Imperial Red with Rye Review

I’m always somewhat hesitant to write up formal reviews of my beers…not because I’m afraid of unjustifiably glorifying or castigating them, but more so because I don’t feel that I can adequately convert my thoughts/sensory perceptions into words.  It’s a real skill that I admire and I only wish I had such a talent.  When I sample a beer, although I know what components I do and don’t like about it, translating those thoughts into expressions is a significant challenge.  In time and with experience, hopefully my verbal quiver will grow and it’ll become easier to detail the highs and lows of each brew.

Back in March when we brewed this ImperialRed w/ Rye, it was a strategic play in hopes of being selected by a local brewery through the Puget Sound Pro-Am competition.  Although the competition has come and gone, and unfortunately this beer was not selected (results here), I’m still happy with the strategy that we attempted since the best of show beer turned out to be a Rye PA.  We were on the right track, but sadly we didn’t execute well enough to be selected.  Overall though, I’m very pleased with the way this beer turned out. 

Aroma:  Big citrus hop nose…lots of your typical grapefruit, orange, and pine with maybe a bit of bit of herb?  Solid maltiness with a bit of caramel and slight chocolate.  No alcohol warmth.

Appearance:  Leans more towards red than copper (maybe tawny red?) with a nice off-white head of tight, small bubbles.  The head lasts longer than I anticipated for such a big beer, but when it fades, it leaves nice lacing on the glass.  Originally the beer was quite clear, not brilliant, but the one in the picture was the last draw from the keg which unfortunately picked up a bit of sediment. It's also a pretty wide and deep glass, so the beer appears much darker than it really is.

Flavor:  This beer is big on all fronts…huge hop flavors and a big malt backbone.  The citrus/piney flavors meld really well with the toasty malts and they strike a balance that’s really enjoyable.  There’s a bit of caramel in there too…not sweetness, but a richness that sort of tempers the bitterness from all of the hops.  I’m not the best at picking out rye, but I don’t really sense any…maybe a bit in the mouthfeel?  There’s a slight warming from the alcohol, but it’s not hot or unpleasant at all and in fact it adds just another layer of complexity.  There’s a bit of a lingering bitterness from the hops on the finish, but as the beer warms, this seems to fade.

Mouthfeel:  With the solid attenuation, the beer isn’t heavy or thick on the tongue. It’s more medium-bodied.  It’s very smooth and creamy with a medium level of carbonation.

Overall:  I’m very happy with this beer.  The rye didn’t come through as much as I was expecting, but the beer is no worse for it.  There’s something really pleasant about the way the rich caramelliness acts as a platform of expression for all the bold hop flavors.  They compliment  each other extremely well and the smooth, creamy body makes it a really enjoyable beer to drink. 

For a more ‘authentic’ review, you can see our pro-am score sheets for this beer by clicking here.

Amalgamation Autonomous

Between June 21^st and 23^rd of 2012, the National Homebrewer’s Conference will be held in Seattle….or actually, our sister city across the lake: Bellevue.  While I can’t speak from personal experience, I’ve heard that it’s the mother of all beer events for anyone interested in beer and needless to say, I’m eagerly waiting for next summer.  As a home brewer, one the exciting things about the conference is that you and your club have the opportunity to serve your creations to the masses, both during club night and during your allotted time in the hospitality suite.  Year over year the conference has been growing in attendance, and with last year’s volume at nearly 2000 people, it’s very telling that we’ll need a lot of beer on hand to dole out.

While I’m sure that each member of our club will work independently on their own contributions, together we wanted to produce something that represented the mission and character of our club and a sour barrel project seemed like just the ticket.  While we knew that other clubs in the area were receiving barrels from the Washington Homebrewer’s Association, we made the assumption that the majority would be of a red wine variety since most white wine barrels are repurposed for red after their oak properties have been fully extracted.  So, in order to be a little different, we set our sights on acquiring a freshly emptied white wine barrel.   The process was intensive and after contacting nearly 60 regional wineries, we lucked out when Maison Bleue Winery told us that just two days prior, they had racked their award winning Petite Joie  Marsanne from the barrel.  After a seven hour round trip and 200 bucks poorer, I was back home with two beautiful French oak barrels (more on the 2^nd barrel later).

Determining what to fill the barrel with proved to be an even more complicated task.  Rather than generating one recipe, we took a unique approach by first determining what components we wanted the beer to have and then allowing the six contributing members to create their own recipe that, when combined together in the barrel, would possess those qualities.   To prevent a complete mess, each brewer had to develop a recipe that fit within this list of group-determined guidelines:

• ·         The grain bill needs to be generally light in flavor so as not to mask the flavors of apricot, peaches, and marzipan that the wine that was once in the barrel exhibited.
• ·         Wheat should be used in significant quantities so that there’ll be plenty of long chain dextrins for the bacteria and brett to feed on during the long fermentation/maturation process (~30%).
• ·         IBUs should be kept below 12 so as not to inhibit any lactic acid production from lactobascillus.
• ·         Original gravity should be kept around 1.042-1.043.
• ·         To enhance complexity, the greater the variety of strains of bacteria/wild yeasts the better (so long as they’re proven). 
• ·         Individual batches should be inoculated with souring organisms no later than primary fermentation. 
• ·         SRM should be no higher than 4.

In the end, eleven different batches of wort were brewed and each was fermented at home before the barrel fill day.  The data on each individual recipe, as well as aggregated barrel stats, can be viewed by clicking here.

On June 7^th, we all transported our beers to my friend Paul’s house where the barrel had been previously set up in his garage.  Since the barrel had been emptied and gassed with sulfur dioxide only 6 days prior, it was recommended to us by Vinnie at RR that we fill up the barrel with water the night before so as to help flush out any lingering gas which would otherwise potentially inhibit the growth/reproduction of our desired souring organisms.  So, after draining the barrel of the water, we then flushed it with C02 and racked in our different beers. 

Depending on how it matures, we’re hoping that in late spring of next year we can rack out 30 or so gallons of the beer to age on some freshly frozen apricots (going for that sort of Fou’foune thing).  The rest of the base beer will then be divided between the contributing members for each to once again put their own spin on it.

7/29/13 - Racked all of the beer out and into kegs.  Barrel was rinsed out and immediately refilled with fermented and inocculated wort (similar grist and structure to AA).  In time, I'll add a post about this beer, but for now its temporary name is B1b.

4/5/14 - Took 1st place in the 1st round of the 2014 National Homebrew Competition NW division.  It was entered under category 17 as a Gueuze.

6/4/14 - Brought home the silver medal in the final round of 2014 NHC.

Polecat Porter

With a limitless number of beers to be created, it’s rare that I’ll spend the time re-brewing something I’ve made in the past.  If I do, it’s usually because the first batch wasn’t quite right and I want to tweak the recipe to see if I can make the final product match my expectations.  With our Baltic Porter however, the first batch was so delicious that I’d rather not make any adjustments to it and rather just see if I can replicate it exactly.

Back in early 2010, we designed this beer for entry in to the Puget Sound Pro-Am.  While we fanaticized about having our beer brewed on a commercial scale, we figured the odds were against us and the chances long.  As luck would have it though, not only did a brewery select our beer, but our favorite local brewpub at that:  Elysian Brewing.  Although the beer didn’t place in the top three in the pro-am competition at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival,  the commercial version turned out just as good as we could have hoped for. 

Whether or not it’s due to the history that I have with this beer or because of my general liking of the style, our Polecat Porter easily has edged its way into my top 3 favorite beers we’ve brewed.  It’s probably a little less roasty than a classic example, but I think that’s one of the reasons why I enjoy it so much too.  Hopefully this re-brew will not disappoint and once again we’ll have managed to capture lightning in a bottle.

 Polecat Porter

Recipe Specifics

-------------------

Batch Size (Gal): 6.5

Total Grain (Lbs): 19.88

Anticipated OG: 1.085

Anticipated SRM:  25.9

Anticipated IBUs:   39.1

Wort Boil Time:  90

Anticipated ABV:  8.7%

Final Gravity: 1.0195

ABV: 8.7%

Grain/Fermentables

-------------------------

57.4% - 11.5 lbs Munich Malt

33.7% - 6.75 lbs Pilsner

2.5% - ½ lb Special B

1.9% - 6 oz. Carafa

1.2% - ¼ lb CaraMunich47

1.2% - ¼ lb Chocolate Malt

1.2% - ¼ lb Crystal 80

0.9% - 3 oz. Molasses

Hops

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60 grams Czech Saaz (pellets, 5.0% AA) @ 65 minutes

20 grams Hallertau (pellets, 4.1% AA) @ 25 minutes

Yeast

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Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager (3^rd generation slurry from a 10 gallon batch)

Water Profile and Additions

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Charcoal filtered Seattle Water

Mash and HLT Additions:  1.3 grams/gallon of Calcium Chloride

Mash Schedule

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60 minute rest at 151°

15 minute mash out rest at 168°

Sparged with 170° water

Notes

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8/27/2011 – Yeast slurry had been in my fridge for 2 weeks, so I decanted off what little beer was sitting on top and transferred the yeast to 4000ml flask with 1600ml of fresh starter wort. 

8/28/2011 – Brewed solo

Doughed in at 157 and came to a rest at 151.  Added mineral additions and then let rest for 60 minutes.  Sparged until I had 8 gallons of 1.0745 wort.  Because of the higher efficiency, I replaced a half gallon of the wort with filtered water.

Boiled for 90 minutes with hop additions as noted.  Molasses added at 20 minutes, Irish moss and yeast nutrient were added at 15.  After the boil, I ended up with exactly 6.5 gallons of 1.085 wort.

Chilled wort down to 60°.  Air temp was about 75, so I didn’t want to let it sit and settle for as long as I would normally like.  As a result, when I racked into the carboy, a bit more hop material made it in.  Carboy was then placed in fridge and left overnight until temp reached 53°.  Aerated for 60 seconds with pure 02 and then pitched in all but a small amount of trub in the yeast slurry (which was also at 53°).  

Brewing our Polecat Porter with Dick Cantwell at Elysian Tangletown back in June 2010.

10/1/2011 - Racked over to secondary.  Gravity down to 1.021

12/16/2011 - I needed the carboy, so I racked over to a keg.  Gravity down to 1.0195.  Since there was about 1.5L left in the carboy, I sanitized and C02 flushed a 2L bottle fitted with a carbonator cap, and then transfered in the remaining volume.  I'm low on time, but when I get the chance, I'll try eising the remainder.

1/2/2012 - Placed 2L bottle in the freezer and swirled about every hour.  Once a significant portion of the mixture was frozen, I placed it in the fridge while I prepared for bottle conditioning.  I mixed 100ml of sterile water with 1/4 tsp dry t-58 yeast and let bloom.  From this mixture, I placed 0.5ml into each of my 4 bottles.  Next, I mixed 5 oz of table sugar into 8 ounces of boiling water, which resulted in 10 oz total volume, and then placed 6ml of the solution into each bottle.  From there, I flushed each bottle with C02 and then racked over the eised beer.

After the ice melted in the 2L bottle, the left over beer had a gravity of 1.011.  If the alcohol transfered over in the same manner that the gravity units did, then I expect the Baltic Eis to have about 10.5 - 11% ABV.

2/19/2012 - First Tasting

Wort Convenience

Over the years, few things have helped improve our brewing more than fermentation control and proper yeast management.  Pitching the appropriate level of yeast for each batch is key; if you under-pitch, the cells are forced to maximum reproduction and in doing so, produce off-flavor byproducts.  The cells also run the risk of an incomplete fermentation.  If you over pitch, the cells won’t have to replicate much during fermentation and the end beer potentially can be lacking in complimentary esters and phenolics.  

In order to assure that you’re brewing with the correct cell count of healthy yeast, a starter is often key.  A lot of books recommend that you mix up a small batch of wort for a starter a day or two before brewing.  I did this for a long time, but the inconvenience eventually got the best of me and I’ve since moved on to canning wort so that I’ll have it on hand at all times.  One of the great things about doing this is that once they’re canned, they can be stored at room temp for an indefinite period of time.

Typically when I make a up a batch, I’ll brew up about 8.5 gallons and fill various sized mason jars (24 quart, 12 pint, and 12 half pint).

Here’s the process that I use:

1. Determine the total volume of wort needed to fill all of your canning jars.
2. Using the lightest extract available, mix up an unhopped extract batch of 1.025 - 1.035 wort, add yeast nutrient, and boil for 10-15 minutes to create whatever minimal hotbreak might occur. 
3. Chill down to room-temp.
4. Fill up each of your jars, leaving any break material behind.
5. Run jars through your pressure cooker for about 15 minutes at 15psi. It’s amazing how the wort darkens and becomes so clear after this step.
6. Allow to cool, and then store at room temp in a dark place.

In theory, you could just mix up your batch of wort and fill the jars without running the liquid through the boil/chill process first.  The pressure cooker will sterilize everything, but I’ve found that you’ll be left with a lot more hot break in your canning jars.  Regardless of your method, nothing beats being able to create a starter in a few minutes, or add to an existing one, using the stockpile of canned wort that’s now always on hand.

Right: Pre-Pressure Cooker.  Left: Post-Pressure Cooker

Summertime Gose

As a home brewer, people are naturally interested in what you’re making.  It’s always fun to share your beer, but one of my favorite things about the hobby is introducing people to flavors in beer that they never knew existed or even could exist.  Since my brewery is located off of a well-traveled alley, I constantly get people stopping by to ask questions and sample some of my beer.  It’s a lot of fun…not only because I get to meet people and talk beer, but it’s a great feedback loop to have while being able to introduce folks to random styles of beer.

For the warm months of summer (the few that we actually get here in Seattle), I wanted to have something that would be refreshing, yet unique, on tap.  Since Goses are rarely seen, except by those that seek them out, I thought it would fit the bill nicely with its lemon tartness and orange flavored nuttiness from the coriander.  Add in a little salt to the mix and you’ve got a brew that is sure to turn a few heads.

For my first batch of Gose, I decided that I wanted to stay fairly traditional.  I kept the grain bill pretty simple and standard by using about 60% wheat malt and just a touch of Munich to add a little depth to the malt profile.  In addition to the sea salt and Indian coriander, which I lightly toasted in a pan and pulsed with a coffee grinder prior to adding, I threw in a few black cardamom seeds for that sort of smoky, mintiness that I feel they sometimes give off.   Hopefully it’ll intrigue and not disappoint.

Traditional Gose

Recipe Specifics

----------------------

Batch Size (Gal):  6.5

Total Grain (Lbs):  9.25

Anticipated OG:  1.046

Anticipated SRM:  3.3

Anticipated IBU:  6.2

Wort Boil Time:  90

Anticipated ABV:  4.8%

Grain

-------

59.5% - 5.5 Lbs Wheat Malt

32.4% - 3.0 Lbs Pilsner

8.1% - ¾ Lb Munich

Hops/Spices

----------------

20 grams Libery (Pellets, 3.0% AA) @ Mash Hop

15 grams Indian Coriander seeds (toasted and pulsed) @ 10 minutes

24 grams Sea Salt @ 10 Minutes

10 Black Cardamom seeds @ 10 minutes

Yeast

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WLP Lactobascillus (400ml starter)

Wyeast 1007 German ale (750ml starter)

Water Profile and Additions

-------------------------------------

Charcoal filtered Seattle water

Mash Additions: 1 gram/gallon Calcium Chloride

Boil Additions:  2.5 grams Calcium Chloride, 2.1 grams Epsom salt

Mash Schedule

--------------------

Doughed in @ 139°

Immediately raised temp to 149° via HERMS, rested there for 90 minutes

15 minutes @ 168°

Sparged with 170° H20

Notes

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5/2/11 – Added WLP Lactobascillus to 400ml of starter wort and left at ambient temp (68°).

Brewed on 5/7/2011 solo

Doughed in at 146° and mash stabilized at 139°.  Immediately raised the HERMs control to 149°, which took about 6 minutes for entire mash to reach.  Left for 90 minutes before raising HERMS for mash out.

Collected 5.5 gallons of 1.054 wort.  Topped kettle to 8.15 gallons so that after the boil I’d end up with 6.5 gallons of 1.046 wort.

Boiled for 90 minutes with spice additions at 10.

Chilled down to 120° and let rest covered for 45 minutes.  Temp dropped to 112° after which I racked the clear wort into a carboy and then pitched in the lacto culture.  Moved into the fermentation chamber with temp set to 110°.

5/9/2011 – Dropped temp dial down to 68°.  Created a 750ml starter for the German Ale strain.

5/10/2011 – Carboy down to 68°, so I pitched in the German Ale yeast.

6/7/2011 – Transferred into a C02 flushed keg since I needed the carboy space.  Keg was moved up into my office which was about 70° and left unpressurized.

11/11/11 - 1st Review/Tasting