Brewday: Fine Detail Table Sour

I was planning on brewing a Christmas Ale with Luke today but my memory betrayed me and I completely forgot about growing up some yeast for the beer. I'm secretly happy about that though because I've been wanting to brew some sours for a while and this gave me the perfect opening. I originally started this blog thinking that brewing sours would be a significant part of it but along the way I got distracted by all the shiny pale ales and IPAs and all kinds of other things. Anyway, I'm back on case and hopefully I'll manage to brew new ones regularly so I can keep up a good supply.

The most excited I've been about one of my beers was a sour I brewed back in 2012 and bottled sometime last year. I dry hopped 1/2 of the batch with some Simcoe. The result was brightly sour and fruity with a funk that gave it a real twist. That first bottle absolutely did my head in, I remember just sitting there and smelling it for ages. Although it was 6.8% ABV, the alcohol was completely hidden which made it dangerous to drink and a bit much for my preferences. For this one I'm shooting for something in a similar style but a bit lower in alcohol.

It's a simple recipe, just pils malt, wheat malt and a small dose of hops. The idea of the grist is really to provide a home for the yeast and bacteria rather than contribute a huge amount of flavour. I'm hoping it'll have a nice bright sourness like the last batch but with something like 3.5% ABV to keep it a bit lighter. I'm planning on letting it develop in the fermenter and then probably dry hopping most of it with some Galaxy for that passionfruit and citrus character to go with the bright acidity.

Luke came around anyway and helped me with the brew. It was all nice and easy with the smaller batch but I didn't take into account how much more vigorous the boil would be with the lower volume of wort. That meant that I had way more evaporation than I expected and coupled with higher than expected efficiency (86%!) meant that I've got 10 litres of wort at 1.040. I'm thinking I might top off the fermenter after fermentation has died down. That should take it to 1.035.

We also bottled the Tmavý Ležák after a month spent lagering. It's black with brilliant red highlights and seems to be lovely and clear. The flavour is crisp and loaded with cocoa and complex malt. I'm looking forward to giving it a try.

In its cupboard home for the next
8-14 months

Fine Detail Table Sour (10L batch)
OG: 1.030 (1.040 measured)
FG: 1.005
IBU: 6
EBC: 4
ABV: 3.3%


Recipe
91% Dingemans pilsner malt
9% Best Malz wheat malt

1g/L Saaz @ 60 minutes
3g/L Galaxy @ dry hop

WLP530 + dregs from a previous sour + bottle dregs


Method
Mash:

• Stepped mash: 65C (45 minutes), 72C (15 minutes) and a 78C mash out
• Lactic acid for mash pH
• Calcium

Boil:

• 90 minute boil
• 10g Saaz @ 60 min
• 1/2 tab whirlfloc @ 10 min

Fermentation:

• Pitched an estimated 85 billion cells of WLP530, dregs of a previous sour and dregs of a bottle of Boon Oude Geuze.
• Fermentation is just going to happen at ambient temperatures, in Hobart at the moment we're looking at 17-18C as the daily maximum over the next week or so.
• It'll sit in my cupboard for around 6 months before I give it a taste and see where it's at. Once it's ready to bottle, I'll dry hop 5 days.

Brewday: JFK Berliner Weisse

After mash out, I covered the surface with
gladwrap to keep oxygen out

My first all grain brew was a berliner weisse. It was light, wheaty and sour and I didn't like it much at first. It took me several bottles before I got the taste for it but then I came to crave it. I've never had a commercial berliner so I have nothing to compare it to but I've enjoyed the ones I've made and it's come to be a yearly brew for me. In fact, it's the only brew that I've consistently brewed at a seasonally appropriate time over the last few years.

My process has evolved each time I've brewed it but each time I've gone with souring the wort. It makes for a good sourness and a beer that's ready to drink within 3 weeks. It's probably not the most complex sourness but I'm ok with that, the wheat and pils malt along with the sourness make it plenty interesting enough as well as light and refreshing.

I've soured the wort in an esky for 2 days, gone with a 15 minute boil before chilling and fermenting, I've used temperature control so I soured the wort at 38C in my urn and then pasteurised it at 70C for 30 minutes before chilling and fermenting, no boil. This time I'm sticking with the temp controlled souring and pasteurisation but no boil. This time though I'll add brettanomyces to some bottles for a bit of added complexity as it ages. I'm also toying with the idea of dry hopping 1/2 of it with Aramis and possibly something like ginger and lemongrass.

The great thing about this beer is that the brewing is spread over a few days so I could do the whole thing on my own. It's nice to have the freedom to brew by myself midweek.

It sat at around 40C for 46 hours. I used the
temp controller to maintain the heat.

JFK Berliner Weisse (20L batch)
OG: 1.032
FG: 1.006
IBU: N/A
EBC: 4.1
ABV: 3.4%

Recipe
60% Best Malz Wheat
40% Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner

20g Aramis @ pasteurisation

US-05 yeast


Process
Mash:
Stepped mash: 68C (40 minutes), 72C (15 minutes) and a 78C mash out.

I added 2g CaSO4, 5g CaCl2 and 2g MgSO4 to the mash along with 3.5ml of lactic acid for pH correction.

Transferred to a better bottle after
pasteurising and chilling.

Souring:
After the mash out I hooked up my STC-1000 and left it to cool to 40C, around 7 hours. Once it was down to 42C I chucked in a handful of grain and laid gladwrap on the surface of the wort.

There was visible activity by the time I woke up the next day and the aroma was the same as the other times I've brewed berliners.


Pasteurisation:
After Added the hops and heated to 70C and held there for 20 minutes. Then cooled.


Fermentation:
Pitched a packet of US-05 and fermented at 18C


07/01/14 - brewed

09/01/14 - pasteurised & pitched yeast

Van Diemen Brewing - Hedgerow Autumn Ale

It's so exciting to be able to buy a sour beer that's been brewed in Tasmania! Van Diemen's 2012 Hedgerow Autumn Ale has hit the shelves. The label says that it's aged for 12 weeks on rosehips, hawthorn and sloe berries, partially barrel aged.


Aroma: Berries, some sweetness, strawberry, and definitely a sour edge. It reminds me a bit of the aroma of strawberries mixed with balsamic vinegar.

Appearance: I really love the appearance of this one. It's burnt red in colour with a light haze. Attractive. It pours with a two finger head that settles to a dense 1cm of foam, leaving sheets rather than lacing down the glass.

Flavour: Given the label and the aroma I was looking for sourness but what I found was only a very light sourness. The flavour is dominated by prominent oak and smokey, burnt notes. There's some delicate berry notes underneath that tease but it seems like the malt has been largely subdued by the oak and tannins. It just feels like it's missing a big part of what's meant to be there. I want more berries! Hmmm... perhaps currants in the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: The beer dries on the palate which with the oak/char leaves an astringent taste and feel in the mouth. It has medium carbonation. I thought the beer as a whole might get better as it warmed up but though the berries came out more with a little warmth, the beer felt even more thin.

I really need to get more, better beer glasses

Overall: What kills this beer is that as it beer dries on the palate it emphasises the tannins and makes it astringent. I want this beer to be amazing but it doesn't take me there.

My hunch is that it's ended up with a foot in two camps by not wanting to be too risky. The problem is that the char/oak that comes from the barrel ageing don't combine well with the dry finish. I think it needs to be either more sweet or more sour. The sweetness (just a little) would give it enough body and flavour to counter the oak, perhaps more sour might achieve a similar effect, at least it would give something else to focus on.

I'm a bit disappointed but hopeful that this will just be the first of many Tassie produced sour beers. Well done Van Dieman Brewing for daring to do it. I think I'll pick up another one and let it age for a while to see if it evens out over time.

Belgian Pale

We had a holiday in Seattle in September last year. Seattle is one of the dream destinations for someone who's into craft beer. There are apparently around 150 microbreweries in Washington state and with Portland just a few hours down the road it was really difficult to try everything we wanted to in 3 short weeks.

The highlight for me was Fremont Brewing. I bumped into Matt, the owner, standing out the back and he was great. He showed me around the place, gave me a taste of all of his delicious beers and gave me a bottle of their Bourbon Barrel Abominable Ale. I managed to fit it into our luggage for the trip back and it's now waiting for a suitable occasion to be consumed. 

The Pacific Northwest is obviously famous for doing obscene things with hops. I'm pretty sure it's illegal to open a brewery there unless you offer an IPA. It was great. So the first thing I did when we got back to Tasmania was brew a session IPA and a Black IPA. The session or Baby IPA was like a chainsaw. There was nothing subtle about that one, it was face meltingly bitter and had a huge, raspberry and passionfruit aroma. I think it may have caused lasting damage to the tastebuds of everyone who tried it. In a good way. The Black IPA was delicious and probably had slightly wider appeal, probably my best brew to date.

However, the longer lasting impact of our US holiday was that it pushed me in the direction of Belgian beers in general and farmhouse styles in particular. I had my first ever saison courtesy of Fremont Brewing and I had a Monk's Flemish Sour Red Ale on tap at Beveridge Place. I also tried a couple of beers from Upright Brewing (on Matt's recommendation) that left me wishing I had more time in Portland. We have very limited access to these kinds of beers in Tas (it's only thanks to Cool Wine that we have access to any of them) so if I want to drink these kinds of beers I'm going to have to brew them myself.

So, after all that preamble, my first step in the direction of brewing some interesting Belgian-style beers is a simple Belgian Pale. The recipe is a small, 11.5l batch adapted from Brian Strumke's (of Stillwater) recipe posted here. Due to a mix up with the yeast I had Wyeast 3725 Biere De Garde on hand instead of the 3522 I was planning on using. I'm not too sad about that, I'm quite excited to see how the 3725 turns out. 

Recipe on Hopville. 

OG: 1.048

FG: 1.010

IBU: 24

2kg Pilsner malt 

250g Wheat malt

90g Munich malt

7g Saaz @ First wort hop

7g Hallertau @ 60 min

16g Saaz @ 10 min

5g Saaz @ 0 min

5g Hallertau @ 0 min

Wyeast 3725 Biere De Garde

8/2/12 - Brew day. Bron's first all grain effort, she did it like a pro.

9/2/12 - Pitched the yeast, there was activity within a few hours. The temps were on the low side (~20'C) but the bulk of the fermentation was done in 2 days.

13/2/12 - Fermentation nearly finished, sample smells/tastes delicious, spicy, clove, tiny bit of banana, light and reasonably dry. Noticeable bitterness. Very cloudy.

Berliner Weisse

I've never had the chance to drink a commercial Berliner Weisse. It's an old German style: low alcohol, sour wheat beer. To be honest, I'd never heard of it until sometime last year. However, thanks to the internet I have not only heard of it but also managed to brew one. It was a fun brew, my first all grain effort and first go at doing a sour wort.

I mashed it at about 68'C in the hopes of giving this low alcohol beer some body. The grist was 50-50 pils and wheat malt. Then the wort went into a spare eski at around 40'C. I chucked in a handful of grain and placed gladwrap onto the surface of the liquid to keep air out and closed the eski. It sat and festered for 2 days as the bacteria on the grain went to work on the wort. Then I boiled it, hopped it very lightly (~8 IBUs) and fermented it with US-05, aiming for a clean yeast profile and sourness as the star.

'JFK'
Berliner Weisse, 3.2% alc.
Brewed 12/11/11.

Aroma: Wheat, citrus and a pretty obvious lactic aroma.

Appearance: Pale straw, very pale and very clear. It pours with a large fluffy head that dissipates over 5 minutes leaving only a thin ring around the edge of the glass.

Flavour: Sharp sourness is the first impression along with prickly carbonation. There's a hint of citrus and wheat, lots of wheat. The finish is all about the malt, particularly the wheat.

Mouthfeel: Moderately high carbonation. Relatively thin body but still has some body. Doesn't finish too dry.

Overall: Not a complex beer but then that's not the point of this one. It's refreshing and easy to drink. It's worked well on hot days while watching the cricket. I tried it with some plum syrup which cut the sour and left the malt and sweetness of the fruit to do their thing. Worth a try. I'm happy with how it turned out although I'd really like to have something to compare it with. I'd like to try it again using Wyeast 3068 or using their Berliner Weisse blend and see how that goes.

The beginning

My 'Baby IPA', low alcohol & stuffed full of hops

Welcome to my blog about brewing and beer related shenanigans in Tasmania.

I've been brewing on and off for quite a few years using kits but began getting into it more over the last 18 months, first with extract, then going on to all grain and coming up with my own recipes.

Over this year I'm keen to experiment by brewing styles and using techniques I'm not familiar with. I'd like to try my hand at sour and funky beers, saisons and messing with some other unusual styles. This blog is primarily meant for me to distill the things I'm learning and keep a record of the beers I've brewed. There's so much I want to learn and try out.

I'd also like to check out some of the best Tasmanian microbreweries and learn more about how they do things.