August's Brew Day - Imperial Harvest Pie (Fall Seasonal #2)

Last Friday, I brewed up the August brew of the month.  As the end of the summer draws near, I decided to brew the second fall seasonal beer of this year (the first being my Oktoberfest, brewed in March traditionally). 

I LOVE the fall but I'm not all that CRAZY about fall beers.  I should refine this statement....I'm not all that crazy about spiced beers.  Spice is good in my favorite drinks at Starbucks and in pumpkin pies but NOT in beers...that's just my philosophy.  To be more accurate, I think that most spiced beers are overspiced, UNbalanced and need something to back the overwhelming aroma and flavor of the spices used.  One particular example is pumpkin beer which usually tends to be heavy on the spice and light on the pumpkin.

A definite exception to the pumpkin beer trend of overspiced-ness is Southern Tier's Pumking.  Another great beer from an outstanding brewery, the seasonal offering is a big 'ol 8.5% abv and loaded with carmel / pumpkin / sweet goodness.  Sooo...I've tried to replicate it...sort of.

Actually, I'm trying to replicate the balance they've achieved with spice and sweet and pumpkin.  So, I've started with a big beer...Lots of pale malt with a generous amount of crystal malt.  Added Lactose sugar for residual sweetness and a secondary fermentation stage which will age on bourbon soaked vanilla beans.  The kicker?  This beer actually ISN'T a "pumpkin" beer...it's a butternut squash beer!  Here in Middle Tennessee, there aren't any fresh pumpkins ready yet but plenty of squash and to boot, they're all in the same family.  In fact, I've heard of lots of folks using butternut squash in pumpkin recipes and having great results.

I mashed as normal but added chopped up bits of squash that had been roasted for 45 min during that last half of the mash.  It worked famously.  Some folks have complained of pumpkin making a sticky mess but I had no problem. 

Right now, the big beer is churning away in the primary fermenter with a blow-off tube in place as it is REALLY humming right now.  In about 3 or 4 weeks, I hope to keg what will be a sweet but spicy pumpkin beer at around 7.5%.  Here's the Recipe:

 Imperial Harvest Pie Ale:
Original Gravity = 1.084
Finished Gravity = 1.025
Projected ABV = 7.72%

Grains and Mash Schedule:
American Pale Two Row = 14 lbs
Crystal 60L = 1.5 lbs
Carapils = .5 lbs
Roasted Butternut Squash = .5 lbs
Rice Hulls = 1 lbs

-Mash at 157 deg for 60 min.
-Add Roasted Butternut Squash at 30 min.

Hop / Other Schedule:
Boil 60 min.
60 min = Magnum; .5 oz
15 min = Sterling; .5 oz
10 min = Lactose; 12 oz
5 min = Spice tea with .5 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice, .3 tsp Cinnamon, .2 Allspice, .2 Nutmeg

Secondary fermenter = 2 vanilla beans soaked in bourbon for 10 days

Predators Craft Beer Festival Review

On Saturday, August 10th, the Nashville Predators' non-profit organization, The Predators Foundation hosted the inaugural Predators Craft Beer Festival.  The event was a sell out and boasted approximately 43 different breweries each with at least two beers to sample.

I'm a big fan of craft beer festivals but I can say that the Nashville market is maybe a little saturated with them.  I only say this because I've been to several in the past two years and each one has pretty much the same players and the festivals all seem to run the same way.  Having said that...I still really enjoy craft beer festivals.

The Predators festival was great and obviously folks planned the event well.  Being early August in Nashville, an indoor event was a good call.

To be clear, the term of the day was "Bourbon Barrel-Aged."  EVERYONE seems to be offering this style of beer as a special or even have it in their line-up.  I can't say I disagree with their decision, however there are clear winners and losers.   Saturday's offerings ranged from too-oakey to too-bourboney to just right.  I'd have to say my favorite barrel aged was Turtle Anarchy's Barrel Aged Portly Stout.  It was quite well balanced and had just the right amount of Bourbon / Oak / Vanilla / Booze as a Barrel-Aged Stout should.

My favorite beer of the day goes to Southern Tier's Creme Brulee Stout.  Which WOWED everyone around us with it's silky smooth sweetness.  It truly is like drinking liquid Creme Brulee.

My partners in crime were Mike Noonan a/k/a Big Papa and his personal trainer Daniel.  Papa is a fellow homebrewer of "Breaking Brewery" fame and of course his M.O. is to not do anything small.  We certainly had a great day and enjoyed the VIP area which had Broadway Brewhouse grub and a few Belgain brews.

All in all, it was a well-done festival and I hope to attend next year.

July's Brew Day - SMaSHing Saison (Summer Beer #4)

Taking mash temps after an hour

July's brew of the month is my SMaSHing Saison. A Saison is a Belgain inspired ale which can also be called a "Farmhouse Ale."  It is a beer which comes from a French speaking region of Belgium (Saison literally means "season" in French) where farmers would brew a beer early in the growing season and would let it age until ready for harvest. Traditionally, it is quite a thirst quenching beer as it was designed to squell the workers' desire for a "tall cold one" after a hard day harvesting crops.

As mentioned in a previous post, I dubbed this brew a "smashing" saison because it was brewed as a single malt and single hop beer otherwise known as a SMaSH beer. I used Belgian Pilsner malt and Sorachi Ace hops. Some may be familiar with the Brooklyn Brewing beer "Sorachi Ace" which I was somewhat trying to replicate.

My beer turned out fairly strong and dry at 8.3% abv. Brooklyn's beer weighs in at 7.5ish. I used Wyeast French Saison yeast and it really went to town during fermentation.

Wyeast's French Saison yeast is a beast!

One trick about this style is that the original brewers traditionally brewed the ale in the lofts of their barns which were obviously not air conditioned. Therefore to replicate the higher ambient temperatures, I allowed the fermentation to gradually warm up (a general "no-no" in traditional home brewing). While most American yeasts will produce off flavors at higher temps, the Saison yeast I'm using will develop many of the unique characteristics that help to distinguish this as a unique brew at around 80 deg.  After active fermentation slowed down the temperature dropped to 69 and stayed there for about a week. The result is that this beer attenuated (efficiency during fermentation) down as low as it could go resulting in a higher alcohol and drier brew....EXACTLY as I had hoped and as the style requests.

I will update in the next few weeks with tasting notes...in the meantime here is the recipe:

SMaSHing Saison:

Original Gravity = 1.062
Finished Gravity = 1.000 (!!!)
Calculated ABV = 8.3%

Grains and Mash Schedule:
Belgian Pilsner Malt 14 lbs

-Mash at 156 F for 60 min; Sparge at 168 F.

Hop Schedule:
-90 Min boil
60 min = Sorachi Ace, .5 oz.
30 min = Sorachi Ace, .5 oz.
10 min = Sorachi Ace, .5 oz.

-Chill to 68 deg; pitch: Wyeast French Saison 3711
-Raise fermentation temperature from 68 to 70; after 3 days raise temp to no higher than 80 deg.; after 7 days lower temperature to 68 or lower.
-Fermentation  ran 17 days from 7/12 - 7/29; racked to keg 7/29.

**Tasting Update

This beer took forever to carbonate in the keg.  I assume combined with a fairly warm kegerator as well as such a large alcohol content, the beer just wouldn't turn CO2 into tiny bubbles. BUT with some tweaking this beer has turned out well. Honestly, I would do this beer again but not as a smash beer.  The Belgain pils malt combined with Sorachi Ace hops REALLY gives this beer a strong bite on the front end. Maybe if not just a little too much. Mid sip, the beer starts to mellow and frankly is fantastic. The mouthfeel is great an it finishes well. I would suggest revamping the recipe to include a little wheat or other grain to balance the front. But at least it looks pretty, right???

May's Brew - Lemon Weiss (Summer Beer #2)

The only photo that exists of what was a great summer beer!

May's beer in my "beer per month" goal for 2013 was a Lemon Weiss, a Weissbier brewed with an American Wheat strain of yeast.  I dubbed the beer a "weissbier" because after kegging, the beer really cleared out and was quite effervescent.  I imagine this was due to the strain of "American" wheat yeast which was used.

I'm unsure exactly where the yeast was sourced, however, I do believe I read that this Wyeast strain was sourced from a Pacific Northwest brewery (potentially Rogue) and was designed to impart the same characters as a "traditional" hefeweizen yeast strain but on a MUCH smaller scale.  I can say with certainty that there were very subtle hints of the banana, clove and bubblegum flavors that characterize a hefeweizen, however it was nearly indistinguishable.  Also the yeast REALLY settled out which is very UN-characteristic of a hefe.

My biggest mistake was using the zest of TWO lemons in the secondary.  I really could've only used one, however, the beer still turned out delicious and not a single person turned this down.  In fact, the beer turned out so well that it was gone in about 2 1/2 weeks.  It's quite unfortunate as I'd love to show a picture of it's light golden base with nice frothy head, however my mere words will have to do until next summer ;)

Tasting Notes:  The nose was very faint Hefeweizen clove and banana, Up front on the palate was lemon zest and spicy notes, finished nice, clean and effervescent much like a lager. Was quite "sessionable" (thus explaining why it's gone).

The great part:  This was a super easy extract brew with some steeping grains...here's the recipe:

Barrister's Lemon Weiss

3 lbs Wheat Dry Malt Extract
3.5 lbs Light Dry Malt Extract

Steeping Grains:
0.5 lbs Dextrine Malt
0.5 lbs White Wheat

-Steeping Grains added to 6.5 gal H2O in grain bag until temp of 165 F.
-Upon boil, Dry Malt Extract added.  60 min boil.

Hops and Dry Hopping Schedule:
(.75 oz Saaz, 1 oz Sorachi Ace, 2 oz Cascade)
0.75 oz Saaz - 60 min
0.50 oz Sorachi Ace - 25 min
0.50 oz Cascade - 25 min
0.50 oz Sorachi Ace - 10 min
0.50 oz Cascade - 10 min
0.50 oz Cascade - Flame Out
0.50 oz Cascade - Dry Hop at 10 days
Zest from 2 lemons - Dry Hop at 10 days

Fermentation:
Wyeast American Wheat 1010 at 68 F for 10 days, rack to secondary for 7.

OG:  1.052; FG: 1.011; ABV = 5.4%

June Brew - Apricot Pale Ale (Summer Beer #3)

Starting the boil.

For the month of June, I attempted an apricot pale ale.  No, it's not meant to be a Magic Hat #9 clone, but all research on a recipe took me to variations of that beer.  It was actually inspired more by Dogfish Head's Aprihop which I found to be fantastic.  

Granted, I am going more toward a pale ale rather than an IPA which is DFH's slant with the Aprihop.  What I wanted is a nice hoppy pale ale with a HINT of apricot sweetness and tart.  We'll see in the tasting notes in a few weeks.

I used a standard pale ale malt bill and threw in a small dose of lighter lovibond crystal malt as well as my standard Carapils addition.  My hopping schedule is a bit unique as I used Galena hops as the bittering hop with standard "American Pale Ale" Centennial and Cascade hops at 30 and 10 minutes.  I further dry hopped with an addition of Saaz and Galena, then Cascade, then racked on top of 1 lbs of Apricots which I pureed and sterilized as well as a half ounce more of Cascade.

I intend to keg the beer tomorrow and it will be a week before it is nice and carbonated.  This is my first fruit beer and I'm a bit nervous as to it's dryness.

Here's the recipe:

My OG: 1.045

My FG:  1.006

Calculated ABV = 5.6%

10 lbs American Two Row

1.0 lbs Crystal 10

0.5 lbs Carapils

  Mash at 154 deg. for 1 hour or until converted.

60 min. boil

60 min:  0.5 oz Galena 

30 min:  0.5 oz Centennial

30 min:  0.5 oz Cascade

10 min:  0.5 oz Centennial

10 min:  0.5 oz Cascade

Flame Out:  0.5 oz Cascade

Pitched Wyeast 1056

  Dry Hop Schedule:

.25 oz Galena (at 11 days)
.25 oz Saaz (at 11 days)
0.5 oz Cascade (at 14 days)
.75 lbs Apricot puree (racked to secondary fermenter at 18 days)
0.5 oz Cascade (secondary at 18 days)

 

I'm excited to try this one...it tasted phenomenal right before adding the apricots.

UPDATE: Tasting Notes.

This beer turned out fantastic. The beer pours a golden orange colorand has a nice floral and citrusy nose from the hops and hint of apricot. Taste is late addition hops with slight citrus hops. There I a residual sweetness however the beer finishes nice and dry. I had one (or maybe 3) after a baseball game with friends the other night and found this beer to be EXREMELY thirst quenching. Will be sad when this runs out...

July Brew Planning - SMaSH Saison (Summer Beer #4)

My goal for 2013 has been to brew a 5 gal. batch of beer per month.  So far I have met this goal and July doesn't look like it will be any different.  At the bottom, I will post the list of beers I've brewed so far this year.  Over time I hope to post tasting notes and recipes for each beer.

My beer of the month for July is going to be a SMaSH beer.  Otherwise known as a "Single Malt and Single Hop" brew.  This simplistic style of brewing is just as it sounds...simple.  One malt to mash and one hop to throw in during the boil (of course at differing times for differing effects).

Here's the "rub"...just because it's a single malt and single hop doesn't mean that I'm locked into one "style" of beer.  I could do anything and frankly, most homebrewers choose the ever popular IPA style to brew as a SMaSH beer.  I THINK, I've chosen to go with a saison or a "farmhouse ale" style.

This beer will be extremely simple in body with pilsner malt and I will likely hop with a saaz or similar variety which, combined, will create a simple palate for which the traditional Belgian saison-style yeast may shine.

I love Saison beers and have always wanted to brew one...now is the perfect excuse because it really is a simple beer to brew and this brewing method will allow the yeast to be the focal point.  I'm right on the cusp of this being "on time" as a seasonal as well since it looks as if the beer should be finished right around the first week of August.

I will obviously update...that's what this blog is all about.

Have you brewed a SMaSH before?  If so, what was the style and results?

As promised...my 2013 Brewing Calendar so far:
Jan -  Porter / Vanilla Scotch Porter
Feb - Barrister's India Red Ale
Mar - Oktoberfest (currently aging)
Apr - Proud Parent Pale (Kolsch)
May - Lemon Weiss
Jun - Apricot Pale Ale
Jul - SMaSH Saison

Inaugural First Post

Gotta start somewhere, right? 

Check back and I will try to update "semi" regularly on brews that are being created and tasting notes on beers that I've finished. 

Thanks for stopping by.