Inspiration and Ideas
So many beers to come. I just started a position with Mediamatic here in Amsterdam, so the recipes and ideas I've been sitting on for the past many months are soon to come. This year I've decided to simplify a little, and only have two categories of beer. The first is the House Beer Series (La biere de table) and the second is the Backlog Series.
A. The House Beer Series is based on the desire of Mediamatic (the organization that I am currently based out of here in Amsterdam) to have a light, refreshing and sessionable ale consistently on tap in their cafe/ restaurant this summer. Based on the style and for a host of other reasons, myself and head brewman Tobias decided to go for Saison as our house beer. This beer will be in the range of 5%, hopped with german hops (initially) and fermented with French Saison yeast. But the plans for this series are exciting. Here's the plan:
Grain: To begin with we are planning to brew four beers using all the same hops (Styrian Goldings and Saaz) and yeast (3711), but with distinct grain bills, to get a sense of what direction we'd like to take the malt in this beer. Brewing a Saison with a yeast strain that is as attenuating as 3711, and with the alcohol being so low, I see the grain bill and the water treatments as two really important factors in making this beer still have a perception of body. After brewing these beers, we will then brew two more recipes based on our results from the first round (with the same hops/ yeast to hopefully dial in our malt bill).
Yeast: We plan to ferment the first several week's worth of this series with 3711. But moving forward, I would love to try making a batch with 3725 (Fantome) that was just released from Wyeast's private collection and also, since we have such a solid beer store here in the city, culture yeast from Blaugies (3726) bottles, and Thiriez bottles (3711) - which are apparently quite different than their commercial versions. But the important thing is that the base will stay the same during these initial trials. The plan is to have our own yeast bank established by the end of the summer, so we don't have to keep buying commercial strains.
Water: We will begin with Amsterdam's source water (2016), but slowly dial in our salt additions as we get closer to where we want our beer to be. We may begin with a touch of Gypsum.
Hops: To begin with, Magnum/Saaz/ Styrian Golding hops, hopped in the same way that AHA's NHC Gold Medal Saison was hopped with this year. Not a critical factor, and hopefully something that remains on the back burner for the first few weeks. But as we find our footing with the Malt/ Yeast combination, we will then begin dry hopping/ hopping with fruitier/ new age hop varieties to mix things up.
Other: Adding mango/ other fruits mixed in for special versions of this beer in the form of puree. Adding Oak into the beer, or having a portion of oaked saison to blend into our regular production. Souring a portion of the beer to add more tartness into the beer. Adding Brett into a portion to then age for a period of time.
pH: As an aside, working on pH in the Mash, Sparge, Kettle, Pre-fermentation and post-fermentation. I have a strong feeling this is really important in not only brewing generally, but also in brewing Saison.
B. The Backlog Series is everything else. It's the last 8 months of not being able to brew beer's worth of ideas and recipes that I've either found through sources online, imagined, or read/ dreamed about over my hiatus. This is everything from IPA, to Pale Ale, sours, and dark ales. Honestly anything. But I mostly see myself wanting to brew a NE style IPA after my trip down the coast last summer. I miss those soft juicy delicious beers so much, and haven't had anything close to as good since.
A. The House Beer Series is based on the desire of Mediamatic (the organization that I am currently based out of here in Amsterdam) to have a light, refreshing and sessionable ale consistently on tap in their cafe/ restaurant this summer. Based on the style and for a host of other reasons, myself and head brewman Tobias decided to go for Saison as our house beer. This beer will be in the range of 5%, hopped with german hops (initially) and fermented with French Saison yeast. But the plans for this series are exciting. Here's the plan:
Grain: To begin with we are planning to brew four beers using all the same hops (Styrian Goldings and Saaz) and yeast (3711), but with distinct grain bills, to get a sense of what direction we'd like to take the malt in this beer. Brewing a Saison with a yeast strain that is as attenuating as 3711, and with the alcohol being so low, I see the grain bill and the water treatments as two really important factors in making this beer still have a perception of body. After brewing these beers, we will then brew two more recipes based on our results from the first round (with the same hops/ yeast to hopefully dial in our malt bill).
Yeast: We plan to ferment the first several week's worth of this series with 3711. But moving forward, I would love to try making a batch with 3725 (Fantome) that was just released from Wyeast's private collection and also, since we have such a solid beer store here in the city, culture yeast from Blaugies (3726) bottles, and Thiriez bottles (3711) - which are apparently quite different than their commercial versions. But the important thing is that the base will stay the same during these initial trials. The plan is to have our own yeast bank established by the end of the summer, so we don't have to keep buying commercial strains.
Water: We will begin with Amsterdam's source water (2016), but slowly dial in our salt additions as we get closer to where we want our beer to be. We may begin with a touch of Gypsum.
Hops: To begin with, Magnum/Saaz/ Styrian Golding hops, hopped in the same way that AHA's NHC Gold Medal Saison was hopped with this year. Not a critical factor, and hopefully something that remains on the back burner for the first few weeks. But as we find our footing with the Malt/ Yeast combination, we will then begin dry hopping/ hopping with fruitier/ new age hop varieties to mix things up.
Other: Adding mango/ other fruits mixed in for special versions of this beer in the form of puree. Adding Oak into the beer, or having a portion of oaked saison to blend into our regular production. Souring a portion of the beer to add more tartness into the beer. Adding Brett into a portion to then age for a period of time.
pH: As an aside, working on pH in the Mash, Sparge, Kettle, Pre-fermentation and post-fermentation. I have a strong feeling this is really important in not only brewing generally, but also in brewing Saison.
B. The Backlog Series is everything else. It's the last 8 months of not being able to brew beer's worth of ideas and recipes that I've either found through sources online, imagined, or read/ dreamed about over my hiatus. This is everything from IPA, to Pale Ale, sours, and dark ales. Honestly anything. But I mostly see myself wanting to brew a NE style IPA after my trip down the coast last summer. I miss those soft juicy delicious beers so much, and haven't had anything close to as good since.