2014 Gueuze Brewday

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Nick Ladd

Gueuze is a wonderfully complex sour beer that is typically a blend of 1, 2, and 3 year old spontaneously fermented Lambic batches. While, technically not a Lambic (Lambic is a protected term for a specific type of beer brewed within a specific geographic region of Belgium), this beer is made in the spirit of Lambic. It eschews the typical spontaneous cultures used in traditional Lambic fermentation for a commercial microbe blend (Wyeast Roeselare) combined with grown up bottle cultures.This batch of homebrew marks the my second annual batch of Lambic-style beer that will ultimately become part of a 3-component Gueuze blend that includes 3-year, 2-year, and 1-year old Lambic-style brews.

To further provide variation (and flexibility) in what will ultimately build the blend, I brewed a 3-gallon batch the was split three-ways and inoculated with distinct culture grown up from various bottle dregs: Jolly Pumpkin La Roja, Russian River Framboise for a Cure, and my house bug culture.

To further provide variation (and flexibility) in what will ultimately build the blend, I brewed a 3-gallon batch that was split 3-ways and inoculated with distinct cultures grown up from various bottle dregs: Jolly Pumpkin La Roja, Russian River Framboise for a Cure, and my house bug culture.

2014 Lambic-Style Homebrew Recipe

Specifications:
Size: 4.25 gal
Efficiency: 75%
Attenuation: 90% (anticipated)

Original Gravity: 1.045 SG
Terminal Gravity: 1.005 SG (anticipated)
Color: 3.1 SRM
Alcohol: 5.3% ABV
Bitterness: 0.0 IBU

Malt Bill:
5 lb (66.7%) Belgian Pils (Dingemans)
2.25 lb (30.0%) Flaked Wheat (Briess)
4 oz (3.3%) Acidulated Malt (Weyermann)

Mash Regiment:
A turbid mash regiment (basically a thin decoction) was completed through the steps below. A Ferulic acid rest was completed to encourage the formation of 4-vinyl guaicol which Brettanomyces can theoretically convert into 4 ethyl-guiacol which produces some of the ‘funky’ aromas and flavors that Brettanomyces is known for. A short Beta rest was followed by a very high Alpha rest to encourage a dextrinous wort and protracted secondary Brettanomyces fermentation.

113 °F – Ferulic Acid Rest – 10min
136 °F – Protein Rest – 5min
150 °F – Beta Rest – 20min
162 °F – Alpha Rest – 30min
168 °F – Mashout Rest – 5min

Water Treatment:
Extremely Soft NYC Water
4g Gypsum (to mash)
4g Calcium Chloride (to mash)

Hopping:
1.75 oz AGED Cascade (0% AA) – 90 m

Kettle Additions:
0.5 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – 15 m
0.5 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – 10 m

Yeast:
WYeast 3763 Roeselare Ale Blend – No Starter
Ferment at room temp until activity ceases. Rack into individual 1-gallon fermentation vessels. Inoculate each with separate secondary cultures.

Northern English Brown Review

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Nick Ladd

Tasting Notes:

Judged as a BJCP Category 11c Northern English Brown Ale.

Aroma (10/12):
The first thing that strikes you is the deep biscuity malt followed by some toasted sourdough bread notes. There is a hint of caramel that is pleasant and nuanced as well as some light bittersweet chocolate notes. The English yeast strain is quite apparent with esters reminiscent of apricot. Perfumey and slightly herbal hops are very low and in the background. No diacetyl or other off-flavors.

Appearance (1/3):
Very deep mahogany brown. Clear, with a tan, persistent head. Beer is a bit too dark for the style.

Flavor (15/20):
The beer is dominated by round malt flavors which emphasize deep, toasty, melanoidin filled flavors. There is only a hint of caramel-like sweetness. The malt character is slightly drying with a touch of tart acidity from the chocolate malt. Beer starts out a hair sweet, but finishes quite dry. There is a low hop bitterness that is just enough to balance and is true to the style. Malt is perhaps just a bit too intense.

Mouthfeel (4/5):
Medium-bodied with a nice creamy level of carbonation. Just a hint of roasty astringency.

Overall Impression (7/10):
This is a really well-balanced English Brown Ale. The malt is complex and toasty almost to the point that it exceeds the limit of the style. Very sessionable with malt complexity to keep you interested and modest alcohol levels to keep you coherent. A very nice beer.

Total: 37/50 Good

Read the full recipe here.

Goose Island King Henry Clone Attempt

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Nick Ladd

For those of you not immersed in the world of commercial beer geekery, let me tell you a story. This is the tale of a noble and regal beer. King Henry as he was called began his life as a massive English Barley Wine from the Goose Island brewery. Once fermented, he was left to rest inside oak casks which began their life holding Pappy Van Winkle bourbon and later the Rare variant of Goose Island’s Bourbon County Brand Stout. After an extended slumber, the sweet nectar was packaged and released to the masses for enthusiastic consumption and hoarding within dark cellars. King Henry became well-known throughout the land and developed a reputation of mythical stature.

Goose Island last released King Henry in 2011. Now that Goose Island is an AB-InBev owned and produced brand, it is pretty unlikely that it will ever be brewed again.

Beautiful viscous wort recirculating during my mash-out step. My new cobbled together recirculation diffuser worked well.

Now some bad news — I’m not going to publish the recipe for this clone.

A homebrewing friend of mine was able to obtain the precise recipe from which the commercial beer was produced. With this information in hand, I was able to accurately formulate a scaled down homebrew recipe. This information was given to me with the caveat of not sharing it with the world.

As much as I wish that I could publish the recipe, Goose Island’s website actually gives some good information which can be used to formulate a recipe. Key metrics such as ABV and IBUs are listed, as are the malts and hops used. I can verify that my recipe is very much in line with the ingredients listed on the Goose Island website. The signature malt in this beer is a seasonal product called Caracrystal from by Briess Malting — something that the recipe formulation should account for.

I built up a massive pitch of yeast with the hope of fermenting out this extremely high gravity beer. Violent fermentation ensued, which is only now tapering down a week later. Once terminal gravity is hit, I intend to rack the beer into split secondaries containing oak cubes treated with varying spirits. With some luck, this beer will be finished and packaged sometime in February or March 2014. Stay tuned for a full review then!

Northern English Brown Recipe

Posted on September 8, 2012 by Nick Ladd

This is not a Newcastle Brown clone recipe.

Not that there is a problem with Newcastle per-say. It is a fine beer (especially on draft) but simply not what I was looking to get out of this beer. I wanted to design something that focused more on the nutty and toasty characteristics of the style and minimized some of the sweeter full-flavors you can get with too much crystal malt. That being said, I also wanted to provide a hint of one of my favorite crystal malts – Crisp C77 which I think has a wonderful toffee and raisin characteristic. I also wanted to test some of Gordon Strong’s theories about using large portions of Vienna malt and no-sparge techniques in British beers. I think it worked. Please note that an erroneous copy of this recipe featuring brown malt appeared in the September / October 2012 issue of Zymurgy. This is the correct recipe that won gold in the second round of the 2012 National Homebrew Competition.

Specifications

Volume: 6 Gallons
Original Gravity: 1.051
Terminal Gravity: 1.013
Color: 18.21 SRM
Alcohol: 4.99%
Bitterness: 27.8
Efficiency: 57% (tweak recipe to match efficiency of your brew house)
Boil Length: 60 Minutes

Ingredients

10 lb (66.1%) Maris Otter; Crisp
3 lb (19.8%) Vienna Malt; Weyermann
12 oz (5.0%) Special Roast Malt; Briess
8 oz (3.3%) Victory® Malt; Briess
8 oz (3.3%) Crystal 77; Crisp
6 oz (2.5%) Pale Chocolate; Crisp
42 g (74.8%) East Kent Goldings (4.7%) – added during boil, boiled 60 m
1 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 15 m
.5 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 10 m
.25 oz (12.6%) East Kent Goldings (4.7%) – added during boil, boiled 5 m
.25 oz (12.6%) Styrian Goldings (4.3%) – added during boil, boiled 5 m
1 ea WYeast 1469-PC West Yorkshire Ale – 1800ml starter on stir plate

Water

Carbon-filtered Seattle water which is very soft. All salts added to grist before mashing in.
2.0 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)
4.0 g Calcium Chloride (Calcium Chloride)
2.0 g Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulfate)

Mash

60 Minute Saccharification Rest at 152° F
10 Minute Mashout Rest at 170° F (I do a second hot water infusion to mashout)
No sparge. Add sufficient volume of water to simply drain mashtun and hit pre-boil volumes.

Fermentation

Chill wort to 60° F and pitch yeast slurry.
Slowly ramp temperate over the course of 5 days to 68° F and keep there until terminal gravity is hit.
Crash to 32° F and package.

Keys to Brewing

The West Yorkshire yeast strain is fairly unique and helps it stand out among other beers in the category. I picked up a nice apricot ester from it.
Use authentic British maltsters. They are unique and help lend to a more authentic flavor.

Awards

The beer brewed from this recipe has won awards as a BJCP Category 11c. Northern English Brown:

2012 NHC First Round – 1st Place
2012 NHC Final Round – 1st Place