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.

Recipe #60: Where The Wild Things Are: Alexander (Saison turned Belgian Dubbel turned Flander's Red)

The time has changed, the temperatures are slowly rising, the sun comes out to say "Hi!" every so often, there is fresh green growth on many plants that were once shriveled and lifeless, trees are blooming, and our allergies are going crazy.  Spring is here.  So when I considering brewing the Beer Advocate Crowd Sourced American Stout for St. Patty's Day, I was torn as I also wanted to get a Saison going with the 3 month old packet of WY3726 Farmhouse Ale in the fridge.  As I looked at the base grains for the stout recipe: Pale Malt, Munich, Toasted Oats, and medium Crystal, they jumped out as great components for a Spring Saison, a little bigger and darker than I normally would do, with maybe a little sweetness.  All I had to do was double these grains and leave the dark grains from the Stout out of the mash.

I also had quite a bit of Tardif de Bourgenone hops from harvest last year that I really wanted to use, so of course I had to use them as the sole hop in this recipe.  This should impart a light fruitiness with spice and herbs, just right for a good Saison, and I used Calypso as a FW hop for a touch of apple and pear if anything carried through.  Layering this atop the malty, toasty, toffee malts seemed like a great place to showcase the complexity of the Farmhouse's fruity and spicy character.  This beer should be right near the edge of the  for the style, toasty, fruity, spicy, light Noble like hops, malt complexity and a middle ABV should've helped offset the still cool nights of the next few months.  Then the FG stopped at 1.012, too sweet for a Saison.  The hops weren't nearly as expressive as they should be in a Saison either.  I started thinking, it kind of tastes like a Dubbel, maybe I'll just go with that.  Then I just said forget it, I'll steep some Special B, boil it to a syrup, add oak, and hit it with a bunch of sour blends and dregs to make it into a pseudo-Flander's Red, especially since I have wanted to make one for a long time and haven't.  I've got enough beer in the pipeline that I don't need this one, and I want to reuse the yeast cake and do an Americanized Saison soon anyways.

Review: Witte Comeback

Two summers ago I was really loving the 3726 Farmhouse Ale PC WYeast strain, and I used to to make a Witbier which I soured 1 gallon of and then blended back into the full batch at bottling.  The result was a mildly tart Wit with too much Chamomile.  After nearly 21 month I expected something more "Wild", but the results are still enjoyable. 

Look:

Pours a semi hazy pale gold with a huge moussey pure white head that stays thick for the whole glass leaving thick sticky lace all the way through.  Lots of bubbles.

Aroma:

Smells of Chamomile flowers and light Brett funk.  Wheat and coriander follow with citrus and and a mild tartness.  Fruity, hint of strawberry.  The Brett character is actually fairly low for as old as this beer is.

Flavor:

Light wheat character, mild lactic tartness, hint of cardboard, citrus, mild Brett fruitiness, strawberry.  Chamomile.  Not a whole lot left from the spices.  Citrus rind when I burped.

Mouthfeel:

Tart and dry, spritzy on the tongue.  The finish is still silky from the Oats.  Mild bitterness to balance.

Overall:

Can't believe after 17 months and Brett the Chamomile is still so evident.  The mild tartness and Brett character is great addition of complexity to the overall beer, though the citrus and coriander is nearly non-existent.  Fun experiment, definitely worth doing again.

Review: Slap Yo Momma (Wet Hopped White IPA)

The last of the three Wet Hop beers, this one is very complex, with big fruits and deep layers to dig through.  It doesn't have near the hopiness needed for a a White IPA, but still goes well beyond a standard Wit.

Look: Foggy gold with thick buttermilk colored head.  Head stays tight for awhile then becomes a thin whisp of bubbles on top.  Good lacing.  The beer sparkles.

Aroma: Big Belgian esters, pear, apple, strawberry, orange, tangerine, clove, coriander, grapefruit, pepper, floral, spicy, chalky yeast, sweet grains, subdued hops, honestly, it is hard to tell where the hops end and the spices begin, and where the spices end and the yeast starts.  This is one complex nose.

Taste: Pear, pepper, clove, ginger, herbal, chalky yeast, citrus, sweet grains, floral hops, rose water, alcohol, coriander.

Mouthfeel: Big fizzy medium-light body w/ pulling dry finish , chalky.  Bitterness is balancing and spot on.

Overall: The hops are pretty low for an "IPA" and fresh hops, but it is a good beer.  Bitterness presents in the finish to clear off the complex palate.  Drinks like a stronger / hoppier Wit.  Really enjoy it even though the hops are fading quick.

Recipe: Slap Yo Momma - Wet Hop White IPA

After picking my decent, but not overly abundant hop harvest this year, I called up Oakshire Brewing since last year they didn't actually harvest their hops for there own beers.  After getting the green light to pick their hops, I raided there Chinook and Cascades.  I also got a few bines of Centennial as well.  As my wife (who so graciously went and sat in the sun entrenched in a mound of Cascade bines and helped my pick while prego) and I looked at the vast amount of hops that I had, and how difficult it would be to dry them all, she realized that I would really need to brew a few more Wet Hop beers.  Graciously she said to me, "Why don't you brew some fresh hop beers?"  I replied, "I'd love to, but that means I'd have to brew tomorrow, and also Saturday twice."  To which she responded, "Okay."  Thus the wheels began turning.  I had already pumped out a recipe for my Red Ale and had the malts milled.  What else did I want to do?  White IPA!  I had wanted to brew one for some time, and I had lots of citrus fruit hops in the Cascade and Centennial, as well as the grapefruit component of the Chinooks, hit that with the pine, and some spicing and a Belgian Yeast.

Stats:

5.0 gallons

1.064 OG

1.007 Fg

7.5% ABV

48 IBUs

4 SRM

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Fermentables:

7.0#  GW Pale Malt

5.0#  Flaked Wheat

1.0#  White Wheat Malt

0.75#  Flaked Wheat
0.5# Cane Sugar

0.25# Rice Hulls

60 Minutes @ 150*F

70% Extract Efficiency

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45 Minute Boil:

60 mins - 1.0 oz Cascade pellets 8.4AA%

WP @ 150 20 mins - 6.0oz Chinook (Wet) 

WP @ 150 20 mins - 8.0oz Cascade (Wet) 

WP @ 150 20 mins - 3.5oz Centennial (Wet) 

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Fermentation:

WY 3726 Farmhouse Ale - 2L Starter

Aerated 20 minutes

6 gallon glass carboy

3 days @ 73-75

11 days @ 75+ 

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Additional:

Gypsum 5/8 t (mash), 3/8 t (boil)

Calcium Chloride 1/2 t (mash), 1/2 t (boil)

Coriander 0.3oz - 5 mins
Orange Peel 0.3oz - 5 mins

Yeast Nutrient (15 mins)

Efficiency tanked hard for some unknown reason.  Added sugar to boost OG and drop FG - I like my dry beers DRY anyways, and it will get me closer to the ABV I wanted.  Not sure what is causing this drop in extract efficeincy.  Pitched yeast from 1L starter (used to wake the yeast up) and also added some of the sleeping yeast from the mason jar in the fridge to ensure that I had a good amount of yeast, but still low enough to produce the esters and phenols I want.

Review: Antiquated Ambush (Sour Saison)

What do you mean you brewed a sour in 4 weeks?  Yup.  Did my original Saison recipe from a few months ago with a few tweaks, and then, due to a boost in efficiency had an extra 3/4 gallons of wort.  Took it out of the main fermentation and hit it with my RR starter.  4 weeks later I had 5 gallons of Saison, and 3/4 gallons of sour Saison with a hint of Brett, and a nice tartness.  Blended the two and bottled.  Nice pellicle in the bottles.  After 7 weeks in the bottle at garage temps the bugs and Brett are doing a great job of boosting the carbonation levels closer to the typical Saison range (under carbed on purpose so I didn't get bottle bombs).  I'm very hopeful of how this beer is going to continue to develop over time.  Nice thing is that I used the yeast slurry from the soured version to do the same thing with my Witbier!

Look:

Pours a slightly hazy (souring bugs and Brett still active, pellicle at top of the bottle) burnished gold with a nice 1+ finger pure white head.  Lots of tiny bubbles.  Decent lacing.  Head fades slowly to a thick cap that persists to the last drop.

Aroma:

Smells of lemon, pepper, apricots, tropical fruit, hay, Brett funk, tart, light buytiric acid as well (not too off-putting, just a mild fecal scent).  Spicy and floral hops are present but not powerful.  

Taste:

Tastes much like it smells, tart lemons, peppery spice, ginger, apricot, sulfur, fruity, floral, Brett funk is mild yet present.

Mouthfeel:

Dry, crisp, spritzy, light, refreshing, bubbly, tart, very balanced finish between the dry, bitter, sour, sweet.  The finish is surprisingly perfect (surprising due to being a first time attempt at the recipe).

Overall:

I'm very impressed with this beer.  The Saison yeast is quite restrained on this version compared to the original, more than likely due to overpitching (same issue on the Witbier), wish it was popping a little more.  Lots of stuff working together on this version.  The Brett and bugs are quite present for being this young and the low FG, they must have ripped apart the 3/4 gallon early.  The spice, fruit, tartness, look, Brett, dry tart finish, hops, all of it works together to make a very delightful drink.  Only two things that I wish would change are the mild buytiric acid (which over time will hopefully be esterfied by the Brett and bugs), and the weather.  Oregon is nothin but rainy and cold right now, and this beer just begs the clouds to kick and the sun to ramp us up to the 80s.

3 Beers, 1 Mash, Good Deal...

It might just become a yearly brew for me… A triple beer mash that is.  Last year I did a Bavarian Hefeweisse, an American Wheat IPA w/ pineapple, and a Session Sour from a single mash.  This year I did a single mash for 3 more beers.  This year the Hefe was switched out for a Witbier, the Wheat IPA for a clone of 3 Floyds Gumballhead, and the sour mashed Session Sour for a sour mashed “Saison” with oak and Pinot Noir juice.  Made for a great brew day, and hopefully, despite a few hiccups, some great beers.

Single Mash:

11# Flaked Wheat

9.6# Great Western Pale Malt

3# Rice Hulls (for good measure)

5/8 tsp Gypsum

3/8 tsp Calcium Chloride

Single Infusion: 151*F for 60 minutes

Ran off 13.5 gallons.

Split into 2 - 6.75 gallon batches

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Witte Comeback:

45 minute boil

FW 0.30oz Sterling AA% Unkown (home grown 7.5% estimated)

15   0.70oz Sterling AA% Unkown (home grown 7.5% estimated)

KO 1.00oz Sterling AA% Unkown (home grown 7.5% estimated)

10 mins 0.80# Flaked Wheat added to boil

KO zest of 2 Cara Cara Oranges, 0.12oz Coriander, 0.12oz Pink Peppercorn, 0.12oz Green Peppercorn (didn’t buy enough spices and missed each addition by half… oops)

Tea of: zest of 1 Cara Cara Orange, 0.20oz Coriander, .12oz Pink Peppercorn, 0.10oz Chamomile steeped 5 mins @ 190*F added to fermenter (1.5 cups)

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5.0 gallons 3726 Farmhouse Ale yeast slurry

0.5 gallons 3726 Farmhouse Ale + souring bugs/Brett

Fermented @ 83*F 2 days, 78*F for 3 weeks

Blended at bottling

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5.5 gallons

OG 1.050

FG 1.005

15 IBUs

4 SRM

5.9% ABV

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Gumballhead:

0.75# Caravienne steeped 35 minutes @ 150*F

45 minute boil

FW 0.50 oz Amarillo 9.3 AA%

45   0.30 oz Amarillo 9.3 AA%

15   0.50 oz Amarillo 9.3 AA%

5     1.30 oz Amarillo 9.3 AA%

KO 1.00 oz Amarillo 9.3 AA%

DH  1.40 oz Amarillo 9.3 AA%

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1056 American Ale pitch f/ Oakshire

Fermented @ 66*F for 2 weeks

DH @ 66*F for 4 days

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***Hit the 1.055 gravity perfect @ 5.0 gals but forgot to drain ½ gallon of StarSan from Better Bottle before racking so ended up with 5.5 gallons @ 1.050.  Added 1# sugar boiled in 1 pint water to the fermenter on day 2 to boost gravity back up making it 1.057, and FG hit low @ 1.007 making for a 6.6% ABV beer instead of 5.5%***

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5.5 gallons

1.057 OG

1.007 FG

34 IBUs

5 SRM

6.6% ABV

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Vino Cilurzo (Sour w/ Pinot Juice):

Last runnings from mash 6 gallons @ 1.011 soured with 0.10oz of Pale Malt in bucket @ 98*F for 50 hours, smell of yogurt, not much sour, light twang, somewhat astringent.  Went to boil and my burner caught on fire resulting in no boil.  Racked back into the same bucket less grains.  Pulled 1 quart of wort and brought to just under a boil on the stove.  Added hops and steeped for 5 minutes.  Strained into bucket.  Pitched ¼ cup slurry of 3726 Farmhouse + souring bugs/Brett slurry.  Added 3 pieces of French Oak blocks.  Didn’t take OG, estimated @ 1.030.  On day 2 added 3000ml of Pinot Noir concentrate that I scored for free when it was broken in transit to Falling Sky, estimated new OG 1.050.  Smelled of sulfur so I added 3726 Farmhouse slurry for more yeast activity and also added yeast nutrient per recommendations from a fellow brewer.  As of 4 weeks the sulfur smell is gone and a pellicle has formed.  Looking forward to how this one turns out... it will be bottled in early July since I need the bucket for my Flander's Red, and I don't have another fermenter (unless I pull it off to 1 gallon jugs).  At this point FG is 1.010.

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1.00 oz Cascade (home grown)

1.00 oz Challenger (home grown)

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~ 6.5 gallons

~ 1.050 OG

~ 1.002 FG (unkown, assuming low FG with bugs, Brett, juice)

~5 IBUs

~ 6% ABV

Recipe: Antiquated Ambush (Sour Saison)

I originally brewed this recipe 2 months ago.  It turned out really well, very tasty, but it is going so quick.  I diverted a gallon of the first batch to a glass jug that I hit with Brett to bulk age for awhile, and then bottled in mostly 750ml champagne bottles, which gives me 3 tulip fills per bottle.  Needless to say, we are flying through the first batch with those large bottles.  I took a bottle into the home brew shop and had them try it out, and got really good feedback on it.  I have been wanting more of it, so I set out to brew another batch of it with some twists.  Seeing as I still have the yeast, the bittering hops, and the left over .5 oz of Hallertauer and Saphir from the first brew, it will only cost me around $13 for the three malts and an oz of Bobek.  Not bad for 5.5 gallons of wonderfully tasty beer.


On this iteration I did change a few things.  First, I did a step mash instead of a single infusion; on the first edition, I did 147*F, for this one I am doing 70 minutes at 144*F and 20 mins at 157*F (which I missed) to target a very fermentable wort that still has some body to it.  This will also up the efficiency some (I assume), so I accounted for that as well.  Second, I pushed the flavor hops back from 15 minutes to 25 to get more flavor from them.  Lastly, I upped the fermentation temp 2*F to 77 this go round, and fermented for 4 weeks opposed to the 75*F for 7 days on the last one (yes, only one week from boil to bottle).  I also ended up diverting 3/4 gallon on day one that I hit with Lacto, Pedio, and Brett, and added this back at bottling time for a sour Saison.  My hope is for this beer to be slightly dryer, sour and funky with a little more hop flavor, and a little more head retention.

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Saison
5.75 gallons
18 IBUs
4 SRM
5.3 ABV
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3.5# GW Pale Malt
3.5# Weyermann Pilsner Malt
1.5# German Dark Wheat
Batch Sparge
45 minute rest @ 144*F (infuse w/ 13q 155*F water)
20 minute rest @ 148*F (infuse w/ 4q boiling water)
80% Efficiency (hit 86%)
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90 minute boil
40 mins    0.4oz    Nugget                       15.0%AA
25 mins    0.6oz    Styrian Bobek             3.8%AA
0   mins    0.4oz    Styrian Bobek             3.8%AA
0   mins    0.5oz    German Saphir           3.8%AA
0   mins    0.5oz    Hallertauer Mittelfruh   4.6%AA
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3/8 tsp   Gypsum - Mash
3/8 tsp   Calcium Chloride - Mash
3/8 tsp   Gypsum - Boil

3/8 tsp   Calcium Chloride - Boil

1 tab      Whirfloc 12 minutes

1/4 tsp   Yeast Nutrient 12 minutes

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Chill to 68*F

1.5L Starter WY 3726 Farmhouse Ale (kept from previous batch)

77*F for 14 days

Ambient for 7 days

Bottle with 5.5 oz Dextrose for 2.8 vols CO2 @ 72*F for 14 days

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OG  1.043

FG   1.003

Brewday went well; my attempt at a step mash failed though, my 144 mash temp hit perfect, but I lost 5*F over 45 minutes, and when I added the boiling water to bring it up to 158*F, I got 148*F, so this should be quite fermentable, but hopefully not thin.  Had my second stuck sparge which helped to boost the efficiency up to 86% giving me a final gravity of 1.049.  I diverted half a gallon off into 3 750ml bottles for Brett and Sour starters, and filled the carboy to 5.0 gallons.  I then topped off with 0.7 gallons of preboiled water and took it to 1.043 OG.  After aerating for 15 minutes I added the yeast slurry from the starter.  The wort and yeast were churning up a storm after 2.5 hours.  That night I took 3/4 gallons off with the auto-siphon during ferment to avoid a blow off and added sour dregs to the gallon jug I transferred to for a little fun funk.  Krausen was good by next morning.  By Monday morning fermentation appears to be complete and the Krausen seems to be falling back in.


3 weeks:  A pellicle has formed atop the beer in primary confirming my sneaking suspicions that the yeast had gotten infected with the same wild strain that infected my previous batches.


4 weeks:  Bottled the beer up by lowering the carbonation to 2.1 vols, and adding back in the 3/4 gallon of beer I had drawn off on day 1 and added the bug/Brett blend to.  Bug/Brett blend shows nice acidity and slight funk, both finished at 1.003 so I am not too worried about bottle bombs.  Set ferm chamber to 74*F for priming (1 week), then will move out to garage to sit ambient to finish carbing and to sour and funk up more.

Review: Gummy Bears - Simple Saison

I love Saisons. Real ones. Light, refreshing, rustic, big spices and big fruits, dry, hoppy, packed with flavor and aroma, with a clean finish that draws you back for more. I love them made with the 3724 DuPont strain, not so much on the French Saison yeast that so many use to avoid the care needed for the DuPont. Enter the 3726 Farmhouse Ale strain that Wyeast releases only every 3 years. On this beer I had to try it before it left. And I was not disappointed. 1 week fermentation took the beer to 1.008, no stalling, no problems, 76*F controlled fermentation, great Saison. This beer is a simple recipe, 41% Great Western Pale Malt, 41% Weyermann Pils, 18% German Dark Wheat Malt, 147*F mash for 75 minutes, 1 tsp Gypsum and 1 tsp Calcium Chloride (split 3/8 each in mash, 5/8 each in boil). Bittered with 0.4 oz of Seuz at 45 minutes, 0.6 oz Styrian Bobek at 10 minutes, and a blend of 0.4 oz Bobek, 0.5 oz German Saphir, and 0.5 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh at FO for a total of 20 IBUs. The beer didn’t finish as low as I had hoped, but with the combination of the tartness of the yeast, the bitterness, and the acidic bite from the high carbonation, along with the sulfates, it turned out perfect.

Look: Pours a deep gold w/ rustic orange burnish, big frothy pure white head that fades slow to a whispy layer atop and a thin ring along the sides. Nice bubbly carbonation. Decent lacing.

Aroma: Lots of fruits, pears, bananas, strawberries, apples, white pepper, cloves, ginger, grass, hay,

floral, rosemary.

Taste: Pepper, fruity, lychee, rosemary, ginger, spicy bite, lite floral, refreshing and crisp, grainy, yeasty.

Mouthfeel: Fizzy, dry, light acidic bite, spicy finish, bitterness is there, but not overly done, balanced between bitter, dry, acidic, and sweet.

Overall: Very good Saison, big fruits and spices. Herbs and florals from the hops shine. Very dry and light, bitterness and carbonic acid play well together for a perfect finish. Lacing and head retention could be boosted some, but very well crafted Farmhouse Ale. Rustic, fruity, spicy, floral, dry, bitter, hoppy, grainy, light, crisp, tart, refreshing, as it should be.