Split Batch Wild Farmhouse

The next for or five posts will be a backlog of brews, as I have been busy with school, work & interning. The first things to get cut when you are this busy are blogging and laundry.

The goal for this beer was to create a pretty standard saison grain bill, then split the secondary fermentation. Primary fermentation yeast was the same for both beers, Wyeast 3711 French Saison, which I feel results in a really nice, rustic, peppery farmhouse profile. Batch 1 fermentor would get a pitch of White Labs Brettanomyces claussenii in secondary and Batch 2 would also get Brett c. along with a smack pack of Wyeast Pediococcus.

Enjoying one of Ivan's outdoor open fermented farmhouse

Brett c. gives off awesome tropical aromas and flavors, with pineapple & mango usually most prominent from my experience with it. Pediococcus is a lactic acid producing bacteria, which also throws a lot of diacetyl (butterscotch off flavor/aroma) as a by-product. Luckily, brett will take that diacetyl and turn it into wonderful flavors and aromas.

I'm interested to see how Batch 2 will result for a sour beer. Up to this point, all my sours have had a plethora of different organisms, whether it be a sour blend from one of the big yeast companies, or from bottle dregs. I really wanted to see the results of a pitch of only pedio and brett.

I'm not yet sure what the long term plan is for both beers. Batch 2 will definitely require a year of aging for the pedio and brett to work on the souring process. I think Batch 1 will most likely be bottle conditioned, and savored for a few years to come.

Recipe - Split Batch Wild Farmhouse (brewed 9/19/13)

Size: 11 gal
Boil: 13 gal
IBUs: 37
OG: 1.050

16 lbs. 2-row (Rahr)
2 lbs. Wheat Malt (Weyerman)
1/2 lb. Caramunich III (Weyerman 55L)
1/4 lb. Acid Malt

3/4 oz. Sorachi Ace (14.7% AAU) @ 60 min, 1 1/4 oz. @ 20 min, and 1 oz. @ Flameout

-Mashed at 154 F for 60 minutes. Double batch sparged with 4 gallons each after collecting 5 gallons first runnings.
-Aerated 60 seconds with oxygen stone.
-Fermented in chamber at 80 F.

9/27/13: Moved inside at 65F ambient.

10/19/13: Racked both to secondary. SG: 1.004, fermented dryer than intended. Will add some malto-dextrin to feed the brett/pedio.

• Batch 1 got 3 cups of Brett C. starter into secondary.
• Batch 2 got smack pack of pedio and 3 cups of Brett C. starter.

10/23/19: Pelicles formed on both.
1/17/14: Batch 1 w/ Brett C only: pH = 4.12. SG: 1.002. Typical bright tropical Brett C. aromatics with pineapple dominant, slightly tart. Planning to bottle this sometime this week to open up some space for other batches.

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

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.