SPLIT BATCH - SAISON & ENGLISH IPA

I've been experimenting a lot recently with split batches. The goal is to make 10 gallons of a single wort, then split it into two 5 gallon carboys to ferment seperately for two different beers. Once the Wort is finished there's a couple options you can have to create two different beers.

You can add extra fermentables, color/character malts, different yeast, dry hopping/hopback, etc. In order to add extra fermentables (like sugar or DME) and/or color/character malts they first need to be boiled & cooled in order to sanitize them. Some people will just add the fermentables straight into the fermenter . As long as you do this during High Krausen, there shouldn't be a risk of infection. I like to play it safe & I'll boil the extra wort separately for 15 minutes, then cool to fermentation temperature & throw it in the fermenter after I pitch the yeast.

For this batch I ran the first half straight into the fermenter for the Saison & ran the second half through a hopback for the English IPA. The English IPA recipe I used was based on a historical recipe posted here: (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2010/11/lets-brew-wednesday-1928-barclay_18.html). I was curious to see how the older IPAs stack up to the current "Modern" IPAs.

The historic EIPA was a lot different than what we are used to when we think about IPAs today.  The beer was bitter but not that hoppy. The East Kent GOldings have a mnore subdued flavor than the modern American hops. Overall it was closer to a modern English Pale Ale than a modern EIPA>

SAISON

Saison (6 Gallons, ~80% Eff, Tinseth)

OG: 1.041
IBU: 4
ABV: 4.1%
SRM: 3.7

6 lbs - German Pilz (Weyerman)
1.5lb - Domestic 2-Row (Rahr)
1 lbs - Wheat (Marminster Floor Malted)
.5 lbs - Crystal 10

.75 oz - Czech Saaz (Whole Leaf) 2.4% @ First Wort Hop
.25 oz - Czech Saaz (Whole Leaf) 2.4% @ 10 min
.5 oz - Czech Saaz (Whole Leaf) 2.4% @ 0

1 pack Danstar Belle Saison Dry Yeast, rehydrated

Mashed 60 min @ 156, 1.5 qt/lb
Pitched at 68 degrees
Let it free rise up to 73 degrees

Look - Light yellow, slightly hazy with a small white head
Aroma - Funky fruity slightly phenolic yeast & sweet malt
Mouthfeel - Medium-thin, crisp
Taste - Classic Saison flavor, not much more to say haha. Funky yeast, earthy hops, grainy.

Notes: I was really pleased with this new dry yeast. It has the classic Saison flavor you expect (maybe a little more phenolic than the Dupont strain) which means I will be using it again for sure. It's about the same price as liquid yeast but the shelf life is really the advantage to using this yeast. Nice to have a good Saison yeast on hand just in case.


HISTORICAL ENGLISH IPA

English IPA (6 Gallons, ~80% Eff, Tinseth)

OG: 1.051
IBU: 4
ABV: 5.4%
SRM: 6.5

6 lbs - German Pilz (Weyerman)
1 lbs - Wheat (Marminster Floor Malted) Steeped Separately
1.5lb - Domestic 2-Row (Rahr)
.5 lbs - Crystal 10
.5 lbs - Simpson's Medium Crystal
11 oz - Lyle's Golden Syrup (Invert Sugar)
1 lb - Carapils

.75 oz - Czech Saaz (Whole Leaf) 2.4% @ First Wort Hop
.5 oz - Czech Saaz (Whole Leaf) 2.4% @ 10 min
.25 oz - Czech Saaz (Whole Leaf) 2.4% @ 0
3 oz - East Kent Goldings (Whole Leaf) 6.3% Dry Hop

2 packs Safale S-04 Dry Yeast, re-hydrated

Mashed 60 min @ 156, 1.5 qt/lb
Pitched at 62 degrees
Let rise to 65 degrees

Look - Copper, brilliantly clear with a thick off white head
Aroma - Sweet Malts, Light Earthy Hops
Mouthfeel - Light bodied
Taste - Sweet grainy malts followed by a firm bitterness. Slight EKG hop flavor.

Notes: Overall this historical recipe is closer to a modern EPA than a modern EIPA. It was an interesting beer to brew.

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LIGHT AMERICAN LAGER

Yeah I know, Light Lagers are the favorite target of beer snobs. The truth is, they could be considered the most popular session beers in the world. I'm not opposed to a nice light refreshing Lager every once in a while so I figured I'd give it a shot and try and brew one.

Technically speaking there's really no reason to homebrew a light lager except for the challenge. They're readily available & you can literally buy them cheaper than you can homebrew them. 

For the first attempt, I wanted to keep it as close to the BJCP guidelines as possible. I went with the traditional 6-Row malt instead of the much more popular 2-Row variety for authenticity. Taste-wise they're pretty similar. A lot of people will describe the flavor of 6-Row as having a more pronounced "grain" flavor in comparison to 2-Row. This seems to be a pretty fair description from my experience. Also the extra enzymes in the 6-Row will help convert the starches in the corn, which does not contain any enzymes. I usually use rice in my lagers instead because I like the neutral flavor it gives to the beer but again corn is more traditional. 'Murica.

As with all session beers, the generally low alcohol/malt/hop flavor will allow any flaw to come out very easily. It's even more true for light lagers. Drinkability is also a key component of the style and the low flavors mixed with a light body make for a drink you can, well drink a lot of. You want the beer to finish dry but not so dry it becomes overly thin. I chose to use my favorite Lager yeast, the German Bock strain which attenuates well but still manages to leave behind the perception of a malty finish somehow. 

Light American Lager (6 Gallons, ~80% Eff, Tinseth)

OG: 1.038
IBU: 10
ABV: 3.8%
SRM: 3

7 lbs - Domestic 6-Row
2 lbs - Briess Flaked Maize
1.5 oz. - Rice Hulls (added to the last 15 minutes of the mash)
.5 oz - Czech Saaz (Whole Leaf) 4.2% @ First Wort Hop
.25 oz - Czech Saaz (Whole Leaf) 4.2% @ 30 Min

Yeast: 2 packs WLP833 German Bock (2 liter starter, no stir plate)

Mashed 60 min @ 151, 1.5 qt/lb
Fermented for one month at 50 degrees.
Stored for two months at 42 degrees.

Look - Light yellow/straw colored, clear
Aroma - Sweet malt, grains, corn, light earthy hops
Mouthfeel - Light-medium, finishes dry but with a nice malt presence, slight carbonic bite 
Taste - Sweet grains with a hint of corn, minimal spicy hop flavor lingers in the finish

Notes:
Overall this is a highly drinkable beer & I'm really happy with how it came out. I was surprised how much it tasted like your run of the mill light lager, except with more flavor. The only criticism I have is that it probably has too much hop & malt flavor. I underestimated how little the malt flavor would mask the hop flavor. I'm used to brewing all malt beers for the most part. 6-Row isn't necessarily a flavorless malt but when you combine it with such a high percentage of corn, the amount of malt you taste drops off pretty substantially. 

This of course is the whole point of a light lager and contributes to its drinkability, so just keep it in mind. I would definitely drop the second hop addition and if I was to enter this into a competition I would probably enter it as a Standard American Lager, for fear of it being too flavorful, as weird as that sounds. 

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10 GALLON ALL-GRAIN APARTMENT BREWERY

After moving from a house with a basement & a brewstand I had to make some changes in order to be able to brew the same amount in a 1 bedroom ~650 sq. ft. apartment. In full disclosure it helps to be a bachelor haha.

Brewing
Instead of the two natural gas Blichman burners I had on my previous system I only have my stove as my single heat source now. It has 4 burners but its small stove & as you can see from the pictures below, the boil kettle takes up all four burners. The stove does an OK job of bringing 12 gallons of wort to a boil. Not nearly as fast as the natural gas burners but not too terrible either. Maybe 45 min on average.

It's illegal to have a propane burner where I live & I don't have an accessible roof for a charcoal burner (which would be less than optimal anyway).  I thought about an induction heater but ultimately decided against it because my HLT wasn't really magnetic enough & I was worried about the weight possibly damaging the element.

So in the end I decided to convert my HLT into an Electric HLT with a hot water heater element. There are people out there who brew entirely with electric water heaters and report good results. Lucky for me, there are a ton of really good tutorials on the internet for how to properly install a hot water heater element on an HLT. I ended up using these instructions which I would recommend  The instructions were clear & all the parts meticulously listed. I'm not the most mechanically inclined but I can follow directions haha.

I went with a 120v heating element because I don't have a 220v outlet in my apartment.  Also, I'm just using it to heat water so it doesn't have to be strong enough to boil or anything like that.  The single heating element works just as well as my stove. It heats up the strike water to ~170 F in 45 minutes. In the future if I ever have the time I might add another heating element & insulation to the outside of the HLT, to speed it up.

Having an Electric Kettle helps to speed up the brewing process by allowing me to heat the sparge water while I'm mashing without having to move it off the stove to make room for the boil kettle. With only the stove as the heat source you have to sparge into buckets and then transfer that to the boil kettle after the HLT is empty & light enough to move.

The Waterproof Enclosure for the Heating Element


































Inside the HLT

Extension cord

Storage

The free standing shelf is from Ikea & the best part is you can move the shelves anywhere which makes it easy to fit large bulky things like the mash tun etc.

Brew Tower
It's a More Beer stainless pump & chiller stand. I also added my RV water filter to it to make things easier for me.

Filling the Electric HLT

Boiling

Sanitizing before chilling

Running off the Chilled Wort

Fermenting
Fermentation temperature control is one of the most important factors for consistent & high quality beer.  I have a 7 cu ft GE chest freezer which holds two 6 gallon Better Bottles perfectly. There's a little cut out in my living room and it fits nicely in there as you can see from the pictures.



















































Bonus

I also took the time convert all my Polysulfone disconnects over to Stainless Steel & I added a hop rocket!

Hope this helps anyone worried about brewing in an Apartment.  Now let's get back to the beer!

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Rob

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SESSION AMERICAN PALE ALE

One of the holy grails of session brewing is an American Pale Ale.  A few breweries have been making really good sessionable, low alcohol American Pale Ales. Notch Brewing's American Session Ale is a good example of what I'm talking about. The challenge comes from making the beer flavorful & drinkable without being either cloyingly sweet or too dry. The hops can quickly overpower a low alcohol beer and throw it out of balance. Below is probably the third version of this recipe I've brewed & the first one I'm really (but not completely) happy with.

Session APA (BJCP Description)
(6 Gallons, ~80% Eff, Tinseth)

OG: 1.042
FG: 1.009
IBU: 10
ABV: 4%
SRM: 7.3

* 7.5 lbs - 2-Row Maris Otter
* 1 lb - Simpsons Medium Crystal
* .5 lbs - White Wheat Malt (Weyermann Floor Malted Bohemian Pale Wheat - 2 Lovibond)
* .5 lbs - Vienna Malt

* .25 oz Chinook (Whole) 16% FWH
* .5 oz Cascade (Whole Leaf) 8.8% @ 15 min
* .5 oz Cascade (Whole Leaf) 8.8% @ 5 min 
* 1.5 oz Cascade (Whole Leaf) 8.8% @ 0 min 
* 1.5 oz Chinook (Whole Leaf) 16% @ 0 min
* 1 oz Columbus (Pellets) Dry Hop for 14 Days

* Yeast:
Wyeast 1318 London Ale III - Washed

* Mashed 60 min @ 156, 1.5 qt/lb


Tasting Notes:
Look - Bright orange, off white head that sticks around (thanks hops!), slight chill haze
Aroma -  Big piney-resinous and slightly citrusy hop nose. Fruity esters show up at the end.
Mouthfeel - Medium bodied, crisp with a dry finish from the hops
Taste - Bitter piney hops, sweet bready/grainy malt backbone, firm bitterness but smooth

Notes:  Overall I'm getting closer to the "perfect" pale ale.  This is pretty close to where I want it. I might switch out some of the medium crystal for light crystal just because it's a little dark for a pale ale but that's purely cosmetic. I'm happy with the hop schedule so now it's time to scale it down. I really want to be able to brew a 3.5% hoppy APA (easier said than done). The only change I'm going to make is to reduce the base malt. Per Jamil's writings/discussions on scaling down beers. This is to ensure the beer doesn't dry out too much.

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Rob

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My Previous System

Let's face it, I was spoiled as a homebrewer.  I had a full finished basement to store all my equipment/ingredients & a natural gas line in my back yard that's connected to the house. The line was originally installed for a gas grill. I simply added a brass wye to split off another line for my brewstand.  No messing with weak stoves or propane tanks.

As far as the brewstand goes it was made out of anodized aluminum with pre-drilled holes.  I chose aluminum because it's light and extremely strong.  The only problem with aluminum is it conducts heat very well and isn't resistant to heat like stainless steel.  I was concerned so I added some fireproof insulation & tape, but it turns out extra heat from the burners don't affect the aluminum enough to weaken it.  The aluminum is also anodized which increases corrosion resistance and wear resistance.

My former brewstand:

Inside the Boil Kettle: 

Inside the Hot Liquor Tank:

Mash Tun:

It's pretty self explanatory. It's basically a double tier set up.  The mash tun is placed on a small stool next to the HLT when I'm ready to mash. The double tier set up let me utilize only one march pump instead of two, with gravity doing the job of the second pump.

I fly sparge by pumping the finished wort into the boil kettle and feeding the hot sparge water into the top of the mash via gravity.

10 minutes before the wort is finished boiling I recirculate it through the pump & chiller & back into the boil kettle via a whirlpool arm to sanitize everything before running off into the fermentor.

Once the wort is finished boiling, I pump it through my counterflow chiller and into the fermentor. I aerate for 10-15 minutes with a aquarium pump & diffuser stone.

So that's my previous set up.  You can see why I was spoiled as a homebrewer.

Once I get my new system running in my apartment I'll post the details.  It's probably going to be similar, just without the movable brewstand & natural gas burners.

Cheers!

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Rob

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Quick Update

I'm in the process of moving from my house to a one bedroom apartment.  I currently brew on a 10 gallon all-grain single-tier system that's connected to the natural gas line in my house.  I have to scale that down to be able to brew in a small kitchen.  I plan on writing some posts about my previous system and my future system once everything's up and running.  Oh and yes I did cry a little when I had to brake down my awesome brewstand.  Stay tuned.

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Rob

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STANDARD AMERICAN LAGER

Apologies for the absence.


The most popular session beer in the world?  As I've said before on this blog, I'm not a macro lager hater, they have their place and the big breweries know how to brew this tricky style well.  So this time I thought I would try and brew the most consumed beer style in the world.


When brewing a Standard American Lager, the key is a clean flavor profile.  Not too much malt, not too much hops or yeast derived esters.  In fact, in the BJCP description it actually says, "strong flavors are considered a fault".  The devil for this one is in the ingredients.  I went with the standard American 2-row since pilsner malt would be too flavorful for this style.  Corn and rice adjuncts include a fair amount of the total grist and sometimes up to 40%.  I used a little less than 10% flaked rice (which I prefer over corn for it's neutral flavor but that's just a personal preference) and a little light crystal for body.


This was also the first time I tried the S-189 dry Swiss Lager yeast.  I had heard good things about it but I haven't had good success with dry lager yeasts in the past.  I tried Saflager W-34/70 and wasn't particularly impressed.  It threw a lot of diacetyl, which isn't a big deal on it's own, but the flavor profile also left something to be desired.  Also, I'm looking for a nice all around lager yeast and one that produces a lot of diacetyl is just going to be a pain.  


Anyway, Fermentis doesn't seem to sell small (~11 gram) packet to homebrewers but there's a sight (http://www.americanbrewmaster.com/product_info.php?products_id=2349) that buys in bulk and repackages into 11 gram packets.  Much better than buying a 500 gram packet.  I was worried about contamination due to the repackaging but the yeast performed well for me, so I have no complaints.

Standard American Lager (BJCP Description)

(6 Gallons, ~70% Eff, Tinseth)

OG: 1.043

FG: 1.011

IBU: 14

ABV: 4.2%

SRM: 3.8

9 lbs - Domestic 2-Row

.875 lb - Minute Rice

.5 lbs - Crystal 10

1 oz - German Hallertau (Whole Leaf) 3.8% @ 60 Min

.5 oz - German Hallertau (Whole Leaf) 3.8% @ 10 Min

1 oz - German Hallertau (Whole Leaf) 3.8% @ 0 Min

Yeast: Saflager S-189 Swiss Lager (22 grams re-hydrated)

Mashed 60 min @ 154, 1.25 qt/lb

Fermented for one month at 50 degrees.

Tasting Notes:

Look - Straw gold, brilliant white head that surprisingly sticks around (most likely due to the low adjunct content), slight chill haze

Aroma -  Sweet grainy malts, not much hop aroma, clean lager yeast

Mouthfeel - Medium-thin bodied, crisp

Taste - Sweet bready/grainy malts, spicy herbal/lemony hops, firm bitterness

Notes:  Overall I'm very happy with the beer and the dry yeast's performance.  It's a solid, flavorful, well brewed and very drinkable lager.  However, if I was to enter this into a competition I would probably enter it as a Premium American Lager because to me, it has too much malt/hop flavor for a Standard.  I would probably increase the percentage of adjuncts to eliminate some of the flavor from the 2-row, cut out the crystal malt and drop the last hop addition.

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Rob

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SAISON

One of my favorite styles and something I plan on brewing more often.  Historically brewed in the spring to last through the summer months when it's too hot to brew. This version is brewed in the "farmhouse" tradition and uses some oddball grains.  From my understanding, traditional Saisons were farmhouse ales which meant that the farmer usually threw in whatever grains besides barley they had laying around to increase the fermentable sugars. Sometimes these other grains were not malted like barley, and may or may not have contributed to the total fermentable sugars depending on the gelatinization temperature.  I love unmalted wheat so I threw some in. The gelatinization temperaute is low enough to include directly into the mash without any further processing (malting, flaking, etc.).

I also included Spelt which is the first time I've used this grain in brewing.  The gelatinization temperature isn't low enough to include in the mash, so I used flaked Spelt to avoid doing a cereal mash.  Hopping can vary greatly in Saisons from barely noticeable to assertively hoppy.  I shot for kind of a moderately hoppy mix of EKG & Saaz, since it's on the low side in terms of alcohol.

Saison (BJCP Description)
(6 Gallons, ~70% Eff, Tinseth)

OG: 1.040
FG: 1.006
IBU: 19
ABV: 4.5%
SRM: 3
90 Minute Boil

7 lbs - German Pilsner
1 lb - White Wheat Malt
1.5 lbs - Flaked Spelt (Bob's Red Mill)
.5 lbs - Unmalted White Wheat

1 oz - East Kent Goldings (Whole Leaf) 4.6% @ 60 Min
.25 oz - Saaz (Pellets) 5.5% @ 15 Min
.25 oz - East Kent Goldings (Whole Leaf) 4.6% @ 15 Min

.5 oz - Saaz (Pellets) 5.5% @ 0 Min
.5 oz - East Kent Goldings (Whole Leaf) 4.6% @ 0 Min


Yeast: Wyeast 3711 French Saison (2 Liter Starter)

Mashed 60 min @ 150, 1.25 qt/lb

Pitched yeast at 65 and let it free rise to 78

Tasting Notes:
Look - Light yellow, hazy, 1 1/2 finger white head with nice lacing
Aroma - Tropical fruit/citrus, very slightly peppery type phenols, sweet pils malt, earthy/spicy hops
Mouthfeel - Surprisingly light/medium bodied
Taste - Spicy/citrusy yeast, spicy/earthy hops, slight nuttiness, moderate bitterness

Notes:  This beer was delicious! I wish I had more.  Not sure if I was able to pick out the Spelt but it was the first time I used it.  It might have lent a slight nuttiness to the beer but it's hard to say.  I look forward to brewing this again.

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Rob

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MUNICH HELLES

A light golden, clean, and very drinkable lager that's perfect for summer especially when brewed to session strength.  I have a soft spot for lagers especially the full flavored continental variety, namely Weihenstephaner Original.  Although I'm not opposed to a Premium American Lager (BJCP Description) with my favorite being Shaefer but I've been known to enjoy a Budweiser every now and again. Die beer snobs! (sorry I got carried away).  Some might argue (link) that the most popular beers in America are session strength lagers (bud light, miller lite, etc.).

I was looking for a simple, tasty, no nonsense lager for the summer so I kept the recipe simple.  Mostly German Pils with a little Munich for character and all German Hallertau hops.  I used the WLP833 German Bock yeast because it's a supposed to be a versatile yeast which is what I was looking for since I plan on re-using the yeast for multiple batches.  I also decided to go with a single temperature infusion mash.  I thought about maybe doing a protein rest but this isn't a show beer so I'm not concerned with clarity.  With today's highly modified malts, there's no need for any sort of step mashing/decoction so why complicate the issue?

Like a lot of homebrewers I usually brew ales for obvious reasons.  This is only the second lager I've brewed and the first that came out well.  It seems like I've had nothing but bad luck with lager yeast with two separate starters getting infected (seriously has this happened to anyone else?).  When I finally did get a good starter going, I brewed a Premium American Lager.  Unfortunately I rushed the fermentation and ended up with too much diacetyl (even after a d-rest).  I also forgot to taste the sample after I took a gravity reading, woops.  Very disappointing so I realized I needed to do more research before my next lager. 

For this one I decided to leave it in the primary fermenter for twice as long to make sure there was no diacetyl.  After a month I tasted it and didn't find any diacetyl, so I kegged it and moved it to the keggerator for a couple weeks of lagering.  This fermentation schedule worked out well for me and I think I'll go this route again when brewing lagers.

Munich Helles (BJCP Description)
(6 Gallons, ~70% Eff, Tinseth)

OG: 1.045
FG: 1.010
IBU: 29
ABV: 4.6%
SRM: 4
90 Minute Boil

9.5 lbs - German Pilsner
1 lb - Light Munich

2 oz - German Hallertau (Pellets) 3.9% @ 60 Min
.5 oz German Hallertau (Pellets) 3.9% @ 20 Min

Yeast: WLP833 German Bock (4 Liter Starter with 2 Vials)

Mashed 75 min @ 150, 1.25 qt/lb

Pitched yeast at 52 and fermented for 1 month then 2 weeks of lagering at 42

Tasting Notes:
Look - Light yellow/golden, clear, 1 1/2 finger white head with nice lacing (no protein rest)
Aroma - Sweet pils malt, no hop aroma
Mouthfeel - Medium bodied
Taste - Sweet grainy malt, spicy/slightly earthy hop flavor, very clean with a lingering bitterness

Notes:  I'm extremely happy with how this beer came out.  It's much more flavorful than any light beer or even a Premium American Lager and very easy to drink.  All I need now is a glass boot.

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Rob

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CEREAL MASH

The purpose of this post is to give anyone who is thinking about doing a cereal mash a good place to start.

This is basically my blonde ale recipe with unmalted raw red rice from Thailand in place of the usual flaked/instant rice and unmalted white wheat in place of malted white wheat.

I thought it would be interesting to try red rice and thought it might even impart a pinkish/redish hue but it didn't.

It seems like there is a bias against using adjuncts in craft brewing. Most likely due to the fact that Bud/Miller/Coors uses adjuncts and in a sense the craft beer movement is a response to these boring flavorless mass market beers and I get it.

However, contrary to popular belief these adjuncts weren't used in order to save money (at first), they were used to cut the protein/nitrogen content of the domestic 6-Row barley that is better suited for growing in the US than 2-Row barley.

For a much more in depth and much better written explanation, here is a link for you (here)

Since the red rice is raw, you have to gelatinize the starches before the enzymes can get to work converting them into sugar during the mash.

In this case since the overall % of adjuncts is on the low side (<20%), you could just boil the rice/unmalted wheat for 15-20 minutes to gelatinize the starches and throw it in the mash, but I decided to do a proper cereal mash for the fun of it. This is the original website I used as a guide (http://www.ingermann.com/cerealmash.html). There's also a BYO article from Mar/Apr 2005 issue but you'll have to find that yourself since it's not available free online.

(6 Gallons, ~70% Eff, Tinseth)
OG: 1.047
FG: 1.011
IBU: 29
ABV: 4.7%
SRM: 4

3.5 lbs - 2-Row
3.5 lbs - Pilsner (German)
2 lbs - Red Rice (Thailand)
1 lb - Unmalted White Wheat
.5 lb - Crystal 20
2 oz - Rice Hulls

1 oz German Perle (Pellets) 9.1% @ 60 min
.5 oz Crystal (Pellets) 2.8% @ 10 Min
.5 oz Crystal (Pellets) 2.8% @ 0 Min

Yeast: US-05 (re-pitched 100ml thick slurry)

Fermented at 62 for two weeks

Mashed 60 min @ 150, 1.25 qt/lb

Main Mash:
3.5 lbs Pilsner (German)
2.5 lbs 2-Row
.5 lbs Crystal 20

Doughed in with 4.5 gallons of strike water to raise temp up to 122 for a protein rest and mashed for 30 min.

Cereal Mash:
2 lbs - Red Rice (Thailand)
1 lb - Unmalted White Wheat
1 lb - 2-Row

Crushed the rice and wheat in my malt mill with the gap setting tighter than normal.

Note, grinding up unmalted adjuncts is tougher than malted barley, you should prob do it by hand. The rice/wheat was ground to the consistency of grits more or less.

Heated up the adjuncts on the kitchen stove in a separate 1.5 gallon pot and the 1 lb of malted barley with 7.5 quarts of water (a very thin 2.5 qts per lb).

Heated to 122 and held for 30 min then raised to 148 for 25 min. with direct heat (stir constantly).

After that I boiled it gently for 15 min while stirring often to avoid scorching.

Then I added it directly to the main mash (with the rice hulls) which was siting at 122 which brought the temp of the main mash up to my target of 152.

This was the part I was most worried about since I've never step mashed in my cooler before this point but it worked out well. I had some hot & cold water on hand though just in case I had to adjust the temperature.

I was shooting for 1.75 - 2 qts per pound for the final mash with the adjuncts added. I mashed thin because I was worried about effeciency. I also rested the mash for 90 min to ensure conversion.

Hope this helps anyone thinking about using unmalted adjuncts in their brew.

Cheers!

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Rob

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BROWN PORTER

I've never brewed a Porter before so I figured I would start with the most basic of the sub-styles, Brown Porter. Brown Porter is characterized by the use of Brown Malt and in my opinion the lack of roasted barley.

I've never used Brown Malt in a beer before. It's basically a heavily toasted form of 2-Row malt. It's similar to Amber malt and is about 50-70 L and has very little diastatic power. Chocolate or Black Malt (or both) also contribute to the profile of modern Porters. There is a debate about whether roast barley is appropriate for a Porter. My feeling is that if it is used in a Porter it should be used sparingly. For me, the main difference between a Porter & a Stout is that Stouts rely heavily on roasted barley for the flavor profile.

In the past, Porters were made exclusively from Brown malt, however, it must have had more diastatic power in the past if it was making up 100% of the grain bill. The following recipe is based of Jamil Zainasheff's recipe, modified to use the hops I had on hand. I also did a 10 gallon batch split into two 6 gallon Better Bottles. One was fermented with Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire and the other with Wyeast 1318 London Ale III.

If you ever want a good base recipe either to introduce you to the style or to just produce a guaranteed good beer, I would suggest using one of his recipes as a starting point.

Porters and Stouts have a long complicated and sometimes intertwined history which I won't get into. Again if you're interested in the origins of the style I would check out the "Shut up about Barclay Perkins" website. I would also recommend the book, "Amber Gold & Black" by Martin Cornell which is a fantastic and well researched book about the history of beer styles in Britain.

Brown Porter (BJCP Description)
(6 Gallons, ~70% Eff, Tinseth)

OG: 1.050
FG: 1.015
IBU: 26
ABV: 4.6%
SRM: 25

9 lbs - Maris Otter (Warminster Floor Malted)
1 lb - Brown Malt
1 lb - Medium Crystal (Simpsons)
10 oz- Chocolate Malt (Simpsons)

2.5 oz Willamete (Whole Leaf) 4.6% @ 60 Min
.5 oz Willamete (Whole Leaf) 4.6% @ 10 Min
.5 oz East Kent Goldings (Whole Leaf) 4.7% @ Flameout

Yeast: Carboy #1 Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire (2 Liter Starter)
Carboy #2 Wyeast 1318 London Ale III (Washed, 6 oz Thick Slurry)

Mashed 75 min @ 150, 1.25 qt/lb

Pitched yeasts at 65 and let it free rise to 72

Tasting Notes (Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire):
Look - Dark brown/black with ruby highlights, 1 finger tan head with nice lacing
Aroma - nutty & fruity yeast but still clean, some dark chocolate notes and slight earthy hop aroma
Mouthfeel - Medium-full bodied
Taste - Very balanced with a full malt character that isn't cloying. Nice dark chocolate flavor, little/none roasted character, sweet bready malts, medium bitterness, slight earthy/spicy hop flavor

Notes (Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire):
Overall this beer surprised me. It's much more complex than I thought it would be and all too drinkable. I enjoy the occasional stout/porter now and again but I was never a huge fan of the style but this beer has me re-thinking that. It's also really well balanced between the malt, yeast & hop flavors. This is the first time I've used this strain so I'm excited to try it in some different styles.

UPDATE:
Tasting Notes (Wyeast London Ale III):
Look - Dark brown/black with ruby highlights, 1 finger tan head with nice lacing (same as West Yorkshire)
Aroma - Fruity yeast esters but subdued (compared to WLP002), some dark chocolate/coffee notes and slight earthy hop aroma
Mouthfeel - Medium-full bodied
Taste - full chewy malt character. Nice dark chocolate flavor, roast coffee, nutty malts, medium bitterness, slight earthy/spicy hop flavor

Notes (Wyeast London Ale III):
Overall the London Ale III (LA3) batch was along the same lines as the West Yorkshire (WY).  The key difference I found was in the dark malt character.  The LA3 batch had more of a pronounced coffee flavor compared to more of a dark chocolate flavor in the WY batch.  The LA3 batch also had a little more fruity esters (although still restrained) and a slight mineral quality to it.  In the end I prefer the WY version as it was a little more balanced, however both yeasts made a very good Brown Porter.

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ENGLISH SPECIAL/PREMIUM/BEST

This is maybe my third version of an English Special Bitter, each time I've tried a different recipe/yeast/malt supplier etc. For this one I wanted to start from scratch in terms of the grain bill so I kept it very simple. It's mostly pale malt with some medium crystal and a little wheat malt for increased body & head retention. The hops are mostly East Kent Goldings with some Willamete late in the boil for complexity.

I usually use a combination of EKG and Fuggles but I was out of Fuggles so I used Willamete which is a US version of Fuggles.

For the yeast I decided to give the London Ale III strain from Wyeast a try because I've heard good things about it. I've previously used, WLP002 English Ale, WLP023 Burton Ale & S-04.

So far my favorite is the classic WLP002. It leaves a really nice "soft" malt character, has really nice "fruity" esters & of course it floccs like a ton of bricks which leaves the beer very clear in a minimal amount of time.


English Special/Premium/Best Bitter (BJCP Description)
(6 Gallons, ~70% Eff, Tinseth)

OG: 1.047
FG: 1.012
IBU: 30
ABV: 4.6%
SRM: 8.5

10lbs - Maris Otter (Warminster Floor Malted)
1.25 lbs - Medium Crystal (Simpsons)
.5 lbs - White Wheat (Weyerman)

2 oz East Kent Goldings (Whole Leaf) 4.6% @ 60 Min
.5 oz East Kent Goldings (Whole Leaf) 4.6% @ 10 Min
.5 oz Willamete (Whole Leaf) 5.1% @ 10 Min
.5 oz East Kent Goldings (Whole Leaf) 4.6% @ 0 Min
.5 oz Willamete (Whole Leaf) 5.1% @ 0 Min
.5 oz East Kent Goldings (Pellets) 4.5% Dry Hopped 14 Days


Yeast: Wyeast 1318 London Ale III (2 Liter Starter)

Fermented at 68 for two weeks

Mashed 60 min @ 150, 1.25 qt/lb

Tasting notes:
Look - Deep orange, chill haze, small 1/2 finger head that sticks around, nice lacing
Aroma - Earthy/spicy/sweet almost candy like hops, stone fruit esters, bready/toasty malt, spicy earthy hop aroma/flavor
Mouthfeel - Medium-thin bodied
Taste - Spicy bitterness upfront gives way to a toasty bready malt character, firm bitterness lingers on the back end, very easy drinking.

Notes:
This is definitely a solid English Pale ale and I would have no problem brewing this exactly the same again.

I really like the London Ale III yeast and the fruity esters it produces. They're not sweetish fruits like WLP002, it's more of the stone fruit type esters if that makes sense.

I should note that this yeast loves to hang out at the top of the fermenter. It took about a week for the thick mat of yeast that hung around after fermentation to fall back into the beer. Obviously a very good candidate for top cropping.

It's a very easy drinking Pale Ale, which is nice with the hot weather we have right now. The only complaint I have is that it's a little one dimensional as far as the malt flavor goes. You get the nice marris otter malt character with a little sweetness from the crystal malt but that's about it. I'm going to try and maybe mix in some darker crystal or try a different crystal malt (special B, Carastan, etc.) I'm also going to lower the gravity a little since this almost drink like an ESB. Getting closer...

Crappy Cellphone pic but you get the idea

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Rob

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BLONDE ALE - VERSION 2

This is a slightly different version of my previous Blonde Ale. This verion uses all 2-row instead of a 50/50 mix of Pilsner & 2-Row, unmalted wheat instead of malted wheat, Crystal 10 instead of Crystal 20, Hallertau instead of Spalter and instant rice instead of flaked rice. As before, I was going for a nice easy drinking session beer. Nothing offensive but balanced & drinkable.

The biggest change was the use of 100% 2-Row. No real reason just wanted to try brewing the beer this way. Although it was still a very good beer I think it was missing the malt complexity that splitting the base malt between 2-Row & Pilsner malt. Went with Crystal 10 instead of 20 mainly for color reasons, I wanted to get it a little lighter in color. I couldn't really taste the difference, I would probably have to do a side by side comparison.

I love unmalted wheat because I think it gives more of a wheat flavor (or what people expect to be a wheat flavor). Since the starches gelatinize at a relatively low temperature (130-150 degrees Fahrenheit)it can be directly added to the mash without any pre-cooking. Even if the mash temp is below 150 (the upper end of the gelatinization temperature range for wheat) I wouldn't be worried about losing some conversion due to some un-gelatinized starches in the wheat with it making up only about 10% of the grist.

I used instant rice because I didn't have flaked rice on hand. Instant rice is pre-gelatinized so you can add it directly to the mash. There's plenty of enzymes in the 2-Row to confert the rice and unmalted wheat. I used instant brown rice for the record because all the instant white rice I found at the supermarket was enriched. I didn't notice any different flavor contributions from the brown rice (instant) compared to the white rice (flaked). This doesn't surprise me since rice in general adds little in terms of flavor.

I used Hallertau instead of Spalter just to change it up. Both are German Noble hops and in a beer where the hops play a supporting role as this one, you can really use any noble or noble-type hop without much perceived difference.

Blonde Ale (BJCP Description)
(6 Gallons, ~72% Eff, Tinseth)

OG: 1.044
FG: 1.011
IBU: 20.6
ABV: 4.4%
SRM: 4.1

7 lbs - Domestic 2-Row
1 lb - Unmalted Wheat
1 lb - Crystal 10
1 lb - Instant Rice

1.5 oz German Hallertau 3.9% @60 Min
.5 oz German Hallertau 3.9% @ 10 min

Yeast: US-05

Mashed 60 min @ 154, 1.25 qt/lb

Tasting Notes:
Look - Light straw color, haze, 1 finger head that sticks around, nice lacing
Aroma - Grainy malt, little hop aroma/flavor
Mouthfeel - Medium bodied
Taste - Incredibly clean tasting, grainy malts, slight noble hop flavor, creaminess from the unmalted wheat, very easy drinking.

Notes:
Overall this beer hit it's mark. As compared to the previous version, it lacks some of the malt complexity from the Pilzner malt, but has a really nice creaminess from the unmalted wheat. The only problem is the beer is very hazy from the unmalted wheat haha. I guess there's some trade-off but the haze is fine with me.

I entered this into the 15th annual B.E.E.R. brew-off and it won the silver in the Light Hybrid category. Woo hoo. As far as the comments go from the judges, they basically detected a minor flaw and said it is the only thing keeping this beer from scoring in the 40s.

There was a slight acetic acid character they noticed. I hadn't noticed this before I bottled the beer for competition, so I'm inclined to blame it on sanitation post-fermentation, but the beer was also getting a little long in the tooth so it could have always been present but just not yet noticeable. Anyway, the reason I enjoy competitions (enjoy may not be the right word haha) is because they are very humbling. As good as you think you're sanitation/process/recipe/etc. is, it can always improve.

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SCOTTISH 60 SHILLING

This beer ended up winning Gold at the 15th Annual B.E.E.R. Brew-off! (http://beerhbc.org/)

I've heard a lot of good things about this style of beer so I figured I would try and brew it. Scottish Ales (not to be confused with Scotch Ales) are all pretty similar, with the defining characteristic being the different alcohol levels. The 60 shilling refers to the tax which was based on the amount of alcohol in the finished beer. The 60 Shilling has the lowest alcohol content of all the Scottish Ales. It's a malty low gravity session beer characterized by a rich caramel malt flavor and low hop bitterness/flavor/aroma.

I won't get into the whole thing about, "Scottish Ales had low hop levels because hops were hard to grow in Scotland so they had to be imported from England" thing. Ron Pattinson over at "Shut Up About Barclay Perkins" shows historical records indicating that the hop rates of Scottish Ales vs. English Ales were the same. I tend to believe primary sources over repeated quotes from who knows where, but feel free to go over to his website to debate him. That being said since this is a low gravity ale I hopped it to about 18 IBUs which is on the high side of the BJCP guidelines.

In Jamil's Brewing Classic Styles book he lists two recipes for a Scottish ale. One uses crystal malts for the caramel sweetness, the other relies on kettle caramelization for the caramel flavor. Traditionally the kettle caramelization method was used so I went with that one. I boiled the first runnings (about a gallon) down by about half in a separate pot, then added that to the second runnings and boiled as usual

Scottish 60 Shilling (BJCP Description)
(6 Gallons, ~70% Eff, Tinseth)

OG: 1.034
FG: 1.009
IBU: 18
ABV: 3.3%
SRM: 9 L

* 7 lbs 13 oz - 2-Row Pale (Marris Otter)
* 3.2 oz - Roast Barley (500 L)


* 1.2 oz East Kent Goldings 4.5% @60 Min

* Yeast: White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

* Mashed 60 min @ 154, 1 qt/lb

Tasting Notes:
Look - Dark Red, Brilliantly Clear
Aroma - Sweet Caramel, Touch of Toffee, No Noticeable Esters
Mouthfeel - Surprisingly Medium-Full Bodied
Taste - More Sweet Caramel, Slight "Mineral" Quality, Faint Earthy Hops, Clean

Notes:
The caramel character of this beer surprised me since there are no caramel malts in it. Reducing the first runnings does a good job of creating those same flavors. This was a favorite around my house. This beer was fermented low around 62 and then cellared around 50 for two months. The Edinburgh strain is very neutral and lets the small amount of hops come through. I re-pitched the washed yeast from this beer for my most recent American Pale Ale and it worked great. I usually use US-05/1056/WLP001 but if I have some fresh Edinburgh yeast hanging around I wouldn't hesitate to use it in a hop forward beer like an APA or IPA. This will be a regular in my house.

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Rob

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