Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Rauchbier Brew Date

On September 29, 2010

I have a brew date for the Rauchbier – October 10.

As I mentioned before, I am going to make a 3 gallon starter – basically a ferment a small beer first, siphon it off, and then pour the Rauchbier wort on top of the yeast bed in the fermenter.

The other idea I was thinking about is decoction mashing. Do you think it’s –

A) Worth doing?

B) Can be done effectively via a batch sparging method?

If I have time, I will also get a cheap water filteration system going. I would like to buy a shower head filter to hook up to my utility sink in my basement and use it to brew.

I like planning stuff or at least thinking about it. At some point it becomes counterproductive to do too much in one brew session.

Sorachi Ace Hops

By John Krochune

On September 27, 2010

In Hops

Here’s the profile for Sorachi Ace Hops.

This variety got a lot of attention during the hops “crisis” of 2007-2008. Homebrewers were looking for high alpha hops and this variety was available.

I started thinking about Sorachi Ace recently – wondering if its flavoring would have worked well in my Saison.

Some bits of information:

The variety was named after the Sorachi Subprefecture in Hokkaidō, Japan. It was developed for Sapporo Breweries and used in their beers. The pedigree includes Brewer’s Gold and Saaz and has high yield potential. It was originally released in 1984 and was grown for a while in Japan and China.

It was not available in the US until Darren Gamache of Virgil Gamache Farms picked it out of the USDA Hop Cultivar Collection in Corvallis, OR and started to grow it. Sorachi Ace became commercially available in 2006 and since then, has become a variety that has garnered a large amount of interest for use in intense American beer styles.

Origin: Japan

Aroma/Flavor: Bold Lemon – all sources stated it’s lemon aroma and taste. Maybe a dill, cilantro, and coconut notes to it too. Slight background oak flavor.

Alpha Acid: 10.7 – 12.2%

Typical Usage: Bittering, but with that focused lemon note – it would probably do well when used later or after the boil.

Beer Styles: Probably any beer that would work with a lemon taste. Saison is one that comes to mind. Maybe an IPA with other hops that have citrusy tastes like grapefruit and orange.

Suggestions:

Orange: Admiral Hops

Grapefruit: Cascade Hops

Sorachi Ace hops

Brewing Water Chemistry

By Mike

On September 23, 2010

In All Grain, Ingredients

I have began pondering the benefits of playing with my water chemistry. I was wondering how many of our readers make adjustments or “build” their brewing water for all-grain sessions.

Currently, I sort of blindly play with my water chemistry. That is to say I often add gypsom to me English style beers, but only because I can. I really have no idea what my current water chemistry is out of the tap. Therefore I also have no idea what it is in the kettle after the addition of gypsom.

I have been meaning to take a closer look at John Palmer’s water section in “How to Brew”. I have also been thinking of sending in some samples to Ward Labs for analysis to see where my water is currently at.

Any of our readers care to chime in? Do you adjust your water?

BREW ON!

NERHBC Submissions

By John Krochune

On September 21, 2010

In Brew Log, General

I am submitting three of the four beers that I have on hand to the New England Regional Homebrew Competition. It is being held on October 23rd this year but submissions are due by October 8th by 5PM at the drop off locations.

Although I am looking for feedback, I am also hoping I can show some improvement in terms of score. It would be nice to see some scores in the high 30s this time around.

I think this competition and the Boston homebrew competition will be the ones I will focus on each year. It’ll give me some motivation to make not just good beer, but great beer.

Partigyle Stout Session

By Mike

On September 17, 2010

In All Grain, Brew Log

Its been a while since I’ve done any brewing post the newest baby addition at our house. But with fall here and my garage slowly starting to get cleaned up I can feel the draw of the brew kettle.

I am starting this brew log a little early, but I wanted to put my thoughts down somewhere for this next brew. I’m planning on making a Russian Imperial Stout. I brew so infrequently these days that I thought I’d like to make something big that I could age out in bottles. I wanted to have something sort of special to drink with friends and family in smaller quantities when the time is right. Imperial Stout seemed to be a good answer as the higher ABV and the dark malts tend to create more cellarable beers.

The more I thought about the process of making an RIS, I began to think how can I be sure to get the very most gravity points out of my mash. I have a new 15 gallon mashing setup in a keg so I thought maybe now would be a good time to make one big mash and use the first runnings for the RIS and maybe try and use the second runnings for a Sweet Stout. Why Sweet Stout? Well when cleaning my garage and going through my collection of odds and ends brewing supplies, I found a pound of lactose that I never used. So what the heck, lets partigyle the session and get two beers from one BIG BIG mash.

My plan at present is to make a mash that will giev my 8 gallons of primary run off. At 1.25qt/lb I estimate I should get a wort around 1.080 OG. If I use only 7 gallons of it for the RIS, I should get just above 1.093 after a boil down to 6 gallons. I’ll then add 6 gallons of sparge water, run off, add the 1 gallon of held 1.080 wort and see what type of gravity I have then. I’m hoping for something in the mid 1.040s OG.

Seems like a tall order, but I think it will be fun. I am not going to brew this one right now, I am going to wait until I get some yeast built up for the RIS. My plan is to make a Brown Ale with WLP001 California Ale yeast, then put the RIS right on that cake and oxygenate like crazy. I also plan to make an ordinary bitter around the same time with WLP002 English Ale Yeast. I’ll pitch some of that cake (not all) into the sweet stout.

After I work out the math a little better I’ll post the recipe for the RIS Partigyle batch.

What’s inspiring you right now?
BREW ON!

Just realized I may need to get some snifters for this RIS.