Friar Tuck Belgian Mild - Brew Day

Swirling first wort hops - Styrian Goldings and Saaz

Today I had my first brew day in almost a year and brewed up an experimental Belgian mild ale, which I am calling Friar Tuck.  Brew day was fun and went pretty smoothly.  I had some cleaning to do, which required my jumping into the shower with my mash tun before I began, but after I got all set, everything went very smoothly.  I undershot my target OG just a bit, I was going for 1.040 and got 1.038, which just means that my efficiency was about 71% instead of my usual 75ish.  I am well within the OG range of an English mild, which is exactly what I was going for with this beer.  I think it will be a perfect session/table beer.  For the hopping, I had some leftover Saaz in the freezer that still smelled great, so I threw in half an oz. with the Styrian Golding pellets during the first wort hopping (a method whereby I steeped the hops in the wort before bringing it to the boil).  The Styrian Goldings were of a lower alpha acid percentage than I originally calculated, so I used the Saaz to bump up the IBU just a tad and add some extra hop complexity to the beer.  I am looking forward to seeing how the first wort hopping affects the flavor of the beer, as it is supposed to add some unique flavor and aroma as well as bitterness.

In other news, I also got some critical keg cleaning done today and discovered that my kegerator and the beer inside it had completely frozen solid.  This was probably because I did not open the fridge very often, so I'm now defrosting the kegerator and the poor, lost, frozen keg so we can get the kegerator functioning and get some tasty Belgian mild flowing in a couple of weeks.

Belgian Table Beer - Review

I've tried to wait as long as possible to review this one, just because its character has changed a bit since it was first bottled.  I also wanted to make sure to review it before I run out, so therein lies the dilemma.  Here goes...

Belgian Table Beer, brewed 6/19/11:

Appearance: very pale golden color, and now brilliantly clear (was a bit hazy from suspended yeast at first); a finger of brilliant white head dissipates into a nice ring of foam with some decent lacing

Aroma: bready, sweet malt aroma with mild spice, banana, and bubblegum notes in the background; not as super pronounced as in other Belgians, but actually quite lovely and delicate

Flavor: really nice biscuity flavor from the Pilsener malt, with a light sweetness (though the beer is quite dry) and smooth creaminess, floral and slightly earthy hop flavor all throughout the middle from the wonderful EKGs; subtle, quintessentially Belgian notes of spice, fruit (especially pear) and bubblegum towards the end with just enough bitterness at the back of the tongue

Mouthfeel: I was intentionally conservative with the carbonation on this one, and it really paid off.  Low to medium carbonation with a silky light body and wonderful smoothness/creaminess from the flaked wheat

Overall: This is a perfect summer beer, and next year I'll probably brew a batch earlier in the year so that I can start drinking it right in June.  I have loved how the flavor of the beer has evolved since I cracked the first bottle, which is good because it encourages patience, truly a virtue when one is a homebrewer.  As Ryan said on his blog, this beer pairs handsomely with food, particularly summer flavors like barbecue.  I noticed that it went particularly well with a light, lemony vegetarian pasta dish that we made, too.  Basically, I loved this beer and I am really excited to do some variations of it, particularly something along the lines of Ryan's dark version, which I think would make for a great autumn table beer.

Quick updates

I figured I should do a quick entry since I haven't updated in quite a while, just to let people know what's up with Jeff's Delicious Homebrew hobby.  Here's the skinny:

• I've been enjoying the Cicada Imperial Red for a little while, and I'm already halfway through it.  It's just so delicious I can hardly stop drinking it.
• The first bottles of the Belgian Table Beer have been tasted, and it is awesome.  Perfect summer beer...it is light and refreshing but not lacking in flavor...complex in its simplicity...sorry, you caught me in a moment there.  Anyway, I can already tell that one won't last long either.  Friends, family, and coworkers have already given it the A-OK.
• I've been wanting to brew my English Christmas Ale (Figgy Pudding Ale) for a while, and this weekend seemed like the perfect time to do it.  Unfortunately, the Nashville tap water currently tastes like moldy potting soil.  If I brew, it may have to be with some jugs of distilled water and a little bit of gypsum/Burton water salts.  More on that soon.
• With all of these batches being drank so quickly, I think I may have to squeeze in one more batch this summer.  I am currently wavering between a few (rather) different ideas.  Right now, I'm trying to decide between Berliner Weisse, SMaSH Ordinary Bitter, and an all-grain adaptation of Sunny's Ginger Wit.  Suggestions welcome

"Eye of the Storm" Belgian Table Beer

Hydrometer floating in the golden wort

Yesterday, amidst threatening weather, I was able to crank out the second brew of the summer, a Belgian Table Beer.  I read quite a few blogs of other homebrewers, and when I read this post on Ryan Brews, I knew I needed to brew this beer for summertime.  I woke up yesterday morning to start brewing, and before I even mashed in, it was as dark as night and started pouring down rain.  No problem, I thought, I'll just do the boil the next day and split my brew day up.  I happily went along with the mash, which once again went perfectly with essentially no drop in temperature (and 77% efficiency!).  I did my mashout and collected the first runnings, and I realized that the sky was getting brighter and the rain softer. 

Perfect mash temp consistency

As I did my sparge and collected the second runnings, I saw that it was no longer raining!  Upon checking the radar, I noticed that among all of the thunderstorms in the south, there was a huge opening over Nashville.  I decided to risk it, and braved the outdoors to do my (90 minute) boil.  It went great, and I again went back inside just as a few drops of rain were starting to fall (hence eye of the storm).  From there, it was just an elevator ride, wort chiller, and yeast pitch (not to mention lots of cleaning), and I was done for the day.  Fabulous.  I even "went green" (haha) with my brewing and conserved a couple of quart bags worth of spent grains with the intention of using some of them in cooking/baking (see the latest issue of Zymurgy).

Fresh whole-leaf Hallertauer hops in the boil

Here is my recipe, a slight modification of Ryan's (thanks, Ryan!):

Anticipated OG: 1.040
Actual OG: 1.044
Anticipated SRM: 2.4 °L
Anticipated IBU: 26

6 lbs. Franco-Belges Pilsener Malt
2 lbs. Soft Flaked Wheat

1 oz. Hallertauer (Whole 4.3% AA) @60
1 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets 7.2% AA) @10
1 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets 7.2% AA) @0, 10 min. steep

Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes, with an 800 mL starter, started 2 days ahead of time on a stir plate

Happy Birthday to Matt Clark, and Happy Fathers Day to my dad and all the dads out there!  Have a homebrew in their honor today.

Prost,
Jeff

Belgian Table Beer Review, 8/5/11

Summer Outlook

My imperial red, and the Wyeast 3522 starter

You all know how much I love looking ahead and planning when it comes to my brewing.  Hell, I even spent an entire semester in school reviewing commercial beers from the different BJCP style categories, all the while formulating recipes and thinking about what I would brew when I got the chance again.  Well, my first brew of the summer is nearly complete (Cicada Imperial Red baby!) and I thought I'd just do a quick mapping out of the rest of the summer as I see it right now.  Here is the plan:

Brew up my Belgian Table Beer tomorrow.  There is an amazingly lively starter on my stir plate right now, and I can't wait to unleash it on a batch of fresh wort.  It will be done really quickly and will be a great summer session beer.  The other important thing about this beer is that I will reuse the yeast cake from it to make my Père Noël de Bruxelles Belgian Christmas Ale.  Make all the jokes you want about Christmas in July, but this baby is topping out at around 8% ABV and I'm going to give it a few months to age to perfection (Cutts family and close friends, get excited for the holidays).

What I didn't mention about the Belgian Christmas Ale is that it will only be a half batch...and that it has an English brother, the Figgy Pudding Ale; a 9.2% ABV behemoth of a beer made with fresh figs, black treacle, and mulling spices.  Mmm...and both of these will be "oak aged," but more on that later.

Well with those exciting brews to look forward to, I figured that I'd want one more good one for while the weather is still warm, so with the help of some sneaky and speedy methods described by a recent issue of Zymurgy, I want to try to fit in a Berliner Weisse.

Oh, and definitely more cider.  ASAP.  Stuff was SO GOOD, SO EASY and gone SO FAST.

Yeast starter for Imperial Red (Amber) Ale

After the weeks of graduation hustle and bustle, I am finally able to get in a brew day again!  Yesterday, I got the yeast starter going (first yeast starter in the new apartment), which was much easier on a gas burner than on the McTyeire electric stove.  I made use of another one of my Rogue Pacman re-harvested yeast cultures, which was a little slower to start than the previous (yeasts lose some of their viability over time, so cultures that have been sitting around for awhile can be slower to start, but once they start going they're as good as when they're new), but sure enough was really moving by this morning.  I got a lot of satisfaction out of the $7.00 that I saved on this batch, which is high gravity and therefore slightly more expensive anyway.

My other mission yesterday was buying a whole truckload of Falconer's Flight hops to give this batch the amazing hoppy flavor for which it calls.  I also got my next recipe, a Belgian Table Beer similar to this one for summer that has got me really excited.

Basically, your average American Amber Ale (Fat Tire, Red Seal, etc...there are MANY) will have a nice hop character similar to an American Pale Ale, along with a little more caramel malt flavor to balance it out and an ABV of around 5%, of course with a beautiful reddish color.  The brew that I'll be churning out tomorrow is inspired by that tradition, but has been amped up in the style of a West Coast Red Ale and then turned up even a bit more from that style, meaning higher ABV (mine should land at around 7.5%) and LOTS more hop character.  Think IPA (India Pale Ale) when compared to a pale ale...bigger, bolder, hoppier.  This beer will be similar to a double/imperial IPA in strength and hop character, but with a lot more caramel sweetness and malt background.  Stay tuned for brew day highlights and the recipe to be posted on this blog tomorrow!

Even when just making a yeast starter; relax, don't worry, and have a homebrew!