My second brew session was on Friday, with Stinky assisting this time. The recipe I formulated was the result of an “opportunity brew” — basically I got the in on a great local source for Hops and Grain, and I based what I made on what they had. I’m firmly on the path of exploring as many Belgian styled beers through brewing as possible, and so I started a culture a few weeks before I brewed, with dregs from bottles of Fantome Saison, Orval, and Russian River Supplication, figuring I could apply the culture to whatever grain and hops I ended up with.
Since I could get my hands on a bunch of fresh, ideally stored pellet hops, I went for some very bitter, high alpha acid varieties, cementing my desire to make a slightly sour, extremely bitter pale strong beer with the Belgian yeasts, bugs and critters, and a mixture of Pils and Wheat malts, in an 85/15 ratio. Didn’t have too many problems with this batch, my OG was even a little bit higher than I was aiming for, coming in at 1.062. I also threw in 1 pound of Turbinado Sugar at the beginning of the boil, and Stinky concocted a massive hopping schedule that left a very thick layer of hot pellet sludge at the bottom of my brewpot. I also added 2oz of Whole Leaf Cascade hops at flameout, and when the primary fermentation has calmed down, I’ll rack the beer onto 2 more ounces of whole leaf Cascade hops. The beer came out straight up green from all the hop sludge but now is clearing up and showing itself to be more golden, right as I was aiming for.
My Rye Saison is bottled and has just over one week before it will be bottled for 2 weeks, and I’m dying to crack one open and try it. I’m showing some restraint and haven’t cracked any yet. Whew. This was also the first time that I ground my own grain, thanks to a friend with a lot of gear and space and a generous spirit (I plied him with some Three Floyds and New Glarus beers, as well), and this was an awesome experience. The grain smells so great passing through the mill, and the extra step adds something to the process. I’ve also been taking good notes on these two batches, and working with Maya on label designs. Labels for home brew? Duh! Another fun part of the process that I can’t deny. If you’re surprised, you obviously don’t know much about my other hobbies. More beer reviews to come, I’m behind!
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[...] the end of August I brewed a “Belgian Pale Ale,” which I called a “Sour IPA” at the time because I didn’t have anything [...]
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