Slow Progress and Aging

A few minor updates. Last week I bottled the barleywine. It is a sweet, potent concoction, with an original gravity of 1.122 and a finishing gravity of 1.038. That puts it at a low level of attenuation (but better than expected), around 66% apparent. ABV is just over 11%. It used brown sugar and molasses in the boil, and fermented down to around 1.050 with an ale yeast strain. To "unstick" the fermentation I used champagne yeast and the long passage of time. I wasn't expecting it to get into the "30s", a high final gravity range but one that isn't atypical for big barleywines. I had added an ounce of leaf Cascade hops in the tertiary fermentation (more of a bulk aging and clarifying stage) as well as three ounces of oak chips soaked in a quality single barrel bourbon. I bottled with a small amount of brown sugar to prime, mostly in 12oz bottles. This one needs to sit for ages, honestly, but I think it'll be quite good. I hope to hang on to some bottles for many years.

I have not as yet moved either my Double IPA or the Honey Koelsch to secondary. I sampled the DIPA with a hydrometer last night, and was disappointed to find it around 1.040...it had better get down to the "20s" before I transfer it. The original gravity was fairly reasonable, 1.082. There is no reason it should get stuck at 1.040. The Koelsch, being fermented at a lower temperature, is still moving along, so who am I to impose a week-long limit on primary fermentation. I'll let it finish and then transfer it.

I am considering bottling my cider sooner rather than later. It's such a hodgepodge of ideas (apple cider, blackcurrant juice, cranberry juice, brown sugar!!) that I don't really feel the need to age it like a wine. The sample as I racked it to secondary was a little "hot" but not funky or off-tasting at all. Maybe I should exercise patience...but for right now I'll exercise laziness and wait til I've got more time to consider bottling. I might consider spiking it with further cranberry juice to add more "intensity" but that would require a tertiary transfer to a 6 gallon carboy.

I'm also working with an artist friend on the design of a logo or crest for labels. It'd be nice to add a little visual design to this site, for one thing, and also to publicly distributed samples. Wait, that sounds bad, like I'm handing alcohol out to kids on the street. Only to friends at this time. The fact that my last post had several dozens of lines of Shakespeare in it should make it clear that I am not marketing to minors.

Happy Belated St. Crispin's Day!

Yes, how ironic for me to get this wrong. St. Crispin's Day is October 25th (yes, that was yesterday). But nonetheless, I'll celebrate it. 6 carboys bubbling merrily in my basement (well, two...the others are aging quietly), and last night I polished off almost all of my first batch, a tasty and ever so hop-bitter ESB. I've got one pint left. I might actually bottle my barleywine tonight, in order to make this weekend a little easier. The final gravity as I recall is going to be insanely high, but hey, I'm not about to throw out good ale...it could just need a good long period to age. This weekend I will need to transfer the Koelsch into secondary...although if fermentation continues steadily I may have to postpone that. I've got my fermentation temps in the sweet spot for that ale...low 60's. Most likely it will be quite pleasant; light in body, with a pleasing triad of light pilsner malt, austere German hops, and the sweet aromatics of clover honey. Honestly this is the kind of beer to brew in late spring, to enjoy crisp and cold during the hot summer months. I'm going to let the Double IPA have two weeks in the primary, to ensure it attenuates as much as it needs to. I've also been seriously considering making the jump beyond extract brewing and going all-grain. Not going to do it just yet, anyway.

But now, my friends, let's recount the inspiration for the project, from Shakespeare's Henry V:

WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!
KING. What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Brewing All Weekend

I'm a bit tired from a busy weekend...a great deal of which was consumed by brewing. Friday night saw the racking of the Tongue Splitter (highly hopped American Pale Ale) into secondary, and then I brewed a "Magnum PA"...a Double IPA of high gravity and hoppage. It uses two ounces of Yakima Magnum hops, one ounce of Liberty, two ounces of Northern Brewer hops, and another ounce of Cascade for dry hopping in secondary. I added half the malt extract to bring the wort into the 1.040 range for the first 40 minutes of the boil, to encourage more extraction of hop bitterness. I kept the reserved extract to be added late in the boil. The original gravity was 1.082...big, but not too big. I pitched it onto the Tongue Splitter yeast cake, and affixed a fermentation lock....

Which turned out to be a comically big mistake. For the first time I actually needed a blowoff tube, and I ended up with slimy worty blowoff goo all over my basement floor the next morning. I cleaned it all up and affixed a blowoff tube. It's been fermenting vigorously ever since. That done, I headed on over to my local homebrew store to pick up some ingredients for a recipe I'd pieced together in my head...a Honey Kölsch. Kölsch is a type of beer from Cologne, Germany, and it is notable because it is probably the lightest ale you will ever run across...you could call it a top-fermenting pilsner. Light straw-gold with a delicate flavour of malt and noble German hops (in my case, imported Hallertauer), I'm actually doing this one as a Christmas gift for a family member / inlaw who is fond of domestic lager. I'll approximate my recipe:

1 lb white wheat malt, cracked and steeped at 150 degrees for 25 minutes
3.3 lb Briess Pilsen Light liquid malt extract
1 lb Muntons Extra Light dry malt extract
1 lb Muntons Wheat dry malt extract
1 lb local clover honey (added at beginning of boil)
1 lb local clover honey (added at flameout, to retain aroma)
1.5 oz Hallertauer hops (60 min boil, bittering)
0.5 oz Hallertauer hops (10 min boil, flavour/aroma)
White Labs WLP029 German Ale / Kölsch yeast

Original gravity came in too high due to boil off, in the upper 60s, so I added some water to bring it back down to the target OG of 1.057. It started bubbling in a little over 12 hours, which isn't too bad without a starter. This one will take some cold-conditioning to clear it. I'm hoping to have a mild, subtle, and tasty brew that BMC drinkers would find appealing, but that I would not be bored with if I end up with it anyway.

I sampled the cider, by the way...a lot has fermented out, it is at 1.007, and is still going down I think. It has a mild "fruit punch" flavour to it, and is not short on alcohol. I may carbonate it, and forget the whole corking thing with this one. The problem with cider is that attenuation is so complete, if you aren't careful you are left with what tastes like alcohol, water, and a hint of juice. I think I've added enough unfermentables to this to avoid that, and the yeast itself is known for retaining a fruity profile.

Kitchen Sink Cider and Hoppy Pale Ale

Last weekend was a rather busy one with my brewing projects. I created a yeast starter last Wednesday with a quart or two of apple cider, some yeast nutrient, and a vial of White Labs English Cider yeast. Friday night, I created it...a hodgepodge of juices, 4 gallons of apple cider, 1 quart of pure cranberry juice, 2 quarts of a delicious Belgian blackcurrant nectar, 4 cans of apple juice concentrate, and a couple pounds of dark brown sugar. The brown sugar was a gamble and I'm not sure if I will like it in there...it added a distinct nuttiness to the sample, but after it all ferments out it might be quite interesting. The fermentation has been wild, almost violent, ever since it was pitched on Friday. Original gravity was 1.078, give or take. This is going to have a lot of flavour!

The ale brewing went well too...I added a great deal of hops to this one. Not much to report...it has Nugget, Kent Goldings, Cascade, and Mt. Hood hops, as I recall. Another dousing of Cascade and Mt. Hood hops will go into the secondary to add a strong aroma. Should be fairly standard, so to speak; being a American Pale Ale, albeit an insanely hopped one. It isn't especially strong, but I boiled the volume down a bit. The target OG was 1.045 but I ended up at 1.052.

I'm thinking of brewing a Koelsch to share with family at the holidays...I'd better get cracking. Also this Friday I'm brewing a monster of a Double IPA.

Blackcurrant Mead

A few things of which to keep you all (you two...you one...anyone?) aware...

First off, last night I bottled the Wee Heavy. It stayed at its previous gravity reading of 1.032, so it is rather sweet, but that is by no means unheard of for an ale of a 1.100 original gravity. It's full bodied, sweet, and smoky. I think it will be a perfect wintertime nightcap, preferably at cellar temperature. I bottled it in 500ml (16.9oz) European pint bottles, mostly, with a few in various 12oz bottles. Give it at least a month...this one would benefit from a few months, actually, if not longer.

Secondly, I'm calling the 80 Shilling a loss...lesson learned. Medicinal, phenolic smells dominate the profile, almost a plastic bandaid smell. No, you can't have a bottle. I would rather not share a poor example of my brewing. After consulting with some of my brewing peers online, there was a consensus reached, that the particular strain of yeast used (Wyeast 1728, Scottish Ale Yeast) is very sensitive to the presence of chlorine in the water, and could have reacted with the chlorine to produce off-flavours. From now on I will be treating all brewing water with a Campden tablet (rather, 1/4 of a Camden tablet per 5 gallons) in order to purify it and clear out the chlorine.

And lastly, today I finally picked up the blackcurrant wine base I had been seeking. I paid $35 for a can of blackcurrant juice (96 fl oz, 3/4 gal) which is a bit excessive, but still worth it. The base mead had been fermenting for two weeks, being made of 12 lbs of local clover honey, 2 gallons of apple cider, and 2 gallons of water. I used the same Côtes-du-Rhône strain as the recently bottled cyser. The base mead started at 1.115 and was at 1.005 at time of racking...plenty of strength in that mead. I poured the blackcurrant juice into a new fermentor and racked the mead on top of it. Oh the smell of blackcurrant juice. It defies description. All I can say is that this is going to be pure nectar. The colour is a rich dark red like a Cabernet. I'm pretty excited about this one, but it will be aging for a while.

Up next! Three new brews. I ordered supplies today, and this next weekend I plan to start a brew of both a cider (with a few twists of my own) and a highly hopped American IPA (to be followed the next week by a Double IPA).

The Joy of Corking

I won't burden you with griping and complaints about the frustration, anger, and physical pain I endured as a direct result of using a Gilda handheld corker, but suffice to say I was kicking myself for not springing for the nicer floor corker. The cyser is corked, but it was no fun, let me tell you. I injured my wrist and almost broke the corker during the whole debacle. Next time I'll use a proper corker, even if it costs me another $100.

However, I'm excited about a few new projects. I still haven't racked my blackcurrant melomel...I'm in no hurry, and haven't gotten the blackcurrants yet. I want the primary to attenuate properly first. I did however make a great buy on five gallons of pasteurized apple cider (not from concentrate with no additives). I'm going to make an apple wine with this...hopefully using apple juice concentrates to raise the gravity, and with added cranberry juice for tartness. This will be uncarbonated, corked, and aged. And the plan still stands to brew two excessively hoppy ales. This weekend I'll probably order the ingredients. Additionally planned for this weekend...the bottling of the Wee Heavy. I fear it is underattenuated, but this winter a thick, full-bodied, and malty-sweet ale will hit the spot.