Inspiration
Half of Life is my first attempt at doing a wild Brett NEIPA for primary fermentation. To be able to test and compare the results, I've opted for a split batch where I'll be fermenting one with the Brett WLP 648 strain and the other with Verdant's IPA strain. For the hops I'm excited to be experimenting with Ekuanot and Strata hops for the first time. Looking forward to seeing the results. And the grain is a paired back version of what I've liked from many of my past batches: Marris Otter, Oats and Wheat.
Recipe
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 20 liters
Original Gravity: 1.065
Final Gravity: See below
Fermentables
Crisp Marris Otter Pale 67.1%
Oats, Torrified 16.4%
Wheat 16.4%
Hops
Columbus 7g @ 60
Citra 55g @ 80C Whirlpool for 30min
Clean
Strata 45g @ Dry Hop
Ekuanot 45g @ Dry Hop
Citra 45g (originally planned to be 145g total for both, but I thought I'd take it down a bit) @ Dry Hop
Unclean
Strata 55g @ Dry Hop
Ekuanot 55g @ Dry Hop
Citra 25g @ Dry Hop
Mash Guidelines
67°C for 60 min
75°C Mash Out
Yeast
LalBrew® Verdant Brewing
WLP 648 - Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois Vrai
Water
Amsterdam Source
8g CaCl added to mash
1.5 gram Canning Salt added to Boil
Fermax Yeast Nutrient
Notes
Brewed on: 30/12/2020
added 8g CaCl to mash
I added 8ml of lactic acid to mash to make it 5.30
pre-boil gravity was 1.052 at 24L
added 1.5g salt to boil
added 3ml of lactic acid to boil to make it 5.10
Clean starts at 19C
Unclean starts at 22C
04/01/2021
Clean up to 23C (want it to be 22C)
Unclean up to 23C (want it to be 25C)
06/01/2021
Not sure why this happening, but I'm again having issues with the Verdant yeast attenuating properly. The Brett version is also hardly even started fermenting. Really hoping that another week or so will help these become beers worth drinking.
Clean: 1.022
Unclean: 1.059
08/01/2021
Clean: 1.019
Unclean: 1.052
12/01/2021
Clean: 1.018 - transferred to cold crash
Unclean: 1.042
13/01/2021
Clean: Dry Hop
Ekuanot hops are smelling quite nice, with a passionfruit and pink fruity aroma. The Strata are also fruity, and have a distinct fresh hop bine smell that reminds me of some of the hops I've grown, and that smells dank.
15/01/2021
Clean: Package
Smells and tastes incredible now. The hops are still in suspension like the way that they were in previous batches. There is a lingering bitterness at the back because of that still that is unpleasant. That may go away with time. Flavour wise, I'm really liking the combination of the hops - Citra's classic and incredibly powerful flavour, and the dank/passionfruit notes from the Ekuanot and Strata are great. Interested to see how this ages.
16/01/2021
Clean is tasting really incredible at this point compared with beers I've made in the past in this category. The only beer that I can remember being as exciting was back in 2015, Cormac IPA. It's safe to say that this is the best attempt I've had at making this style and it's exciting to see my progress coming through with this one. I think the process is that main thing. I cut the drip tube of the keg I ferment in, so I wasn't transferring anymore pellets. I also moved the beer the night before I transferred and didn't move it, so everything was more settled than usual. I also bubbled CO2 through the beer while dry hopping. Process aside, I really love the hop combination in this. Citra brings out its powerful flavour that is unmatched as far as I have experienced, the ekuanot hops make it taste unique and the Strata bring a bit of a fresh hop dankness that is really welcomed. This is definitely a solid profile and is very aromatic. I also love the grain in this. This is a solid base to work from now. A few things come to mind about how to improve it. First, I think it is a little flat. Carbonation will help, but I also mean in flavour and overall freshness. The aroma does, but the flavour doesn't jump out of the glass as much as it could. I think increased acidity could possibly help with this. Maybe measuring and adjusting the finished pH could be an option to do this. I also think that the water still tastes a little hard and not as pillow(y) as I would like it to be. I don't know how this can be fixed unless I could use softer water, but I'll see what I can try to do to improve it in the next batch with water additions. Finally, I think that it is still a little too sweet, and I'm curious what this would be like a few points lower, at say 1.014 or so. For now, those are my thoughts on this. But I also want to see how another week will help with having the beer's flavors come together. Really excited about this one.
18/01/2021
Unclean @ 1.028
21/01/2021
Unclean @ 1.020
24/01/2021
Unclean @ 1.014
26/01/2021
Cold Crash Unclean to 2C, 1.011
27/01/2021
Dry Hop Unclean
29/01/2021
Packaged Unclean
Still has a bit of the strange flavour that it had at the beginning of fermentation which is unfortunate. But the dry hop seems to have gone really well, and the body/hop flavour in the beer is great. Despite the strange empty kind of flavour in the beer from the fermentation, there is also a bit of an interesting Brett flavour that is funky and makes the beer more interesting than just a regular NEIPA. Curious to see how it develops in a bit of time.
Batch Size: 20 liters
Original Gravity: 1.065
Final Gravity: See below
Fermentables
Crisp Marris Otter Pale 67.1%
Oats, Torrified 16.4%
Wheat 16.4%
Hops
Columbus 7g @ 60
Citra 55g @ 80C Whirlpool for 30min
Clean
Strata 45g @ Dry Hop
Ekuanot 45g @ Dry Hop
Citra 45g (originally planned to be 145g total for both, but I thought I'd take it down a bit) @ Dry Hop
Unclean
Strata 55g @ Dry Hop
Ekuanot 55g @ Dry Hop
Citra 25g @ Dry Hop
Mash Guidelines
67°C for 60 min
75°C Mash Out
Yeast
LalBrew® Verdant Brewing
WLP 648 - Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois Vrai
Water
Amsterdam Source
8g CaCl added to mash
1.5 gram Canning Salt added to Boil
Fermax Yeast Nutrient
Notes
Brewed on: 30/12/2020
added 8g CaCl to mash
I added 8ml of lactic acid to mash to make it 5.30
pre-boil gravity was 1.052 at 24L
added 1.5g salt to boil
added 3ml of lactic acid to boil to make it 5.10
Clean starts at 19C
Unclean starts at 22C
04/01/2021
Clean up to 23C (want it to be 22C)
Unclean up to 23C (want it to be 25C)
06/01/2021
Not sure why this happening, but I'm again having issues with the Verdant yeast attenuating properly. The Brett version is also hardly even started fermenting. Really hoping that another week or so will help these become beers worth drinking.
Clean: 1.022
Unclean: 1.059
08/01/2021
Clean: 1.019
Unclean: 1.052
12/01/2021
Clean: 1.018 - transferred to cold crash
Unclean: 1.042
13/01/2021
Clean: Dry Hop
Ekuanot hops are smelling quite nice, with a passionfruit and pink fruity aroma. The Strata are also fruity, and have a distinct fresh hop bine smell that reminds me of some of the hops I've grown, and that smells dank.
15/01/2021
Clean: Package
Smells and tastes incredible now. The hops are still in suspension like the way that they were in previous batches. There is a lingering bitterness at the back because of that still that is unpleasant. That may go away with time. Flavour wise, I'm really liking the combination of the hops - Citra's classic and incredibly powerful flavour, and the dank/passionfruit notes from the Ekuanot and Strata are great. Interested to see how this ages.
16/01/2021
Clean is tasting really incredible at this point compared with beers I've made in the past in this category. The only beer that I can remember being as exciting was back in 2015, Cormac IPA. It's safe to say that this is the best attempt I've had at making this style and it's exciting to see my progress coming through with this one. I think the process is that main thing. I cut the drip tube of the keg I ferment in, so I wasn't transferring anymore pellets. I also moved the beer the night before I transferred and didn't move it, so everything was more settled than usual. I also bubbled CO2 through the beer while dry hopping. Process aside, I really love the hop combination in this. Citra brings out its powerful flavour that is unmatched as far as I have experienced, the ekuanot hops make it taste unique and the Strata bring a bit of a fresh hop dankness that is really welcomed. This is definitely a solid profile and is very aromatic. I also love the grain in this. This is a solid base to work from now. A few things come to mind about how to improve it. First, I think it is a little flat. Carbonation will help, but I also mean in flavour and overall freshness. The aroma does, but the flavour doesn't jump out of the glass as much as it could. I think increased acidity could possibly help with this. Maybe measuring and adjusting the finished pH could be an option to do this. I also think that the water still tastes a little hard and not as pillow(y) as I would like it to be. I don't know how this can be fixed unless I could use softer water, but I'll see what I can try to do to improve it in the next batch with water additions. Finally, I think that it is still a little too sweet, and I'm curious what this would be like a few points lower, at say 1.014 or so. For now, those are my thoughts on this. But I also want to see how another week will help with having the beer's flavors come together. Really excited about this one.
18/01/2021
Unclean @ 1.028
21/01/2021
Unclean @ 1.020
24/01/2021
Unclean @ 1.014
26/01/2021
Cold Crash Unclean to 2C, 1.011
27/01/2021
Dry Hop Unclean
29/01/2021
Packaged Unclean
Still has a bit of the strange flavour that it had at the beginning of fermentation which is unfortunate. But the dry hop seems to have gone really well, and the body/hop flavour in the beer is great. Despite the strange empty kind of flavour in the beer from the fermentation, there is also a bit of an interesting Brett flavour that is funky and makes the beer more interesting than just a regular NEIPA. Curious to see how it develops in a bit of time.