Hoppy LTC Brewday

Now that we’ve entered the post-barrel era, time to make something to drink in the here and now. Something small and quick and punchy, something like an overly-hopped sour pale ale (I’d call it a session IPA, but those are way too trendy right now). LTC is my current house yeast blend; it is a mix of Lactobacillus, bruxellensis Trois, and custersianus. I’ve been re-pitching the initial blend for well over a year now—I honestly have no clue how many beers I’ve made with it since I started. As long as it keeps producing good beers, though, it will have a place in the regular rotation.

202. Hoppy LTC 

Mash: 
6 lbs. MFB Pale
3 lbs. MFB Vienna
1 lb. Acidulated

Mash @ 153° F for 120 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water, 4 g. gypsum, & 4 g. CaCl; collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.066
Batch Sparge @ 170° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 gallons @ 1.016

Topped off to 7 gallons; brought to a boil (70 minutes), & added:

w/60 to go: 1 oz. Comet leaf 10.9% AA
1 oz. German Magnum leaf 14.2% AA

w/20 to go: 1 oz. Comet leaf 10.9% AA

w/10 to go: 1 oz. Styrian Golding leaf 3.7% AA
5 g. Wyeast yeast nutrient

w/5 to go: 1 oz. Comet leaf 10.9% AA
1 oz. Styrian Golding leaf 3.7% AA

w/0 to go: 1 oz. German Magnum leaf 14.2% AA
1 oz. Styrian Golding leaf 3.7% AA

Let sit for 20 minutes, chilled, racked to carboy and pitched mason jar of LTC from 185. Cider

Brewed: 3/7/2015
Secondary: 3/21/2015 @ 1.006; dry-hopped with 1 oz. Comet leaf 10.9% AA & 1 oz. Styrian Golding leaf 3.7% AA
Bottled:

OG: 1.046
FG:

Tasting Notes:

Bockfest 2015 Beer Judging

Git’cher goat on, people. Time once again for Bockfest, and much last last year, this was a mercenary trip, although I did make one brief side trip after judging to score free buttons from James Billiter, who was set up at Arnold’s Craft Menagerie. But after the buttons, I got the hell out of dodge. 

Since it was Bockfest, it should come as no surprise that I judged Traditional Bock beers. In fact, I believe this marks the third year in a row I’ve judged bock beers . Maybe longer. I did judge Dopplebocks once, but who remembers when the hell that was? Obviously not me. Other than that, though, straight Traditional Bock. Sorry, I am still dreaming of the underground labyrinthine caves beneath all this goat-inspired madness. But I digress. Three groups of us judged all those Traditional Bocks, did a mini-BOS, and declared a winner. I’d pass along a link to the list of winners, but my internet sleuthing skills have failed me yet again. And I didn’t stick around to hear the names of the winners—like I told you, I got the hell out. 

(3/7/2015)

Post-Barrel Lambic Brewday

While I have brewed almost all of the beer I need for the barrel, I still need more lambic to finish off an earlier project; this batch will be the third version I’ll use to blend a gueuze; once it has had about a year, I’ll be experimenting with blending along with 168. Lambic from 1/29/2014 and the three gallons of 134. Lambic from 11/23/2012. Eyes on the prize, my man. 

201. Post-Barrel Lambic Brewday

8 lbs. Best Malz Pilsen

4 lbs. Best Malz Wheat

Mash @ 150° F for 80 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water, 8 g. gypsum, & 3 g. CaCl; collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.076
Batch Sparge @ 167° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 ¼ gallons @ 1.026

Topped off to 7 gallons; brought to a boil (70 minutes), & added:

w/60 to go: 1 oz. Choice debittered hops

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

Chilled & racked onto ECY Bug County yeast cake from 197. Barrel Project Lambic

Brewed: 3/6/2015
Secondary:
Bottled:

OG: 1.056
FG:

Tasting Notes:

Barrel Project Lambic Solera

Another 15 gallons of beer for the barrel. I should be able to finish filling it next weekend—I just need to brew beers to replace the ones I am taking off the Hanssen’s Oude Gueuze and ECY Bug County yeast cakes. Then the waiting. But I’m used to that, so basically just more of the same. And in case you are curious, information on the first addition to the barrel can be found here. 

Details on the third addition.

191. Barrel Project Lambic

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 @ 1.080

Batch sparge @ 168° 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. Chinook leaf 11.3% AA

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

Chilled & racked onto ECY Bug County yeast cake from 189. Barrel Project Lambic

Brewed: 1/10/2015

Secondary: 2/8/2015 @ 1.004

Barrel: 2/27/2015

OG: 1.056

193. Barrel Project Saison

Mash:

8 lbs. Dingemans Pilsen

4 lbs. Breiss White Wheat

Mash @ 150° F for 60 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water and 8 g. gypsum; collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.082

Batch sparge @ 162° 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 ½ oz. German Magnum leaf 14.2 % AA

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

Chilled & racked onto WLP 585 yeast cake from 188. Barrel Project Saison

Brewed: 1/19/2015

Secondary: 2/8/2015 @ 1.004

Barrel: 2/27/2015

OG: 1.058

194. Barrel Project Lambic

Mash:

8 lbs. Dingemans Pilsen

4 lbs. Breiss White Wheat

Mash @ 151° F for 60 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water and 4 g. gypsum; collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.082

Batch sparge @ 167° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 gallons @ 1.034

Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:

w/60 to go: 1 ½ oz. German Magnum leaf 14.2 % AA

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

Chilled & racked onto Hanssen’s Oude Gueuze yeast cake from 190. Barrel Project Lambic

Brewed: 1/20/2015

Secondary: 2/9/2015 @ 1.002

Barrel: 2/27/2015

OG: 1.058

Can you taste the deliciousness yet? 

CMI All-American Beer Judging 2015

So after a long and most likely unforgivable hiatus, I’m back. In addition to my own personal disappearance, it has been a couple of years since I last participated in the All-American. But it is a new year and all that other malarkey, so here we go. 

I rode down to Cincinnati on the solo because all the people I used to judge beer with from Dayton have either become professional brewers or are lame. That last part probably sounds really mean.

For the morning flight, I got to judge English Browns, followed by Specialty in the afternoon. The English Browns were so-so, while the Specialty category was rather nice. The winning Gose from Specialty ended up taking Best in Show as well, so a shout out to Luke Shropshire for a well-made beer. The rest of the results can also be found here.

I also got to participate in my first BOS, which was fun. While I was away, I horns-waggled my way into being a National judge. Which really only means that I’m on the hook for more potential work. But since that work most likely involves beer, I can live with that.

(2/14/2015)

Saison w/ Tinctures Brewday

This beer began life as a plain ol’ regular saison. However, when I needed a guinea pig for our upcoming club Iron Brewer competition, I decided to toss this beer down the scullery stairs. Why, you may ask? I’ll tell you: this Iron Brewer called for putting some form of liquor (well, besides whisky, bourbon, or scotch) into any style of beer. I am not a fan of booze and beer, so I decided to make tinctures, and consider the combination my liquor addition. More bang for your buck, so to speak, and certainly more interesting than just adding straight booze. Thus, each of the three features a different alcohol and herb/botanical mix. I also forced myself to use the booze I had on hand—otherwise I would have used vodka as the base for at least one of these. The results of the tinctures were better than I expected when I added it at bottling. We’ll see how the final product turns out. 

198. Saison w/ Tinctures

Mash:

8 lbs. Best Malz Pilsen

4 lbs. Best Malz Wheat

Mash @ 149° F for 80 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 8 g. gypsum; collected 2 ½ gallons @ 1.072

Batch sparge @ 162° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 gallons @ 1.024

Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (70 minutes), & added:

w/60 to go: 1 oz. Comet leaf 10.9% AA

1 oz. Styrian Golding pellet 2% AA

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

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

Let sit for 20 minutes; chilled & racked onto WLP 585 cake from 193. Barrel Project Saison

Brewed: 2/8/2015

Bottled: 2/28/2014

198a. one gallon w/ 1 oz. Bacardi, lime, and lemon zest & .8 oz. table sugar

198b. one gallon w/ 1 oz. Aquavit and sage tincture & .8 oz. table sugar

198c. one gallon w/ 1 oz. Cuervo, ginger, and hibiscus tincture & .8 oz. table sugar

Remaining saison was racked into a corny keg with the remains of 186b. for future experimentation

OG: 1.052

FG: 1.004

Tasting Notes:

Lambic and Yeast Bay Lochristi Brewday

Another brewday to put some of the pesky yeast lying around to work; the lambic was to get another round of the Rueuze yeast moving (the last one got racked onto five and half pounds of Michigan sour cherries), and the Yeast Bay Lochristi blend was for the starter I made a month ago and was still in search of a home. I like treating my yeast right. And by right, I mean decadently.

196. Lambic and Yeast Bay Lochristi

Mash:

4 lbs. MFB Pale

4 lbs. MFB Vienna

2 ¾ lbs Best Malz Spelt

1  lb. Breiss White Wheat

Mash @ 149° F for 75 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water & 4 g. CaCl; collected 2 ¾ gallons @ 1.072

Batch sparge @ 166° F for 20 minutes w/ 4 gallons RO water; collected 4 gallons @ 1.028

Topped off to 7 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:

w/60 to go: 1 oz. German Magnum leaf 14.2 % AA

1 oz. Styrian Golding pellet 2.0% AA

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

Chilled and split into two 3 gallons carboys:

196a. Yeast Bay Lochristi

Brewed: 2/7/2015

Bottled: 

OG: 1.048

FG:

196b. Rueuze yeast cake from 151a. Gueuze

Brewed: 2/7/2015

Blended: blended during the Old Beer Blending Party

OG: 1.048

FG: 1.000

Tasting Notes: