Saturday, January 24, 2015

Flanders Red Brewday

Another Flanders Red to replace the one coming off the previous yeast cake. Not much to report besides that, I’m afraid. I’m sensing a recurring theme in my brewing. Here’s a nod to the wild and the unpredictable.

195. Flanders Red
Mash:
4 lbs. MFB Pale
4 lbs. MFB Vienna
2 lbs. Dark Munich
1 lb. White Wheat
1 lb. Special B

Mash @ 151° F for 70 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.080
Batch sparge @ 165° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 gallons @ 1.024

Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 2 oz. Styrian Golding pellet 2.0 % AA

w/10 to go: 5 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient

Chilled, racked onto ECY 02 Flemish yeast cake from 153. Flanders Red

Brewed: 1/24/2015
Secondary:
Barrel:

OG: 1.062
FG:

Tasting Notes:

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Barrel Project Lambic Solera

Longtime friend of the blog Jeff Fortney, who brews at Warped Wing, hooked up yours truly with a 55 gallon bourbon barrel. Holy shit yes. Popular wisdom regarding this barrel would be to collaborate with others, brew a big dark beer, and fill it. Screw popular wisdom. I like sours and I like brewing, so welcome to my personal brewing obsession for the next several months. Ill be using three different yeasts for individual batches—East Coast Yeast Bug County, a culture I grew from a bottle of Hanssen’s Oude Gueuze, and White Labs 585 Saison III—and will then blend them in the barrel and let the magic happen. I chose to use the saison yeast because a) I needed a third yeast for the rotation that was speedier than the other two and b) it was on hand. 

The following six batches of beer make up the first addition to the barrel; there was something like 27 or 28 gallons total between them that went into the barrel. I would have aimed for more beer for the first addition, but I ran out of carboys. Which is saying something for me. So I’ll be adding more shortly. Until then, enjoy these brewing notes.

Here’s the second addition to the barrel.

And the third addition.

186. Gueuze & Saison Starters for Barrel Project
Mash:
8 lbs. Rahr Premium Pilsen
3 lbs. Breiss White Wheat

Mash @ 150° F for 60 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 8 g. gypsum; collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.068
Batch sparge @ 172° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 ¼ gallons @ 1.040

Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1 ½ oz. Cluster leaf 7.6% AA

Chilled & split into two 3 gallon carboys; 186a. racked onto yeast cake of 181a. WL 585 Saison III and pitched Hanssen’s Oude Gueuze starter in other

186a. Saison Starter w/ WL 585
Brewed: 11/26/2014
Split between two 5 gallon batches on 11/29/2014 @ 1.020

OG: 1.054

186b. Lambic Starter w/Hanssen’s Oude Gueuze starter
Brewed: 11/26/2014
Secondary: 1/6/2014
Split and blended into two different kegs of beer; one for Dayton Brew Ha Ha (January 31, 2015) and one still sitting in my living room. 

OG: 1.054


187. Barrel Project Saison
Mash:
8 lbs. Rahr Premium Pilsen
4 lbs. Breiss White Wheat

Mash @ 150° F for 60 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 8 g. gypsum; collected 2 ¾ gallons @ 1.082
Batch sparge @ 172° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 gallons @ 1.030

Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1 oz. Cluster leaf 7.6% AA

w/10 to go: 3 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient

Chilled, racked to carboy, and pitched ½ of 186a. Saison Starter

Brewed: 11/29/2014
Secondary: 1/17/2015 @ 1.004
Barrel: 1/21/2015

OG: 1.060


188. Barrel Project Saison
Mash:
8 lbs. Rahr Premium Pilsen
4 lbs. Breiss White Wheat

Mash @ 150° F for 60 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 8 g. gypsum; collected 2 ¾ gallons @ 1.080
Batch sparge @ 167° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 gallons @ 1.032

Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1 oz. Cluster leaf 7.6% AA

w/10 to go: 3 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient

Chilled, racked to carboy, and pitched ½ of 186a. Saison Starter

Brewed: 11/29/2014
Secondary: 1/19/2015 @ 1.002
Barrel: 1/21/2015

OG: 1.056


189. Barrel Project Lambic
Mash:
7 lbs. Rahr Premium Pilsen
2 lbs. Dingemans Pilsen
4 lbs. Breiss White Wheat

Mash @ 151° F for 90 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 8 g. gypsum; collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.086
Batch sparge @ 165° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 gallons @ 1.040

Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (70 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1.4 oz. Cluster leaf 7.6% AA

w/10 to go: 5 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient

Chilled, racked on to yeast cake of 168. Lambic ECY Bug County

Brewed: 12/8/2014 @ 72° F
Secondary: 1/10/2015 @ 1.032
Barrel: 1/21/2015

OG: 1.062


190. Barrel Project Lambic
Mash:
8 lbs. Dingemans Pilsen
4 lbs. Breiss White Wheat

Mash @ 148° F for 90 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 6 g. gypsum; collected 2 ¾ gallons @ 1.082
Batch sparge @ 163° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 gallons @ 1.020

Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (70 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1 oz. Cluster leaf 7.6% AA

w/10 to go: 5 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient

Chilled and pitched yeast from 186b. Lambic w/ Hanssen’s Oude Gueuze

Brewed: 1/6/2015 @ 75° F
Secondary: 1/20/2015 @ 1.010
Barrel: 1/21/2015

OG: 1.058


192. Barrel Project Saison
Mash:
8 lbs. Dingemans Pilsen
4 lbs. Breiss White Wheat

Mash @ 151° F for 60 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water and 8 g. gypsum; collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.082
Batch sparge @ 173° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 ¼ gallons @ 1.028

Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1 oz. Chinook leaf 11.3% AA

w/10 to go: 5 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient

Chilled & racked onto WLP 585 yeast cake from 187. Barrel Project Saison

Brewed: 1/17/2015
Secondary: 1/21/2015 @ 1.026
Barrel: 1/21/2015

OG: 1.054

Any questions?