Saison/Lavender and Hibiscus Saison Brew Day

Getting back to brewing and what better way than a saison in the summer?  I decided to put together a basic saison recipe, but thought it would be a waste of a good opportunity to not do anything else.  After looking at Revolution's Rosa, I decided that hibiscus/flowers in general would be something I would like to experiment.  Next, I stopped by The Mad Fermentationist's website and saw he had instructions on how to make a tea out of flower petals and how to add them to your beer.  At his recommendation, I purchased the flower petals here.  I initially wanted to add jasmine and hibiscus as I enjoy the taste of jasmine in tea, but unfortunately they were all out of the jasmine.  As a result, I decided to opt for lavender instead as other sellers did not seem as reliable.  So here we go.

Saison/Lavender and Hibiscus Saison

Batch size: 5.0 gallons
Original Gravity: 1.060
Final Gravity: 1.003
Boil Time: 90 minutes
Mash Time: 90 minutes

11 lbs Pilsener
0.75 lb White Wheat
0.75 lb Munich

1.8 oz Hallertau @ 60 minutes
0.75 oz Hallertau @ 0 minutes

0.75 tsp yeast nutrient @ 15 minutes
1.0 tsp irish moss @ 15 minutes

Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison

Water Profile: Chicago

Mashed in with 3 gallons of water.  Came up short on my mash temperature, so I boiled some water until I reached 147 degrees F.  Let the mash sit for 90 minutes in order to ensure full conversion.  Batch sparged with 4 at 168 degrees F and collected a total of around 6.5 gallons.

Brewed: 6/29/13

Chilled to 72 degrees F and pitched starter I made two nights before.

Moved to secondary: 7/15/13

Bottled: 4/24/13

During the bottling process, I made a tea out of lavender and hibiscus to add to part of the beer.  I used around 0.75 oz of lavender and 2.2 oz of hibiscus.  To that I added 4 cups of water and mixed together in my french press.  The initial tea was.... incredibly strong and tart.  Initially I was a little worried I had gone overboard, but I decided to add the tea as planned and hope for the best once it was diluted a bit.  After adding 2.5 cups to around 2.75 gallons of saison, the resulting concoction eased my mind a little.  As I suspected I believe the jasmine would have complimented the beer more than the lavender and even at 0.75 oz, I think the lavender could have been scaled back.  Nevertheless, looking forward to trying this one.

Tasting:

New York City

I spent the last week visiting New York City and my brother and used some of the time to visit some beer places in the city.  Luckily, it was not too hard finding beer in the city, but it was a little difficult finding time to take myself away from the rest of what the city offered (and convince others to join me) in order to see some of the places I wanted to get to.  In the end, I ended up visiting d.b.a. and Spuyten Duyvil.

d.b.a was a dark bar that had around 10-15 taps and a sprawling bottle list.  They added a nice touch with the tap list by listing the date each beer was tapped in case you are worried you are getting fresh beer, although with a place like this located in New York City, I doubt there is much concern.  Although d.b.a had some rarer beers and saisons I wanted to try, the prices were as large as I would have expected.  One of these days I am going to get a real job, dammit.  In the mean time, maybe just enjoy the picture I took of the board?  I went fairly simple with a fairly basic belgian (and for the life of me I cannot remember its name) followed by a Rodenbach Red.  Nothing out of the ordinary.

Next, at the suggestion of my brother's friend, we headed to Spuyten Duyvil for another couple of drinks.  The inside of the bar is fairly small and reminiscent of a basic pub, but the bar had a great garden in the back.  Even as I sat uncomfortably sweating in the heat, I could not help but enjoy the scenery, and more importantly the beer.  We enjoyed more than a couple Mission IPAs and I also grabbed a Green Jack Rippa and another IPA on cask (something it seems they always have)  What really caught my eye were the two boards which were dedicated to "Flemish" beers and other sours.  Notably, they served Cantillon Gueze among many others.  Once again, my wallet disagreed with my heart unfortunately.

So what did we really learn on this trip?  I am absolutely horrible at taking notes and/or even remembering the names of the new beers I have.  In my defense, I was in New York City.  Back off.

In good news, I have two beers fermenting at the moment and will update on those in the near future.  However, I cannot guarantee quality notes on those either.... or anything for that matter...

Tasting Return

Well, that break was longer than I thought.  I told myself that I had to get through the past couple of months before I could return to all things.  Responsible, eh?  Admittedly, starting about a month ago I was just lazy.

That being said, I thought it would be appropriate to have a tasting for the return as well as for a friend of mine's departure from Chicago.  Since we were both fans of sour and funk, we decided to center it around that.  Luckily, one of my friends picked me up a couple of Russian River Consecrations (as well as some other goodies) while she was in Portland.  I added in a couple bottles of Jolly Pumpkin and the Bruery's Sour in the Rye to round things out.

All seemed well, until we got to the actual tasting.  Luckily we started with the Consecration, which ended up being one of the most rounded sour beers I have had to date.  Needless to say, I will be asking my friend for more when she is back out West and will be posting it's own review soon.  Unfortunately, somehow my friend and I both lost the photos of it though.

Next my friend had brought over the currently legally challenged West Sixth Brewing IPA.  Although good, his next treat was really different.  We broke out a bottle of Rasputin Hopped Whiskey.  For those to lazy to click on the link, the description on the website is

"To make our experimental Rasputin whiskey, we first brew a traditional Imperial stout beer.  When we distill, we pass the new whiskey vapors through hops, adding spicy floral notes to the big malt and chocolate flavors of the stout.  Aging in charred oak barrels adds vanilla and caramel.  The end result is a rich, very complex hopped whiskey."

Honestly, there wasn't a huge
difference, but something wasn't the same as normal whiskey.  We both agreed that there was a sort of resiny aftertaste to the whiskey.  Although it was interesting/tasty, it isn't the type of whiskey that I would prefer every day.

Needless to say, we didn't feel like wasting some of the other sours after sipping on the whiskey, so we decided to put them back in the fridge.  Good news is that I have some goodies to post on in the future, and some brewing ventures as well.

So will you get off my back already?

Orval Trappist Ale

Well, I still have some posts to update from when I was home.  And since I realize that everyone loves hearing from me, I'll throw the last one up here.  Before that, what happened to Mr. Why Do You Never Post?  But seriously, if you have left the internet then I am essentially talking to no one.  The internet can be so lonely.

Orval Trappist Ale

Appearance- A golden orange with a billowing egg shell white head.  The head is pillowy and resilient and a half finger sticks around.  It is slightly hazy and leaves behind a sticky lacing.

Smell- Tart fruits with a reasonable amount of lemon.  Some medicinal and phenolic smells with little underlying malt sweetness.  Some earthy, musty character as well.

Taste- The lemon and citrus flavors are not as pronounced in the taste although they are noticeable lingering in the background.  Medicinal and other phenolic flavors are apparent throughout the beer.  The earthy, musty, slightly barnyard-esque characteristics starts in the middle of the beer and carries through the finish.  Slightly tart, but certainly not mouth puckering and it is not off putting.  Slight hop bitterness in the finish.

Mouthfeel- Medium or possibly medium-light body.  Carbonation is slightly prickly on the tongue at first, but it has become more smooth as the beer has settled.  The finish is dry.

Overall and Notes- A great belgian beer as the earthy character makes this both different from others in the same style and it provides it with a little more character.  As a person who edges towards the funky/sour end of the beer chain, this is my type of beer.  That being said, it is not likely to offend others who do not prefer funk all that much.  So go get the beer or else.

Great Divide Wolfgang Doppelbock Lager

Well, unfortunately I am lacking on the update, but at this point that should be no surprise.  So the scenery in the pictures may be... a tad bit late?  Oh well, get used to it.  The good news (possibly bad for some?) is that I mustered up the ability to write a measly couple paragraphs again.  Life is hard, isn't it?

Wolfgang Doppelbock Lager

Appearance- An amber color with ruby highlights.  Tan head as a thin layer of creamy carbonation sticks around.  Slight lacing and the color is clear.

Smell- Classic bready component that is normally found in a doppelbock.  Caramel very noitceable as it lingers in the malt sweetness.  There seems to be a slight weird; I want to say piney, but that is not exactly it.

Taste- A very rich malt taste that is abundant in bready character with slight amounts of nut.  Seems to be a hint of roasted malt in the finish of the beer and that is where the nutty flavor seems to become most apparent.  A caramel sweetness compliments the malt character as well from the middle of the beer into the finish.

Mouthfeel- Medium bodied with smooth carbonation.  Sweet flavor as expected.

Overall and Notes- A great doppelbock, and I have to admit that I was not expecting it to be this enjoyable, especially after the one strange component in the smell.  Glad to see a great doppelbock released by an American brewery.

Half Acre Big Hugs

Ever since I decided on moving to Chicago, someone has been nagging me to grab Big Hugs.  Well, in the past that was easier said than done a my schedule has made attending beer events some what difficult at this time of year (damn you responsibility!).  That being said, I got lucky and met someone from Half Acre this year and they were kind enough to actually get me a growler of Big Hugs at their release party that I was once again unable to attend.  I may have had a little too much fun rubbing it in someone's face...

Half Acre Big Hugs

Appearance- An opaque black color as no light appears to shine through.  A small tan heard disappears almost entirely except for a small ring, but this is a growler that I got earlier in the weeks so that probably has something to do with it.  Small amounts of lacing as well.

Smell- A rich full chocolate smell right away.  Moderate to high amounts of roasted malts are layered with smells of dark chocolate.  Hints of coffee, and more specifically, espresso as well.  Although there are compliments of espresso, the chocolate and roasted malts dominate this beer.  Small to moderate amounts of alcohol are noticeable towards the end.

Taste- There is a smooth chocolate similar to the smell.  The chocolate seems to be almost bitter sweet throughout the beer, jumping from one to the other.  Medium to high amounts of roasted malt are apparent throughout.  Some malt sweetness can be tasted as well.  Light amount of coffee/espresso, but it does not quite stack up to the chocolate character.  Currants can be tasted slightly, but are washed away rather quickly.  Although this is a 10% alcohol beer, there is only a small amount noticeable at the end of the beer.

Mouthfeel- Full bodied and slightly creamy.  Some alcohol warmth towards the end.  terribly smooth for 10% beer.

Overall- I have been looking forward to this beer and it did not disappoint.  Incredibly smooth for its size and its combination of chocolate and roasted malts while still managing to balance out the alcohol.  Also, look at that label.  Seriously.  Look at it.  How could you say no to Big Hugs?  Just google that and have fun with all the variations.

X-Mas Ale-egations Brew Day

Well, I'm trying to keep up with this blog thing again, but I have had some other things on my mind.  The good news is that I was asked to brew a beer for the firm I work at.  And lets be serious, I don't have a chance on making it with my legal skill or intelligence, so I have to find something else to trick people into liking me.

I personally have never been a huge fan of spiced beer, but I need to both find a style that was not offensive to a large number of people, and one that would fit the season.  That being said, a spiced beer around this time can still be enjoyable.  More importantly, I got to to make incredibly terrible puns!  In the short time I had, I could only come up with two that were so bad as to put them on a bottle and embarrass myself: X-Mas Ale-egations and the Yule Against Perpetuities (yeaaaaaaaaah law jokes!).  The second didn't fit so I went with X-Mas Ale-egations and we were off.

X-Mas Ale-egations

Recipe

Batch size: 6.0 gallons
Original Gravity: 1.074
Final Gravity: 1.022
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Grain

18.5 lbs. English Maris Otter
0.75 lb. Crystal 80L
0.25 lb. Black Patent Malt

Hops

1.0 oz Horizon @ 60 minutes

Spices

1/2 broken up cinnamon stick @ 1 minute
1/3 tsp Ginger @ 1 minute
1/8 tsp Nutmeg @ 1 minute
1/8 tsp Allspice @ 1 minute

Yeast
Made yeast starter two days in advance from Wyeast 1028 London Ale

Unfortunately, I was a bit rusty since I haven't brewed a while.  During the process, I forgot it was supposed to be a 90 minute boil and stopped at 60 resulting in more beer than I had expected, and a less strong one than originally planned.  The good news is that since it was for people other than me, it was nice to have the alcohol percentage a little lower as to not get me in trouble.  That and I got more beer to hand out to friends.  Unfortunately, I cannot find the rest of my notes for this one, so this will have to do!