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!

Rockit Cup October 2014: India Pilsen Ale

Something new for all of you out there in Rockit Cup land: I am going to solicit Rockit Cup recipes from people that will continue to push our collective brewing knowledge. Up first is Jeffrey McElfresh, lead brewer at Yellow Springs Brewery. His recipe is an IPA with pilsner for the base malt, giving the beer a lighter, cleaner body with an added emphasis on hop flavor and aroma. If you have questions regarding the water treatment, feel free to ask! And for those of you scoring at home, because of my lazy, gadabout ways, there will be no Rockit Cup in August. I do humbly apologize for that egregious lack of planning. If you’re really desperate for brewing entertainment, you can always just brew this beer twice, or select one of our many fine previous Rockit Cup recipes!

Rockit Cup October 2014: India Pilsen Ale
OG: 1.059
FG: 1.009
IBU: 60-65
SRM: 3-4
ABV: approx. 6.3%

90% Pilsen malt
10% Wheat malt

Mash at 150˚ F for 60 minutes with at least 1.5 quarts of water per pound; pH is critical and should be as close to 5.3 as possible, so acidify mash and sparge water with phosphoric acid, and use 10 g. of gypsum in the mash and 5 g. in the sparge water.

50 IBU Magnum @ 60
10 IBU Amarillo @ 15
2 oz. Amarillo @ 0
1 oz. Centennial @ 0
1 oz. Mosaic @ 0

WLP001
Ferment at 70˚ F

Carbonate to 2.5 volumes

And while you’re all at it, go ride your bikes, dammit!

Rockit Cup California Common Recap

Rockit Cup is back up in your face again, although it was another intimate affair with just three brewers. Even I missed this one, although in my defense, I missed it because I was in Grand Rapids attending the AHA NHC. Good enough excuse? Not really? Oh well. Anyway, I put Vanderglas in charge, and he proceeded to win. Well, according to him. So if the following results don’t jibe with what the rest of you remember, please feel free to provide your own commentary! And so, without further ado, the results:

1st: Jon Vanderglas
2nd: Chris Baumann
3rd: Jim Scofield

Thanks to all that participated! Stay tuned for the August Rockit Cup recipe!

(6/13/2104)

Rockit Cup Imperial Stout Recap

So the Rockit Cup finally caters to convention and what happens? All the complainers and detractors fail to brew yet again. So typical. Any who, another small and intimate Rockit Cup, with four beers and three brewers. Brian Gallow was unable to join us—something about moving to Columbus or the likes. Double boo for whatever he tries to pass off as his trumped-up excuse. Overall, all four beers were solid. Still, rankings had to be done because, well, that’s what the Rockit Cup is all about. The final tabulations:

1st: Jim Scofield
2nd: John Hoke
3rd: myself
4th: Brian Gallow

Yes, I am as shocked as all of you that Gallow ended up last. But he has it coming for moving. I ranked the four beers as follows: myself (although the beer I thought was mine was actually Jim’s), Jim, John, and Brian. Additional comments include: Jim’s was a clean beer underneath, but had some hop bitterness and astringency that was a bit harsh, John's was the sweetest, bordering on sticky/cloying, and Brian’s was a little hot with some slight sharpness beyond that provided by the darker malts. The beer that turned out to be mine was clean and balanced with a chewy roasty body that was pleasant. I’m certain that given some time, all will blossom into something even better. And to ensure that we can see the results of that, I conned a bottle out of each of the other three to stash away in the basement until next year!

(4/11/2014)

June 2014 Rockit Cup: California Common

Once again, the Rockit Cup is back to screw up your neat and tidy brewing schedule. What, you don’t like that style? Too bad. Shut up and brew it anyway. And stop whining. Now you know why no one ever liked playing with you at recess. Anyway, what better way to usher in the fast approaching early summer months than by brewing one of the few styles indigenous to the continent? And remember, using this yeast will make your beer more lager-like than many other supposed actual lager beers.

Rockit Cup June 2014: California Common
OG: 1.051 @ 70% efficiency
FG: 1.012
IBU: 40
SRM: 5
ABV: 5.1%

6 lbs. Pale
3 lbs. Pilsner
1 ½ lbs. Dark Munich

Mash at 150˚ F for 60 minutes

½ oz. Northern Brewer @ 60
¾ oz. Northern Brewer @ 30
¾ oz. Northern Brewer @ 15

Wyeast 2112 California Lager
Ferment at 62˚ F

Carbonate to 2.5 volumes

California dreaming...

April Rockit Cup Imperial Stout Brewday

So I erred on the water volume calculations, which left me with a little over 3 gallons going into the carboy, hence the low OG of this beer. Still, a fun experiment trying to brew a half-sized batch of a bigger beer—certainly something to revisit in the future. Because let’s he honest: the Rockit Cup doles out knowledge like bakeries dole out free day old bread. Simile me some of that! On with the learning!

171. April 2014 Rockit Cup Imperial Stout
Mash:
5 lbs. Muntons Maris Otter
2 lbs. Breiss White Wheat
1 lb. Muntons Chocolate
1 lb. Muntons Roasted Barley
½ lb. Crisp Crystal 77° L
½ lb. Dingemanns Special B
¼ lb. Muntons Dark Crystal
¼ lb. MFB Kiln Coffee
Mash @ 149° F for 75 minutes w/ 3 gallons RO water & 5 g. gypsum; collected 1 ¾ gallons @ 1.082
Batch sparge @ 163° F for 20 minutes w/ 2 ½ gallons RO water & 4 g. gypsum; added ¼ lb. each of Muntons Chocolate and Roasted Barley to sparge; collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.032

Collected 4 ¼ gallons; brought to a boil (60 minutes) & added:
w/60 to go: 1 oz. Northern Brewer leaf 9.9% AA
w/ 30 to go: ½ oz. Northern Brewer leaf 9.9% AA

w/15 to go: ½ oz. EKG leaf 6.6% AA

w/5 to go: ½ oz. Northern Brewer leaf 9.9% AA

w/0 to go: ½ oz. EKG leaf 6.6% AA

Chilled, racked to carboy to chill to 60° F, then pitched on yeast cake from 169. Rockit Cup No Name Best Bitter

Primary: 2/26/2014 @60° F; rose to 66° F
Secondary: 3/17/2014 @ 1.024; dry hopped w/ 1 oz. Northern Brewer 9.9% AA
Bottled: 3/26/2014 w/ .75 oz. table sugar

OG: 1.082
FG: 1.024

Tasting Notes:

Rockit Cup No Name Best Bitter Brewday

This beer is intended to build up a big enough cell count to brew next week’s the Rockit Cup Imperial Stout, although I’ll undoubtedly enjoy the actual beer itself as well besides the mere use value connected to the yeast cake I’m growing. [Update: this beer got infected in the secondary—after two weeks, a small steady stream of tiny bubbles began creeping up the side of the carboy, and that was a month ago—so once I empty the first Barrel Project beer, I'll taste this and if it is not terrible (I’m guessing one of the many and numerous Brett strains in the house found a new home) this one is going to get put in the barrel. I blame the corn.]

169. April Rockit Cup No Name Best Bitter
Mash:
7 lbs. MFB Pale
¾ lb. Weyermann Caramunich I
½ lb. Breiss flaked maize
½ lb. Amber
2 oz. Breiss Chocolate

Mash @ 156° F for 60 minutes w/ 2 ¾ gallons RO water & 8 g. gypsum; collected 1 ½ gallons @ 1.076
Batch sparge @ 166° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 4 g. gypsum; collected 4 ¼ gallons @ 1.024

Collected 5 ¾ gallons; topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1 oz. Challenger pellet 8.9% AA

w/15 to go: ½ oz. EKG leaf 5.41% AA

w/3 to go: ½ oz. EKG leaf 5.41% AA

Chilled, racked to carboy, and pitched WLP007 Dry English Yeast

Primary: 2/19/2014 @ 168° F
Secondary: 2/26/2014 @ 1.016
Barrel: 
Bottled:

OG: 1.042
FG:

Tasting Notes:

Rockit Cup Robust Porter Recap

A smaller, more intimate Rockit Cup this month, with three contestants: Wes Davis, Matt Young, and John Hoke. I was out of town for the Craft Writing: Beer, the Digital, and Craft Culture conference in Lexington, KY, so my version of the Rockit Cup was forced to stay home and pout. Actually, it had just been bottled, so it wasn’t really ready to go. But this is more of that digression stuff. Narration of the evening’s events are provided by Wes:

“John’s was light in color because he did not have enough dark malt, and it was also a bit more hoppy on the nose. Matt’s and mine looked identical, but mine had more head because it was over-carbed. In the end, the rankings were unanimous.”
And those rankings are:

1st: Wes Davis
2nd: Matt Young
3rd: John Hoke

I’m not sure how over-carbonation led to a victory for Wes, but then I am merely reporting the facts. Please do not, as they say, kill the messenger. I’ll make sure to bring a bottle of my now-carbonated Rockit Cup Robust Porter as a wonderful door prize to all three of our lovely contestants. After all, someone needs to help me drink it!

(2/14/2014)

Rockit Cup Robust Porter Brewday

Time to get back to the magic of the Rockit Cup. Because nothing creates brewing knowledge like brewing itself. Sure, thinking about brewing is nice, as is theorizing about it. Reading and research can help too, but let’s he honest, actually brewing is where it is at. So here’s to brewing. And the Rockit Cup.

166. Rockit Cup Robust Porter
Mash:
9 lbs. Breiss 2-row
1 lb. Weyermann Dark Munich
½ lb. Crisp Crystal 45L
½ lb. Crisp Pale Chocolate
¼ lb. Breiss Black Patent

Mash @ 152° F for 60 minutes w/ 3 ½ gallons RO water & 4 g. gypsum; collected 2 ¼ gallons @ 1.076
Batch sparge @ 170° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 gallons @ 1.024

Collected 6 ¼ gallons; topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added: 

w/60 to go: 1 ½ oz. EKG leaf 5.41% AA

w/ 15 to go: ¾ oz. Fuggle pellet 5.3% AA

w/0 to go: ½ oz. EKG leaf 5.41% AA
¼ oz. Fuggle pellet 5.3% AA
1 White Labs Servomyces capsule

Chilled, racked to carboy, and pitched 2 packets of US-05

Primary: 1/5/2014 @ 68° F
Secondary:
Bottled:

OG: 1.052
FG:

Tasting Notes:

Rockit Cup Mini-Cask Fest Recap

Again with the with Rockit Cup hijinx. But I can’t help myself. For the Rockit Cup Mini-Cask Fest, we had six gullible suckers participants willing to remake a mini-keg of a previous recipe, including Brian Gallow with the December 2012 Northern English Brown, Jake 

Our beardless winner.

Browning with the February 2011 Alt, Wes Davis with the February 2013 Grinder’s Mild, Jeff Schell also with the February 2013 Grinder’s Mild, Jon Vanderglas with the April 2013 Single-Hop Session IPA (he used Galaxy), and myself with the December 2012 Northern English Brown. Two beers got doubled up. 

Because the Rockit Cup is kind and just and willing to indulge seasonal holiday good feelings, we let everyone judge this Rockit Cup even though they didn’t brew. Being kind hurts, doesn’t it? Smaller numbers allowed us to rank all six entrants. Yes, I like the shaming, even when it comes my way, as it undoubtedly does:

1st: Jon Vanderglas
2nd: Brian Gallow
3rd: Jake Browning
4th: tie between Jeff Schell and Wes Davis
6th: myself

Jon’s decision to brew, in his own words, “something everyone would like,” i.e. and IPA, certainly paid dividends here. I thought Brian’s beer was the best, but it will do him good to get second once in a while. I also do find it appropriate that the two versions of Grinder’s Mild tied. And I scored another last place finish with a barely carbonated beer. That’s what I get for trying to rush it and carbonate it in the mini-keg in a week. Still, I brewed, which means I did better than everyone else who was too lazy to try something new. And since the beer I brewed was under carbonated, I just closed the bung at the top of the mini-cask to let it actually carbonate. Hopefully, the yeast will scrub out most of the oxygen that got in the headspace while it was open, and won’t oxidize the beer too much. And if it does, well, after all, it is a British beer, so no one will notice.

P.S. Maybe the new motto should be “Join, or Get Shaved by This Guy.”

(12/13/2013)

April 2014 Rockit Cup: Imperial Stout

For the Three Year Anniversary of the Rockit Cup, we’ll be making our first big beer. And as with any big beer, it should have some time to properly age, hence providing the recipe now. Or, you can be like me, and brew it around the middle of March and hope for the best. Sure, that will be cutting it close. But I’ll still have brewed it.

This recipe comes courtesy of Jeff Fortney. And as per his instructions, I’ve also included the low gravity session British Bitter recipe he plans to use to generate a sufficient yeast cell count for the Rockit Cup Imperial Stout. Jeff notes: “If you have a stir plate, 2 vials in a 1.0 liter starter should be sufficient. Also I highly recommend proper oxygenation. (Something like 30 seconds of direct inject through a diffusion stone) immediately at pitching the yeast.”

April Rockit Cup: Imperial Stout
Calculated for 5 gallons @ 70% efficiency; if your mash tun cannot hold 20 lbs. of grain, then cut the recipe in half and brew 2.5 gallons.
OG: 1.100
FG: ~1.020
IBU: 87.5
Color: 91.5
ABV: 10.5%

10 lbs. British Pale Malt
4 lbs. White Wheat
2 lbs. British Chocolate Malt (Fawcett or Simpsons)
2 lbs. British Roasted Barley (Fawcett or Simpsons)
1 lb. Crisp Crystal 77L
1 lb. Dingemanns Special B (or Simpsons Extra Dark Crystal)

Mash @ 150˚ F for 75 minutes. Add half of the Chocolate Malt and Roasted Barley at the beginning of the mash as normal. Add the other half with 2 minutes left in the mash, prior to sparge.

60 minute boil

1.8 oz. Northern Brewer @ 60 minutes
1 oz. Northern Brewer @ 30 minutes
1 oz. EKG @ 15 minutes
1 oz. Northern Brewer @ 5 minutes
1 oz. EKG @ 0 minutes
1.2 oz. Northern Brewer dry hop

WLP007 Dry English Ale

Ferment @ 66° F; do not let this beer ever get above 68° F; start at 60-62° F and keep the temperature controlled until after high krausen

Carbonate to 2.3 volumes

And the low gravity session British Bitter recipe:

April Rockit Cup No Name Best Bitter
O.G. 1.044 @ 70% efficiency
F.G. 1.012
IBU 37.2
Color: 12
ABV: 4.2%

7 lbs. British Pale Malt
¾ lb. Weyermann Caramunich I
½ lb. Flaked Maize
½ lb. Amber Malt
2 oz. Briess Chocolate Malt

1 oz. Challenger @ 60 minutes
½ oz. EKG @ 15 minutes
½ oz. EKG @ 3 minutes

Mash at 156˚ F for 60 minutes

WLP007 Dry English Ale

Ferment @ 66° F

Carbonate to 2.1 volumes

Beware the Ides of March!

Rockit Cup Mini-Cask Fest Brewday

As promised, my Rockit Cup beer for the December Mini-Cask Fest is the December 2012 Northern English Brown, the one Rockit Cup beer I didn’t make. Check that one off my to do list. After this, it will be back to finishing out all of the other Brettanomyces projects I have cluttering the house, and then on to next year’s focal style: for 2014, saison is the beer of the year.

160. December 2012 Rockit Cup: Northern English Brown
Mash: 
8 lbs. Maris Otter
12 oz. Caravienne
12 oz. Special Roast
4 oz. Chocolate
4 oz. Pale Chocolate

Mash at 154˚ F for 60 minutes w/ 3 gallons RO water & 2 g. gypsum; collected almost 2 gallons @ 1.084
Batch sparge @ 165° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 gallons @ 1.026

Collected 6 gallons; topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
FWH: ½ oz. EKG leaf 5.41% AA

w/60 to go: ¾ oz. EKG leaf 5.41% AA

w/ 10 to go: ¾ oz. EKG leaf 5.41% AA

Chilled, racked to carboy, and pitched Wyeast 1098 British Ale

Primary: 11/20/2013 @ 70˚ F
Secondary:
Bottled: 

OG: 1.050
FG:

Tasting Notes:

February 2014 Rockit Cup: Robust Porter

Once again, the Rockit Cup is here to save you from your brewing doldrums. So stop being scared of the Rockit Cup and start brewing the Rockit Cup. Or you can just go on being the guy who brings professionally made beer to a home brew club meeting. Don’t worry, I promise not to make fun of you. To your face. Much. Alright, I’m sorry. I lied. I most likely will make fun of you. But that’s what you get for not brewing! Go Rockit Cup!

February Rockit Cup: Robust Porter
OG: 1.055 @ 70%
FG: 1.013
IBU: 37
Color: 27
ABV: 5.5%

9 lbs. Breiss 2-row
1 lb. Weyermann Dark Munich
½ lb. Crisp Crystal 45L
½ lb. Crisp Pale Chocolate
¼ lb. Black Patent

Mash at 152˚ F for 60 minutes

60 minute boil

1 ½ oz. EKG @ 60
¾ oz. Fuggle @ 15
½ oz. EKG @ 0
¼ oz. Fuggle @ 0

Wyeast 1056 American Ale

Ferment @ 67.0° F

Carbonate to 2.0 volumes

Ro-bust Por-ter! [clap clap clapclapclap]
Ro-bust Por-ter! [clap clap clapclapclap]

Rockit Cup Brett Trois IPA Recap

As suspected, Brian Gallow and myself were the only two participants. Alas, alas. Still, a fun experiment, since we both had two versions: I had a custersianus version as well as the standard Trois version, while Brian brought a version hopped with Zythos that he had used to grow up the yeast cake for the Rockit Cup version of the beer.

As well, both of us could pick out all four of the beers even though we were served them blind. Of the four, the two Trois versions were clearly better than the other two; I liked my version better and Brian liked his better, so we polled a couple of people, which gave Brian the title. Stupid Gallow and hoppy beers. Between the other two, I like the custersianus version better than the Zythos, even though the Zythos was also Trois—something about that hop/yeast combination didn’t sit as well on my palate. But this has also certainly given me food for thought in regards to brewing projects to pursue: I think Comet and Centennial would make a delicious Brett Trois IPA. Don’t worry—I’ll keep you posted.

The other results worth reporting from this evening: I am now officially the 2013 Fresh Hop King of Ohio. Brent Osborn’s challenge to my throne was rebuffed; his minion, Ryan Tarpley, brought Brent’s two fresh hop beers to challenge the two I had in the bottle at that point, and my Smith Hop Fresh Hop was declared the winner. I’ll be interested to see how it stacks up against the version I made today with bike path hops. Go fresh hop beers!

December’s Rockit Cup will be a Mini-Cask Fest, while the Rockit Cup for February will be a Robust Porter; the recipe for that one will be posted shortly.

(10/11/2013)

576. Evil Twin Femme Fatale Brett IPA

This beer is my homework for tomorrow night’s Rockit Cup Brett Trois IPA extravaganza. And by extravaganza, I mean Brian Gallow and I will compare our respective versions. I’d like to hope that there will be a surprise third or even fourth person, but I’m not holding my breath. Any-whoo, this is our first beer from Evil Twin, and I will note that their website is certainly a step up on Mikkeller’s website, which is still disappointing more than a full month later. Ah, the novelty of discussing your beer on your website. So crazy! Still, Evil Twin does get demerits for the poor copy-editing work on the bottle (see below). But I am forgetting the point, which is Brettanomyces and IPAs, and not my many and varied disappointments. So on to the beer!

Femme Fatale pours a lightly hazy golden straw with a thin white creamy head. When first out of the bottle, the nose features pine from the hops, but as the beer opened, the musty earthiness of the Brettanomyces started taking over. The citrus hop aromas make it through the earthiness—there is lemon and orange, along with some floral aromatics. Flavors start with a soft grainy sweetness, followed by orange and pine resin. The middle is dry, with cracker from the malt, musty earth, and hop bitterness that turns towards pine in the finish. The carbonation is bright and sharp, accentuating the thin, dry body. There is lingering spicy pine bitterness along with some mineral flavors, as well as the earthy gaminess that I connect to Brettanomyces, B. bruxellensis specifically. An interesting beer, one that improved the farther we got into the bottle; the yeast sediment added a creamy consistency that helped round the beer on the palate, cleaning the finish and giving it a pleasant lemon-y brightness. I like this beer, but I liked the brighter, more vibrant hop flavors in both the Rockit Cup versions I tried in conjunction with this beer. Still, it will be interesting to compare how the two Rockit beers age in comparison to this beer: how will the Brettanomyces flavors shift and develop in the bottle? Time will certainly provide us an answer. Hopefully I will like that answer.

From the bottle: “To take up the challenge and make a 100% true Brett beer can very easily become a fatal attraction for the Brewmaster. Ones [sic] you get acquainted with Bretts [sic] irresistible, seductive, alluring and very charming nature, it will ensnare you and drive you to the point of obsession to create the desirable tangy, funky, tart flavors in ya mouth.”

Ahem. Copy-editing, yo. Oh, and it does note on the bottle that this beer was “produced and bottled for Evil Twin Brewing at Westbrook Brewing Co., Mount Pleasant, SC.”

ABV: 6.0%

(10/10/2013)

Rockit Cup Brett Trois IPA Brewday

Finally, more exciting Rockit Cup action! This beer is a slightly revised version of Michael Tonsmeire’s 100% Brett Trois IPA. The Trois version got pitched on the not quite finished yeast cake from last week’s Brett Likewise Brewday, so it took almost instantaneously—I think it passed high krausen in under 36 hours. The custersianus was a bit slowly getting underway as the mason jar of yeast had been sitting around for about a month and a half, but once it started it went like gangbusters as well. Hopefully I can get both into the bottle for the October Rockit Cup!

158. Rockit Cup Brett Trois IPA
Mash:
9 lbs. Breiss 2-row
2 lbs. Breiss White Wheat
½ lb. Breiss Carapils
½ lb. Weyermann Acidulated

Mash @ 153° F for 60 minutes w/ 3 ¾ gallons RO water & 4 g. gypsum; collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.082
Batch sparge @ 167° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 2 g. gypsum; collected 4 ¼ gallons @ 1.030

Collected 6 ¾ gallons; topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
w/60 to go: 1 oz. Columbus pellet 13.9% AA

w/5 to go: 1 oz. Citra pellet 12.5% AA
½ oz. Cascade pellet 7.3% AA
½ oz. Centennial pellet 8.7% AA

w/0 to go: 1 oz. Citra pellet 12.5% AA
1 oz. Cascade pellet 7.3% AA
1 oz. Centennial pellet 8.7% AA

Let stand for 20 minutes, chilled, and racked onto:
158a. yeast cake from 157a. WLP644 B. bruxellensis Trois
Primary: 9/24/2013
Secondary: 9/30/2013 @ 1.006; dry hop w/ 1 oz. Citra, ½ oz. Cascade, and ½ oz. Centennial
Bottled: 10/4/2013

OG: 1.056
FG: 1.006

158b. mason jar from 148a. ECY19 B. custersianus
Primary: 9/24/2013
Secondary: 9/30/2013 @ 1.008; dry hop w/ 1 oz. Citra, ½ oz. Cascade, and ½ oz. Centennial
Bottled: 10/4/2013

OG: 1.056
FG: 1.004

Tasting Notes (10/10/2013): This might be one of the fasted beers I’ve ever turned: 10 days to the bottle, and 15 days to the glass. And this is a Brettanomyces beer no less. Still, the big yeast pitch for each did its work, although I’m also planning on drinking this beer quickly so as to prevent dangerous side effects. Like bottle bombs. The custersianus version in the picture is less carbonated than the Trois version because it was the last bottle, and thus had some extra head space. I pulled the last bottles for this tasting because I’m saving the good bottles for when I try it again in a couple of weeks.

Brett Trois IPA: Pours a hazy straw with a creamy white head that has decent retention, and the beer laces the glass rather nicely. The nose is citrus and tropical fruit—lemon, orange, ripe mango, and pineapple—with a touch of both earthiness and grassiness. Flavors are bright and refreshing: malt sweetness that gives way to orange and ripe pineapple, followed by a clean mineral bitterness mixed with the classic Centennial twang in the middle. The finish is juicy sweet with lots of lemon and lemon zest; there are hints of spicy bitterness and a touch of musty earth, but these flavors pair well with the others. The body is thin, but the creamy, rounded carbonation builds mouthfeel and body. This beer is bright and refreshing; there is a touch of lingering gaminess via the Brett, but this adds positively to the overall impression of the beer. While my allegiance to custersianus makes this hard to say, at this point, the Trois version is a better beer.

Brett Custersianus IPA: Like the other version, it pours a hazy straw with a thin white head; the bottle I had last night was equally carbonated to the Trois version, so I’ll chalk it up to the extra head space in this bottle. The nose is bright and aggressively ripe tropical fruit—mango, papaya, and pineapple—while the earthiness and grassiness found in the other version is absent. The fruit sweetness is equally ramped up in the body as well: it opens with mango and pineapple in the front, while the hop bitterness in the middle is comparatively subdued. It is most certainly there, but the juicy sweetness is as well, both carrying on into the orange and lemon finish. There is lingering bitterness, but it is cleaner and lighter than in the Trois version, although lower levels of the gaminess do come through. Like with the Trois version, the body is thin, but there is a rounded, creamy mouthfeel assisted by the carbonation. While this version has a lower FG, it is sweeter, gummier, and less hoppy than the Trois version. I do like this beer, but the Trois version is the better beer.

Rockit Cup Choose Your Own Yeast American Weissbier Recap

A more subdued Rockit Cup this month, with five brewers and eight beers, including newbie Mike Nereng. For the first time ever, I wasn’t the only asshole with more than one version of the Rockit Cup. Thanks, Darren, for making me not look like such a jackass (again) for bringing three different beers. I actually had a fourth version, but it wasn’t bottled in time. Anywho, our participants, and their yeasts: 

Jon Vanderglas: Wyeast 1007 German Ale
John Hoke: Wyeast 3711 French Saison
Darren Link: Wyeast 3942 Belgian Wheat & Wyeast 3462 Forbidden Fruit
Mike Nereng: Safale US-05
myself: Wyeast 1056, WLP 510 Bastogne, & a sour-mashed version using Wyeast 5335 Lactobacillus and WLP 510 Bastogne

The lower numbers allowed us to rank all eight beers. And again, an interesting variety of flavors, although the color and mouthfeel was pretty similar in all the different version, with slight varieties here and there. The Top 3 were:

1st: John Hoke with Wyeast 3711
2nd: myself with Wyeast 1056
3rd: Darren Link with Wyeast 3942

My sour-mash Bastogne was hands down the worst beer on the table—I’ll need to try the whole sour-mash thing again to work out the kinks, although the beer I didn’t bring (the other half of the sour-mash batch brewed with ECY19 Brettanomyces custersianus) tasted far better: maybe Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus really are meant for one another. I was also slightly annoyed that I couldn’t pick out 3711; I had it in third place, but not because I could identify the yeast. I had my Wyeast 1056 version in first—it was clean and very drinkable, and as Mike Nereng observed, tasted almost like Budweiser, but better. I had Darren’s Wyeast 3942 in fourth, so not far off there, either. Darren’s 3463 Forbidden Fruit version confirmed my dislike of that yeast: I described it as “sulphur and jank” in my tasting notes. Interestingly, I wasn’t able to identify the straight Bastogne version I brewed, as I picked up an adhesive flavor in the sample I was given that I hadn’t tasted before or since, so hopefully it was just an off bottle or an off night for my palate. Still, a fun experiment all told. Now I need to collect bottles to mail off to Jeff Alworth!

Again, thanks to all who participated! Up next is October’s Brett Trois IPA. Remember to make a good-sized starter for that one!

And Wes & Todd: where did you two disappear to?

(8/9/2013)

December Rockit Cup: Mini-Cask Fest

For December’s Rockit Cup, you’ll be choosing a previous Rockit Cup recipe, brewing it, and putting a portion of it into a mini-keg. Yes, you’ll need to do something with the other 3.68 gallons, since a mini-keg will only hold 1.32 gallons (or 5 liters for those of you who like the metric system), but that is up to you. If you’re super lazy (I’m looking at you, Ben Cripe), you’ll fill up a mini-keg with American Weissbier (if you’re cutting it close) or Brett Trois IPA (once you get around to it). Or maybe you’ve already planned for it—I’ve got a mini-keg of the Millenium Single-Hop Session IPA stashed somewhere in the basement. But ideally, everyone will brew something new, and get to experiment with the joys of cask-conditioning beer. Me, I’ll be brewing the one Rockit Cup beer I didn’t brew: the Northern English Brown from December 2012. Woot!

Here’s a list of links to previous Rockit Cup recipes:
April 2011: Standard/Ordinary Bitter
June 2011: Session IPA
August 2011: Saison
October 2011: Dry Stout
December 2011: 60 Shilling
February 2011: Alt
March 2012: Belgian Session IPA
May 2013: Black India Session Ale
June 2013: Chris Wyatt’s Landlord
August 2012: Hoppy Wheat
October 2012: American Bitter
December 2012: Northern English Brown
February 2013: Grinder’s Mild
March 2013: Belgian Pale Ale
April 2013: Single-Hop Session IPA
June 2013: Rye Pale Ale
August 2013: Choose Your Own Yeast American Weissbier
October 2013: Brett Trois IPA

A couple of comments on mini-kegs: you can either buy one new (like the above shiny silver one) or re-purpose a commercial one you buy and empty (I have a Scherlenka Rauchbier mini-cask I’ve used several times now—see picture below, filled with Rockit Cup Dry Stout). If you buy one, you’ll need to remove the plastic and rubber bung: pull straight up on the red plastic “lift” piece until it snaps apart from the bottom piece, push the bottom interior piece into the mini-cask, and remove the black plastic bung. You’ll have to shake the keg around to get the other piece out, but the two red plastic pieces will snap back together through the plastic bung, and can be re-used (although you will want to sanitize it first); if you damage the bung, or if you get one that won’t re-connect, you can always buy a new one at Brewtensils (they are currently in stock). Do get the one that has the red top (like in the picture), and not the gray one that you have to push the entire center plastic piece into the beer to get it to work.

Carbonation: the larger volume of the mini-keg means you’ll want to scale down the ratio of priming materials you use: don’t ask me the physics, but the bigger the vessel, the less priming sugar needed to achieve the same level of carbonation in a smaller vessel. Thus, when I used ¾ ounce of table sugar to prime my first mini-keg (90. Session IPA; for this batch I added the priming sugar separately to the mini-keg and the rest of the batch of beer), that was still too much. The second time round, I packaged the entire 5 gallon batch (99. Rockit Cup Dry Stout; 2 mini-kegs and the rest in bottles; I did the entire batch together this time) with 2 ounces of table sugar, or approximately .525 ounces for each mini-keg (and .95 ounces for the other 2.36 gallons), which turned out much better. For the most recent mini-keg that I can find notes on, the aforementioned 143. Rockit Cup Millenium Single-Hop Session IPA, I used 2.2 ounces for the remaining 4 gallons (I bottled the first gallon to take to the April DRAFT meeting); I filled the mini-keg first, then bottled the rest, which means I used .726 ounces for the mini-keg and 1.474 ounces for the remaining 2.68 gallons. The bottles were all fine; I haven’t opened the mini-cask yet, but my guess is slightly over-carbonated.

Let me know if you have other questions!

Cask-tastic!

October Rockit Cup: Brett Trois IPA

I’d like to point out that the idea for this beer is Brian Gallow’s, not mine, although I’m guessing that no one will believe me. That said, I think this is a fantastic idea: using Brettanomyces as the primary yeast. That’s certainly gonna push some knowledge. And who doesn’t need more of that? Nazis, that’s who! This recipe is a slightly revised version of Michael Tonsmeire’s 100% Brett Trois IPA, which is also currently being produced as Modern Times Neverwhere. Rockit Cup: always on point.

October Rockit Cup: Brett Trois IPA
OG: 1.059
FG: 1.012
IBU: 72
Color: 4.59 SRM
ABV: 6.2%

9 lbs. Breiss 2-row
2 lbs. Breiss White Wheat
½ lb. Breiss Carapils
½ lb. Weyermann Acidulated 

Mash @ 153° F for 60 minutes
60 minute boil

1 oz. Columbus @ 60 minutes
1 oz. Citra @ 5 minutes
½ oz. Cascade @ 5 minutes
½ oz. Centennial @ 5 minutes
1 oz. Cascade @ 0 minutes
1 oz. Centennial @ 0 minutes
1 oz. Citra @ 0 minutes
1 oz. Citra dry hop 
½ oz. Cascade dry hop
½ oz. Centennial dry hop

WLP644 Brettanomyces bruxellensis Trois

Ferment @ 68° F

Carbonate to 2.0 volumes

P. S. For those of you who have never brewed with Brettanomyces: do recall that it is a wild yeast that can and will infect the soft plastics you use for brewing. Thus, I would suggest glass for primary and secondary fermentation, and getting a second set of transfer and bottling equipment (or borrowing one from someone who has a second set) to use to transfer and bottle the beer. Sure, your stuff might not get infected, but do you really want to take that chance?

Rockit Cup Sour Mash American Weissbier Brewday

I decided that I wanted to experiment with sour-mashing, so I figured that the Rockit Cup American Weissbier was as good a place as any for such experimentation. I mashed in a 5 gallon stainless steel pot, chilled the mash down to around 105° F, pitched Wyeast Lactobacillus, and then put it in the oven and used the bread proofing setting to keep it at around 100° F for 42 hours. After 12 hours, there wasn’t much smell, but right about 16 hours I began to get small whiffs of bread dough and hot candy garbage. Ah, Lactobacillus, so stanky and yet beguiling at the same time. By the time I was ready to brew this morning, the house was smelling good. And another fun fact: when you bring that doughy candy garbage wort up to a boil, it spends a fair amount of time bleeding and oozing even more of that delightful Lactobacillus stanky stank out. Mmm....delicious candy garbage.

150. Rockit Cup Sour Mash American Weissbier
Mash:
5 lbs. Breiss 6-row
3 lbs. Breiss Flaked Maize
2 lbs. Breiss White Wheat

Mash @ 153° F for 70 minutes w/ 3 gallons of RO water & 2 g. gypsum; chilled to 105° F and pitched Wyeast 5335 Lactobacillus; kept at approximately 100° F for 42 hours; heated to 145° F and dumped in mash tun to strain
Batch sparge @ 160° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water

Collected 6 gallons; added ¾ gallon to bring to 6 ¾ gallons; brought to a boil (60 minutes) & added:
w/60 to go: 1 oz. Cluster leaf 7.6% AA

Chilled, split into two 3 gallon carboys, and pitched:
150a. mason jar of ECY19 Brettanomyces custersianus from 141a.
Brewed: 7/13/2013 @ 66° F
Secondary: 7/26/13 @ 1.010
Bottled: 9/2/2013 w/ 2.1 oz. table sugar

OG: 1.050
FG: 1.002

150b. mason jar of WLP510 Bastogne from 149.
Brewed: 7/13/2013 @ 66° F
Secondary: 7/20/2013 @ 1.006
Bottled: 7/30/2013 w/ 2 oz. table sugar

OG: 1.050
FG: 1.004

Tasting Notes (12/18/2013): I’ve waited on tasting these two beers because I wanted to see what happened to the residual garbage and butyric/isobutyric aromas and flavors that were quite present when initially bottled. Yes, my initial attempt at a sour mash failed miserably, but I still see this as a learning opportunity, hence my decision to bottle it to see what I could learn over time. As well, as Jeffrey McElfresh once pointed out, forcing yourself to drink a batch of beer you screwed up is an effective reminder to not brew shitty beer. So so true. Both pour a slightly hazy straw color, with 150b.WLP510 having better head formation and retention. As to the particulars:

150a. ECY19 Brettanomyces custersianus
This one still has some of the garbage and sweaty feet in the nose, although most of it is gone in the flavor. Besides the butyric/isobutyric aromas, there is tropical fruit and candy sweetness, although it does border on rancid, overripe fruit and cloying sweetness. Still, you do have to work a bit to find all that, so certainly an improvement. And given the time to open up, many of the off-putting flavors bleed out of the nose. Either that, or I am getting used to them. I’m not sure which is worse. Flavors start with corn and musty candy; the fruitiness in the middle is pleasant and enjoyable, and there is some nice bright lactic sourness along with some candy corn flavors in the finish that cleans the palate and makes you forget about some of the other less salient characteristics in the first half of the beer. Until you smell it when you take the next sip, and remember what the finish made you forget. The dry carbonation bite helps the lactic bite clean the palate: post-aroma, this is a pretty interesting beer.

150b. WLP510 Bastogne
The garbage and stomach bile initially present in this beer have all but vanished, leaving behind cracker, corn sweetness, and a hint of hop bitterness. OK, maybe there are still residual remnants of the initial butyric and isobutyric acids (and/or the esters those acids became), but nothing nearly like when it was first bottled—I get Juicy Fruit and hints of the jankiness I associate with Lactobacillus, but not much else. Instead, it tastes clean and lightly fruity; there is some grainy cracker in the finish, and the beer comes across as slightly watery, but overall much cleaner and more enjoyable than when initially bottled. There is some lingering fruitiness on the back of the throat that tastes a bit off, but otherwise it is good. I do wish it had some of the cleansing lactic bite in the other version, but that could also be Brettanomyces-derived. Still, the Bastogne yeast did a better overall job of cleaning up the off-flavors from the sour mashing

See? Learning. Given time, yeast can clean up and minimize some of the off-flavors produced during early fermentation. I’m glad I didn’t dump this beer out—I’ll be intrigued to see what it continues to do with more time in the bottle.