Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Rockit Cup India Pilsen Ale Brewday

One last hurrah for the Rockit Cup. But that last hurrah is a tasty one. Again, this recipe was provided by Jeffrey McElfresh, brewer extraordinaire at Yellow Spring Brewery and Rockit Cup co-founder. He also came over to hang out on brew day. How awesome is that? Long live the Rockit Cup!

184. Rockit Cup India Pilsen Ale
Mash:
10 lbs. Rahr Premium Pils
1 ½ lbs. Breiss White Wheat

Mash @ 150° F for 60 minutes w/ 4 ½ gallons RO water & 10 g. gypsum; collected 3 gallons
Batch sparge @ 168° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 5 g. gypsum; collected 4 gallons @ 1.028

Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 2 oz. U.S. Magnum 13.5% AA 

w/15 to go: 2 oz. Amarillo leaf + 3 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient

w/0 to go: 2 oz. Amarillo leaf
1 oz. Centennial leaf
1 oz. Mosaic pellet

Let stand for 20 minutes; chilled, racked to carboy, & pitched WLP001

Brewed: 9/24/2014
Secondary: 10/7/2014 @ 1.008; pulled one gallon and bottled w/ .6 oz. table sugar; dry-hopped rest of beer on 11/4/2014 with 4 oz. Amarillo leaf
Bottled: 11/20/2014 w/ 2 oz. table sugar (yes, the beer sat on the hops too long)

OG: 1.054
FG: 1.008

Tasting Notes: I was the winner. I was also the only brewer, although Chris Baumann asserted he made one, but was unable to come to the meeting. So I win. Again. The initial gallon was good; light body with excellent hop flavor and aroma to balance the bitterness. All of the intended pieces of this—the light body via the pilsen malt and the big hop presence—came together wonderfully. That said, the four gallons that got dry-hopped with 4 oz. of Amarillo was even better, even with leaving the beer too long on the hops (yes, there was a fair amount of grassiness, but it went well with the beer). Certainly worth revisiting: light, bright, and drinkable. Hooray Rockit Cup!

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Bike Path Fresh Hop Brewday

Time again for my annual bike path fresh hop beer. There were a lot of hops on the bike path this yearsome of the biggest ones I’ve ever seen. That wet crappy summer gave way to a whole bunch of late heat, and those hops went to town. I picked all the hops for this beer within 400 yards of each other along the bike path. And I wasn’t picky either. I picked enough to cram my brew kettle full: almost four pounds of fresh hops total, and two pounds in the final twenty minutes. Damn. Big learning.

183. Bike Path Fresh Hop

Mash:
8 lbs. Rahr Premium Pils
3 lbs. Breiss White Wheat

Mash @ 150° F for 90 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 6 g. gypsum + 3 g. CaCl; collected 2 ¾ gallons @ 1.078; FWH with 1 lb. of bike path fresh hops
Batch sparge @ 170° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 gallons @ 1.028

Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (90 minutes), & added:
FWH: 1 lb. bike path fresh hops

w/60 to go: 12 oz. bike path fresh hops 

w/20 to go: 8 oz. bike path fresh hops + 7 g. gypsum

w/10 to go: 8 oz. bike path fresh hops + 3 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient

w/5 to go: 8 oz. bike path fresh hops

w/0 to go: 8 oz. bike path fresh hops

Let stand for 20 minutes; chilled & pitched packet of US-05

Brewed: 9/11/2014
Secondary: 9/22/2014 @ 1.004
Bottled: 10/7/2014 w/ 2.5 oz. table sugar

OG: 1.054
FG: 1.008

Tasting Notes: For the sake of science, I’ve combined my fresh hop tasting notes for the year. As the photos attest, I did try them all at the same time. The second picture is from the 2nd Annual Fresh Hop King of Ohio competition with Brent Osborne, where my beers came in 1st (183), 2nd (178), and 3rd (182). Yes, there were only seven beers, and four of them were mine. But I’m still the Fresh Hop King of Ohio for 2014, dammit. I would add (as I note below) that 178 is probably the best beer, but 183 is the best fresh hop beer.

178. Smith Hop: made with Cascades from my neighbors; last year, it was by far the best fresh hop beer I made, and it won me the Fresh Hop King of Ohio title. This year it is the best beer in terms of quality, but I am giving the nod to the Bike Path 
Fresh Hop as the best of this year’s fresh hop beers. Smith Hop is the lightest of the four in color, and the most effervescent; it pours a hazy straw with a rocky head, and has lemon zest, lemon, and grapefruit in the nose, along with hints of pepper and orange. Flavors open with lemon and lemon zest, moving into a mineral and pepper bite in the middle, and finish with grapefruit and a slight citrus pith. The malt flavors in the beer are mainly playing a supporting role, while the bitterness is medium and clean. I expected more grassiness from dry hopping this with 4.6 oz. of fresh hops for two weeks (I left a bunch on the vine, and then picked them fresh for dry hopping); as it warms, a slight phenol gaminess comes out, but it balances well with the citrus flavors. Those Smith Hops rock!

180. Brewer’s Gold Fresh Hop: I’ll start with this: I don’t like this beer. It has some off-putting flavors, starting with the phenol band-aid of stressed/unhealthy yeast (as opposed to infection) and ending with the blandness and wood-like flavors from the hops. Others did not have as strong of a negative reaction to this beer as me, but I’m going to chalk that up to them being nice. While the beer did sit too long on the yeast, I’m still not sure how it ended up here. I got these hops from Brent Osborn at Osborn Brewing; I’m not blaming him, however, as the Brewer’s Gold fresh hops I got from him last year were phenomenal. BGFH pours a hazy gold with a thin white head that leaves some lacing; at one point, there were hints of orange marmalade in the nose and body, but currently the nose is merely “hoppy.” Flavors include a light bitterness and scratchy green grass character, but not much else worth noting. Mouthfeel and body match, but off-flavors mar this beer. Haters gonna hate. 

182. Sour Fresh Hop: made with Nuggets from Heartland Hops. This beer is straw colored and crystal clear, with a thin white head that disappears quickly. The nose is herbal and earthy, followed by sour orange and candy pilsen; going into the carboy, there was a much more intense herbal hop aroma that I wish was still here. Flavors open with candy and a slight grain-y Cheerios flavor coupled with wood and herb; the middle features a spicy hop bite—albeit low—and more wood. The herbal flavors come out in the final third, lingering with a dry cracker malt flavor and a hint of sweetness. All in all, this beer is a hot mess—it is neither fresh hop nor sour, while showcasing components of both. While I do like it—it has some intangibles that make it eminently enjoyable—it is simultaneously a pedestrian beer that borders on insulting: I would be pissed off if this was served to me at a bar, but I am glad I made it. That clarify things enough for you?

183.Bike Path Fresh Hop: I’ve been lurking and picking hops off Dayton’s bike paths long enough to note that this year was an exceptionally good year. The hops for this particular beer came from a section of the bike path that I had not utilized before; these hops had none of the ephemeral pear and apple aromas found in previous years, but they did provide more actual bitterness to the beer. BPFH poured a hazy straw with a white head that had more retention and lacing than 180 and 182. The nose was all grimy green chlorophyll and game-y grass, and flavors followed. Unlike some previous iterations of bike path beers, the wild fresh hop character came through. Malt flavors played a back fiddle to the grassiness in the front; the middle was grassy and scratchy, while the finish featured a grimy medium bitterness that was not clean but was enjoyable. The medium to low body and medium carbonation suited the beer; as a whole, this beer was easy drinking. And this beer in particular taught me a lot about how to think about and implement a good fresh hop beer.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Sour Fresh Hop Brewday

This beer was a last minute surprise; I found out from Jeffrey that Heartland Hops was holding a u-pick at YSB with their Nugget hops today, so I scrambled to make this beer happen. I will say that with the glory of hindsight, I should have used a different yeast, but the LTC blend was the best available in the brewing rotation. These hops were by far the best fresh hops I have ever gotten my hands on—the wort was actually bitter tasting prior transferring it onto the yeast, and not just a little. I hope I can score a couple more pounds again next year, and use a neutral yeast like US-05 or 1272 to let these hops shine. Don’t get me wrong—this was a fantastic beer, but the Brett started eating into the hop flavor and bitterness even before I got it bottled: the hop flavor and aroma when this went into the secondary was light years ahead of any other fresh hop beer I’ve ever made, and was still excellent when bottled. But via the Brett, it began to quickly fade. Another lesson on the fresh hop learning curve.

182. Sour Fresh Hop
Mash:
7 ¼ lbs. Best Malz Pilsen
2 lbs. Breiss White Wheat
1 lb. MFB Pale

Mash @ 152° F for 90 minutes w/ 3 ½ gallons RO water & 6 g. gypsum + 3 g. CaCl; collected 2 gallons @ 1.072
Batch sparge @ 166° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 ¼ gallons @ 1.026

Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (90 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 6 oz. Nugget 

w/20 to go: 6 oz. Nugget + 7 g. gypsum

w/10 to go: 6 oz. Nugget + 3 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient

w/5 to go: 7 ¼ oz. Nugget 

w/0 to go: 8 ¼ oz. Nugget 

Let stand for 20 minutes; chilled & racked onto yeast cake from 176. Smoked Sour (custersianus, Trois, and Lactobacillus)

Brewed: 9/7/2014
Secondary: 9/23/2014 @ 1.004
Bottled: 11/4/2014 w/ 2.8 oz. table sugar

OG: 1.046
FG: 1.002

Tasting Notes: For the sake of science, I’ve combined my fresh hop tasting notes for the year. As the photos attest, I did try them all at the same time. The second picture is from the 2nd Annual Fresh Hop King of Ohio competition with Brent Osborne, where my beers came in 1st (183), 2nd (178), and 3rd (182). Yes, there were only seven beers, and four of them were mine. But I’m still the Fresh Hop King of Ohio for 2014, dammit. I would add (as I note below) that 178 is probably the best beer, but 183 is the best fresh hop beer.

178. Smith Hop: made with Cascades from my neighbors; last year, it was by far the best fresh hop beer I made, and it won me the Fresh Hop King of Ohio title. This year it is the best beer in terms of quality, but I am giving the nod to the Bike Path 
Fresh Hop as the best of this year’s fresh hop beers. Smith Hop is the lightest of the four in color, and the most effervescent; it pours a hazy straw with a rocky head, and has lemon zest, lemon, and grapefruit in the nose, along with hints of pepper and orange. Flavors open with lemon and lemon zest, moving into a mineral and pepper bite in the middle, and finish with grapefruit and a slight citrus pith. The malt flavors in the beer are mainly playing a supporting role, while the bitterness is medium and clean. I expected more grassiness from dry hopping this with 4.6 oz. of fresh hops for two weeks (I left a bunch on the vine, and then picked them fresh for dry hopping); as it warms, a slight phenol gaminess comes out, but it balances well with the citrus flavors. Those Smith Hops rock!

180. Brewer’s Gold Fresh Hop: I’ll start with this: I don’t like this beer. It has some off-putting flavors, starting with the phenol band-aid of stressed/unhealthy yeast (as opposed to infection) and ending with the blandness and wood-like flavors from the hops. Others did not have as strong of a negative reaction to this beer as me, but I’m going to chalk that up to them being nice. While the beer did sit too long on the yeast, I’m still not sure how it ended up here. I got these hops from Brent Osborn at Osborn Brewing; I’m not blaming him, however, as the Brewer’s Gold fresh hops I got from him last year were phenomenal. BGFH pours a hazy gold with a thin white head that leaves some lacing; at one point, there were hints of orange marmalade in the nose and body, but currently the nose is merely “hoppy.” Flavors include a light bitterness and scratchy green grass character, but not much else worth noting. Mouthfeel and body match, but off-flavors mar this beer. Haters gonna hate. 

182. Sour Fresh Hop: made with Nuggets from Heartland Hops. This beer is straw colored and crystal clear, with a thin white head that disappears quickly. The nose is herbal and earthy, followed by sour orange and candy pilsen; going into the carboy, there was a much more intense herbal hop aroma that I wish was still here. Flavors open with candy and a slight grain-y Cheerios flavor coupled with wood and herb; the middle features a spicy hop bite—albeit low—and more wood. The herbal flavors come out in the final third, lingering with a dry cracker malt flavor and a hint of sweetness. All in all, this beer is a hot mess—it is neither fresh hop nor sour, while showcasing components of both. While I do like it—it has some intangibles that make it eminently enjoyable—it is simultaneously a pedestrian beer that borders on insulting: I would be pissed off if this was served to me at a bar, but I am glad I made it. That clarify things enough for you?

183.Bike Path Fresh Hop: I’ve been lurking and picking hops off Dayton’s bike paths long enough to note that this year was an exceptionally good year. The hops for this particular beer came from a section of the bike path that I had not utilized before; these hops had none of the ephemeral pear and apple aromas found in previous years, but they did provide more actual bitterness to the beer. BPFH poured a hazy straw with a white head that had more retention and lacing than 180 and 182. The nose was all grimy green chlorophyll and game-y grass, and flavors followed. Unlike some previous iterations of bike path beers, the wild fresh hop character came through. Malt flavors played a back fiddle to the grassiness in the front; the middle was grassy and scratchy, while the finish featured a grimy medium bitterness that was not clean but was enjoyable. The medium to low body and medium carbonation suited the beer; as a whole, this beer was easy drinking. And this beer in particular taught me a lot about how to think about and implement a good fresh hop beer.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Saison/Gueuze Brewday

Today’s brewing was intended to put some of the yeast that is laying around to work; the saison was to grow up the yeast to use in subsequent experiments, and the ECY was to continue building up the gueuze varieties available for blending. Plus, when I roll this beer off the yeast in about a year, it will be ready for a five gallon batch. For those of you wondering how the picture relates: it doesn’t. But it is still awesome. 

181. Saison/Gueuze
Mash:
8 lbs. Best Malz Pilsen
2 lbs. Breiss White Wheat
½ lb. rolled oats

Mash @ 150° F for 90 minutes w/ 3 ½ gallons RO water & 5 g. gypsum + 3 g. CaCl; collected 2 gallons @ 1.076
Batch sparge @ 165° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 ¼ gallons @ 1.028

Collected 6 ¼ gallons; topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (90 minutes) & added:
w/60 to go: 1 ¼ oz. Comet leaf 10.9% AA

w/15 to go: 8 oz. table sugar

w/10 to go: 1 oz. Styrian Golding pellet 2% AA
3 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient

w/5 to go: 1 oz. Styrian Golding pellet 2% AA

Chilled, split into two 3 gallon carboys & pitched

181a. White Labs 585 Belgian Saison III
Brewed: 9/5/2014
Secondary: 11/26/2014 @ 1.002; topped off w/186a. & .65 oz. dried lemongrass
Bottled: 1/6/2015 w/ 1.75 oz. table sugar

OG: 1.054
FG: 1.002

181b. ECY01 Bug Farm
Brewed: 9/5/2014
Secondary: 1/14/2016 @ .98; topped off w/ 203. One Last Lambic Hurrah
Bottled: 

OG: 1.054
FG:

Tasting Notes (5/1/2014): Lemongrass Saison pours a hazy but bright straw yellow; there is a white rocky head that has decent retention and leaves some lacing behind on the glass. In the nose, there is clove along with lower levels of pepper, lemongrass, slight amounts of bubblegum and some lingering banana cream pie; then first two months this was in the bottle, the banana cream pie was the dominant aroma, but it has mellowed out at this point. There are also hints of wheat malt underneath everything else, but not much else in the way of grain aromatics. The Pils and wheat do come through in the flavor—as does the oatmeal—there is a soft, doughy malt character that balances well with the bright carbonation, and some creaminess that seems to be a mix of yeast/glycerol and oatmeal. The lemongrass comes through clearest in the final third of the beer; the front is pepper/clove and banana along with the soft malt that runs into the middle; the carbonation bite in the final third cleans the palate and leaves lemongrass and citronella lingering pleasantly. This is a much better beer than it was three months ago; the flavors are better balanced, and the profile as a whole is cleaner with more nuance. This means I need to definitely push the botanical action with my run of summer saisons!