Farmhouse Imperial Stout

I originally had plans for an imperial stout with brettanomyces much like The Mad Fermentationist Courage Imperial Stout, which historically, had brettanomyces involved in the fermentation, probably from the barrels. Either way, check out  this Post.

So, I had the inclination to brew a big Imperial Stout, but I wanted to use brettanomyces. Bingo! I had harvested some WLP670 recently, from a batch of Hoppy Farmhouse Ale I've appropriately named Lemon-Face, due to the Sorachi Ace Hops. So I figured why not, and scoured the internet, looking for anyone or anything who'd done it before, when I came across Jester King Black Metal.

The Jester King beer is considered a Farmhouse Imperial Stout. It looks like they use some brettanomyces as well, this can also be funked up to crate Funk Metal.

so anyways, I had found my inspiration, I had some harvested yeast, and some malt I had ordered previously. What the Heck Right?!

From what else I had read, the Saison yeast, would be somewhat lost behind rich aromas of an Imperial stout, but there would be some funk and phenols around it, to essentially round it out. With the added brettanomyces already inside WLP670, some additional funk should come about of a period of time.

So without further delay - a Recipe:

FEAR OF THE DARK_Farmhouse Imperial Stout

Batch Size: 18 Litres

Estimated OG: 1.085

IBU: 43.2

EBC: 94.1

Efficiency: 67%

Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain:
     6.4kg Pale Ale Malt
     0.45kg Amber
     0.15 Shephards Delight
     0.15kg Caramunich II
     0.4kg Pale Chocolate

     0.15kg Roasted Wheat: Cold Steeped
     0.4kg Carafa II: Cold Steeped

Hops:
     30g Pacific Jade @ 60 Minutes
     50g East Kent Goldings @ 5 Minutes

Yeast: 
     WLP 670 Slurry (200 ml thick)

Mash Schedule: Mash at 67 Degrees C for 60 minutes.

Brewing Notes: 

     6 Feb 2016 - 1.5 Litres of Cold Tap Water added to Insulated flask, dissolved half tsp of Calcium carbonate to this. and mixed with 0.4kg Carafa II & 0.15kg Roasted Wheat for 24 Hours cold Steep

     7 Feb 2016 - Brewed on the Grainfather. Mashed in with 24 litres of water, and sparged with 6 litres of water. Missed the amber malt in the recipe, as it had been bagged separately. Removed 1-1.5 litres of mash water (the mash had been removsed and sparging had begun) and stirred in the amber malt for a 15 min mini mash. poured back to the Grainfather through a sieve. No other salts added to mash  or boil.

 OG: 1.081 4 Points shy of target.
Pitched 200ml of fresh thick slurry, harvested from Hoppy Saison.

24 Hours later - signs of fermentation

     13 Feb 2016 - increased Temp to 21 degrees. and two days later 21.5 degrees to ensure Saison yeast is completed.

     7 April 2016 - Small Taste from Primary.  no hot alcohol at this stage, some yeast character, and plenty of thick malty stout type character. No presence of Brett noted.

     4 May 2016 - FG 1.010!!!!!!!!! Over attenuated, but tasting good, some booze.

     14 May 2016 - Bottled to 2.0 Volumes (75g priming sugar) Final Volume: 16.5Litres

     17 July 2016 - First Tasting (See Below) - WOW! 5 Months from Brewing to the first taste test.....

     Aroma - Some Funk, plenty of Malt Background, notes of dusty cocoa and biscuity malt.

     Appearance - Black as night, with beige/brown head. Carbonation, is nic and low, perfect for style. some lacing despite, being higher in alcohol

     Flavour - Funky Farmhouse notes, but restrained. Booze is prevalent, but hopefully should dissipate with time.  Some small amount of tartness as well to round it off.

     Mouthfeel - Good mouthfeel, the lower carbonation, works well with thestyle, and keeps the booziness in check. Probably a tad thin, but that'll be the low FG.

     Overall - Overall a nice beer, and should only improve over time, I'll post more notes another time, but I'm impressed, it does work as a style, just be sure to keep the esters and phenols in check.
Next time, Id mash higher maybe 69Deg C, and probably, add some extra crystal malts.

Mangrove Jacks - M21 Belgian Wit

I've been struggling with what I should brew recently. With the weddijng over, and a raft of left overs hops to use. I decided to re-visit one of the Wedding recipes..... but which one?

I decided, that as I wasn't a massive fan of the beer (Read: Boring), i decided it was a good idea to re-visit this particular recipe.
The Blonde/Golden Ale, which funnily enough was probably the most popular beer on the day.

But given the word I used above (Boring), I wanted to put a little bit of a spin on  the beer, without going crazy with it.

so I decided to changethe flameout hops, and use a slightly different yeast. See as follows:

This is a New Yeast from Mangrove Jacks.     M21 - Belgian Wit

A traditional top-fermenting yeast that has a good balance between fruity esters and warming spice phenolics. The yeast will leave some sweetness and will drop bright if left long enough.Suitable for Witbier, Grand Cru, Spiced Ales and other specialty beers.Attenuation: HighFlocculation: LowUsage Directions: Sprinkle directly on up to 23 L (6 US Gal) of wort. For best results, ferment at 18-25 degrees C (64-77 degrees F).
I had thought of usingthe new M47Belgian Abbaye Yeast from the same guys, but decided, that as no one had a ctually tried it locally. I'd give it a shot. Ther were nearly no reviews on this yeas through the net, so I have no idea really what to expect. Although the descriptors suggest it'd go quite well with some moderate hopping.

So lets give the masses what they want----- A Review on this new strain of Dry Yeast. All Be it not really true to style for what alot of people expect. Butthats just not how I Roll.

M41 Hoppy Wit

Batch Size: 21 LitresEstimated OG: 1.054IBU: 20.8

EBC: 8.4EBC

Efficiency: 74%

Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain:
     Pilsner 4KG
     Wheat 0.6KG
     Aurora 0.1KG
     Gladiator 0.2KG
     Sour Grapes Malt 0.2kg

Hops:
     Kohatu 20g @ 30 min
     Riwaka 21g @ 10 min     -     26g @5 min
     Nelson Sauvin 35g @0 min

Yeast: 
     1x Pack M41 - Belgian Wit (Rehydrated in 100ml of Water)

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion Mash 66 Deg C - 17.5 Litres
Mash out 76 Deg C
Sparge - 14.5 Litres @ 76 Deg C

Brewing Notes: 
16 April 2016 - OG: 1.051 Suspect too Much Sparge Water by maybe 500ml
Shake 30 seconds to aerate, and pitch yeast.
Ferment - 19 Deg C

19 April 2016 - Krausen falling, signs of fermentation slowing

20April 2016 - Raise temp to 21 Deg C to finish fermentation.
Decided against dryhopping with the remaing Nelson Sauvin, to get a better idea of what the yeast will contribute. (Plus I've been busy all week organising the CHBA Club Launch)

28 April 2016 - Cold Crashed to 1.5 Deg C

30 April 2016 - FG 1.014 (4.7% ABV) Kegged . No Gelatin this time round (all my beers receive gelatin). and put under pressure in the TARDIS.

Fermentation: Took off pretty quickly, I had signs of positive pressure in 12hours, and a solid krausen at 24 hours. Due to the lower gravity, the fermentation seemed to finish around the time I raised my temp to 21 (Krausen was mostly gone). The FG was a little high, so either it doesn't attenuate as much as I thought, or the yeast simply got a bit lazy.
I think the latter is probably slightly more true, with specialty malts as well (Not overly common in this style of beer) may have contributed a touch, but definitely not where it sits.
Just FYI - Treat this yeast with care, to makes sure it attenuates fully, so run your Temp increase a day earlier than you plan to.

Appearance: Hazy light straw colour,  fluffy white head, with nice tight bubbles

Aroma: Banana and clove, with plenty of belgian spice. some Wheaty sweetness. Very much Belgian Wit. with a touch of hefeweizen

Flavour: Little to no hop character, bitterness is spot on. Typical Wheat/Wit type flavour, wheat cracker flavour/sweetness, and plenty of banana & Clove / spices.
Yeast is definiely at thefront of the flavour, very drinkable.

Overall: I quite like the yeast in general, and probably deserves more time to play around. Definitely what I would call a wit yeast, some definite clove/banana notes, but not as in your face as something like a full on wheat beer yeast.
For me this didn't attenuate where I was hoping it would, but I'll put that down to me, ratherthan anything else. 
Alot of my beers recently, have attenuated fast and aggressively, they've then dropped out either pre-maturely (insert dirty joke here) or missed the D-Rest time.

Next time I make this beer, I will dryhop and dry the beer out slightly more by removing the Gladiator/carapils, and the Melanoidin, and turn it into much more of a Wit type recipe, but with plenty of hops.

All in all, I'd recommend this yeast, and I will definitely play around further with it.

Until next time.
ROB

Lets Get Married - A guide to Brewing Enough Beer for your Special Day!

Marriage: It's such a special day in your lives and you want to share it with your family and friends, right?
So, personal touches are really great, and as a home-brewer what better touch to give, than personalised beer for your very own nuptials.

So, when I made the questionable decision to embark on this massive task. (and it was just that) I wanted to find another brewer who had done something like this previously, but I came up with only a small amount of information.
Some minor tid-bits on homebrewtalk.com and some good information from Scott @ bertusbrewery.com

So, here are a few tips for someone who is keen to make their special day even tastier, and more intimate.

THE VENUE:
Will the venue chosen serve your beer? 
If you anything like us, we had it at the Family Farm, so liquor licensing and serving issues were not an issue. The place must be ok with serving your delicious hand-crafted beverage, but bear in mind that some places won't; or will at least be wary of doing so.
Because, lets be honest if they won't do it, there is whole lot of fresh beer, which will probably take you some time to get through, unless you have a big party afterwards.

ORDER OF EVENTS/SERVING AREAS:
So for us, we organised a shaded area which we called "The Beer Garden" and of course the area where dinner was served, which had a bar etc.
Ensure you set these out accordingly, and allow space for your kegerator or serving apparatus. To make life easier, I would suggest that using a kegerator system or preferably two, to make it easier.

ALCOHOL VOLUME (ABV%):
To make sure your guests make it through the night, and their heads aren't too dodgy the next morning. Keep your alcohol volume lower, even though you could serve up some mighty fine IPA at 7%abv, but after a couple of pints it can take its toll.
For example My highest abv beer, was 5.2%.

BEER STYLES: 
Choose your beer styles carefully, having 5 Pale Ales and IPA's is all well and good, but you need to try and cater somewhat to your guests tastes. Something light, crisp and drinkable for those non-craft beer drinkers, something malty for those who enjoy the darker styles, generally the older generation of people.
It's all up to you, you want to showcase what your capable of, so why not show why you brew your own. 

TEST & EXPERIMENT:
Make trial batches, test and refine these beers, it is sooooo important to make sure your consistent with your recipes, and refine to where you believe it needs to be.
Enter the beers in local Home brew competitions, and let friends taste and evaluate your beer for feedback. If you win medals etc. it is just a bonus, and you can boast (like I did) about the beers receiving medals.

BACK TO SERVING:
Vary the serving techniques. I was able to get hold of an English style Hand pump/Beer engine from a friend, so I bagged a nice English Brown Ale, which has received a Bronze medal in competition. It a fun novelty idea to have your friends and family pullingtheir own pint in such a traditional way.

AMOUNT TO BREW:
This is where things get tricky. For me we had planned for 100 guests, and with two separate serving areas, the decision was made to make 3 5gal/20lit kegs for each area, with a 4th in a hand pump bag, in the "Beer Garden" I had approx 10-15 litres left over at the end of it all, so it was popular enough for people to drink most of it.
I did also make an additional 5 gal/20lit batch of the brown ale, and kegged, then bottled it all. Which did not get touched. (this was an added safety net to ensure we had enough grog)
So all I can say is assess the type of people who are coming, and take into account the season. If its spring / summer, lighter crisper styles are good and more of these will be needed. If you decide an autumn or winter wedding is what you want, people may choose red wine over beer, or consider brewing darker styles of beer to suit the climate.

SEDIMENT & CLARITY:
This one is off the beaten track a bit, as a number of home brewers aren't overly bothered with beer clarity etc. But it is something to think about. Like I said, cater for your guests, those people who drink the Budweiser, Speights or Tui's of the world like to see a nice clear beer. and lets be honest, who doesn't enjopy looking at a nice bright ale, or lager.
If you are serving from a keg, consider using fining agents like Gelatin. If you do, then to eliminate the crap at the bottom that settles, is after 1-2 weeks in the keg use a CO2 transfer from keg to keg to reduce sediment in the next keg. when you transfer under pressure, any risk of oxidation is minimal, leaving you with bright freshly flavored beer with a low risk of pouring something that looks like it came from a 3rd world country. (no offence)

GLASSWARE:
This is simple, but still very important. Beer needs to be served in a nice glass, especially when you are serving at a wedding. By all means you can use Bottle and let people drink from them. The problem with this is you don't get the aroma or look of the beer fro mthe bottle. Normally your caterer or venue will provide a glass. If possible don't use pint glasses, a goblet or pilsner type glass is a great idea.

SETUP TIME:
Allow plenty of time to transport your kegs, kegerator, or anything else you plan to serve from. I used power, so if you plan to power your kegerator, make sure your prepared for that.
Kegs will need time to settle, as the yeast sediment moves around during transport. (even if you transfer from keg to keg, a small amount of sediment may remain)

HAVE FUN WITH IT:
Here is the most important Point, just enjoy yourself. Enjoy the brewing process, but most importantly, enjoy your wedding day, it is a (Hopefully) once in a lifetime thing, so enjoy it, and brew/drink the good beer you brew.

I hope this gives you an insight and better idea of how to go about it.
cheers for reading,
Until next time.

ROB

THE CRUSADE CONTINUES

Hi Everyone,

In my time off I: 

- Got Married

- Built a TARDIS Kegerator

- Bought a Grain-Father Brewing System

- Brewed lots of Beer

- Drank Beer

- Emptied and re-filled Barrels

- Went to Festivals

- Won brewing medals (x 2)

So Plenty has happened, I've re-evaluated my priorities, and found that I was spending too much time trying to actually write about brewing and beer, instead of just enjoying the hobby, and so on.

So, what I decided to do with this blog is turn it into more of a niche. (I'm struggling to find words to describe how I'll run it. 

But essentially, I'll post the odd article and write some stuff, but not really try to find something to write about, as previously done.

So the only stuff you'll find here is actual interesting bits and pieces from brewing I think NEED to be talked about, rather than this is a beer I made today, this is how I think it tastes etc. I'll still probably do that for some of the more interesting beers I make, but they'll be more about the experiments etc.

SO, I'm mid post about writing up about getting married.......

Yep, MARRIAGE. But don't worry, it's very much Beer related.

So, the TARDIS.......

I'm not writing about it, but see the link below to see how it was made etc.

It worked well, and it was a great feature point of the Beer Garden.

I Built my Own Tardis Kegorator - Homebrewtalk

So, thats all for now.

See you next time.

I'm coming back.....

After a long absence, I've decided to do some writing.

Stay tuned I'll be around soon.

Come see me around March time....

Short, but Sweet!

Hi Everyone, I know I've been pretty slack with reviews and posts for awhile. but hey, that's what happens when life gets in the way.

So, I write this post to let everyone know (Those who do actually read this), that I will not be posting anything further on the blog, I may in future decide to write some more at some stage, and so I will leave the blog open and available for anyone to look at and get ideas from.

But thanks for reading, and being a part of this. I will still brew beer, and share it around, but I just can't find the time to actually sit down and write these big extended posts.

So, read and look at those blogs I regularly read and keep on Brewing.

Cheers Everyone...... ROB.

Fresh New Zealand Hops

Yes, Thats right Fresh hops, as in pulled off the vine, nice and sticky to touch, smells like freedom Green, fresh hops.

Brewed up a storm awhiel back, brewing a brown ale with fresh Nelson Sauvion hops, for a gcompetition in Wellington. I did it in collaboration with Finney this time, kegged and conditioned.

I'll giveyou the run down of the recipe and the subsequent notes from the competition.

FRESH HOPS BROWN ALE
Malt-
4.8kg Pale Malt (Gladfields)
0.45kg Wheat (Gladfields)
0.3kg Medium Crystal (Gladfields)
0.26kg Pale Chocolate (Gladfields)
0.2kg Redback (Gladfields)

Hops-
15g Pacific Jade (Pellets) @ 60
100g Southern Cross @ 20 (Freshly picked by Finney)
250g Nelson Sauvin @ 10 (Fresh Hops from Brewtopia.net.nz)
500g Nelson Sauvin @ 0 (Fresh Hops from Brewtopia.net.nz)

Yeast: US-05

Brewed on the Grainfather, and boy, what a great system that is. easy to use, fast and efficient. The efficiency sucked, as We sparged too much with 75 degree water, by about 2-3 litres. So ended up at 1.054 instead of 1.060, which may have made a difference. but never mind.
Furthermore due to the over sparge, we ended up at 1.010, I assume this is because of the much thinner final runnings and less sugar to get rid of.

Onto the notes, sorry no pictures again. This is the feedback from the judges in Wellington, all of which were Professional Brewers in some capacity.

19.5 out of 40. The notes I have are - "Interesting herbal character, coffee and minty / menthol, astringent but goodish flavour, needs more hops."

Primary1(Plastic): Fallen Soldier Oatmeal Stout

Primary2(Plastic): {Nothing}

Primary3(Bretts/Sours): {Nothing}

10 Litre PET Carboy #1: {Nothing}

Sour#1(Wide Mouth Glass): Guts & Glory Flanders Red

Sour#2 (PET Carboy): Gracy and Glory Sour Blonde
Barrel: Hail Caesar Oud Bruin Ale
Bottled: Chch Homebrew Club Barleywine / Braggot Ale / Secret Crusade American Stout / Night Crawler Imperial Stout

Keg1: Fresh Hop Nelson Brown
Keg2: Bad Wolf Belgian IPA III (550)
Keg3: Silent Guardian Red IPA (Panhead Vindicator Variation)
Next Beer to Brew: Original Sin II