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.

Strong Sour

Usually my brews are well thought out. Use X yeast, pitch Y million cells per milliliter, and ferment at Z temperature, etc. In my quest to brew an astonishingly strong sour, no such approach existed. All the commercially available bacteria from major yeast suppliers have alcohol tolerances that peak around 8-10% ABV. The brettanomyces strains are capable of surviving in a much higher alcohol environment, working in conjunction with pediococcus to achieve super attenuation.

Most commercial strong sours are a product of blending, or rely on the acidity from fruit such as sour cherries. Blending was an option for this project, but even with blending you hit an ABV ceiling. If you are planning to blend a 13% old ale with some pale sour solera of a modest 6%, say 3 parts to 1, you are already at 11.25%.

Rodenbach foeder forest

There are straight, unblended strong sours that exist, such as Rodenbach Vin de Cereale, which is a product of a single foeder that's been aging for 3+ years. Some of these giant oak casks are 150 years old, so there is plenty of alcohol tolerant bugs that have evolved in this time living in the wood. Too bad the average home brewer doesn't have the luxury of a 150 year old foeder in their arsenal.

I chose to throw everything I had in my arsenal at this one. A healthy 3 liter starter of WLP670 American Farmhouse Ale was the primary pitch. This was co-pitched with a plethora of brett and bugs. Every commercially available strain of brett blended with a WLP566 Saison II and WLP530 Abbey Ale (from a previous brew), a fresh smack pack of Wyeast pedio, and an 8 week old starter of 20+ commercial bottle dregs. I am confident given enough time there is something in there that will get this beer where I want it, and if not, there's always blending.


Strong Sour - (brewed 5/26/13)

Size: 5.5 gal
Boil: 7.5 gal
Yeast: See above.
OG: 1.111

Grist

18 lbs. Maris Otter
3 lbs. Flaked Oats
3 lbs. Flaked Wheat

Kettle Additions

1.2 oz. Magnum @ 50 minutes for 17 IBUs
1 1/4 lbs. Dark Brown Sugar @ 30 minutes
1 1/4 lbs. Table Sugar @ 30 minutes

More beer ghosts popping up in my glasses!

-Mashed at 148F for 60 minutes. Aerated 2 minutes pure oxygen.
-Pitched at 70F, fermenting in the 68-70F range for first three days.
-Day four, temp dropping to 66F, added heat to finish out fermentation.

Updates

6/3/13: SG: 1.040

6/11/13: SG: 1.020

10/23/13: SG: 1.007, racked to secondary. There is actually already some lactic sourness developing, tastes like and imperial oud bruin, but too sweet for me still.

1/17/14: SG: 1.007. Really surprised to see no drop in gravity almost 3 months since the last reading! On the other hand, maybe not that unexpected since the ABV is sitting at 13.7% right now (93% apparent attenuation). The exciting part, however, is that it has developed more complexity and lost most of the sweetness I tasted last time. There are a few different levels of sourness (more tart than straight sour) on the front and back with the lactic in the middle, creating more depth. Definite alcohol warmth. The nose and finish really reminds me of some big bourbon barrel strong ales/sours. A tiny amount of astringency (in the finish mostly), as Jeff said he has detected in some of his strong sours in the comments below. This is probably contributing to the perceived barrel character. So far, my expectations have been exceeded.

New Zealand IPA

What makes this IPA from New Zealand? The hops, of course. I finally got my hands on some Nelson Sauvin and Pacifica hops (both NZ varietals) and could not resist brewing up an IPA with them. Nelson Sauvin is a new world, dual-purpose varietal and is one of the more sought after, in vogue hops on the market today. Typical descriptors include Sauvignon Blanc character, overpowering fruitiness and tropical. The Pacifica is an aroma hop with direct lineage to Hallertau Mittlefruh. New Zealand Hops Limited says this of Pacifica: "Orange marmalade aptly describes the citrus aroma notes achieved through late addition." This combination seemed right up my ally and has promise of some new, interesting flavors for an IPA. I did also receive a pound of Motueka, but decided to leave these out so I could really pick out the different Nelson and Pacifica flavors and aromas. 

For this brew I again employed the hop stand technique I have been using for my IPAs as of late. The last version of Hop Glop had tremendous hop flavor, probably the best I have ever achieved, but the bitterness was far too much. I had mistakenly used a large 60 minute bittering addition along side the 30 minute flavor hop stand. I must have gotten around 40 IBUs from the flavor hop stand because the overall perceived IBUs were off the charts, for my taste anyways. This time I skipped the bittering addition all together, and opted for only a flavor and aroma hop stand addition. I calculated the flavor addition's IBUs as roughly that of normal 20 minute boil addition. 


New Zealand IPA

Size: 5.5 gal
Boil: 7.5 gal
Yeast: WLP001 California Ale ~235 billion cells
Efficiency: 75%

Grist

12 lbs. Pale 2-row
1 lb. Carapils
3/16 lb. Caramel 60

Hops

1.5 oz. Nelson Sauvin (11.4% AAU) @ flavor stand & aroma stand
1.5 oz. Pacifica (6.1% AAU) @ flavor stand & aroma stand
=> ~54 IBUs

-Mashed at 152F for 60 minutes. Mash pH = 5.2. Boiled 60 minutes. Added the flavor stand hops at flame out  gave a quick whirlpool stir and set lid on boil kettle. Flavor hops steeped for 30 minutes, temperature dropped to 195F. 
-Chilled to 170F and added aroma stand addition. Left burner flame on extremely low to maintain temperature in the 170-160F range. 
-Aerated 60 seconds pure oxygen.
-Pitched at 72F (ground water warming up). Set temp controller to 66F, wort had chilled to 66F by bedtime.
-OG: 1.064

5/23/13: temp raised to 68F, fermentation continues in the 68-70F range.
6/5/13: Racked to secondary onto 1.5 ounces each of Nelson Sauvin and Pacifica. SG: 1.010

Prunus Cerasus (Kriek) Tasting

I brewed this farmhouse beer at the end of June of 2012. A month after primary fermentation I racked 4 gallons of it onto fresh tart cherries harvested locally (for free!). The 10 lbs  were frozen to break the cell walls, no sanitation step otherwise. This gives us 2.5 lbs./gal, which I feel ended up close to perfect for this beer. Final gravity was 1.006 when racked onto fruit, giving this a dangerously drinkable 8.53% abv. The ABV was probably further boosted by the sugar from the cherries, though how much, I do not know.

Prunus Cerasus

Appearance: Fluffy, rocky head that almost looks tinted pink in the right light (I might be imagining things). Deep ruby red with orange highlights when held up to the light. Perfect amount of haze and glow for a farmhouse beer. A few centimeters of head last until the end. This is a damn attractive beer.

Smell: Complex. Mixture of bright citrus fruits from the brett and tart cherries, followed by a distinctive spiciness, maybe from the saison yeast. They all meld to give a distinct pie like aroma, over-ripe/cooked fruit.

Looks great in this Duchesse glass!

Taste: Similar to the smell. Great tart brett flavors melded with the cherries. Not as much spice as the nose, nor as much of the freshly cooked pie. Mostly tart cherry/brett up front with a slight sour/lactic finish. Unsure if this is solely from the fruit, or if there were some contributions from surviving microbes on the cherries. A definite pucker, with low tannin in the finish, fits well.

Mouthfeel: Medium light body, not thin. Medium high carbonation with a slight prickle.

Overall: Really impressed at how this turned out. The distinct pie like spice and fruitiness is a mystery to me. I think I will chalk it up to a combination of brett, saison yeast, and it being on fresh fruit for 8+ months (with possibly the latter contributing the most). It has a great balance of fruit and beer, the cherries do not over power the base, and the brett really comes through.

It will be hard to keep this one on for long, I will probably bottle most of it.

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