Filling the Barrel

Our barrel-fermented lambic project is underway! The two-day brew day took place on Dec. 26th & 27th. It was a hell of a lot of work considering our system can only put out about 12 gal of wort at a time, which meant we needed to brew at least six 10-gallon batches over 2 days to fill our 60 gallon chardonnay barrel.

The actual procedure deviated slightly from our original brew plan. During our first attempt at batch #1, after we doughed in the wheat at 140 F, it promptly burned on the bottom of the pot when we were raising it to boiling. So, rather than having to sit there and stir constantly for an hour as the wheat boiled, we just got our water to boiling, doughed in the wheat, brought it back to a low boil, then let it rest for 30 min. This seemed to work pretty well, as the resulting liquid was very gummy and starchy, and we got excellent conversion in the subsequent mash.

Sacks of wheat and barley. Got a great deal on this thanks to The Tap in Haverhill, Mass.

Crushing the grains. The wheat was a real pain and seized up the drill many times. We eventually had to open the mill gap and double crush.

Below I have detailed the specs on each batch, but here is a general run-down on our whole procedure for a single batch:

1) Bring 8 gal water to a boil. Dough in 8 lbs of raw wheat, 1.5 lbs of the US 2-row, and 1 lb of rice hulls (glad we had these on hand as our runoff got a bit sticky). Return to a boil over low heat and constant stirring. Rest 30 min.

2) Add boiled wheat mixture to mash tun. Mix in 1.5 gal of cold water and 12.5 lbs 2-row. By doing this we usually hit a sacch temp of 155-165 F (high, yes, but our extraction efficiency remained very high). Rest 90-120 min.

3) Lauter, batch sparge with a total 6 gal water (2 rounds of 3 gal, resting 15 min). Sparge water was hot, about 200-210 F.

4) 60 min boil, chill, whirlpool 10 min, siphon into barrel.

We wound up with approx. 65 gal of wort at an estimated 1.059. Eight gallons are currently fermenting in buckets as we didn't want to overfill the barrel during primary fermentation.


Batch 1:
Hit ~150 F on mash-in, used 1 gal boiling water to get mash temp to 160 F.
Preboil: 14.5 gal @ 1.051, mash efficiency 93%
Post boil: 13.3 gal @ 1.053, cast ~12 gal, brewhouse eff ~80%

Batch 2:
Hit 160 F spot-on in mash
Preboil: 14 gal @ 1.051, mash eff 91%
Post boil: 11.8 gal @ 1.060, cast ~10 gal (left about 2 gal of trub in pot, next wort went on top), brewhouse eff ~75%

Batch 3:
Hit 158 F in mash
Preboil: 15.25 (some was from prev batch) @ 1.055, subtracting prev wort, mash eff was around 95%
Post boil: 14.2 gal @ 1.060, cast ~13 gal, brewhouse eff ~99% (this was high from previous wort being left behind, if you average the last two batches, each had a brewhouse eff of about 87%)

Batch 4:
Mash came in a bit high at 160-165 F
Preboil: 14 gal @ 1.050, mash eff 89%
Post boil: 11.5 gal @ 1.058, cast ~10.5 gal, brewhouse eff ~77%

Batch 5:
Mash came in a bit high at 165-170, cooled with a bit of cold water. Mash lasted about 2 hr
Preboil: 13.25 gal @ 1.056, mash eff 93%
Post boil: 11.75 gal @ 1.061, cast ~10.5 gal, brewhouse eff ~81%

Batch 6:
Only had 6 lbs 5 oz of wheat and 11.75 lbs of barley. Used only 6 gal for sparge. Hit 160 F in mash.
Preboil: 11.5 gal @ 1.055, mash eff 97% (awesome!)
Post boil: 11.25 gal, forgot to take grav reading but estimate is 1.056. cast out about 8 gal into two buckets, brewhouse eff ~69%

Summary:

total preboil volume	82.5 gal
overall preboil gravity	1.053
overall mash efficiency	91%
total postboil volume	73.8 gal
overall postboil gravity	1.058
total wort produced	64.5 gal
barrel starting gravity	1.058
overall brewhouse efficiency	79%

inoculation schedule:
12/26, 11:30 pm: pitched 3 packs US-05 into approx 35 gal wort

12/27, 9:30 pm: pitched 2 packs US-05 into barrel (approx 57 gal currently in barrel), and split one pack of US-05 between the two buckets which contained 5.5 gal and 3 gal of wort. Also pitched into the barrel: 2 packs Wyeast lambic blend, 1 pack Wyeast Pediococcus, 1 pack Wyeast B. bruxellensis, 1 pack Wyeast B. lambicus,

Also pitched the following dregs:

1 750 ml Cantillon Classic Gueuze
2 375 ml Cantillon Iris
2 375 ml Allagash Gargamel
2 750 ml Cantillon Grand Cru
1 750 ml Lindemans Cuvee Renee
3 375 ml Girardin 1882 Black Label Gueuze
2 375 ml Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus
1 750 ml Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze
1 375 ml Drie Fonteinen Doesjel







UPDATE:
- First tasting (8 months old)
- Second tasting (24 months old)

Funky, sour Saison

Saisons are an old style, traditionally brewed to have a relatively low alcohol content and provided for Belgian seasonal farm workers during summer months. According to Phil Markowski (Farmhouse Ales), historical saisons usually had a bit of tartness, unlike most modern examples (with some exceptions, e.g., Bam Biere).

This represents our fourth attempt at a Belgian saison, but our first attempt at a wild beer. Our previous saisons never had enough yeast character, so for this one we decided to go with one of the most expressive yeast strains out there, Dupont. According to 'Farmhouse Ales', the Dupont strain may actually be 4 different strains, so rather than going with the commercial version we decided to culture up the dregs from a bottle of Avec Les Bons Voeux. The Dupont strain is very unique in that it can ferment well into the upper 80s and lower 90s (and in fact, below 80 F and fermentation seems to stall out) without producing many fusels.

In addition to the Dupont character, we were looking for a bit of funk and acidity. Jolly Pumpkin makes my second favorite saison (after Dupont), Bam Biere. At only 4.5% abv, Bam gets a ton of character from the wild yeasts and bacteria JP has in their oak barrels. For this we cultured up dregs from two bottles - Oro de Calabaza and Noel de Calabaza. After a few weeks, the Oro starter didn't taste that great, but the Noel starter showed some promise. So we dumped the Oro starter and used the Noel starter for our beer. And we also threw in some Orval dregs for good measure.

The recipe for this beer is simple, as most of the character for a saison comes from the yeast. The grain bill is mainly Belgian pils and a bit of wheat for head retention and a little bug food. Hops are kept to a low level to make sure the bugs in the JP could thrive (I was mainly concerned about the welfare of any Lactobacillus).

Finally, a word about the fermentation plan. Since we were going to be fermenting at around 90 F for the first 1-2 weeks, we decided to pitch the JP dregs at the end of the primary. Who knows what JP dregs would do at 90 degrees. Farmhouse Ales talks at length about the Dupont fermentation schedule - they rack to a secondary after 10 days, even if primary fermentation is not complete. I guess the thought here is that 90 degree heat may seriously increase the risk of premature autolysis. There is still plenty of yeast in suspension to finish the beer.

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Saison v4 aka "Snake Spit"
6.2 gal batch, brewed 1/25/09

11 lbs Belgian Pils
1 lb Flaked wheat
0.5 lbs Wheat malt

1 oz Strisselspalt (2.6% aa) 90 min
1 oz Strisselspalt 40 min
1 oz Saaz (3.2% aa) 20 min

1.054 OG
1.005 FG
6.4% ABV
20 IBUs

Water profile: from Farmhouse ales (pg. 154)

Yeast propagation: Dregs from Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux, stepped up to a 750 ml starter, made 20 days before brew date. A second culture was from the dregs of Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza, about 2 cups in volume. Orval dregs were not stepped up, we just threw them in straight from the bottle.

Mash: Step mash, rest #1 for 90 min at 146-147 F, 1.25 qt/lb; rest #2 for 30 minutes at 154 F (achieved via small decoction). Batch sparged w/ 3 gal water at 180 F (2 rounds, 1.5 gallons per round, rest time 15 min). Preboil 5.7 gal @ 1.061 (had to top up since we came in low volume-wise)

Brewhouse result: 6.2 gal cast-out, 1.054 OG, ~75% brewhouse efficiency

Fermentation: Pitched Dupont dregs at 73 F, quickly raised this temperature to about 90 F for primary fermentation (made a hot water bath for the carboy using a large cooler and an aquarium heater).

1/25/09 Brewed, began fermenting at 90 F
1/31 Racked to secondary, pitched JP dregs. Let secondary cool to room temp (70 F) over the course of about 4 days.
2/5 Pitched Orval dregs
2/14 Noticeable Lactobacillus skin forming on top of beer
2/15 gravity at 1.008, getting sour!
2/28 down to 1.006, tastes surprisingly like lambic
3/17 1.005, bottled at 3.0 vol CO2.

Review (5/23/09, in bottle for about 9 weeks)

Aroma - Plenty of citrusy, lemony funk. Tons of yeast character. A little white-wine aroma. Maybe a few odd, funky aromas - try to store at a cooler temp as it seemed cleaner a few weeks ago.

Appearance - Pale yellow, good clarity if yeast isn't poured. Spritzy, pours with a large white head but retention isn't great and no lacing present.

Flavor - Big tartness up front. Some grape-like flavors. Clean, dry finish, with a solid sourness. Malt and hop flavors aren't really noticeable (which is fine with me).

Mouthfeel - Prickly carbonation, crisp, thin, and tart. About perfect. Carbonation could maybe be even higher.

Overall - Our best saison by far. Very distinct and refreshing. Maybe try mashing even lower (or give it more time in the secondary) to get this thing to really dry out. Keep secondary and bottle-conditioning temps a little lower (upper 60s?), but age longer. Only change to the recipe would be to use a bit more flaked wheat.

Note: Tasted our last bottle on 12/24/09, almost a year old at this point. Carbonation has increased and is about right for the style. Funk seems to have increased too, in a good way. Acidity may actually have mellowed a bit. No real signs of oxidation - this beer could probably age for a while and not deteriorate.

Pliny the Elder Clone

Pliny the Elder. Just speaking these words to any beer geek induces instant salivation. This gem of a beer is one of the flagships of Russian River, which is in my opinion one of the best breweries in the US. In addition to mastering the hop, they have also basically mastered the funk, as exemplified by their glorious beer, Beatification. As for Pliny, I was able to try some 2-week-old earlier this year and it really did live up to the hype.

Whereas many brewers are secretive about recipes, Vinnie Cilurzo is quite open. There was an old recipe from him which called for oodles of Chinook hops, but the recently-published recipe in Zymurgy seems to be more like what I had, with a serious citrus bite but mellow bitterness (rather than what you might expect from a chinooked version). The recipe is ridiculous - we used well over a pound of hops in a 6 gallon batch. But with the 2009 hop-crop just being available and the hop shortage over, what better time to brew this beer?

We decided to go with Wyeast 1450 as it seemed to leave a very clean, smooth character in our last Rye. But this yeast does seem to work pretty slowly and does not seem to be the best attenuator. If we did this again I would probably go with 1056 like the original recipe suggests.

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Pliny the Elder Clone v1 aka "Golden Shower" (due to the fact that Corey got sprayed w/ beer and hops during bottling). Recipe based on Zymurgy article, scaled up to 7 gal to account for hop loss
6 gal batch, brewed 10/11/09

17 lbs US 2-row
0.75 lbs Carapils
0.75 lbs Crystal 40
0.95 lbs Table sugar (added to pre-boil wort)

4.5 oz Zeus (16% aa) 90 min
1 oz Zeus 45 min
1.5 oz Simcoe (12.7% aa) 30 min
3 oz Simcoe flameout
1.5 oz Centennial (7.8% aa) flameout

Dry-hop charge #1 (with 12 days left in fermenter)
1.25 oz Centennial
1.25 oz Simcoe
1.25 oz Columbus (16% aa)

Dry-hop charge #2 (with 5 days left in fermenter)
0.25 oz Centennial
0.5 oz Simcoe
1 oz Columbus


1.075 OG
1.020 FG (target was 1.012, better luck next time)
7.1% ABV
100+ IBUs

Water profile: 76 ppm Ca++, 13 ppm Mg++, 56 ppm Cl-, 133 ppm SO4, 9 ppm Na+, 26 ppm bicarbonate

Yeast propagation: WY1450, 0.9 gal starter @ 1.045, 6 days old, constant shaking to aerate

Mash: Single infusion, 150.5 F (target was 149.5), 1.75 qt/lb, 100 minutes. Batch sparged w/ 5 gal water at 190 F (2 rounds, 2.5 gallons per round, rest time 15 min). Preboil 10.9 gal @ 1.048, mash efficiency 73% (note: grain was crushed by Midwest and we always seem to get low efficiency with them)

Brewhouse result: ~6.1 gal cast-out vol. (about 1.2 gal loss due to hops), OG 1.075, brewhouse eff. 62%.

Post boil w/flameout addition. A joy to whirlpool.

Fermentation: 68 F for first two weeks, rise to 74 F during third week, drop to 68 F during dry hopping.

10/12 Krausen 1" only 6 hr after pitch!
10/18 1.034
10/23 Only down to 1.030
10/26 Pitch a pack of Munton's Gold
10/28 Hydrometer sample down to 1.014 (note, this was the fast ferment test NOT the beer)
11/1 Racked to secondary, gravity 1.020. Began dry-hopping w/ first hop charge. Flushed w/ C02 and swirled to get hops wet (did this several times over the next few days)
11/8 Second dry-hop charge
11/14 Only at 1.020, bottled, target 2.3 vol CO2
12/1 Peaked

Review (12/7/09, bottled for 3 weeks, last week was in the fridge)

Aroma - Huge hop nose. Bitter grapefruit, tangerine, mushy tropical fruits. A bit of candy-sweet malt hidden back there. Still lacking that blissfully clean citrus wallop of the real thing.

Appearance - When yeast and hop debris is left behind, it is perfectly clear. Pale golden-amber. Big white, frothy head with lots of structure and moderate lacing.

Flavor - Blast of grapefruit rind, bitter citrus peels. Maybe more bitterness than the real Pliny, but I like it. Basically no malt character but for a little sweetness. Hop flavor seems to have faded a bit lately (faster than the aroma).

Mouthfeel - Nice creamy mouthfeel. Carbonation pretty much perfect. Lingering, brutal bitterness, like you ate an orange peel. I like.

Overall - Go for a bit less bitterness (maybe reduce sulfate in water?). Try for better attenuation. A teeny bit fusely when warmer. Maybe try dry-hopping with pellets so the hops contact the wort more fully (rather than having so many just float above the level of the beer). A damn fine beer, better than the Rye IPA, but a little lower than my expectations. Peaked at 2 weeks from bottling.

Denny Conn's Rye IPA

If you are a homebrewer you have probably at least heard of this recipe. It is a recipe by Denny Conn, who is pretty well known in homebrewing circles. This beer is basically a maltier version of a strong IPA, but it is interesting in that about 20% of the grain bill is malted rye, which gives the beer an extremely full mouthfeel and some spicy rye flavor (which compliments the spiciness of the Mt. Hood flavor hops). We have done this beer now 4 times, but it wasn't until the 4th batch that I felt we really had this recipe locked in. Denny recommends using Wyeast 1450 for this beer, which we finally got to use on batch 4. Prior to that we used Wyeast 1272, which I didn't much care for as it seemed to leave quite a bit of fruitiness even under relatively cool fermentation temps (~63 F). Also, the Columbus dry hops make this beer. Denny's recipe calls for 1 oz in the secondary and 1 in the keg, we just did 2 oz at the tail-end of secondary then bottled.

So, for batch 4 we were finally able to brew this beer properly, having access to WY1450 and plenty of Columbus hops. Here it is:

Denny Conn's Rye IPA v4
6 gal batch, brewed 9/6/09

12.25 lbs US 2-row
3.25 lbs Rye malt
1.25 lbs Crystal 60
0.5 lbs Carapils
0.5 lbs Wheat malt

1 oz Mt Hood (5.2% aa) First wort hop
2 oz Columbus (14.2 aa) 60 min
1 oz Mt. Hood 30 min
1 oz Mt. Hood 1 min
2 oz Columbus dry hop, 4 days from end of secondary

1.073 OG
1.012 FG
8.0% ABV
88 IBUs

Water profile: 128 ppm Ca++, 19 ppm Mg++, 48 ppm Cl-, 245 ppm SO4, 18 ppm Na+, 90 ppm bicarbonate

Yeast propagation: WY1450, 1 gal starter @ 1.040, 6 days old, constant shaking to aerate

Mash: Single infusion, 149 F, 1.75 qt/lb, 100 minutes. Batch sparged w/ 4 gal water at 190 F (2 rounds, 2 gallons per round, rest time 15 min). Preboil 10 gal @ 1.052, mash efficiency 83%.

Brewhouse result: ~6 gal cast-out vol., OG 1.074, brewhouse eff. 73%.

Fermentation: 61-62 F for first week, rise to 70 F during second week, drop to 68 F during dry hopping.

9/20 Racked to secondary, gravity at 1.024
9/23 1.020
9/20 1.016. Added a pack of Munton's dry yeast to make sure this attenuates fully. (WY1450 seems a little slow)
10/4 1.012, quite a bit of activity past few days. Began dry-hopping at 68 F.
10/7 Bottled, 1.012, target 2.1 vol CO2
10/30 Peaked

Review (10/31/09, bottled for ~3 weeks)

Aroma - Big, juicy Columbus aroma - dank, piney. Low fusels. Very clean. Some caramel malt in the background. A real hop-bomb.

Appearance - Giant white head, can get too big when pouring. Excellent retention. Poor clarity (note: this cleared up after a couple weeks in the fridge)

Flavor - Big & complex - spicy rye and hops up front, chewy, malty after, and a long lingering bitterness that is very pleasing.

Mouthfeel - Perfect carbonation, silky, creamy body. Lingering bitterness btwn sips.

Overall - Excellent. I think this is how this beer is supposed to be (previous batches were a little fusely or had a lesser hop aroma and bitterness). Improve clarity. Don't change anything else. Sort of like a baby barleywine.

The Plan

Shortly after I started homebrewing a couple years ago, I quickly became interested in wild beers, especially lambics. Not only are they utterly unique in how they are brewed, but their aromas and flavors are just out of this world.

So, the logical step is to try brewing one. This idea came about during the great Sour Hour of 2008 (where a bunch of us got together and sampled some of the world's best sour beers), when all five of us (Matt, Tommy, Eric, Brian, and I) realized that, not only do we love to brew, but we love the funk.

Our plan is to brew a pseudo-lambic. We are not going to try an ambient ferment with 60 gallons of beer, so rather we are going to do a controlled inocculation using a variety of bugs. Right now we are planning to pitch 6 packs of US-05, 2 packs of Wyeast lambic blend, 1 pack Wyeast B. bruxellensis, 1 pack Wyeast B. lambicus, and 1 pack Wyeast Pediococcus. We plan to supplement this with the dregs from several bottles of Cantillon and Drie Fonteinen for biodiversity. In my opinion those are the best lambic breweries around and it seems like people have gotten good results using their bugs. Because we are not attempting an ambient fermentation, we are going to use low-alpha Strisselspalt hops rather than aged (also I couldn't find aged hops).

The Two-Day Brew-Day is shaping up to start Dec. 26th at my brother's house in Massachusetts (he has the basement where the barrel will live). We are planning to use the Wyeast mash for unmalted wheat with a sacch rest of 158-160 F to ensure lots of dextrins (=bug food). We are shooting for six 10-gallon batches over two days. I am leaning toward US 2-row over Belgian Pils for its higher protein content and stronger enzymatic potential (important for converting raw wheat). We are going with 36% raw wheat on this one in hopes that we will get a nice, starchy wort for all the bugs to munch over the next 2-3 years. Here is a recipe for a 10 gallon run:

14 lbs US 2-row
8 lbs raw unmalted wheat
3 oz Strisselspalt (2.5% aa) @ 60 min

x 6

anticipated OG 1.057
anticipated FG ~1.001 (around 7% abv)
14 IBUs


Comments would be most appreciated, I'd like to avoid making 60 gallons of malt vinegar if possible.

The Barrel

So the plan to make 60 gallons of homebrewed lambic came one step closer to fruition this weekend. My friend Matt and my brother Eric took a trip out to the Syracuse region to pick up a used Chardonnay barrel (this is the wine that was in this barrel). The barrel was emptied immediately prior to pick-up, so it should be in great shape. It's from Seguin Moreau cooperage and is made from Russian oak. The plan is to give it a soak in sodium metabisulfite solution from now till brew day (26th of December) to keep it clean and strip out some more oak character.

The barrel is going to reside in my brother's basement for the duration of fermentation, i.e. 2-3 years. He lives in Massachusetts so it shouldn't get too hot in the summer. Right now his basement is sitting at 63 F, which seems pretty ideal. He custom-built a stand for the barrel.