Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Halcyon Malt

On July 8, 2013

Base malts are the foundation of any brew and there are a good number of slightly different varieties that fit under a larger category such as English pale malts. We have covered a few of these varieties on the blog before. Names such as Optic, Maris Otter, and heck, even Golden Promise are ones I would associate with English pale malts. The one I am focusing on in this post is Halcyon malt.

Along with the others we have examined, Halcyon is malted from a single barley variety that shares the same name. Halcyon barley was bred using a cross of Maris Otter and Sargent barley varieties. After it is harvested, it is floor malted and has been produced by the Thomas Fawcett Maltsters as it has for 100 plus years. The malt as traditional as it gets when it comes to imparting a distinctive flavor to your English style ales.

For details, check out these details below:

Flavor: In terms of flavor, it produces a wort that has a strong hint of biscuit flavor in it. When compared to Maris Otter, it is less sweet than that malt variety and more toasty.

Color: 2.6° L

Body: Beers brewed with Halcyon have a bit more body than ones brewed with a pilsner malt.

Use: With a historical malt, you can make superb versions of British styles such as bitters, browns, porters, and stouts. Because many American styles are just English styles that are hopped with American hops, Halcyon might make an interesting difference in your next American pale ale than a typical 2-row malt would bring to the brew. If you are looking for an experiment or just a change of pace, pick up several pounds of this great malt variety. Brew an excellent beer and see what kind of difference this malt can make on your next creation.

Sorachi Ace Wheat Ale Tasting Video

By Mike

On July 3, 2013

In Brew Log, Videos

Back in May, John brewed up this Sorachi Ace Wheat Ale. In an effort to start brewing with more of the great hops that we have profiled over the years, he decided to focus a refreshing wheat style with the Sorachi Ace hop. Many people enjoy a wedge of lemon or other citrus with their wheat beers. Sorachi’s lemony descriptor seemed like an interesting combination.
Furthermore, to keep it interesting, John also decided to do a yeast blend. Yeast blending is a topic that seems to creep into conversation a little more with every passing year. Here John worked with the standard California Ale yeast (WLP001) and also went for the Kolsch crispness of German Ale yeast (WLP029)to balance off the wheat.

Sorachi Ace completely delivers on the promise of lemony notes. In the flavor, in the finish, and the aroma, it is pure lemon. Almost asian and lemongrass-y in its presentation it certainly sits right on top of the beer. Reflecting on it, I realized it was even slightly ginger like. Maybe just because my mind was playing tricks on me with the Asian food reference.

The yeast blend does a fantastic job of finishing the beer. Fairly dry, but the wheat is present and soft. I really enjoyed the balance between the malt character and the mouthfeel. It was crisp like an American ale but it seemed like the Kolsch yeast really put some life into the wheat. The pilsner malt was a little missing and in the background. Likely it was hiding beneath all that wonderful lemon, citrus notes.

If you haven’t tried Sorachi Ace yet, a simple wheat beer may be the way to go. Or it would complex well with other floral and citrus like American hops. I’d use restraint in a blending experiment though, because even at a quarter ounce as a late hop addition it is dominant.

Enjoy the ramblings on the video.
BREW ON!

Honey Saison Recipe

By John Krochune

On July 1, 2013

In Recipes

As you may know, these Brew Dudes are having a saison throwdown in August. Although I might be showing my hand a bit early, I think that this is a good recipe that will stand up to any saison that it may be stacked against.

This is my honey saison recipe with the key ingredient being a pound of local honey that will help to dry out the beer. Along with a mighty yeast starter and some aggressive fermentation temperatures, I think I have the formula for a winning beer.

Honey Saison Recipe

Ingredients

10 lbs Belgian Pilsner Malt
1 lbs Belgian Munich Malt
1 lbs Belgian Wheat Malt
.125 lbs (2 oz) Belgian Caramunich Malt 60°L
1 lbs Honey
1.25 oz Willamette Pellets, 5.00 %AA boiled 60 minutes
.5 oz Willamette Pellets, 5.00 %AA boiled 1 minutes
Yeast: White Labs WLP568 Belgian Style Saison Ale Yeast Blend

Predictions

Original Gravity: 1.061
Terminal Gravity: 1.007 (I will try to get it lower)
Color: 6.74 °SRM
Bitterness: 28.4 IBU
Alcohol (%volume): 7.1 %

Instructions

With a low target final or terminal gravity, you want to mash at a lower temperature. Mash for at least 60 minutes at 147° F until full conversion. To be sure, you may want to mash for 90 minutes. After the boil, bring the wort temperature down to 68° F and pitch a 3 liter yeast starter. Place your fermentor in a room that gets warm. Look for an ambient temperature of 70° plus to help your fermentation temperatures get in the high range of the yeast strain. If you are getting close to 80 degrees, you are doing it right. A good healthy pitch of yeast and warmer than normal temperatures are key to getting your saison to a dryness that is right for the style. Plus, the temps should encourage the spicy yeast notes that are known in saisons. After fermentation, bottle or keg as usual. Carbonate to a level of sparkling.

See the post of the brew day here.

See the update on the fermentation here.

See the bottling post here.

Legacy Hops

By John Krochune

On June 28, 2013

In Hops

New hops varieties are always hitting the market and becoming available to all types of brewers. Knowing that homebrewers are at the very bottom of the hop buying food chain, it is nice to see some of the new types of hops can be bought by people who brew their own at home.

One of the varieties that is getting some attention lately is Legacy hops.

The variety is not really new. It is new to us but it has been grown at Puterbaugh Farms since 1963. It has just been registered, branded, and trademarked by Hops Direct, LLC.

I find it fascinating that public tastes dictate what hops become available commercially. If this variety has been around for 50 years, has it just now been deemed “good enough” for sale? For instance, only noble hops (and noble-ish hops) were thought to be of a quality for beer brewing. Other hops had too many wild flavors. As opinions change, so does the varieties that we can purchase. The widening of the palate and the acceptance of different flavors is a great thing.

Here are the specifications for this hop’s profile:

Origin: USA – Yakima Valley – Washington State

Aroma/Flavor: Grapefruit, black currant, spicy, floral. Also, blackberry, orange, grassy.

Alpha Acid: 7.8 – 8.4%

Typical Usage: The specifications state that Legacy hops are a dual purpose hop.

Beer Styles: American pale ales and IPAs. American stouts. Beer where a bit of a wild note would be welcomed.

Although I don’t know what the heritage of Legacy is, some substitutions that have been listed are Cluster, Galena, and Northern Brewer. I wonder if they are a cross between one of these named varieties with a wild Pacific Northwest hop. With the grapefruit and the black currant flavors, I wonder if it shares a parent with Cascade hops.

If anyone has any more information, please leave a comment.

Converting Extract Recipes to All Grain

By Mike

On June 26, 2013

In Recipes, Videos

Many brewers eventually migrate towards all-grain brewing. Some sooner than others. All-grain brewing provides more control of the total process and in many cases can improve the quality and freshness of your beers. But what do you do if you have a couple really great extract beers that you still want to drink? You can keep brewing them as extract, but if you want to try converting extract recipes to all-grain there are some key points to consider.

1. First extra light extract is the best stuff to work with as an extract brewer. At its core the lightest extracts are typically just a single base malt, mashed in the 150-154 range, lightly boiled then turned into extract. For recipes where light extract was the base you can simply plug in your 2-row barley of choice as a base malt on a gravity 1:1 basis. Add whatever steeping grains were in your extract recipe to the mash and away you go. To determine the amount of grain you need to equal the amount of extract you used, you’ll need to learn to work with PPG. See our PPG post for help with this.

2. If you worked with colored extracts; Golden, Amber, Dark, etc., then your work is cut out for you. These extracts are a usually a proprietary blend of base malt and specialty grains. The darker the extract the darker and higher amount of specialty grains was used. You can attempt to replicate it but it will take some time and care paying attention to color values (SRM) and sensory input (visual, aroma and flavor). Expect to brew these recipes a couple times to hone in on what that special blend was in the colored extract. This is where brewing software can really help you out when figuring out SRM values.

3. Hops typically don’t change much as part of the conversion process. Many brewers will tell you that your utilization will go up some. 10% is a rough estimation. If you weren’t doing full boils as an extract brewer then you can expect a bigger change in the hop utilization, if not the leap isn’t that big of a deal. For your first few replication attempts stay focused on the malt. Then dial the hops up or down is subsequent batches.

4. Lastly is yeast. Whatever yeast management practices (and temp control) you were using before…stick with it. Anything that worked for you post wort production should stay the same. Extract or all-grain doesn’t change it.

Enjoy the video.
BREW ON!

For those of you looking to do the opposite; find out how extract brewers can convert all grain hombrewing recipes to ones that use malt extract.