Wild times

A new IPA called Sintennial is in bottle, and after a week tasting much like Two-Hearted, though lighter and drier (in ways I prefer).

I can say that my recent shortage of American hops in the freezer is coinciding with an emerging boredom in the IPA as a style. Not that I don't enjoy them, but I'm ready to get a bit more experimental. I am happy though: I never thought I'd run through those hops so quickly.

With the Pining for Pliny (P4P) I brewed months ago, I siphoned off 2L (1 per yeast) into new "fermenters" and inoculated with wild yeast (Brettanomyces). This produced about 5 bottles (2.5 each). The results were interesting. First, the flavor variation among bottles -- even within-batch -- was high. Interestingly, the half of P4P that under-attenuated in the primary ended up tasting much wilder -- presumably because it had more remaining fermentables for the yeast -- although the bitterness was too high. But the other P4P half received a touch of lemon that was quite nice. Both ended up pretty dry. The amazing thing was how much the wild yeast transformed the flavor in a relatively small time. The wild beers were almost completely unrecognizable from their source.

This inspired me to continue with wild fermentation.

I brewed a Westmalle/Westvleteren clone (the beers share the same yeast). The base beer is a Belgian tripel. This time, I have siphoned off half of the whole batch for a Brettanomyces second fermentation, which will make for a wild blonde. The other half has received some special ingredients which I hope will add some of the unique flavors of Westvleteren.

Interestingly, I took a long whiff of the dregs of the yeast starter I made from Bretts. Amazingly, this one tasted very much like a lambic. This got me thinking that I could try a beer that is 100% Brett fermented. For various reasons, full Brett fermentations are discouraged, one reason being that the yeast work better under reduced PH environments typically caused by a primary fermentation from brewer's yeast. But, the smell was too compelling.

So, tonight I made a very small (.75 liter) -- though smaller than planned -- batch to be used as 100% Brett. It will probably end up like a Flanders Brown or Oude Bruin. I'm calling it "Lil' Orvie". Because, as a bad scientist, I can't resist confounding variables, I used only wild hops that we picked from a nearby abbey. Hopefully tomorrow morning I'll wake to a pellicle.

Lemons!

Life has handed me lemons, in the best way possible.

On my first batch I siphoned off 2L for re-yeasting using a highly experimental yeast. The yeast has converted the IPA to lemons, and it's delicious.

Citroen tasting nice

Opened Citroen today, after a week in the bottle.

Tastes only slightly green. Carbonation is great (I carb'd even more this time), but head dies quickly. Yeast did not want to settle out after an evening in the fridge.

Flavor is surprisingly similar to P4P despite being a different hop.

Observations on Pining for Pliny

First of all, something completely blew my mind about this batch. I split the wort into 2 fermenters and inoculated one with an American Ale and the other with a Duvel yeast. I lost track of which was which (dumbass). Weirdly, one of the batches took a complete nose dive. Fermenter activity was seemingly strong for both, as measured by bubbling in the airlock. The "normal" one turned out fine. The "bad" one had weird qualities. It was nearly flat even after 3 weeks in the bottle. It tasted watery and overly bitter. The former 2 lead me to suspect a problem with the yeast. Not enough? Weirdly, the beer transformed into a ruby red color. I even tried on homebrewtalk which is usually an oracle for this shit. They had no clue. WTF did I do?

I am noticing my tastes change in time. I am definitely less of a hophead than I used to be. The DIPAs just don't do it for me like they used to (Pliny the Elder remains the eternal exception). My interest in Belgian beers, particularly lambics, has renewed my appreciation for dryness and fostered an appreciation for acidity. The new P4P I brewed seems to have gained ground in the latter respect. Does this mean it's the Duvel yeast at work, or my own perceptions kicking in?

Tasting

Popped open a homebrew (from the Pining for Pliny batch). Not sure which yeast is working here.

Appearance is bright hazy golden. Half inch of head in the mid of the Duvel glass, not a lot of retention.

Very tropical aromas with pineapple dominant.

Taste is dry, acidic, and slightly bitter. Perhaps only slightly on the thin side but not surprising given the relatively low gravity.

This one is a knockout!

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.