It's Saison! (finally...)

Hi All!

Well this week has been a busy one for me.
I kegged the Light Lager and a Pale Ale, racked the Strawberry Wedding White Sparkling Ale
into the secondary and added some strawberries and 3/4 of a lb of raw honey. Fermentation has picked up again!

And today I managed to bottle the Saison I brewed last November! The raw beer tasted great...see the recipe below (under the pics)

I thought that I would have written about the new brewing resource on this post, but I changed my mind. That review is pending the outcome of my next brew session which will be my Dusseldorf Alt.

Make sure you read the recipe notes if you try this one out. They are most important to insure your success!

Here's some pics of today's bottling of the Saison.......enjoy!


Here's the carboy of Saison about to get racked and bottled:

Here's a shot showing my bottle tree:

Checking the Final Gravity with the Hydrometer:

Looks like 1.006 to me! Fantastic!

After checking the FG, I pour the raw beer into my offical tasting glass.

Here's what it looks like:

 

Racking the beer into the bottling bucket:

Closeup of the carboy and the bottling bucket.

Note the cork wedge being used to hold the autosiphon in position.

It's just a wine cork cut diagonally to form a simple wedge. You get 2 out of 1 cork!

 

  Here's the recipe: (please pay attention to the notes!)

Recipe: Saison Du Mont #2
Brewer: Ron Short
Brewed: 11/06/2009
Style: Saison
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (40.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 6.00 gal     
Boil Size: 9.18 gal
Estimated OG: 1.060 SG
Estimated Color: 8.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 22.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 76.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU     
6 lbs 8.0 oz  Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM)             Grain        53.06 %      
2 lbs 12.0 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)                     Grain        22.45 %      
8.0 oz        Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)              Grain        4.08 %       
4.0 oz        Crystal Xtra Dark Simpsons 160L (160.0 SRMGrain        2.04 %       
4.0 oz        Golden Naked Oats (10.0 SRM)              Grain        2.04 %       
0.25 oz       Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %]  (90 min)    Hops         4.7 IBU      
1.00 oz       Styrian Goldings [4.10 %]  (90 min)       Hops         15.3 IBU     
0.50 oz       Hallertauer [4.80 %]  (15 min)            Hops         2.4 IBU      
0.50 oz       Hallertauer [4.80 %]  (0 min)             Hops          -           
0.25 oz       Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min)        Misc                      
0.25 oz       Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 5.0 min)         Misc                      
0.50 lb       Rice Hulls (Mash 60.0 min)                Misc                      
1.00 gm       Seeds of Paradise (Boil 5.0 min)          Misc                      
1.00 items    Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)          Misc                      
3.50 gm       Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min)             Misc                      
16.0 oz       Honey (1.0 SRM)                           Sugar        8.16 %       
1 lbs         Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM)          Sugar        8.16 %       
2 Pkgs        Belgian Saison (Wyeast Labs #3724) [StarteYeast-Ale                 


Mash Schedule: 5 Gallon Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 10.25 lb
----------------------------
5 Gallon Batch Sparge
Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp    
90 min        Mash In            Add 3.08 gal of water at 164.6 F    150.0 F      


Notes:
------
Add the honey at flame out with the flavor hops and spices. Big Brew Day 2009 recipe!

Brewed this today and left out all the spices to see what the yeast does. After researching this style, it has been learned that there are no spice additions and the yeast gives off the peppery spicy phenols. We'll see how it turns out.

Left in Primary for 4 weeks. Taste tested and the gravity was 1.020. Too sweet! Re-racked into a secondary and added 1 pkg of dry champagne yeast. Checked gravity again 4 weeks later and it was 1.010 and tasted much better. Left it in the secondary until today 01.21.2010.
Bottling this beer today and will check the FG and will do a taste test too. Lets hope it dried out some more! looking for a FG of 1.008.
FG came in @ 1.006 and the raw beer tasted great!

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Well...that's it for now....

feel free to leave any comments or questions...and remember..

Keep Brewing!

(_)3

Brewing the Kentucky Common

Hey there!

I finally brewed the Kentucky Common yesterday and it was fun to do. I used a separate cereal mash incorporating 2 lbs of corn grits and 1 lb of crushed 2-row malt. It added a little bit of time to the session but we'll see if it's worth it or not after we see how the beer comes out.

Ever since learning of this lost American Beer Style, I decided to learn all I could about it and attempt to brew a version of it. The Kentucky Common is also known as a Dark Cream Common Beer and is one of a couple of truly American beer styles.

I'd like to see this style listed in the BJCP beer styles guide (perhaps under catagory 7 - Amber Hybrid Beer.
It is a unique style that leaves room for interpretation. It would be a great addition to the style guidlines!

I have inquired about how to get it listed, and was advised to get more home brewers to brew it and enter it in competitions often under the "specialty" catagory. Also the brewer should include a short write up of the history and style and perhaps include a recipe with their entries. So...If you're a home brewer that is reading this, please consider learning and brewing this almost lost American beer style, and enter it as often as possible in to competitions. (The AHA Nationals are coming up soon, and would be higly recommended that you enter your example!).

Anyways, I have found some useful information about this beer style and suggestions of how you migh go about brewing one. I'm not going to re-hash this information here as it is readelly available on the net.

Here are a couple of websites that I have drawn my information from>

A bit of history of the style can be found here at the Wikipedia.

and probably the best resource is here at the O'Daniel Brewery website.

Anyways, I did brew it yesterday and also managed to take a few pics too. The recipe that I used is posted below the pics.

Here's the pics:

Here's the dry elements of the cereal mash:

And the setup I used:

After doughing in, it looked like this:

We ket it rest at a temp of 155 degF for 30 minutes before bringing it up to a boil.

Here I am bringing it up to a boil. From this point on we'll need to constantly stir the cereal mash to prevent scorching. We need to boil the cereal mash for 60 minutes, adding water as needed to prevent it from drying out too much.

Here's what it looks like after 30 minutes of boiling:

Doughing in the grains for the 30 minutes protein rest:

Holding the mash at 128 degF:

The completed cereal mash right before adding it to the mash to raise the main mash temp to around 152 degF:

After adding to the main mash, it's break time! Time for a pale ale!

Running off the wort into the kettle:

Bringing the wort up to a boil:

While waiting for the main mash to be completed, I racked off the Pale Lager into a keg. FG was 1.008.

Here's the Kentucky Common fermenting 14 hours after pitching:

Enough with the pics....Here's the recipe I used:

Recipe: HL Kentucky Common
Brewer: wottaguy
Style: Cat 23 Specialty Beer (for now-this style needs a home!)
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 6.00 gal     
Boil Size: 8.84 gal
Estimated OG: 1.048 SG
Estimated Color: 16.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 25.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 76.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU     
6 lbs 8.0 oz  Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)            Grain        62.32 %      
2 lbs         Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) (OPTIONAL - SEE NOTES)                   Grain        19.18 %      
12.0 oz       Acid Malt (3.0 SRM)                       Grain        7.19 %       
4.0 oz        Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)     Grain        2.40 %       
4.0 oz        Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)                Grain        2.40 %       
1.9 oz        Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)                Grain        1.15 %       
1.0 oz        Carafa II (412.0 SRM)                     Grain        0.58 %       
0.00 oz       Cluster [7.00 %]  (60 min)                Hops          -           
0.50 oz       Nugget [11.00 %]  (60 min)                Hops         20.5 IBU     
0.50 oz       Hallertauer [4.80 %]  (20 min)            Hops         3.0 IBU      
0.50 oz       Hallertauer [4.80 %]  (3 min)             Hops         1.5 IBU      
0.75 lb       Rice Hulls (Mash 60.0 min)                Misc                      
4.0 oz        Cane (Beet) Sugar (0.0 SRM)               Sugar        2.40 %       
4.0 oz        Molasses (80.0 SRM)                       Sugar        2.40 %       
2 Pkgs        California Lager (Wyeast Labs #2112) [StarYeast-Lager               


Mash Schedule: Decoction Mash, Single
Total Grain Weight: 9.93 lb
----------------------------
Decoction Mash, Single
Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp   

30 min        Protein Rest       Add 2.75 gal of water at 142.4 F    128.0 F      
45 min        Saccharification   Decoct 1.12 gal of mash and boil it 152.0 F      
10 min        Mash Out           Add 1.25 gal of water at 202.8 F    168.0 F      


Notes:
------
**Try performing a separate cereal mash with 1 or 2 lb polenta (corn grits) and a pound of 2-row instead of using the flaked corn.**
** Can also use Northern Brewer Hops**

Brewed on 01/17/2010 - Performed a full cereal mash with 2 lbs of grits and 1 lb milled 2 row malt. Doughed in and held at 155 for 30 minutes, then brought to boiling and boiled for 1 hour.

Dough in the main mash with 30 minutes to go on the cereal mash to get a protein rest temp of 122 - 130 degF. After 30 minute rest, add the boiling hot cereal mash to the main mash, mix well, and rest at 155 degF for 60 minutes or until conversion has completed.
Ferment @ 59 degF for 14 days.

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It was a great day! Later this week I need to flavor, prime and bottle the Strawberry Wedding Sparkling Ale in champagne bottles. I also need to keg another Pale Ale for the wedding, and bottle a Saison. It's going to be a busy week! And I need to brew the Dusseldorf Alt soon too.

My next post is going to be about the new online brewing resource I was pointed to so keep tuned in!

Well...I have to go now.....feel free to post your comments....and...

Keep Brewing!

(_)3

Playing Catch up Again...

Hey there...

Once again I find myself playing catch up with my postings here. Here's what's been going on...

I brewed again last Sunday and brewed 2 batches of beer. The first batch is a low gravity sparkling ale that I formulated called Strawberry Wedding White Sparkling Ale. It had an OG of 1.030 and will come in right at 3.00% ABV. I made this for my daughter's wedding that's coming up in March and we are planning on serving it as the toast in place of the customary champagne that is usually served at these occasions. I'm planning on bottling it using champagne bottles and will use the plastic stoppers and wire cages too. Then the bottle decorations will be adorned on to the bottles complete with a personalized custom made label on the bottle to commemorate the event. Lets hope it comes out good! It's now on the downside of primary fermentation and should be ready to bottle next week. I'll let you all know how it comes out and will post the recipe once it passes my official taste test! I have my fingers crossed on this one.

After that, I decided to brew up an American Pale Ale and went to work on that. I started the brewing at around 11:30 AM that morning and finished with both sessions at around 9:30 PM. That was a nice brew day!

Did I tell you that I'm supplying the beer for the wedding? I need to make enough for around 50 people!
Here's what we're going to have for beer on tap:

American Pale Ale
Pale Blonde Lager
Dusseldorf Alt
Apricot Wit

And the Strawberry Wedding White Sparkling Ale. I'll have enough the sparkling ale to give a few bottles away to the bride and groom, and to whom ever wants one.

Now....guess who's brewing this coming Sunday?? LOL...you got it...me! I'll be brewing up the Dusseldorf Alt (for the wedding), and I'm thinking of brewing the Kentucky Common as well. I'll also be kegging and lagering the Pale Blonde Lager and will be reusing the yeast from that batch to ferment the Kentucky Common as planned. I'll try to get some pics, and will post the recipe sometime early next week after the sessions are completed.

Our brew club, the Volusia County Home Brewers Guild picked up a couple of new members during the week and we're looking forward to meeting them!

I also entered 2 of my homebrews into the Upper Mississippi Mashout Homebrew Competition which will be held at the end of this month. I entered an Irish Red and my newest example of a Weizenbock. Looking forward to getting the results. I really enjoy reading the score sheets as they sometimes provide valuable feedback for me to understand how others perceive my beers. They have a good amount of experienced judges up there too.

A friend of mine recommended a great online brew store and I checked them out and ordered from them 2 times so far. I'll be writing a separate article about these guys and I'll include my thoughts and experiences I've had with them.

Well.....I gotta get outta here for now...but I do have a LOT of stuff to write about of what's been going on around here lately....and I need to go pick my grapefruit as it's that time of year...and you know what I do with the grapefruit....right????

Come back soon...and feel free to leave your comments and questions too.

Keep Brewing!

(_)3

Finally Brewed!

Hello again everyone!

Well I finally got the chance to brew, but not the Kentucky Common recipe that I had planned. Last Saturday I had to drive to the closest Homebrew Store which is an hour away to pick up some yeast. I decided that I would use some Wyeast California Lager Yeast for the Kentucky Common to try out. I asked the attendant at the store for 2 Wyeast Activator pouches of the stuff, and also picked up a new hydrometer tube to replace my old one that broke earlier that day, and some other little things while I was there.

After making the purchase and on my way home I thought I'd look at the yeast packages, and discovered that the attendant gave me 2 Propagator packs instead of the Activator packs. Damn!!! Too late now as I was half way home. Oh well....I got home and made a 2000 ML yeast starter with plans of brewing the following day, which was last Sunday. On Sunday morning I checked out the starter and it was in full bloom and fermenting like crazy! I decided to brew but I realized that this starter with the amount of yeast that was in it would probably not be enough for the Kentucky Common and I would probably end up under pitching. Not good!

I decided that I would brew a low gravity session psudo-like Blond Lager and use that as my "starter". Good Idea! So I ended up brewing a pale Blond Lager, and if it comes out all right, I'll serve it at my daughters wedding! (the BMC crowd will like it). It's now fermenting very nicely at 60 degF and looks like it will be ok! After it's finished and racked out of the primary, I'll brew the Kentucky Common then rack it on top of the yeast cake in the original primary fermenter. I'm actually thinking of trying the Australian "no chill" method for this, so I can get the Kentucky Common brewed soon.

Well anyways, I did manage to take a couple of pics during the brew day before my batteries died in the camera. Oh...and the recipe is posted below too!


Recipe: Wedding Light Blonde Beer
Brewer: wottaguy
Asst Brewer:
Style: Blonde Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 6.50 gal     
Boil Size: 9.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.041 SG
Estimated Color: 4.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 20.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 76.00 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU     
5 lbs         MFB Pale Ale Malt (2.1 SRM)               Grain        53.53 %      
3 lbs         Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM)           Grain        32.12 %      
8.0 oz        Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)              Grain        5.35 %       
5.3 oz        Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)     Grain        3.53 %       
2.1 oz        Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)                     Grain        1.39 %       
2.1 oz        Rice, Flaked (1.0 SRM)                    Grain        1.39 %       
0.66 oz       Pearle [8.00 %]  (60 min)                 Hops         18.2 IBU     
0.33 oz       Hallertauer [4.80 %]  (20 min)            Hops         1.8 IBU      
0.33 oz       Hallertauer [4.80 %]  (2 min)             Hops         0.9 IBU      
4.0 oz        Cane (Beet) Sugar (0.0 SRM)               Sugar        2.68 %       
1 Pkgs        California Lager (Wyeast Labs #2112) [StarYeast-Lager              




Mash Schedule: 5 Gallon Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 9.09 lb
----------------------------
5 Gallon Batch Sparge
Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp    
60 min        Mash In            Add 2.80 gal of water at 169.7 F    152.0 F      


Notes:
------
Create an appropriate yeast starter 36 hours before pitching.
Chill wort to 65 degF aerate well with CO2 then pitch.
After fermentation has started lower the temp 2 degrees a day until you reach 60 degrees. Hold at 60 degF until fermentation has completed. Once completed, rack to a sanatized secondary fermenter and crash cool for 72 hours then keg and force carbonate or prime and bottle.

Enjoy!

(_)3

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And the Pics:

The well insulated mash tun:

The Hot Liquor Kettle (HLT):

I use my pool water to chill the wort after boiling and it works great!

Here my Sub-Pump which I pump through the immersion chiller and back into the pool:

Boil Kettle with the wort boiling away:

Weighing the flavor hops for the next addition:

Well...that's all I have for now. All of my primary fermenters are full and fermenting away and I still have 3 more brews to brew for the wedding, a Dusseldorf ALT and an APA, and a Sparkling Ale called "Strawberry Wedding White Sparkling Ale" and I'll have to brew the Kentucky Common soon too!

Talk to ya soon!

Keep Brewing!

(_)3

Darn Weather!

Hey there!

Well...I didn't get a chance to brew as planned because of all the rain we had. I was going to brew today, but my yeast starter didn't work out and I had to go to the brew store which is an hour away (1 way) to get the required yeast. I made it back and assisted a fellow VCHBG member with kegging his latest batch, an ESB. I let him use one of my kegs to get the task done.

I'm now waiting for my yeast starter wort to cool off enough so I can get it aerated and pitched.

The temps here have dropped off quite a bit and at night it is getting down to around 45 degF or so. Because of the cooler temps, I have decided to use Wyeasts Califorina Lager Yeast...you know..the one that is of Steam Beer fame and the one that ferments at slightly higher temps than normal lager yeasts. I'm looking forward to using this strain for this Kentucky Common.

I'll be brewing tomorrow, and I'll be getting a few pics of the session when I can. Maybe my wife can be my photographer for a bit.

I'll be posting the recipe for it after I get it brewed...probably sometime after the brew session on my next post.


Well...gonna go watch tv for a while and wait for the starter wort to cool off....shouldn't take too long as it is darn right chilly out there! (I have it cooling outside now).

See ya soon!

Keep Brewing.

(_)3