The Barrel Room is born ;)

Barrel aging on my own is now a reality!!  Last week I purchased a 7-gallon oak barrel from Woodinville Whiskey Company that was recently emptied of their Rye Whiskey.  For the first use, I will be filling it with the American Barleywine brewed last weekend.  The hope for this first use is to age the Barleywine in the barrel and extract oak and rye whiskey flavors.  Then soon after that is transferred out, to get a 2nd use of it with perhaps an Imperial Porter.  After that I think most of the rye whiskey flavors will be stripped out and then the barrel will have to be cleaned-up for future use as a sour barrel or maybe even some oak-aged saisons (yum!!).  I know plenty about drinking barrel aged beers but next to nothing about making them and using a barrel, so this is very exciting and there will be plenty of updates to come!!     

Batch #48 - Littly Jimmy Session IPA

Little Jimmy Session IPA

Brewed - March 10, 2012

Style - Mild Ale / Low-Alcohol / IPA

Ingredients:

• 2nd Runnings of the American Barleywine
• 1.0 lbs. Acidulated Malt 

• 0.60 oz. Centennial (60)
• 0.10 oz. Centennial (10)
• 0.15 oz. Centennial (0)
• 1.00 oz. Centennial (Dry for 3 days)

• Wyeast #1056 American Ale (slurry from Schooner)

OG - 1.030
Primary – 9 days
Secondary - 0 days

Kegged -March 19, 2012

FG - 1.005
Attenuation - 83%
ABV - 3.3%


Notes:

• Session IPA hopped with Centennial
• Part 2 of a Parti-Gyle batch; not quite the traditional method where I designed one overall beer and mash to get two beers (one strong and one weak), but this was more about designing the barleywine that I wanted and then using the 2nd runnings to make a low-ABV Session IPA
• First time trying the whole 2nd runnings process and while a little hectic (long sparging time, keeping hot water temp up, boiling two beers simultaneously, scrambling to cool, etc.), it was a learning process in terms of efficiencies, calculating evaporation, runoffs, ending gravities, etc....I hope to do more of these in the future    
• Only brewed a 5-gallon batch specifically to be my first cask-conditioned beer for the upcoming Yard City Cask Festival in Bermerton (more on that later) 
• Original Mash of the Barleywine was at 149° for 90 minutes; after the long 1st sparge, some acidulated malt was added to the top of the mash tun to help with the PH
• Runoff for the IPA was 7.5 gallons
• 60 min boil
• Estimated IBU's ~ 30
• Ferment in the low 70's for hopefully 1 weeks, then a brief dry hop before transferring into the keg and prepping for the cask fest
• Dry hopped for 3 days
• Transferred into the the keg after 9 days; added 2.1 oz. of corn sugar to build ~ 1.8 volumes of CO2 of natural carbonation; condition for 3 days and then cold crash before the festival to get the CO2 in solution 

Batch #47 - Theme from the Barrel No.1

Theme from the Barrel No.1

Brewed - March 10, 2012

Style - American Barleywine (Barrel-Aged)

Ingredients:

• 26.5 lbs.Maris Otter
• 2.00 lbs. Munich 10L
• 1.50 lbs. Sugar in the Raw
• 1.35 lbs. CaraMunich
• 1.25 lbs. Crystal 120L
• 0.50 lbs. Dextrose
• 0.40 lbs. Special B
• 0.30 lbs. Chocolate

• 1.0 oz. Millennium (90)
• 1.0 oz. Magnum (90)
• 1.0 oz. Perle (60)
• 2.0 oz. Centennial (0)
• 2.0 oz. Amarillo (0)

• Wyeast #1056 American Ale (slurry from Schooner)

OG - 1.113
Primary – 45 days
Barrel - 34 days
Secondary - ??? days

Transferred to the barrel - April 24, 2012
Kegged - ???

FG - 1.032
Attenuation - 72%
ABV - 10.6%


Notes:

• A big, bad barleywine for my first barrel filling
• Part 1 of a Parti-Gyle batch; not quite the traditional method where I designed one overall beer and mash to get two beers (one strong and one weak), but this was more about designing the barleywine that I wanted and then using the 2nd runnings to make a low-ABV beer for the upcoming Yard Cask Fest
• Fermented beer will be dumped into a 7-gallon freshly emptied Rye Whiskey Barrel from Woodinville Whiskey Company
• Only brewed an 8-gallon batch due to the limit of the mash tun (can only put in ~ 33-34 lbs. of grain) and wanting the finished beer to be in the 11% ABV range  
• Mash at 149° for 90 minutes
• Sugars added into the boil to help bump ABV and fermentability
• 120 min boil
• Estimated IBU's ~ 98
• Ferment in the low 70's for hopefully 2 weeks and then transfer into the barrel
• Long, slow ferment; 45 days in the primary; re-pitched with some dry yeast
• Transferred to the rye whiskey barrel on April 24, 2012
• Had to top off the barrel with ~ 0.4 gallons of Shores of the Baltic Sea, which also happens to be fermenting really slow but as of April 24th is ~ 1.025
• 34 days in the barrel - transferred on May 28th

Batch #46 - Shores of the Baltic Sea

Shores of the Baltic Sea

Brewed - March 3, 2012

Style - Baltic Porter

Ingredients:

• 15.0 lbs. 2-Row
• 7.0 lbs. Munich 10L
• 3.0 lbs. Vienna
• 2.0 lbs. Cherrywood Smoked Malt
• 1.0 lbs. Rauch/Smoked Malt
• 0.75 lbs. Chocolate
• 0.75 lbs. Carafa II
• 0.75 lbs. Special B

• 2.0 oz. Hallertaur (60)
• 1.0 oz. Hallertaur (20)

• Wyeast #2124 Bohemian Lager (800 ml starter / 1 pack)
• Wyeast #2112 California Lager (800 ml starter / 1 pack)

OG – 1.077
Primary – ??? days
Secondary - ??? days

Kegged - ???

FG - 1.014 (estimated)
Attenuation - 81% (estimated)
ABV - 8.25% (estimated)


Notes:

• Similar to the baltic porter recipe Colin and I tried in 2010
• Trying out two different lager yeasts again
• Mash at 154° and 80 min boil
• Pitched at 55° and started fermentation temp at 46° in my chest freezer

Sasquatch Results!!!

Competition Results

41 Entries from 34 Brewers Judged by 20 Judges

BOS Beer Selection:

A blend of Jerome Seipp's "Bigfoot's Brown Thumb", an Imperial Brown Sahti and Ben Bottoms' and Brandon Van Curen's "Sas-squashed", a Brown Ale with Smoked Squash

Honorable Mention: Peter Charbonnier and Jin Zotioukai's Samsquant#1 (CDA with alder smoked malt)

Read through all of the descriptions of the submitted beers

Thanks to everyone for participating.  We'll summarize our judge's notes on the styles soon!

Rest of the Photos

What this means: Jerome, Brandon and I will have to formulate a recipe that combines the elements and flavors of both beers.  Next we get to brew the beer "scaled-up" to 1 barrel (30 gallons).  Then throughout the National Homebrewers Conference, Sasquatch himself will serve the beer to conference attendees. We will be recognized at the conference as the originator of the "Sasquatchian Ale" style and have the honor of serving their beer to renowned members of the American Homebrewers Association.

I've always wanted to do the "scale-up" process that comes with being one of Puget Sound Pro-Am winners, so I'm mostly excited for that part.  And it's going to be a lot of fun to do this with Brandon and Jerome (who also part of Wayward Brewers and rental space).  Plus so many people at the conference will get to try a beer that I brewed!!

 

Batch #45 - Rye, Rye Rocco Brown Saison

Rye, Rye Rocco Brown Saison

Brewed - February 12, 2012

Style - Saison


Ingredients:

• 13.0 lbs. Weyermann Pilsner
• 3.0 lbs. Rye
• 3.0 lbs. Weyermann Vienna
• 1.0 lbs. White Wheat
• 1.0 lbs. Dextrose (added into the boil)
• 1.0 lbs. Chocolate Rye
• 0.5 lbs. Chocolate
• 0.5 lbs. Pale Chocolate

• 2.0 oz. Hallertauer (60)
• 1.5 oz. Hallertauer (40)
• 1.5 oz. Hallertauer (10)

• Yeast: Wyeast #3522 Belgian Ardennes (2 packs / 1200 ml starter)

OG – 1.062
Primary – ?? days
Secondary - ?? days

Kegged - ??

FG - 1.007
Attenuation - 87%
ABV - 7.1%


Notes:

• Mash 154° for 60 minutes
• Sparge at ~ 178°
• After a few days of primary I will toss in some dried orange peels into one carboy
• Slight variation of the first Divided Rye Saison; a little more chocolate and rye this time; much better efficiency too; also using only the Belgian Ardennes yeast b/c I liked that one much better last time

Sasquatch Ale Homebrew Competition

This week was the deadline for the Sasquatch Ale Homebrew Competition.  In short, the competition is for a beer to be the embodiment of a "Sasquatch Ale" capture a special, Northwest, "Sasquatchian" flavor.  The winner gets their recipe scaled up and brewed as the official "Sasquatch Ale" for the NHC in June.  Judging is tomorrow and I entered four beers and for each you had to come up with a reason why your beer has that "Sasquatchian" flavor.  Here are my four silly stories:

Meatstick:  The Sasquatch has long been the brunt of unfair jokes and discrimination in advertising.  Remember that whole “Messin' with Sasquatch” campaign?  Someone needs to call the ACLU about that one. But the biggest indignation might have been the long running association with that Canadian swill known as Kokanee.  Everyone knows that after a long day of chasing elk and terrorizing baby marmots, a Sasquatch likes to sit back and relax on a bed of soft hemlock bows and knock back a few smoked porters.  He just loves that smooth, rich, chocolate, rum and ashy mix because it reminds him of all those campfires he has to stamp out when groups of careless, city dwelling hipsters get too drunk and pass out while the fire is going full throttle.  Yup, a smoked porter – perfect for those long dark nights in the mossy, damp woods he calls home.

Toasted Meatstick: When the rain soaked slopes of the western Cascades is a little much for Sasquatch, he likes to head to those drier eastern slopes of the Wenatchee National Forest.  Here the Sasquatch enjoys the sunlight, ponderosa pines and the stunning views of Mt. Stuart.  This version of my smoked porter has been aged on oak spirals to bring out a mellowing dryness and earthy character that smoothes out the smoke, chocolate and rum flavors of the base smoked porter.  The Sasquatch is well known to enjoy this beer alongside some smoked lake trout, which he occasionally grabs out of Lake Chelan.

 

Sas-Squashed: For centuries, people have rambled the vast forests of the Pacific Northwest in search of the great Sasquatch, but somehow he always eludes capture or direct evidence of his existence.  I know; that’s totally crazy in this day of smart phones, ipads and temperature controlled conical fermenters.  But I will let you in on a little secret – to see a Sasquatch, all you have to do is leave out his favorite food – smoked squash.  It works just like Yogi Bear and fresh baked pies.  He mostly enjoys Hubbard squash slowly smoked over pecan wood chips and more recently, I’ve found that he enjoys beer when brewed with this smoked squash.  And that’s what you have the pleasure of drinking right now – a brown ale base beer that was brewed with smoked Hubbard squash in both the mash and boil.  All the smoked flavor and aroma was derived from the squash alone and results in a smooth, malty beer with pleasant smoke flavor and a light meatiness from the squash.

Sas-Squashed – Winter Vacation edition:  While is it a well known fact that the Sasquatch loves to eat smoked squash when he’s trouncing around the Pacific Northwest, it’s much less widely known where he spends his winters.  The common misconception is that he hibernates all winter in a den somewhere much like bears do.  However, like many humanoids of this region, the Sasquatch also enjoys relaxing and soaking in the rays in the Caribbean Islands during the winter time.  Specifically the western shores of Jamaica, where he spends his time surfing, smoking spliffs, dancing to dub reggae and forgetting about the rainy Pacific Northwest for awhile.  Seriously, this was all documented and reported by the CIA, Seattle Beer News or maybe it was TMZ.  In honor of this annual pilgrimage, my smoked squash brown ale has been aged with oak spirals soaked in Jamaican rum.  This additional treatment combines the tasty smoke flavors with a layer of spices, coconut vanilla and dry oak that would make for an enjoyable evening of jamming with a few Sasquatches in Jamaica, or anywhere else for that matter.