Fest Beer

I am listening to the Results of the GABF live on the Brewing Network and brewing a Fest Beer. I got into lagers last spring and have fallen in love. I wasn't always a huge fan of them but when I started making them I realized the subtle complexity of these styles and have been brewing lagers and ales at about a 1-for-1 since. I wanted to brew this style for a long time, and I want to build up a yeast cake for a Bock beer later this fall. I will be adding two types of oak to the bock, more on this later. As I was mashing the Munich malt aroma was insanely good and rich. I also used a hop bag for this batch something I haven't done in the past, well see how my hop extraction turns out.

Here is the recipe:

Fermentables

Ingredient	Amount	%	MCU	When
German Pilsner Malt	5.00 lb	47.6 %	1.2	In Mash/Steeped
US Munich 20L Malt	4.00 lb	38.1 %	15.1	In Mash/Steeped
German Dark Munich Malt	1.50 lb	14.3 %	2.6	In Mash/Steeped

Hops

Variety	Alpha	Amount	IBU	Form	When
German Hallertauer Hersbrucker	3.5 %	1.50 oz	19.4	Loose Pellet Hops	60 Min From End
German Hallertauer Hersbrucker	3.5 %	0.50 oz	3.9	Loose Pellet Hops	20 Min From End

Yeast

White Labs WLP833-German Bock Lager

I mashed in at 151F. I also made a 1.5 liter starter.

Home Grown Hops

I planted 3 rhizomes two springs ago. 2 Willamette and 1 Goldings. The Goldings never took off and flat leaf parsley now grows in its spot. The Willamettes both grew up to my roof and back down last year, although I had very few hop flowers. This year the both started out, but while I was on my honeymoon this summer one of the Willamettes died off. The other is growing strong as you can see above and although it doesn't have a tone of hops it is growing well. I will be making a fresh hop beer (well fresh hops for aroma and flavor) I will use pellets for bittering as I won't have enough hops for the bittering charge. The base beer will be a English Bitter. Marris Otter and some 40L Crystal malt, and US 05 yeast.

Valle de Oro to Ruby Red

Last spring I brewed a beer that was inspired by Orval. Wyeast had just released their blend of brett and Trappist yeast said to come close to the flavors of Orval. I was going to dry hop the beer but the brett pellicle formed so fast and thick that I didn't want to disturb it. I kept the beer in my mind and pondered what to do with this overly funky Orval-like beer. Then this summer as I sat eating some homemade raspberry ice cream and drinking Goose Island Sophie (a nice dry, hoppy, brett beer). I took a bite of the ice cream and a sip of the funky beer and wow a great combo, then it hit me add raspberries to the Orval-like beer. I added 3 pounds of raspberries to the beer and the color turned a beautiful ruby red and the beer took on an amazing raspberry aroma that blends perfectly with the brett. I am deciding whether or not to keg this beer or bottle it in larger format bottles. I think this may be one of the better beers I have made

Saison Indochine

I have always loved saison's for their spiciness, dry, hoppy flavors. I have also loved the flavors of Thai (well all South East Asian) food, specifically the ginger, keffir lime, and lemon grass. I brewed a saison about 4 years ago (my first) with galangal ginger, keffir lime leaves, and lemon grass, all dried. The beer was over spiced (ginger) and just not a great base beer. So I waited until I became a better brewer and was re-inspired by my honeymoon to Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. When I got home I sourced fresh galangal, keffir leaves, and lemon grass. I decided to attempt the beer again. I wanted a light colored, dry and balanced beer with a nice low spice/herb characteristic. I also wanted to add sugar to the beer so I added palm sugar and rice solids; two common ingredients in South East Asia. The recipe calls for turbinado sugar but I subbed for the specialty sugars. I also made a extract of keffir leaves and lemon grass soaked in vodka, to add to the keg. You can see that in the jar in the pictures above.

So here is the recipe:

Fermentables

Ingredient	Amount	%	MCU	When
Belgian Pilsen Malt	8.00 lb	74.4 %	2.4	In Mash/Steeped
US White Wheat Malt	1.00 lb	9.3 %	0.5	In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Munich Malt	0.75 lb	7.0 %	0.8	In Mash/Steeped
Sugar - Turbinado	1.00 lb	9.3 %	1.9	Start Of Boil

Hops

Variety	Alpha	Amount	IBU	Form	When
UK Golding	5.5 %	1.00 oz	19.3	Loose Pellet Hops	60 Min From End
US Amarillo	5.0 %	0.50 oz	5.3	Loose Pellet Hops	20 Min From End
US Amarillo	5.0 %	0.50 oz	0.4	Loose Pellet Hops	1 Min From End

Yeast

Wyeast 3711-French Saison

Mash Notes

Mash at 147-148F for 60 minutes

Boil Notes

1.3 oz of lemon grass, 0.6 oz galangal ginger, 0.1 oz keffir lime (about 8 leaves). Added .5 lbs Palm Sugar and .5 Rice Sugar to start of boil. Added spices last minute of boil and kept in wort for 10 minutes as wort chilled.

New Post Soon

I promise, tastings, recipes, brew days, sour updates...

Westerly Weizen- Bavarian Hefe

This is one of my oldest recipes. I brewed this beer for the first time 4 years ago (from DME), and have brewed it every year since. It earned a 2nd place at the 2007 San Diego County Fair, which was my first homebrew contest. The next year it scored really well but didn't finish bottle conditioning so it did not place. This beer is a crowd favorite and is good in summer or at an Oktoberfest party. I keep the recipe simple and shoot for a Bavarian Hefe that leans towards a more banana flavor/aroma profile over a more clove heavy one.

Here is the Recipe: Westerlies Weizen

4.5# White Wheat

4.5#German Pilsner

0.5# Light Munich

Batched Sparged (nothing fancy)

Hellatauer Hersbrucker 3.5%AA 0.80oz @60 minutes

White Labs WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale

OG= 1.052

Expected FG = 1.013

Expected ABV= 5.1%

As I mentioned the first few batches were brewed using 100% Wheat DME and had great results. I added half at the start of the boil and the other half at the end to keep the color light.

I pitched a good sized starter and saw small signs of fermentation within 4 hours, by morning the airlock had shot off and the beer is still cranking away. I usually brew this in June because the ambient temps are perfect, but since this has been the coolest July and August in 100 years in San Diego, and the weather is essentially June-like. I decided to go for it. Ambient temps are 68-70F.

Next Up: Table Saison and Indochina Saison, possibly a wet hop beer using a local strain of hops called Julian Gold.

Wit Beer Tasting

I brewed a wit back in June for a work party. It was 5 of 10 gallons of beer, and so not all of it was drunk. At the time it tasted kind of sulphury. It wasn't terrible but it seemed to cover up some of the subtle nuances of the style, mainly the citrus and corriandar. When I got back from my honeymoon I decided to pull a glass off the tap and see how it was tasting, and since I didn't get a chance to do a formal tasting, I've done it here.

Appearance: Great yellow color, with great cloudiness and a huge lasting pillowy white head!

Aroma: light citrus and spice (corriandar) right away, followed by some characteristics Belgian phenolics. Very nice, but a little too light on the aroma. This may be from a long aging period or too few spices, I didn't want to overdo it.

Taste: The taste is light and refreshing. Wheat, slight tartness, citrus zest and a light lingering spice in the finish.

Drinakibility/Overall: This beer is very good now, the cold conditioning in the keg did this beer well. It is nice and light with a nice fruity, spicy tartness that makes it very refreshing for a warm summer day. I think next time I may up the spice/zest levels just a tad. Very good and easy to drink!