I'd like to see more on:

Well results are in, and the joke answer wins! Come on, 90% of what I post is beer related already, what more do you people want?

Kombucha (8%)

-Glad this one did poorly. I had gotten bored of the strong acetic acid component of the flavor, so I had been going too long in-between feeding it. As a result a nice big patch of mold grew on it. I probably could have saved it, but it didn't seem worth the effort.

I had passed some of it off to a friend already, so my culture will live.

Soon I may be replacing this with some Ginger Beer Plant.

Bread/Sourdough (6%)

-I should have an update to post soon about my homemade sourdough starter. Now that it is cold enough to use the oven without making my apartment 110 degrees I'll be baking a bit more often.

Fermented Vegetables (28%)

-Hopefully I'll be producing more variations on pickles and sauerkraut now that the ambient temperature in my apartment is reasonable.

Other Fermented Beverages (22%)

-There will be info on this year's batch of cider coming soon, and possibly a description of my first batch of mead (now 18 months old).

BEEEER!!! (63%)

-It's a given, but there will be plenty more beer info coming soon. A friend and I just brewed a beer inspired by Russian River Temptation, the really great part is that we got to use the house microbes from Russian River, which Vinnie had dried onto wood chips and passed out at last year's NHC. James Spencer of Basic Brewing Radio/Video got a bag and sent me some to play with. They will also be added to a beer I am basing on the Cable Car by The Lost Abbey.

Kosher Dill

After watching a recent episode of Good Eats called Dill-icious which describes how to make kosher dill pickles at home, I decided to try my hand at it.

On 10/26 I took 2.5 lbs of pickling cucumbers and cut off the ends, according to Alton this removes an enzyme which can damage the maturing pickles. In a 1 gallon plastic container I combined a bunch (literal) of dill, 1 tbls of black peppercorns, and 2 whole cloves of garlic (the ingredient that turns regular dill pickles into kosher dills). I then mixed 5.5 oz (by weight) of kosher salt (pickling salt would be easier because it dissolves faster, but I didn't have any) and dissolved it in about 1 gallon of water. I arranged the pickles vertically in the container and poured the brine over them. I took the excess brine and put it into a ziplock bag (so it won't dilute the brine i
f it leaks) which I placed on top of the cucumbers to keep them submerged. I used a rubber band to secure a paper towel over the top of the container just to stop bugs and dust from getting in.


Even though it looks like there are cucumbers/pickles in that ziplock, I assure you that it is an optical illusion (the water filled bag is acting as a lens).

This is a very similar procedure which will cause a very similar fermentation to sauerkraut. The only difference is that you add the salt already dissolved in water instead of counting on it to draw enough water out of the food to form its own brine.

Essentially at this level the salt will inhibit "noxious" microbes, while allowing "tasty" lactic acid bacteria to ferment. Another, simpler way to make pickles is to add acetic acid in the form of vinegar to the brine, and let the pickles soak for a few days. This way can produces good pickles, but they will have a harsher acid character that I do not enjoy as much as fermented pickles. Theoretically you could add food grade lactic acid to the solution as a short cut, but I'll leave that for someone else.

11/03/07 Tasted one of the pickles after about a week, not much sourness and the saltiness is a bit strong and there is still a bit too much "cucumber" flavor.

11/08/07 Moved into fridge a few days after a Pediococcus (?) pellicle formed (last picture). This will shut down fermentation and still let any CO2 out, nobody wants carbonated pickles.

11/12/07 Put the pickles into mason jars and then topped up with the strained pickle juice.

11/16/07 Pickles taste pretty good, and looks just like a commercial pickle. Full tasting soon.

Courage Russian Imperial Stout

Yet another clone of a beer that I have never had, the iconic Courage Russian Imperial Stout. The original Russian Imperial Stout, and a beer that is supposed to age gracefully for as long as 30 years.

We based the recipe on the one found in Brew Your Own British Real Ale at Home, and a brew log (below) for the Barclay Imperial Brown Stout from 1937, which evolved into Courage RIS, that was emailed to me by Ron Pattinson. I then made some changes based on other research, I used Dark Candi Syrup instead of the caramel that some recipes mention because I know it is a form of caramel and also highly fermentable. I also decided to add Some Brettanomyces and oak, both of which Michael Jackson mentions were found in the original. The Brett will hopefully provide the leather aroma that some people mention in reviews. I used Brettanomyces anomolus which Wyeast lists as originally coming from an English Stout in the 1950's (sadly this strain is now discontinued, but Brett C from white labs would be a good substitute).

This is also an interesting recipe because although it is a stout the only dark grain it has in it is Black Patent, which is generally associated with Robust Porters and a charcoal flavor. I was amazed how smooth both the wort and the uncarbonated beer tasted. I think this is in large part due to the adjustments I made to my water, adding plenty of (bi)carbonate to counteract the acidity of the BP. In fact Courage RIS is not the only stout made without Roasted Barley, both Sierra Nevada Stout and the new Imperial Oat Stout from Southern Tier get all their blackness from Black Patent.

One of the big procedural difference between this beer and my Funky Old Ale is that once it hit 1.020, I attempted to kill the Brett to prevent the wild yeast from making the beer too dry. First I chilled the beer to stop the Brett, then I fined the beer with gelatin and let it sit cool for a few days. Once the gelatin settled I transferred it to tertiary with 3 crushed up Campden Tablets (potassium metabisulfite). K-meta is often used in wine and cider making to kill wild yeast and bacteria before fermentation, but in this case I hope that it was able to kill whatever Brett was left over after the beer was fined. After waiting a few weeks for the SO2 to leave the beer I bottled with priming sugar and some rehydrated US-05 dry yeast. Hopefully the Brett is dead, or I may have some exploding bottles in a few months.

Courage Russian Imperial Stout Clone

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 4.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 15.94
Anticipated OG: 1.101
Anticipated SRM: 55.0
Anticipated IBU: 50.3
Brewhouse Efficiency: 68 %
Wort Boil Time: 95 Minutes

Grain/Sugar
-------------
6.00 lbs. Golden Promise
4.00 lbs. Maris Otter
3.00 lbs. Amber Malt
1.50 lbs. Dark Candi Sugar Syrup
0.94 lbs. Black Patent Malt
0.31 lbs. Cane Sugar
0.19 lbs. Brown Malt

Hops
-----
1.39 oz. Target @ 90 min.

Extras
-------
.65 Oz Medium Toast French Oak Beans for 60 Days

Yeast
-----
WYeast 1028 London Ale

Water Profile
-------------
Profile: Courage RIS

Calcium(Ca): 58.0 ppm
Magnesium(Mg): 11.0 ppm
Sodium(Na): 81.0 ppm
Sulfate(SO4): 62.0 ppm
Chloride(Cl): 48.0 ppm
biCarbonate(HCO3): 247.0 ppm

pH: 8.34

Mash Schedule
-------------
Sacc Rest 90 min @ 155
Mash Out 10 min @ 166 (pulled 1 gallon of wort, heated to a boil, then returned to the mash)

Notes
-----
Brewed 7/14/07 with James

Made a 3 pint starter the night before, probably not ideal but I've gotten by with worse, I won't be pitching until the morning after the brewday anyway.

Starting with DC tap water filtered through a Brita, 8 gallons of water with 6g Baking Soda, 1 g Chalk, 1g salt, and 1g Epsom salt.

6 gallons of 1.075 wort collected, including the sugars that were added while the sparge was going. Boiled down to about 3.5 gallons @ 1.115, with the starter and about 1 qrt of boiled and chilled water added the effective OG is 1.101.

The next morning, after a night of cooling in the freezer it was down to 65 degrees, I pitched the now mildly active starter and about a quart of boiled and chilled water.

Solid layer of krausen by 8 hours later, glad I made the starter.

Blow off tube needed by 12 hours, I needed it for about 24 hours.

Fermentation seemed to wrap up after about a week between 63-65 ambient.

Transferred to Secondary after 2 weeks, gravity around 1.030 (70% AA)

8/30/07 Added 5/8 oz of briefly boiled StaVin medium toast French oak cubes and a tablespoon of Brett A slurry (saved from my 2nd Mo' Betta clone). Left in a 5 gallon better bottle with airlock.

9/24/07 Down to about 1.025, mild Brett flavor/aroma

10/13/07 Down to 1.022, Brett seems to be very smooth.

10/28/07 1.020 (80% AA, 10.8% ABV) time to kill it.

10/29/07 Dissolved 1 packet of Knox gelatin in 1/4 cup of cold water, then mixed in 1/4 cup of boiling water. Added it to the beer and stirred/swirled to distribute, then chilled to 62 in the freezer to encourage precipitation of the yeast (not much did).

10/31/07 Racked to bottling bucket, cleaned/sanitized fermenter, then racked back with 3 crushed campden tablets. About 3 gallons of beer remain. No sign of the gelatin, no idea if I just don't see it or if I screwed up somehow. Slight foamy head, probably just from the campden releasing SO2. Left at room temp.

11/09/07 Bottled, yielded 3.25 gallons. Added 2 grams of US-05 rehydrated in warm water, and 2.5 oz of corn sugar. Aiming for 2.2 volumes of CO2. FG still 1.020 (80% AA, 10.8% abv), good sign hopefully all of the Brett really is dead.

5/01/08 Still has moderate carbonation, looks like the campden tablets did their job and killed the Brett.

1/29/08 1st Tasting

12/28/08 Christmas 2008 Tasting

1/02/10 Christmas 2009 Tasting

12/23/10 Christmas 2010 Tasting

12/27/11 Christmas 2011 Tasting

12/27/12 Tasting next to bottles of 2011 Courage RIS and 2009 A. Le Coq Imperial Extra Double Stout. Happy with how ours compared!

4/14/15 Delayed 2014 tasting. Really hitting its stride (caramel and dried fruit coming out), probably time to rebrew soon...

1/4/16 Christmas 2015 Tasting

1/11/18 Christmas 2017 Tasting

Funky Rye Mild - Tasting

The accidentally funky Dark Mild
Aroma - Cherries in a musty cellar. It is starting to get a bit of that barnyard funk. There is also some toasty malt in the background. An interesting aroma, sort of like a minor league version of my Old Ale.

Appearance - Dark brown with an light-tan head. When held up to the light there are some nice ruby highlights.

Flavor - A smooth coffee flavor predominates, with a bit of funky cherry in the mid-palate. The toastiness from the aroma comes through as well, but it is a bit richer.

Mouthfeel - A bit thin, despite the "infection" there is surprisingly only a mild "cask level" carbonation.

Drinkability/Notes - Much easier drinking than it was in the months directly following when the infection showed up. I am starting to see that Brett goes through a "rough" stage before it smooths out. This style isn't without president, Pizza Port/Lost Abbey uses their mild as the basis for their kriek.


Rye Mild

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 3.80
Total Grain (Lbs): 7.63
Anticipated OG: 1.045
Anticipated SRM: 23.9
Anticipated IBU: 22.9
Brewhouse Efficiency: 61 %
Wort Boil Time: 105 Minutes

Grain
------
6.00 lbs. Golden Promise
0.75 lbs. Rye Malt
0.50 lbs. Crystal 120L
0.19 lbs. Pale Chocolate Malt
0.19 lbs. Chocolate Rye Malt

Hops
-----
0.50 oz. East Kent Goldings @ 50 min.
0.25 oz. East Kent Goldings @ 15 min.

Extras
-------
.50 Unit(s) Whirlfloc @ 15 min
.50 Tsp Yeast Nutrient @ 15 min

Yeast
-----
WYeast 1275 Thames Valley Ale

Mash Schedule
-------------
Sacc Rest 60 min @ 154
Mash Out 15 min @ 168

Notes
-----
Brewed 2/10/07 with James

Fox Point spring water used. Yeast pitched from swelled pack (nov 17 date makes me a bit worried).

Solid fermentation within 24 hours, so all seems to be well

2/17/07 Krausen has fallen and fermentations seems to be complete. 1.009, taste is nice and smooth, just a little yeasty. Nice bready character with just a hint of rye spice and hop bitterness.

2/25/07 Bottled 3.5 gallons with 47 g priming sugar. Aiming for low carbonation around 1.75 volumes.

2/28/07 Got impatient and opened a bottle. Already some mild carbonation although not much head. The beer is shaping up well with lots of dark caramel and toasted malt. Very smooth and drinkable.

Around the start of April a mild Brett infection appeared in every bottle I've tried (systemic, probably due to poor cleaning of the primary fermenter after an all Brett C beer), strangely the FG stuck around the same level. Not a bad beer even with the infection, but it certainly didn't end up being the session beer I intended.

Belgian Sugar Experiment: Round 2

Since I did my first split batch sugar experiment last summer I've been wanting to do it again.

I tried to keep the recipe as similar as possible, due to convenience I changed the basemalt to French Pils since I had a sack of it, Wyeast 3787 because my local homebrew shop doesn't carry White Labs (WL530 and WY3787 are both reportedly the Westmalle strain), I also used melanoidin malt instead of aromatic (very similar extra dark Munich type malts from different maltsters).

I also made a change in the procedure, last time after the boil I immediately split the batch and did the primary fermentation in separate jugs. This created a terrible mess, so this time I did the primary in a 6 gallon fermenter and then added the sugars to the individual jugs for secondary fermentation. This may increase the impact of the various sugars because they will not be subjected to the violent primary fermentation.

Sugar Experiment 2 (Dubbel)

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.125
Total Grain (Lbs): 10.84
Approximate OG: 1.063 (Including sugars)
Anticipated SRM: 5.6
Anticipated IBU: 21.1
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 80 Minutes

Grain/Sugar
-------------
7.00 lbs. French Pils
2.25 lbs. Belgian Pale Malt
0.25 lbs. Melanoidin Malt
0.25 lbs. Vienna Malt

Hops
-----
1.50 oz. Hallertau Hersbrucker (3.3% AA) @ 75 min.
0.50 oz. Hallertau Hersbrucker (3.3% AA) @ 12 min.

Extras
-------
.50 Unit Whirlfloc 12 Min.(boil)

Yeast
-----
WYeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity Smackpack

Water Profile
-------------
Profile: Washington DC + CaCl in mash

Calcium(Ca): 45.2 ppm
Magnesium(Mg): 8.0 ppm
Sodium(Na): 13.8 ppm
Sulfate(SO4): 49.0 ppm
Chloride(Cl): 28.0 ppm
biCarbonate(HCO3): 86.3 ppm

Mash Schedule
-------------
Dough In 15 min @ 135
Sacc Rest 45 min @ 145
Intermediate 15 min @ 163

Notes
-----
Brewed 10/08/07 with James

Added 4 grams CaCl to 4 gallons of mash water to get the calcium up to make sure mash was around the right pH (measured around 5.4 at room temp, 5.1 at mash temp)

Collected 6.25 gallons of 1.045 runnings, 4.25 gallons post boil topped up with a jug of Poland Springs water

Placed the fermenter in 60 degree freezer for 5 hours, topped up to just under 5 gallons with 3 quarts of Poland Springs water. Gave 1 minute pure O2, then pitched a fresh, inflated smack pack of yeast. Fridge adjusted to 64 degrees.

Took about 24 hours to get going, but after that it had a vigorous fermentation.

After 48 hours of active fermentation I bumped the ambient temp up to 70 to prevent the yeast from "crashing" and to encourage the formation of esters.

10/14/07
Took 3.5 oz of each sugar and brought it to a boil with 3.5 oz of water. I then mixed each sugar with a little less than a gallon of beer in a 4 liter jug for secondary fermentation.
1. Agave (Used to make Mezcal/Tequila)
2. Lyle's Golden Syrup (Common in English baking)
3. Granulated Date Sugar (Dehydrated dates, ground up) Rehydrated it got really thick and tasted like pureed dates
4. Homemade Candi Sugar (plain white sugar with regulated temp rise)
5. Gur/Jaggery (An Indian sugar made from either Palm Sugar or Cane Sugar, not sure which mine is, but I think it is palm.)

By the next day it appeared that all of the batches were fermenting again, with the date sugar batch seeming the most active.

Bottled 10/28/07
Aiming for 2.8 volumes of CO2 about 22 grams of corn sugar per batch. Got a six pack and a bomber of most of them.

Final Gravities:
Agave - 1.006
Homemade Candi Syrup - 1.006 (It's fermentable Woohoo!!)
Gur - 1.007
Lyle's - 1.006
Date Sugar - 1.005

Full tasting in late December.

Are you afraid of brettanomyces?

Apparently not most of the people who vote for polls on my blog, the final tally was:

If you answered:

Yes (30 people, 28%)
-Brett is nothing to fear (at least as a home brewer), but you are right to be weary as it can certainly spread from one beer to another if your sanitation and cleaning are lackluster.

No (66 people, 63%)
-Good work on selecting the correct answer! Add 5 points to your score.

What??? (8 people, 7%)
-Have you been paying attention at all! Brettanomyces (Brett, Bret, Bretta) is a wild yeast used in the production of many sour and funky beers. Some people (particularly wineries and most commercial breweries) fear it as the rampant madman of the fermentation world, capable of tainting their precious "pure" strain fermented beverages. While Brett can turn a delicious beer into a thin and funky mess, good sanitation practices will prevent this from happening.