Dozered - American Farmhouse

Today I had big plans to brew a low strength, pale, dry American Farmhouse. My plans took a turn when I mistakenly added one pound of Carawheat malt instead of a quarter pound to my grist. I decided to just go ahead with the brew anyways, and increased the base malt up to Super Saison status. Basically, the whole brew day morphed into a weird chance for experimentation, so reserve judgement. Who knows, this could be the best damn beer anyone has every tasted!

I have used WLP670 a number of times in the past, and really liked the results. It is a saison yeast (saison II?) with a brettanomyces strain (brett C?) and supposedly hails from Lost Abbey. My soon to be tapped kriek is tasting awesome at 10 months and used this strain.  I made a couple other Saisons last year with it and they all turned out great.  The one I bottled continues to get better and better. Your patience will be rewarded with this strain.

I had been fermenting in the 68-70F range in the past with this yeast, but decided to ferment high this time, being that this has turned experimental. The final change to my normal habits came in my brewing water. I jacked up the bicarbonate level to about triple what I normally use, but not nearly as high as historic Saison brewing water.

Saison with WLP Saison Blend

Dozered - American Farmhouse - (4/22/13)

Size: 5.5 gal
Boil: 7.0 gal
Yeast: WLP670 - American Farmhouse Blend, ~ 217 billion cells

Water

Ca: 125.0 ppm            Cl: 89.8 ppm                
Mg: 2.0 ppm                SO4: 188.4 ppm
Na: 42.0 ppm              HCO: 110.26 ppm
Cl to SO4 ratio: 2.1

Grist

12 lbs. Pale US 2-Row (1.7L)
1 lb. Wheat Malt (2L)
1 lb. Carawheat (45L)
1 lb. Wheat, Flaked (1.6L)

Crazy hot break from all that wheat!

Hops

0.50 oz. Chinook @ 60 mins
1.00 oz. Chinook @ 15 mins
2.50 oz. Chinook @ 0 mins

-Mashed @ 146F for 75 minutes. Mash pH 5.2. Aerated for 60 seconds with pure O2. Pitched at 74F. Temperature control set to 74F.
-OG: 1.071.

A rare bluebird brew day in Corvallis, OR

Brett Porn

Batch of American Farmhouse originally brewed in early February for a local competition. Just tasted it about a week ago and opened it up to this mega funk porn:

Brettanomyces Pellicle. Yep, this is how funky beers are made.

Did not seem ready to me, so I figured I would let it ride and enter something else.

Ramstein Hefeweizen

One of my favorite styles to brew for the warmer months is a authentic Hefeweizen.  In my opinion, it's the German counterpart to the Belgian or French Saison style. Yes, there is the Radler, the Berliner Weisse, and the Gose, which could probably make a good argument as well, but for me, it's the Hefeweizen. It's thirst quenching, relatively dry, light, and has a solid body from generous dosing of wheat. Not only this, the profile is dominated by an expressive yeast, throwing the classic banana/clove aromas and flavors, with the hops are in the background, just like a Saison. Although the flavors and aromas vary greatly to that of a Saison, the connections can be made.

I've been brewing this recipe for a number of batches now, but I should give most of the credit to Edwort over at www.homebrewtalk.com for the inspiration. I usually stick with a similar grist, changing the hops around with what's available and appropriate. I have only used WLP300 (which is supposedly the Weihenstephan yeast, enough said) with this recipe, and it throws the flavors and aromas you would expect from a German Hefeweizen yeast. I purposely underpitched by about 22% to stress the yeast out a bit, and get some of those great, classic Hefe flavors and aromas. This, along with a consistent fermentation temperature will get the result I am looking for.

Sticky wheat mash

Ramstein

Size: 5.5 gal
Boil: 7.5 gal (90 min)
Yeast: WLP300 ~153 billion cells

Water

Ca: 94.4 ppm                         Cl: 94.7 ppm
Mg: 1.9 ppm                          SO4: 105.2 ppm
Na: 15.8                                HCO: 41.13 ppm




Grist

6.25 lbs. Wheat Malt (Weyerman)
4.50 lbs. Pilsner (Weyerman)

-Mashed at 153F for 90 minutes. New false bottom not filtering too well, should have used rice hulls.

Hops

1.00 oz. Hallertau (5.2%) @ 45 min & 15 min, ~15 IBUs (these hops are 6 months old)

Post Boil

-Aerated 60 seconds pure O2. Pitched @ 70F. Set temperature control to 68F. OG was a high at 1.056, diluted with distilled to 1.051.
-Ramped the temperature up to 70F after 24 hours.

Hop Glop

Iteration number (?) of my house IPA, in which I change yeast strains and hop profiles. I have been experimenting with different hopping techniques to get that punch-you-in-the-face hop aroma and a more smooth bitter flavor. The last few batches I had been hop bursting, playing with different addition amounts and times during chilling. Inspired by a recent BYO article on hop stands which provided more specific technical information on "whirlpool" hopping at home, I decided to give it a shot. Essentially, a hop stand is meant to mimic that of a commercial breweries whirlpool addition. A number of top IPAs in the country utilize a only a bittering charge (whether from hops or extract) and a large whirlpool addition.

The linked BYO article is a great read and has plenty of information worth absorbing. I am not going to further explain the technique, since I will most likely end up regurgitating what's in the BYO article close to verbatim. If you are looking for more specifics, refer to the article.  I utilized the "flavor" hop stand in the 212°F to 190°F range and the "aroma" hop stand in the 170°F to 160°F range (sub-isomerization). 

Enjoying a 100% Mosaic Hop Glop out of my favorite glass

Hop Glop

Size: 5.5 gal
Boil: 7.75 gal (75 min) 
Efficiency: 75%
WLP 001 - 244 billion cells 

Water  

Ca: 130.7 ppm          Cl: 88.3 ppm
Mg: 1.9 ppm             SO4: 201 ppm
Na: 15.8 ppm            Cl to SO4 ratio: 2.3



Grain

12 lbs. Pale US 2-row (1.7 L)
1 lbs. Carapils (1.7 L)
1/4 lb. Caramunich II (55 L)

-Mashed @ 152°F for 90 minutes. Over sparged, resulted in longer boil (75 min). Grain bed hit 170°F. 
-Mash pH = 5.2.

Hops

1 oz. Columbus (15.1%) @ 75 min for 47 IBUs
1 oz. each of Columbus (15.1%), Amarillo (8.5%) and Simcoe (14.1%) @ "flavor" hop stand for 30 minutes and "aroma" hop stand for 15 minutes and dry hop.


-Pitched @ 74°F (Since getting my fancy new thermowell I've noticed the internal temperature of the wort can vary by as much as 2-4°F to that of what is on the fermometer on the outside of the fermentor)! This temp was the internal temp of the center of the wort, whereas I thought I was pitching at 70°F.
-Aerated 60 seconds pure oxygen.

OG: 1.067