Wyeast recently released a new Private Collection strain, the 1581 Belgian Stout.  These yeast strains come out once a year for three months and offers homebrewers a chance to experiment with unique strains that aren’t popular enough for year round production.  At Brooklyn Homebrew we make it a point to try these strains out in order to offer a little insight to customers who might be interested.  I get particularly excited because I talk about and give suggestions on the year round strains pretty much everyday and it can get a little repetitive.  Having first dibs on these when they come out also allows me the secret weapons to have truly unique brews at homebrew meetings and events.

I chose to brew a Belgian Saison at our last Beginner’s Class and use the 1581.  Most saisons use a relatively simple grain bill comprised mostly of pilsner malt and an addition of simple sugar to dry out the finish.  We used light Belgian candi rocks in our case (to try and phase out an old product for a new one) and a small amount of wheat and spelt to bump up the grain bill. Keeping the grain bill devoid of character malts allows for the yeast character to come through front and center.

The Belgian Stout strain is supposedly sourced from the Brasserie Ellezelloise who makes the uniquely Belgian Hercule Stout.

Tasting notes: I wish I could tell you how awesome this yeast is but the truth is I’ve put off entering any tasting notes even into draft because this beer has consistently given off a green apple smell and flavor that has not dissipated since fermentation.  As you may or may not know, green apple is commonly a signifier of high levels of acetaldehyde and is usually produced by yeast during fermentation and then reabsorbed later on.  It can also occur during the oxidation process after fermentation is complete.  The most common reason for this off flavor is removing the beer from the yeast prematurely before the yeast have a chance to reabsorb it.  I know for a fact that we gave this beer plenty of time on the yeast so it’s possible oxidation occurred, but I’m gonna do some digging and see if anyone else encountered this problem.  I personally have never encountered acetaldehyde like this in my homebrews or brews we have done at the shop before.  One thing that Ben commented was that maybe it’s called “Belgian Stout” for a reason and only works well in all malt beers (a percentage of this beer was Belgian candi sugar).  It’s a theory, but I don’t totally buy into it.  Some other tasting notes included acetic acid and fresh fruit in the aroma and apple juice, sweet, viscous, and slight corn syrup in the taste.  It was not really a “saison” at all (not dry enough) and was technically closer to a Belgian pale ale, albeit a bad one.  We brewed another batch with the yeast cake using a Christmas ale/Belgian dark recipe that was just kegged today.  It will be interesting to see if the same green apple shows up in that beer, which would indicate that it may be part of this yeast profile, and I will report back with the results.

I brewed a hefeweizen and attempted to turn it around in two weeks for Homebrew Alley 6 judging.  The Weihenstephan Weizen strain (Wyeast 3068) is by far the most popular German wheat strain for weizens, but I used the highly flocculent Wyeast 3333 in order to turn it around quickly and because I liked the flavor it gave to a weizenbock I brewed a while ago.  I know that weizens are best consumed fresh, but a week before the entry deadline the beer was a little too yeasty and I didn’t think it would fade in time for my liking so I added gelatin and cold crashed near 32F for a week while it carbed.  What I didn’t expect was for the beer to clear completely.  I knew it was flocculent but I assumed even if the yeast cleared, there would still be the protein haze from the high amount of wheat in the grist.  This beer was as clear if not clearer than my filtered kolsch by the time it was judged.  The cleared beer had plenty of flavor though, even without the telltale cloudy yeast-in-glass flavor you expect.  Banana and clove are prominent in the nose which then follows to the taste.  There is a distinct buttery mouthfeel that’s full on the palate with what was described as “piña colada” with fresh coconut.  Nice and crisp and with a head that lingers until you finish the glass.  This beer is fine as hefeweizens go, and it was a big hit to AEB, but I think next time I brew this I’ll finally give the 3068 a go.

Recipe follows.

tropical schmopical

New Zealand and Australia are putting out some exciting new hop varietals as of late and I couldn’t be more stoked.  In order to learn about some of these new offerings we decided to brew a pale ale at the shop. It came out as a session strength pale ale around 4% ABV because we used Valley Malt organic 2-row and had some efficiency issues.  I am going to blame a majority of the problem on not crushing the grains fine enough, as barley kernels worldwide have been approximately 33% smaller due climate changes, and I didn’t check our mill setting or crush before doughing in.  To kind of fix the efficiency problem, we added 1 pound of dry malt extract into the fermentor to bump up the gravity but were still a good 20 points short when we got 1.040 instead of 1.060.  We used the Brooklyn Homebrew Pale Ale recipe for the grain bill and single-hopped it using only New Zealand Motueka pellet hops.  Doing a single hop beer is a good way to learn the flavor and bittering characteristics of a new (or old) hop.  When you know what a certain hop is going to bring to the table, then you can compliment it with other hops to layer flavors and create a well rounded hop profile and better tasting beer.  Here are the tasting notes from the all Motueka “micro-IPA” compiled over several days of tasting.

’bout to blast your mouth with some green pepper goodness

Initial aroma was intense tropical fruit, passionfruit, very similar to Amarillo hops.  Citrus dominated but later revisits delivered a conclusive jalapeno and green pepper smell.  This somewhat carried to the taste with tropical fruits at the forefront and a kind of rye or Belgian yeast spiciness that could be described as black pepper.  Words that also came out of the tasters’ mouths were “wild hop aroma” and “smells like Michigan ditchweed”.  Seems like several New Zealand hops I have come across deliver a combination of tropical and citrus notes somewhat similar to American varieties but also carry a distinct spiciness that seems to be an exaggerated noble hop trait.  I think that this hop would do well in a saison or even an American style wheat beer geared toward Summer consumption.  I would also like to layer this with some Amarillo and Nelson Sauvin in a hop forward all pilsner malt Tripel.  But for now, I will just enjoy the simplicity of this delicious single hop beer.

UPDATE 2/22/12 This green pepper aspect of this beer (that I never fully admitted was off-putting) has pretty much faded with tropical and citrus fruits much more prominent now, giving way to a distinctly peppery spice finish.

Two peas in a pod. Standard American Lager #2 on the left and Schwarzbier cozy @ 55F

I devised a small experiment hypothesizing that the temperature readings taken from a probe taped to the outside of a fermentor and readings from a probe inside a thermowell would be different, as I have read, but no dice.  Both probes read the same temp all six times I checked them, from yeast pitching to near terminal gravity of these two lagers.  The picture shows the two ranco digital temp controllers attached in different ways to two different 6 gal carboys in a fridge.  Only one controls the fridge (thermowell with probe inside of the beer on left).  It was an interesting idea that didn’t lead to much, except some (hopefully) tasty lagers.

Yesterday was an awesome day to be a homebrewer.  My homebrew club, the Brooklyn Brewsers, hosted their first ever holiday party at Brouwerij Lane.  The dudes at Brouwerij Lane graciously allowed us to put our beer on draft to flow freely during the event.  I brought my standard American lager that I eventually nicknamed my “Budweiser Clone”.  It was very similar to Bud, but tasted fresher and more vibrant.  It went over really well, and kicked pretty quickly during the party.  I also kept it real American by bringing pigs in a blanket and rice krispie treats “loaded” with rolos and potato chips.

Shortly after the party, the awards ceremony was being held for Homebrew Alley 6 at Brooklyn Brewery.  We rode bikes over there just in time to catch a glimpse of the final round Best of Show judging.  It was dead silent in the room and it was really interesting to watch how focused the judges were during this final flight.

Far right is the new Sixpoint brewmaster, plus some nationally ranked BJCP  judges

Crazy as it may seem, my Standard American Lager and Kolsch were both being judged right in front of me. Both beers took gold in their categories and the lager went on to take 2nd place best in show.  AEB pointed out the irony in winning a homebrew competition with a Budweiser clone, and it really is the best joke.  You’re allowed to choose your prize when you go up to accept your ribbon, and of course I chose a 55 lb. bag of Weyermann Pilsner malt to feed my voracious homebrewing habit and to make the bike ride home as unsafe as possible.  I quickly put that bag to work this morning and brewed a schwarzbier to continue on my lager kick.

Wanna brew your own Budweiser clone? Here’s the recipe:

One of Dan’s first deeds as acting Prez was to schedule Garrett Oliver of the Brooklyn Brewery to host a meeting at their facility.  He gladly accepted and took the club on a private guided tour with the brewery closed.  We got a glimpse of the old 25 bbl brewhouse along side the new three vessel 50 bbl system.  They cannibalized the old boil kettle to act as a holding tank for hot wort, allowing them to brew multiple times a day without batches running into eachother.  The most significant upgrade came in the form of multiple new fermentors, including several 200 bbl tanks, allowing them to boost annual output from 8,000 bbls to 50,000 by 2012.  Combine this with the over 80,000 bbls contract brewed by FX Matt upstate and the amount of “Brooklyn” beer produced will make them one of the top 20 regional breweries in the United States.

Inside the belly of the beast, four 200 bbl fermentors dwarf onlookers

The most exciting part of the night was the “ghost” bottle selection that Garrett poured.  These beers are usually one offs and test batches mostly for the brewing team that rarely make it out of the brewery for the public consumption.  The first beer was a bottle conditioned version of Radius, which was originally meant to be served within a five block “radius” of the brooklyn, but later stretched to the entire borough of Brooklyn.  Session strength and extremely drinkable, the carbonation from the bottle conditioned version provided much more elegant mouthfeel than the draft version and showcased the delicate balance between the all pilsner malt base and the spicy, floral Aurora (link to single hop aurora beer) hops.  Fermented slightly cooler than normal (I believe he starts in the low 70s) using the Saison Dupont yeast strain, I’m pretty sure Garrett said it briefly made an appearance in bottle form   for sale but couldn’t compete with much higher alcohol saisons that were similarly priced.

The next beer was a sour Local 1 “spontaneously” fermented in a second use bourbon barrel with New York State wild yeast from grape lees sourced from Red Hook Winery.  ”Cuvee de la Crochet Rouge” stretches the definition of spontaneous fermentation that we associate with lambic brewing, but is a wild beer nonetheless.  From what I understand, all Red Hook wines are made from Long Island grapes and ferment using only wild yeast present on the grape skins.  Garrett mentioned a particular NY Times article about 90+ point wines are manipulated using science and almost never use wild yeast, the traditional old world way.  Instead, the wild yeasts and bacteria are inhibited with potassium metabisulfite and then inoculated with a commercial wine strain for more predictable results. Much like the Red Hook wines, the beer was not inoculated in the customary way, using a commercial beer strain, but instead dosed only with the indigenous wild yeast from the grape lees.  Fascinating stuff, and the beer was awesome, with my only gripe being the oaky bourbon flavor somewhat overwhelming the delicate sourness.

The next beer was an early version of Mary’s Maple Porter, which looks like it will be released as part of the Brewmaster’s Reserve series.  It was cool to get to a taste of this well balanced porter before its public release.  Garrett had an interesting story about his experiments with constantly upping the amount of locally sourced maple syrup from a Brooklyn Brewery employee in order for it to show up flavor-wise in the final beer.  Apparently, you need a lot.

The final beer was a four year old Black Ops from the Brooklyn Brewery barrel room across the street.  This beer was incredibly mellow and drinkable, even at 10%+ ABV.  Surprisingly, it showed no signs of souring and oxidation was very minimal.  Black Ops bottles have been hard to come across recently due to their small batch size and the increasing popularity in barrel aged beers, so if you come across some, pick up two bottles so you can enjoy one now and then cellar the other for four years to pair with Garrett’s recommendation of vanilla sauced sea scallops.

There is a sweet spot with every well brewed beer where the flavors meld together and harmony is reached.  The beer “peaks” and it won’t taste any better than at that moment.  Only through repetition and rigorous controls can you establish the peak period of a certain beer.  Commercial breweries have to know this in order to put out their product and have it peak when the consumer has it in his or her hands.  Of course, this is all subjective, much like everything in the beer tasting world, but knowing when a beer will be at its best affects the homebrewer for a couple reasons.  If you’re brewing a beer for a party, you want your beer to be tasting the freshest and most awesome it can be on the date of the event. If you send in a beer to a homebrew competition you want the same scenario when it hits the judges’ palates.

I staged a small experiment where I brewed a beer and split up the bottles to condition at two separate temperatures.  One batch was stored near freezing 32F and the other slightly higher than cellar temps ~60F.  I am most concerned with high alcohol beers and how conditioning affects them.  These beers require additional conditioning time to allow the alcohol to mellow so it doesn’t “burn” when you drink it.  Most big Belgian beers are bottle conditioned and age well because of the unfiltered yeast that act as a preservative .  The experiment beer was first kegged, force carbonated, and then bottle filled with a Blichmann beer gun, so it differs a little from most bottle conditioned Belgians that are refermented in the bottle.  With no yeast to act as a preservative agent, how long will this beer survive at different temperatures? It’s well known in the beer world that warmer temperatures accelerate the maturation process where alcohol oxidizes and breaks down.

BDSA was brewed on 5/3/2011 making it almost 8 months old.  Both beers were tasted at 50F.

My results confirmed this with the warm cellared beer displaying much more character and complexity and generally being more enjoyable to drink.  The aroma was floral and rose-like (from the oxidation of alcohol), malty, sweet, licorice, and generally more fruity than than cold cellared beer.  The cold beer also had a noticeable alcohol aroma that followed into the taste along with sweet and malty notes.  Both beers exhibited notes of raisons, prunes, vanilla, and black peppercorns but the warm beer seemed much more balanced and less spicy than the cold beer.  The warm beer also had a much more pronounced vanilla presence that made it much more enjoyable to drink for me.  Both were medium bodied with a dry finish and The head on both beers was tan and hazy, with the warm having a slightly better retention and lacing.  I think this may have been due to the cleanliness of the glasses more so than any component of the beer.

The warm cellared beer is peaking right now and I don’t think it will get any better.  All the complexity and nuance you expect in a Belgian dark strong ale is there.  The cold beer still has a ways to go and I’ll revisit both of them and update in a few months.  It makes sense that both of these beers will not last as long as if they were refermented in the bottle rather than forced carbed and bottled, but right now it’s a damn tasty beer.

Recipe follows:

Last Christmas, I gave my rather large family a four pack of homebrewed beers that I made.  In the overall scheme of things, it went over pretty well.  I ended up putting off a majority of the bottling until the night before Christmas and I still remember the numb burning feeling from bottling over 100 beers outside in the freezing cold with my hands dripping wet with sanitizer.

With a desire to simplify things this year, I chose to focus on making one really awesome beer and package it in a fancy enough way that made it special.  My plan was to make a single substantial Belgian style beer and bottle it in a 750 mL corked bottle that can take the high carbonation typical to big Belgian styles.  This year’s “Saison de Noel” was brewed mostly because of the Wyeast private collection 3726 Farmhouse Ale that was available at the time and because Northern Brewer was offering a limited edition Saison de Noel recipe kit that intrigued me.

When the holiday season comes around, so do the spiced holiday beers that I particularly dislike.  I don’t know what it is, but spiced beers, mostly the baking spice genre (i.e. pumpkin ales) really don’t do it for me.  Even when used in a subtle manner, the spices still seem to overwhelm the malt and/or hop profile of a beer.  I wanted to stay away from that with my holiday brew.

Using the Northern Brewer kit as a reference and wanting to keep it as simple and clean as possible, the emphasis in this beer is  allowing the yeast profile of the Farmhouse strain shine.  The high carbonation achieved by priming with 7 oz. of dextrose cuts through the malty sweet body.  This beer ended up drying out quite a bit (1.005) pushing the alcohol to 8.8%, meaning this will get a few months in the cellar before it’ll peak.

P.S. Probably the funnest part of brewing a beer to give out as a gift is designing the label.  Betelgeuse made the cut again this year.

Recipe follows:

I was asked by my girlfriend’s boss Jon asked if I would be interested in providing beer for a New Year’s party that he was planning to throw.  I’m always flattered when someone asks me to brew them a beer but I was even more astounded that someone with such a prestigious position at a top tier NYC law firm would do so.  I had brought over a few beers to his apartment once before a dinner out and he was apparently amazed at the quality.  I usually take such compliments with a grain of salt because most non beer nerds (and some beer nerds) only say good things or say nothing at all as to not offend the brewer.  Some brewers can be sensitive to critique but I personally take it seriously if someone does provide some sort of feedback that can be helpful to my future brews.

I know what I like in a beer and can brew that niche of beers pretty well, but brewing a beer for another person or persons is a whole other beast.  So I asked Jon the usual questions about the party like size and general makeup of the attendees and started upon my process.  The main problem was that the party was three weeks away which left very little time for maturation of any beer.  Luckily, this was somewhat in my favor because the taste demographic of the party-goers was described as “low to moderate adventurous”.  I decided to brew an English bitter for a few reasons.

1) Low alcohol beers like an English bitter can be turned around relatively quick (within 3 weeks) because of the decreased amount of fermentables that the yeast have to consume.

2) English yeast strains are much more flocculent than other strains (Belgian, American, German) and therefore result in a clearer beer more quickly and without filtration or finings.

3) I have been brewing bitters pretty often because they are one of my girlfriend‘s favorite beer styles and it keeps her happy to always have it on tap at home.

Because of my neurotic nature I couldn’t just provide one example of my fine craftsmanship (ahem) so I prepared a Kolsch which I had been sitting on for a while (which I will post more about later).

From Jon:

“The beer was a huge hit and perceived as something really special and unique.  There is definitely something to this, some small business.  I received glowing feedback from the oldest person at the party (father) as well as the coolest (TJ).”

The bitter is subjectively awesome in my opinion, and the single hopping of Glacier added a delicious floral finish to the beer.  Easy to drink and easy to brew, this one is a keeper.

Recipe follows: