Beer Number 2 for 2011 - Longview Mild Ale

So, my current tendencies are leaning towards lower ABV beverages. Again, this is to improve my technical brewing. Given that these generally have less ingredients, there is more of a challenge to make full flavored and robust beers. There are a number of techniques that can be utilized, either by kettle additions, mash temperatures or grain choices.

My Second beer of the year was an English style mild, utilizing the Ringwood strain from Wyeast. I had never utilized this strain before and thought it would be a good strain to utilize in my mild ale. It is a very characterful strain, sending lots of ester notes. One of the big concerns with this strain, however, is that it is incredibly flocculant. Basically, it’s a quitter. It doesn’t like to finish or clean up after itself. It works very fast to convert sugar to alcohol and esters, but it has a tendency to not reabsorb its diacetyl. One of the main remedies for this is to continually rouse the fermenter to ensure that the yeast is driven back into suspension and that it works to reabsorb its mess, in this case the diacetyl. One small problem is that this strain has a low tolerance for reabsorbing the diacetyl. As a result, my mild does have some butterscotch notes to it, but it is far from unpleasant. In tasting, I, as well as others, have found the slight buttery note to be a welcome addition, another layer of complexity to this beer. And the yeast character is, well, interesting. Like I said, tons of esterification. And, the beer is quite bright because of the highly flocculant nature of the yeast.

So, obviously the yeast is a big component of the beer, but here are the rest of the details:

For a 6 Gallon Batch

7lbs. Maris Otter
9oz. Crystal 80L
7oz. Crystal 60L
6oz. Pale Chocolate Malt

.75oz. US Fuggles (5.1%) – 60min.
1oz. US Fuggles (5.1%) – 15min

Mashed at 155F for an hour.
OG: 1.033
FG: 1.011
ABV: 2.86%
Color: 15.4SRM

First Brew of the Year - Mein Lustig Freund Düsseldorf-style Altbier

No, I didn't just brew this beer. In fact, I technically brewed it on the last day of 2010 but I'm considering it a 2011 beer in everything but exact date. It was the start of my German beer series. It was my Düsseldorf Altbier.

I have decided recently (back in November 2010) that I was going to refocus and become a better technical brewer. This would allow to effectively get to a point where I could produce a beer exactly as I intended. The first beer to be brewed under this mantra, unfortunately, wasn't until 12/31/10. Fortunately, however, it was my altbier for which I utilized a decoction and a protein rest for the first time. In review of Dornbusch's Classic Style series book on Altbier, he states that a protein rest is imperative to get the correct mouthfeel for this beer, so I employed a rest at 122F for 15 minutes, after doughing in at 1.25qts/pound for this. I then added an infusion to raise the temp to 128F and then pulled a decoction to raise the mash to saccharification a temperature of 153F. I held the mash here for 60 minutes to achieve enzymatic conversion before mashing out.

On looking back at this beer, I feel that it actually has ample body to it, my biggest issue I have with mine is that I went high on the IBUs and hit a calculated 43.1, which didn't seem high. However, in tasting this one, the bitterness is pretty high, though not unpleasant. I'll be interested to see how this one scores. It fermented very clean with a hint of dried fruit and some pleasant hop notes from Hallertauer, though traditionally one would utilize Spalter Spalt hops for this style. There is also a pleasant bready note about the aroma as well. On tasting, there is a great malt character that really props this one up and holds it own against the assertive bitterness. A nice level of hop flavor is present. This is a very solid beer and I'm excited to get some feed back. The lagering has helped this one become more refined as well. This would seem to be a sign of good things to come for my brewing, for sure and this will have to become a staple in my rotation.

Recipe:

5lbs German Munich Malt

4lbs German Pilsner Malt

1.5lbs German Wheat Malt

.1lbs Carafa III Special Malt (for color adjustment)

3oz Hallertauer (4.1%) 90minutes

1oz Hallertauer (4.1%) at KO

Irish Moss for kettle finings

1 Quart Starter of German Ale Yeast (Wyeast 1007)

OG: 1.049

SG: 1.012

ABV: 4.82%

Fermented at 58F

A Fresh Start

So, I've tried, and failed, in the past to start blogging. I'm hoping that, at least for now, I'll be successful in keeping up to date and active. I've been brewing for about 3 years now and have slowly refined and reined in my techniques through much reading, much practice and through competitive brewing, judging and being actively involved with my home brew club, HoPS! (see the link on the side of the page for more information.)

My interest in beer goes back further, however. I made the decision early on that if I was going to drink beer, it was going to be real beer. Of course, at the time, real beer meant Guinness or Amber Bock. Funny how times change. I first learned about beer and it's variety and spleandor when I discovered ratebeer.com. I make an effort to try a vast variety of commercial beers, both good and bad, in an effort to expand my palate and to enrich my beery knowledge. At this point, I've reached a place where I'm over rarity and just want to find quality beers worth drinking. Which has led me down my road of homebrewing.

At this point, I've decided that if I want to do interesting beers, I need to know what the hell I'm doing. As a result, I've reined in my whimsy in exchange for focus on a refined and more technically proficient product. So, naturally, I've been on a German style kick lately. I'll outline my last few brew days in the near future, but for now let's just say that I'm brewing the best beer of my short brewing life right now!