Happy Festivus

First a grievance then we'll move on to the the feats of (alcohol) strength...

My grievance: seasonal creep. I don't want to see Christmas displays in the summer (looking at you Hobby Lobby) and I really don't need to hear Christmas music until late December. What I really don't want is a Spring seasonal beer when it's still freezing outside. Apparently Boulevard has already released it's Irish Ale, which is billed as their Spring seasonal. I like the beer just fine, but come on, Christmas isn't even past yet and Winter is just getting started. Maybe you should call that your Winter seasonal or, you know, release it in the Spring. Moving on.

Last year's Festivus Ale was mostly a success. The only negative feedback I received was that the alcohol was a little strong ("it's like beer flavored vodka" Ouch!). So this year I tried to make it a little lighter (only 8.5%) and I brewed it earlier in the year so it would have a little more time to mellow. I also used less cane sugar this year which should help reduce the booziness. I really didn't want to use any cane sugar but my mash efficiency was so low I had to add some to get the gravity up. Next year I might try adding more caramel malt and or mashing a little higher to give it some more body and a slightly higher final gravity.

The beer pours a hazy, rich chestnut with a wispy tan foam. Aroma reminds me of figs and caramelized apples. A burst of noble hops from the Hallertauer and a hint of peppery esters. Flavor starts off with a slight sweetness that fades to a grainy cracker with herbal and pepper notes. Finish is slightly tart, like a granny smith apple, and dry. Mouth feel smooth and medium bodied with just enough carbonation.

Recipe:

Expected OG: 1.070

Actual OG: 1.066

Expected FG: 1.004

Actual FG: 1.001

IBU: 35

Boil: 130 minutes

Pre-boil Volume: 7 gallons

Final Volume: 5 gallons

Apparent Attenuation: 98%

ABV: 8.5%

Grains/Sugar:

10 lbs. Pilsner (Rahr)

2 lbs. 10 oz. Munich (Weyermann)

12 oz. CaraMunich III (Weyermann)

8 oz. Cane Sugar

2 oz. Debittered Black Malt (Castle)

Hops:

2.0 oz. Hallertauer (pellet 3.8% AA) @ 115 min.

1.0 oz. Hallertauer (pellet 3.8% AA) @ 5 min.

1.0 oz. Hallertauer (pellet 3.8% AA) @ Flame out

Yeast:

Wyeast 3711 French Saison

Water:

Spring water from Welpman Spring in Morgan County, MO

Mash:

75 min @ 149˚ (19 qt. @ 164˚)

Sparge

20 min @ 165˚ (16 qt. @ 185˚)

Sparge

Hopefully I have about 7 gallons of sweet wort.

Notes:

Brewed on 5/7/10 by myself.

5/7/ - Mash went fairly well. Was a little low at first, so I added about 1 ½ cups of boiling water to get it up over 150˚. I collected 7 gallons of wort. Had to boil a lot longer than I thought, my 75 minute hop addition turned into a 115 minutes. Missed my OG by a bit, added 8 oz. of table sugar to help make up the difference. Pitched yeast slurry around 8pm at around 70˚.

5/8 – Fermentation took off strong. Temp got up around 76˚.

6/10 – Bottling day. 4.8 gallons, 76˚, 2.5 volumes = 4.2 oz table sugar. 11 x 12oz. + 20 x 22oz. + 1 x 16oz. = 4.6 gallons.

6/29/10 – First sample bottle, aroma is real nice, spice from the hallertauer, some breadiness, a bit of light fruitiness from the yeast. Carbonation is about right, smooth and velvety in the mouth. A little rough around the edges, the alcohol is there but not harsh, spicy. Doesn't feel as dry as it is. Finish is crisp, herbal, spice.

Festivus Ale

I decided a while back that I wanted to make a big Christmas beer to hand out to friends and family during the holidays, I just wasn't sure what style I wanted to brew. At first I considered brewing up one of those ambiguous “winter warmers” that almost every craft brewer seems to put out this time of year, then I remembered that I don't even really like very many of them. Then I read about this french saison yeast the Wyeast had released as part of their “Private Collection” special release program. It's a french saison yeast, rumored to be from Brasserie Thiriez, that doesn't need ridiculously high fermentation temperatures like their regular saison yeast. Bingo, I quickly decided, after consulting Farmhouse Ales, that the beer I would brew would be a Bier de Noel, basically a dark, high gravity saison. The recipe was based off the info in the book.

Most of the bottles are still in my cellar waiting for me to design a label and get them ready for Christmas, but I did crack one open the other night to see what I had made. I have to say it turned out to be real good, maybe my best beer to date.

The aroma has a weird peppery flavor from the yeast mixed with a caramel/nutty malt note, hard to describe but I liked it. Alcohol is nicely integrated but very noticeable. Mouth feel is silky smooth with a little more body than you would expect from a beer this dry. It even has pretty good head retention. Should be even better after another month or so in the cellar. I might even save a few of the 12 ounce bottles for a competition.

Recipe:
Expected OG: 1.074
Actual OG: 1.077
Expected FG: 1.010
Actual FG: 1.004
IBU: 24-27
Boil: 60 minutes
Pre-boil Volume: 5.5 – 6 gallons
Final Volume: 5 gallons
Apparent Attenuation: 94% (!!)
ABV: 9.6%

Extract/Sugar:
Briess Pilsner DME 4.5 lbs.
Cane Sugar 1.5 lbs.

Partial Mash Grains:
Weyermann Light Munich 3.5 lbs.
Weyermann Cara Munich III 12 oz.
Castle De-Bittered Black 2 oz.

Hops:
Brewers Gold 8.0%, 60 min 1.0 oz.
Vanguard 4.4%, 15 min. 0.25 oz.
Vanguard 4.4%, 0 min. 0.25 oz.

Yeast:
Wyeast 3711 French Saison 1.5 qt starter

Water:
Spring water from Welpman Spring in Morgan County, MO

Partial Mash (stove top method): In a 8 qt. stock pot, heat 5.5 quarts of water to 165˚, meanwhile pre-heat another 8qt pot in oven (set to warm) add grain bag and grains to preheated pot, then slowly add water. Mash temp should be about 150˚. Move pot to preheated oven for 60 minutes.

After about 30 minutes, heat 6 quarts of water to about 170˚. When mash is done, pull out the grain bag and let it drain for a few minutes. Add bag to heated water stir and let sit for 20 minutes to rinse out any remaining sugars. Should end up with around 9+ quarts of wort.

Add 3.25 gallons water and wort to brew kettle (for a total of around 5.5 gal.), add DME and stir, heat to a boil, add hops at intervals above. At about 15 min. add a 1 tsp of Irish Moss to help with clarity, at about 5 min. left add sugar. After boil is finished let sit for about 20 min. to aid in hop flavor.

Chill wort to about 80˚ or so, transfer to carboy, aerate, take gravity, pitch decanted yeast starter.

Notes:
Brewed on 08/12/2009 by myself.

8/11 /12:30pm - 5oz DME + 1.5 qt water = starter

8/13/12:30am – OG is a little low, yet again, added 8oz of sugar boiled in 2 cups of water. Working backwards in Beer Calculus, I'm figuring that my mash efficiency is about 68%. I also need to use less sparge water since the grain is already saturated.

8/13/1:30am – pitched starter at about 75˚ with a temp corrected OG of 1.077. I put the BB in a tub of cold water and by 2:20am the temp was down to 70˚. I want the fermentation to start out low then I'll take it out and let it rise naturally.

8/13/11:30am – Fermentation has started, about a 1 ½ inches of Krauesen. Temp is around 70˚, replaced ice bottles. I think I'll let the temp ramp up a little from here.

8/18 – Temp has been holding around 72-74˚ the last few days. Moving into office (where temps can get up to 77˚ for some reason) for a while to make sure it finishes.

9/16/09 – Bottled eight 12oz., eighteen 22oz., and two 24oz. Bottles with roughly 16oz left over that went into a 24oz bottle. Total of about 4.3 gallons. Primed with 3.6oz. of corn sugar @ about 72˚ for about 2.3 volumes of CO2.

Robot Pale Ale - Baptism Batch

My second batch of Belgian Pale Ale was brewed for my son's baptism reception. This was my first partial-mash and my first time making a yeast starter. I also changed just about everything from the original recipe, bad idea. The beer turned out okay and everybody liked it or at least pretended to but I thought the first batch was a little better.

I tasted it side-by-side with my first batch. Here are my notes:

• The partial-mash came out a little low on my mash efficiency and I had to add some sugar to get the gravity up.
• The color is about the same as last time but a bit clearer – better cold break or more floc from the yeast?
• A lower final gravity that gave the beer the dryness I was looking for.
• I think the biscuit malt was a little too pronounced there is a grainy, biscuity flavor that is a little off. I'll definitely go back to the specialty grain amounts I used in the first batch.
• I'm not sure which yeast I like more, the first seems a little fruitier and the second I'm not sure about, not as fruity maybe a little peppery, masked by all the biscuit.

Recipe and Notes:

Expected Original Gravity: 1.053
Actual OG: 1.051
Expected Final Gravity: 1.014
Actual FG: 1.009
IBU: 20
Boil: 60 minutes
Boil Volume: 5 gallons
Final Volume: 5 gallons
Apparent Attenuation: 82%
ABV: 5.5%

Extract:
Briess Pilsner DME 2 lbs. 12.5 oz.
Corn Sugar 1.5 lbs.

Partial Mash Grains:
Briess Pilsner 3 lbs.
CaraMunich 8 oz.
Biscuit 8 oz.

Hops:
Vanguard (pellets) 4.4%, 60 min. 1.5 oz.
Halertau (pellets) 3.8%, 1 min. 1.0 oz.

Yeast:
Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes (Achouffe) - slurry from a 1 qt. starter.

Water:
Spring water from Welpman Spring in Morgan County, MO.

Notes:
Brewed on 06/17/2009 by myself.

Partial Mash (stove top method): In a 8 qt. stock pot, heat 5 quarts of water to 164˚, add grain bag. Mash temp should be about 153˚. Move pot to preheated cooler for 60 minutes (using heated towels).

After about 30 minutes, heat 2 gallons of water to about 170˚. When mash is done, pull out the grain bag and let it drain for a few minutes. Add bag to heated water for 10 minutes to rinse out any remaining sugars.

Add extract and 7 quarts of water. Heat to a boil.

Boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops at the intervals listed above. At about 5 min. add the sugar and the chiller to sanitize it.

Chill wort to about 76˚, transfer to carboy, add water to 5 gallons, aerate, pitch yeast slurry.

6/16 – Made a yeast starter using about a quart of wort (3.5 oz DME) in a growler.

6/17 – My gravity was about 8 points low so I boiled up another ½ pound of sugar in 2 cups of water and added that so my total sugar addition was 1.5 lbs instead of the pound I had planned. I must have had a low efficiency on my partial mash

6/17 – Pitched yeast at about 73˚

6/18/10am – Fermentation is very active with about a 2 – 3 inch kraeusen, ferm temp = 72˚

6/19/11am – Fermentation still pretty active, looks like it's just past peak. Kraeusen is beginning to fall a bit.

6/24 – temp has been in the 72˚ – 73˚ range the past few days – man is it hot outside. Kraeusen is long gone, conditioning now.

7/12 – Bottled 48 12oz bottles, one 750ml bottle and a 330ml bottle. Used 3.8oz of corn sugar for about 2.2 volumes of CO2.

8/1 – Everybody seemed to like the beer, my mom had two! I think next time I want to keep the Biscuit at 4 – 6 oz, 8 seems like a bit much to me. Also might want to cut the sugar down to ½ a pound.

Robot Pale Ale

As some of you may know, I'm a proud new Father of a baby boy and as a homebrewer I decided it would be apropriate to give out bottles of homebrew instead of the traditional cigar (or cigar shaped gum, if that's your thing). For the style I chose to go with something that would have a fairly wide appeal and be drinkable, instead of a big beer that would age well. I also wanted it to have an interesting flavor profile. I settled on Belgian Pale Ale, I figured the flavors from a Belgian yeast would make a nice tasty brew that most would enjoy.

The color is a nice hazy copper/amber color, about what I wanted, Aroma has a classic Belgian yeast aroma, slightly fruity with an underlying bready sweetness. The flavor is similar with a little caramel sweetness up front followed by some dried fruit flavors and a little hint of spice. A nice overall Belgian character. Not overly complex or deep. Body is about medium and could use a little more dryness and carbonation.

Overall: I think the beer came out pretty tasty and went over well with friends and family. On the next batch (Baptism Robot Ale) I'm going to try for a lower FG and a little more carbonation. It'll also be my first partial-mash brew.

Recipe & Notes:
Original Gravity: 1.062
Final Gravity: 1.016
IBU: 22-25
Boil: 60 minutes
Pre-boil Volume: 4.5 gallons
Final Volume: 5.5 gallons
Apparent Attenuation = 73%
ABV = 6.0%

Extract:
Muttons Extra Light DME 6.0 lbs.
Corn Sugar 1.0 lbs.

Steeping Grains:
CaraMunich 12 oz.
Biscuit 4 oz.

Hops:
East Kent Golding 5.4%, 60 min. 1.5 oz.
East Kent Golding 5.4%, 1 min. 0.5 oz.

Yeast:
Wyeast 3864-PC Canadian/Belgian Ale (Unibroue), 1 smack pack

Water:
Spring water from Welpman Spring in Morgan County, MO

Notes:
Brewed on 04/19/2009 by myself.

Steep grains for 30 min. at 150˚ in one gallon of water. While the grains are steeping heat 3.5 gallons of water up to about 170˚ in the boil kettle. When the steep is finished take the bag out and dunk it around in the boil water for about 5 minutes.

Add the steep water and 3 pounds of extract, turn heat up. Boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops (all pellets) at the intervals listed above. At 5 min. add the rest of the extract, the sugar, and the chiller to sanitize it.

Chill wort to about 80˚, transfer to carboy, add water to 5.5 gallons, aerate, pitch yeast.

4/19/2:00pm – Pitched yeast at about 74˚.

4/20/9:20am – Kraeusen is already near the neck of the bottle. Temp is around 66˚ or so.

4/21/12:50pm – Kraeusen has fallen a bit, but fermentation still looks active.

5/16 – bottled 48 - 12 oz. bottles and 1 330ml bottle.

1554 Enlightened Black Ale

Today we'll take a look at one of my wife's favorite beers, New Belgium's 1554 Enlightened Black Ale. This ale, weighing in at 5.6% ABV, is the recreation of a long lost recipe that was found in a library in Belgium and then recreated using modern brewing techniques.

Dark brown almost black ale with a ruby glow when held to the light. A thick beige colored head that settles into a light film on the surface and some lacing on the sides. The aromas start of with roasted malts and cocoa that are followed by some fruit, dark cherry and figs.

Flavor starts of with a creamy coffee note mixed in with some fruitiness and a touch of caramely sweetness. Some spice and earth notes from the hops make a quick appearance in the middle. The mouth feel is rich and velvety smooth. Finish is slightly dry with a lingering chocolate-like bitterness. Pretty complex mix of flavors, kind of like mixing a belgian dubble with a porter, very interesting and enjoyable. Don't hesitate to pick this one up and give it a try.

Trappistes Rochefort 8

Today we'll take a quick look at another great beer from the fine monks at Brasserie de Rochefort. Last time we looked at a young and amazing Rochefort 10, now its a Rochefort 8 that is over two years old.

The ale pours a beautiful deep mahogany color with a wispy tan head. The nose has a sweet banana and gingerbread-like malt aroma with a little anise mixed in. The flavor starts out earthier with some malty sweetness in the background. The mouth feel is a little light, but still rich, with plenty of carbonation and finishes with a light alcohol sting and a touch of anise.

Overall a very fine beer, I think I would like it more if it was younger – remember to subtract five years from the best-by date on all Rochefort beers to find the bottled on date. The body is not a rich as the 10 and, due partially to age, the aromas and flavors are not as strong as they could be.

Trappistes Rochefort 10

Today we'll take a look at Trappistes Rochefort 10, one of the top rated beers in the world. Both Beeradvocate.com and RateBeer.com have it rated in their top 10. I picked up my sample at the Lucas Liquor Superstore in Kansas City, MO. You can also find Rochefort at liquor stores on the Kansas side of the border. Wherever you happen to find it be sure to grab it right away as they never seem to stay on the shelves for very long.

Brewed by monks at the Brasserie de Rochefort which is part of the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy, 10 is a Belgian Quadruple Ale of the highest caliber. The abbey brews three different beers, 6, 8, and 10. All follow the same basic recipe the only difference is the strength of the beer with 10 being the strongest. I probably should have started with the 8, I have one in the fridge, and worked up form there. Oh well, I'll be different and start at the top and work down.

The bottle has a best-by date of August 29th, 2012 and according to this site it was bottled five years prior. That makes my sample about six and a half months old.

The beer pours a dark mahogany color with a huge light brown head that leaves all kinds of lacing on the sides of my chalice. The aroma is very inviting with notes of caramel, figs, ripe bananas, clove, and a touch of coriander. A really delicious and complex smelling beer.


The taste follows the aromas and adds a little bread-like flavor. Right now I'm imagining figs and bananas that have been dipped in caramel and sprinkled with clove. The finish has a cocoa dryness to it with a little bit of spice mixed in. Mouth feel is a little light which is probably due to the above average carbonation. I'm very impressed that the alcohol is barely noticed at any point, just a slow warming effect, pretty good for a 11.3% ABV brew.


I was really impressed with the great aromas and flavors of this beer. This is definitely one of the better beers I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. I'm really glad I bought all four bottles I saw at the store. I understand now why I rarely see these little bottles in the stores and why I'll be buying more of these in the future, and I recommend you do the same.