hop and away

St James Gate Foreign Stout. Done.

antethesis — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:29:22 +0000

The beer is carbonated and finished and brilliant. Maybe I’m a little disappointed that it isn’t a little more carbonated, I thought I had primed for 1.7 vols and it came in a bit too low. I think 2-2.4 volumes might have produced a slightly better result, but the flavors are there and it is wonderful. (The Brettanomyces was likely the dominant species at time of bottling after such a long secondary and it produces exactly half the amount of CO2 that Sacchromyces would produce from the same amount of glucose.)

Appearance: Intense black, but not cloudy, with garnet highlights.
Aroma: Definite Brett smells oin the nose, a cherry-like quality.
Taste: Starts off with a nice roastiness that gives way to a pleasant cherry sort of flavor from the Brett. finishing just a touch dry.
Mouthfeel: present but not overwhelming
Drinkability: All night.

This is undoubtedly the best beer I have ever brewed. I’m sad I didn’t make more. There is a definite argument for making 10 gallon batches for these brews that take such a long time.

Dry Month

antethesis — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 15:21:58 +0000

I think it is important to know exactly where you stand with things. Am I in charge of the beer or is it in charge of me? How much will do I have? Am I an alcoholic?

I have accepted a challenge from the S.O. to not have a drink for a month. I’m in week three already and going strong. I’m glad to say that this has not been too difficult. There is some Dog Fish Head Indian Brown Ale, and some Unibroue Fin Du Monde in the fridge in addition to my go at the St James Gate Foreign Extra Stout and some of hopandaway’s Dry Cherry Stout. There no lack of temptation on hand.

To be honest it feels very good to be able to draw a line in the sand and stick to your decision. So far I have not noticed anything really ground breaking in terms of positive changes to my demeanor, outlook or general sense of well being. It is pretty cool to be able to feel like I can say ‘no’, easily to any drink offered though.

I will admit that I had one stumble: Hopandaway came to stay for a night early in April. We all went out to dinner together at a local pub and since I was only a couple days in I managed to convince myself that it would be OK to have a pint and just push back the start date of the dry month. A slippery slope! Things have been fine since then, however. It was also a crime that the waitress described Pretty Things‘s Fluffy White Rabbits as an IPA.

St James Gate Foreign Extra Stout Carbonating █░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 5%

antethesis — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:12:51 +0000

This last long week I finally had everything line up to bottle the SJGFES kit. It was completely flat after six months brooding in secondary in the basement (at relatively consistent low 60s). In the end I only really got two gravity points of shift from the end of primary (Brett addition at the beginning to secondary) to the end of secondary. Check the data:

sugar goes in, alcohol comes out.

If I did this again, I might just dump the Brett in with the Irish Ale Yeast, to bring out more of the freakshow. As it is, the vinuous brett character is seriously inviting in the nose and a restrained finesse at the end. While completely flat this beer is not at its best, a wee bit thin and dull in the middle. I’m hoping that two volumes of CO₂ will be enough (but not too much) to bring back some mouth feel and a little spritz to keep things interesting.

The carbonation will be approximate in any event since I had no facility to weigh the corn sugar. instead guesstimating from weight to volume conversions for corn sugar. I added six tablespoons (approx 3 oz) corn sugar total in the 5 gal. The sugar was dissolved in something like a half litre of water and boiled for 15 mins on the stove before throwing that still hot into the bottom of a cleaned and sanitized fermenter.

I then siphoned the beer from the secondary to the fermenter with the sugar. The siphoning effort was hampered by the sheer darkness of the beer. I had difficulty seeing where the end of the wand was and where the sludge in the bottom of the secondary was. This means that some of that assuredly not too happy flocculated (Irish Ale) yeast probably came along for the ride. Not having a bottling spigot for this fermenter, I siphon back out of it through a bottling wand into the bottles. It works pretty well, and is only a minor hassle to set up.

That does mean that all of my plastics have been brett’ed up now. I’ll have to get some new stuff for the clean beers of the future. That’s ok. I’ve always wanted an autosiphon, and spigots on the new fermentation vessels seem like a good idea!

St James Gate foreign extra stout

antethesis — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:18:31 +0000

I’ve been getting more and more interested in sour beers lately. It helps that Soph tends to prefer these (sometimes fruit flavored) sour beers almost exclusively (aside from the Karmeliet Tripel). I haven’t had anything that I didn’t like yet, from Ommegang Zuur, and Monk’s Cafe Flemish Sour Red, to Lindeman’s Kriek and Gueuze. Calling these beers ‘sour’ while true, doesn’t capture the full experience. There is an additional complexity from the other microbes that really enhances the experience.

So it was with great interest that I saw Northern Brewer offer a particular sour beer kit for sale, the St James Gate Foreign Extra Stout. They offer many but something about this one piqued my interest, perhaps the inclusion of two discrete yeast cultures (S. cerevisiae, and Brettanomyces claussenii). Given the potentially long aging period involved (at least 3 months, and up to a year) it looked like it would be ready for autumn/winter, just the time when a stout seems inviting.

I ended up brewing this in the middle of a move between apartments when I was staying at Soph’s great aunt’s place while she was away. A different kitchen meant a bit more planning was required, but this house has a basement with pretty stable temperatures which would be great for the aging process. Brewing went predictably, of course hitting the proper OG (1.071). The primary fermentation wasn’t as good though. I had waited too long between ordering the kit and brewing (fear of the apartment move), so the yeast while stored in the fridge had lost some viability. To help compensate I oxygenated from a tank before pitching (of course) and then again between 12 and 18 hours after pitching.

Primary fermentation seemed to be done in about a week, with the krausen gone and the SG down to 1.026, a week after that it was at 1.024, essentially complete. I racked to a secondary and pitched the B. claussenii culture, crossed my fingers.

Two months later the gravity is at 1.022 and the taste is superb! It will surely develop more, but it is very Guinness-like up front with a fun fruity Brett finish at the end. It isn’t barnyard-y, and it is also not sour, neither has it lost body or its silky mouth feel. I’d love to bottle it now, but I am a bit worried about the gravity and the potential for bottle bombs. Is one point per month normal for B. claussenii added to a secondary after a clean primary fermentation? The Mad Fermentationist recommends not bottling anything sour over 1.010, but he usually uses a much more complex mixed souring culture, not straight B. claussenii. He also counsels patience, perhaps that is the best course of action here.

NYT sour note

antethesis — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:25:13 +0000

Sour ales are definitely worth drinking frequently and in great variety. Unfortunately they are often not available, produced mostly in Belgium, and not vigorously exported to the US. Ichtegem’s Grand Cru is all I can find around here, on the sweeter end of Flanders red apparently. There are also oud bruins, lambics, guezes, etc. I say go for it, get what you can, embrace the ‘old horse blanket’.

The NYT lightly touches on the American craft brewing scene’s leanings regarding sour ale, and some of the risks, prejudices involved.

Number 8 bottling

antethesis — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:44:18 +0000

Bottled the Number 8 (Belgian Dark Strong Ale, BDSA?) last night. three vols of CO₂ all set.

Along the way I accidentally cleaned, sanitized and filled a twist top bottle. I only realized as I went to cap it. Damn you Budweiser! (and people that bring Budweiser to parties!) It was poured it and drank flat. Man it still has a kick to it after two months in secondary. A lesson that I need to be more careful with my bottle procedures.

Stirred up a bit of the yeast off the bottom of the secondary while siphoning to the bottling bucket. The cells looked very dark so I’m thinking it must have been very stressed, so that might not have been the best idea. It should carb up nice and fast now though, and aren’t Belgians all about bottle conditioning anyway?

Got 48 bottles out including a 750 mL from Capt Lawrence brewery, so it was cap-able. I guess I will be saving that one up for something.

Bottle Bomb!

antethesis — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:39:53 +0000

Found some broken glass in my brew closet the other day. I thought the power head from the temp control water bath must have fallen on a bottle, because there wasn’t any beer puddle that I could see. When I tried to get in there and see what had happened, a few of the bottles were stuck to the floor, odd. After clearing things out I could see that one of the last remaining three ‘English Sweate’ bottles had been completely shattered! Glad I wasn’t in there at the time. I figure that there must have been some contamination in that bottle, bacteria or wild yeast fermentation could have upped the CO2 content past the ~4 volumes a regular 12 oz. bottle can handle. Nothing had fallen on these bottles. It must have popped a while ago because the spilled beer dried up completely. I am not looking forward to cleaning it up.

To Mildly go where the UK has gone before

antethesis — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:54:23 +0000

I ordered a mild kit, a tasty looking session beer (OG 1.032, ~3.5 % ABV) that you can be drinking in three weeks. Got this one partly because I wanted to demonstrate extract partial boil 5 gal total volume home brewing to a friend who had plenty of experience with Mr Beer kits. Plus it would be fast to turn around and I wanted a beer that wouldn’t knock me on my ass if I wanted to have one with dinner.

Everything went very smoothly with this brew, possibly the best tasting one yet (and my fourth so far). Bottling without a secondary at the end of two weeks in primary does result in a fair whack of yeast in the bottom of your bottles. It was a bit weird to prime for only 1.5 vols of CO₂ as well.

However it was all pretty straight forward and it did what it said on the label, easy to drink, have have a few without feeling totaled and it was quick. Would do it again.

A Maltly Crew Thursday, Belgian Style

SwiftPint — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:24:54 +0000

The Maltly Crew had a satisfying 3-mile run on Thursday, March 4 and then dove head first into some Belgian beers, frites, mayo dips of many kinds, and even a few home brews! Here are some observations from SwiftPint:

BELGIANS
Ommegang Hennepin Saison
Yeasty familiar wheat beer. Good stuff, great with salty fries. Smells fruit-ish, smacks of popcorn at the end. Enjoyable!

Captain Lawrence Xtra Gold American Tripel
Smells like grapefruit and pineapple, thicker texture, a bit of hop oil, strong alcohol. Wouldn’t want a full glass unless very slowly with food. Taste a pesto end on top. With food, the hop oil doesn’t stick around.

Westmalle Trappist Ale Dubbel
Yummy yum yum! Smells like vitamin C? Caramel smooth taste, finishes clean, refreshing hops snap at the end. Very drinkable!

Three Philosophers Quad
Smells like potpourri, rosehips vitamin C, sour finish. Smells like prunes, ends a little sour. Doesn’t make the top of my list but I don’t hate it.

HOME BREWS

MM Hard Cider
Apple, clean, champagne, dry finish. Fantastic! Kudos MM!!

MM Ginger Beer
Wow! Not too strong on the ginger, light sparkles. Nice!

IMcC Belgian Dark Strong Ale
Smells like banana, scotch, flambe, got a little flat in the carbonation but a nice dessert beer.

At the end of the tasting came Bananagrams. What happens in Bananagrams stays in Bananagram-land. But let me tell you friends, it was Bananagram-tastic!

A last bit of wisdom garnered from the evening: don’t eat too much mayo kids.

-SwiftPint Out-

Lefse Blond v. Leffe Blond

antethesis — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:25:19 +0000

I compared my go at the NB Lefse blond kit (with the slightly dodgy fermentation) to the commercial Leffe Blond (I only recently found out that Leffe Blond is part of the InBev conglomerate here in the US. I will avoid it in the future in favour of some craft brewed example. That said, it is still rather drinkable if verging on sweet.) In short there is no comparison. The Leffe manages to be full and round and lovely while the Lefse is thin, astringent and harsh. This merely confirms that there is a lot in that fermentation temperature control, and it is well worth taking seriously.