brew

White, yellow, and tasty

This Blonde Ale is another simple, mild beer. Going through the various styles really emphasizes that craft beer doesn’t have to mean getting clubbed over the head with hops (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Nine pounds of American two row makes up the bulk of the grist with three ounces each of Caramel 10 and Caramel 20 to add a slight tinge of yellow. There’s no real specific hop associated with this style but we went with an ounce of Williamette. I’m fond of this one as a cross between West Coast fruit/floral and European earthy/spicy. As always when looking for clean and quick we went with WLP001 yeast.

I love everything about this beer except the weather. This is a session ale that demands a sunny summer day. Malt is expected but the taste is more bready and grainy than sweet. At the risk of veering into pretentious wine tasting territory, I get a hint of something that reminds me of strawberries especially in the head. Like most good session ales the flavor just fades away to dry and ready for another sip without boldly lingering aftertastes. I’d definitely make this one again. A dash of wheat for better head retention might be nice but serving directly from the keg rather than from a growler might fix that.

Crooked and the photographer hasn’t been drinking yet

The Scottish Ales – especially the 60-70-80 sequence – strike me as some of the most challenging styles. Gravity is the main differentiator among them and the target ranges are fairly narrow. It requires a lot of precision in terms of process to arrive at the desired spot. Our Scottish 60 had a sizable percentage of specialty malts with only 4# of Maris Otter and then a pound of Caramel 40, a half pound each of Munich and honey malts, a quarter pound of Caramel 120, and three ounces of pale chocolate. Two-thirds an ounce of East Kent Goldings and unobtrusive, if not-so-Scottish, WLP001 round out the recipe. We did miss the target but only by a single point with an OG of 1.036. The finish was right were it belonged at 1.010. Aiming for dead center of the range might have helped land within style but all things considered it should still be very close to the correct flavor.

The taste is mostly malty with a drier finish. It’s definitely on the lighter side; a little watery but I expect that’s appropriate for a style that’s meant to be 3.2% ABV or lower. I don’t get any of the caramel notes associated with the bigger scotch ales. There’s not a whole lot of aroma. I think a bit of grain sweetness that quickly dissipates and dries is all there is to this one.

Orange-gold and a bit tipsy

After eight consecutive beers that won’t see the light of day for quite awhile, I finally have another one to try. The Maibock is a very simple beer with only a handful of ingredients. A combination of Pilsner (8.75#) and Munich (4.5#) malt is offset by half an ounce of Magnum hops. The single 60 minute hop addition isn’t meant to add much in the way of flavor or aroma. All that Pilsner required a 90 minute boil and resulted in a 1.079 OG which is a bit above style. We fermented using German bock yeast (WLP833) but it spent a couple weeks at ale temps before there was enough space to get it into the lagering freezer.

Fermentation finished at 1.009 which is a tad dry for style. Over and under shooting the respective gravities translates into a good bit of booze: Beersmith estimates ABV at 9.3%. Alcohol is definitely prominent in the taste although it’s not overly harsh or solventy. There’s just not much for it to hide behind with minimal hop character and not a whole lot of sweetness. Fortunately the unconventional fermentation schedule didn’t result in any sulfide flavors or odors. With a normal spring I think I’d prefer the simple, clean malt flavor to be more prominent but with cool weather stubbornly sticking around that alcohol note elbowing its way to the front is less objectionable. The proper flavor is there it’s just playing second fiddle.

CCCP Imperial Stout

The next foursome is another set of batches that will take awhile. Fermentation isn’t the issue here though; these boozy behemoths will just need a good long rest in the cellar to mellow out.

First was the only entry outside BJCP category nineteen – the Russian imperial stout. A big old dose of maris otter (15.25#) provided the base and black barley (1.25#) provided the stout. Special B (12 oz), Crystal 60 (6 oz), pale chocolate (6 oz), and regular chocolate (6 oz) rounded out the grains. Horizon (1.64 oz) at 60 minutes helps even out all that sweetness and East Kent Goldings (2 oz at 10 minutes, 1 oz at flame out) should lend flavor and aroma. With all those flavors present, clean and reliable WLP001 / California Ale was the only yeast. The post-boil OG checked in at 1.096 which was middling for this particular day. A sweet-ish FG 1.026 matched expectations.

Next we ventured west to England with an Old Ale. Maris otter (15.75#) remained the go-to European two row with crystal 60 (10 oz) and black patent malt (3 oz). The recipe called for black treacle (6 oz) which proved tough to find. We used blackstrap molasses as a hopefully appropriate substitute. Horizon (1.36 oz) at 60 minutes was again the bittering hop but with nothing else this may be a sweeter beer. Caramel and toffee notes are certainly appropriate for the style. The mildest OG of the day, as expected, was a mere 1.0.90. Mere. The WLP013 / London Ale yeast should match minor regional flavors. The FG after two weeks was 1.024.

Fermenter-ville

Staying on the isles and getting even bigger was the English barleywine. Yet another bigger base of maris otter (17.5#) went with crystal 60 (0.5#) and crystal 120 (0.5#) for a simple but sizable grain bill. Sticking with the theme for the continent, the hops were Horizon (1.5 oz) at 60 minutes and East Kent Golding (0.6 oz at both 20 minutes and flame out). Unlike the previous two, this one boiled for 90 minutes to develop bigger gravity and more carmelization flavors. At the end of all that roiling we hit our highest starting gravity ever: 1.120. WLP013 / London Ale in a sizable starter managed to work through all that sugar without stalling out to finish at 1.024 FG.

Finally crossing to the other side of the Atlantic was the twenty-plus pound American barleywine. 18.5# of American two-row gets most of the way there. For flavor there was 0.75# each of crystal 15 and crystal 60 and 3oz each of special B and pale chocolate. For good/crazy measure 0.75# of cane sugar added a touch more gravity. The only real hophead of the quartet got 2 oz of Magnum at 60 minutes and a whole cavalcade of flavor and aroma at flame out: Centennial (1.5 oz), Amarillo (1.5 oz), and Chinook (1 oz). Trusty WLP 001 / California yeast has never failed in the past, but this one got a large starter just in case. Not to be outdone by its English counterpart, this one also clocked in at 1.120 OG. The finish was just a hair sweeter at 1.026.

These will rest in kegs long enough to carb and then move into bottles to grow old.