Sour Belgian Dubbel Project

For the past three years I have been getting together with my friend Jesse to brew some sort of sour beer. We always brew some sort of a 10 gallon batch of Belgian Ale, and then split the batch. One half ferments out with a standard Belgian ale strain, the second half we then transfer to a secondary and send it through some sort of extended fermentation to sour the beer.

Today we got together and bottled last years version. See the summary here. In addition we brewed this years batch. A more traditional style Belgian Dubbel. For the "sour" half we plan to transfer into secondary in about 7-10 days and sour using Wyeast 3763 Roselare Blend yeast. In addition we plan to incorporate some sort of oak into the process, potentially Cabernet soaked french oak...but we are still working out those details. Well here is the recipe.

10 Gallon Batch
90 Minute Boil

Grains
21 lbs of Belgian Pilsner Malt
2 lbs of Munich Malt
2 lbs of Weyerman Pale Wheat Malt
1 lb Aromatic Malt
1 lb Caravienne Malt
1 lb Special B Malt

Hop/Sugar Additions:
2.5 oz Styrian Goldings [4.6% ] (60 min)
0.5 oz Sytrian Goldings [4.6% ] (30 min)
1 oz Saaz, Czech [3.2 %] (15 min)
1 oz Saaz, Czech [3.2 %] (0 min) Hops
2.00 lb Candi Sugar (Dark Candi Inc Liquid) - end of boil

Yeast
Wyeast 1762 (2 packs with starter)

Numbers

Pre-Boil Gravity = 1.050 (takes into account just the grain bill)
OG = 1.082
FG = 1.015
ABV = 9%
IBU = 22

We had a little better efficiency than I was expecting and our OG was a little higher then expected. Might put the ABV just outside of the style guidelines, although a 9% Belgian Dubbel should be fine especially since we will be controlling the initial fermentation temp below 70.

Mash
8 gallons @ 152 for 90 minutes. As you can see from the picture above...we were pushing the limit on my all grain cooler system with 28 lbs of grain. If I brewed this again I would probably cut back the Pilsner malt to 18 lbs.

Sparge
10 gallons @ 200 for 60 minutes

Below is a photo of our Belgian Single Project (...which we were saying today is more like a Belgian Sour Blonde project). Will have to see what some carbonation does to the final soured version of the beer. My initial thought is the brett is certainly there, the beer is as dry as a bone, it just didn't turn out super sour/funky. I still think it's going to be one nice tasting beer though.

Christmas Ale 2010

I forgot to post about the annual Christmas Ale I have brewed with my good friend Tommy G for the past 5 years. This years version has been brewed, fermented and is currently bottle conditioning. The brew day went pretty well, with one kind of somewhat major mistake. Hopefully that mistake doesn't have too much impact on the final beer. So, what was the mistake you ask? Well the recipe we designed calls for 2 lbs of brown sugar. I typically I buy 1 lb bags of brown sugar. This time around I didn't realize the bags I picked up were actually 2 lb bags. So we go ahead and empty the two bags into the last 10 minutes of the boil and then sit back to relax while the boil finishes. I'm sitting there a glance over at the bags we just put in the trash...2 lb value pack! Ughhh, oh well. So this years version has 4 lbs of brown sugar (in a 10 gallon batch). Initial taste shows that the beer dried out some more and may be a little thinner then we typically like. Our efficiency was a little off though so somehow the OG ended up around the same, with the FG dropping a little lower then expected. So who knows, could make for a fun Christmas.

Grains

22 lb of American Two Row
1 lb of Wheat Malt
1 lb of Crystal 20
1 lb of Crystal 80
1 lb of Victory
1/2 lb of Chocolate Malt
2 lb of Brown Sugar (Beet Sugar) (made a mistake and 4 lbs ended up in the kettle). Added the last 10 minutes of the boil.

3 lbs of Extra Light DME

Hops
1.5 oz of Tomahawk @ 60 minutes
1 oz of Amarillo @ 30 minutes
2 oz of Simcoe @ 15 minutes
2 oz of Simcoe @ KO

Spices
6 sticks of Cinnamon
2 Vanilla Bean Split
3 tsp of Nutmeg (Whole ground on brew day)
3 tsp of All Spice (Ground)
1 tsp of Madagascar Clove (Ground)
Zest of 6 Navel Oranges
All added at 1 minute left in boil.

Yeast

Wyeast 1028 London Ale Yeast – large starter. 2 packs

Targets
Pre-Boil Gravity = 1.051 (takes into account just the grain bill)
OG = 1.081
FG = 1.010-1-020
ABV = 8.2-9.5%
IBU = 34

All Grain Steps

Mash with 8 Gallons of Water @ 152 degrees. Hold as close to 152 as possible for one hour. Keep 1 gallon of cold water around to adjust temp.

Sparge with 10 Gallons of Water @ 200 degrees.

Final Numbers
OG = 1.079
FG = 1.015
ABV = 8.3%

Death Metal Malt Bill

Just the malt alone for this one looks great. Excited to brew it and even more excited to try it. Off to Wegmans for some Orange Blossom honey.

Death Metal Russian Imperial Stout

I'm brewing one of my favorite beers this weekend. One I haven't brewed in probably close to two years. A beer I have been calling "Death Metal"…a big bold Russian Imperial Stout. A beer that incorporates a bunch of American hops, honey, molasses, vanilla beans and coffee. I plan to brew on Sunday, starting early in the AM so if anyone is around and wants to stop by, feel free to.

6 Gallon batch

Malt
14 lbs of (2 Row) American
3 lbs of Maris Otter Pale Malt
1.5 lbs of Roasted Barley
0.5 lb of Black Patent
1 lb of Chocolate Malt
1 lb of Crystal 120
1 lb of Wheat Malt
1 lb of Flaked Oats

Adjuncts (added to boil kettle, last 5 minutes)
1 lb of Orange Blossom Honey
0.5 lb of Blackstrap Molasses

Hops
90 Minute Boil
4 oz of Columbus @ 60 minutes
2 oz of Citra @ 15 minutes (might use Centennial instead)
2 oz of Simcoe @ 5 minutes
2 oz of Amarillo @ 1 minute

Extras
1 Vanilla Bean 7 days in Fermenter
5 cups of ground coffee beans – cold pressed (see notes below)

Yeast
WLP001 – Large Starter using 2 vials

Mash/Sparge
90 Minutes at 152 Degrees F

Mash with 7.5 gallons of water
Fly Sparge with 5 gallons of water

Targets
Pre-Boil Gravity = 1.070
OG = 1.105
FG = 1.021
ABV = 11 %
IBU = 121

Fermentation Plan
Allow to ferment for two weeks as close to 68 degrees as possible. After 2 weeks add vanilla beans for an additional week. Should be ready to keg after 3 weeks. Check gravity and if in 1.020 range keg.

Transfer out of primary into keg and add coffee. Force carb and bottle.

Coffee Plan
Take 4-5 cups of Coffee Roasters Ethiopian Yrgacheffe coffee and do a course grind. Take a sanitized pot and added 3 quarts of water. Using a sanitized spoon mixed in coffee grinds. Covered pot and let sit in fridge for 24 hours. Using a sanitized French press to remove the grinds and poured the cold pressed coffee into the keg.

Sour Blonde Barrel Brew

Well this weekend was a brewing first for me (actually quite a number of firsts). Around 7am on Sunday I loaded up most of my brewing equipment onto a cart and pushed it up the street to my friend Vinces place. For a few months he had been talking about and working on obtaining a 55 gallon wine barrel. I have to admit when I first heard of the plan I was a bit skeptical but told him I would be in for helping fill it if he tracked down a useable barrel and was able to find the people to help fill it. Vince indeed tracked down a used red wine barrel from Manatawny Creek Winery in Douglassville, PA and organized for a group brew day.

Between a mix of 4 various all-grain brew systems we set out to brew 60+ gallons of a Belgian Blonde. Considering we brewed 60+ gallons of beer using a mix of the 4 systems the brew day went off without much of a hitch. A few moments of trouble shooting but considering the task at hand things went about a smoothly as we could have asked for. All said and done we had 45 gallons in a 55 gallon food grade plastic drum and 10+ gallons in two 14 gallon stainless steel conical fermentors in about 12 hours (also had most of the equipment cleaned up as well).

As for the recipe, each 10 gallon batch called for the following.

11 Gallon Batch
90 Minute Boil

Grain
22 lbs of Pilsner Malt
5 lbs of Wheat Malt
1 lb of Crystal 20
(yes that’s 160+ lbs of grain when you add up all the batches)

Hops
2 oz of Nelson Sauvin for 60 minutes (12% aa)

Yeast
Nate scored a huge pitch of what I believe is the Chimay yeast strain from Jean at Iron Hill Brewery in West Chester (they used it for a Belgian Quad).

Targets
OG = 1.065
FG = 1.005 (or lower)
IBUs = 33
ABV = ~ 8%

Barrel
As for the barrel, we plan to check the gravity in a week or two and see where we are at. The barrel will be filled when the beer gets in the 1.015-1.020 range since we want to make sure there is still a considerable amount of sugar around for the wild yeast to do it's job. The wild yeast…basically a slurry that was grown up from some Russian River barrel chips.

I brewed another DIPA about three weeks ago. Forgot to post a blog about it, will get some info up on it if it turns out. Up next I plan to brew my Death Metal Russian Imperial Stout and Christmas Ale 2010 in September.

Saison Recipe

It's been over a month…close to two months since I have been able to get a brew day in, I hope to change that this Saturday. This time around I plan to brew a Saison using some Citra and Nelson Sauvin hops in the finish. I'm going to brew a 10 gallon batch. Keg half of it and then bottle the other half. With the bottled version I plan to either bottle with Brettanomyces bruxellensis or I might add peaches and use the White Labs Belgian Sour Mix 1 although I'm not sure I'm willing to sit on this one for a year or two to let the magic happen.

Here is the recipe so far. If you have any feedback let me know. Also if you are around on Saturday and want to swing by just drop me an email.

Grains
20 lbs of Pilsner Malt (77.7%)
1.75 lbs of Wheat Malt (6.8%)
1.25 lbs of Munich Malt (4.9%)
0.25 lbs of Caramunich (1%)

2.5 lbs of Corn Sugar (9.7%)

Hops
4 oz of Styrian Goldings (5.2% AA) for 60 Minutes
1 oz of Citra at KO
1 oz of Nelson Sauvin at KO

Yeast
WLP568 Belgian Style Saison Ale Yeast Blend (2 vials and large starter)

Targets
Pre-Boil Gravity = 1.042
OG = 1.063
FG = 1.018
ABV = 5.9%
IBU = 29

Mash
147 F for 90 minutes

Boil
90 Minute Boil

Beer Travels May 2010

Sorry for the lack of updates, been a busy few months and I haven't been doing a whole lot of brewing. I did bring home a few medals at the local homebrew competition BUZZ OFF held at the Iron Hill in West Chester PA. I plan to eventually get a quick summary of that event up shortly. Also plan to get back to some brewing in August and well into the Fall.

However I did want to share is a bunch of photo albums from a few breweries I was able to visit recent. A family vacation brought me to Southern California and a work conference brought me to Denver Colorado. So of course I worked in a number of brewery tours while traveling and here are the photo albums. Enjoy!

Stone Brewery - Escondido, CA

Ballast Point Brewery - San Diego, CA

The Lost Abbey - San Marcos, CA

The Bruery - Placentia, CA

New Belgium Brewery - Fort Collins, CO

Odell Brewing - Fort Collins, CO

Left Hand Brewery - Longmont, CO

Oskar Blues - Lyons, CO - The original Oskar Blues location

Oskar Blues - Longmont, CO - New restaurant and Production Brewery

Avery Brewery - Boulder, CO

Great Divide - Denver, CO

Brooklyn Brewery - Brooklyn, NY - Yes I somehow even managed a trip to Brooklyn in.