REVIEW: RE: Fresh (Mango Berlinerweisse)

A hot Summer's day, sweat, labor, dirt, lawn, shovel, gardening, building, deck, scorching sun, heat stroke.  A far cry from the blustery weather in Oregon this December.  But thus is the way of the sour beer brewer.  It's ready when it's ready and no sooner.  I wanted my Mango Berlinerweisse in the heat of August when I was mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, Barbecuing fish, and preparing to pick some hops.  A week before Winter is officially here is not when I wanted it.  But when you work with Lacto as a souring agent post boil, that is what you get.  I am finding that the Cascade Lacto strain is best used with patience.  It does not sour quickly, that is for sure.  Still a tasty beer, and will be great in another 6-7 months when the heat hits again and yard work is in full swing.

Look:

Pours stunningly clear with a thick, moussy, brilliantly white head that drops harder than a Ghavi beat.  Bubbles continue to rocket up from the bottom of the glass like an aquarium stone.

Aroma:

Mild barnyard funk jumps first with fruity yogurt following.  The fruit is kind of dull and nondescript, can't tell it is Mango.  Light crackery malt back note.

Taste:

Sourness washes over the tongue first with a fruity pop.  Subtle tropical fruit note, but like the nose, can't discern Mango.  Crackery malt.  Light sharpness to the acid, acetic isn't part of the style, but it isn't overpowering at all, very light.

Mouthfeel:

Puckering tartness pulls on the tongue and sides of the throat.  Dry finish with a very prickly carbonation.  Effervescent, light, crisp, refreshing.

Overall:

Clean lactic kick with a mild fruitiness and faint Brett notes.  Not a super complex beer, but the style isn't known for that.  Easy drinker, and will be wonderful when the heat hits next year.  Definitely needs more Mango.

RECIPE: The Becca Begins (Solera Barrel 1st Fill: Belgian Blonde)

Barrel is all topped up

Ever since I started brewing sour beers, and especially after reading Wild Brews, I have wanted to make a sour and put it into a barrel to age.  Specifically I wanted to start a Sour Solera, fill it with one beer, sour it, pull a portion after 6 months, then refill the (now) empty portion of the barrel with new beer.  I can add the same recipe as the original keeping the base flavors the same, or I can add something different and shift the color, aroma, and flavor profile in a different direction for the next pull.  I just needed something to house the beer.

I had considered using one of the blue plastic drums from the Homebrew Store that previously housed Liquid Malt Extract, but the potential oxygen uptake on a project of this size was too much for me.  I had also tried to figure out a way to do it with a retired 1/2 barrel keg but couldn't find one through legal paths.  I had put out an email to the brew club to see if anyone had a lead on one, and a response I wasn't expecting came back: I have a 14 gallon wine barrel that I am not going to use that you can have.  Wow!  Jackpot!  

Saison and 5 Brett Strains

The barrel had set empty for some time so I had to do some work to get it to swell again as well as to clean it for holding my beer and not adding unwanted bacteria to it like acetobacter.  It took a couple days to get it to swell.  First i filled it 1/3 full with boiling water and stood it on each head.  I also filled the heads on the outside with boiling water to get them to swell.  After setting it back on its belly on the stand it was dropping water quite a bit.  I topped it up to about 1/2 full  with cold tap water and left it there for the day (went to finish my brew at Falling Sky).  I came back afterwards and topped it up to about 3/4 full as the water flow had declined (but not stopped).  The following day I topped it off to full after adding Potassium Metabisulfate (2g/L) and Citric Acid (1g/L) to it to kill any bacteria, mold, and anything else as well as keep the water fresh.  It was fully swollen and holding water tight by the next day.

Mash is Drained

I decided that I wanted to brew a Belgian Blonde for the first iteration to go through the barrel.  I wanted the light, fruity, spicy, funky, tart flavors to shine, let the yeast do the bulk of the talking on this one.  From here I can go wherever I feel fit.  I took a queue from Russian River's sour Blonde Sanctification and went with a lower OG than Belgian Blonde's usually have since the higher degree of attenuation from the primary yeasts, bacteria, and Brett will make it super dry and raise the ABV that way.  To give some character to the beer I used a fair amount of Belgian Aromatic malt and a home made Invert Sugar which lended a fruity alcohol note during fermentation.  I set up to brew 15+ gallons to ensure a full fill, but hit 16 gallons, and in the end, I still came up shy by 1/2 a gallon. 

Only time will tell where this one goes from here.

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Stats:

Gallons: 16.00

OG: 1.054

FG: 1.005

ABV: 6.40%

Added Invert Sugar to Hot Wort to Dissolve

IBUs: 22

SRM: 7.0

Efficiency: 92%

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Fermentables:

20.00# Weyermann Pilsner (80.0%)

2.50# Special Aromatic (10.0%)

2.50# Sugar, Invert (10.0%)

Mash 10 hours @ 154*F

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Boil 45 mins

35 2.00 oz Magnum 16.40%AA

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Kettle Additions:

Gypsum - Mash 1 1/4 tsp; Boil 1 3/8 tsp

Epsom Salts - Mash 1/2 tsp; Boil 1/2 tsp

Calcium Chloride - Mash 1 3/8 tsp; Boil 1 5/8 tsp
Lactic Acid - Sparge 1.4ml

Yeast Nutrient - 6 taps

Whirfloc - 1 each

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Fermentation:

Cooled to: 74*F
2 Better Bottles = JasperYeast JY43 Saison slurry from Enygma

1 Better Bottle = JY33 B Brux & 87 B Brux, ECY B Naardensis, B Custersianus, and B Nanus, Cascade Brewing Lactobicillus Brevis

Barrel = WLP B Brux Trois, BSI B Lambicus, WY B Clausenii, Orval B Brux, Elysian's Mortis B Brux, Flat Tail Brewing "Brett F" wild yeast from local plums, Cascade L Brevis

74*F 2 days

78*F 2 days

85*F 10 days

Ambient Garage Temps for 6+ months

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Notes:

Maxed out my 17.5 gallon Kettle

7/16 Boiled 3 3/4 qts of water with 2.5# of Demerra sugar and 5/8 tsp of Citric Acid for 2 hours to make 2 qts of invert sugar. Next time I will add half the water volume and boil for 20 minutes. Think it might be too dark and rummy for a Belgian Blonde. 

7/18-19 Brewed alone, mashed all grains in at 8:30pm at 154*F. Dropped to 142*F by 7:30am, loss of 12*F over 11 hours. Sparged and boiled as one batch, added the sugar and end of boil. Cooled wort to 74*F and transferred via pump to 3 Better Bottles at 10:00am . Pitched 2 with JY 43 Saison strain slurry from Enygma, and the other with 5 Brett strains and Lacto. Set controller to 74*F. Positive pressure and bubbles in Saison yeast fermentors within hours, full krausen on all 3 by next morning. 

CO2 Force Racked Into Barrel

7/21 Jumped temps up to 78*F 

7/23 Jumped up to 85*F 

7/27 Pulled samples, tastes great. 1.006, 1.005, 1.004 on the refractometer. 

8/2 Wracked off of yeast into cleaned 15 gallon wine barrel. Samples of the JY43 version were lightly sulfury, higher alcohols, fruity, no phenols. The Brett and Lacto version had a bit of funk and over-ripe fruits. Came up short on volume some how, so I racked ½-1 gallon of the Too Small Sour Brett Rye Saison in with a bottling wand shoved into the picnic tap to avoid splashing and filled the headspace. This added BSI Brett Lambicus, Elysian’s Brett B, Wyeast Brett C, Orval Brett B, and Flat Tail’s Brett “F” to the mix as well as more Cascade Lacto. 

8/12 Pulled bung to see a pellicle has already formed and took a sample. Light Brett spiciness and funk mingled with fruity alcohol.

8/16 Was able to score some 4D Stainless Steel nails from a super helpful brewer in town that has an amazing barrel aging program. Drilled the head of the barrel about 3/4 of the way down with a 7/64" drill bit and then slid one of the nails into the hole. This gives me the ability to pull samples from the barrel over time and not have to open the barrel itself and expose the beer to oxygen.

Left in garage at ambient temps to age and sour (Max temp in August in garage was 122*F).

#67 RE: Fresh (Mango Berlinerweisse)

Another beer my wife really enjoys is a tart, light, spritzy, wheaty Berlinerweisse.  As do I.  And since the grists for my Hefeweisse I made for her and this Berliner are so close, why not make one of each at the same time.  Last time I did this I had a bad sour mash.  This time I opted for a single boil of both beers to 8.5 gallons, and then split them for fermentation.  I topped off the Berliner to dilute it to the proper strength, and the IBUs were perfect for both.  I have the Cascade Lacto strain, and decided to let it have fun all on its own for a week before introducing any Sacc to encourage good acid development in a short time.  I pitched big too, 1L starter of a very fierce bacteria, then hit it with some Kolsch yeast to finish the work, lower the gravity, and drop the pH even more.

After primary was done it was yogurty, and tart, but not as tart as I wanted.  I also had a few pounds of Mango chopped up in the freezer.  I added the beer to the fruit to age for a few weeks, and also fermented some pure Mango juice with the Lacto for some more fruit flavor and sourness.  On bottling I added a little food grade Lactic Acid to make it pop just a little more.

Recipes: #61 BANGARANG: Jolly Roger & #62 BANGARANG: Too Small (Saisons)

Saisons, arguably my favorite beer style.  Well, that and IPAs.  And Wild/Sour beers.  Hard to choose... so why not just take aspects from each of them and combine them?  In more of the American Farmhouse tradition I took a more traditional Saison (Pale, Rye, Munich) at 1.037 OG and layered in some bold American hops.  Coupled with the dry and bitter finish, with the fruity and spicy yeast character it should make for a great, easy drinking beer.  I also split up the big batch onto 2 separate yeast pitches. 

For one I used a starter I had built up from Allagash Confluence, which contains their proprietary house Belgian yeast strain as well as a proprietary Brett strain they isolated in their coolship (named it Jolly Roger since I plundered their yeasts!).  On the other half my yeast pitch was far more complex, which I dubbed Too Small since it is so crushable.  I had to resurrect an 8 month old Fantome yeast and 2 Brett strains from the fridge, cultured a new strain from Orval, and built up 3 other Brett strains.  Add to this that I attempted to culture 3 sources of Lacto (which failed).  I was able to get a good pitch of Cascade Lacto from Stephen though, so it worked out.   All of these strains were pitched (along with some 3726 Farmhouse) simultaneously at primary.  My hope is for a fruity, slightly spicy, tart, funky, complex blend of all the yeasts and bacteria.

UPDATE: Failed Lacto Cultures

A few weeks ago I posted about stepping up my Brett cultures by reviving older pitches from previous ferments as well as culturing new ones and getting pitches of new stuff from my buddy, Stephen.  At the same time I was working on culturing up Lacto from 3 different sources as well.  Stephen and I had split a Cascade Apricot after dinner on April 7th; he took the bulk of the dregs and I kept a few ml of slurry from the bottle.  His was pitched directly into a small wort starter (1.020 @ 300ml) that he had brought with him, and was left at room temp.  I put mine into about 250ml of Lactose sugar starter the next night and kept it at around 95*F.  I ended up taking this starter and mixing in apple juice to bring it up to 750ml of liquid.  I also added some Zoi Greek Yogurt to a jar and hit it with 750ml of apple juice too.  The third source was some pale malt I had in the garage which I added to to the last 500ml of apple juice.  I placed all of these in the ferm fridge wrapped tight in my heating blanket and kept them at 105*F for a week.  I sampled once or twice to see if I was getting any activity.  On brewday I was going to pitch some of the starters into my Saison along with 2 Saison yeasts and the Bretts.  I went to taste them and nothing.  Not a trace of Lactic acid.  I am thinking that my pasteurized apple juice must have contained sulfites as opposed to heat pasteurization (I swore I checked that though), thus inhibiting the growth of the Lacto in all 3 starters.

Luckily my buddy still had his 2 week old Cascade starter which he said was quite tart, and offered 200ml to me for my pitch which I used 150ml of and kept the other 50ml to grow up for myself.  This new starter of mine spent a week in the ferm fridge with the fermenting Saisons on 250ml of last runnings from the brewday, and had gotten quite sour.  I pitched around 100ml of the starter into my Oud Bruin from this time last year to get it to sour up, and then added the remaining 50ml (after sampling and such) to a 500ml 1.020 DME based starter for further growth.  It is back in the ferm fridge with the Saisons in the mid 80*s souring up nicely.

UPDATE: Prepping for Some Funky Stuff

In a couple weeks I will be brewing a big batch of Saison which will be split up a couple ways.  In preparation for this I have been busy culturing up and propagating different wild/sour/funky yeasts and bacterias.  I started by stepping up the dregs from an Allagash Confluence on the stir plate which had about 800ml of 1.020 starter wort in it.  After 24 hours it was rocking and by 48 was full bore.  I topped it off with another 800ml of about 1.040 wort to give it a bigger starter both in size and gravity.  A few days later it is still roaring.  This beer is a blend of Allagash's proprietary house Belgian strain that they use in the White and other Belgian beers (but not the Saison), and their proprietary Brett strain which was isolated from there coolship.  I am looking forward to how this blend will do with the 1.037 Saison in the works.

I also stepped up some older Brett strains from the slurries in my fridge like a Brett B I cultured from Elysian's Mortis, a Brett L from a local brewery that hooked me up with a pitch, and a new vial of WLP Brett Trios.  I also cultured the dregs from a fairly fresh bottle of Orval to get that funk it is known for.  I boiled up some ~1.020 wort and put it into mason jars and then cooled it down.  I pitched each strain separately to build them up and left the lid loose for CO2 escaping.  When I walk by I tighten the lid and give it a good shake then loosen it up again; by next morning a few were already giving off CO2 and foaming which is great.  My buddy Stephen from church plays with bugs too, and he gave me some Brett C from Wyeast and some Brett "F" which was cultured and isolated from plum skins by the brewer at Flat Tail in a neighboring city, Corvallis.  These will go into primary alongside some Lacto I cultured up from grains and I am hoping some Lacto from a bottle of Cascade that Stephen and I split the other night on my new deck.  He took the bulk of the dregs home to plate and isolate the Lacto, then grow it up, I took the last of the dregs and tossed them into a low gravity solution of Lactose sugar which I have sitting at 105*F right now to try to get some good growth before I brew.  All these strains will be pitched along with both WY PC strians of 3726 Farmhouse (Blauges) and 3725 Biere de Garde (Fantome).  The hope is that getting the Lacto and Brett cell counts stepped up in starters and raring to go, and pitching at the onset with the smaller pitches of the Saison blend will give a quick turn around for a young and complex beer.

Allagash Culture

I am also going to pitch 1/2 gallon of the same Saison wort with a Tej yeast strain to see how it fairs in an all malt environment.  There are 2 other brewers testing the Tej yeast as well and we will compare the final beers to get a feel of how it works.  If these trials go well, it may make its way into the collaboration beer I am doing with Falling Sky in June for winning Best of Show.

I also have 3 bottles worth of dregs from the Carol (BOS Lambic) stepping up for a future brew from just that yeast, that may eventually become a full batch at another local brewery...

Lots of exciting yeasties and beasties to play with, just wish I had more time and more wort...