Brewing Activities (2022)

Brewed another holehop ipa. This time cascade chinook nugget and comet for the finish.

 

Let us know how this turns out. I’ve considered trying something similar. Cheers

 

Will do

the smell on day 1 of fermentation was bonkers… all Guava.

Also the Phantasm smelled like Fig Newton’s out of the bag which was interesting.

 

Kegging my newest ipa. Was going for a west coast ipa but kinda turned out as a hybrid between west coast and hazy. Bitterness is mellow and rounded but it’s tasting super good!

grain bill 2 row with 3% carapils.

FG: 1.010
Abv: 6.8%

3ml hop extract at 60 min
1 oz at 10 min
3 oz at whirlpool
5 ozs dry hop.

3/4 combination of mosaic and citra, 1/4 ctz and simcoe. Tasting amazing right now. Can’t wait for it to carb and condition a little.

DIY pressure transfer

 

Busy brew weekend! Bottled a doppelbock, moved coffee lager to secondary for lagering (misfired the mash temp so it came out a bit drier than I wanted but it’s still beer), and brewed up a blueberry wheat ale. On a brewing break for next few weeks as I plan to get away for the 4th to sit back and drink these homebrews up!

 

I was thinking of doing something really similar as well, with a high alpha hop in the mash, and Nelson WP. I've been very intrigued by Star Party and thiolized yeast in general, Although I've never mash hopped before... earliest I've done is first wort hop. Any tips I need to know? IBU calculations etc.?

 

Getting ready to brew one of my standbys and favorites, a biscuity, low-ABV, and super hop-forward brew. This time, I'm adding something new: Distilled hop oil! I'll add it at bottling as it adds aromatics only (supposedly). Probably choosing El Dorado oil.

 

We added a blend of Cascade and Saaz to the mash. 6oz for 6 gallons into the fermenter. Beersmith does calculate mash hop bitterness pretty accurately. I Believe Omega has tested it and it’s 30% of the IBUs you would get if you added that same amount at 60. Key is to use hops high in bound thiols. Saaz, Cascade, Perle, Tradition, Calypso, Simcoe, Motueka, Nelson, Riwaka, etc. I’d say the lower the alpha the better.

The beer we brewed has finished and is cold
crashing/conditioning now. It's nothing but Guava/Papaya right now, its bonkers.

However it’s also very different than if it we had added a bunch of dry hops or a lot of puree. This is the most interesting/perplexing aspect about creating these flavors/aromas in this way because in my opinion the textures are different. There’s no polyphenol generated texture which I think is the biggest issue with breweries making beers like this and calling them IPAs. And if you then dry hop the beer like an IPA or double IPA the hops tend to either drown out or drag down all the flavor and aroma created by releasing these thiols.

 

Awesome, thanks for all this! I was reading up on it and did see that some hops have more bound thiols than others, like the ones you mentioned above. I'll look into using a lower alpha hop in the mash then. Can't wait to try this out soon.

 

Spoke with a Brewer this week who’s been using Phantasm and thiolized yeast for a while now. Incredibly smart dude who’s probably done more work with Terpenes, Thiols, and the sort than anyone else that I’m aware of. He’s convinced that malt is the biggest contributor of thiols and can have the largest impact when using thiolized yeast. Says their use of Phantasm when trying to drive Thiol contribution has gone down 10x and they haven’t noticed much of a difference.

 

Brewed up a Saison yesterday, only took 4 hours. Vienna, Aromatic, Flaked Rye, Noble Palisade, Noble Laurel, Noble Citra, black pepper. 1.037 OG at 22 IBUs. Fermenting away at 85*F with my Nectarine Blossom yeast. Hoping it is done in a week so I can keg it up and have it ready for the 4th.

 

Phantasm doesn’t appear to be available on a home brew level, correct? Did he say which malts are best for thiol contributions?

 

That's gonna be full of flavor and a daytime brew too! Brave move with the pepper! Happy 4th. I'm also brewing up a July 4th Beer. Going for 1.050 OG. 5% ABV.


July 4th Celebration Pale Ale
4L volume
"Light colored and malty" Water Profile

15 oz (0.956 lbs) Vienna (48%)
10 oz (0.59 lbs) Pale Malt (32%)
4 oz (0.25 lbs) Dark Munich (13%)
2 oz (0.625 lbs) Dark Wheat (head retention; 7%)

0.4 oz Centennial 60 mins
0.2 oz El Dorado 30 mins
0.2 oz Mandarina Bavaria 30 mins
0.2 oz El Dorado 10 mins
0.2 oz Mandarina Bavaria 10 mins

WLP001 California Ale Yeast

 

You can buy it by the pound through Michigan Hop Alliance. That’s where I bought it for these test batches. Used 6oz last time, next batch will only get 1oz.

 

Last weekend I brewed up a Marzen to be ready for my birthday at the end of September. A little back-story: I met my brother-in-law (who got me started in home brewing and also teaches a brewing class at a local university) for a few beers last week. I told him that I was brewing a Marzen, and he asked about my mashing method, so I said I was going to do an infusion mash.
He asked if I ever considered doing a decoction mash, noting that as a malt-forward beer, my Marzen would really benefit from a decoction mash, even a single decoction would bring in maillard reactions and flavors you cannot get from an infusion mash. I have never done one before, but it was on my to-do list of methods I wanted to try, so I decided that I might as well try.

My impressions:
I really didn't need any extra equipment, which was nice. I found it to be very labor intensive to keep stirring a thick mash constantly to prevent scorching, and I think my decoction may have been a little too thick. It was also time consuming, adding well over an hour or two to my brewday, and had to re-boil briefly some mash as I did not reach my final mash temp with the first decoction (lack of experience factor at play). However... I found the experience to be oddly satisfying! I boiled the mash for 15 minutes, noting that yes, there was a darkening of the mash, and that I was picking up some wonderful flavors, noting some toffee as one of those flavors.

So now it's in the fermenter with WLP820, and time will tell if I hit the mark with this one. This is the second time I've tried this... last year's batch was OK, but could have been better. Since last year, I have attempted to correct some deficiencies by now modifying my water chemistry (which is very low in just about everything) and by making a larger starter, as I think last year my starter was not large enough. Time will tell, and we'll see you in September for the results.

I will definitely do this again!

 

You make me want to try a decoction mash. Never done it myself.

I decided to add 0.6 oz (17 grams, or equivalent to 2.8 oz per 5 gallons) Ariana hops via dry hop to the beer. This is a brand new technique for me and I'm excited about the results, especially given the insane fruity aroma of these hops. I opened the bag and it filled the kitchen. The lady walked in and said, "Wow, I love that smell!'"

 

Keep us posted! Marzen is one of my top favorite styles. I’ve only tried it 3 times and they are getting better but nothing like what I want it too be.

 

Brewed a West Coast IPA today with some Yakima Chief Cryo Pop hops that I got when I was back in Seattle at Christmas. I tried to follow their recipe as much as I could.

I used 85% pilsner malt and the rest malted wheat. I also did early additions of Simcoe and Amarillo. I am about to finish it off with some Lallemand English Ale yeast.

I am starting to pay attention to water chemistry a little. I am using mineral water with 'weak mineralization'. I was reading the ideal ranges of mineral values for brewing, and this brand is within it for magnesium and sodium, but low for calcium. I added some gypsum and calcium chloride to the water as well. For me, it's a first step anyway.

After I pitch the yeast, my wife and I are off to a local beer festival.

Enjoy the brewing!

 

My biggest hurdle was fear... I brew on an electric stove and was terrified of scorching the decoction, which is pretty thick. We have a 40-quart SS pot with an aluminum clad bottom, so I chose this to heat it in. It was a very good choice. Like I said, it is labor intensive with having to constantly stir the thick mash. Watch some videos... there are a number of them out there. I liked Kai Troister's (Braukaiser) series of videos. Very helpful! Remember to consider boil-off water loss while boiling the decoction. I added a quart of water to account for that.

 

Today! Super hoppy, biscuity, low ABV brew. It's a blast.
Hit 1.041 OG. Target 4.1% ABV.

Dark Munich (62.5%)
Special Roast (16.67%)
Caramel 60L (8.3%)
Caramel 15L (8.3%)
Flaked Barley (4.2%)

For 4L fermenter volume:
0.4 oz centennial 60 mins
0.6 oz El Dorado 60 mins
0.4 Madarina Bavaria 30 mins
0.4 oz Mandarina Bavaria 15 mins
Boil 1.1 oz Oak Cubes 10 minutes

At bottling: 0.1 to 0.2ml El Dorado Oil (TBD)

WLP001 California Ale Yeast