REVIEW: Enygma (Mystery Saison)

For going into this beer blind to exactly what to expect from both the hops and the yeast, I am quite pleased with the results.  So much so that I want to brew it again, and used the yeast for my barrel project.  The yeast didn't finish as dry as I had hoped on this iteration, but after speaking with the manufacturer, he stated that it is much more characterful and dry when used at a higher temp (got down to 1.005 on the barrel beer, but it contained sugar as well).  It is still fairly dry, spicy, characterful, and hoppy, and the taste is great.

Look:   3/3

Literally clear enough to read through, this beer is stunning.  Pours a brilliant pale gold into my Saison glass.  A top the beer is a thick, moussey, stiff head made of tiny bubbles that lasts for days, leaving thick lace down the glass to the bottom.

Aroma:  7/12

The first thing to jump from the glass on this beer is definitely the hops.  Bold burst of floral and resin, hop oils, grassy, light herb notes, earthy.  Under this is a touch of sulfur (part of the yeast's character) and white peppercorns.  There is some hay and a touch of funkiness to it, but not Bretty.  A mild vinous character, grape skins, hint of pear.

Flavor:  13/20

As the beer washes over the palette there is a general tartness to it, mildly Lactic, giving way to a wheaty cracker note from the malts.  Herbal and floral hop notes in the mid range play nicely with the peppery notes from the yeast.  No esters, just a touch of sulfur.  The finish is a medium bitterness, but needs to be dryer.

Mouthfeel:  2/5

Medium body sits light on the tongue from the carbonation which should be higher in a Saison, but that is the sacrifice you make with kegs.  Semi-dry finish needs some work as it should be bone dry for the style.  Bitterness is right where I wanted it which is amazing since I didn't know any information on the hops, not even the variety.  Touch of tartness and phenols in the end.

Overall:  9/10

Though the beer is lacking the super dry finish and high carbonation, as well as the dominate esters of a typical Saison, this beer is really enjoyable.  Not totally true to style, but headed in the right direction for sure.  The marriage of hops and yeast on the mild malt background is an amazing display of rustic character.  During fermentation, this yeast exhibited a strong smell of Orange Julius (orange juice and banana) which didn't carry over into the final product which is sad.

RECIPE: #65 Enygma (Mystery Saison)

Stepping up yeast from plate

If you haven't caught on yet, I love to play with odd yeasts.  I have dabbled with culturing my own wild yeasts with great results.  I pulled together 6 different Brett strains to add to a Saison.  I cultured Cascade's Lacto.  I will be culturing and isolating more wild yeast come the end of summer as the local fruits will be ready to go.  For this batch I used a yeast that another brewer had cultured from the local air in Ashburn, VA.  His name is Jasper, and he just recently started selling his yeasts.  If you don't recognize his name, he is the man behind the Lost Rhino Brewing and Paleo Quest Bone Duster collaboration Pale Ale fermented with wild yeast that Jasper isolated from fossilized whale bones.  He sent me an agar plate containing his Saison strain and 2 Brett strains.  He stated via email that "JY43 is a tart Saison yeast from the air in ashburn. Can be sulfury, and dries stuff out pretty hard core."

The yeast isn't the only mystery in this beer.  The hops I used are multiple unknown varieties grown semi-wild that I picked last year.  A brewer used to live at the house.  It was purchased by another person who lets them grow on the corner of the lot on the fence where they all intertwine into one another.  No one knows what the individual varieties are, but I do know there are more than 2 different varietals in that cluster of bines.  I picked a pound (dried) of cones, and decided to use them in this Saison.  Could be spicy, could be fruity, could be dank, could be pithy, could be floral, could be a blend of all of these.  We shall see.  I split this batch with a German Hefe and Berlinerweisse, so the grist is wheat heavy.

Due to the mysterious nature of the yeast and hops in this beer, I named it Enygma, a name I have wanted to use for awhile now.  Part of the mystery... the yeast that is supposed to finish super dry bottomed out at 1.012 but the same mash and wort made a Hefe that terminated at 1.006.  Still fairly dry though.

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: #54 Epoux Vient (Leffe Brune clone)

My buddy from church has been very gracious to us this past year.  I helped him install new lights in my house we bought in May, as well as new flooring in the bathroom, a new toilet, and a new sink.  He cut some slots in my new kettle lids for my chiller to come through.  He plumbed my utility sink in the brewhouse, and wants to weld me a 2 burner single tier brewstand.  He hasn't asked for anything in return for his work.  When he came to me and asked if I could brew him a beer for his wedding, of course I was up for it.  I asked what type of beers they would like.  They wanted something dark and malty.  I bought an Oatmeal Stout, Milk Stout, American Stout, and a Belgian Dark Ale.  We decided that we didn't want something too strong as we wanted people to have a couple pints and not get intoxicated, especially as the bulk of our church is going to be there including some that don't agree with us that alcohol is a gift from God for our enjoyment.  After tasting the beers it was fairly unanimous that the BDA was the best.  Malty, fruity, spicy, elegant.  

Recipe #49: Hazy Dayz (Session White IPA)

After brewing a couple lagers and waiting for them to finish up for drinking I noticed that I didn't have any really flavorful brews, nothing hoppy to slake my lupulin lusts.  I have my Saison in bottles and the 2 American Pilsners, that's it.  I really enjoy White IPAs.  I really enjoy session IPAs.  And yesterday was National IPA Day.  Seemed fitting that I brew up a nice sessionable White IPA.  Around 4.5% ABV, 43 IBUs., dry, crisp, refreshing, fruity, bursting with hops.

Recipe: BANGARANG - The Twins (3rd Place - German Pilsner & Saison)

Last year I started a category of beers for my brewing called the BANGARANG series.  Of course BANGARANG is from the movie Hook and this term expresses delight and enjoyment.  As the second and third beers in this installment, I went with the twins.  It seemed fitting since I was brewing up a 10 gallon batch and splitting it into 2 fermenters with two separate yeasts.  Same wort, different fermentations.  After brewing my Dopplebock I wanted to continue using the lager yeast while the weather was still fitting for it.  I have tried a few Pilsners lately and have really enjoyed them so I decided to brew one up (but failed).  I can't see why I would just brew 5 gallons of beer when I can easily brew 2, so I decided to do a 10 gallon batch and ferment the other 5 on a different yeast.  I don't have any Saisons right now, and I love them, and warmer weather will be here in a few months, so I thought this would be the best way to split it.  Both beers work well with a Pilsner Malt base, a firm bitterness, and a medium Noble hopping.  So that's exactly what I did.  

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.

Recipe: Le Ferme du Funke (Brett Saison)

If you haven't caught on yet, I love me some Saison!  It wasn't always this way.  I went to a Fresh Hop festival 2 1/2 years ago and grabbed a beer that had Saison/Farmhouse Ale as the style.  Only beer I've spit out before pouring out the rest of the taste glass.  I immediately ran for a refill of something hoppy to get that swill off my tastebuds.  Some time later I had Upright Four and really enjoyed it.  I had Jolly Pumpkin Bam and Bam Noire and really loved the Noire.  I got a 6 pack of Collette from Great Divide.  Now I try every Saison I see on tap, and drink quite a few of them.  I have a sports bar next to my house that has Upright 5 on tap regularly.  The more I drank them the more I love them (unless they are brewed with 3711).  I really enjoy Dupont.  And I have brewed 4 Saisons now.  There wasn't a question when I brewed my first Saisons I was going to use the Dupont strain.  Didn't care about the stalling, I wanted that yeast.  Did my first Saisons when I didn't have temp control, so I did them in the garage in the high 70s.  One turned out to be a great idea, but not much more - a Rye Saison with Apricots.  The Apricot puree took over much of my beer which meant either 3 gallons of "clear beer" of 5 gallons of soupy beer.  I opted for soupy and bottled most of the Apricot.   This lead to lots of sulfur in the nose and bottle bombs as the yeast destroyed the remaining sugars in the fruit.  The other batch I did that day is an amazing beer, it took 2nd place in a National BJCP sanctioned comp in the category 16, splitting 1st and 3rd to an amazing brewer.  Finished with Brett in the bottles, I'm glad I found, I'm not sure how, a way to keep nearly a case for almost a year.

Stats:
5 gallons
1.044 OG
1.004 FG
5.3% ABV
20 IBUs
4 SRM
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Fermentables:
7.5# German Pils
1.0# German Vienna
0.75# Faked Oats
0.25# Belgian Aromatic
0.25# Acidulated Malt
60 minutes @ 149*F
68% Efficiency
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90 Minute Boil:
90 0.5 oz Styrian Bobek 3.8AA%
20 0.7 oz Styrian Bobek 3.8AA%
10 0.3 oz Citra 13.4 AA%
5   0.8 oz Styrian Bobek 3.8AA%
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Fermentation:
1L starter WYeast 3724 Belgian Saison
Shook to Aerate
4 weeks @ 75+ (ambient in garage in July)
Bottled w/ 1/2 cup starter made from Orval dregs
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Additional:
Whirfloc Tablet

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.