Monday, September 28, 2015

Autumn Saison - Pumpkin Saison???

It is HERE!!! Pumpkin mania is here and everywhere you look pumpkin beers, pumpkin spice lattes, and pumpkin everything is everywhere you look.  I'm going to fuel the fire with another pumpkin beer.  This time though I'm going with a pumpkin and butternut squash Saison.  Lighter on the spices and more on the squash flavors.

I used to love pumpkin beers.  I got excited every year and would always stock up.  Now I tend to avoid them as they all seem to mesh and become the same beer.  Nothing really exciting comes out.  Jolly Pumpkin's pumpkin sour, La Percela, is one that I will try to pick up each year but it it is totally different than most of the pumpkin beers that come out each year.  There may be a few other examples but for the most part I'll have a few Pumkings and I'm good.

I developed the below recipe as a base for my squash Saison.  I brewed this on 9-25-15.


Recipe: Inscrutable Scarecrow
Brewer: Gus
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.52 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.50 gal (about)
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal   
Bottling Volume: 4.60 gal
Estimated OG: 1.068 SG
Estimated Color: 12.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.00 %  (Actually about 65.4%)
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.8 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt           Name                                     Type      #    %/IBU
6 lbs         Golden Promise (Simpsons) (2.0 SRM)      Grain     1    46.2 %
3 lbs         Pale Ale (Dingemans) (3.3 SRM)           Grain     2    23.1 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz  Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM)               Grain     3    11.5 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz  Oats, Golden Naked (Simpsons) (10.0 SRM) Grain     4    11.5 %
1 lbs         Brown Sugar, Light (8.0 SRM)             Sugar     5    7.7 %
1.00 oz       EKG [7.20 %] - Boil 60 min               Hop       6    21.6 IBUs
1.0 pkg       Biere de Garde (Wyeast Labs #3725)       Yeast     7    -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 13 lbs
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In           Add 15.00 qt of water at 165.9 F        154.0 F       60 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 4.46 gal water at 168.0 F
Notes:  Added baked flesh of two pie pumpkins and one butternut squash to the mash.
Also added .5 teaspoon all spice, .5 teaspoon cinnamon and, .5 teaspoon of ginger
at the end the boil.
------

Back in 2013 I had the idea to do a pumpkin beer with a Belgian Dubbel.  Everything went great except that the beer fermented down to 1.004 or so leaving no residual sweetness at all.  I'm hoping the grain choices will leave some sweetness there for the beer to have balance and drink a little easier.

Got to drink Saison while brewing Saison.  This was a great offering from Burial Beer Co.  Nice and dry while being a little malty as well.  Great fall Saison IMO.


I've been wanting to use Golden Naked Oats in a beer and I've got about 15# of the Golden Promise laying around needing to be used.  I'll brew this again before the year is out if it turns out well.  I can always use them in another brew if this isn't to my liking.

This will also be my first brew with Wyeast 3725 Biere de Garde yeast.  It's been reported that this is actually Fantôme's Saison yeast and not an actual Biere de Garde yeast.  The description really fit the bill of what I was looking for and I grabbed a few Smack Packs this year so I figured an Autumn Saison would be nice.

I cut the pumpkins and squash in half then quartered the squash.  I roasted them in Pyrex dishes at 350F for an hour.  I ended up putting the top half of the butternut squash back in for about 15 minutes to soften it up more.  After they cooled I scraped the flesh from the skins and set it aside in a bucket.  When I doughed in the mash I added a bit of water to the pumpkin and stirred it to blend it all together.  I added to the mash and let it equalize.  My mash temp ended up right at 153F at the beginning and fell to 150F by the end.

Roasty!  Disregard the terribly dirty oven, I'm due a cleaning!

My house smelled like Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin and butternut squash innards.

The mash was tough, of course, with all the pumpkin and squash in there.  I ended up using 1/2lb of rice hulls at the beginning but had to add another 1/2lb when I started the first sparge.  Plus, I believe the Golden promise was almost a year old.  That and the pumpkin really played with my efficiency.  But in the end I hit a nice number for this beer that I'm happy with.  Moving to my new system I'll be able to dial in my efficiency much more.  With my pot and cooler I've been averaging 65-75%.

Boil process was normal and I added my spice combination of .5 teaspoon of all spice, ..5 teaspoon of cinnamon, and .5 teaspoon of ginger. with 5 minutes remaining.  I left out the nutmeg and clove as I was wanting some of the saison yeast spice to shine through.  I added one pound of light brown sugar after I turned off the burner.  I left the wort for about 10 minutes while the spices steeped.

Hot break!!!

I went a little lighter on the suggested spices and took out a few as well.  I wanted the all spice, cinnamon, and ginger but I wanted the Saison yeast to do the rest.

I cooled the wort to 75F and set my fermentation chamber to 68F.  The day before brewing I made a 1000mL starter and I pitched that while it was still showing a bit of activity.  The wort tasted amazing and smelled very nice.  I know some of the spice characteristics will be driven off during fermentation and honestly, I'm counting on that.

I've been playing with the idea of adding bretta to some portion of this.  I think the RVA Orchard Brett would be great in this.  I may try that out.  During bottling I'll pull off 2.5 gallons or so and add the bretta to it and let it work.  We'll see closer to time.

I'll post updates as the process moves along.

9-26-15:  7:30AM the beer had full krausen going.  Really white krausen with a bit of brown speckled around.  Airlock did have activity but I tightened the top down on the Big Mouth Bubbler and there was more bubbles then.  That's something I'm noticing on these.  You can tighten it but over time it seems it slips.  During fermentation I have to tighten them a few times before the seal sits completely tight.  This may be due to the StarSan I use to sanitize the lid. After it dries fully it tends to seal better.  Just something to be aware of for those who have purchased.  I plan on using these as my open fermenters for my clean saisons.  Nothing for extended aging as the pellicles that are formed in it are monstrous.  It has to be letting O2 in.



9-29-15:  Bulk of fermentation looks to be complete.  Still a small layer of krausen and a few bubbles every now and then.  I plan on taking a gravity reading this Friday.  I'll let the beer mellow and completely finish for another week probably if the gravity is not stable.

10-10-15:  Pulled sample and the gravity was 1.010 down from 1.060.  It tastes really great but there was some yeast still in suspension.  I'll look again in the next week and see if it's ready to bottle.

10-12-15:  Gravity was down to 1.006.

10-16-15:  Gravity stable at 1.006.  Bottled with 4oz table sugar.


Cheers!


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

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Reviewing a Buckwheat Saison!

This will be a brew review.  I will pepper these in every now and then.  I'll keep most to homebrew but if a commercial example stands out I may put that on here as well.  This one was sent to me by a fellow farmhouse officionado, Amos from Browne and Bitter blog.  His blog is on my list of frequently visited sites and you can check it out here.

Popped this one in my brewery/garage while looking over some of my beers.

This is a saison he brewed with buckwheat in the grist and then blended with a pale sour.  Amos has been working with buckwheat for a few brews.  He has some great write ups about it you can check out on his blog.  This one in particular is one that started me down the path of brewing with this crazy seed.  You can check out his most recent post on brewing and more with buckwheat here.  All of his blog has some great info about all kinds of brewing and even more!

On to the beer!


 Appearance:  Pale straw in color and a little hazy.  Love the hazy look.  Soft white head full of tiny bubbles that when poured, stood about two almost two and a half fingers tall.  Pretty great retention as well.  It stuck around for a while and when it finally settles it kept a cap on the brew with small holes forming as your drank but then closed back up.  Carbonation streamed up the glass the entire time I drank it.

Light through the glass.
Brew system in the background.
(junk also in the background!)

Aroma:  First sniff I get a lemon/lactic tartness and then a soft pineapple.  A little bit of grain and definitely some barnyard funk.  Not a goat-y funk from caprylic acid though.  I was wanting to see if that showed up from the buckwheat and it doesn't.  There isn't anything offensive about this nose.  It's pretty fantastic actually!  When it warmed it had a green banana and citrus soda aroma.  Lemon-lime type thing with the acidity mixed in.  Really great and complex nose.



Flavor:  Right at the front of the mouth you get pineapple and a lemony tartness.  As you swallow the tart lemon follows through the back of the throat.  There is an underlying acidic note that I can't place.  I'm getting this out of my saison I brewed with buckwheat as well.  It's not unpleasant at all.  It accentuates the lactic acidity nicely.  There is just a hint of sweetness that seems to be like a grain or fruit sweetness.  Not cloying at all.  Adds in the complexity of the beer.  

As it warms a almost honey like flavor comes out.  Still has the pineapple but more of the green banana in the flavor like the nose when it warmed.  A lemon grass type flavor and aroma come out as well.  I noticed more of the grassy type note as I swirled my last glass to drive out some carbonation.



Really nice bubble formations!

Mouthfeel:  The carbonation was perfect to me.  This is what I want in my beers.  It was prickly on the tongue but not filled with carbonic acid that it altered the flavors.  Medium to medium-light in mouthfeel.  Super easy to drink and refreshing.




Overall:  This is exactly what I envisioned a buckwheat saison to be.  It has some flavor and aroma notes that you don't get from just using normal brewing grains.  Amos's technique of blending the pale sour beer in with the saison works perfectly.  I think both beers made there presence known without losing what the beer was intended to be.  The soft lactic acidity and a bit of funk from the sour beer blended with the saison base really well.  I was still able to tell it was a saison.  I'd drink this beer over a ton of commercial examples I've had.  This would also be a PERFECT summer beer.  Amos wasn't positive on the ABV but he suggested around 5-6% and I think it drank closer to a 4% beer.




Thanks again to Amos for sending it out for me to try.  I've got a couple others from him and I'll be sending a return box for him to sample.  I look forward to more exchanges in the future!

Parting shot of the beer as I neared the end of the first glass.  The head stuck around the entire time.  Any movement stirred the carbonation up and brought it right back!


Cheers!


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

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Tasting Notes for Squeegee

Squeegee is a session IPA that I decided to brew at the end of the summer.  I wanted something I could have on tap that would also broaden/sharpen my brewing skills.  It's nice to keep other things going along side all my farmhouse beers.  You can find the original post and recipe here.


Stats:
ABV: 5.45%
SG:  1.050 or 12.39°P
FG:  1.008 or 2.05°P
Apparent Attenuation:  84%
Actual Attenuation:  68%

Appearance:  Light straw and hazy as can be!  You can't see through it at all.  It's like a pale orange juice color.  Soft white head full of tiny bubbles.  It's streaming up the sides of the glass from what you can see on the outside.  Very reminiscent of the Northeast IPAs I've had.

I really need a better camera and better lighting!

Aroma:  Wow... Super pungent.  Definitely get the citrus notes.  Really big grapefruit.  There is also a good bit of tropical fruit notes.  Some mango maybe and a bit of a fruit punch. There is also a white grape juice hint.  Basically it smells like white grape juice infused fruit punch with bits of grapefruit rind/flesh floating in it!  One of the best noses I've had on one of my homebrews.

Flavor:  Yup, grapefruit to follow the nose.  A bit of sweetness in the mid palate.  It's again like a fruit punch sweetness.  Not overly cloying at all.  Finishes nice and dry with a bit of a grapefruit pith acidity.  Nothing acidic about the beer really just has the dryness one would expect with acidity.  I could drink this for days.

Mouthfeel:  Medium mouthfeel with maybe a touch on the medium heavy side.  The oats and spelt give it a super creamy feel.  Really nice and pleasant to drink.

Overall:  I'm very happy with how this turned out.  It's been a long while since a brewed an IPA or even a clean hoppy beer really.  It was nice to visit this and know that I can do it to keep something on tap for everyone who comes to my house.  I intended on taking this tailgating at the last MSU home game but all 3 growlers were taken down the night before.  Even folks that aren't big fans of craft beer liked this one.  Not having an early addition of bittering hops really played a part in this I think.  It has all the hop aroma and flavor your could want without being overly bitter.  It also doesn't overplay the malt or low alcohol level.  It's balanced but has a "hit you in the face" aroma.  I loved the hop combination as well.  Galaxy is such a crazy hop that does well when paired with others.  Amarillo is just one of the best hops ever produced.  Rakau was the new comer for me but I definitely think it added to the whole package.

This is definitely one to be repeated!

Cheers!


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

Something not so Farmhouse-y! Here comes Squeegee!

So I know this blow is about farmhouse brewing and my obsession with brewing these fantastic beers.  But it is also going to serve as an easy to access brew journal for me.  From time to time there may be posts that aren't about just farmhouse beers being made.  This is one of those.

I like to drink low ABV beers more than I like big 8+% offerings.  I don't always like to catch a buzz or deal with what can come from having too many of those higher alcohol offerings.  Every now and then I'll have them but I prefer a low ABV, session-able beer.  I also like hoppy beers.  I like them to be well hopped but not overly bitter.  So today this entry is about a hoppy beer I brewed that took some of my farmhouse techniques of developing the grist.  I'm using some of the really popular IPA/Pale Ale hops and trying to develop something I can turn around quickly and keep on tap.

Here's the recipe I brewed 8-29-15.  I've deemed this beer, Squeegee.


Recipe: Squeegee
Brewer: Gus
Asst Brewer: 
Style: American IPA
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.52 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.98 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal   
Bottling Volume: 4.60 gal
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG  Actual OG: 1.050
Estimated Color: 4.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 58.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 % Measured: 67.9
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.5 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt           Name                                     Type      #    %/IBU
1 lbs         Spelt (3.0 SRM)                          Adjunct   1    10.0 %
8 lbs         Pale Ale (Dingemans) (3.3 SRM)           Grain     2    80.0 %
1 lbs         Oats, Flaked (Briess) (1.4 SRM)          Grain     3    10.0 %
0.25 oz       Amarillo [8.20 %] - Boil 20.0 min        Hop       4    4.3 IBUs
1.00 oz       Rakau  [9.40 %] - Boil 10.0 min          Hop       5    11.7 IBUs
1.00 oz       Galaxy [15.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min          Hop       6    10.3 IBUs
1.00 oz       Galaxy [15.00 %] - Whirlpool  20.0 min   Hop       7    15.6 IBUs
1.00 oz       Rakau  [9.40 %] - Whirlpool  20.0 min    Hop       8    9.8 IBUs
0.75 oz       Amarillo [8.20 %] - Whirlpool  20.0 min  Hop       9    6.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg       London Ale III (Wyeast Labs #1318)       Yeast     10   -
1.00 oz       Amarillo [8.20 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days     Hop       11   0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz       Galaxy [15.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days      Hop       12   0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz       Rakau  [9.40 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days       Hop       13   0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs
----------------------------
Name              Description                         Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In           Add 12.50 qt of water at 164.9 F    150.0 F       75 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 4.85 gal water at 168.0 F
Notes:
------


I have been wanting to try out Wyeast 1318 since it's gaining a lot of favor with brewers.  It's also rumored to be the house ale yeast for one of my favorite breweries, Hill Farmstead.  I love using their farmhouse dregs so I thought I'd use this for some pale ale/IPA and English beers I plan on brewing.

I used food grade lactic acid to get the mash pH to 5.2 with this beer as well.  My preboil gravity was a little low so I had to boil the wort a little longer.  Even with this I missed my target starting gravity by .002.  Still working out kinks!

I used a hop spider for the boil hops then put the whirlpool/steeping hops in a hop bag to help with the transfer after the boil.  I've started doing this and it's lead to much easier transfers and better quality beer over all.  If you notice, I didn't have any bittering charge of hops in this beer.  I started adding my hops with 20 minutes left in the boil.  Hoping to accentuate hop flavor and aroma while limiting the bitterness.  I used a good bit of hops in steep/whirlpool and I believe that adds a good bit of bitterness.  I don't think it will last as long as a beer that has a good bittering charge but we will see.

I used malted spelt and flaked oats in the mash to add a bit of head retention and establish the creamy mouthfeel of the northeast IPA/Pale Ales I've had.  Ed Coffy from Ales of the Riverwards has a great running recipe on his blog about using oats in the mash to create this mouthfeel.  He, like I, loves Tired Hands Brewing Company's HopHands beer.  Check out his cloan/tribute attempts here.  While you are there, check out all his posts.  They are all super informative and great reads!

The beer fermented to 1.008 in about 6 days.  I tossed the dry hops in and waited as patiently as I could.  I had a work trip to Boston and Long Island so that helped out with the wait.  The tasting notes will follow soon.  You can check them out here.

I like brewing hoppy beers.  I like drinking hoppy beers.  And they can be very exciting.  I'm always trying to sharpen my brewing skills in all areas!  I'll be sprinkling in a few different styles every now and then.  Some funky and some hoppy.  Thanks for reading!

Cheers!


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