Even More Brett Beers Brewday

Today’s brew allowed me to transfer over the first two beers from the Great Brett Experiment. And like with the last transfer, another split decision: custersianus is a workhorse while claussenii is a lazy bastard. Punk ass claussenii. So claussenii and ECY05 are going to hang out in the corner together until they learn to play well with others. Don’t feel too bad for them; they’ll still be able to chat with the 10 other three gallon carboys adorning my dining room beer storage room. Something tells me I might be permanently influencing my house character.

Oh, and in a related turn of events, this beer also marks my official crossing of the Lolli curve: the moment when I’ve brewed more beers than Kevin Lolli has made blog posts for the year. Technically, the Lolli curve threshold was passed with the American Weissbier, but I forgot to mention it. I’m mentioning it now, though, dammit.

141. Even More Brett Beers
Mash:
6 lbs. MFB Pale
4 lbs. Weyermann Pilsen
1 lb. Breiss White Wheat

Mash @ 151° F for 90 minutes w/ 3 ½ gallons of RO water & 2 g. gypsum; collected 2 ¼ gallons @ 1.084
Batch sparge @ 160° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 2 g. gypsum; collected 4 ¼ gallons @ 1.024

Collected 5 ¾ gallons; topped off with 1 gallon RO water, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1 ½ oz. Magnum pellet 10.0% AA

w/5 to go: 1 oz. Magnum pellet 10.0% AA

Let stand for 20 minutes, chilled, and split into two 3 gallon carboys:
141a. yeast cake of 136a. ECY19 Brettanomyces custersianus plus 3 Hungarian house toast oak cubes
Brewed: 3/16/2013
Secondary: 6/28/2013
Bottled: 7/20/2013 w/ 2.0 oz. table sugar

OG: 1.052
FG: 1.000

141b. yeast cake of 136b. WLP645 Brettanomyces clausseni plus 3 Hungarian house toast oak cubes
Brewed: 3/16/2013
Secondary: 6/28/2013
Bottled: 7/20/2013 w/ 2.0 oz. table sugar

OG: 1.052
FG: 0.998

Tasting Notes:

Kevin Lolli SOB Brewday

I’m taking it back to the old school. Which means it is time for more Lolli, and specifically more Kevin Lolli SOB. Hot damn. Who saw that one coming? I’ll tell you who—this guy, that’s who. Check this. And I’ll keep you posted on all the new adverb action soon.

119. Kevin Lolli SOB

Mash:
8 lbs. Simpsons Golden Promise
½ lb. Muntons Dark Crystal 135-165° L
¼ lb. Breiss Special Roast

Mash @ 156° F for 60 minutes w/ 3 gallons of RO water & 2 g. gypsum; collected 2 gallons @ 1.062
Batch sparge @ 162° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 gallons @ 1.022

Collected 6 gallon, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 2 oz. Sonnet Golding leaf 4.1% AA

w/30 to go: 1 oz. Sonnet Golding leaf 4.1% AA

w/15 to go: 1 tsp. Irish Moss

w/1 to go: 1 oz. Sonnet Golding leaf 4.1% AA

Chilled, racked to carboy, & racked on to Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale cake from 118. Chris Wyatt’s Landlord

Brewed: 5/22/2012 @ 70° F; dropped to 64° F
Secondary: 6/7/2012
Bottled: 7/26/2012 w/ 2.5 oz. table sugar

OG: 1.040
FG: 1.014

Tasting Notes (8/25/2012): Round two of the beer named after trouble in a can. This one is a bit darker than its predecessor—it pours a burnt sienna with a lot of caramel and orange in it, and has a slightly iridescent sheen in the glass. The thin white head sticks it out for a while, then disappears. Much like a certain someone’s blog, I might add. The nose is buttered toast mixed with creamy butterscotch, followed by earthy—very, very British. Flavors start with cracker and biscuit malt with light amounts of dark fruit—plum specifically—and a smidgen of oxidized sherry. The middle has bitterness, caramel, and—for lack of a better description—a slight stale jammy biscuit on crumpled brown paper flavor that I’m not sure works here. From there, the beer returns to cracker malt and bitterness in the finish, with a touch of lingering hop bite. The body is medium and the carbonation is low, probably even for the style. The higher mash temperature has had the desired results in regards to mouthfeel, but the flavors are a bit off. My guess would be that the darker specialty malts—the Breiss Special Roast and the Muntons Dark Crystal—don’t mesh as well with the West Yorkshire yeast. The bright, delightful flavors found in Chris Wyatt’s Landlord seem lost in this beer, although this one does have the same slight musty finish that I find enjoyable. The fruit esters from the yeast seem out of balance with the malt—maybe the Special Roast is more the problem than the Dark Crystal. Anyway, this is a good beer, but I think that the real problem is that I wanted it to be much closer to Chris Wyatt’s Landlord. And it’s not, dammit. Although I have a sneaking suspicion this beer will continue to grow on me.

Cherry Saison w/ Brett B Brewday

Thus far this year, I have officially brewed more beers than Kevin Lolli has made posts on For Beer’s Sake. That’s right. That means I’ve dedicated more days to brewing that he has hours to writing posts. And if we want to include the time I spend here, well then, poor ol’ Kevin Lolli just looks like a turd on a stick. Should I even bother to google that image and see what comes up? You know I can’t resist the siren-call of Google image search... Anyway, sure he’s attending Law School, blah blah blah, and all that. But he lives in Chicago, and has plenty of opportunities that he should be exploiting. You hear me Lolli? Get busy. And the rest of you, don’t be afraid to click on those links. After all, I know you want to...

Anyway. Back to the beer.

Today’s delicious repast was inspired by the Reverse Osmosis machine at Krogers. Seriously. Because one day, after all of the time I’ve spent standing there and waiting for my 5 gallons jugs to fill, I looked to the right instead of aimlessly staring at the water slowly filling the bottle. And there it was: Fruit Fast Montmorency Tart Cherry concentrate. Just sitting there. Waiting for me. So after about another 15 trips to Kroger—yes, my muse is slow—I finally knew what I had to do. So here we are.

113. Cherry Saison w/ Brett B
Mash:
8 lbs. MFB Pale
1 ¾ lbs. Muntons Pale (Pearl)
1 lb. Weyerman Acidulated
1 lb. Breiss Wheat

Mashed @ 152° F w/4 gallons of RO water and 2 g. gypsum for 70 minutes; collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.070
Batch sparged @ 167° F w/4 gallons RO water and 2 g. gypsum for 20 minutes; collected 4 gallons @ 1.028

Collected 6 ½ gallons; brought to a boil (60 minutes) & added:
w/60 to go: 1 ½ oz. U.S. Magnum pellet 10% AA

w/15 to go: 1 tsp. Irish Moss

w/10 to go: 1 oz. New Zealand Hallertau pellet

w/5 to go: 1 oz. New Zealand Hallertau pellet

Chilled, racked to carboy; added 32 oz. Fruit Fast Montmorency Tart Cherry concentrate; pitched mason jar of Wyeast 3711 French Saison & 5112 Brettanomyces bruxellensis from 106. Saison w/ Brett B

Brewed: 4/12/2012 @ 72° F
Secondary: 5/1/2012 @ 1.010
Bottled: 12/1/2012 w/ 4.75 oz. table sugar

OG: 1.052 (prior to cherry concentrate addition)
FG: 1.002

Tasting Notes (2/22/2012): This beer is turning out better than I anticipated. It pours a crystal clear pinkish tan—I expected more color from the tart cherry concentrate, so I am guessing that I’ll need to use whole fruit if I want more of that—with a white creamy head that is laced with hints of pink as well. The nose is sweet fruit and malt combined with a dry tart brut; there is some earthy mustiness via the Brett b, and the cherry tartness, while muted, is present in the background. Flavors start with cherry, candy, and tartness before transitioning into the musty and earthy middle, which is dry enough to create the impression of sucking the moisture out of your mouth. The finish is slightly crackery with a mineral tang—the 3711 is there lurking, but the combination of the Brett dryness and cherry is covering it over pretty well. There is a lingering touch of alcohol warmth in the back of the mouth accompanied by musty cherry tartness—both hang on pleasantly—and the body is, as noted before, dry dry dry. The dryness gives it hints of the bite of brut champagne, which plays quite well with the cherry and Brett flavors. All in all, a delightful beer right now; I look forward to seeing what happens to it over time.

490. Fremont Harvest Ale

Happy Birthday to me. And since today is my birthday, it means beer. Specifically, this beer, which is our first beer from Fremont Brewing Company, located in Seattle, WA. And, as their label informs us, “Because Beer Matters.” To which we would, of course, agree. And who wouldn’t? While I could go with the all-purpose bad guy, and proclaim Nazis, that’s too easy an answer today. So instead, let’s go with Lolli, because, well, he at least responds with indignation. Maybe not to this, but he’s got plenty of indignation to go around. And general indignation is better than outright apathy. Because Nazis certainly aren’t bringing their A-game.

Harvest Ale pours a hazy dull gold—there are hints of orange and copper, but mainly it is a dirty gold. The head is thin and white, while the nose has bright floral, perfume, and fruit notes, with the fruit the strongest of the three. There are delicate pear and apple aromas along with scent of orange marmalade—it is just short of jammy, but distinctly preserve-like with the candy sweetness to match. Finally, there are also toast and candy malt aromatics and just a touch of hop spiciness to round things out. Flavors start soft, bready, and spicy. The fruitiness of the nose comes out in the middle; along with the candy sweetness, there are floral and fruit hints that lead to a distinct orange mixed with a touch of grapefruit. As the beer warms, the grapefruit flavor takes on a pith character. The finish dries out and features a lingering mineral bitterness—bright, but bitter—that I associate with Magnum hops. There are also lingering orange and grapefruit pith flavors on the tongue as it warms, and the final sensation on the palate is apple bitterness. Harvest feature a lightly chewy but dry body with a bright, prickly carbonation on the tongue; there is a touch of alcohol warmth at the end as it warms, but nothing detracting. The dry saison body is an excellent vehicle for this beer—the yeast esters combined with the hop flavors create a complex set of subtle flavors. Harvest is a delicate, nuanced beer. This was a good call for the birthday beer—I could drink this all day long.

From the bottle: “We are a family-owned microbrewery founded in 2009 to brew small-batch artisan beers made with the best local ingredients we can find. Located in the historic Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, we know why the chicken crossed the road—but we’re not telling. Harvest Ale is our offering for this time between here and there. A fall beer graced with fruit and bread aromas and touched by wine notes reminiscent of apricots and apple. Harvest Ale finishes dry and crisp and is unfettered by spices. Fall into a Harvest Ale today...”

From the website: “Our Fall seasonal. A French farmhouse-style saison brewed with Northwest hops. Harvest Ale is our offering for this time between here and there, a Fall beer with fruit and bread aromas and white wine notes reminiscent of apricots and apple. Harvest Ale finishes dry and crisp. Fall into a Harvest Ale today, you won’t be disappointed. Unfettered by spices.”

ABV: 6.5%
IBU: 40
Malt: 2-row Pale & White Wheat
Hops: Magnum, Cascade, & Goldings

(11/04/2011)