Hoppy Pils split batch

Ever since I brewed my first lager a few years ago, I’ve wanted to brew another; however, I don’t like tying up my kegerator/fermentation chamber to for extended periods of time. Since I was going to be in Iceland for a few days I decided to brew one of my favorite styles, a hoppy pilsner. Whenever I’m buying beer I usually buy things I don’t brew, more often than not its Firestone-Walker Pivo Pils (actually that was one of the beers I took with me to Iceland).

Lagers are not particularly difficult to brew, especially if you’re not doing any fancy mashing, they just require more temperature control. I have seen some exbeeriments with faster less traditional fermentation, which I plan on looking into in the future. For this beer I wanted to also test out the programing feature that my Black Box temperature controller has built into it. I thought it would be a good idea to learn to use it for future brewing endeavors while I’m away somewhere. The nice thing about a pilsner is that it has a pretty straight forward malt base and hopping schedule, because of this, I decided to brew 10 gallons and use half of it to top up my sour barrel.

I set the fermentation schedule that I have below in my notes. It started at 55F and went up over the next few days for a diacetyl rest, then back down for lagering. Luckily for me I correctly programmed the Black Box and it did all the work for me while I was away. If you have the chance to purchase a Black Box or are in the market for a temperature controller, I would highly recommend it.

Beer Stats

Batch size: 10.5 Gallons

Boil time: 75 minutes

Est Original Gravity: 1.051

Measured Original Gravity: 1.052

Measured Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV: 5.5%

SRM: 3.6^o

IBU: 43

Grain Bill

20lbs Briss Pilsner Malt

1.25lbs Acid Patent

Hop Schedule

60 minutes – Hop Extract – 8 ml

0 minutes - Saphir – 2 ounce

Dry hop (55F) 5 days – Saphir – 2 ounce (Pilsner only)

Mash Schedule

146^oF single infusion for 30 minutes

154^oF infusion with 5 quarts of boiling water for 20 minutes

Yeast

Two packets of W-34/70 Bohemian pilsner

Notes:

2/19/16 – Brewed by myself. Added 5 grams of CaCl and 0.5 grams of gypsum to the mash. Mash pH was 5.27 and my target was 5.28. Pre boil gravity measured at 1.044 and I collected 13 gallons. Added 10 ml of lactic acid to sparge water. Boil pH measured at 5.15.Wort chilled to 78F and oxygenated with pure O2 for 30 seconds, then placed in chest freezer for 4 hours to chill further. Yeast rehydrated and pitched after additional chilling. I programed my black box temperature controller for the first time since I was going to be in Iceland for the first week of fermentation. The initial temperature was set at 55F.

2/28/16 – Increased temperature to 64F

3/1/16 – Increased temperature to 71F for diacetyl rest

3/4/16 – Slowly decreased temperature to 55F

3/13/16 – Decreased temperature to 34F for lager and set pressure at 20 psi.

6/29/16 - Added 4.5 gallons from barrel to 10 lbs of raspberries. 

Homebrewed Wine

To date the only things I’ve fermented are beer and bread. It’s not like I’m opposed to other beverages, and I’d like to start fermenting vegetables at some point, I just don’t normally want as much as the end product will produce and a small batch isn’t worth the time to me. I, however, have a friend who really enjoys wine. I told her “you know, you could always make it yourself.” I wouldn’t generally tell people that if you start to brew beer at home it will save you money, because most people that end up getting really into it invest a lot of money in equipment. Although, often, justified to make better, it certainly isn’t cheaper than buying a case of SNPA. She agreed that we should try it, because I already had all of the equipment we would need and actually had an open carboy for a change. 

We went with a wine kit, having never made it before, we both felt that would be the best way to make sure we come out with something drinkable.  We went with a vintners reserve series, because it came with everything we would need, yeast, fining agents, and stabilizers. The process was much different from brewing beer, even brewing an extract batch. 

Step 1: Pour in a half gallon of water into a cleaned container (it didn’t specify sanitized, even though I used 5 Star, I guess it’s not as emphasized in the wine industry) and add the bentonite. Stir until dissolved. 

Step 2: Pour grape must on top of water and clay mixture and top up with water to 6 gallons or 1.097-1.080 standard gravity. 

Step 3: Pitch yeast, wood powder and shake to mix thoroughly (the instructions didn’t specify to oxygenate, I would assume because either most home wine makers don’t have an oxygenation kit or because it’s not necessary). It was at this point that we were done. It didn’t have the same feeling of accomplish than that of brewing beer. Even extract brewing involves boiling and sometimes adding hops and chilling your boil. Wine, from a kit, is much more like adding ingredients together in a bowl, mixing and letting it sit. 

 

Step 4: Let the wine ferment in a cool (64F-72F) dark location for 5-7 days or until the gravity reaches 1.010. It took my batch a little bit longer due to my house being colder. At the end I wrapped my heater around it to warm it up to 72F. 

Step 5: Once the gravity has reached 1.010 rack the wine to a secondary vessel. I wasn’t sure if this was something that you are told to do in wine making, just as in brewing, from instructions, even though it usually isn’t necessary. However, I did it anyway. 

Step 6: When the wine has reached terminal gravity, roughly 10 days (0.996-0.998) add the stabilizers (metabisulphite and sorbate) to a cup of water and pour into the carboy. These are killing the yeast and potentially anything else in the wine so that it won’t carbonate in bottles if you are planning on adding sugar to back sweeten the wine or if the yeast were not finished. Shake the carboy or use a cleaned stirrer to degas the wine of residual carbonation. 

Step 7: Pour in fining agents to clarify the wine. I’ve never used finning agents before, but the instructions said to degas before or they won’t work.  Wait 14 days for the wine to clear fully. 

Step 8: After the wine has cleared and stabilized it’s time to bottle. I used my normal process, minus adding priming sugar. We went all fancy and actually used my corker for wine bottles and when we ran out of wine bottles I just filled up some beer bottles. 

 

At this point the wine is ready to drink, since it doesn’t need to be carbonated. At the end of the day it, as I stated earlier, it wasn’t as satisfying of a process as is brewing. What I like about brewing is that you have the ability to buy the same ingredients as professional brewers. With wine, the grapes do the speaking and many are only available to the grower. I felt like making wine was more like baby-sitting, not to belittle it, but when even compared to watered down beer production, there isn’t much you have to do. Use good grape must and take care of the yeast, you can make good wine. I’m not going to say it was the best wine ever, but it was definitely not the worst either. I have no problem making wine again, but I probably won’t be doing it for myself, as I’m rarely in the mood for a bottle or wine (maybe I’ll have to make a steak sometime for that).  It was an interesting experience, but I think I’ll stick to beer production.

First Tasting: New Zealand White Wine Sour

Wine and beer hybrids seem to be all the rage now. I’ve had some good examples and some examples that are not my favorite. Generally I prefer white wine versions more than red wine versions. I personally feel that red wine overpowers the beer and the result is a fuller bodied carbonated boozy red wine. It may be the type of red wine, which could use some exploring or experimentation, but I feel the fruity and dry nature of certain white wines work well with a sour beer. 

When I blended my sours for my “gueuze” I was going to inevitably have left over beer that I could use to blend other beers.  While I was in New Zealand I rediscovered how fruity their sauvignon blanc are compared to other versions. They have a lot of the aromatic characteristics that we look for in some of the best IPAs or fruited sours. Taking a page from Mad Fermentationist, I decided to blend part of a bottle to taste during bottling. It’s a much easier, controlled and quicker way than using unfermented juice or actual grapes, not to mention cheaper. 

Appearance: Pours a hazy orange with yellow hues and a white head that fades relatively quickly. Head retention is usually poor on a sour beer due to the acidity. 

Aroma: Lots of fruity aroma, some stone fruit, gooseberry, peaches, and acidity. The wine is subtle but present. I’m guessing most of the fruit aroma was provided by the wine, but it blends well with the acidity and natural fruitiness of a sour beer. There is only a hint of funk, but since the beer is not from my barrel, it doesn't really surprise me.

Flavor: Dry champagne like flavor, peaches, lemon like lactic acid and a touch of alcohol. Little to no malt flavor. 

Mouthfeel: High carbonation, bright lactic acidity and a bone dry finish. I would say the mouthfeel is reticent of champagne, with a little more body and acidity. 

Overall: I’m pleased with how this beer turned out. The wine is present, but not over the top and it blends well with the beer. I might try this more in the future with other beers styles. As long as I don’t add too much wine and lose the beer base I think it could work well in the future.

First Tasting: Breakfast Stout 3rd and 4th attempt

Although I like brewing different beers and trying different brewing techniques, I still feel your skill as a brewer on the technical side comes from your ability to replicate past batches. In the past I’ve attempted to rebrew a few different things with varying degrees of success. I fell I did a better job this time; however, there were some issues. The first batch showed signs of infection so I decided to brew the beer again a week later. I’m amazed how each beer turned out considering the problems I had with each of them.  That being said, it makes me respect professional brewers even more with their ability to brew the same beer over and over, while maintaining the same flavor. 

Version 1

Appearance: Pitch black with a hint of brown around the edges with light shining through, topped with a dark tan head with moderate retention.

Aroma:  Roasted and burnt aromas and coffee. Not much chocolate or hop aroma. I’m guessing the burnt notes came from the fact that I used dark roasted coffee, instead of my usual light roasted coffee.

Flavor: Burnt roasted grains, coffee and dark chocolate with a slightly high bitterness. I would honestly prefer a little residual sweetness.

Mouthfeel: Creamy full bodied with medium-high carbonation and a burnt astringent finish. I should lower the carbonation, which isn’t a big deal. I like the mouthfeel, even though it finished dryer than I prefer, however I don’t like the bitter burnt finish.

Overall: I don’t know how much the possible Brett infection made a difference, but I can say there are differences from the other batch. There are no apparent off flavors from Brett, but there are other issues, such as the burnt flavor and astringency.

Version 2

Appearance: Pitch black with a hint of brown around the edges with light shining through, topped with a dark tan head with moderate-poor retention. My guess is that the coffee or chocolate is the cause for the head retention issues. I might through in some Cara malt or Wheat to improve it next time.

Aroma: Mocha, coffee, dark chocolate, caramel , and a hint of roast. I’m happy with the aroma, however, I might want more coffee. The coffee that I used was a different origin from the last time I used Intelligentsia coffee.  

Flavor: Dark chocolate, coffee, roast, a hint of astringency and medium high bitterness. Clean fermentation profile, no detectable off flavors other than the astringency, which could have come from the coffee.

Mouthfeel: Medium carbonation, maybe a touch too high, medium to light body, definitely too thin, with a dryish slightly astringent finish. The mouthfeel is probably my least favorite part of this beer.

Overall: It’s not that this is a bad beer, but it’s not as good as the last time I brewed it. It’s lacking the same full bodied mouthfeel, which could have come from my mash temperature; however, I used the same temperature as last year. Compared to other times when I try to rebrew a beer, this one did turn out better than in the past. Its close, but it could be better.  I will say though, with its lighter body and higher carbonation, it’s dangerously drinkable for 9% ABV.

Edit: I took a gravity reading with my hydrometer to confirm the final gravity. It turns out it finished closer to 1.018, rather than the 1.014 like I thought. It still isn't as creamy as I wanted, but it's not as thin as my mind was making it seem. 

Between the two, I wonder what it would be like if I had added the coffee at the same time and used the same coffee. On the flip side, I can see some differences between the two, from just those issues, since I can’t see much of a problem with Brett. I know it’s there, because I could see it during fermentation, but I’ve been able to keep it cold, which probably minimizes any affects.