Pumpkin Beer – Brewday and Recipe

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Nick Ladd

2 Sugar Pumpkins were heavily roasted yielded about 3 pounds of sweet pumpkin meat.

2 sugar pumpkins were heavily roasted yielding about 3 pounds of sweet pumpkin meat that was pulverized and added to the mash.

Update: You can find a full review of this beer, here.

People seem to either love pumpkin beers, or love to hate them. Craft beer drinkers consume them in quantity each fall while a certain segment of ‘beer geeks’ gleefully rant about their disdain for the style and write them off as a trend (oh, the irony). Having been part of this latter group, I can confidently say that my tune has changed. In particular, I look forward to the yearly ritual of consuming high gravity samples like Elysian’s ‘Great Pumpkin’ and the signal of fall these beers represent.

Many craft pumpkin beers feature in-your-face spicing paired with a big residual sweetness. For this beer, I am shooting for something a bit different. While malt-forward, the focus is on toasty bready notes, and less on sweet caramel. This beer features low-spicing — hopefully allowing the heavily roasted pumpkin to shine through. The goal of combining a Maris Otter base with biscuit and honey malts was to produce a graham cracker like character, similar to what is found in pie crust.

Recirculating for mashout. Very nice orange color.

Recirculating for mashout. The malt bill and pumpkin produced a very nice orange color.

Recipe

Size: 2.75 gal
Efficiency: 70%
Attenuation: 72.0% (projected)

Original Gravity: 1.086 SG (Actually hit 1.077 due to pour efficiency)
Terminal Gravity: 1.024 SG (projected)
Color: 16.26 SRM
Alcohol: 8.2% ABV (projected)
Bitterness: 27.9 (projected)

Ingredients:
6.25 lb (65.4%) Maris Otter (Crisp)
1.3125 lb (13.7%) Munich TYPE II (Weyermann)
8 oz (5.2%) Biscuit Malt (Dingeman)
8 oz (5.2%) Flaked Oats (Briess)
6 oz (3.9%) Crystal 45 (Crisp)
6 oz (3.9%) Honey Malt (Gambrinus)
4 oz (2.6%) Belgian Caravienne (Belgian)
3 lb Roasted Sugar Pumpkin

8 g (100.0%) Magnum (14.5%) – added during boil, boiled 90 m
0.5 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 15 m
0.5 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 10 m

1 ea Cinnamon (Stick) – Whirlpool 10m
.125 tsp Clove (whole) – Whirlpool 10m
.125 tsp Nutmeg (ground) – Whirlpool 10m

WYeast 1056 American Ale™
1 ea Vanilla Bean Soaked in Bourbon (1 bean in 2 oz. bourbon) – Secondary

Mash:
120 °F – 5m (Beta Glucan)
154 °F – 60m (Saccarification)
168 °F – 10m (Mashout)

Yeast Starter:
Final Volume into Fermenter = 2.25 Gallons
Yeast Required = 132 billion (per Mr. Malty)
Yeast Production Date: 8/16/13
Yeast Starter = 1L @ 1.040 on stir plate (per Mr. Malty) = 4 1/8oz. DME

Fermentation:
1. Chill to 60* F and keep at 62* F until activity slows (1 week+).
2. Raise temp to 70*F 2 days
3. Crash to 32*F 5 days

100% Sour Mash Berliner Weisse Tasting

Posted on July 20, 2013 by Nick Ladd

Less than a week after pitching yeast, my Berliner Weisse was carbonated and ready for consumption. The beer finished just in time for the NYC Homebrewers Guild annual picnic and the intense NYC heat (and humidity) wave that followed shortly afterwards. I couldn’t have made a beer in a more timely manner. At only 3.4% ABV, I was able to push it from grain to glass faster than any other beer I’ve brewed.

Perhaps the best beer to consume during the doldrums of a NYC heat wave?

Beer Tasting

Judged as a BJCP Category 17A Berliner Weisse.

Aroma (10/12)
Initially the beer presents with a nice and clean, tangy lactic aroma that is in some ways reminiscent of the acidity found in yogurt. In the background is a round and almost honey-like pilsner malt aroma with a hint of toasted cracker. Also apparent is a very light herbal hop aroma that is a bit out of place in the style, but welcome in such a young beer. There is a light touch of a pear ester. No diacetyl, DMS, or other off-flavors.

Appearance (3/3)
Quite hazy and very pale. There is a bright white foam that easily builds and persists throughout consumption.

Flavor (16/20)
Simple and delicious. The beer somehow manages to have an acidity that is both round and soft, while also quite intense and refreshing. The acid is clean and pleasant. There is a nice simple and easy-drinking malty character that showcases the pilsner malt sweetness while having a crisply dry crackery finish (probably from the wheat). None of the hops I got on the nose can be tasted. The malt is maybe a hair too sweet for the style. There is just a hint of perceptible bitterness.

Mouthfeel (4/5)
The dryness of this beer combines with the acidity and medium-high carbonation to be quite crisp. The body is maybe a touch full. There is no hint of thinness or the watery character that is often found in low-alcohol beers.

Overall Impression (8/10)
This is an excellent example of the style. It captures the acidity and refreshing qualities that are the hallmark of the style and hits all the right marks in terms of malt character. There are none of the off-flavors sometimes associated with sour mashes. The only detractor is that perhaps it is a touch sweet; likely caused by me undershooting my attenuation goals. To make this beer better, I would allow it to ferment for an extra day or two and hopefully squeeze a couple more points of attenuation out of it.

Total: 41/50 (Excellent)

Berliner Weisse Recipe (Sour Mash) and Brewday

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Nick Ladd

Using blankets and coats to insulate my mashtun.

I love sour beer. I love simple beers. I love Berliner Weisse.

Berliners are low in alcohol and crisp, featuring a clean lactic sour character that can be quite tart and thirst quenching. They are easy drinking and sessionable. The best ones have an almost yogurt-like tartness produced by a lactic fermentation and complemented by a light and almost crackery wheat malt character.

The key to this Berliner recipe is creating a clean and substantial tart sourness using sour mash techniques. The beauty of a sour mash is that you don’t have to grow potential contaminants on the cold side of your brewhouse. The basic process involves mashing as you typically would and then post conversion inoculating the mash with a portion of raw grain (some inoculate with a commercial lacto pitch). The mash is allowed to naturally sour before boiling, chilling, and pitching yeast. Successfully sour mashing is all about setting the right environment for naturally occurring lactobacillus on the grain to thrive while discouraging other microbial action (molds, other bacteria, wild yeast, etc.). While researching sour mash, I ran into a lot of sources describing the putrid aromas that they can sometimes produce. Descriptors like gym socks, rotten vegetables, stinky cheese, and baby diaper are common when sour mashes are poorly executed, and are completely avoidable. By manipulating pH, temperature, and exposure to oxygen you can encourage clean lactobacillus growth while minimizing the growth of unwanted organisms.

pH – My recipe includes a large charge of acidulated malt, post sugar conversion, used to drop the mash pH into a range that lactobacillus can thrive at, but unwanted organisms do not.

Heat – My recipe inoculates the sour mash at the upper end of the temperature range that lactobacillus can thrive (126° F) and keeps the mash hot for 48 hours, using care to not allow the mash temp to drop below 106° F.

Oxygen – Lactobacillus thrives in anaerobic environments, while other organisms that throw off-flavors are aerobic. In order to encourage lacto fermentation, it is important to purge the mash tun using CO2 and seal it in order to prevent oxygen exposure. Additionally, I used de-aerated water (boiled) to mash with and was careful to not excessively stir the mash.

Recipe

Size: 3.24 gal
Efficiency: 76% (measured)
Attenuation: 72% (measured)
Boil Length: 30 minutes

Original Gravity: 1.036 (measured)
Terminal Gravity: 1.010 (measured)
Color: 3.03 SRM
Alcohol: 3.4% ABV (calculated)
Bitterness: 5.0 IBUs

Ingredients:
2.5 lb (52.6%) Bohemian Pilsner Malt
1.75 lb (36.8%) White Wheat
2 oz (2.6%) Acidulated Malt (for mash pH correction)
6 oz (7.9%) Acidulated Malt (added during 156° F rest to acidify sour mash post sugar conversion)
0.25 lb (0.0%) Rice Hulls (added during lauter)

8 g (100.0%) Hallertauer Hersbrucker (4.3%) – boiled 30 m
0.5 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – boiled 15 m
0.5 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – boiled 10 m

1 ea WYeast 1007 German Ale™

Mash:
60 min – Rest at 148 °F
10 min – Rest at 156 °F
10 min – Mashout at 168 °F

Sour Mash:
1. De-aerate mash strike water by boiling.
2. Cool mash water to strike temperature.
3. Complete mash regiment and let it cool in mash tun to 126°F. Minimize stirring and aeration of wort.
4. Add 4 oz uncrushed pilsner malt to inoculate wort.
5. Cover mash bed with aluminum foil, purge with CO2, and seal mashtun.
6. Wrap mash tun in blankets and rest 48 hours.
7. Add boiling H2O to increase sour mash temp as required.

Brew Day:
1. Mash out grain bed.
2. Lauter
3. Boil, chill, and pitch yeast.

Yeast Pitch:
Final Volume into Fermenter = 2.75 Gallons
Yeast Required = 68 billion (per Mr. Malty)
Yeast Production Date: 6/11/13
Yeast Starter = (None Required)

Fermentation:
1. Chill to 64° F and keep at 64° F until activity slows.
2. Raise temp to 68° F until activity is complete.
3. Crash to 32° F for 36 hours.
4. Keg and force carbonate to 3 volumes CO2.

Brewing Notes:

Gravity Reading – Post boil the wort is quite tart.

– Originally I was shooting for a 1.035 OG using an anticipated efficiency of 68%. My mash efficiency was considerably greater hitting 76%. I adjusted my final volume and interrelated hop additions in order to achieve an original gravity of 1.036.

– After sour mashing for 24 hours I tasted the mash liquid. It was barely tart, but quite clean with no off-flavors. Mash liquid was tasted again after 48 hours and had a substantial clean sourness with no off-flavors.

– My goal was to sour mash for 48 hours, brew, and then have a carbonated keg to serve 7 days later. I did this successfully, serving the carbonated beer less than 7 days from when I pitched my yeast. I rushed my fermentation likely causing the yeast to attenuate to only 1.010. I was hoping for 1.007 (80% apparent attenuation). Had I given the yeast another 2-3 days to work, I believe I would have achieved a 1.007 terminal gravity.

New Belgium / Alpine Super IPA Review

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Nick Ladd

New Belgium / Alpine Super IPA

The nature of the craft beer movement encourages trends. Currently, it seems that collaboration beers are all the rage. Stone does it all the time (even with homebrewers) as does Russian River, Deschutes, Hair of the Dog, and many of the greatest breweries in the country. Super IPA is a collaboration between one of the biggest craft brewers (New Belgium) and one of the smallest and most sought after (Alpine Beer Co.). At first glance, this seems like an amazing opportunity for a small and critically-acclaimed brewery to get distribution well-beyond their typical geographical influence. Unfortunately, while quaffable, this beer misses on many marks which would have made it amazing.

Beer Data:

Purchased: 10/5/12 at Whole Foods P Street, Washington DC
Consumed: 10/7/12
Bottled: No decipherable date on bottle
Alcohol: 9% ABV

Commercial Description from Website:

The Alpine Beer Co. and New Belgium have come together for the love of IPAs. This collaboration is hop-wonderful with Amarillo, Columbus, Simcoe and Centennial hops, bringing the bitter all the way to the front. A nice balance is present with Pale, C-80 and Carapils malts, but the tropical and citrus tones of the American hops dominate. This Super IPA pours a sheened copper and carries a bright, white head. Consider yourself a hero for getting an Alpine beer outside of San Diego.

Tasting Notes:

Aroma: Big green grassy raw hop aroma. Hops are quite resinous and herbal. This beer is dominated by Columbus hops, which are very rough around the edges. There are some nice mango and tropical fruit notes which seem bullied by the heavy piney and grassy characters. Little to no malt aromas are present on the nose; quite characteristic of Alpine’s other offerings. This beer smells like homebrewed beers I’ve had that sat too long on the dry hop. 5 / 12

Appearance: Very light copper bordering on golden. Off-white head with great retention. Clear, but not crystal clear. 3 / 3

Flavor: Big grassy raw hop flavor. Lots of resin on the palette. The flavor is pretty one-dimensional and dominated by the grassy / herbal hop flavor. There is a very light sweetness / honey character to the malt, but it is by no means easily perceived. This is a very smooth beer whose bitterness is quite low for the style, but balances with the dryness of the beer. This is where I see Alpine’s biggest influence. 11 / 20

Mouth Feel: Medium / medium low body. Average carbonation. Some astringency reminiscent of chewing on a raw hop pellet. 4 / 5

Overall Impression: Alpine is known for producing over-the-top hoppy beers with huge tropical fruit flavors and very lean malt profiles. I feel like this beer tried to hit those notes, but fell short in the hop selection arena. I can’t help but think that perhaps the need to produce New Belgium scale quantities of this beer forced the hand of the brewers into compromising on their hop selection; using massive quantities of Columbus hops which come off harsh, grassy and herbal in this beer rather than the more tropical varietals like Amarillo and Simcoe listed on New Belgium’s website. The malt is perfectly in line with Alpine’s tradition; dry and lean which would set the stage perfectly for a cleaner, fruitier hop experience. Unfortunately, this is where it falls short. 5 / 10

Score: 28 / 50 (Good)

Note: Evaluation done according to BJCP Scoring System. This beer was reviewed as a Category 14c. Imperial IPA.

Dark Horse Brewing Co. Crooked Tree IPA Review

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Nick Ladd

Crooked Tree IPA

In spite of my limited tenure in New York, I can already tell it is an exciting time to be a beer lover in the city. It seems like each new day brings news of yet another brewery distributing to the state. It is hard to keep up, but my liver is trying its best. When I saw that Bierkraft had tapped several kegs of Dark Horse beers, I hustled on over for a reasonably priced growler fill. Dark Horse has gained some following outside of Marshall, Michigan and I am excited to try the beers they send my way.

Beer Data:

Purchased: 9/17/12 at Bierkraft – 64 oz. Growler $11.95
Availability: Year-round (according to Dark Horse Brewing’s website)
Alcohol: 6% ABV

Commercial Description from Website:

Inspired by West Coast I.P.A.’s, but brewed with Michigan style. The Crooked Tree is heavily dry hopped to give it a big aroma of pine and citrus. The flavors are big, yet very balanced between fresh hops and malt. Often described as “grapefruit” our hops give this beer an excellent fruit flavor that finishes dry, crisp, and clean. It will pour a nice deep copper color with a bit of haziness. Because of our almost patented “Intense Transfer Methods” our Crooked Tree has won several medals in the India Pale Ale category.

Tasting Notes:

Aroma: This beer eschews the brash tropical and over-the-top hop aromas of trendy (and proprietary) hop varietals like Citra, Simcoe, Amarillo, and their New Zealand brethren. Instead, what is immediately apparent are the classic aromas of grapefruit with a hint of an herbaceous note, reminiscent of classic hops like Cascade and Centennial. Aside from the hops, there are fairly strong malt aromas of toasty biscuits and crackers. The aroma is very nice, but perhaps a little understated by measure of other American IPAs. As the sample warms, a touch of alcohol presents itself. 8 / 12

Appearance: This is not a pretty beer. Out of the growler came a muddy copper devoid of any exciting highlights. The beer easily produced a nearly white meringue-like head that unfortunately dissipated rather quickly (perhaps because the carbonation was low from the growler fill). The foam is quite sticky, likely due to the large amount of hops used. 1 / 3

Flavor: Lots of grapefruit are the initial impression; however, this is followed by a very large malt flavor. The malt is less in the range of sweet caramel and toffee and more in the spectrum of heavily toasted malt. I get the impression that there is a firm Munich or Vienna malt presence with perhaps some biscuit like malts (Victory, Special Roast, Biscuit, etc.). The malt is more reminiscent of an English IPA and provides an interesting, but stylistically incorrect, counterpoint to the classic American hop profile. The hops finish with a slight grassiness, likely from the dry hop. 13 / 20

Mouth Feel: This beer presents with a medium / medium-low level of carbonation likely the side-effect of the growler fill. This lends to an appealing almost cask like mouth-feel. There is a firm bitterness that balances any residual sweetness and finishes with a touch of grassy astringency. Quite quaffable for an IPA. 3 / 5

Overall Impression: I very much enjoyed the balance of this beer. Unfortunately, to me the hallmark of the American IPA category is an assertiveness that celebrates huge in-your-face hop flavors at the cost of balance. This is America, dammit, and more is not always less when it comes to the IPA category. The beer is obviously well-crafted with no technological faults. It is a great drinker that one could easily empty a growler of (I did), but I doubt it would win many competitions as an American IPA. 6 / 10

Score: 31 / 50 (Very Good)

Note: Evaluation done according to BJCP Scoring System. This beer was reviewed as a Category 14b. American IPA.