Wild Yeast Culture Experiments - Dregs in Kegs

I have quite a few sour beers in kegs. In fact, this is where most of my 'wild' projects end up. Some of my sour beers are also born in the keg, as I'm often inoculating an unexciting base beer with a mixed culture or transferring it to a keg with mixed dregs. Today I preformed the former, transferring a keg of Double Chocolate Brown to a keg holding the dregs of last year's Sour/Funky Tripel, a beer that placed third at the Indiana Brewers Cup as a Belgian Specialty Ale. Aside from freeing up a keg for an Imperial Stout that will soon be ready, I wanted to add some depth to this Double Brown. I enjoyed having it on tap but thought it was a bit one-dimensional, probably because I let the beer set on cocoa nibs for three weeks! I hope the complexities this bunch of wild yeast produce will create a few more dimensions for this beer.

If given the choice, I would much rather age my sour/funky beers, imperial beers, and lagers in a keg than a glass carboy or Better Bottle. Keg conditioning has several advantages:

It frees up both fermentor and floor space. I am able to stash my slender kegs in a corner of the basement or in my kegerator for cold-conditioning. I can stash about six kegs in the same space  as two 5-gallon carboys.

Oxygen pickup is minimized or eliminated. Sampling, bottling, splitting batches, and adding fruit/spices/oak/etc. are all common procedures that can introduce oxygen. The ability to purge the headspace and transfer under pressure is a substantial advantage.

Bottling is not required and is much easier if you choose to do so. You can either carbonate naturally or with CO2 pressure. If you choose natural carbonation (which I prefer for sour beers), the priming sugar can be evenly dispersed by adding it to the keg, capping and purging the headspace, and then shaking to combine. Bottling from a keg gives the option to bottle a small portion of the batch (a few bottles to take to a party or enter a competition). In addition to the reduction of oxygen pickup, bottling day is also made easier with a counter-pressure filler or Blichmann Beer Gun.

Experimentation with oak, spices, and hops is much easier to conduct in kegs. The ingredient can be added in a muslin bag for retrieval. Many attach a string and run it through the lid, but I've can't get it to seal this way. I've resorted to using fishing line and an unused bobber, which actually works well! In the case of oak, the chips or cubes can be retrieved from the keg and used to inoculate another batch.

Keeping beers in kegs allows them to be ready for blending at any time. Pulling samples for any size tasting panel is a breeze, and the proportions transferred into the blend keg can easily be monitored using a scale or a level strip.

Kegs are sturdy. Any time I can reduce the risk of dropping and spilling five gallons of well-aged homebrew, along with potential injury, I jump on it!

Sour beer on tap is a beautiful thing.

In my opinion, keeping your sour and funky beers in kegs is the easiest way to separate your wild brews from your clean ones, minimizing exposed soft parts and keeping mixed fermentations contained within stainless vessels. I have, for the most part, managed to keep a repository of sour-only kegs, but I have reconditioned sour kegs for clean service without issue, replacing the o-rings and poppet valves. I imagine I will soon need to keg more sour homebrew as my experiments are ready, so I will keep a log of my kegs to trace any sour/funky crossover. Kegs and their permanent components are stainless, so with good sanitation and regular maintenance I feel confident I can keep my clean beers clean and my funky beers funky (in a good way).

Here is a few items to get you started:

Suggested equipment (in addition to a basic kegging setup):

• Extra sets of poppets and o-rings
• Out-to-Out transfer line (shown in above picture), to transfer beer from a clean keg to a sour keg.
• Bottle filler

Cool to have, but not necessary:

• Additional kegs for sour beer only.
• pH meter for measuring finished beer pH
• Level strips or scale for measuring transfer volume
• Stencil to mark and identify sour/funky kegs. Insignia may include simple text ("sour", "wild", "funky", "brett only", "no pedio", etc.) or a simple graphic (Jolly Roger, pitch fork, effigy of George Clinton).

What kind of homebrewed treasures do you have tucked away in a forgotten Cornie?

Pale Ale - Revision 2 (a.k.a. Mosaic Double Pale)

Written as a follow-up to my initial attempt at a pale ale, the recipe for this beer was fairly similar to the original. Come brew day, however, I chose to deviate from the recipe, attempting to take advantage of the increased efficiency I earned from slowing my runoff. During the longer mash out, I had time to relax and take down a few pints of IPA.

My IPA-fueled ADD got the best of me, tricking me into breaking two of my cardinal brewing rules: 

1. Stick To The Recipe

2. No Beer Until The Boil (okay - obviously can't blame IPA for this one)

Another shining example of why I abide by these rules, this beer is lackluster at best, paling in comparison to the initial version. It is out of balance, with a hop profile that is shadowed by the extra gravity.

Since the beer was already such a departure, I decided to experiment with Mosaic hops in my dry-hop addition. More notes on this later in the post.

In addition to the shortcomings caused by my lack of discipline, I also believe some of the changes I set out to make after Rev. 1 can use another tweak:

• 20% Munich Malt is a bit high. I think I will settle around 12%
• I would like more Pilsner malt flavors to come through. It will make up ~50% of the next grain bill.
• The beer will sit on the dry hops for 3 days maximum. I will keep the amounts the same for the next revision, and determine whether I need to add more to the single dry hop addition or dry hop in the keg as well (warm, before carbonating).
• Inspired by hoppy but massively-quaffable ales like Founders All Day IPA and 21st Amendment's Bitter American, I'd like to drive the gravity below 5%.   

Brewday 01/27/2013

Estimated OG = 1.054

Estimated FG = 1.010 - 1.012

Estimated efficiency = 58.9%

Batch size = 7.1 gal (into fermenter)

Boil time = 60 min

Grain:

6 lbs Rahr 2-row Pale Malt (31.6%)

6 lbs Weyermann Pilsner Malt (31.6%)

4 lbs Weyermann Munich I Malt (21.1%)

2 lbs Weyermann Wheat Malt (10%)

1 lbs Weyermann CaraHell (5.3%)

Water:

5 gallons drinking water, 7 gallons distilled water (Marsh)

Adjusted to 300 ppm sulfate (assumed 60% RO water in Bru’n Water)

Added 12g CaSO4 to strike water (per Bru’n Water)

Mash:

Mashed in with 6 gallons H2Oat 166F – T=153F (BeerSmith = spot on)

pH ~ 4.7

Added 1.5g Baking Soda – pH ~5.8

Added ¼ tsp 88% lactic acid – pH ~ 4.7

Added 0.6g Baking Soda – pH~5

Added 0.4g Baking Soda – pH 5-5.3 (Good enough)

T =152F at start of rest (12:35)

Stirred half way through rest (13:00) – T=151F

Added 0.5 gal boiling water (13:10) – T = 151F

Added 0.5 gal boiling water (13:12) – T = 154 (oops)

Added FWH at beginning of boil (1.00 oz / 28.5g Cascade)

Collected 8.5 gal at 1.051 (62% mash efficiency)

Boil:

Started boil at 15:18

1.00 oz (28.5g) Cascade – FWH

1.75 oz (49.2g) Chinook – 30 min (0.5oz extra from recipe – adjusting bitterness for extra extract)

Added Whirlfloc tablet at 30 min

KO after 60 min - started chilling

1 oz (28g) Centennial – 0 min (170F)

1 oz (28g) Citra – 0 min (170F)

1 oz (28g) Cascade – 0 min (170F) (0.5oz extra from recipe – replaces extra 0.5oz Chinook added at 30 min)

OG = 1.065

Fermentation:

Pitched at 62F – 1 cup thin slurry, washed from last week’s batch (double brown, 1056 starter and packet S-05)

Oxygen – 45 seconds

2/1/2013 – Fermentation slowing. Added 2 oz Mosiac, 1 oz Centennial

2/3/2013 – FG = 1.008 (7.5% ABV)

2/6/2013 – Racked to keg with Gelatin (1/2 tsp in ~3/4 cup)
Note: This is much longer of a dry hop period than normal (3 days maximum).

02/10/2013 – Pulled first 1.5 pints, significant amount of sediment (clogged tube). After most/all of the sediment had passed, the beer is still very cloudy. The next pint had small bits of hop matter in it.

03/04/13 – Tasting notes:

Appearance: Very pretty burnt orange. Translucent.

Aroma: Berry and citrus, like a mixture of homemade jams. Pleasant.

Flavor: Some hop flavors are similar tothe nose, with the addition of wet cut grass clippings (not favorable – probably from the extra days on the dry hops). Bready malt flavors, no pilsner malt flavors.

Mouthfeel: Not too dry. Bitterness lingers a bit, but it would be nice in a smaller, drier, more aromatic beer.

Overall impression: Quite a departure from my intent, this beer isn't terrible to have on tap but lacks the quality, quaffability, and personality of the first version. The first was much more balanced and complex, which is interesting considering the lower alcohol and simpler hop bill. I assume this one is lacking because it is under-hopped with the increase in gravity.

The malt flavors were also more one-dimensional. The color is beautiful, but I will still decrease the Munich and increase the amount of Pilsner. I enjoy the saltine cracker flavors from Pilsner, with bready Munich as a background note. As I nail down the flavors and balance of the beer, I may play with a bit of dark malts to get the same orange hues of this beer. I'm usually not a fan of adding additional ingredients solely for the sake of color, but I don't think I can achieve the color and my desired malt profile otherwise.

Mosaic hops have unique flavors, but I don’t like them in a pale ale, as they dominate the hop profile. The most impressive examples are hop-forward imperial red ales, much like Bell’s This One Goes to 11 (AWESOME. Beer.). These hops may also be interesting in malt-forward beers boasting fruity notes from the malt, like Doppelbock, Dubbel, or Amber.

Next up: Round Three!

Wild Yeast Culture Experiments - Homebrew Horny Tank

In a 2007 NHC Presentation, Vinnie Cilurzo (of Russian River Brewing) suggested homebrewers try keeping a Horny Tank (inoculation tank) for maintaining mixed cultures. Used in many of the sour breweries in Belgium, he thought it may be a good way to keep a mixed culture viable without keeping a starter or brewing on a production schedule. A run-down of the process:

1. Start a normal batch of sour beer with a mixed culture.
2. Allow the beer to ferment in a plastic bucket for at least three months.
3. Any time after three months, brew another batch of wort.
4. Transfer the first batch to secondary for further conditioning, leaving behind a bit of liquid, the yeast slurry, and trub.
5. Immediately add fresh wort to the fermentor with the wild yeast slurry.
6. Repeat.

I started my own "Homebrew Horny Tank" last October. I brewed a blonde wort with a traditional turbid mash and inoculated the batch with several doses of revitalized, commercial bottle dregs. I plan to mature the beer in the bucket, tasting every few months.

The fear in using plastic buckets to condition a wild-fermented beer is that the bucket allows too much oxygen diffusion, resulting in excessive acetic acid production. After doing some research, it seems this fear is perpetuated by a single source. Although this article is an incredible resource for brewing sour beer, I believe the plastic bucket deserves a second chance.

To be safe, I will only disturb the beer to take samples, and I will purge the headspace with CO2 after sampling. When the beer is "ready", or if it displays the slightest amount of acetic acid, I will transfer it into a keg, leaving behind about a quart of beer, trub, and slurry. I'll then immediately transfer another batch of wort into the bucket and start the experiment over.


So far the results have been positive. Surprisingly, the bugs from the bottle dregs made quick work of the wort, completing primary fermentation in nine days and forming a pellicle in about two weeks. My first (and most recent) sample was three months after brewday (1/13). As expected, the beer tasted very young, with only a slight prickle of acidity. The aroma had a heavy sulfur note, which I believe will mellow with time (I've had sulfur aromas in a few other young sour brews). More importantly, the beer showed no signs of acetic acid production in the aroma or flavor. So far, so good.

In keeping with the theme of this blog, I want to find mixed culture methods that will translate well to a commercial scale. My mixed culture starter method could be utilized in a commercial brewery, but I believe it will often not be financially or logistically feasible. The brewery may not have the space or funds to allocate a fermentor or yeast propagation vessel specifically for wild yeast. At the same time, banking a special blend, or buying several strains of yeast and bacteria to produce a relatively small quantity of beer can also be extremely expensive.

In addition to those producing only sour and funky beers, I believe the horny tank technique could also work for commercial breweries producing them in limited amounts. Though still taking up fermentor space, it allows the brewer to consistently produce sour beer from the culture, rather than just store the slurry. The horny tank is flexible, allowing the brewery to keep a batch of fermenting sour beer and a viable culture in the same vessel. Though some may call this method sacrilege or assume its a shortcut, the time, resources, and money required to create a barrel-aged sour beer often makes them prohibitive. As homebrewers are creating fantastic funky and sour brews in glass, plastic, and stainless, I believe commercial brewers can do the same.

I will continue to make updates on this experiment as well as others in this series. To be honest - I don't see the series ending. I hope to continue playing with sour beermaking techniques, learning new techniques, finding new bugs, and creating new flavors. Let's face it - you can never have enough good sour beer around the house!

Double Oatmeal Brown

We served two homebrews at our wedding: a west coast-style IPA and an oatmeal brown ale. To my surprise, the brown was the heavy favorite among our guests.

The second iteration of this recipe is brewed to my tastes: higher in gravity with a creamier, chewier mouthfeel. I felt the original had a lot to offer in terms of malt flavor, so the ratios of Victory, pale chocolate, and debittered black malts are similar. After the first tasting, the flavor seemed somewhat hollow, with not as much chocolate as I remember in the original. I added 4 oz of cocoa nibs in the keg to give the flavor a boost.

Though it may not fit into any style guideline (or be suitable for drinking throughout a wedding reception), I enjoy a well-made, beefed-up American brown ale for many reasons. Similar to its imperialized bretheren (Imperial Red, Double IPA, etc.), a Big Brown can add some pizzazz to the BJCP category, reeling in the beer geek and beginner alike. It is a brilliant understudy to imperial stout, bringing similar levels of complexity with greater quaffability and affinity for food. It strikes a chord with anything coming off a grill, without roast or intense bitterness clashing with char or spice. As an ingredient, it adds depth to chili, French onion soup, ice cream, etc., without the roast or bitterness twang.

Recipe:

Brewday: 01/19/12

Estimated OG = 1.069

Estimated FG = 1.014 - 1.016

Estimated efficiency = 56.3%

Batch size = 6 gal (into fermentor)

Boil time = 60 min

14 lbs Rahr Pale Malt (61.7%)

2.5 lbs Briess Victory (11%)

2 lbs Flaked Oats (8.8%)

2 lbs Pale Chocolate (make?) (8.8%)

1.25 lbs Muntons Crystal 60L (5.3%)

1 lbs Castle Debittered Black Malt (4.4%)

Water: 6.5 gallons distilled, 4 gal drinking water (Kroger)
Adjusted water to 69 ppm Chloride with CaCl2 (per Bru'n Water) in boil

Mash:

Mashed in with 7 gal at 170F

T = 156

pH ~ 4.7

Added 2.0g Baking Soda, pH ~ 5.3, T = 153F

Sacc. Rest for 1 hour – stir 30 min through boil (T = 152F at 30 min)

Vorlauf then run-off with muslin bag

To help channeling (increase efficiency): started pump, dialed in flowrate stirred up, then started vorlauf. Spread vorlauf around instead of leaving hose in one place. Slower runoff then normal.

Sparged with 3.5 gal at 165F – let sit for 15 min before vorlauf (same procedure as first runnings)

Collected 7.2 gal at 1.061 (recipe = 7.7 gal at 1.059)

Boil:

Added 0.7 oz (measured – 20.4g) Apollo (18.6%) at start of boil

30 min gravity = 1.069 (15% evap)

Whirlfloc tablet added at 15 min

1 oz (28.6g) of EKG added at 10 min

Added 0.5 gal water before KO

KO – chilled to 61F

OG = 1.074

Fermentation:

Pitched at 62F (slurry from ~3.5L 1056 starter, packet of dehydrated S-05) – pure O2 for 45 sec

OG = 1.074

01/27/13 – FG = 1.015 (7.8% ABV) – transferred to keg at ~17psi

01/30/13. Carbonation good. Great beer, slight alcohol warmth, slight espresso-roast character, missing flavor in the middle of the swallow. Added 4oz cocoa nibs soaked in vodka.

02/10/13 – Increased kegorator temp to 45F. Flavors are much more rounded and bright at this temp, and the chocolate flavor is a nice addition without being overpowering. There is still some alcohol warmth, which is where I believe the plasticy tastes comes from. If it gets worse in the next day or so, I will pull the cocoa nibs to be safe.

Also thinking about adding some raspberry puree to (at least) a portion of this beer. No bugs - I think there is too much roast character to be complementary.

Wild Yeast Culture Experiments - Intro and Mixed Culture Method

Brewing (and drinking) sour, funky, "wild" beers is a passion of mine. I always have at least a few microbe-laden brews fermenting. I focus much of my reading and researching on topics surrounding sour beer. For me, brewing with brett and bacteria is a perfect combination of science and alchemy. I am basically the bugs' assistant brewer; preparing the equipment and materials so they can make the magic.

My most successful sour projects have all been fermented with a cocktail of flora, harvested from dregs of my favorite commercial sour beers. Maintaining and fermenting with this mixed culture has yielded significantly more depth and complexity than commercial  yeast/bacteria blends.

A double batch of Flanders Red, split and fermented with Wyeast Roselare (left) and my mixed wild culture (right). The mixed culture portion showed significantly higher levels of acidity and brett character.

I do not have the resources to plate and bank yeast, so I am limited to a macro-scale mixed culture. In the past, it has been as simple as a 1-gallon growler with 2-3 quarts of low gravity wort. The initial pitch is normally either a pack of commercial yeast blend or dregs from a few bottles of young, lower-gravity commercial sours. Prior to pitching the dregs into the starter, I will conduct a small step up with a few ounces of wort in the bottle. This gives the dregs a fighting chance in the mixed culture, and it is a decent test for both contamination and yeast health. The main culture is routinely decanted and fed fresh wort every 3 months or so.

My method is a primitive one, giving up even more control of the finished product to the yeast. However, I have been able to use the culture over a period of 2-3 years, all the while creating beers with strikingly similar  flavor profiles and levels of acidity and attenuation. The most significant differences stem from the additional depth contributed from introducing new species into the culture over time. I have yet to find the "expiration date" of a mixed culture; I have used all of the slurry before noticing any undesirable changes.

This series of posts aims to compare different methods of maintaining wild yeast cultures on a 'macro' level. More to come!

No-Sparge American Pale Ale

I don't believe The South House will produce many beers that fall within standard BJCP guidelines. However, finding an extremely well-crafted American-style pale ale is always an exciting beer moment for me. 

A great pale ale doesn't need complex ingredients, extended  barrel aging, or a reputation amongst the beer hoarders to be special. Its a beer that is striking in its balance and drinkability. One pint is satisfying, as is several throughout a session.

My "perfect pint" is an American-style pale ale that strikes a balance between American hops (stone fruit, citrus, pine) and high-quality base malt (grainy, bread crust, cracker). It is dry with a crisp bitterness, but not to the level of an IPA or Pilsner. It is not thin, with just enough mouthfeel to carry the balance of flavors.

I don't believe crystal-type malts have a place in my perfect pale. I like to build malt character through a mix of base malts, normally American 2-row, German Pils, and light Munich. Mouthfeel is established with a bit of flaked adjunct or light "Cara"-type malts (CaraPils, Carahell). The body-building malts in the beer will be restrained to maintained "digestability". Colin Kaminski, head brewer at Downtown Joe's in Napa Valley, suggested on the Brewing Network that a bit of wheat malt will help drop out haze from dry hops. I intend on trying out this tip with some wheat (and possibly oats, rye, and spelt) in future revisions.

For the first draft, I structured the hop charge similar to my IPA recipe, restraining the mass of both the early, late, and dryhop additions. I also traded out Simcoe, which screams"IPA" to me, with Cascade.

My plan with this brew was to create a rough draft of an American Pale Ale that will be tweaked, both in recipe and process, throughout the year. However, with the 5 inches of snow we received earlier in the week, I cut the total brewday time with a no-sparge and added some DME at the end of the boil to make up for the drop in efficiency.

No Sparge American Pale Ale:

Batch Size: 7 Gallons

Total Efficiency: 26.2%

Estimated Original Gravity: 1.051

Estimated Final Gravity: 1.011 (5.2% abv)

Estimated IBU: 43 (0.84 IBU/SG)

Grist:

6 lbs Rahr 2-Row Pale Malt (35.3%)

6 lbs Weyermann Pilsner Malt (35.3%)

1 lb Flaked Barley (5.9%)

1 lb CaraHell (5.9%)

1 lb Munich Malt (5.9%)

2 lbs Briess Light DME (11.8%)

Hops:

0.5 oz Citra - FWH

1.0 oz Cascade - 30 min

0.5 oz Chinook - 30 min

0.5 oz Cascade - 0 min (cooling - 170F)

0.5 oz Centennial - 0 min (cooling - 170F)

0.5 oz Chinook - 0 min (cooling - 170F)

0.5 oz Citra - 0 min (cooling - 170F)

0.5 oz Cascade - dry-hop (end of primary)

0.5 oz Centennial - dry-hop (end of primary)

Water: 8 gallons distilled water, 2 gallons drinking water, from Marsh. No mineral additions.

Brewed 12/30/12

Mash in at 162F with H2O to top of mash tun (8.2 gal water added)

T = 154F, pH ~ 5.5 (added a few drops 88% Lactic to bring pH to 5-5.3)

Collected 6.3 gal at 1.041 (31% efficiency) + 1.8 gal left in kettle = 8 gal at 1.032

FWH - Added 0.5 oz Citra

30 min – Added 1 oz Cascade

30 min – Added 0.5 oz Chinook
15 min - Added ~ 1 tbsp Irish Moss (small palm-ful)

2 min - Added ~ 2 lbs DME

Whirlpool (~170F): 0.5 oz Cascade, 0.5 oz Centennial, 0.5 oz Chinook, 0.5 oz Citra

OG = 1.051

Cooled to 59F and racked onto yeast cake from cream ale (~ 500-600mL loose slurry; overpitched?)

5-gallon bucket in fermentation fridge. Set 2-stage fermentation controller to 62F (basement temp ~61-62F – no heating).

Fermentation activity within 8 hours.

1/2/2013 (Wednesday night)

Fermentation slowed to 45sec between bubbles) – Added 0.5 oz Cascade and 0.5 oz Centennial.

Raised temp to 64F with heating belt for diacetyl rest.

Raised 1 deg per day to 66F.

1/7/2013 (Monday Night)

FG = 1.006 (5.9% abv)

Tasting notes: No detectable fermentation flaws. Nice grapefruit/citrus hop character with a crackery, grainy malt component. I would like to taste more piney/woody hop character.

Racked to keg. In kegorator at 40F, ~13 psi

Brewing Goals 2013

I may not stick to the “Lose 20 lbs” or “Run a mini-marathon” New Year's resolutions, but I have been fairly diligent about working towards yearly goals in the brewhouse. This year, I have set the bar high:

1. Brew more than forty (40) 5-gallon batches within the year.

Practice makes perfect. Pretty simple.

2. Start and maintain a blog as a brew log.

To become more purposeful in my brewing schedule, I have started working on a few of my existing recipes rather than brewing a different style every week. In doing this, I have noticed my attention to note-taking is lax on a fairly consistent basis. This blog will hopefully improve my note-taking and planning habits.

3. Pitch appropriate cell counts for every batch.

Brewing 40 batches will be a lot of work! To make the beer worth the effort, I plan to spend more time preparing yeast starters, as well as collecting, storing, and maintaining yeast from successive batches.

4. Win 1^st place in any category at the Indiana Brewers Cup.

In the past three years, I have placed either second or third in various categories at this competition. Its time to add my first blue ribbon to the collection!

5. Enter at least one beer in the NHC.

I have never competed in any other competition aside from the Brewers Cup. The NHC will provide great feedback and a good bench mark of my abilities.

6.Go to the NHC!

I also have never attended an NHC! My work schedule has never allowed for it, but this year I have made it a priority.

7. “Clone” my own beer – repeatedly brew the same Pale Ale recipe three times in a row.

If there is a theme to this year’s goals, it’s refocusing my attention on recipe formulation and consistency. I have recipes that I brew on a seasonal or yearly basis, but never with the frequency to test consistency from batch to batch. I believe the ease or difficulty in achieving this goal will reveal a lot about me as a brewer.

Let's get to it!