brew

One challenge with trying to make every style of beer in 365 days is some styles take about 365 days to finish (or more even in the case of gueze). So best get these ones fermenting early on. Sours day was also the first attempt at four brews in one day. With two mash tuns and two kettles it’s fairly reasonable.

Mashing set up

The first beer was a Flanders Red. The red had no definitive base malt with equal amounts pilsner and Vienna (4# each) and an array of specialty malts: 6 oz each of white wheat, caramel 60, special B, and aromatic malt along with 12 oz of Munich. Some serious evaporation during the boil gave an unexpectedly hefty OG of 1.074. East Kent Goldings (0.80 oz) at 60 minutes should contribute balance but not much flavor. WLP001 / California Ale yeast took care of primary fermentation.

The darker Flanders, Oud Bruin, was up next. The brown had a similar but not identical grain bill. Pilsner formed the base (8#) along with Munich (3.25#). Once again there were 6 oz each of white wheat, special B, and aromatic malt with a bigger dose of caramel 60 (10 oz) and a dash of black malt (1.6 oz). The second kettle didn’t boil as aggressively yielding a less concentrated 1.064 OG. The same Kent Goldings (1.20 oz) at 60 minutes ought to have the same effect and California Ale yeast got first crack at the available sugar.

Kettle central

The most challenging brew of the day was the straight (unblended) lambic. The style calls for “aged hops” which should act only as preservatives and add no bitterness whatsoever. No one sells that sort of thing, so based on internet recommendations we tried roasting whole leaf hops in a warm oven for hours. The end result was nearly aroma-less although the house was not odorless for quite some time after. The grain selections are just pilsner (6#) and flaked wheat (4#). The color was under style but 0.5 oz of midnight wheat fixed that. The four stage decoction mash took forever with a cooler mash tun and hot water additions to hit temperature targets. This style mash would really work better with a metal tun that could be heated directly. We added almost 3 oz of the oven-aged hops at 90 minutes and then 3 oz of malto-dextrine at the end of the boil. Like the Flanders ales, California Ale yeast handled initial fermentation. It’s reliable, clean, and nearly flavorless.

The last sour was a Belgian Specialty Ale which is a pretty wide open style. A good excuse to try a brettanomyces beer. This one had another simple grain bill with 8# of pilsner, 1.25# of caramel 60, and 13 oz of cane sugar for gravity. Unlock the other sours, this beer got a decent does of hops. Hallertauer (1.84 oz) at 60 minutes provided the bitterness then a whole lot of Styrian Goldings: 0.92 oz at 15 minutes, another once at flame out, and two more for dry hopping. This last one got a specialty yeast for flavor: WLP510 / Bastogne Belgian Ale.

All four beers spent six days in primary fermentation before being transferred to carboys for long term conditioning. The goal wasn’t necessarily to finish the primary stage but rather just to kick start the process. After transferring, the Belgian Specialty got a dose of Brettanomyces (WLP650) and the other three got a vial each of Belgian Sour Mix (WLP655). These are all much slower fermenting yeasts. If all went according to plan, the first round of yeasts left enough sugar for the second round to develop their unique flavors but not so much that it will take ages to finish. We’ll have a better idea in six months or so.

Irish Red Ale

Brew day number one on the way to eighty-two styles features two Irish beer styles. First is the Irish Red Ale. The base malt was Maris Otter (10#) with Cara 40 (6 oz) and Cara 120 (6 oz) for sweetness and black barley (4 oz) to bring the color into the correct range. With a pretty standard mash OG came in at 1.054. Yeast was WLP004 / Irish Ale and the only hop addition was 1.25 oz of East Kent Goldings at 60 minutes. Fermentation finished at 1.014. The IBUs overshot the style by a hair but otherwise the numbers all came in where they belong. This isn’t one of my favorite styles but I do think it’s a successful beer. Sweetness is the predominant flavor but it’s quite clean with enough bitterness to avoid being cloying. The color is definitely coppery when it catches the light.

Dry Stout

The other beer from the first day was a Dry Stout. The base malt was also Maris Otter (5.75#) along with lots of barley – both flaked (2#) and black (0.75#). There was also de-bittered black (0.25#) to get that great motor oil color. This mash included a fifteen minute protein rest because of all that barley. OG was 1.048. Once again the yeast was WLP004 and the only hop addition was East Kent Goldings at 60 minutes but this beer needed 1.75oz of hops. Fermentation stopped at an appropriately dry FG of 1.010. The stout hit all its numbers but the ABV was right on the line. Dry stout is a style I like and I like this particular example quite a lot. It’s big and roasty without being overly bitter. Despite the dryness it has plenty of body and of course the perfect jet black color. Granted, black is probably the easiest color to create.