Belgian Saison Recipe

Posted on September 8, 2012 by Nick Ladd

Saison can be a difficult beer to brew, especially when using the yeast attributed to Brasserie Dupont (Wyeast 3724 or White Labs WLP565) which can be notoriously fickle. In my experience with using solely Wyeast 3724 the beer tends to attenuate about 10-25% in a day or two, and then floc out and take an additional 4-6 weeks of heavy heat to complete fermentation. To overcome this, I’ve designed this recipe to first use the Dupont strain to impart its beautiful ester profile and then the French saison strain (Wyeast 3711) to get the beer dried out in a reasonable amount of time. Additionally this recipe contains a fair amount of acidulated malt to accentuate the beers quenching nature as well as a fair amount of Munich malt to compliment the austere pilsner base. The touch of special roast provides additional character to the malt flavor. I don’t like coriander or other spices in my saisons as I think the yeast gives plenty of spice character on its own.

Specifications

Volume: 6.12 Gallons
Original Gravity: 1.055
Terminal Gravity: 1.004
Color: 8.37 SRM
Alcohol: 6.65%
Bitterness: 24.3
Efficiency: 78% (tweak recipe to match efficiency of your brew house)
Boil Length: 90 Minutes

Ingredients

7 lb (57.7%) Belgian Pils
2 lb (16.5%) Munich TYPE II; Weyermann
2 lb (16.5%) Pale Wheat Malt; Weyermann
6 oz (3.1%) Acidulated Malt; Weyermann
4 oz (2.1%) Special Roast Malt; Briess
.5 lb (4.1%) White Table Sugar (Sucrose)
.5 oz (18.2%) Magnum (12.5%) – added during boil, boiled 60 m
.5 oz (18.2%) Hallertau Mittelfruh (3.4%) – added during boil, boiled 60 m
.5 oz (18.2%) Styrian Goldings (3.8%) – added during boil, boiled 20 m
1 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 15 m
.75 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 10 m
.75 oz (27.3%) Hallertau Mittelfruh (3.4%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 m
.5 oz (18.2%) Styrian Goldings (3.8%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 m
1 ea WYeast 3724 Belgian Saison™ – 1000ml Starter on Stirplate
1 ea WYeast 3711 French Saison Yeast

Water

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

Mash

90 Minute Saccharification Rest at 146° F
10 Minute Mashout Rest at 170° F (I do a second hot water infusion to mashout)
Sparge at 170° F and collect sufficient runnings to hit pre-boil volumes.

Fermentation

Chill wort to 74° F and pitch yeast slurry of Wyeast 3724.
Ferment 74-82° F until yeast flocculates and activity drops off.
Pitch smack pack of Wyeast 3711 and keep temperature in the low 80’s. Ferment until beer is attenuated to 92% or so. It may take weeks… be patient.

Keys to Brewing

High attenuation is the heart of Saison’s very nature. Because of this, it is important to push the fermentation with high temperatures and design the grain bill and mash profile to encourage maximum fermentation. Low 90’s percentage-wise is a starting point for a good attenuation rate.
Don’t use crystal malt in your saisons (including carapils). It tastes odd to me and really clashes with the overall nature of the beer. If you want more malt character that is not sweet or caramel like, try malts like Munich, Victory, Biscuit, Special Roast, etc. that add interesting notes without adding lots of unfermentable sugars. If you’re worried about head retention, add some wheat.

Awards

The beer brewed from this recipe has won several awards as a BJCP Category 16c. Saison:

2012 NHC First Round – 1st Place
2012 Best of the Bay – 2nd Place

Five – Blended Strong Ale

Posted on September 8, 2012 by Nick Ladd

Blending Session

Blending is common part of nearly every wine maker’s tool box. It allows them to not only create a consistent product, but also take a mental picture of the wine they would like to make and then assemble individual components to achieve their vision. Outside of one of my favorite breweries (Firestone Walker), very few craft brewers are doing this. This is part of our common brewing heritage (various British ales, Gueuze, etc.) and something I am very interested in as a means to bring another level of complexity to a beer.

Category 23 of the BJCP style guideline (Specialty Beer) is wide open. It offers unlimited possibilities for stretching your creative arms. It occurred to me that a blended beer would be an interesting take for this category.

My Process

I started with the concept of creating a blended desert style beer that is not unlike a fine Port or Sherry. The blended final product would be sweet, but not cloyingly so. From there I looked at what beers I had on hand and pulled samples from the following beers:
– 2 year old Belgian Dark Strong
– 6 month old German Dopplebock
– 1 year old Scottish Wee Heavy
– 2 year old oak aged English Barley Wine
– 2 year old oak aged Russian Imperial Stout
With these samples on hand, each was tasted and then noted for their unique characteristics that could lend an interesting note to the final beer. For example, the Belgian Dark Strong was extremely dry and alcoholic. It featured a unique port like quality as well. It was decided that it could provide a nice balancing dryness to the sweetness of the other beers as well as introduce a nice dark fruit component that could help me achieve a port like quality. The goal was to highlight the strong features of each beer and then use a ratio of each to create a holistic final blend.
With a mental picture of each beer in my head, I came up with a starting ratio to begin with. Using a turkey baster and graduated 100ml cylinder I continually refined the blend until I came up with what seemed to be the superior blend.
With the final blend decided, I used CO2 and a jumper cable to push a portion of each beer into a clean and purged keg. I used a scale to determine how much beer was pushed into the blending keg and keep the ratio of the final blend to the ratio I had determined by taste.
With the blend kegged I let the beer meld and carbonated it to approximately 2.3 volumes of CO2.

Upon tasting the final product, I came up with the following description to be used as the description for my competition entries:

Five strong homebrews of different country origins blended to produce a rich beer with port-like qualities and complexity. A sipper that is designed as an after-dinner dessert beer.

The description worked. The beer placed 1st in the first round of the 2012 National Homebrew Competition in Category 23.

Single Tap IPA Recipe

Posted on September 8, 2012 by Nick Ladd

Hops Shots

When it comes to IPA my West Coast roots are hard to hide. I like the malt lean and the hops to sing. Particularly important are huge punches of citrus and tropical aromas that jump out of the glass. I like IPAs dry and on the lower end of the alcohol spectrum which helps keep them from being oppressive to the palate. To the chagrin of other west coasters, I don’t like them bitter. At 61 IBU’s, this is not a massively bitter beer. The hops make their presence known via flavor and aromatics, not through face collapsing bitterness. This is achieved through getting the majority of BUs through late hop additions in addition to a hop extract charge at the beginning of the boil. The hop extract is derived from Amarillo hops which feature a low cohumulone level and relatively smooth bitterness. To add a subtle malt complexity I blend base malts. This beer showcases Nelson Sauvin hops which are quite unique and help the beer stand out.

Specifications

Volume: 6.6 Gallons (be prepared to lose a lot of volume from all the hop additions)
Original Gravity: 1.061
Terminal Gravity: 1.011
Color: 8.19 SRM
Alcohol: 6.56% (ABV)
Bitterness: 61.7
Efficiency: 76% (tweak recipe to match efficiency of your brew house)
Boil Length: 90 Minutes

Ingredients

5 lb (33.3%) Golden Promise Malt; Thomas Fawcett
4 lb (26.7%) 2-Row Brewers Malt; Briess
2 lb (13.3%) Vienna Malt; Weyermann
2 lb (13.3%) Weyermann Pils
12 oz (5.0%) White Wheat Malt; Briess
6 oz (2.5%) Caramunich® TYPE III; Weyermann
6 oz (2.5%) Cara-Pils® Malt; Briess
.5 lb (3.3%) Corn Sugar
4ml Amarillo Hop Extract (Hop Shots) – added during boil, boiled 60 m
1 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 15 m
.25 oz (2.1%) Nelson Sauvin (12.2%) – added during boil, boiled 15 m
.25 oz (2.1%) Centennial (8.8%) – added during boil, boiled 15 m
.75 oz (6.4%) Amarillo Leaf (10.9%) – added during boil, boiled 15 m
.5 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 10 m
.25 oz (2.1%) Nelson Sauvin (12.2%) – added during boil, boiled 10 m
.5 oz (4.3%) Centennial (8.8%) – added during boil, boiled 10 m
.75 oz (6.4%) Amarillo Leaf (10.9%) – added during boil, boiled 10 m
.75 oz (6.4%) Nelson Sauvin (12.2%) – added during boil, boiled 5 m
.75 oz (6.4%) Centennial (8.8%) – added during boil, boiled 5 m
.75 oz (6.4%) Amarillo Leaf (10.9%) – added during boil, boiled 5 m
.75 oz (6.4%) Nelson Sauvin (12.2%) – added during boil, boiled 0 m
1 oz (8.6%) Centennial (8.8%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 m
1 oz (8.6%) Amarillo Leaf (10.9%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 m
1 ea WYeast 1056 American Ale – 1800ml starter on stir plate
1 oz (8.6%) Nelson Sauvin (12.2%) – added dry to secondary fermenter
1 oz (8.6%) Centennial (8.8%) – added dry to secondary fermenter
1 oz (8.6%) Amarillo Pellet (10.1%) – added dry to secondary fermenter

Water

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

Mash

60 Minute Saccharification Rest at 153° F
10 Minute Mashout Rest at 170° F (I do a second hot water infusion to mashout)
Sparge at 170° F and collect sufficient runnings to hit pre-boil volumes

Fermentation

Chill wort to 60° F and pitch yeast slurry.
Set temp controller to 64° F and allow to rise to this temp.
Ferment at 62-64° F until beer is 2-6 points from terminal gravity then raise temp to 68° F. Hold at 68° F for 2 days.
Chill fermenter to 34° F. Rack beer off yeast and package.

Keys to Brewing

This beer really shines when you get it to attenuate properly. Shoot to get this beer 80-83% attenuated.
This beer is about hops. Use the freshest ones you can find. I buy in bulk each fall from Hops Direct and vacuum seal and freeze that year’s harvest. There are great savings doing this if you brew a lot of hoppy beers.

Awards

The beer brewed from this recipe has won awards as a BJCP Category 14b. American IPA:

2012 NHC First Round – 1st Place

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

Vienna Lager Recipe

Posted on September 8, 2012 by Nick Ladd

While living in Seattle, I had embarrassingly easy access to a world-class Vienna Lager brewed by Chuckanut Brewing in Bellingham, WA. Their beer always does well nationally at the GABF and easily became one of my go-to session beers as well as the inspiration for this recipe.

Vienna is in many was the perfect craft lager. I don’t think any other style of beer epitomizes balance the way a good Vienna can. It is quenching with a subtle complexity keeping your palate from boredom. This beer features a nice toasty malt profile while not being overbearing or too rich. There is a small crystal malt presence which is often overdone and can become sweet and in conflict with the dry toasty quality of the Vienna and Munich malt this recipe uses. It is a dryer and leaner version of its bigger brother the Oktoberfest / Marzen.

Specifications

Volume: 6.2 Gallons
Original Gravity: 1.050
Terminal Gravity: 1.012
Color: 13.82 SRM
Alcohol: 4.98% (ABV)
Bitterness: 23.7 IBUs
Efficiency: 80% (tweak recipe to match efficiency of your brew house)
Boil Length: 90 Minutes

Ingredients

4.5 lb (39.1%) Vienna Malt; Weyermann
2 lb (17.4%) Pilsner Malt; Weyermann
4.5 lb (39.1%) Munich TYPE II; Weyermann
4 oz (2.2%) Carapils®; Weyermann
2 oz (1.1%) Carafa Special® TYPE II; Weyermann
2 oz (1.1%) Melanoidin Malt; Weyermann
70 g (83.2%) Hallertauer Mittelfrüher (3.4%) – added during boil, boiled 60 m
1 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 15
.75 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 10 m
.5 oz (16.8%) Hallertauer Mittelfrüher (3.4%) – added during boil, boiled 10 m
1 ea White Labs WLP833 German Bock Lager Yeast – 2 gallon decanted 1.040 starter

Water

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

Mash

90 Minute Saccharification Rest at 154° F
10 Minute Mashout Rest at 170° F (I do a second hot water infusion to mashout)
Sparge at 170° F and collect sufficient runnings to hit pre-boil volumes

Fermentation

Chill wort to 44° F and pitch yeast slurry.
Set temp controller to 48° F and allow to rise to this temp.
Ferment at 48-50° F until beer is 2-6 points from terminal gravity then raise temp to 58-60° F. Hold at 58-60° F for 2 days.
Chill fermenter 2° F per day until temperature is at 34° F. Rack beer off yeast and lager at near freezing 4-8 weeks.

Keys to Brewing

Yeast is of paramount importance for craft lagers. A lot of outdated homebrew advice recommends fermenting warm for the first couple days to build yeast populations and then crashing the fermentation back to lager yeast fermentation temps. I don’t like this since I believe it can lead to significant problems including excessive ester, fusel, and diacetyl formation. I think it also tends to shock the yeast and produce incomplete fermentations. Build a big starter, pitch cold, and go from there.
Use restraint with crystal malt. Too many homebrew samples are heavy on the caramel flavors which tend to mask the more subtle toasty / melanoiden flavors from the base malts.
I like a touch of dehusked carafa malt to lend some rich red color to the beer. I tend to toss it into the mash right before I sparge to avoid any roasty flavors.

Awards

The beer brewed from this recipe has won numerous awards as a BJCP Category 3a. Vienna Lager:

2012 NHC First Round – 1st Place
2012 Cascade Brewers Cup / Puget Sound Pro-Am – 2nd Place
2012 Novembeerfest – 3rd Place
2012 Skagit County Fair – 2nd Place
2012 Best of the Bay – 1st Place, 2nd Best of Show
2012 Evergreen State Fair – 1st Place