grain of salt, but apparently Homebrew #4 was pushing 12% ABV. Saisons are not (usually) much more than 8 or 9 percent alcohol by volume and often times much, much lower, so 12% in my eyes is worthy of being labeled "imperial" in order to signify the higher than usual alcohol content.

But moving on to how the Imperial Saison is stacking up almost 7 weeks after bottling...

To be honest, I am not thrilled with how this beer turned out. As you know from my ramble above, the alcohol percentage is very high and also very prevalent in the aromas and flavors of the ale. On top of that, the peppercorns that were tossed in at flame-out and then soaked for the entire fermentation accentuate the heat of the alcohol. The flavor is initially very strong and a punch to the tongue from the alcohol and peppercorns, but it smooths out...a little. In the middle you can faintly sense the orange but not so much the coriander. It does finish fairly dry, as it should.

This freak accident (it's not that bad) of an "Imperial Saison" drinks more as a fine liquor than a beer. Obviously the alcohol percentage will slow you down, but I find it difficult to put down a full bottle of this beer. It looks great, but the most important part, the aromas and flavors, are not at all where I hoped them to be. I am not saying that it isn't drinkable, but not on the level of a "traditional" (whatever that means) saison. It burns up your nose and lingers like a fine liquor, or a beer aged in aged liquor barrels. On that level, it is actually pretty pleasant, but I did not really envision this as a "sipping" beer. I wanted a more drinkable ale... 

Eventually I will try to brew this beer again and see if I can't turn out something that I am more pleased with. Next time I will make sure increase my pre-boil volume in order to finish with the proper amount of wort. I think the 12% ABV is really what is throwing off the whole profile of the beer. After drinking a couple of these, I feel like I have gotten a feeling for what it would have tasted like if it had properly fermented to about 7.5% ABV. Based on that, I also think I would add the peppercorns at flame-out, but pull them before pitching the yeast. It will really make the pepper more subtle and allow the orange peel, corriander, and most importantly the yeast to shine through as well. It will definitely be worth while to try and see if I can make the proper improvements to create what I am shooting for to see if I actually know what I think I know.

UPDATE: American Brown Ale (HB#6) now dry hopping in secondary

Hops waiting in secondary

This past Monday (2/27/2012) I got around to transferring the hoppy brown ale I brewed into secondary fermentation. Two ounces of Centennial hops were added in order to soak for two weeks to create much more prominent hop aromas. It has been a week since the transfer and I will be ready to bottle in about one more, so this one is getting close to done.

The green looking foam is
the dissolved hop pellets.

As far as the style/name dilemma goes that I was having, I think it has been settled because of the larger than anticipate volume I ended up with. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a final gravity reading before pitching the yeast, but I did a rough calculation and found that the original gravity would have been around 1.062 instead of the anticipated 1.071 because of the extra gallon of water that didn't boil off. This means that there is a smaller concentration of sugar in relation to the volume, so the beer will subsequently be lower in alcohol (there is less sugar by volume for the yeast to convert into alcohol). An original gravity of 1.062 puts my brown ale within the parameters of an "American Brown Ale," so that is what I will refer to it as now. If all goes as planned from here, which clearly it has not up to this point, I should have a beer around 6.2% ABV (instead of 7.1% ABV) that will still hold up strong with malt and alcohol in balance with the eight and half ounces of hops used that will surely be on the forefront. 

UPDATE: Belgian Witbier bottle conditioning

I finally got around to bottling the Belgian Witbier, which had been sitting neglected in a corner of my room for five and half weeks. Because I am not one to rack to a secondary fermenter, unless necessary for processes like dry-hopping, I was a little worried that this batch may have picked up some unfavorable flavors from sitting on the yeast cake for so long. Generally, from what I have read, it is fine to ferment in the same vessel for up to four weeks, but after four weeks you risk adding some funk to your beer.

Like I said, I got a little worried that the witbier was going to taste and/or smell like farts, so I did some snooping around a few different forums. Sure enough there was plenty of people saying never let a beer sit in primary longer than two weeks, while others swear their best beers sat for six weeks (for whatever reasons). I chose to believe the latter... 

When I opened the lid of the bucket for the first time since January 11, the smell was way better than expected. To be honest, I had kind of forgot about this beer, but after smelling and tasting it, I feel like this could be one of my best ones yet. It definitely had a prominent grapefruit smell from adding the zest in at flame-out. And the flavor was sweet with oranges with earthy and floral undertones from the chamomile and coriander. The color was the best part. It was a very pale yellow with a lot of haze, which made it appear almost white. Usually brewers are doing everything they can to make as clear of a beer as possible (one of the reasons people vouch for racking to secondary), but witbiers are supposed to be cloudy and appear white, which is why the are often times referred to as "white ales.". But I digress...

Come bottling day I slaved away cleaning bottles in my bathroom and was ready to actually start the bottling process. I boiled two cups of water and added 4.7 oz of priming sugar (dextrose) for two minutes. The sugar water cooled for a bit on the stove while I did some cleaning and sanitizing, and then I put the water into the bottling bucket. Right after I got the siphon all ready, I looked into the bottling bucket and thought to myself, "Hm...Looks like there is some water on the bottom from the sanitizer." Naturally, I dumped it out, and immediately after realized what I had done...

Luckily cane sugar, which is sold at grocery stores, can be used as a substitute for the dextrose (aka corn sugar) from homebrew stores. I ended up getting highly refined baker's cane sugar because it supposedly adds the least amount of flavors. Depending on the beer and what flavors you are going for, honeys, brown sugar, and dry malt extract are just a few things that can be used as priming sugars. The brown sugar is intriguing...

Despite the sugar fiasco, things seem to have gone well. I am curious to see if I can notice the difference in priming sugars, but who knows. The gravity read 1.003, which is lower than expected. This will hopefully turn out as delicious as I wanted it to be.

Homebrew #6: Imperial Brown Ale/Double Brown Ale/India Brown Ale

BJCP.org

It was rather difficult coming up with the title for this post. Putting a style to my most recent beer I brewed was not an easy task. I went with a fairly renowned recipe called "Janet's Brown Ale" that I found in the book Brewing Classic Styles. It is classified as an American Brown Ale because of the prominent hop profile compared to the malt forward English version. However, I noticed the recipe created a beer with a ~6.8% ABV and 63 IBU, which is outside of the BJCP style guidelines (which are what are widely used for brewing competitions) for American Browns which states an alcohol percentage of 4.0-6.0% ABV and 25-60 IBUs. So where does that leave the ale that I brewed?

In the American craft beer world stronger, hoppier ales are often times given the label "Imperial," though historically the term was reserved for typically (though not always) dark ales, like stouts, that were brewed specially for royalty, particularly in Russia (thus the popular style: Russian Imperial Stout). The BJCP has categories specifically for Imperial IPA, Imperial Stouts, and Imperial Porters, but there is no explicit Imperial Brown category. They do mention Imperial Brown/Double-Brown under the "Specialty Beer" category which is more or less reserved for situations like I am in where there is a twist on a classic style that puts it outside of set guidelines. The term "double" (not to be confused with a Belgian Dubbel) is often times used interchangeably with "imperial" to describe a traditional beer style that has a higher alcohol content and/or a stronger hop profile.

So at this point I have tried American Brown Ale, but my homebrew does not fit the guidelines. Imperial Brown is tempting, but I like to maintain some sort of historical accuracy and, unfortunately, this ale will not reach the palette of royalty (as far as I know?). Double is tempting, though I feel the alcohol content being only 6.8% ABV does not earn my homebrew such a title, since the beers I think of when I hear "Double" are usually in the ~10% ABV range.

from growler-station.com

India Brown Ale seems to be a fairly prominent term that some craft breweries have taken to (check out Boulder Beer Co.'s Flashback). I assume this title came about because India Pale Ales distinguish themselves from regular pale ales through the use of more hops and higher alcohol content. Thus it seems to make sense that an India Brown Ale is a brown ale, but with more hops and a higher alcohol content. The theory is sound, but again, this title does not really jive with the history behind the name "India Pale Ale" (see my post on Homebrew #3 to get a brief idea of where the term IPA came from). Boulder Beer Co. seems to skirt around the issue by calling their Flashback an India-style brown ale.

I still can't decide what to refer to this beer as since it seems too hoppy/alcoholic to be an American Brown Ale, not majestic enough to be an Imperial Brown, not alcoholic enough to be a Double, and nonsensical to be labeled an India Brown Ale. Debates, like this one I am putting myself through, have been pretty common recently when trying to describe beers like Odell's Mountain Standard, which some refer to as India Black Ales while others refer to it as Cascadian Dark Ales. I won't go too deep into this anymore since this post is getting long and I haven't even started to write the recipe, but my point is that in the end they are just names. Unless you are planning to enter a competition, it really doesn't matter, and even if you are entering a competition, you can just enter under the "Specialty Beer" category.

Here is the recipe I put together in BeerSmith. Like I said I took the grain bill and hop schedule from a recipe in Brewing Classic Styles, but I tweaked the amounts and also added in another malt (mainly just because I had some available).

All the grains and hops for the mash

Brew day: 2/10/2012

Grains:
10 lbs 6.9 oz - Pale Malt (2 Row), US
1 lbs 1.4 oz   - Cara-Pils/Dextrine
1 lbs 0.3 oz   - Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
13.9 oz          - Wheat, Flaked
6.5 oz            - Chocolate Malt
5.6 oz            - Brown Malt (this is the grain I added to the recipe)

*This recipe called for hops during the mash, which I have never done nor heard of before. Usually hops are added during the boil, but I tossed in 1.05 oz of Northern Brewer hops for the 60 minute mash in*

Mash tun all wrapped up to help
maintain temperature.

Mash Schedule:
Mash In:  17.7 quarts of water at 169.7*F. Hold at 154*F for 60min
Sparge 1: 3.2 gallons of water at 168*F for 10 minutes
Sparge 2: 1.65 gallons of water at 168*F for 10 minutes

Pre-boil volume: 7 gallons (about .15 higher than anticipated)

All the hop additions weighed out
(including the hops in the mash)

Boil:

1.31 oz Northern Brewer    60 minutes
1.05 oz Northern Brewer    15 minutes
1.55 oz Cascade              10 minutes
Super Moss                     10 minutes
Cascade                            0 minutes

Post Boil Volume: 6.1 gallons

kettle boiling out in the snow

*I had a hell of a time with the wort chiller. It was snowing so the hose was all frozen up. I thawed it out with boiling water, but the nozzle connected to the hose must have warped from the ice and wouldn't screw all the way in to my wort chiller. I ended up having to stand in the snow with my foot over where the wort chiller and hose connected to keep the water from spraying into my kettle, which can cause contamination. It really bummed me out and I subsequently forgot to take a gravity reading before I pitched the yeast. I am in the process of figuring out how to estimate the original gravity based on all the data I have.*



Cooled wort down to 67*F and pitched two smack packs of Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast.

The bucket is now fermenting at 67*F.