Wednesday 16 July 2014

what is 100% Brettanomyces Beer?

Well, Like I said, I was going to offer some information on 100% Brett Fermented beers, now these are links to pages I don't own or have any rights to, so hopefully its all good. Just getting the information out there. So thanks to the guys who took the time to actually write about this particular process/ingredients, and how it all works etc.

The best link is HERE, as the Guy from Bear-Flavour Ales, knows a lot about sours and brett beers. Be it Primary, or ageing on wild yeasts.

Just check out his page in general, some great recipes and information about all sorts of stuff.
www.bear-flavoured.com

Anyway, While I haven't strictly tasted my Brett IPA as yet, I'll give you my impression so far of the yeast, how it behaved and my impression of it.
Fermentation: Large Starter (Lager sized), took off once pithed at 18-19 degrees, and fermented out really quickly, ensured the temp was within recommended range. most of ferment was done at 21 degrees, and finished at 23 degrees, to make sure. FG: 1.010 I gave this 3 weeks primary, to make sure, the krausen dropped after 3 days so I assume most of the main part was done. There was probably some residual stuff that was removed over the course of the next couple of weeks.

This is where it gets a little more interesting, the Difference I found at bottling time between Aroma and Flavour was quite a lot different. Flavour-wise I got Pineapple, and Some major tropical Fruit flavours, really quite amazing what the yeast has done. Aroma was almost funky/Tart, like nothing I've had before, and while it might not be unexpected to have a nice aroma in an IPA, I'm looking forward to trying it when it's ready.
Un-tasted it's going into the local club IPA Competition, so that'll technically be the first tasting, but I'll put a full comparison review up when I taste each version (3 yeasts used, more on that later)

that's all for now, the next post will be  the Information relating to said Brett Beer... So Watch this Space.

Wednesday 2 July 2014

Brettanomyces, and the SJPORR

Hey Everyone, Apologies for not posting for what looks like a whole month??! I've been pretty slack., in my down time, I've had sometime to think about this blog, what I post about and and I go about posting it etc.
i need more pictures, and I've also decided to delay posts regarding recipes until the tasting, so at that point there will be a Recipe post, with tasting notes, and anything else interesting. I'll attempt to keep things interesting, to talk about the main things rearding brewing; hops, yeast water, and malt. so there may be some lag time between posts, but I will be making a concerted effort to post and make it interesting. (Pictures are interesting right?)

onto my update, I took a taste of my SJPORR Challange 2014 beer tonight, very promising, still slightly undercarbed, so I'm assuming it will get a little better in the next 2 weeks or so. The Whickey/Borubon flavour is prominent, with a slight oak vanilla type flavour in the background. My only issue is a lack of body/malt flavour. But I will post a proper review when its ready to go. Bottled 24x 500ml and 24x 330ml bottles, so plenty of bottles to ensure enoguh for the challenge.
Looking through the website, theres a good range of beers, and the 'Muricans have started their reviews. I won't give too much away at this point.

Next I brewed a 100% Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois (WLP644), which as I mentioned above, once completed a recipe along with tasting (I brewed up a storm with Oli, who has a 40litre system). All I'll say is it's promising, as 100%Primary Brett fermentation, have a tendancy to behavethe same way as a normal Sacc Yeast. In the down time between this post and the Official tasting (It's still in the fermenter) If I'm not too slack I'll make some comments regardign Brett yeast and some links to other blogs or websites, who have a pretty good description.

lastly, I'll be revisiting some recipes, as the wedding is 18 months away I feel I should try to nail down some proper recipes for it, and get to a point where me and Pip are happy with the beer.
All I know is there will be 4 styles of beer brewed, these are just basic guidelines at this stage, as I'm yet to really nail a good recipe.
1- Barleywine. I'll plan to put a bottle on each table, as it has the name wine in it, i figured, those who don't fancy a white or red wine, can have a beer, with the same contact as wine.
2- A darker Beer, suitable for the Handpull Beer engine. this is for my father, the brew guys, and of course any english family who come along.
3- A nice hoppy IPA. Enough Said.
and finally
4- this is an open category, I've been told something light and easy to drink. some of the stuff i've already brewed are: Blonde ale, Belgian Pale Ale. some other options I though of were a Cali Common, american Wheat, Pilsner (this make some sense, due to the time frame involved in making a pils. although it wouldn't be easy to brew 2 kegs of the stuff, because of the fermenting process)

anyways that enough rambling frome me. cathc you next time

Oh, I'll also be posting reviews on my blog of the SJ PORR Beers, for those who've entered.