Coming up...
Barring the loss of a my refund check / leftover scholarship money due to me from WMU, or more unexpected financial shortages, nothing should get in the way of the next two batches on deck for the homebrewery, including an old friend and a new one.
I would like within the next week to pump out another batch of Annabelle (this time with the correct yeast), and get her fermented, and overlap her secondary (which requires mellowing at lagering temperatures...50-55 degrees) with the brewing of a new batch, and my first lager (which requires, unlike ales, low fermentation temperatures of 50-55 degrees). I figure that it would work nicely to coincide specific temperature requirements of the two beers so as not to have a giant freezer powered by the thermostat keeping all of five gallons cold.
The new recipe, currently under the working name of a "Champagne Lager" (though don't confuse this with High Life, the Champagne of Beers"), is a light colored but stronger (7%) lager that should take on several of the characteristics of Champagne, including a dry finish despite a high original gravity, some fruity notes at the finish, and a pleasant acidity. The flavor should be clean and crisp (characteristic of lagers) and should resemble something of a dry, tart Molson XXX. I can't think of an easier way to really nail it down. Any delay on making this beer, besides my furious work schedule, is because I'm waiting on Dan Barrett, head brewer here at the Kalamazoo Bell's site (former main brewery, now pilot brewery) to harvest me a slurry of lager yeast for personal use. I could buy some and reculture it myself, sure, but it would take a bit of time and money, and I like the idea of using Bell's proprietary yeast in my homebrew. Most importantly, it is essential in lagers, more so than in ales, to pitch a large amount of yeast, as the low fermentation temperatures make the yeast sluggish and more likely to die/flocculate having not finished the job, resulting in underattenuated (syrupy sweet) beer. So a brewery sized slurry of yeast for a 5 gallon homebrew batch should dry the beer out nicely. A grain addition of some German acidulated malt, which has in it naturally occurring lactic acid, should provide a nice tartness found in the most drinkable of beers, as it serves to perpetuate thirst and balance the presence of alcohol.
Overall, what I believe to be a well thought out and original brew. I failed to mention that the catalyst for this recipe was the kindly delivery by a local homebrewer of some leftover Glacier hops from February, wanting to make sure they would be put to use. Aged hops (in this case 6 months) are much milder and often more pleasant than new ones, especially for beers such as this where the hop character is secondary to other subtle flavors. Further, Glacier hops are nearly impossible to find, and we can't order them in the store through our suppliers, so I took this as a rare opportunity to explore a new ingredient. Expect this batch to be in the fermenter in less than two weeks, ideally.
Currently bottled and ready to drink at 1210 California (the new place):
Rachel, Hannah, Eva, Amarillo IPA, and the Bastogne Tripel, as well as an assortment of previous offerings.
I would like within the next week to pump out another batch of Annabelle (this time with the correct yeast), and get her fermented, and overlap her secondary (which requires mellowing at lagering temperatures...50-55 degrees) with the brewing of a new batch, and my first lager (which requires, unlike ales, low fermentation temperatures of 50-55 degrees). I figure that it would work nicely to coincide specific temperature requirements of the two beers so as not to have a giant freezer powered by the thermostat keeping all of five gallons cold.
The new recipe, currently under the working name of a "Champagne Lager" (though don't confuse this with High Life, the Champagne of Beers"), is a light colored but stronger (7%) lager that should take on several of the characteristics of Champagne, including a dry finish despite a high original gravity, some fruity notes at the finish, and a pleasant acidity. The flavor should be clean and crisp (characteristic of lagers) and should resemble something of a dry, tart Molson XXX. I can't think of an easier way to really nail it down. Any delay on making this beer, besides my furious work schedule, is because I'm waiting on Dan Barrett, head brewer here at the Kalamazoo Bell's site (former main brewery, now pilot brewery) to harvest me a slurry of lager yeast for personal use. I could buy some and reculture it myself, sure, but it would take a bit of time and money, and I like the idea of using Bell's proprietary yeast in my homebrew. Most importantly, it is essential in lagers, more so than in ales, to pitch a large amount of yeast, as the low fermentation temperatures make the yeast sluggish and more likely to die/flocculate having not finished the job, resulting in underattenuated (syrupy sweet) beer. So a brewery sized slurry of yeast for a 5 gallon homebrew batch should dry the beer out nicely. A grain addition of some German acidulated malt, which has in it naturally occurring lactic acid, should provide a nice tartness found in the most drinkable of beers, as it serves to perpetuate thirst and balance the presence of alcohol.
Overall, what I believe to be a well thought out and original brew. I failed to mention that the catalyst for this recipe was the kindly delivery by a local homebrewer of some leftover Glacier hops from February, wanting to make sure they would be put to use. Aged hops (in this case 6 months) are much milder and often more pleasant than new ones, especially for beers such as this where the hop character is secondary to other subtle flavors. Further, Glacier hops are nearly impossible to find, and we can't order them in the store through our suppliers, so I took this as a rare opportunity to explore a new ingredient. Expect this batch to be in the fermenter in less than two weeks, ideally.
Currently bottled and ready to drink at 1210 California (the new place):
Rachel, Hannah, Eva, Amarillo IPA, and the Bastogne Tripel, as well as an assortment of previous offerings.
posted by Sam Reese at 5:57 PM
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