Brew Day - Saison

Memorial Day Weekend - long, hot, and perfect for brewing. Late Sunday morning we cranked the propane on the new burner and started a batch of Saison du Grasslippare. Saisons were originally brewed to quench the thirsts of French and Belgian field workers on hot days (not unlike this weekend). They are full of flavor but very refreshing. A few interesting ingredients - Belgian candy sugar, grains of paradise, coriander, and bitter orange peel.

A lower starting gravity then I had hoped (1.044) but I didn't have to add any top off water to the fermenter. Essentially, a solid full boil.

Ingredients:

3.3 lbs of Pilsen LME
3.3 lbs of Wheat LME
1 lb. clear candi sugar
8 oz. Cara-20 and 8 oz. unmalted wheat speciality grains
2 oz. US Goldings hops (flavor and bittering)
1 oz. US Saaz hops (aroma)
1/4 tsp. grains of paradise
1 oz. bitter orange peel
1/2 oz. whole coriander

Welcome Back

The brewing has finally restarted in our new town of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Yes, with Troegs, Stoudt, and Lancaster Brewing in such close proximity one might ask, "What can you bring to the table?" The simple answer, "More Beer!"

Although we've been here for several months, the brewery has been generally inactive. But now brewing is ready to commence. The brewery has moved to a larger and more efficient space (the "Bat Cave"): shelving separates cases of empty bottles from conditioning beer, equipment is more easily accessible, and I actually have a workspace that doesn't double as a tool bench. Additionally, we've stepped up to a (much) more powerful propane burner (150,000+ BTU), which should improve boils.

In celebration of the new brewery, Forbidden Ale will be officially uncapped this weekend. This beer was brewed in the beginning of the year, followed up by the maibock (the first beer to be bottled in PA.) So, cheers and welcome back!

Bottling the Cherry Beers

So (finally) I bottled the cherry beers. New puppy ownership and large stockpiles of finished beer have definitely curtailed my brewing; however, I am determined to brew at least twice this summer.

The first half of the batch (11 bottles) was the cherry amber ale by itself. I added 2oz. of cherry extract to the second half (13 bottles). I know that it may be a bit strong (usually one adds less than 4oz. to a five-gallon batch) but it should give me a clear idea of whether extract really makes the flavor better.

Final gravity: 1.010
Estimated ABV: 3.7% (clearly, fermentation didn't renew but cherry flavor was absorbed)

Beer Bottling and Tasting Updates

One post per month - I should be savagely beaten. The reason for the lack of attention to the brog is simple: I haven't been doing much notable beer stuff. I am doing my best to reduce my massive finished-beer supply and, thus, not actively brewing anything. Time is ticking away though and the itch to brew is in desperate need of scratching.

Beer bottling:

Elderflower Ale #2 - eleven 12oz. bottles
Old Tjikko #2 - thirteen 12oz. bottles
Amber (control beer) - fourteen 12oz. bottles

I will bottle the two cherry ales this week and, after a month or so, will pop a few of each to test the experiments.

Tastings:

Two solid beer tastings in the past month. A couple of weeks ago we went to a beer festival in Baltimore. Unfortunately, despite a generous beer pouring policy, very few beers really stood out as great, "must buy" options. A few interesting brews: Lancaster Brewing Co.'s Strawberry Wheat, Pratt Street Ale House's (Oliver's) Cherry Blossom Ale, and Old Dominion's Spring Buck. Fruity and/or sweet really dominated these beers but they were, nonetheless, pretty fun and tasty. Also, a previously unknown-to-me brewery, Stillwater, had two versions of their saison (one was cask-conditioned) with distinctively different aspects. They were both pretty good and it was nice to be able to compare the two side-by-side.

This weekend we went on a beer sampling adventure at Rustico in Alexandria, VA. I tried about a dozen beers - mostly from breweries I don't regularly drink. Eggenberg's Spezial Dunkel and Mikkeller's Nelson Sauvignon were winners; Hitachino's Classic Ale was a real disappointment - it had been billed as an English Ale aged in cedar casks (from a Japanese brewery!). Frankly, it was just Kirin Ichiban. They lied to me. A surprise winner: Duck Rabbit Craft Brewery's Barleywine. It had just the right amount of hops to offset the hops and no funny alcohol taste. It just goes to prove that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a rabbit, it might turn out great. Maybe that doesn't prove anything.

Travel and Beers

For the past three weeks I have been traveling like a fiend. I wish I could say I experienced some great beers.... I tried Efes in Turkey, Mythos in Greece, and Tropical in the Canary Islands. I didn't bother with 1664 in France (I've had it before and really didn't need it again). Basically, all were typical light Mediterranean lagers. While they were all very refreshing in the heat, none of them were distinctive or really all that flavorful. I did take a moment to have a Paulaner Hefe Weissbier in Greece (just to escape the monotony) - it was well worth the high import price (9.50 Euros). In short, I am glad to be back to the wide variety of beers here (both in my brewery and the vast array of bars and stores in the DC area). Cheers!

Moving the Amber, et al.

Today I moved the amber-based experimental beers into two secondary aging vessels. Half of the beer went into a smaller, 2.5 gallon carboy - this half will be the amber "control" beer and Old Tjikko #2 (when I add the spruce essence at bottling). The other half went into a 5 gallon carboy - I first added just over 3 lbs. of sweet cherry puree and then siphoned the beer on top of it. Since the cherry puree is full of fermentable sugars, this should renew fermentation and, thus, there needs to be a little more room than the other half of the brew (which is done with active fermentation).

Right now the "finishing" gravity is 1.010, meaning about 3.7% ABV for the amber beer and Old Tjikko #2. The cherry beer half should ferment a bit more so we shall see it's final gravity in a few weeks.

Experimental Beer(s) - Amber, et al.

On Sunday I brewed the first part of a batch of experimental beers. Basically, I am using an amber ale as the base beer for a few modifications. Five gallons of brew will be split into the following:

2.5 gal. of Old Tjikko #2 (since the spruce ale had decent support at the recent tasting, I figured I would keep the style but try a different approach - the prior used molasses and pale DME)

5 gal. of cherry beer (this will be split further into two versions: while all of it will be aged on 3lbs. of sweet cherry puree, I will add up to 2oz. of cherry extract at bottling to 2.5 gal.)

2.5 gal. of amber ale (the remainder will remain as is - a control)

Ingredients (for the amber ale base beer):

5.5lbs Amber LME
1lb Crystal 50-60L* speciality grains
1/2lb. Golden Naked Oats [hopefully for some extra body]
2oz. UK Kent Goldings hops (1oz. for bittering; 1oz. for flavoring)
Wyeast American Activator liquid yeast

OG: 1.038