Monday, July 27, 2015

Buckwheat Saison - Round 1

In my constant learning and brewing of Saison I have developed a bit of an adventurous side when it comes to brewing.  Of course we all, as homebrewers, tend to go out of the box with what we do from time to time.  It's fun to experiment and the results can often be fantastic.  You can come up with something that you may not see commercially as it would be too much of a headache or too expensive.

I've always wanted to work with grains that weren't typical in brewing and weren't that readily available just to see what they would yield.  Buckwheat seems like a good choice to start with as there are some folks that have done some of the leg work already.  A couple of the blogs to the left even have some posts about their experiences with buckwheat.  Check them out as well!  Amos just had a new blog post on the subject of brewing with buckwheat.  You can take a look at his blog here.

Ordered from Amazon as I couldn't find it locally.

I've read that the yield from buckwheat is similar to corn.  So I used that when I added the ingredient to Beersmith.  Turns out that was pretty accurate as I hit all the numbers I projected.  I shot for 67% efficiency since I'm working with a new material that is also unmalted and raw.

I mad a starter of my current house blend.  This blend is Wyeast 3726 and 3724, WLP565 and HF dregs that I had grown up.  I always keep a portion of starter back to grow up again.  This time I did a 1200ml starter and kept 200ml, roughly, to continue using.  I'm calling this my GA-01 blend.  Check out that starter!  It was insane!

This stuff was ready to crawl out of the flask!

Below is the recipe I settled on.  I wanted to use the buckwheat in a portion that I would hopefully notice what it was providing.  I think it worked as the wort smelled and tasted very nice.  It smelled of nuts, corn and bit earthy.  Really nice!

Recipe: Buckwheat Saison
Brewer: Gus
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Saison
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.37 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.24 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal   
Bottling Volume: 4.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.042 SG
Estimated Color: 3.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 24.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 67.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.4 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt           Name                                     Type      #    %/IBU
6 lbs 8.0 oz  Pale Ale (Dingemans) (3.3 SRM)           Grain     1    76.5 %
2 lbs         Raw (Hulled) Buckwheat (1.5 SRM)         Grain     2    23.5 %
2.00 oz       Strisslespalt [1.20 %] - Boil 60.0 min   Hop       3    8.7 IBUs
1.00 oz       Saaz [3.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min            Hop       4    6.6 IBUs
1.00 oz       EKG [7.20 %] - Boil 10.0 min             Hop       5    9.5 IBUs
    

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 8 lbs 8.0 oz
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In           Add 13.82 qt of water at 154.3 F        146.0 F       75 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 5.73 gal water at 168.0 F
Notes: Added 1/3 lbs of rice hulls to help with lautering.  Still a PITA to
lauter! Fermented with my GA-01 blend.
------

Brewed on 7-26-15

I ground 2 pounds of buckwheat with a half pound of the base malt added that to a pot to do a cereal mash.  The base malt was used to help get a head start in converting the starches from the buckwheat.  I used enough water to make it the consistency of a think oatmeal.  When I added heat to it I ended up adding a bit more water to keep it that same consistency.  As it heated I kept stirring to prevent any scorching.  In no time at all it was up to a boil.  This is where you really have to pay attention.   If you let the goop sit too long, it will burn or it will bubble over.  I just kept stirring with a wooden spoon the whole time.  After 15 minutes of boiling, I felt like it was ready to go.

Consistency of thick oatmeal.  I added water along the way to get it where I wanted it.

While I had the cereal mash heating up, I mashed in the main mash and held it at 133F for a protein rest.  I figured I could use hot water and the cereal mash to bring it up to the 146-148F I was looking for.  I also added in about 1/4th of a pound of rice hulls just to help with lautering as I figured the cereal mash would slow things down.

Got to drink Saison when brewing Saison.  I really love this beer from Prairie Artisan Ales!

I added everything together and used enough water to hit 146F.  I held it there for 75 minutes total to make sure I got as much conversion as I could.  I stirred the mash at the 45 min mark and check the temperature.  It had fallen to 144F at that time.  By the end of the mash the temp had fallen to 142F.

Mix of cereal mash and the rest of the grist.

I fly sparged with 171F water to gather just under 7.5 gallons of wort.  This took forever!  The buckwheat really gummed up the works!  I got about a gallon out before I had to stir everything and let it rest again.  I ended up adding more rice hulls to help out the process.  I'll know next time to add more at the beginning.  I started with 1/3 of a pound and ended up adding about another 1/2 pound.

I had to stir and restart a couple times.  This was definitely the most difficult and longest lauter I've done.  I struggled getting clear wort from it.

All the proteins and tiny particles made a cake of the mash and contributed to the difficult lauter!

When it was all said and done, I had a beautiful wort that smelled and tasted fantastic.  It had a cloudiness to it that I really liked.  It looked to be full of proteins from the buckwheat.  The flavor and aroma were fantastic as well.  I don't actually strive for clear beers so if the end result is cloudy, that will be fine with me!

Everything went normal with the boil and then I cooled to 75F to pitch the yeast.  In six hours I had full krausen.  Something to be said for having a healthy starter full of hungry yeast!

Trying out my new Big Mouth Bubbler with built in spigot.

Brewing with buckwheat was really a different experience.  I really don't mind doing the cereal mash and the rest of the brew day went as planned, minus the lauter.  I'll handle that on the front end next time!  If you have been thinking about brewing with unmalted or raw grains, go for it.  It really isn't much more work and I enjoyed the process a lot.  All you need is a large enough pot to do the cereal mash in.  Just make sure you adjust your temperatures and compensate for adding the boiling gloop from the cereal mash.  Oh and use plenty of rice hulls!!

I'll post back with my results.  I believe I'll keep this one as it is.  I have another couple bags of buckwheat that I may duplicate this recipe (if I like it) and blend with some older "Lambic-style" beers I have brewed.  Amos really likes blending his and I think I'd like to try that.  I'm a fan of blending older Saison or "Lambic-style" beers with fresh hoppy Saisons.

Updates:

8-2-15:  Sample taken.  Gravity sitting at 1.004.  Still a little action happening.  Some yeast still in suspension as it is pretty cloudy.  I'm sure it has some cloudiness from the buckwheat proteins as well.  Flavors are a tad tart with some graininess mixed in.  I'm going to decide whether or not to dry hop it or not.  I'm pretty pleased with the flavors.  My "house" character is showing through.  I'll take a pH reading and re-check the gravity later in the week.  If I'm still happy with it I'll bottle as is.

8-21-15:  Gravity stable at 1.004.  I took a pH reading and it's already at 3.58.  Flavors are tart and lemony with a hint of funk.  Some grainy, nutty notes.  I think it's ready to keg or bottle and see what happens with some carbonation.

Less than a month and the pH is already down this far!

1.004 for 2 weeks now.
12-31-15:  Thought this was getting where I wanted but I now pick up hints of acetic character.

2-3-16:  Down the drain it went.  The Big Mouth Bubbler I had this in definitely let in WAY too much O2.  Unfortunate because I really liked where this was heading.

Cheers!


Andrew "Gus" Addkison
gusaddkison@gmail.com
@aaddkison on Twitter
MDBC
on UnTappd:
Gus_13
on Instagram:
mdbc_saison

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Retro Post from 8/4/14 - Wallonian Farmhouse Ale

This is a post from my other blog.  It was mostly dedicated to beer reviews, so I thought it would be better placed here.  It's also about a very popular yeast farmhouse brewers like to use.

Cheers!
__________________________________________________________________________


What's up everyone and Happy Homebrew Wednesday.  This past weekend I was able to get another brew going with a yeast that I've been very anxious to work with.  Being a huge fan of Saison/Farmhouse style beers, I picked up a couple vials of the Wallonian Farmhouse Ale yeast from a new-ish yeast company in California.  The Yeast Bay came out swinging with a bunch of awesome boutique yeasts that a ton of people have been raving about.  I had to get in on that.

I modified my standard Saison recipe to accomidate some of the descriptors I read about the Wallonian yeast.  My simply Pilsner, Wheat, and Acid Malt grist would have worked fine I'm sure but I wanted to add a little something extra in there.  Below is the recipe I came up with.

Recipe: Wallonian Farmhouse
Brewer: Gus
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Saison
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 8.97 gal
Post Boil Volume: 7.28 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal   
Bottling Volume: 5.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.061 SG
Estimated Color: 5.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 81.7 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt           Name                                     Type          #    %/IBU 
8 lbs         Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)            Grain         1    56.6 %
2 lbs 8.0 oz  White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)               Grain         2    17.7 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz  Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)                    Grain         3    10.6 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz  Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)                    Grain         4    10.6 %
10.0 oz       Weyermann Acidulated (1.7 SRM)           Grain         5    4.4 %
2.00 oz       Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 90.0 min     Hop           6    28.3 IBUs
0.50 oz       Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 5.0 min      Hop           7    1.3 IBUs
1.0 pkg       Wallonian Farmhouse (The Yeast Bay)      Yeast         8    -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 14 lbs 2.0 oz
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In           Add 20.86 qt of water at 168.1 F        154.0 F       75 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 6.26gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes: Gallon was kept to the side for use on starters.
------


I mashed much higher than I normally would for brewing a Saison.  I usually mash around 148-149F to get the beer to attenuate as high as possible and get good and dry.  After reading the description and seeing some reviews I decided to bump this up to 154F and get some residual sugars left in the brew as it seems to be a pretty aggressive yeast.  I also added in the Munich and Vienna Malt to give the beer another profile of sweetness and sugars for the yeast to chow down on.

Two days before brew day I made up a simple 1.040 starter of Light Pilsen DME and 1200ml of water.  Pitched the yeast in there and let it spin.  I had an entire flask of milky yeast goodness going when I got up on the morning of brew day.  I was sure there was plenty of cells in there to take down my target 1.061 OG.


Everything went well in the mash and I held the temp of 154F for 75 min.  Grabbed my first and second runnings and headed to the burner.  I wanted to keep a simple hop bill as well to give the yeast plenty of room to shine.  2oz of Hallertauer for 90 min an done aroma addition of .5oz at 5 min were all I needed.  I did add yeast nutrient at 15 min.  Boiled down to 7.5 gallons (roughly) from 9 gallons I had collected and my gravity was 1.064.  Just slightly higher than my target but that's fine.  I cooled the wort down to 75F and pitched the entire 1200ml starter into the fermenter.  I put the carboy into my fermentation chamber set to 68F and I'll let it sit there for 48 hours before I pull it out.  I'm going to let this beer finish at room temperature in the house.  This should help the yeast chew through the wort.


I've been looking forward to this brew day with this yeast for a long time I'll post updates for this brew as it goes a long.


After two days I took it out if the 68F fermentation chamber and let it sit at room temp. That yeast is blazing through the wort!

I'll keep it updated!

Updates:

When the beer reached dryness (1.000!) I bottled with 5oz of dextrose.  I noticed the caps popping after I had all the beer in bottles waiting to cap.  The yeast was already working on the priming sugar!

My first bottle reflected this.  In two weeks I had full carbonation.  Nice hiss and pop when I pry the cap off.

Tasting notes:

7-12-15

At close to a year, I've had this beer many times.  Fresh it was very much like the description of the yeast on the website.  Very earthy, some spice, a little bit of tartness and a different smoky/funky flavor.  It was very interesting.  Citrus notes and hints of grass seem to come through as well.  I really liked it!  The one flaw I felt it had was a little too much sweetness.  Even at 1.000 gravity.  This could be due to my malt choices and mashing much higher.  Maybe boiling the 90 minutes after mashing at 154F created too many caramel flavors.

Now, right at 11 months since brewing, it seems the beer has taken on much different flavors.  It's very Belgian-esq in that it tastes almost like a light Dubbel.  There is a candy sugar flavor that dominates most of the profile.  The aroma really resembles a Belgian Dubbel.  Sweet candy, hints of caramel and a little spice.  The tartness and hint of smoke/funk are all but gone. No real citrus present either.  Very interesting how it has changed.

I'm going to pick up a fresh vial and try my favorite saison grist with it.  Take out the Munich malt and replace the Pilsner with the Pale Ale malt.  This could also probably benefit from some Brettanomyces additions.  I'll split off a batch and let it go.


Cheers!


Andrew "Gus" Addkison
gusaddkison@gmail.com
@aaddkison on Twitter
MDBC
on UnTappd:
Gus_13
on Instagram:
mdbc_saison

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

"Clean" Saison

I once had a large affinity for the "clean" Saison.  The first time I drank one I realized this would be my favorite style of beer.  I loved everything about it .  The crispness of it, the sharpness from the hops and yeast, the earthy grain and peppery spice followed by a subtle tartness all had a hand in forming this to be my favorite style of beer.  Then it happened... My first foray with wild yeast and sometimes bacteria.  I was smitten.  Everything I loved about a clean Saison was taken over with funky, more tart, sometimes sour beers.  I almost forgot about my original best friend that I loved to drink and brew.  A little while back I decided to brew a clean Saison for the first time in a long time.

While I still love the "wild" versions of a Saison best, the pure Saison yeast beer is still a magnificent thing when done right.  It's busy and simple at the same time.  There is something to say about a yeast that you can use with a 100% pilsner malt and maybe just one type of hop to create an excellent beer.  It's just different than anything else to me.  I've brewed pale ales, IPAs, stouts and even once did a brown ale (my least favorite beer style).  None of them I've done have created the affinity that Saison has.  At the time of this writing, for the last two years I have only brewed about four different times that weren't Saison.  A few "Lambic" style beers that I intend for blending.  Then there was the recent Old Ale with Brettanomyces and a cousin of the Saison, a Biere de Garde.  Other than that, I've pretty much brewed Saison exclusively for going on two years.  Even my buddy has been surprised when I tell him I'm brewing something different.  It's just my passion.

All that said, I decided in February of this year that I would brew a clean Saison.  No Brettanomyces, no wild Sacc and no LAB at all.  This would prove to be challenging and humbling for me.  I'm pretty positive my entire kitchen is covered in Brett and LAB.  As much as it is handled and used I'm sure it has to be embedded in there.  It may not ever affect anything as I haven't had any unwanted infections yet, but I am going to do my best with this one to keep it that way.

I wanted to use a classic Saison yeast and one that has been used as my "house" yeast for a while now.  Most every Saison I've brewed has involved Wyeast 3726 Farmhouse Ale yeast.  From the first time I used it I knew it would be my workhorse.  Above all the others I've tried this has been my favorite.  I really like Wyeast 3711 when using a lot of American or New Zealand hops, but when I'm going for a traditional flavor profile I like 3726.  Luckily, in 2014, Wyeast released it again so I could get a clean strain to brew with.  I decided I would blend that yeast with a classic Saison yeast that has been used in many brews along the way.  Wyeast 3724 seemed like the perfect companion.  Bringing in its signature dry fermentation with hints of pepper, bubblegum and a hint of tartness, I knew it would work very well with 3726's peppery, tart and phenolic flavors.  All that was left was to build a grain bill.

Wyeast 3724 and 3726

Below is what I finally settled on for this beer.  I had been wanting to try Vienna and Munich malts in my Saisons.  For this one I decided to go with Vienna.  I used Munich in another clean brew with The Yeast Bay's Wallonian Farmhouse Yeast.  I may write about it as I've been drinking on those beers for a little while now.


Recipe: Belgo Saison "Clean"
Brewer: Gus
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Saison
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.89 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.76 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal   
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.059 SG
Estimated Color: 4.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 25.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 82.7 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt           Name                                     Type      #      %/IBU
7 lbs         Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)            Grain     1      55.4 %
4 lbs         Vienna Malt (Briess) (3.5 SRM)           Grain     2      31.7 %
1 lbs         Wheat - White Malt (Briess) (2.3 SRM)    Grain     3      7.9 %
10.0 oz       Acidulated (Weyermann) (1.8 SRM)         Grain     4      5.0 %
1.50 oz       Saaz [3.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min            Hop       5      13.7 IBUs
1.50 oz       East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.00 %] - Boil Hop       6      12.2 IBUs
1.0 pkg       Belgian Saison (Wyeast Labs #3724) [124. Yeast     7      -
1.0 pkg       Farmhouse Ale  (Wyeast Labs #3726) [124. Yeast     8      -


Mash Schedule: Saison Mash Schedule
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 10.0 oz
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In           Add 18.98 qt of water at 163.3 F        150.0 F       75 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 5.46gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------


I went with all leaf hops, choosing Saaz and EKG for the traditional approach.  I like to use more low alpha hops when I brew in the traditional sense.  Is it historically accurate?  I don't know.  But I like to do it so...

Hops on hops on hops.  Whole leaf hops!

I decided not to make a starter since I would be using less than two month old smack packs.  All of brew day went pretty well, except the leaf hops clogged my dip tube on my kettle.  I'll probably stick to pellet hops from now on.  The original gravity, at the end of the boil, was 1.058.  This was perfectly acceptable for what I was shooting for.

I cooled the wort after a 90 minute boil to 75F, and pitched the two smack packs of yeast.  I put the Better Bottle into my fermenter and set the temp to 68F.  Within twelve hours, we had kraussen beginning to form.  I bumped the temperature up 1 degree F for the next six days. From there I let it free rise to where the yeast was happy.  After seven days the gravity had reached 1.008.  Knowing my past experiences with 3726 and 3724, I decided to give it a few more weeks.  It spent about two months total hanging out at room temperature.  After checking the gravity (1.004 then) I tossed one ounce of Saaz pellet hops at 3.5AA in for dry hopping.  I let those sit for six days before I took it to be bottled.  I bottled this batch with 4.5oz of dextrose.  It's a little higher in ABV than I like to shoot for with my Saisons.  7ish % ABV is not that far out of style, and I'm definitely happy to get the beer to dry out as much as it did.

I like to give my beers at least a month in a bottle, sometimes longer.  I think it could still use a little more time.  I'm used to bretta and wild sacc being in there, and usually they are carbonated well in a month's time.  After two months in the bottle, this is closer to where I want it, but still not what I'd like it to be.

Tasting notes below:

Appearance:  My beers always tend to be just under or right at BJCP guidelines for Saison.  I'm not worried about it because I'm not one to usually brew to style.  If I had to guess though, this would be somewhere around 4-4.5 SRM like Beersmith said.  Pretty clear with a very nice white head that sticks around to half a finger while drinking the beer.  The chill haze faded away but it never really got just super clear.  I don't know if that was the leaf hops or what.  I honestly don't mind, I like a cloudy beer most of the time.

It looks darker due to poor lighting.

Aroma:  The first thing that hits me is an herbal earthiness with hints of some pepper spice.  Little bit of tartness and some grain action.  Maybe a small hint of citrus but not a ton.  All together, a classic clean Saison nose.

Taste:  Honestly it's very nice but not as exciting as brewing with bretta in a Saison.  It's classic dry hay, black peppercorn and a subtle tartness.  Super dry mouthfeel and not quite enough carbonation.  I'll let the rest of the bottles sit a while to hopefully get a little more.  I doubt it will pick up a ton.

Overall:  I think this is one of my better beers to introduce some friends to homebrew.  It's clean, crisp and still has a ton of flavors to show them the difference between this and standard beers.  I'd definitely brew this again but I think I'll add some bretta in to the mix.  I've been thinking about trying a little Belgian Wit yeast in with the Belgian Saison strain to help with some flavors and the stalling.  I personally haven't had the stall but one time and that was a perfect time to add the Brett in there.  I'll work this recipe up again and try the Wit/Saison combo.  It's rumored they are from the same parent yeast (red wine) anyway.


Cheers!


Andrew "Gus" Addkison
gusaddkison@gmail.com
@aaddkison on Twitter
MDBC
on UnTappd:
Gus_13
on Instagram:
mdbc_saison