[coastsidemike]

Thanks Mike, seems like high praise to me. I found the recipe here in the wiki. It is Ron "Bluesman" Price's "Ringler Pilsner." Very simple recipe for a newbie lager brewer like myself. 100% Avangard pilsner malt. 90 minute boil (but maybe not next time. Hallertau Mittelfrueh at 60 and I think 20 minutes. OG was 1.052, 30 IBUs mashed at 149 for 90, batch sparged, and I followed the fast lager that Marshall has recently brought back to the forefront of lager fermentations. I brewed this originally in January I think and we loved it so much I added a second batch (10 gallons this time) before we even finished the first batch
I so glad you liked it as well. Just a note my SWMBO loves this version while I love the 830 batch

Hey Frank. I'm taking notes on this one.  it's 100%, well done. Have not cracked the 830 yet. I also want 10 gallons of this!  :-)  Anything special on the water?  No flaws, awesome beer.

[coastsidemike]

Frank's 2nd beer, a Saison fermented with a blend of 3711 & 3724:



This is great, also no flaws.  I don't know these yeasts enough to discern different Saison yeasts, but yeah this was 100%.

My notes as I review them:

First impression: bold yeast notes.  Obviously, it's a Saison yeast and that initially stands out strongly.  Curious as to fermentation temps.

On the pour: I get a really nice head of foam and a lot of lacing on the glass afterwards. 

Not knowing the ingredients, I get really nice blend between the flavors of yeast, some honey, a bit lemon and then a very subtle and clean malt and hop flavor.  I get a dry finish, very clean.  It's like a bright finish with the lemon, honey and hops, and then whatever the malt is, it's very complimentary. 

Underneath it all is a earthy finish, I can only assume this is from the hops as well.

I would say as much as the honey, hop and lemon flavor stand out, the malts are light and so there's really nice balance here.  It's more of a savory beer, I definitely took my time drinking it.

Cheers Frank, again, this is 100%.

[69franx]

Hey Frank,

  For 3711 I like to hold 65-67F for 3 days, then ramp up to 80+ until you hit FG. Which is pretty low with 3711 - it's a beast. I used to buy into the slow ramp thing for saison which, for many beers, is a good idea. But with saison yeasts it doesn't seem to matter as much. Drew Beechum has posted that he ramps directly up to 80 or 90F too, and he's been known to make a saison or two. I say give it the 3 days, then ramp up to 80+ and let her rip. It'll be a good beer. Let me know how it comes out !
Jon H.

Mike, this was the ferm schedule I used for this saison, many thanks to HoosierBrew who passed it along to me. The grist was 90% Avangard Pilsner and 10% Weyerman Munich II for OG of 1.050. It was bittered for 70 of 90 inutes with Willamette(1oz on my system) and had 1.1oz Nelson Sauvin at 20 minutes with a final Whirlpool addition of 2oz Nelson for 45.8 IBU(high for a saison, but still delicious!). This grist and hop schedule are based (loosely?) on a recipe that AmandaK posted last year for her saison. I think it follows her %s pretty closely and the numbers I have given are beersmith projections. She originally just used the 3724 and whenI originally brewed this last year, I could not get it below 1.008. Jon suggested the blend and ferm schedule and it went from 1.05 to 1.003 in 17 days or less, that was my first sample. It projects out to 6.2% ABV, but drinks like the 5.4%(I think) she targeted.
     I am again very happily pleased that you are enjoying it. I wont get to your Belgian Smash until next week at the earliest. thanks again for the feedback

[69franx]

In keeping with reporting back this weekend, here's my thoughts on Amanda's Geuze. Not only am i not sure if that spelling is truly correct, I also am not certain how to pronounce this style. My only previous experience with a gueuze was with a bottle of 2010 Boon Wedding Parfait Gueuze, which the missus and I enjoyed.

Amanda's pours with a little to know head, leaving a lovely ring of tiny bubbles around the rim of my glass. Forgive the color blind guy I am, but it has a lovely golden orange hue to me.
The aroma is all sour and wonderful, with a great lactic(?) twang in the nose
The flavor follows the same ideas as the aroma, heavy sour and acid tastes. Beyond the sour, there is a lot going on and I am sorry to say that my palate is not nearly developed enough or familiar enough to accurately describe what I am tasting. Sorry to wuss out on this assessment, but I am really just blown away by this beer. I am now looking at BJCP.org to try to find my way through it:
     Aroma: I do not get the barnyard, funky, hay, horseblanket; there are definitely some citrus notes to it, but I would not say grapefruit, maybe some apple. No hop aroma
     Appearance: as I said earlier, a nice golden orange in color. My bottle is a little hazy, but it was on the door of my little beer fridge, so likely more unsettled than it should have been. Very effervescent; but no creamy, rocky long lasting head
     Flavor: no hop flavor; as above, some apple and citrus, no diacetyl, balance is more to the sour side to me
     Mouthfeel: High tart, puckering sourness, but not overdone like I have had in other sour brews. As I said earlier, no bug head, but plenty of carbonation as the was a small constant flow of tiny bubbles from the bottom of the glass
    Overall Impression: meets the standard to me: "Complex, pleasantly sour/acidic"

    I know Amanda has won awards with this beer as well and I fully enjoyed it. I would like to get to the point of making brews this complex, and after having stolen her saison recipe would steal this one as well

Edit to add pic:

And a second to show off the CC tulip:

[klickitat jim]

Watching Canucks and steaming a bunch of tamales. So what a great opportunity to crack open a first for me. Never tried a smoked beer. Thanks to erockrph, im stumbling my way through a beer style I know very little about. Jacks Abey Smoke n Dagger.

I have it in a stemless wine glass, and its a bit too chilled. Initially I dont get a lot of smoke, which is probably a good thing. I do get a bunch of dark toffee, figgy, sweetness. The nose reminds me of some b I g dark english beers I've had. Its real dark, very little head. Cheers

The aroma is misleading. Expecting a lot of sweetness, im surprised to find dry finishing roastiness and a pleasant light smokiness. Though its a lager, it comes off like a well attenuated clean ale. Theres a low ester fruitiness to it. They describe it as between Schwartz and Smoked Porter. Pretty accurate. One following sips the smokiness really comes through. Pleasantly though. I wish I had the recipe to this. Way drinkable. Good choice Eric! I really appreciate it. Something new and very interesting.

Ive got one more local to try, maybe tomorrow. Then im really looking forward to diving in to Erics beers!

I love Swaptoberfest!

[erockrph]

Glad you're liking them, Jim! The Smoke & Dagger is amazing with BBQ. I've never been a big fan of Rauchbiers, but the smoke is balanced just right for me in this beer.

[HoosierBrew]

That beer sounds tasty! I can see it being good with bbq.

[klickitat jim]

BBQ sure, but also on a cold night by the fire. Its another one of those style examples that proves how important subtleties are. The beer must be drinkable. That one sure was.

[Wort-H.O.G.]

Glad you're liking them, Jim! The Smoke & Dagger is amazing with BBQ. I've never been a big fan of Rauchbiers, but the smoke is balanced just right for me in this beer.

same here. always tastes like someone threw some smokey bacon in my beer.  i'd love to try this one.

[jeffy]

I am enjoying another of the commercial beers that were sent by ynotbrusum.  This is called Fierce, from Off Color Brewing in Chicago.  I love the label, but not sure why the byline is "Weisse beer with a Napolianic sour streak" because I find the sourness just right.  It says it is 3.8% ABV and 3ish IBUs and is kettle soured.  This kettle souring worked well, with vey little extra funk and prominent lactic sour flavor.  Nice.  Thanks again, Jerry. 
By the way I am really happy you sent three bottles of Central Waters Satin Solitude.  That is such an easy drinking big beer.  I have one left to report on.

Edit:  I evidently don't have enough time and energy to learn how to post a picture.

[pete b]

BBQ sure, but also on a cold night by the fire. Its another one of those style examples that proves how important subtleties are. The beer must be drinkable. That one sure was.

I agree, I love smoke done right, hate it when it tastes overbearing or fake. I buy this beer from time to time because it gets it right.

[klickitat jim]

BBQ sure, but also on a cold night by the fire. Its another one of those style examples that proves how important subtleties are. The beer must be drinkable. That one sure was.

I agree, I love smoke done right, hate it when it tastes overbearing or fake. I buy this beer from time to time because it gets it right.

This beer and its subtle use of smoke could maybe help me understand when some folks beleive that some Scottish yeast has a smoke-like phenolic. I've used 1728 a ton and in various way, never got smoke. But (from memory) that Smoke and Dagger does have something going on that sort of reminds me of Dark Island, at least a beat up oxydized version of DI. The one I tried was who knows how old.

[udubdawg]

In keeping with reporting back this weekend, here's my thoughts on Amanda's Geuze. Not only am i not sure if that spelling is truly correct, I also am not certain how to pronounce this style. My only previous experience with a gueuze was with a bottle of 2010 Boon Wedding Parfait Gueuze, which the missus and I enjoyed.

Just to piggyback the thread, I've also got a bottle of her gueuze open. Much better than previous, way less vinegar (not zero but quite low.) The honey, fruitiness, and a sort of hay type of barnyard are nice. Nothing enteric, thankfully, but a hint of smoke that detracts slightly.
My funk flag only flies at half mast when it comes to sour beer, and I think this is a very good effort.

Good job AB!

[morticaixavier]

I'm going to get a box out to Paul Blatz before the end of the week/month.

I've got to send it on the last day of the month because one of the commercial samples won't be available till Friday. I'll grab that and drop with UPS. Won't arrive in October but it'll get there.

[blatz]

I'm going to get a box out to Paul Blatz before the end of the week/month.

I've got to send it on the last day of the month because one of the commercial samples won't be available till Friday. I'll grab that and drop with UPS. Won't arrive in October but it'll get there.

looking forward to it.

am debating about waiting to send my package out as I may be heading over to tampa this weekend and could pick up a brewery only bomber for peteb, otherwise the commercial shipments are kinda boring.