Lionheart Brewing Company

Saison de l’amour or Season of Love is the second beer for my wedding this coming October.  This recipe is based heavily off of the Oaked EKG Single Hop Saison with a few subtle differences.  For this beer, I wanted to increase the overall complexity from the previous EKG Single Hop recipe. One way  I decided to do this was enhance the hop bill with additions of Citra and Hallertauer, two hops that I have used in the past with great results in saisons.  My intent with these selections was to introduce some citrus aromatics from the Citra, (which oddly enough is a cross between EKG, Hallertaur, US Tettnanger, and a few other unknown hops) and some spicy flavors from the Hallertauer to complement the spicy yeast phenols.

My second recipe tweak was to use the notorious Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saision yeast in favor of some of the White Lab Strains such as 566(Belgian Saison II) or 568(Belgian Style Saision Blend) that I have used in the past.  The 3724 has a reputation for stalling out leading to problematic fermentations, however in my opinion it produces some of the most prominent Belgian yeast characteristics out of any Saison strain available to homebrewers.  To me, this yeast produces flavors comprable to some proprietary commercial brewery yeast blends from Belgium or elsewhere.  I chose to focus on my mash, keeping a temperature ranging from 145 to 147 degrees instead of the addition of sugar to increase attenuation.  I also moved my fermentors into the garage  which should bring the temperatures well within the range of this yeast.

Lastly, I wanted to oak age the beer to incorporate another layer of complexity, however for this batch I switched from Hungarian Oak to French Oak Cubes.  I did this as in my past experience French Oak tends to be a bit smoother than both Hungarian and American Oak and due to the shorter than ideal time on the oak (3 months) I thought this would be the better choice.  Furthermore, French Oak is said to contribute notes of cinnamon and allspice, two flavors that I thought would complement the overall seasonality of our October wedding.

Saison de l’amour

Batch Size: 11 Gallons

Original Gravity: 1.061
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.008
Estimated ABV: 7.0%
IBU: 35.5
Color: 6.1
Boil Time: 90 Min

71% French Pilsner Malt
18.2% French Wheat Malt
4.5% Munich II Malt
3.4% Vienna Malt
2.8% Caramunich Malt

2 Oz East Kent Goldings (6.1% AA) at 60 min
.75 Oz East Kent Goldings (6.1% AA) at 20 min
.75 Oz Hallertauer (4.0% AA) at 20 min
.5 Oz Citra (10% AA) at 20 min
2 Oz East Kent Goldings (6.1% AA) at 5 min
.75 Oz Hallertauer (4.0% AA) at 5 min
.5 Oz Citra (10% AA) at 5 min

4.2L Starter of Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison

Mash at 147 for 60 min
Mash out 168 for 10 min

Notes: Age on .5 oz of French Oak Cubes per Corny Keg for 3 months.

For many of us, when we hear the words Farmhouse Ale our minds immediately think of the Saision, (with or without Brett), as this style has been romanticized not only in the U.S but also in Europe.  Saisions are not the only farmhouse ales, the often overlooked Bier De Garde is the other.  Bier De Garde is the saision’s maltier big brother, it is also the French contribution to the craftbeer universe.

Bier De Garde’s (BDG) are described by the BJCP guidelines as being “A fairly strong, malt-accentuated, lagered artisanal farmhouse beer.” Traditionally there are three types of BDG’s including the blond, brown, and amber with the darker having more pronounced malt characteristics.  My BDG would fall in the brown category as I focused on making a malty ale that would be serve as a contrast to the saisions I usually brew.  The BJCP guidelines describe the differences between the two styles perfectly stating “Bière de Garde is rounder, richer, sweeter, malt-focused, often has a “cellar” character, and lacks the spicing and tartness of a Saison.”

When doing some recipe research I came across several blog posts for BDG recipes, and noticed many of them cited the book Farmhouse Ales, by Phil Markowski when discussing the style.  It had been a while since I read the book so I dusted it off and read the chapter on the BDG, it served as the primary source for my recipe formulation.  The main take away for me was that traditionally there were two main types of BDG recipes, the simple and the complex or the big and small brewery versions.  Due to production considerations the large brewery version has a simple grist consisting of mostly pilsner or pale malts while the smaller breweries developed BDG’s with more complex grain bills often consisting of 6-8 different malts.

Another tidbit from the book that caught my attention and influenced my recipe was the thought that the single malt BDG’s would work better for an extended aging (6 months or more) than the multi grain small brewery types.  This as Markowski explains is because as the beer ages it begins to slowly react to oxygen, intensifying the malt characteritics bringing it into its sweet spot between 6-12 months.The multi-malt grist small brewery example, already malty, may become to malty over this same period of time.  Since I operate an extremely small brewery and have several beers already in my long term aging pipeline, I opted for the small brewery multi-malt BDG.

One final point that I considered was the length of the boil.  BDG traditionally undergo extensive boil times to bring develop the deep orange, amber, and brown colors that define the style.  Boil times of 3 hours or more are not uncommon for this style.  I on the other-hand had no intention of an eight hour brewday, so I decided to use the technique of kettle caramelization to achieve similar effects in much less time.  I have performed kettle caramelizations in the past, specifically for my Wee Heavy 2.0. and had great results.  This technique calls for drawing the first runnings from the tun and boiling them down in the kettle, until the majority of the water is boiled off, leaving a thick caramel behind in the kettle.  This process causes the wort to undergo a series of Malliard reactions, adding to the overall malty character of the beer.

My recipe consists of Pilsner malt complimented by a series of specialty malts and two German hops, Tettnang and Halertauer.  Since I do not have lagering capabilities I opted for White Labs 011 European Ale which is said to produce fuller bodied malt accented beers, fitting for the BDG style.  I mashed at 147 degrees to produce a highly fermentable wort that should hopefully put this beer in the FG range of 1.015-1.017. Lastly, I pulled an estimated 1 gallon of the first runnings and reduced it to roughly a pint before adding the rest of the wort from the mash and continuing the boil.  I am really looking forward to trying this one, as I love malty beers and think that this has all the makings of a solid homebrewed version of the classic farmhouse style.

Bier De Garde

Batch Size: 11 Gallons

Original Gravity: 1.075
Est. Final Gravity: 1.017
ABV: 7.6%
IBU: 23.7
Color: 8.9 SRM
Boil Time: 90 Min

71.6% Belgian Pilsner
16.3% Munich 10L
6.5% Wheat Malt
3.3% Caravienne Malt
1.3% Caraamber Malt
.6% Amber Malt

3.5 Oz Tettnang (4% AA) at 60 min
1 Tbsp Irish Moss at 15 min
.75 Oz Halertauer Mittelfrueh (4% AA) at 5 min

4.2 L Starter of White Labs 011 European Ale

Mash:

60 minutes at 147F (Saccharification Rest)
10 minutes at 165 F (Mash Out)

Ferment at ambient air temperature of 65 F

Notes:

Upon completion of mash pull the first gallon of wort and perform a kettle caramelization, cooking down to roughly one pint of liquid.

I like most of you love bourbon barrel aged beers.  Common examples include bourbon barrel aged imperial stouts and barleywines.  The popularity of these beers is so high at the moment that brewers are beginning to branch out into other styles such as the bourbon barrel aged Belgian Tripel, Allagash Curieux.  I have been thinking a lot about other types of spirits that could be used in lieu of bourbon and my mind keeps going back to Cognac.   For those of you unfamiliar with Cognac, it is a type of Brandy named after the town Cognac in France.  Cognac is aged in French Oak barrels and aged for a minimum of two years. and matures much in the same way as whiskey and wine, often times undergoing aging in barrels much greater than two years.

Once I decided go with Cognac as my spirit of choice, I checked around to see if there were any common commercial examples.  It appears that a few brewers have been experimenting with Cognac aged beers such as Cigar City’s Swamp Head Church on a Hill and Mikkeller George! Barrel Aged.  However these all seem to be somewhat small one off offerings, and as far as I can tell there are no breweries currently offering a Cognac Aged beer in their traditional rotations.

I happened to have a bottle of Corvossier VS Cognac lying around which is a middle of the road Cognac described as having flavors of mellow toffee, dried orange peel, stewed prunes, and a hint of coffee.  I thought that these flavors would complement the flavor profiles of a Belgian ale and decided to soak some French Oak, to keep with traditional Cognac aging, as well as the regional geography of the beer and spirit.

I decided on a Belgian Blonde because I wanted a beer that would let the Cognac flavors come to the forefront as well as have enough secondary flavors to create a highly complex finished beer.  The Blonde, with its higher ABV should also hold up well to the extended aging that this beer will undergo.  In advance of the brewday I added .75 oz of French Oak Cubes to a mason jar and added enough Cognac to cover the cubes.  This will be enough to add to a 5 gallon keg upon completion of primary fermentation.  I allow for three weeks to strip away some of the oak flavor out of the cubes and allow the spirit to completely absorb into the cubes.  When adding the cubes to the secondary I make sure to add only the cubes, not the spirt of choice.

As far as the recipe, this is my first attempt at a Belgian Blonde so I decided to keep it fairly straight forward with a grist consisting of Belgian Pilsner, Wheat, Aromatic, and a touch of biscuit.  Table sugar was used to ensure a dry final beer as is standard in most Belgian Blonde recipes.  Hops are subtle in this style so I decided to go with a low alpha acid Styrian Golding, with a big addition at 60 minutes followed by a smaller addition at 5 minutes to give a touch of aroma.  Lastly, I chose White Labs 510 Belgian Bastogne yeast which is described as having somewhat of a clean fermentation with a slightly acidic finish.

I am really looking forward to seeing how this one turns out as I think the Cognac, French Oak, and Belgian Blonde have geographic ties as well as flavor profiles that may lend themselves to the development of a truly unique beer.  I plan to let the beer age on the Cognac soaked oak for 3-6 months and potentially blend a bit with some of the un-aged Blonde depending on how things turn out.  Stay tuned for the tasting notes, I have a feeling this is one recipe some of you might want to try in the future.

Cognac Oak Aged Belgian Blonde

Batch Size: 9.5 Gallons

Original Gravity: 1.070
Est. Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV: 7.9%
IBU: 26.6
Color: 5.4 SRM
Boil Time: 90 Min

80.7% Belgian Pilsner
9.2% Table Sugar
4.6% Aromatic Malt
4.6% White Wheat Malt
.8% Biscuit Malt

3.75 Oz Styrian Goldings (3.56% AA) at 60 min
1 Tbsp Irish Moss at 15 min
.5 Oz Styrian Goldings (3.56% AA) at 5 min

4 L Starter of White Labs 510 Bastogne Ale Yeast

Mash:

60 minutes at 150 F (Saccharification Rest)
10 minutes at 165 F (Mash Out)

Ferment at ambient air temperature of 62 F

Notes:

Add .75 oz French Oak Cubes to courvoisier vs cognac and let sit for 3 weeks. Add oak cubes to keg and age for 3-6 months.

I will admit it, I am a coffee addict.  I absolutely love coffee and enjoy each and every cup I drink throughout the day.  I have also been known to enjoy a coffee porter or two from time to time, however with that being said I have never experimented coffee in any of my homebrews.  Traditionally coffee finds its way into darker beers usually porters and stouts as the darker malts used in them tend to compliment the roasty, coffee notes.  Recently, I have been reading about brewers experimenting with coffee in other non traditional beers such as IPAs.  I decided that I would experiment with a small batch of my Pale Ale and attempt to infuse it with some coffee flavors.

After doing some research online it appears that the two most common ways to extract the good coffee flavors without the bad (astringent) is by one of the following methods.  Cold brew.  This process calls for grinding up the appropriate amount of coffee and placing it in cold water for 24 hours, after which the coffee is seperated and the coffee is added to the beer usually before bottling or kegging.  The second option, is to do a coffee bean dry hop where whole coffee beans are crushed slightly and added to the secondary or keg directly.  When brewing a porter or a stout option one is available, however when attempting to add coffee to a pale ale, realistically the coffee bean dry hop is the only option in order to preserve the classic Pale Ale color profile.

Below are my tasting notes after adding 22 grams of slightly crushed Columbian finca villa loyola coffee beans and 1 oz of whole leaf Chinook Hops to a 2.5 gallon keg.  The coffee beans were left in the dry hop for two days prior to being removed, the hops were left for the full 7 days.

Rich’s Coffee Pale Ale 2.0(WLP023) Tasting Notes:

Appearance: Pours a deep orange with shades of brown.  A one finger slightly off white head dissipates slowly leaving the glass rimmed with lacing. (No discernible visual difference between this and the regular Rich’s Pale Ale.)

Smell: Mild cocoa, fresh flowers, orange and lemon notes are complimented by a sweet malt and fruit.

Taste: Smooth clean sweetness  serves as a basis for the coffee notes which cut right through immediately as the beer hits the palate.  Mild and restrained, but definitely noticeable the flavors work wonderfully with the fruitiness of the Burton Ale Yeast.  Much less bitter than the SafeAle-05 batch which allows the interplay between the citrus and floral hop aromatics and the coffee to take center stage.

Mouthfeel: Moderately carbonated, nice interplay of hop aromatics and malt sweetness with a slight edge towards the hops.

Drinkability & Notes: This beer is absolutely fantastic, and has to be one of my favorite beers brewed ever!  Im having a hard time believing that something as simple as adding a few grams of coffee to a dry hop could have such an amazing impact on the final beer.  The coffee flavors meld beautifully with the malt sweetness and the subtle citrus and floral hop aromatics.  The fruitiness of the Burton Ale yeast puts this beer over the top for me as pulls all the flavors together into one absolutely delicious sip.  I will definitely be experimenting with additional coffee bean dry hops in the future, and am considering brewing 10 gallons of the Coffee Pale Ale for my wedding as I believe that the flavors of this beer will be enjoyed by a wide audience, not just the beer connoisseurs.

Rich’s Pale Ale 2.0(US-05) Tasting Notes:

Appearance: Pours a deep orange with shades of brown.  A one finger slightly off white head dissipates slowly leaving the glass rimmed with lacing.

Smell: Strong orange and grapefruit, piney and resinous, subtle floral notes accompany a slight malt sweetness.

Taste: Smooth clean sweetness with a mild hop bite on the initial sip, complemented nicely by a moderate hop medley of citrus and pine.  Finishes with a hint of herbs and orange, a lingering bitterness and hints of carmel round out the flavor profile.

Mouthfeel: Moderately carbonated, feels somewhat thin, nice interplay of hop aromatics and malt sweetness with a slight edge towards the hops.

Drinkability & Notes: This being the second version of my pale ale I was able to tweak the recipe, specifically in the addition of a touch more crystal malt in hopes of achieving a better balance.  This version is definitely more balanced than the first and the hop aromas align closer to those found in some of the popular commercial examples of the style.  In the first recipe I used CTZ and Summit which were a bit too aggressive in both bitterness and aroma and pushed the beer towards the upper limits of the Pale Ale range. These tasting notes are from the SafeAle-05 fermented batch, which is evident by the extremely clean fermentation. There are no noticeable yeast flavors, however upon tasting the gravity samples there was a noticeable difference in the bitterness between the US-05 and the Burton Ale WLP23 versions, with the US-05 being much more bitter.  I will provide tasting notes for the WLP23 fermented batch in the near future, which I suspect will be a bit more complex.

Unfortunately, I had brew day problems that forced me to completely drain my mash tun mid mash (never switch dip tubes in a rush) and subsequently caused my mash temperature to drop into the 130 degree range.  As a result this beer finished slightly higher in alcohol than anticipated as well as slightly thinner.  The additional 2-4 gravity points that would have resulted from a proper mash temperature would have really set this beer off, as I prefer my Pale Ale’s to have a slightly maltier mouthfeel.  With that being said I believe this recipe is much more balanced than the first, with a great blend of malt and citrus/pine hops aromatics, and based on the reactions from my friends and family will be a contender for first kegs to kick at my wedding later this year. 

I’ll preface this post by saying I’m not the biggest hophead out there, in fact I tend to migrate more towards big malty beers when I’m looking for a high alcohol punch.  However, this year I was able to get my hands on several pounds of the popular citrusy/pine hops, namely Simcoe, Amarillo, and Citra, that are mainstays in many of the big commercial IPA’s and double IPA’s.  Additionally, as I continue down my “beers to brew” checklist, I decided that now was as good a time as any to give a double IPA a shot.

When brewing a double IPA there are several things to consider in the recipe formulation, the first and most obvious is the hop schedule and varieties.  For this recipe I went with three hops, specifically Belma, Simcoe, and Amarillo.  Belma is a new hop this year offered exclusively from HopsDirect.  On the site it is described as “a clean hop, imparting flavors of orange, grapefruit, tropical, pineapple, strawberry and melon.” However, after reading reviews of fellow brewers it seems like the hop falls somewhat short in the aroma intensity department, described by many as a “mild aroma” and another as a “cheaper Magnum”.

For that reason, coupled with the extremely low price of $5 a lb I decided to use the Belma for my main bittering additions.  I used a First Wort Hop to produce a smoother bitterness as well as additions at 20 and 15 to hopefully catch some of the flavors described previously.  I finished out the hop bill with additions of Amarillo and Simcoe at 10 and 5 minutes respectively as well as a huge 6 oz hop addition during my whirlpool.  These additions should contribute the classic citrus/pine aromatics that define American double IPA’s.  It is important to note that I added the hops to the wort upon chilling to 165 degrees, as at this temperature a greater percentage of the hop compounds are transfered to the wort, delivering an aromatic hop punch to the final beer.

Another important aspect of the recipe is the corn sugar addition.  This will dry out the beer somewhat while contributing to the overall alcohol strength that defines the style.  A double IPA shouldn’t be a malt monster, the dextrose provides the extra fuel for the yeast to get you to the sweet spot of around 1.016-1.104 FG. Lastly, one needs to consider the amount of wort that will be lost to the hops during the brewing process.  I calculated a loss of roughly a tenth of a gallon per oz of hops added during the brew.  In the recipe below I calculated my numbers for a 7 gallon batch with 10 oz of hops, and wound up with just over 6 gallons into my carboy on completion of the brew day.

Timber Ridge Double IPA

Batch Size: 7 Gallons

Original Gravity: 1.084
Est. Final Gravity: 1.016
ABV: 9.1%
IBU: 106.3
Color: 8.7 SRM
Boil Time: 90 Min

84% American 2-Row
7.6% Corn Sugar (Dextrose)
4.7% Carapils
3.5% Crystal 40 Malt
.9% Crystal 120 Malt

2 Oz Belma (11.3% AA) First Wort Hop
1.25 Oz Belma (11.3% AA) at 20 min
1 Oz Belma (11.3% AA) at 15 min
1 Tbsp Irish Moss at 15 min
1 Oz Amarillo (9.8% AA) at 10 min
1 Oz Simcoe (12.2% AA) at 5 min
2 Oz Amarillo (9.8% AA) at Whirlpool (165 deg)
2 Oz Simcoe (12.2% AA) at Whirlpool (165 deg)
2 Oz Belma (11.3% AA) at Whirlpool (165 deg)
1.5 Oz Amarillo (9.8% AA) at 5 Day Dry Hop
1.5 Oz Simcoe (12.2% AA) at 5 Day Dry Hop
1.5 Oz Chinook (13.1% AA) at 5 Day Dry Hop
1.5 Oz CTZ (8.26% AA) at 5 Day Dry Hop

Pitched onto a washed yeast WLP 023 Burton Ale Yeast Cake

Mash:

60 minutes at 152 F (Saccharification Rest)
10 minutes at 165 F (Mash Out)

Collected 6 gallons of wort in carboy.

German Hefeweizen (Proper Pitch) Tasting Notes:

Appearance:  Pours a slightly hazy straw yellow.  One finger, pillowy, snow white head lingers long after the initial pour.

Smell:  Mild notes of wheat, clove, banana and citrus are present.

Taste: Grainy, wheat flavors dominate the initial sip, juxtaposed nicely by the sweetness of the Pilsner malt. Slight hints of herb and citrus on the finish.  Finishes with a strong residual banana burst and a ever so slight hint of clove.

This is my second iteration of my Pale Ale recipe (version 1 can be found here).  For the most part I kept the grain bill the same, a mix of American 2-Row with some Vienna for color and maltiness.  I did however modify both the type of and amount of Crystal Malts in the grist.  I swapped out the C-120 for C-80 in the second version and also upped the overall percentage of crystal malts to 6.4% of the total grist vs. 4.% in version 1.  As I discussed in my tasting notes for my original recipe (tasting notes) the first version was slightly more hop forward, so I’m hoping the slight increase in the Crystal malts will work to make the second version a bit more balanced.

The main area that I focused on re-working for the second version was the hop profile.  I was fortunate enough to get my hands on 1 lb packages of Amarillo and Simcoe, two of the more popular hops, and wanted to incorporate them into my Pale Ale as they are known to work amazingly together. I used a backloaded hop schedule of 60, 20, 5, and 0 minutes to capture the the classic American citrus hop flavors associated with these hops. I also added some Chinook at flame out in an effort to introduce some pine and fruity notes to give the beer multiple layers of hop aromas.

I decided to do a split batch fermentation as I am planning on brewing this beer for my wedding and still in full out experimentation mode.  I decided to use Safale 05 for its clean fermentation for one batch. This traditional yeast choice for an American Pale Ale should serve as a good contrast to the second batch, which I decided to ferment with White Labs Burton Ale strain.  For this batch I am hoping the fruity notes from this strain will provide a nice interplay with the fruity/citrus hop aromas and contribute to the overall malt flavors in it.

I will be looking to see how the different yeast strains effect the perceived hop flavors as well as bitterness. Since I would up brewing 11 gallons I am also planning on dry hopping a small amount of the second version with some coffee beans in addition to the Amarillo/Simcoe/Chinook additions.  Stay tuned for tasting notes on  all three versions of Rich’s Pale Ale 2.0.

Rich’s Pale Ale 2.0

Batch Size: 12 Gallons

Original Gravity: 1.064
Est. Final Gravity: 1.016
ABV: 6.3%
IBU: 42.3
Color: 8.7 SRM
Boil Time: 90 Min

75.3% American 2-Row
18.3% Vienna Malt
4.1% Crystal 80 Malt
2.3% Crystal 40 Malt

1.25 Oz Amarillo (9.8% AA) at 60 min
1 Oz Amarillo (9.8% AA) at 20 min
1 Oz Simcoe (12.20% AA) at 20 min
1 Tbsp Irish Moss at 15 min
1 Oz Amarillo (9.8% AA) at 5 min
1 Oz Simcoe (12.2% AA) at 5 min
1 Oz Chinook  (13.1% AA) at 0 min
1 Oz Amarillo (9.8% AA) at 7 Day Dry Hop
1 Oz Simcoe (12.2% AA) at 7 Day Dry Hop
1 Oz Chinook  (13.1% AA) at 7 Day Dry Hop

Split Batch Fermentation

6 Gallon: 3.2 L Starter of White Labs 023 Burton Ale Yeast
5 Gallon: 1 Pack Safale 05

Mash:

60 minutes at 152 F (Saccharification Rest)
10 minutes at 165 F (Mash Out)

Ferment at ambient air temperature of 62 F

Notes:

Lost 1 gallon to hop matter.

Due to a mis-configuration in Beer Smith I pulled more wort than I should have, thus the 90 minute boil.  A 60 minute boil would be appropriate for this beer and I will use one for future batches.

Update: Make sure that you use a blow off tube when using WLP 023 Burton Ale Yeast!!

My fiance and I will be getting married this October at the German Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  I will be brewing all the beer for our wedding, so needless to some of my brewing this year is going to focus on fine tuning the beers for our big day.  The plan is to brew four 10 gallon batches of moderate alcohol beers and serve a 2.5 gal keg of either the Cognac or Bourbon Lets Grow Old Together Ale, depending on which tastes better, throughout the evening.  While neither my fiance nor I are particularly German, we have fully embraced the venue and are planning an Oktoberfest themed wedding with Brats, Spatzel, and of course a good ol’ German style Hefeweizen.

The recipe is fairly straight forward for a German Hefeweizen with a 3:2 wheat to barley grist ratio.  I added a small amount of Vienna Malt for color and some added complexity to the overall mouthfeel.  I selected traditional German hops in Hallertauer Mittelfrueh for its mild bitterness and herbal flavor contributions.  A great Hefeweizen is made by the yeast and the mash schedule as they contribute to the production of the classic banana and clove flavors.  I wound up using WLP351 Bavarian Weizen described as imparting “moderately high, spicy, phenolic overtones reminiscent of cloves.”  and a traditional Hefeweizen step mash schedule of 111, 126, 151, and 168 degrees.

The Experiment

My original thought was to experiment with several different Hefe yeast strains, however I had to change my plans when a trip to my LHBS turned up only one Hefe strain.  After a bit of research I discovered that the yeast pitch rate can directly influence ester production that gives the classic clove/banana flavors of a hefeweizen.  Although this is somewhat of a contested thought (many people believe the risks of under-pitching outweigh any potential rewards) I decided to give it a try.  Generally speaking there are three ways to create a more banana flavored hefeweizen.  The first is yeast strain selection, the second is temperature, and the third is pitch rates.  The hotter a hefeweizen ferments (66-68 Deg plus) the more banana flavors will be produced, similarly if the yeast is under-pitched and thus stressed during the ramp up phase of fermentation it will also produce these flavors.

Since I ferment my beers in a fairly stable cool basement (ambient temperature 62 Deg.) and WLP351 is described as producing clove forward hefeweizens one would assume with a proper pitch of yeast I would finish with a clove forward hefeweizen with little to no banana flavors.  Since I wanted to brew two unique beers from one batch I decided to pitch one carboy with the proper yeast rates and the second with 40% less yeast in an effort to create a more banana forward less clove flavored beer.  However, like many things in life, the best laid plans often go awry.  After spending a week diligently growing the proper amount of yeast required for my experiment I wound up with a much more efficient mash than usual (79% vs the usual 72%) and in turn a much stronger OG than I had planed for.  After some debate I decided to add sanitized water to my final volume so that I would still be at my planned OG of 1.048, albeit with 12 gallons instead of 11.

While usually I would be thrilled with a more efficient brew-day, my carefully planned yeast pitch experiment went by the wayside.  Since I didn’t have time to grow additional yeast I wound up under-pitching both 6 gallon batches.  The first carboy was under-pitched by 25% and the second carboy was under-pitched by 55%.  While the increased efficiency caused my experiment to lose its control I’m still looking forward to the results.  By some accounts under-pitching 25% will have little to no overall impact on the final flavor profile of the beer so I am still hopeful I will finish with two distinct hefeweizens, one clove forward and one banana forward.  Check back for the results in a few weeks.

German Hefeweizen

Batch Size: 12 Gallons
Original Gravity: 1.048
Est. Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV: 5.0%
IBU: 12.6
Color: 4.7 SRM
Boil Time: 60 Min

66.7% Wheat Malt
27.3% Belgian Pilsner
6.1% Vienna Malt
1 lb Rice Hulls

1 Oz Hallertaur Mittelfrueh (4% AA) at 45 min
1 Tbsp Irish Moss at 15 min
1.25 Oz Hallertaur Mittelfrueh (4% AA) at 20 min

4.11 L Starter of White Labs 351 Bavarian Weizen Yeast

Step Mash:
15 minutes at 111.2 F (Feurilic Acid Rest)
10 minutes at 126 F (Protein Rest)
45 minutes at 150.8 F (Saccharification Rest)
10 minutes at 168 F (Mash Out)

Carboy #1 25% Under Pitch: 2.75 L
Carboy #2 55% Under Pitch: 1.135 L

Ferment at ambient air temperature of 62 F

Update: So after sampling both batches I could not tell a significant difference between the two different pitched batches.  With that being said I did feel that the underpitched batch tasted a bit thinner and had some extremely slight off flavors (potentially from extreme yeast stress, but i’m not sure), there is also a chance this is just my mind trying to rationalize that they should taste different.  

I have come to conclude that while underpitching hefeweizen yeast maybe able to directly effect the clove/banana ratio in the final beer there is a temperature or temperature range that if fermented below, no matter what amount of yeast pitched will directly limit the banana flavor profile of a hefeweizen.  I’m assuming that the ambient air in my basement (65 deg) must be below this threshold as I was unable to successfully alter the two beer flavor profiles in a significant way.  In the end the risks outweigh the reward in my opinion, and the best bet would be to pitch the proper amount of yeast and work on altering the fermentation temperatures to achieve the desired banana/clove ratios.

India Pale Ale is one style that has experienced a renaissance among American Craft brewers, with the momentum clearly excelerating as the number of variations continues to grow. The transformation of the traditional IPA began with the birth of the double IPA,  as in true American fashion, brewers began pushing the limits by brewing stronger, hoppier, and bolder IPA’s. Recently new IPA variations have emerged including the Black IPA, Belgian IPA, and Rye IPA as brewers strive to meet the American consumers love affair with the almighty hop.

One lesser known IPA variation, the Wheat IPA, happens to be one of my favorites even though few commercial examples exist, the most popular probably being Anaheuser-Busch’s Shock Top. My preference for wheat IPA’s stems from the wheat’s contribution to the malt profile of the beer and in my opinion, the superior balance that it provides with the traditional citrus hop IPA flavors. The West Coast recipe below is the third iteration, one that I feel strikes the best balance of the three, while still allowing for a delicious interplay of wheat and citrus flavors.

I am satisfied the grain bill has achieved a balance of wheat and sweetness that can stand up against the 60 IBU contributed from the hops, however I am planning on modifying the hop bill this year.  While I love Falconers Flight, the fact that it is a proprietary blend of several hop varieties of unknown proportions has led me to reconsider its use in the recipe.  Moving forward I plan to eliminate it completely from the hop bill and experiment with different ratios of Simcoe, Amarillo, and Belma hops in order to allow for better duplicity moving forward.  Don’t get me wrong the recipe is great as it currently stands, so good in fact that if I was every able to open a brewery of my own this would be one of my flagship beers.  This makes the use of Falconers Flight potentially problematic, thus my reasoning for seeking out the alternative hop combinations.

West Coast Wheat

Batch Size: 11.5 Gallons
Original Gravity: 1.057
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV: 5.7%
IBU: 59.1
Color: 6.2 SRM
Boil Time: 60 Min

52.2% American 2-Row
32.6% Wheat Malt
9.8% Munich Malt
2.2% Crystal 15

1.25 Oz Magnum(14% AA) at 60 min
1 Tbsp Irish Moss at 15 min
1.4 Oz Falconers Flight (10.5% AA) at 15 min
.75 Oz Summit (17% AA) at 15 min
1 Oz Citra (13.4% AA) at 5 min
2.6 Oz Falconers Flight (10.5% AA) at 1 min
2 Oz Citra (13.4% AA) at 1 min
1 Oz Summit (17% AA) at 0 min
4 Oz Falconers Flight (10.5% AA) Dry Hop (7 Days)

2 Packs Safale American Ale US-05 Dry Yeast

Mash at 15 for 60 minutes raise to 168 for a 10 minute mashout.

For detailed tasting notes of this West Coast Wheat recipe, click here.