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.

REVIEW: Release the Panic (100% Brett ISA)

Everybody and their dog is making hoppy 100% Brett beers... well, maybe not everybody, but I have seem a bit of static on the interwebs on the topic.  I was looking for something a little more refreshing than a big IPA for the end of Summer though, so I decided to go with a session IPA (ISA) with the bold fruitiness of Brett, and a compliment of bold hops.  Layered on top of wheat for a tart refreshing light beer, and oats for some added mouthfeel as Brett doesn't produce any (usually strips it out).  Of course coupling it with a White ISA from the same mash, I didn't have much choice for the grist.  Turned out to be a good move.

Look: Pours a slightly foggy yellow with dense white head that persists and fades to a thin cap.  Leaves behind beautiful white lace all the way down the glass.  Tiny tight bubbles.

Aroma: Smells of over ripe fruits, faint funk (lightly fecal), pineapple, passion fruit, sour peaches, light tartness, resin, green hops, pear, resin, citrus fruits.  Complex fruity nose.

Flavor: Taste leads off with resin and grassy notes, giving way to sour peach, pear, funk, tropical fruits.  Hoppy, floral, herbal, black currants, grape skins, light cereal note.

Mouthfeel: Light creamy texture from the oats, tart, stingy on the

tongue (high carbonation), dry finish, light bitterness to balance (who says you get know IBUs from the whirlpool).  Not too thin as most 100% Brett beers can be.

Overall: Not bad for my first attempt at 100% Brett beer and an ISA.  Hops could use a boost, and the grassiness of the dry hops could go away (tip, don't dry hop cold again).  Lots of flavor, tons of fruit, big aroma.  Could use a bit more resin and pine in the mix to help balance out all that fruit.  

Recipe #48: Release the Panic (Session Brett Wheat IPA)

I have really wanted to get into single strain 100% Brett fermentations for awhile now.  I did a Brett L Oud Bruin in Spring that was supposedly mixed with some Lacto (no lactic acid in the beer though), and I have wanted to brew a hoppy Brett beer as the fruitiness of the Brett is a great compliment to fruity hops.  Seeing as this is a split batch with a Session White IPA I don't really want a super fruity beer for this batch so I did a larger addition of Chinook to get a substantial amount of Pine with the Simcoe in there as well.

I decided to mash a little higher than normal for this beer since it is a smaller beer.  I didn't want it to end up in the lower single digits on the FG and be thin, especially since Brett beers typically lack body.  The high percentage of flaked products, the flaked oats, and the higher levels of Chloride compared to Sulfate should make for a decent finish on this batch even if the FG dips a little lower.