A slightly cloudy, very lightly colored beer (like I wanted). The taste is good, just a hint of the pepper without being overtly obvious what it is or overly spiced, just a hint of sweetness, crisp, not much in the way of phenols.
FB - 8.8 for a calculated ABV of 5.9%.
Next two beers are the home toasted Brown (#12) then a Brett Dubbel (#13)...
Bottled the DRIS today. Dark brown / black, taste is really good with a hint of chocolate, almost no roast flavors, on the sweeter side.
I have no idea what the ABV is but It was definitely done fermenting. Final Brix (FB) was 23 for a calculated ABV / FG of 7% and 1.066 respectively. That being said I don't know what the true original Brix (OB) was because I just took the highest value because it was off the scale of my refractometer. If the OB was closer to 36 (Calculated OG from recipe) then the current ABV is actually over 10% (estimated 15% but estimated FG of 1.04). I think the 1.066 is correct because there has to be some residual sugar that went unfermented because of the sweetness.
Now we just have to see if the Champagne yeast is able to carbonate this one without it blowing up...
Time to start into the Belgians. First attempt ever at a Bier de Garde, which of course in French means: Beer of the Garde. Recipe modified from a AHA beer of the week post: (https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/community/blog/show?title=beer-recipe-of-the-week-biere-de-guarde). According to this was supposed to mash at 160 deg. Didn't read that until the end of the mash (mine was closer to the usual 148 deg).
So no experience with this one at all before. Expecting a rich, malty, adventure. Threw in a couple figs for a little more richness and because I just found out that I like fresh figs. Recipe below:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/73484/lefrance-biere-de-garde
Brix 16.8, OG 1.069. Yielded a little over 1 gallon and love the color.
Next up is the brown ale made with the home toasted malt from a couple weeks ago...
Saison racked to secondary today onto the pear slurry. Very light color, taste is light and crisp, not a ton of acid / sour flavors, somewhat cloudy (worsened with the pear slurry for the photo).
Brix into secondary was 7.5 for a current gravity of 1.008 and an estimated ABV of 7.4%. Good job yeast!
Overall taste is good and excited to see what the pears do to this one...
Loosely based on a previously used saison recipe that turned out great. Different yeasts and up'ed the acid malt just a bit.
Yeast was cultured Saison du Pont. Experiment here is seeing what happens when it's racked onto Bartlett pears. Thought they would complement the taste well. Who knows?
Recipe below:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/71186/fkyle-saison
Brix - 15.9, OG - 1.065
Next up: Biere de Garde...
Perfectly clear, taste is great, really like this hop...
Lots of yeast still flocculation(ing) slowly. Very cloudy, cleared a bit after transfer. Nice taste, not a lot of the spice / tea flavors...
Aroma - Mixture of pine / tropical citrus notes, pleasant - 8/12
Appearance - Clear, orange / brown - 2/3
Flavor - The bitterness is smoother than in the Citra, not as pronounced, but don't like the hops as much, little too one-dimensional, again nice malt base - 10/20
Mouthfeel - Smooth / full - 4/5
Overall - 7/10
31/50 - Better in some ways than the Citra but don't like the hop flavors. Think Galaxy would fare better as a bittering hop with a clean citrus (hint of pine) background with the Citra for flavor / aroma.
Scoring of the Citra IPA tonight. Nice head with pour, like the golden / coppery color.
Aroma - Tropical fruit notes, honey - 8/12
Appearance - Like the color, clear, good head retention - 3/3
Flavor - Little bitter through the finish, nice balance otherwise - 8/12
Mouthfeel - Full, rich - 3/5
Overall - 7/10
29/50 - Decent, I like the hop smell and flavor but don't like the overall hop distribution / balance. Would take away a little from the bittering addition and split it up with the flavor / aroma additions. The malt bill works well for this hop, just a hint of sweetness, not too malty.
Doing something that I've wanted to do for awhile for the upcoming FK:II Brown Ale - Toasting my own grains. I'm going off of the chart given in Radical Brewing. Toasting 8 oz of pilsner malt at 375 deg F for 40 minutes. Supposed to give it a toffy-like, sweet flavor without any bitterness. My place kind of smells like slightly burnt popcorn now...
Racked the grapefruit mead to tertiary today. It's nearly clear, but you can still see small bubbles tracking up the side.
Brix dropped from 21 to 9 for a current OG of 1.004 and 10.6% ABV. It's more bitter (grapefruit-y) than it was going into the secondary when it was balanced by the sweetness. There's a definite etOH heat to it. Will probably bottle next month...
Also made a starter from Saison DuPont for a some sort of saison next week. This is one of my favorite saisons - Crisp, hint of phenolics, touch of bitterness; it's all (mostly) in the yeast. This has yielded good results in the past...
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/35994/guy-de-loimbard-french-saison
Had some of my wife's tea this week and really like the way it tasted. So tonight making a spiced wit with some black pepper and Red Rubris (sp?) tea. Recipe is loosely based on a Grand Cru that I made when I first started that was probably the first good beer that I made. Wanted to use the White Labs 410, which is supposed to really accentuate the spice, but they only had the 400. I cultured it up and saved some to try and remake that Grand Cru in the coming weeks. Should have a nice full body, added a bit of rye for a hint of spice and head retention and a touch (0.5%) acidulated malt for a little sour twang.
Recipe below:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/69708/siatab-wit
Brix - 15.6, Calculated OG - 1.064
Next up, some sort of Saison...
Decided to get a lot done (beer-wise) tonight. Racked the Citra IPA to secondary as well. Ton of hop / yeast sediment headed into the secondary. Not worried because the others looked like this and actually cleared quickly. Quick taste was great. Best of the single-hop beers so far at this point. Mosaic taste is dank, tons of tropical citrus, not a lot of hop aromas on the nose though. Should be ready to bottle next week...
Racked the DRIS to secondary today. Quick taste was good, rich and very full, I think there's still a lot of fermentable sugar left. The Dry English and Champagne yeast seemed to get along OK. Think this one's going to take a little longer in secondary but is very promising...
Big moment. Going to use BJCP scoring. Try to be Objective. I will not be scoring as if they were to fit into a specific category.
Aroma - 8/12
Appearance - 3/3
Flavor - 9/20
Mouthfeel - 4/5
Overall impression - 5/10
Overall score - 29. Think this is pretty accurate. Beer is in the high good range. Happy with this for a first shot at 1-gallon brewing. Pros: The smell and color are perfect. The mouthfeel is full and smooth. Cons: There is a slight astringency at the finish that detracts from the taste.
Think the astringency may be from over-hopping or some temperature control issues during the mash leading to some tannin release. If brewed again would decrease the IBUs but I think that's about it.
This one has me excited. The goal was an ABV monster that still tastes good (obviously) and meets almost none of the accepted standards (IBU, ABV, etc) for the style.
The recipe is based on a beer that I brewed with a friend of mine and was entered into the National Homebrewing Competition where it got a silver certificate (36/50). I changed it up a little, adding the cocoa nibs and dropping the agave syrup, but it's otherwise the same. Still searching for that ingredient that gives the great stouts that smooth, richness (Peche Mortel).
This one's a partial extract (had to be to get the ABV), and I will be adding champagne yeast to get it to attenuate down and still have something left to carbonate in the bottles. Thought about adding the yeast into the secondary but don't want to have to introduce any oxygen for the yeast so its going into the primary with the Dry English. Recipe below:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/68691/dris
Brix - 33? (Past the top of the scale), OG - 1.144 (Estimated 1.156)
It's tough when making a stout to not throw in the kitchen sink because everything sounds so good. I kept looking in the cupboard at the vanilla, coffee, etc but am holding back! Hooray for some self-control.
Last night put the Citra and Galaxy in bottles. Yes, the labels leave something to be desired. However, I know what's what and they are easy to get off for the next batch.
Both are crystal clear and the color lightened significantly from when it first went into the bucket for primary. There was only a minimal amount of debris in the Galaxy bottling bucket from the dry hop.
Both came out a nice golden-orange color. It's amazing how different they smell next to each other just from the hops. Early impression: I think that the galaxy has got nothing on the citra but as always, we'll just have to wait and see...
On Labor day brewed the 3rd of the IPA single hop series. Probably going on a IPA hiatus for a bit.
Changed the malt bill again slightly for this one. Increased the wheat while decreasing the percentage of crystal. Hoping for something slightly light body, just have to see whether this small of a change results in something different. For the next one I think I'm going to get even more drastic and use 1/2 pilsner with 1/2 2 row for the backbone. This should lighten the color significantly and we'll see what else.
Excited about this one. I really like Mosaic hops (GLB - Alchemy Hour) and this one smelled great going into the bucket. Recipe below:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/68689/ococom-ipa
Brix - 16, OG - 1.065
Even more importantly I was much closer to the right OG this time (1.070 calculated). I used a step mash and hit 149 deg perfectly, no temperature fluctuations like I had when heating with the stove directly. Also the volume was perfect. The other factor that I think was contributing to the low OGs was the mill. I checked the grain after going through and I think my plates were set just a little too far apart. Cranked them down a bit and they were nicely crushed - Will have to remember to check this in the future. Only took 7 batches to get this process down...
Racked the galaxy IPA (YAMO) today onto 0.25 oz. of dry hops. The other IPA has cleared quickly and should be ready to be bottled later this week.
Lighter week at work with the holiday and everything so going to try to crank two more beers out.
First up is the 3rd IPA (Mosaic): For this one I'm going to decrease the crystal 60, biscuit has been eliminated, and increased the wheat. The goal is a lighter color and body that I think will complement the Mosaic nicely. Thought about changing to a pilsner malt base to really lighten it but will stick with the 2-row for now.
Second is an idea for a double Russian Imperial stout. Aiming for thick, chewy, black, and an ABV in the mid teens. Will be going with a partial extract for this in order to get it up there. Planning on starting with a Dry English starter in the bucket and then racking onto fresh Champagne yeast to attenuate it down and provide carbonation after bottling.
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