Winter Solstice – Brett Return

Posted on November 16, 2016November 16, 2016 by ClamberSkull

brett-1

This beer was brewed in June 2016 and fermented out with WY3711 (French Saison) and then left to linger in the clutches of Brettanomyces Bruxellensis.

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Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
30 L	60 min	32.2 IBUs	23.7 SRM	1.045 SG	1.008 SG	4.8 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
2-Row	4.75 kg	75.76
Wheat Malt (Gambrinus)	0.72 kg	11.48
Special B Malt	0.4 kg	6.38
Carafa Special II (Weyermann)	0.225 kg	3.59
Roasted Barley	0.175 kg	2.79

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Hop Extract (c02 - Yakima Valley)	5 g	60 min	Boil	Pellet	80.1
Equinox (HBC 366)	45 g	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	15

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
French Saison (3711)	Wyeast Labs	80%	18.33°C - 25°C

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	66.67°C	60 min

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Brett Saison

Posted on March 18, 2016 by ClamberSkull

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
38 L	60 min	20.6 IBUs	12.9 SRM	1.050 SG	1.011 SG	5.0 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
2-Row	8 kg	91.95
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	0.5 kg	5.75
Carafa II	0.2 kg	2.3

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Ahtanum	59 g	60 min	Boil	Pellet	5.2
Ahtanum	23 g	5 min	Boil	Pellet	5.2
Ahtanum	17 g	0 min	Boil	Pellet	6

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Nottingham (-)	Danstar	75%	13.89°C - 21.11°C

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	66.67°C	60 min

Notes

1/2 With Nottingham, 1/2 with Brett WL5051 / Yeastbay Wallonian Farmhouse cake from Wildrose wort challange.

Rehydrated dry yeast.

1.003 - Sasion 06/12
1.009 - Bitter 06/13

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Young Lady Summer

Posted on February 4, 2016February 4, 2016 by ClamberSkull

The Cowtown Yeast Wranglers latest competition was to clone Ribstone Creek’s tasty Old Man Winter Porter. I’ve usually had my fill of winter come the end of December (although not my fill of porter) and decided to seek Young Lady Summer instead. My first idea was to use the provided grain / hop list and brew something on the lighter end of the ale spectrum.

Here is what I first threw together

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
38 L	60 min	40.2 IBUs	12.5 SRM	1.071 SG	1.021 SG	6.6 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
2-Row	11 kg	88.18
Brown Malt	0.454 kg	3.64
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	0.454 kg	3.64
Munich Malt - 10L	0.454 kg	3.64
Chocolate Malt	0.113 kg	0.91

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Columbus (Tomahawk)	50 g	60 min	First Wort	Pellet	14
Chinook	56.7 g	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	13
Hallertauer	28.3 g	0 min	Aroma	Pellet	4.8

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
London ESB Ale (1968)	Wyeast Labs	69%	17.78°C - 22.22°C

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	66.67°C	60 min

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Instead of doing this though, I thought it might be fun to attempt an Albino Stout. Something along the lines of a Milk Stout but without any dark malts. To add some roast, I added whole coffee beans (excellent yellow honey process coffee from Baja Rica cafe, thanks Randy!) and cocoa nibs to the fermenter. This beer ended up being a fun holiday beer to have around despite not really achieving a dark beer character. The consensus at the club meeting was that the coffee gave an interesting sweet pepper like favor which was similar to a blonde coffee beer that was in the Alberta Homebrewer’s advent calendar.

I wasn’t able to pass off this old man as a beautiful young lady but it’s always good to get weird.

yls2

Is my mascara smudged? The recipe is in my purse:

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
34 L	60 min	27.3 IBUs	8.0 SRM	1.062 SG	1.017 SG	6.0 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
2-Row	5 kg	53.33
Pale Malt, Maris Otter	1.814 kg	19.35
Munich Malt	0.7 kg	7.47
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L	0.5 kg	5.33
Victory Malt	0.454 kg	4.84
Milk Sugar (Lactose)	0.907 kg	9.68

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Goldings, East Kent	80 g	60 min	First Wort	Pellet	5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Whole Coffee Beans	200.00 g	7 days	Primary	Spice
cocoa nibs	200.00 g	7 days	Secondary	Spice

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
London ESB Ale (1968)	Wyeast Labs	69%	17.78°C - 22.22°C

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	68.89°C	45 min

Notes

added 100g of coffee to both ferementers
added 100g of cocoa nibs to one ferement

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Bonus Mascaras!:

<a href="http://mascaras.bandcamp.com/album/m-scara-vs-m-scara">Máscara vs. Máscara by Máscaras</a>

O’Siris’ Curse

Posted on December 7, 2015December 7, 2015 by ClamberSkull

This was the beer that I contributed to the Alberta homebrewer’s advent calendar (Day 11). I brewed this before I heard of the calendar so there was lots of time to bottle condition which I haven’t done in a long time. To make it a little more festive I boiled a bit of spice in with the priming sugar. I’ve since tried a couple of bottles to see how the spice was faring and… GUSHERS! Argh. I guess I shouldn’t have transported the batch through that bone yard:

Please note the gravestones on the far right and far left that are enlarged in the insert. I did not apply photoshop. Twelve year old me is really very amused at this.

Anyways, these may gush. It’s the curse doing this. It’s not because there’s an infection or too much sugar or anything. Ancient Egyptian curse and / or restless thirsty souls attempting to drink local. Really.

Something I didn’t mention in the notes was that I ran half of the Roasted Barley through the blender which was mashed in with the rest of the grist.

I guess I'll expand the recipe. I hope I don't get cursed and die.

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
34 L	60 min	40.6 IBUs	35.8 SRM	1.044 SG	1.010 SG	4.4 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
2-Row	5 kg	68.8
Barley, Flaked	1.361 kg	18.72
Black Barley (Stout)	0.907 kg	12.48

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Goldings, East Kent	112 g	60 min	Boil	Pellet	5

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
London ESB Ale (1968)	Wyeast Labs	69%	17.78°C - 22.22°C

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	49°C	20 min
Sach	64°C	60 min

Notes

Used Toasted Flaked Barley not regular.

Measured OG 1.043

Mashed to 65, ended at 63 - step mashing went fine with 20min protein rest

First runnings lautered slowly - stopped half way and filled with sparge water. Laurtering ran fine after that.

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Coconut Porter

Posted on December 2, 2015 by ClamberSkull

This is the third year of Coconut Porter. This year’s version was cobbled together from malts that I had around.

But how? Recipe?

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
38 L	60 min	33.7 IBUs	30.2 SRM	1.057 SG	1.017 SG	5.3 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
2-Row	8 kg	77.91
Barley, Flaked	0.454 kg	4.42
Carafa II	0.454 kg	4.42
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L	0.454 kg	4.42
Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L	0.454 kg	4.42
Roasted Barley	0.227 kg	2.21
Special B Malt	0.227 kg	2.21

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	44 g	60 min	Boil	Pellet	12.7
Goldings, East Kent	20 g	10 min	Aroma	Pellet	5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Toasted Coconut	250.00 g	0 min	Mash	Flavor
Toasted Coconut	200.00 g	30 min	Boil	Flavor
Irish Moss	2.00 tsp	15 min	Boil	Fining
Toasted Coconut	200.00 g	15 min	Boil	Flavor
Toasted Coconut	600.00 g	0 min	Boil	Flavor
Toasted Coconut	250.00 g	7 days	Secondary	Flavor

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
London ESB Ale (1968)	Wyeast Labs	69%	17.78°C - 22.22°C

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	66.7°C	60 min

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Beer Demons in the Basement

Posted on October 26, 2015 by ClamberSkull

I decided to brew at the last minute on Saturday and chose to do a brew inspired by good times sipping Maui Coconut Porter on the lanai in that beer’s home town. I’ve brewed this before but seeing as I didn’t plan the brew ahead I had to wing a few things. I didn’t use any Chocolate or Black malt and instead used Carafa Special II and Roasted Barley (which was ground finely in a blender). I also didn’t prepare a yeast starter but had a Dry Stout fermented with WY1968 London ESB that I needed to move to a serving keg. I pitched the slurry into the new beer and expected to see a quick start to fermentation the next morning. There were no signs of life the next day and I had to head out of town.

Curiosity got the better of me and seeing as my netbook running BrewPi is close to where these carboys are sitting, I decided to remote into it and check its microphone. I did this through the command line and used various tools to compress and move data. This is what I got:

I’m pretty sure the heartbeat like sound is CO2 bubbling out of the blow off tubes… but I think I can also hear the damned conspiring the background. Creepy.

Recipe, if you don't mind

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
38 L	60 min	33.7 IBUs	30.2 SRM	1.057 SG	1.017 SG	5.3 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
2-Row	8 kg	77.91
Barley, Flaked	0.454 kg	4.42
Carafa II	0.454 kg	4.42
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L	0.454 kg	4.42
Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L	0.454 kg	4.42
Roasted Barley	0.227 kg	2.21
Special B Malt	0.227 kg	2.21

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Magnum	44 g	60 min	Boil	Pellet	12.7
Goldings, East Kent	20 g	10 min	Aroma	Pellet	5

Miscs

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Type
Toasted Coconut	250.00 g	0 min	Mash	Flavor
Toasted Coconut	200.00 g	30 min	Boil	Flavor
Irish Moss	2.00 tsp	15 min	Boil	Fining
Toasted Coconut	200.00 g	15 min	Boil	Flavor
Toasted Coconut	600.00 g	0 min	Boil	Flavor
Toasted Coconut	250.00 g	7 days	Secondary	Flavor

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
London ESB Ale (1968)	Wyeast Labs	69%	17.78°C - 22.22°C

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	66.7°C	60 min

Notes

oconut Porter
Robust Porter

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 10.00 gal
Boil Size: 11.84 gal
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: 3 Keggle HERMS V1.2
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
16.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 71.11 %
2.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 8.89 %
2.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 8.89 %
1.00 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 4.44 %
1.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.44 %
0.50 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 2.22 %
0.75 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 18.1 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 7.1 IBU
1.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 5.2 IBU
0.50 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
0.75 lb Coconut (toasted) (Mash 1.0 hours) Misc
0.75 lb Coconut (toasted) (Secondary 7.0 days) Misc
2.00 lb Coconut (toasted) (Boil 0.0 min) Misc
2.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days) Misc
1 Pkgs SafAle American Ale (Chico) (DCL #S-05) Yeast-Ale
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.059 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.87 %
Bitterness: 30.3 IBU
Est Color: 31.5 SRM

Mash at 155 for 60 min
Double batch sparge

Research and pre-brew notes-
Maui uses only toasted coconut that they roast themselves for the coconut flavor, no coconut milk or extracts at all. It looks to be a med-light toast from pics of the Maui/Kona collaboration brew with stone. From interview; "Toasting should be just enough give a nutty flavor and denature the head killing oils." They use just over 200# of coconut for a 20bbl batch, which comes out to roughly 1/3# per gal. "Some goes in the mash, some goes in the boil, the majority goes in a hop-back, and some goes in the brite tank." Without a large hop-back, we should probably add the majority of the cocnut as a whirlpool addition, which is how it seems the collaboration brew was done at Stone. Uses 6 malts, and from descriptions it sounds like there's definately some chocolate malt and black patent. Looks to be on the darker end of the scale for robust porters, I'm guessing at least 30 SRM. Seems to have a higher FG and comes in at ~5.7 abv. Mouthfeel described as thick, rich, and creamy, and with the higher FG it definately needs some cara-pils and a med-high mash temp. Maybe even some flaked grains for body/mouthfeel? IBU's estimated at 30, and uses only cascade and columbus hops. Hopping is in the American style used at bittering, flavor, and aroma additions. Yeast selection is somewhat clean but may also be playing up the maltiness. Maybe try a cleaner english yeast like S-04? Probably split to two fermenters and try S-04 in one and S-05 in the other to see which one is closer.
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SMaSH Exchange

Posted on May 14, 2015July 28, 2015 by ClamberSkull

SMaSHy SMaSHy

I decided that this would be my first attempt at participation in an official brew club event. I’m a big wuss and chose an exchange instead of a competition so I don’t have to cry over a poor quantitative result. All those in the exchange chose a hop variety and followed pretty much the same recipe using domestic 2 row and the hop of their choosing.

The brew went a little like this.

The beer didn’t turn out how I was expecting. Ahtanum is supposed to be akin to other American hops with citrus notes. This beer had smooth bittering and a floral nose, not really what was advertised. There may have been packaging issues as well because some members of the exchange commented that the beer had an off colour, a little brown or pink even but there wasn’t any oxidation off flavours. I blame this to the fact that I didn’t perform the usual sac[charomyces]ifical rites and it angered the yeasts within.

I haven’t had a chance taste many of the brews included in the exchange but am looking forward to educating my face hole with the beard around it. I’ve tried Mosaic, Challenger and Pacific Jade thus which have all been delicious.

This was the first batch that I labeled and grabbed an over the neck tag design off of a post on the homebrewing subreddit. It would have worked a lot better if I had used a thicker paper stock. Many of the labels had ripped after transport. I was forced to trade the LHBS proprietor a bottle for the required tape to mend the damage upon drop off.

Let's see that recipe

Recipe Details

Batch Size	Boil Time	IBU	SRM	Est. OG	Est. FG	ABV
20 L	60 min	45.0 IBUs	3.5 SRM	1.060 SG	1.013 SG	6.2 %

Fermentables

Name	Amount	%
2-Row	5.496 kg	100

Hops

Name	Amount	Time	Use	Form	Alpha %
Ahtanum	46.5 g	60 min	Boil	Pellet	6
Ahtanum	28.3 g	20 min	Boil	Pellet	6
Ahtanum	28.3 g	10 min	Boil	Pellet	6
Ahtanum	28.3 g	0 min	Boil	Pellet	6
Ahtanum	28.3 g	0 min	Dry Hop	Pellet	5.2

Yeast

Name	Lab	Attenuation	Temperature
Safale American (US-05)	DCL/Fermentis	77%	15°C - 23.89°C

Mash

Step	Temperature	Time
Mash In	66.67°C	60 min

Notes

OG= 1.060
IBU= 45
Boil time = 60 mins
Ferment temp = 19C (if possible, if not please specify temp on label)
Batch size = 20L
 
2 row or light extract to reach 1.060 OG on your system
60 mins - variate amount to obtain 45 IBUs
20 mins - 1 oz hop
10 mins - 1 oz hop
0 mins- 1 oz hop
dry hop for 4 days - 1 oz hop
2 packages of Safale US-05 (rehydrated)
Your choice of fining
2.5 volumes of c02
Mash Temp 152F
 
Brewers will be required to bottle their beers and label them with the hop you used, if it is extract or 2-row, and any other variants you think may be important The amount you will need to bottle will be determined after we know how many people participate but be prepared to supply 19L. Beers will be due March 30 at the Vineyard and pickup of the sorted beers with be available April 6.

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Schwarz Pigs

Posted on May 7, 2015May 14, 2015 by ClamberSkull

This is my first attempt at a lager. I am suspicious of this whole lagering business so I choose a style that will hide imperfections. I went so far as to brew a 40l batch and split it using Southern German Lager yeast in one fermenter and trusty Safale us-05 in another. My first mistake was to drain the entire kettle into carboys at ale pitching temperature. I added the ale yeast and figured I’d pop the lager in the fermentation chamber to cool. I got nervous other microbes might take hold after a couple of hours yielded only a degree drop so I pitched hot:

I let the beer come up to 12°C where it sat for the most active period of fermentation. Here’s the whole schedule:

So at this point I’m slowly moving the beer down to cold crashing temperature. This is an adaption of Brülosopher’s lager method which seems reasonable. I pulled a gravity sample before raising the temperature and it was right on track. This beer developed a thick creamy tan krausen that has now vanished.