Citroen in primary

Citroen brewed last night. Simple recipe pitched on top of existing yeast cakes from last batch.

Stuff is taking way too long and driving me crazy. Boil time seemed forever. I bailed on cooling and pitched at around 100F, hoping the cellar would further cool the wort. I think this was a bad idea but it was after midnight and my "helper" was retiring for the evening.

Brew from Belgium

Finally got my setup for the new "brew house" mostly complete. Brewed yesterday: a simple variant on Pining for Pliny. This was of course not without challenges.

First, I forgot to order DME from the brewstore, and the yeasts I purchased were both propagators -- meaning not enough cells for a real batch. I tried making an all grain starter but it was impossible: the cooler could not keep such a small volume of water warm. In the end I decided on an approach that turned out even better. I decided to brew a normal sized batch (~3G) and split into two fermenters and pitch the different yeasts on each one. This has the advantage of keeping the volume to a reasonable amount for the yeast w/o starter, plus I get to learn the differences between the yeasts!

Second, no barley mill. Rolling pins do not provide a consistent crush and are labor intensive. I used a coffee grinder and achieved reasonable though not ideal results.

I learned about my setup today. My kettle and stove will take over an hour to bring 3.5G of wort to a boil. That kind of sucks but now I can plan.

Comin' back at ya!

This blog is not dead ... it was merely going through a prolonged conditioning phase. I've had a few things happening over the last several months: graduating, starting a new job, and moving to Belgium. Of these, only the last may have a nontrivial influence on my brewing. Case in point, my next project:

I've got a few ideas bouncing around. We have both technical and recipe matters at hand. Regarding the former: as I have moved temporarily (2 years) to Belgium, I'm trying to maintain my brewing without necessarily spending a lot on equipment, as equipment is generally impractical to move to the US. I'm trying to use my experience with brewing to identify areas where corners can be cut.

First of all, wort chilling seems to be a stinker within the cost/benefit curve. On homebrewtalk.com, there has been an emergence of activity and interest on the subject of "no chill" brewing, where hot wort is not artificially cooled. The fears of DMS seem to be insignificant on a homebrewer's scale. Basically if you can keep the vessel that contains the wort sanitized enough for an evening with cooling wort, you're fine.

I thought about buying a cheap food-grade container for fermenting, but I'm now leaning toward a Better Bottle, which is more expensive, but available in Europe and will suffice for both fermenting and bottling.

Next, we're drinking some Hopus beers which have the benefits of a swivel top and cheap price at the local "wal mart". Hopefully will accumulate 3 gallons worth in the next 2 months or so, though it may require a party.

Recipe-wise, I must admit a deep affinity for Duvel, a truly sublime beer. Among its beauties include the dryness, light body/color, alcoholic sweetness, subtle hop flavor, and clarity. I'd like to merge this with the "Sonoma IPA", a yet-unofficial style, describing Pliny the Elder (PtE) by Russian River. PtE is actually unlike a lot of IPAs in its light body, color, and dryness, all of which accentuate the hop aroma and flavor. Interestingly, Duvel is so unique that Michael Jackson invented a style to describe it. Now, all "golden strong ales" are compared against Duvel.

Duvel, to me, creates its effect through unconventional means. It seems bitter, but not from the hops, as traditional beers would, but from a combination of the heavy carbonation, dry finish, and perhaps effects from the Scotch Ale yeast (Wyeast 1388). It seems sweet, but isn't (i.e., it's dry), due to the well-masked alcohol. It is truly a beer about recreating expectations from roundabout means.

So, how to get the dryness of Duvel? Dryness is a consequence of lots of the fermentables from the wort getting fermented. Hence, you should lean away from non-fermentable sugars such as maltose. Two ways to achieve this: low malt-temperatures, and a lot of raw sugar in the overall grain bill.

I'm taking this approach with Belgian Pale Ale malt, a lot of sugar, and the Duvel yeast. I'm going to throw an American spin with some Pliny-friendly hops.

Dry Hopped Aspis Hoplon in bottles

Got 10 16oz+ bottles filled. Had a taste of the good stuff. Nice hop aroma, huge roasted malt flavor. Was a bit sweet because I tasted after adding the sugar. Yum! Eager to try it after a week or two in the bottle.

Aspis Hoplon in primary/secondary

Moved half of Aspis to a secondary. Boiled about an ounce of oak cubes (French Oak, house toast) in water for 10 minutes, put them in. Cut open a vanilla bean, scraped the contents into a shot of Caribbean rum, then diced the rind and put that in the rum too. Let it soak for 10 minutes or so to sanitize, then put that in the secondary.

To the half remaining in primary, I added dry hops. I'll leave them in for 3-7 days then bottle that batch. The other will stay on the oak and vanilla for as long as it can.

Mountainbeering tasting notes (2)

We're at day 10 in the bottle.

Appearance: Pours a caramel red with nicer carbonation than last time. Still, a quickly dissipating head which is rescued by some nice lacing. The yeast have dropped, and there's a pleasant absence of chill haze.

Aroma: Nice, deep hop aroma with a lot of apple and a kiss of honey. Signs of prematurity. The aroma is not as pronounced as last time.

Taste: Pleasantly bitter with a lick of sweetness. Not quite a finish to match the aroma, but tasty nonetheless.

Mouth: More carbonated than last time. A lingering bitterness.

Drinkability: Love it. 5-6% can be sessioned. Too bad I ended up at 2G.

Mountainbeering tasting notes

Popped a cold bottle today.

Yeast is still suspended, and it's flat. Trails of sugar are visible. Darker than expected, probably from the 40L caramel. I might switch to 10L or 20L next time.

Hop aroma is absolutely delicious. Flavor not as strong, but needs more conditioning and carbonation.

I am psyched about this one.