Messages

46

Beer Recipes / Re: Rough Draft

« on: March 20, 2013, 04:41:56 PM »

I have used First-wort hopping to minimize the bitterness successfully.  I love the flavor of hops, I just use a bittering amount enough to give a counterpoise to the beer.

47

Ingredients / Flavor sequencing

« on: March 20, 2013, 04:28:18 PM »

I'm trying to get my head around grains; the flavors and other characteristics they add.  I found myself wondering about a dynamic that I have not heard about.  For lack of a better name, I'm calling it flavor sequencing.  What I mean is, I am wondering about the manipulability or just predictability of what flavor one experiences on the attack, mid-palate, and finish.  For example: "Crystal 120 is big on the attack, and quickly fades, adding nothing to the finish.

There is a lot of info in this vein: "Crystal 120 gives a pronounced caramel flavor.". But I can't find anything about what flavor a grain provides time wise.

I'm sure the same could be said, or asked, about water salts, hops and yeast.  It just seems to me that a part of recipe design, like filling in which flavors one wants in a beer, it would be good to fill in what flavors one wants in each of these three times so that there isn't a hole or weakness.

Any thoughts or resources?

48

Ingredients / Re: Belma Saison follow-up

« on: March 19, 2013, 10:14:25 AM »

What suprised me is that he (the blogger) used a fairly light hop schedule:

70 IBU
0.5 oz Belma @FWH
1.0 oz Belma @10
1.0 oz Belma @5
0.5 oz Belma @2
3 oz Belma  dry hopped 7 days

I left a message at Puterbaugh Farms asking about the oil content.  I'll post it if/when they call back.

49

Ingredients / Re: Belma Saison follow-up

« on: March 19, 2013, 09:44:09 AM »

I agree - especially about the alpha acid point.  Belma's 9.8% AA should be the same as any other 9.8% AA. 

I came across a blog post that convinced me to try Belma (http://www.bear-flavored.com/2012/12/recipe-and-tasting-notes-belma-single.html).  Just a quick quote to give an idea of the direction of the post:

"I guess it was a good idea to brew this with Conan yeast, then, because the two together created one of the most intensely fruity IPAs I've ever had in my life. I have never encountered a beer that smelled (and tasted) so much like strawberries — I mean, this smells more like strawberries than beers I've had which were actually brewed with strawberries. It's absolutely bonkers."

I sure would love to get some Conan yeast... 

So I am thinking / wondering if it isn't some yeasty magic that occurs to bring the flavor to the foreground.  I want to keep playing with Belma.  Mainly because of the unique flavors, but also it is a very inexpensive hop at $5.25 / lb.!  Unfortunately I don't know anyone in Vermont, so I guess no Heady Topper for me.  Hopefully there is a different yeast that can pull some goodies out of Belma!

50

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Whirlfloc and Fluffy Trub

« on: March 19, 2013, 09:21:32 AM »

I wonder if it is an interaction between a particular recipe and Whirlfloc.  The reason I say this is I do not recall  experiencing this until my most recent brew - and I always use whirlfloc.  It should be said that I have only done 9-10 brews since starting last Fall.  The recent brew where it showed up was a Zombie Dust clone.

The unique features for this brew were: lots of Citra hops (10 oz.), and Cara-Pils grain.  Honestly it looked to me like hop sludge.  I always use a hop-sack, which retains most of the hop material.  But maybe Citra hops have a higher percentage of really small particles that excape the hop-sack?

What do you more experienced brewers think of this idea?  Is it possible that the massive fluffy trub is due to a particular recipe ingredient?

51

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: Second beer, tastes like slightly flavored water

« on: March 17, 2013, 05:29:41 AM »

Give it a bit of time.  I recently brewed a Saison that I had the same impression of, but two weeks later it tasted good.  I would also ask what temperature you are drinking the beer at.  If it is straight out of the fridge cold, that could be shutting down a lot of flavor.

52

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 3/15 Edition

« on: March 16, 2013, 05:28:45 PM »

Just brewed a Zombie Dust clone, except I added a couple ounces of Mosaic hops in the hop-stand.  I also just kegged a Cream Ale, so it is now cold-conditioning.

53

Ingredients / Belma Saison follow-up

« on: March 16, 2013, 02:18:47 PM »

I recently brewed a Saison using Belma hops exclusively.  My goal was to test Belma hops in a beer that I thought would complement them nicely.  Here is the recipe for 5 gallons:

3.5 lbs Belgian 2 row
3 lbs Belgian Wheat malt
.5 lb. Munich
.25 oz. Caramunich (56 SRM)
.75 lbs. Orange Blossom Honey
1 oz. Belma in the mash
.25 oz. Belma 60 min.
.25 oz. Belma 10 min.
1 oz. Belma 5 min.
1 oz. Belma hopstand for ~10 min.
No dry hopping
Wyeast 3711 French Saison yeast

This resulted in, according to BeerSmith:
5.4% ABV
24 IBU
5.4 SRM

This is my first attempt at brewing a Saison, and I have little experience drinking them too, so I am mainly going off of the BJCP style guidelines for evaluation. 

The beer turned out good, but there is very little Belma flavor discernable.  Next time I would seriously increase the hop additions (while eliminating the mash addition).  So given that this was an experiment to test Belma hops the one thing I learned is that they are very light in flavor - which I had heard - but since I was brewing a Saison, I figured it would show through... but no.

I would also ferment a little warmer, as I got very little of the phenolic character from the yeast that I was hoping for.  I fermented at 66*, then ramped up to 73* as I saw primary fermentation ending.  I think I'd ferment at 69* next time.

So not a waste.  It still is a pleasant, maybe even a good, light-tasting beer.  Perhaps a good gateway homebrew for BMC drinkers.

54

Ingredients / Re: Hop to complement Citra?

« on: March 14, 2013, 07:15:11 AM »

Isn't Zombie Dust all Citra?

Amarillo would be a good companion.

Yes, that is my understanding.  I obviously can't help myself; I have to tweak every recipe in the search for sublimity.

55

Kegging and Bottling / Re: keg noob: purge the air from the top of the keg

« on: March 14, 2013, 07:11:20 AM »

I don't know if my practice makes a difference or not, but I always wait a couple of minutes between purges.  Here's why:  CO2 is heavier than air, so it should sink and air should rise, but I assume that it takes a couple of minutes for this to occur.  My thinking is that one *should* get more air out if it is sitting high (by the exhaust valve).

56

Ingredients / Hop to complement Citra?

« on: March 13, 2013, 08:32:55 AM »

My next brew is going to be a Zombie Dust clone (even though I have never tasted the original).  But I love Citra hops so...

Anyway, one of the things I am considering is to add one other hop variety at flameout to round out/complement the flavor of the Citra.  So what variety would you recommend?

57

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: First time Homebrewer

« on: March 13, 2013, 08:27:40 AM »

Everyone has given great advice.  I'd just add one thing: look up your local homebrew club and see if someone can hang out with you while you brew, or see if you can watch one of them brew.  They'll be able to answer a ton of questions and help you get organized, avoid issues, etc.

58

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: fermentation issues

« on: March 07, 2013, 10:41:47 PM »

Do you do a starter for your yeast?

59

Ingredients / Re: My Recent Experience with Citra

« on: March 06, 2013, 05:10:38 PM »

I have yet to taste an IPA with too much Citra in it, as long as it minimized the bittering/60 minute additions and focused on the flavor/aroma additions.  I can't get enough of those tropical fruit flavors.  Yes, I will readily accede to my taste being out of the mainstream 

On the last IPA I brewed I used a half-pound of Citra (as well as 4 ounces of Zythos) in a 5 gal. Batch,  and it still wasn't enough.

I am a sucker for any big, multilayered flavor profile - food or drink.  Sake is not for me!

60

Ingredients / Lipohop c-plus

« on: March 02, 2013, 10:51:38 AM »

One of the things that have stuck in my head from last August's Hops Academy put on by the Haas company, was a hop-derived product called Lipohop c-plus.  It is a completely natural extract from hops that provide foam control similar (I assume) to the silicone based products.  I looked into it as I don't like the idea of silicone in my beer, but they only sell it in 10 kg containers.  Their info here: http://www.barthhaasgroup.com/johbarth/images/pdfs/Lipohop_en.pdf

Fast forward to this week.  I mentioned this to a couple of great guys opening a LHBS here in Yakima.  They emailed me saying they were going to get this from Haas and sell it in homebrewer sized doses (~3 grams per 5 gal.).  I'll keep you posted regarding availablility and my experiments with it.

FYI, here is their website, though nothing is there about this yet.  http://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/default.asp