Batch No. 53 - The Alpha Acid Test

The Alpha Acid Test

Brewed - May 18, 2012

Style - American Pale Ale

Ingredients:

• 10.0 lbs. Maris Otter Pale
• 7.0 lbs. Gambrinus 2-Row
• 1.0 lbs. Munich Light
• 0.4 lbs. Crystal 20L
• 0.4 lbs. Crystal 40L
• 0.4 lbs. Biscuit

• 0.90 oz. Chief #3 / P9-VA517005 (60)
• 0.60 oz. Chief #3 / P9-VA517005 (10)
• 0.25 oz. Chief #3 / P9-VA517005 (5)
• 0.25 oz. Chief #3 / P9-VA517005 (1)
• 1.30 oz. Chief #3 / P9-VA517005 (dry hop - keg #1)
• 2.00 oz. Chief #2 / P9-VA436007 (dry hop - keg #2)

• Wyeast #1056 American Ale (2 packs / 1000 ml starter)

OG – 1.052
Primary – 9 days
Secondary - ?? days (dry hopped)

Kegged - ??

FG - 1.006
Attenuation - 88.5%
ABV - 6%

Notes:

• American Pale Ale brewed with some new experimental, high alpha hops
• We received 7 types of experimental hops from Hop Union to be used at our discretion for a beer to pour at NHC; they were all high alpha hops and based on comparing the aromas, I choose one to be the "single" hop to get me to ~ 40 IBU's
• I figured a simple Pale Ale would be a good way to go to really see how the hop does in bittering and flavor 
• I used Chief #2 / P9-VA517005 (15.5% alpha, 5.6% beta) for all hop additions and will dry hop one keg with the 1.3 oz. that remain
• I will use some Chief #3 / P9-VA436007 (17.6% alpha, 6.4% beta) for dry hopping the 2nd keg
• Both of these hops had a nice, fruity, spicy aroma and quite a few others were heavier on the garlic, onion side that I tend not to like that much; we weren't given any flavor profiles, so we'll see how the flavor works out 
• Mash at ~ 152° for 60 minutes; 60 min boil
• Fermentation started in the low 70's

Batch No. 52 - From the Northweiss Corner

From the Northweiss Corner

Brewed - May 18, 2012

Style - Light Hybrid Beer / American (Hoppy) Wheat

Ingredients:

• 12.0 lbs. Rahr Red Wheat
• 5.0 lbs. Weyerman Pilsner
• 5.0 lbs. Weyermann Vienna

• 1.0 oz. Cascade (60)
• 0.75 oz. Amarillo (60)
• 1.5 oz. Amarillo (5)
• 2.0 oz. Amarillo (1)
• 4.0 oz. Amarillo (dry hop)

• Wyeast #3068 Bavarian Wheat (3 packs / 1200 ml starter)

OG – 1.062
Primary – ?? days
Secondary - ?? days (dry hopped)

Kegged - ??

FG - 1.011 (estimated)
Attenuation - 82.3% (estimated)
ABV - 6.7% (estimated)

Notes:

• 2nd go at a New Glarus Crack'd Wheat inspired beer; a hoppy hefeweizen aka a Pacific Northweiss Ale (new style - haha!)
• Mash at ~ 152° for 60 minutes; 60 min boil
• Tried to start fermentation in the mid-60's but ambient temps kept it in the low 70's for the first few days

Sasquatch Ale on the airwaves

Mark Emily was recently on the Basic Brewing radio show giving some updates on the National Homebrewers Conference and of course some background on the mighty Sasquatch Ale.  Reports from the field are that the beer is coming along nicely and I look forward to trying it soon.  Great interview Mark!!

If you want, you can give a listen to the May 17th show here:
Basic Brewing Radio - May 17th

Batch #51 - Saison de Soufflé Fleur

Saison de Soufflé Fleur

Brewed - May 5, 2012

Style - Saison

Ingredients:

• 27.0 lbs. Pilsner
• 5.0 lbs. Red Wheat
• 2.0 lbs. Munich Light
• 1.0 lbs. White Wheat

• Perle - 3.0 oz. (60)
• Saaz - 2.0 oz. (30)
• Dandelion Tea - 32.0 fluid oz. (1.1 oz. dry dandelion leaf tea)

• Wyeast #3711 French Saison (1200 ml starter / 3 packs)

OG –1.068
Primary – 13 days
Secondary - ?? days

Kegged - ??


FG - 1.005 
Attenuation - 92.7%
ABV - 8.2%


Notes:

• Collaboration brew with fellow homebrewing aficionado Bob Zormeir
• After trying Fantome Pissenlit years ago, I have long wanted to try to brew a dandelion saison; with NHC coming up, this was one the beers I wanted to finally get brewed 
• In this case, we brewed the beer together and each are trying a different method with the dandelions
• On the fly, we scaled up a recipe that Bob has worked up; I had never brewed a 15-gal batch on this system, so it was a learning process
• I didn't estimate the pre-boil runoff correctly and we ended up with 13.5 gallons and overshot the targeted OG
• Bob took ~ 5 gallons home with him and when fermentation slows, he will be adding a tea he made with fresh dandelion flowers and a different saison yeast (Wyeast #3724 Belgain Saison I think)
• I made up some strong dandelion tea an dumped ~ 32.0 liquid ounces into the fermenter before the transfer; ~ 5 gallons were transfer on top and I will be adding more tea depending on flavor, strength, etc.
• The remaining ~ 3.5 gallons will be fermented as is with no dandelions and hopefully will turn out to be a tasting wheat saison 
• We both plan on serving our saisons at the NHC Club Night and it will be interesting to taste the different results 
• Mash at 152° and 90 min boil
• Start the ferment ~ 72° 

Updates:

• Wyeast #3711 is a workhouse and this was down to 1.005 in 13 days
• On May 18th, I added ~ 40 oz. of dandelion tea to 4.5 gals of saison in one keg; I have ~ 3.5 gals in the other and will either leave as is as a base or will use some to blend into the dandelion keg depending on how it tastes in a few weeks