I Make Wort.....

Right when I left Michael Tonsmiere's talk on Hoppy Sour Beers at HomebrewCon I knew a hoppy sour was going to be on my to brew list in the near future. Well, here goes nothing. I based my recipe off of his that he shared with us at his talk. I brewed 11 gallons of wort and split the batches, 6 gallons in one carboy, 5 in another. The 6 gallons will become the Hoppy Sour Beer and the 5 gallons will be a Gose (by request of the wife).

Carboys sitting in my hot storeroom

85% 2 Row
15% Flaked Wheat

Mashed at 152

Boiled for 60 minutes, cooled to approximately 105 degrees, racked to each carboy.

Both carboys were soured for approximately 24 hours. My pH meter was a cheap one and it read 3.5 or so. Hey it tasted tart enough for my taste, I continued on. I'll need to purchase a meter that I can rely on. This one is not very reliable at all.
Hoppy Sour (6 gallon carboy)
Soured with Omega Lacto Blend

I racked the 6 gallon carboy back into kettle, brought to 180, whirlpooled hops for 15 minutes with the following hops.

• 1 oz Citra
• 1 oz Simcoe

Omega Lacto Blend, yes I saved this cake, will sour with it again.

• 1 oz Mosaic

Dry hopped for 7 days with the same amount of hops as above.

Before I dry hopped the beer, I tasted them and the beer was just a touch bitter with a quenching tartness. The hop flavor was good, but not as quite as quenching as the sample I tasted at HomebrewCon. After I dry hopped the beers I got an overwhelming bitterness and the sourness clashed together. Very interesting that I got some bitterness from the dry hopping. I believe I am going to try to blend some of the Gose into this beer to see if it will round out that bitterness. I'm pretty upset with that, but hey you learn from these mistakes. I love the hop flavor and aroma though. Next time I will bring the wort up to 180 and start the whirlpool, once the beer is well below 180 from the whirlpooling I'll add my hops so I don't extract as much bitterness from the hops. I will also only dry hop with a half an ounce of the hops this time. I believe 3 ounces for this was a bit much. I'm not sure what I was thinking.

I carbonated this beer with my new Blichmann QuickCarb. I'm going to write a review on it soon. I served this beer at a local food event. I believe calling this a Hoppy Sour turned people off and it they really weren't interested in it. That's ok thought because it is not my best.

Gose (5 gallon carboy)
Soured with 2 Mango Good Belly Plus Shots


Racked this beer back to a kettle and brought it up to 180, I then added 15 grams of kosher salt and 10 grams of ground coriander. Before anyone gets onto me about not using whole, I know, I know. None of my grocery stores in town have whole coriander (ooof, I forgot to check the Asian Market, I will check there). That is the reason I backed off the coriander some because I knew the ground would be overwhelming. When grinding whole coriander in a mortar and pestle, it is meant to go into a beer.

I used US05 for "primary fermentation."

This beer is in my kegerator with 12 PSI attached to it and I'm waiting patiently for this one to carb. I didn't need this one for an even like I had the hoppy sour beer slated for.

I've been itching to release this post for some time now. As I am writing and editing this post I am working on gathering some statistics to put in here so you will have some info to chew on. This brew was probably my most documented brew day I have ever done and I must say it is pretty nice to look back and read what all I did for it. I took lots of photos of the entire process. The reason I did this experiment is for the Experimental Brewing Podcast, it made me brew a beer I've been wanting to brew for some time, but really just didn't know where to start. Where I sorta failed at this experiment is that I actually used a Conan Yeast strain, rather than Wyeast 1318 London Ale III that the recipe suggested. I hope it doesn't throw them off with their data.

Brew Day: June 4, 2016

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 13 gal
Post Boil Volume: 12.00 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal (each carboy)
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal (each keg/bottle)
Estimated OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 6.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 37.00 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.2 %

Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain
19 lbs Rahr 2-row
2 lbs Munich Malt
2 lbs Flaked Oats

Hops
14 g. Warrior (15.9% AA) @ 60 minutes
28 g. Centennial (10% AA) @ 5 minutes
28 g. Citra (12.5% AA) @ 5 minutes
28 g. Amarillo (7.2% AA) @ whirlpool/hop stand 20 minutes
28 g. Centennial (10% AA) @ whirlpool/hop stand 20 minutes
28 g. Citra (12.5% AA) @ whirlpool/hop stand 20 minutes

Other
17.3 g. Calcium Chloride
17.3 g. Gypsum

Water
17.25 gal. Distilled Water

Yeast
Wyeast 1056 American Ale
Omega OLY-52 DIPA Ale
* A 2 L starter for each yeast was made week prior - no stir plate, just intermittent shaking

Fementation chamber set to 64  degrees. Taped the probe to the furthers carboy and installed a small fan in the the chamber to recirculate the air.

Wort is chilled in the the carboy ready for pitch

6/5/2016 Evening after pitching. Wyeast 1056 took off first.

6/6/2016 - 7 AM - Still no sign of activity from the Omega Yeast

6/6/2016 - 6 PM - Omega Yeast has taken off!

6/7/2016 - 7AM - Both beers happily fermenting away

6/7/2016 - 7 PM - This is smelling super good

The lapse of time in between these two pictures was Homebrew Con. Ok guys, it was my first one to attend, I apologize for not documenting them daily while I was off drinking a copious amount of beer.

6/12/2016 - Activity is slowing down quite a bit

6/17/2016 - Looks like it's done with the super active fermentation now

6/25/2016
Dry hopped each primary fermenter with:
56 g. Amarillo (7.2% AA)
56 g. Centennial (10.0% AA)
56 g. Citra (12.5% AA)

7/3/2016 - These samples are from the carboy. Can you tell which one is which?

7/3/2016
Keg conditioned each keg with 3.6 ounces of table sugar and 3/4 cups of water. Simmered for 5 minutes.

Wyeast 1056 FG - 1.010
Omega OLY-52 FG - 1.012

7/18/2016 
The kegs went into the kegerator to chill

7/21/2016 - First triangle test

Omega DIPA on the left, Wyeast on the Right

A little stats here for ya. Out of 25 total testers 20 of them picked the correct sample. I must know some people with really good palettes. Of the people who commented, it seemed that the Wyeast 1056 sample was the favorite among the two samples. Personally I like the Omega DIPA because it has a softer mouthfeel and doesn't come across as sharp as the 1056. Me personally I think I get a slight touch of diacetyl in the 1056 sample. No one else mentioned this, but I would have written that down on a BJCP score sheet. There was a BJCP judge that tasted the samples and he didn't mention the diacetyl either, so maybe I'm really sensitive to it.

This was a really fun experiment. I plan on doing more of these for sure. I appreciate the Experimental Brewing Podcast for pushing me over the edge and doing something scientific like this. Lets me geek out even more on beer.

I've posted just about all my recipes that I entered into my local homebrew competition this year, Boardtown Brew-Off. I want to share the judges notes with some of my tasting notes along side with it. This is standard practice of mine. I take in account what the judges said and sit back and try to evaluate my beer with a judge perspective.

Let's Stout It Out (2015)
20C: Imperial Stout
1st Place: American Porter and Stout
Final Assigned Score: 41

Judge 1 BJCP Certified
Score 43
Very rich and enjoyable aromatics and flavors. Would prefer the malt to be more forward than the esters, but very nice regardless. I had no problem finishing it!

Judge 2 BJCP Certified
Score 39
Overall very goo technically. Would like to see a little more roast (choc/coffee) in the malt flavors. Can't see any major techincal flaws, just slight tweaking of malt bill to balance some of the dark fruit flavors. Very good beer.

This is my go to brew. I have always scored well with this recipe. Needless to say, it didn't let me down this time. 

Gorilla Morning
23A: Berliner Weisse
Final Assigned Score: 34.5

Judge 1 Non-BJCP
Score 35
Very well made beer. Very balanced sourness. Clean aroma and taste. Great crisp mouthfeel

Judge 2 BJCP Certified
Score 34
I could kill several of these at the beach. The fruity / sourness combination comes off as orange juice. Might actually score well as a fruit sour. I think the orange juice quality if a bit overbearing. Still a nice beer.

I dry hopped this beer with 2 ounces of Meridian hops. I really liked the character of it. But I believe I want more hop flavor than aroma. I have plans to do a hoppy sour beer in the very near future. 

"Bourbon Barrel" Let's Stout It Out
33B: Speciality Wood-Aged Beer
1st Place: Specialty Beer
Final Assigned Score: 40.6

Judge 1 BJCP Certified
Score 42
Overall pretty good. The bourbon is much more prominent than the oak. I could use slighty more oak. This beer is a little cloying, but that might be resolved by higher pitching rates or more oxygen. I enjoyed this beer. Add a touch of oak.

Judge 2 BJCP Certified
Score 40
Very good RIS with appropriate bourbon and oak additions, no major off flavors, except the phenolic, which may be attributed to wood, carbonation is low, tasty!
Judge 3 Non-BJCP: Score: 40 I feel this is a well make Russian imp. stout. a little more warmth on it. But easy to drink

Really hate to toot my own horn, but this beer here drank pretty good for a RIS. It was a touch sweet, but when I first packaged this beer the oak was in your face. It mellowed over time and the bourbon started to take over. Well, let's just say I'm going to actually barrel age this recipe next time. 

Busty Porter
20A: American Porter
Final Assigned Score: 31

Judge 1 BJCP Certified
Score 30
I could drink a good bit of this very "sessionable." Think fermentation profile could be a bit cleaner - maybe try a different yeast. Could also benifit from a bit more body by increasing mash temp ~2 degrees F and some more malt complexity and roast.

Judge 2 BJCP Certified
Score 32
Overall this is a very drinkable beer. A little more fruit than I'd like to see that can complicate the roasted malt flavors. Although that could be from hops choice, try a low ferm temp with earthy hops to accentuate the malts. Which the malt flavors were great!

Not my best porter by all means. My porter in 2015 scored 2nd Best in Show, but it was an easy drinker and I enjoyed it. Didn't think it would score very well. But low 30s, think it was good. 


Wit Gone Indie
21B: Specialty IPA (White IPA)
1st Place: India Pale Ale
Final Assigned Score 42.5

Judge 1 BJCP Certified
Score 42/50
Well Done. I think the witbier characteristics take an edge over the IPA characteristics.

Judge 2 Non-BJCP
Score 43/50
Good beer. Slighty lacking hoppiness, but otherwise great to style

Ahh the beer that is going to be a staple in the kegerator. I am going to play with some hop combinations, but the Mosaic, Simcoe, Citra combination is something fierce! 


DeRego's Rye Bread Beer
31A: Alternative Grain Beer
Final Assigned Score: 27.5

Judge 1 BJCP Certified
Score 29
Overall beer with a very "alternative" grain. The rye characteristic is good, but there is a strange sticky mouthfeel. There is also a tartness in the finish hints at possible infection, but its very low. I would also like to see more hop flavor and aroma. Good job.

Judge 2 BJCP Certified
Score 26
A good beer, no glaring off flavors, but really needs balance in flavor. Too bitter and dry without enough malt for support. Very slight sour aroma and flavor - may be infected or may be hops, too light to determine. Definitely picked up the rye spiciness.

Now I had no idea how this beer would score. It's ok. Not my best beer, but it was definitely a fun project. I'm not sure why I haven't posted about this beer. Took lots of notes and pictures, but just never got around to it. I think I will soon. Pretty much what I figured, mid 20s. I'm not complaining. 

Black Wit
30A: Spice, Herb, Vegetable Beer
Final Assigned Score: 22.5

Judge 1 Non-BJCP
Score 24
Nice for spiced ale, tastes clean, nice head not sure if lactose and cinnamon is from chamomile

Judge 2 BJCP Certified
Score 21
Unsure where the all-spice, almost cinnamon flavors are coming from. Difficulty to find the wit or chamomile in this beer. Fermentation seemed clean, lacked that bright carb you'd get from a wit. Could be phenolics causing the spice, but tastes artificial or on purpose.

I don't have anymore of this beer left to drink along with their comments. This is one of those beers that I saw the recipe for and said, hey look I want to brew this. I had no clue how to describe this beer to the judges. I attribute the low score to my poor description that was given to the judges and my overall really giving a damn about it was very low. I just entered this beer to help out the club. 

Engrish Brown Ale
13B: English Brown Ale
Final Assigned Score: 34.5

Judge 1 BJCP Certified
Score 33
Light sweet malty drinkable brown ale with a toasty note. The cidery flavors detract. Watch fermentation temps

Judge 2 Non-BJCP
Score 36
A little light on maltiness but still a nice beer. Nice finish with dryness.

Something happened to this beer, I may have caught a slight infection cause it has seem to have dried out more since I have packaged it. I agree with the judges on this one. 

Michael Tonsmeire wrote the book on American Sour Beers. He also has a pretty slamming blog (The Mad Fermentationist). Y'all should give it a follow. Last summer he posted his Indië Wit recipe, I thought it sounded amazing. I'm not a huge IPA brewer, but I have made my share of them. Anyways I wanted a spring time beer and this is exactly what I wanted. I am very pleased on how this turned out.

I haven't brewed a brown ale in a very long time. The wife asks politely multiple times for me to brew one, sometimes she wants a vanilla brown ale, and sometimes she just wants a regular brown ale. I haven't brewed an English Brown out of Brewing Classic Styles yet. Here was my chance.

English brown ales are fantastic beers to enjoy. I am more a malty guy than a hop guy. Never do I discriminate against my beers, but I tend to lean towards malt complexities than the hoppy beers. This one is a fantastic an easy drinking beer. The clarity of this beer is pretty mind blowing.

This isn't one of those crazy and wild beers, but it was an easy going brew day, which I tend to appreciate more and more since I have built my new system.

Cheers!

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 13 gal
Post Boil Volume: 11.00 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal (each carboy)
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal (each keg/bottle)
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 35.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 68.0 %

Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
10 lbs      2 Row                    41.7%
10 lbs      Pale Malt               41.7%
1 lb 8 oz  Special Roast         6.2%
8 oz         Crystal 40L            4.2%
8 oz         Aromatic Malt        2.1%
8 oz         Biscuit Malt            2.1%
8 oz         Pale Chocolate        2.1%


2.4 oz    East Kent Goldings [5.0 %] - Boil 60.0 min        24.2 IBUs
1.0 oz    East Kent Goldings [5.0 %] - Boil 5.0 min          1.6 IBUs  

1.0 pkg    Wyeast 1028 London Ale (one carboy)
1.0 pkg    Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale (one carboy)

Starkville Water Profile - Water machine in Wal-Mart
Recirculated Mashed at 152 degrees for 60 minutes.
Batched sparged at 170 degrees.

Brewed on 1/30/2016

I've built myself a new brewing system. It has been nothing but trial and error with it. The gas portion of the system is giving me a lot of its and I'm starting to get a twitch I believe. But all that aside, I am still making beer. Now that I've upgraded I'm making a lot more beer these days. Since I can brew double batches I've been pitching different yeasts into each carboy. It's been very interesting to see how each one has come out.

What did I want to brew first on my new direct fired and recirculating mash getup? Something dark and something drinkable. I'm going to brew me a robust porter. I love a good porter. Here is to hoping the first brew on my new system quaffable.

Yes, I have slacked on getting my blogs up on the site. I'm going to work on a lot of them here in the next few days to get them out and caught up. Yes, this brew date was on New Years Day. But I'm still drinking this beer. I'll have tasting notes up soon.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 13 gal
Post Boil Volume: 11.00 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal (each carboy)
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal (each keg/bottle)
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 35.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 68.0 %

Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
21 lbs      2 Row                   73.7%
3 lbs        Munich                 10.5%
2 lbs        Crystal 40L            7.0%
1.5 lbs     Chocolate Malt       5.3%
1 lb          Black Patent           3.5%


3.5 oz    East Kent Goldings [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min        24.2 IBUs  
1.5 oz    Willamette [5.10 %] - Boil 15.0 min        5.8 IBUs  
1.5 oz    East Kent Goldings [4.50 %] - Flameout        0 IBUs  

1.0 pkg    WLP001 California Ale (one carboy)
1.0 pkg    WLP028 Edinburgh Ale (one carboy)

Starkville Water Profile - Water machine in Wal-Mart
Recirculated Mashed at 152 degrees for 60 minutes.
Batched sparged at 170 degrees.

Brewed on 1/1/2016

What did I get out of from this year’s National  Homebrew Competition? One that I cannot complain about my scores at all. Two, it is pretty awesome that all of my beers went to their respective Mini-BOS. Three, what can I do to make my beer stand out against the competition in a Mini-BOS? The beers I sent to this year’s NHC were just five beers I had around the house that were worth submitting to this year’s competition.



Three of them are my go to beers the other two beers were experiments per se, and they scored the best!

Chocolate Hazelnut Porter (BJCP Category 21A) - this beer has won me quite a few awards. It advanced to the second round of 2011 NHC with the same recipe, and it’s normally a holiday time brew. It’s usually on tap at my house up until May. I’ve almost blown that keg this year.

Judges Overall Impression -
Judge 1 - Certified: Great example of your chosen style and description! Score: 41

Judge 2 - Certified: Well balanced cocoa & hazelnut - Roasted grain & other porter characteristics are subdued & might benefit from being brought forward a bit. Score: 38

Hoppin’ Oaked Saison Squared (BJCP Category 22C) - woah! This scored a 41? I entered it as a Saison IPA aged on medium french oak chips. I brewed this beer for an intra-club competition and I entered this solely to get feedback from people outside of my homebrew club. I’ll enter this into other competitions just to see how it will do, and as the judges noted, I needed to be better on my description which the next competition I entered it into, I was a bit more descriptive.

Judges Overall Impression -
Judge 1 - Certified: An excellent beer. The flavors are well matched and compliment each other. You need to do a better description in the future and don’t make the judges guess what the base style is. Score: 43

Judge 2 - Provisional: An interesting beer which as much not a saison as its not an IPA but its nice the wheat and oak makes for a great texture. While Belgian yeast and hops provide a nice bubble gum spiciness, very unique, slightly fusel, but not solventy. For the competition I judged it as an IPA with Saison aspects. Score: 40

Let’s Stout It Out (2012) (BJCP Category 13F), the 2011 version of this turned out really good, but the only problem was that I only brewed a 3 gallon batch and it was really good. So in 2012 I tweaked the recipe a bit based on the success I had with my Regal Porter. I used the base malt I had on hand and also changed to Scottish yeast, which my little secret in 2012 on the malty beers I brewed this year.

Judges Overall Impression -
Judge 1 - Rank Pending: A good representation of the style. Fermentation was well done in order to not be hotter than it is. The alcohol aroma is a bit much. Score: 37

Judge 2 - Master: Has al the right flavor elements, but higher alcohols are a bit too fruity / floral and harsh / hot. Be sure to pitch HUGE for high-grav beer like this, oxygenate well, keep temps under control. Consider different yeast strain. Score: 34

Two Sides of the Schwarz (BJCP Category 4C) - ok I have pretty much had a Schwarzbier on tap at my house since I got a fermentation chamber. I received really good feedback from 2012 NHC so I tweaked the recipe a bit. 2012’s was a bit too roasty for the style. So I backed off of it a bit, and I get a lower score in 2013. Live and learn and keep brewing it.

Judges Overall Impression -
Judge 1 - National: A fairly nice beer that suffers from a little diacetyl. Aside form a diacetyl rest at 68 degrees F 75% of the way through fermentation (75% x (OG - FG)) maybe aerate more and/or lager longer. Otherwise nicely done. Score: 35

Judge 2 - Certified: This is a good beer. That has balance between the base male and the roast. Also has enough hops to balance the malt. Score: 34

Regal Porter (BJCP Category 23A) - this was another experiment at the Wickham Brewery and it turned out phenomenal! This was brewed as an Imperial Porter. Sweet, chewy, luscious, and it is awesome with some ice cream! I only hope I can recreate it. The experiment for this beer was to do a parti-gyle brew day. Which if you haven’t done one, it is a long brew day, but you get TWO beers out of it, which is spectacular. The beer had almost six months of age on it and it is just getting better with time. I’m really proud to get a 43 on this beer.

Judges Overall Impression -
Judge 1 - National: Very well made beer with no major technical flaws. Imperialzing this beer amped up the good parts of the base style without adding any unpleasant harshness. It may benefit slight with more carb & perhaps cutting back on the highly kilned malts a touch. Score: 42

Judge 2 - Certified: An excellent Impl porter. Roastiness, malt sweetness, hops & alcohol are all bumped up but not harsh or conflicting. More carbonation is needed to improve aroma, appearance, and to maybe thin (dry) out the flavor a little. Score: 44

I learned quite a bit from most of these sheets. The one glaring thing is when submitting specialty beers, be very descriptive of your beer. You do not want to keep the judge guessing. After judging at my local competition this weekend I totally I understand. I was judging fruit beers and there were a couple beers that did not state the base style so I had to make assumptions. After we were done judging the competition I found the second bottle of the entry and the name says what the style was. So there you have it and of course I was wrong on one of the base styles. But it still scored well, I at least got the category number right.

I submitted the same five beers to my homebrew club’s local competition, and I will compare those sheets with these judge comments. Should be interesting. Hopefully this will kick start me to write on my blog more.

Cheers!