Dedalus Old Stout.

Ulysses is a book that I first tried to read once about seven or eight years ago. I had read that it was widely considered the best book every written in the English language, and I decided I therefore had to read it.
My first attempt didn't go so well. I took it on our family vacation to North Cackalacka and even with making a fair amount of notes in the book (for me), I didn't make it much past page 40. If that even. It is a very intricate, complicated, and almost strenuous book to read.
Now I have gotten back on the horse. I decided that now was the time. Today I passed my previous high mark, the third chapter, where Stephen walks on the beach and nearly all of the book is his inner thoughts and memories. I am now about to start chapter four and I feel pretty confident in my ability to finish the book this time around. Two tries on Ulysses is not too bad from my understanding.
The beer is an experiment as many of my brews are these days. An attempt at perhaps a modern day historical stout. The beer is fermented on oak, solely with Brettanomyces. A portion of the beer was boiled separately, without hops, and is being fermented a bit by Lactobacillus. This will be pasteurized and added back to the main wort in the future.
It is well know that Guinness adds a portion of soured beer to their blend to give it the unique 'tang'. I have read that is around 3%. Mine will be around 10%. We'll see how it goes.
Dedalus Old Stout.
9.5 lb pale British malt
1 lb black patent
1 lb dark crystal
1.5 oz Styrian Goldings pellet @ 90 min
1 oz Styrian Goldings pellet @ 15 min
Wyeast 5112 Brettanomyces Bruxellensis
2/1/11- Mash at 156 for 90 min. At sparging, kept first two quarts separate and boiled for ten minutes before cooling in some snow outside. Once this got down to around 80 degrees, I added a handful of reserved crushed grain to introduce Lactobacillus. This all went into a 2 qt mason jar with plastic wrap on the surface of the wort to prevent it from reacting with oxygen. This has my heating pad on low wrapped around it, as Lacto likes to ferment warm.
The remainder of the beer was boiled for 90 min with noted hop additions. Once chilled, racked to primary fermentor with .5 oz washed med toast Hungarian oak cubes and .5 oz new Hungarian oak cubes. Added the brett from a starter originating on Saturday.

A sour brew day and improvements to the brewery.

Well, I have made some recent improvements to my brewery. The first seen above is the purchase of some bulk hops. Lately I have been having trouble finding what I wanted at my local home brew store, so I did some reading and went to hopsdirect.com and ordered five pounds of hops. The price at my local hbs has also been a factor, as I have been paying 3+ dollars an ounce for hops.
Including shipping, I am looking at 76 cents an ounce for the hops I got. Not bad. Of course the bad thing is that you can only buy in pound or more increments. I got hops that work with the styles I like to brew and if I do need anything else, I can get them by the ounce at the hbs.
The next, seen above, is a cajun cooker. I got it from a seller on Ebay, but they can be found all over. It is a portable outdoor propane powered burner. One of the major problems I was having with my stove was boiling 5+ gallons of liquid. I had to keep a lid on the pot to get it to boil and keep it boiling. So this 185000 BTU burner should really help there. Today I would say it boiled around 7 gallons in maybe 20 min. Not bad!
And last, a larger brew pot! This is actually an old keg I obtained and cut the top off of using my angle grinder. This way I can do all the boiling in one pot. I have been splitting my all grain batches into a 6 gallon and a 5 gallon pot. It's worked fine so far, but has been annoying.
And onto the brew....
I have been reading a ton about traditional styles made in Belgium, but about those made in America? Unfortunately, much of our brewing history was lost in the great experiment. After prohibition ended, the lager style that is still popular today came in and took over everything.
One style that has been resurrected is California common, which is now brewed by Anchor as Anchor Steam beer. Brewed with lager yeast, but at ale temperatures, this style is a take off on beer that was brewed during the gold rush in the 1800's.
Another style, which I have tackled today, is called Kentucky common. Unfortunately, there are no producers of this style today. My goal was to brew an interpretation of what I understand this style to be using modern ingredients.
So what is it? What I can find -
-Brownish in color
-25-30 IBU's
-25-30% corn
-A percentage of soured malt
-Starting gravity of 1.040-1.050
With that in mind(and knowing what is used in whiskeys in the area), here is what I came up with.
6lb 13oz American 6 row pale malt
2lb flaked maize
1lb flaked rye
3oz chocolate malt
4oz rice hulls
1 oz Northern Brewer pellet @ 60 min
.5oz Amarillo leaf @15 min
.5oz Amarillo leaf @ 2 min
.5oz Amarillo leaf dry hop @ 1 week to bottling.
Wyeast 1056 - American ale
Estimated og - 1.051
Measured ig - 1.005
Final gravity- 1.004
6.25% Abv
92% Apparent attenuation
75% Actual attenuation
32 IBU
4/27/10- Mashed 2 or so pounds of the barley with 6 oz of corn and 3 oz of rye (approx 30% of grain bill) boiled for 60 min. Mashed at 145ish for 90 min. The temp pretty much varied from the low 150s to high 130s during that time. Let this cool down to 120 and then added a handful of grain to introduce lactobacillus. Left this in a cooler overnight to sour.
4/28/10- Boiled the corn and rye with water, burnt to the bottom of the pan a bit, but didn't taste bad. Mashed with remaining barley and rice hulls at 147 for 90 min, added sour mash to this (smelled alot like yogurt as lacto is one of the main bacteria in that) and sparged with 5 gal of 170 degree water. Dropped and broke my hydrometer again. Argh. I need to keep it in one of the lower cabinets. Boiled for 90 min, added to fermenter, straining through a bit of additional Amarillo hops, pitched yeast. At this point it tastes very sweet from the mash, but has a nice sour twang to it, as well as a definite hoppiness. Maybe more than I like. But we shall see.
I used my new burner and pot today. I managed to get a boil over from 7 gallons of wort in a 15.5 gallon pot. Go me. Also that pot when full is pretty heavy. Also the bottom gets very hot and I burnt a few circles into one of our rugs. I didn't even think about that since I have always set my other pot down and nothing happened. Oh well, now I know. I can just spray it down with the hose before I bring it in to cool it. Also installing a tap on the pot would be a great idea. I think once I get used to this system, my brew days will be shorter, though I still ran about 7 hours today. I had gotten used to my two pot boiling system, inefficient though it was.
5/4/10- Racked to secondary (5 gal better bottle). I got a new hydrometer that I hopefully won't drop for awhile. Gravity is at 1.005 which I guess is somewhat lower than I expected but at the low end of the range for what the yeast is capable of. Tastes pretty good, hoppy with a nice carmelly malt finish. Doesn't taste all that sour though. I have some plans forming for another sour mash beer though...
Racked to the secondary fermenter.
Intermediate gravity before racking. I think I will also dry hop this beer. The color looks like it should be a nice copper to red so I got that right at least.
5/11/10- Added .5 oz of Amarillo leaf to dry hop, plan to bottle in a week. Tasting more sour now possibly...
5/18/10- Bottled today with 5 oz of corn sugar boiled in a pint of water, should give me just under 3 volumes of co2. I added a jar of washed b. lambicus to half of the beer. I am thinking this will ferment some of the added sugars and help give it a more rustic taste. I am sure sanitation wasn't what it is today in the 1800's.
At this point I would say it tastes pretty good, though not really all that sour. I get a slight sour tinge right at the end. But it is a good American ale, nice hoppiness, and nice flavor. Despite the low ending gravity, I still find a good malty flavor/sweetness. I think my next sour mash beer will undergo souring in a different container and for a longer period of time. I feel adjusting those two things will give me the more sour taste I am looking for.
After being dry hopped for a week.
Final gravity.
Onto the priming sugar.
In bottles. I got 36/12 oz and 8.5 bombers of around 20 oz. Split that evenly between brett and non brett.Light through a clear bottle. Looks like I did get the nice rich red color I was after.
6/2/10- First tasting of the brett side.

First tasting - Grisette.

A grisette.

Light golden ale, lots of streaming carbonation, little head surviving. Initial aroma of fruity yeast, light oak, little perceptible hop aroma. Tastes much the same. Forward fruitiness, oak after taste(some vanilla/toastiness), more perceptible hop, light astringency, very dry. The dryness is not surprising, as this beer ended up at 1.001, only .001 point above the specific gravity of water. Actually pretty good flavor while still staying very light. I am sure this will be majorly refreshing on a hot summer day, especially after a bike ride or climbing session.
I guess I have pretty much accomplished what I wanted to do with this one. In the future, I would avoid using oak chips and stick with oak cubes. I feel the chips do impart flavor too quickly and it is a bit one dimensional..

Saison.

I recently started a batch of Saison. My goal with this one was not to clone Dupont or something else commercially available (though they are delicious!), but to make something that might be historically accurate as to what this beer once tasted like.
From Yvan De Baets/Farmhouse Ales:
-amber color
-dominate sourness (primarily lactic) or bitterness with a sour side
-wine like character
-marked by brettanomyces, notes of 'old barrel' present
-well attenuated
-subtle spicy nuances, citrusy hop aroma
-subtle fruity aspect
-dry and astringent mouthfeel
-well rounded character
-4.5 to 6.5% abv
-fermented at least partially by wild yeasts as well as cultured
With this in mind, I wrote the following recipe:
9 lb 1 oz Belgian pale malt
15 oz white wheat malt
6 oz German vienna
1.25 oz East Kent Goldings pellet @ 60 min
.25 oz Challenger pellet @ 60 min
.75 oz Hersbrucker pellet @ 60 min
.5 oz East Kent Goldings pellet @ 15 min
1 oz Willamette pellet @ 1 min
.25 tsp Irish moss @ 15 min
3711 French Saison
5526 Brettanomyces Lambicus
3763 Roeselare Blend
Estimated og - 1.057 (broke my hydro, so no actual reading)
Estimated fg - 1.010
Currently at - 1.008
The varied hops are based on what I had as well as what was available at my local homebrew supply store. They seemed a bit low on many things that day.
3/17/10- Used a decoction mash for this one. In this method, a part of the main mash is brought out and boiled and then added back to the main mash to create the temperature gains. In the formula used to determine how much to pull out, I used 212 as boiling, which is not what water boils at here! Well, I learned a lesson.
Mash in at 124 for 30 min, 144 for 30 min, 154 for 15 min, 165 mash off. Sparged with around 6 gal of 170 deg water. Boiled with hops, cooled, and added to yeast cake from my Grisette. Vigorous fermentation by morning. One day at room temp (65 or so) then into a water bath at 82 degrees for a week.
3/25/10- Gravity at 1.008. Racked into secondary onto yeast from my wild ale (b. lambicus). Added Roeselare blend yeast plus 1 oz heavy toast French oak cubes boiled in 5 changes of water and soaked in port for several days.

Saison on right, Grisette on left.
4/1/10- I was going to let this go a bit longer before having a taste, but after sampling my Grisette, decided to head in tonight. Brett character is already apparent, no sourness as of yet though. Still tastes fine as far as oak level is concerned. Quite an active fermentation is still going on. I can see tons of bubbles streaming up near the top of the carboy.
4/11/10- Had a little taste today. The Brett character seems to have lessened, but is still there. Definitely developing some sourness at this point. Still very actively fermenting, with streaming bubbles visible inside the carboy. Definitely going to be something special when it is done.
5/7/10- Tasted a few days ago. It is interesting to see the character of this beer change as it ages. It is now at nearly two months in the fermenter. The brett is lessening, there is a nice bitterness, and it is developing an aged flavor. The only negative I see at this point is a definite alcohol taste on the end, though that will change between now and whenever it goes in a bottle. And when will that be? I was planning on the end of this month, but at this point it could still be several months. This may be a beer for next summer.
5/18/10- I have been adding the dregs of some commercial sours/wild beers to help create a more diverse fermentation environment. Here is what it looks like today. You can't see it in this, but it looks like there is a small pellicle starting to form.
6/4/10- Fermentation seems to have slowed down, but there are still many bubbles coming up through the beer. I mentioned I have added the dregs of several commercial beers. Those would be Petrus Aged Pale, Etienne Dupont Cider, New Belgium la Folie (though I have read it is filtered, there was a sediment in the bottle), and Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze. By my count there are around 20+ different organisms now fermenting this beer. A definite pellicle has formed and it has a sour aroma. May be able to bottle in another month or two?
4/16/11- Finally bottled with 3 oz corn sugar. According to my initial estimate and end measurement, this beer is 7.6% abv (or so). Tastes good, amber color, light sourness, bitterness, apply aroma. We'll see how it tastes when it has carbonated!

Grisette.

Summer is coming and will be here before we know it. With this in mind, I wanted to move to brewing some paler and more refreshing beers.
Amazingly, I only had my first bottle of Saison Dupont a few months ago, but loved it. I read Farmhouse Ales, and in it a beer similar to a modern Saison but of lower alcohol was discussed. This beer is a Grisette. There seems to be little idea of how it came to be called that (gris meaning grey in French), but it was brewed specifically to quench the thirst of the miners working in that region of Belgium.
Expect to see many of the fruity and peppery flavors found in a Saison, but an alcohol content of 3.5-5%. Light bitterness, light hop aroma. Sounds perfect for a hot day. I wanted to get it started now since I will age it for a month or so before I bottle.
5 lb Pilsner malt
2 lb white wheat malt
3 oz acidulated malt
3 oz light crystal
4 oz biscuit
1 oz Hallertauer pellet @ 60 min
.25 oz Kent Goldings @ 60 min
16g Kent Goldings @ 15 min
12g Kent Goldings @ 2 min
.25 tsp Irish moss @ 15 min
3711 Wyeast French Saison
Target og- 1.042
Actual og- 1.028???? Not sure how this happened...
Currently- 1.001
Actual fg- 1.001
3.6% abv
96% apparent attenuation!!!
79% actual attenuation
3/10/10- Rest at 123 for 30 min, rest at 138 for 15 min (didn't have enough water to reach 145 yay for maf!), rest at 145 for 45 min. Sparge with 4 gal 170 deg water. Boil for 90 min. First hop addition after 30 min, second and irish moss at 15 min left, 3rd at 2 min left. Chill, add to fermenter, top off with water to get over 5 gal volume (maybe too much water here changed the gravity), pitch yeast. Happily and rapidly bubbling away the next morning. In a 78 degree water bath.

My mash tun.

Adding yeast.

Og.
3/17/10- To secondary and .5 oz heavy toast French oak cubes and .5 oz light toast French oak chips boiled in 5 changes of water. Very clear at this point. Broke my hydrometer today so no gravity reading. At room temperature 66-68 degrees.
3/24/10- Noting some bubbles on the surface.
3/25/10- New hydro, gravity at 1.001. This yeast is a beast! Tastes good, fruity, peppery, hops come through.
4/1/10- Tasted tonight. The oak is definitely coming through, getting close to too much. I will probably bottle this next week. Hopefully I can collect a ton of bottles before then. Added .5 oz Willamette Goldings leaf hops for a dry hop finish.

Dry hops.
4/7/10- Bottled today with 3.8 oz corn sugar, aiming for 2.5+ volumes of co2. Got around 4.25 gallons, so I will get a higher carbonation than that even, hopefully not into the range of bottles bursting. At 3.6% abv with a light hoppiness and some oaky character, this should be a nice summer beer once it carbonates.
4/16/10- The yeast dropped out pretty quickly and it was clear within 2-3 days after bottling. Had my first tasting tonight.