Inspiration
This is my Left Fields Farmhouse Saison/ Sour Ale Series. The idea behind this series is to explore saison yeast strains/ sour ales (along with mixed fermentation), brewing techniques, malt composition and water profiles. This beer has been one that I've wanted to try and make for probably two years. I haven't yet attempted to seriously make any style of sour beer, so this is exciting. I read Michael Tonsmeire's American Sour Beers book this summer, and found myself getting really inspired by the content. Having been a long-time fly on the wall on the Milk The Funk Facebook page, I found myself searching through their Wikipedia pages as a starting point/ constant reference throughout the process. I also have to acknowledge Ales of the Riverwards and, most of all, Sui Generis Brewing's amazingly thorough article on sour mashing. You are the man, good sir.
Finally, I was inspired to brew this through Grimm Artisanal Ale's Dry Hopped Spruce Tip Gose. Sounds amazing. I've started with the Chinook in WP, but have to wait for the Spruce Tips to come into season for this to work. I have a ton of ideas for this beer beyond the "clean" version of it, and may wind up adding fruit, oak, Brett to it eventually. Still haven't decided. *update*, I ended up adding Brett blend of Logsdon S. Bretta and Four Winds Edna. Spruce tips just weren t in season early enough to make my original plan work. I have something in the planning stages for brewing with spruce tips though!
Named after Elephant Rock on Bowen Island (nearby Hutt Island, in Galbraith Bay) - photographed above.
Tasting notes below..
Finally, I was inspired to brew this through Grimm Artisanal Ale's Dry Hopped Spruce Tip Gose. Sounds amazing. I've started with the Chinook in WP, but have to wait for the Spruce Tips to come into season for this to work. I have a ton of ideas for this beer beyond the "clean" version of it, and may wind up adding fruit, oak, Brett to it eventually. Still haven't decided. *update*, I ended up adding Brett blend of Logsdon S. Bretta and Four Winds Edna. Spruce tips just weren t in season early enough to make my original plan work. I have something in the planning stages for brewing with spruce tips though!
Named after Elephant Rock on Bowen Island (nearby Hutt Island, in Galbraith Bay) - photographed above.
Tasting notes below..
The Recipe
Boil Time: 2 min
Batch Size: 4 gallons (fermentor volume)
Efficiency: 46% (brew house) * Stuck-ass sparge, again
Clean portion:
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV (standard): 4.5%
IBU (tinseth): 14
SRM (morey): 4.2
Brett portion:
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 5%
ABV (standard): 1.006
IBU (tinseth): 14
SRM (morey): 4.2
Fermentables
6 lb - American - Wheat (58.9%)
4 lb - German - Pilsner (39.3%)
3 oz - German - Acidulated Malt (1.8%)
Hops/ Other
0.5 oz - Salt , Time: 2 min, Type: Flavor, Use: Boil
0.5 oz - Coriander, Time: 2 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil
1 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Whirlpool for 15 min at 180-165 °F
0.5 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Dry Hop for 4 days
Mash Guidelines
1) Temp: 147.5 F, Time: 75 min
2) Temp: 169 F Time: 10 min
Yeast
Wyeast - Lactobacillus B. 5335
Wyeast - German Ale 1007
Starter: Yes
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 75%
Fermentation Temp: 62 F
Pitch Rate (Lager): 1.5 (M cells / ml / deg P)
Pitch rate: 249 Billion
Water
Ca2: 65
Mg2: 0
Na: 0
Cl: 110
SO4: 0
HCO3: 0
Notes
Prior to brewday (March 11th), made a Lactobacillus starter with DME as media for roughly 4% of volume of batch at 1.035 (based on Breakside/ The Commons/ Gigantic CBC presentation on kettle souring). No agitation, airlock and fermwrap to maintain 100-120F.
Brewday 1 (March 13th): Stuck ass sparge, despite around 0.5lb of rice hulls. Boiled 2 minutes. Chilled to 120F. Racked to CO2 pressurized keg and pitched starter. Kept in keg under pressure, in mash tun filled with water that is topped up every 8 hours or so with boiling water. Mash tun is wrapped with ferm wrap and a bunch of jackets. Allowed to sour for 44 hours. Not sure what the pH was since I still haven t bought a meter. That will be my next homebrewing-related investment. Tastes really nice and clean though.
Brewday 2 (March 15th): Boiled for 2 minutes with yeast nutrient, salt and coriander. Let whirlpool with no hops for 10 minutes, and then added Chinook at 180F until 165F over 15 minutes.
March 15th: Pitched yeast at 58F, allow to freerise to 62F
March 28th: Keg 2 (+0.33) gallons, inoculate 2.75 gallons with Brett Blend (Four Winds Edna dregs, Logsdon S. Bretta dregs) for aging. Kegged clean version at 3.4 vol to start.
Bottled: Brett portion May 11th @ 3.8 vol.
Batch Size: 4 gallons (fermentor volume)
Efficiency: 46% (brew house) * Stuck-ass sparge, again
Clean portion:
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV (standard): 4.5%
IBU (tinseth): 14
SRM (morey): 4.2
Brett portion:
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 5%
ABV (standard): 1.006
IBU (tinseth): 14
SRM (morey): 4.2
Fermentables
6 lb - American - Wheat (58.9%)
4 lb - German - Pilsner (39.3%)
3 oz - German - Acidulated Malt (1.8%)
Hops/ Other
0.5 oz - Salt , Time: 2 min, Type: Flavor, Use: Boil
0.5 oz - Coriander, Time: 2 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil
1 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Whirlpool for 15 min at 180-165 °F
0.5 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Dry Hop for 4 days
Mash Guidelines
1) Temp: 147.5 F, Time: 75 min
2) Temp: 169 F Time: 10 min
Yeast
Wyeast - Lactobacillus B. 5335
Wyeast - German Ale 1007
Starter: Yes
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 75%
Fermentation Temp: 62 F
Pitch Rate (Lager): 1.5 (M cells / ml / deg P)
Pitch rate: 249 Billion
Water
Ca2: 65
Mg2: 0
Na: 0
Cl: 110
SO4: 0
HCO3: 0
Notes
Prior to brewday (March 11th), made a Lactobacillus starter with DME as media for roughly 4% of volume of batch at 1.035 (based on Breakside/ The Commons/ Gigantic CBC presentation on kettle souring). No agitation, airlock and fermwrap to maintain 100-120F.
Brewday 1 (March 13th): Stuck ass sparge, despite around 0.5lb of rice hulls. Boiled 2 minutes. Chilled to 120F. Racked to CO2 pressurized keg and pitched starter. Kept in keg under pressure, in mash tun filled with water that is topped up every 8 hours or so with boiling water. Mash tun is wrapped with ferm wrap and a bunch of jackets. Allowed to sour for 44 hours. Not sure what the pH was since I still haven t bought a meter. That will be my next homebrewing-related investment. Tastes really nice and clean though.
Brewday 2 (March 15th): Boiled for 2 minutes with yeast nutrient, salt and coriander. Let whirlpool with no hops for 10 minutes, and then added Chinook at 180F until 165F over 15 minutes.
March 15th: Pitched yeast at 58F, allow to freerise to 62F
March 28th: Keg 2 (+0.33) gallons, inoculate 2.75 gallons with Brett Blend (Four Winds Edna dregs, Logsdon S. Bretta dregs) for aging. Kegged clean version at 3.4 vol to start.
Bottled: Brett portion May 11th @ 3.8 vol.
Tasting Notes
March 28th (at kegging): tastes really nice actually. I was completely unsure about how this beer would turn out, but it's refreshingly tart, bordering on the line between sour and lightly tart - excellent, and lucky considering I don't own a pH meter yet. The other character in terms of flavour is a strong lemon quality which is delicious. This beer is very very cloudy and light coloured. I added some fining to the keg, so I'm hoping that it clears up (a little). The beer tastes pretty raw, but I'm feeling it. There's definitely a wheaty character to it that I haven't tasted before. So initially: raw, wheat, tart and lemon. Reading the BJCP description, I'm feeling close to the style. Once this is chilled, matures, clears a little and carbonates, I should have a dangerously drinkable warm spring day beer here.
April 18th: Last pint of *Clean* version. A little yeasty/ hazy at this point in appearance, but my god this beer has come around. I find it to be a really nice balance between the wheat and pilsner (with a great body and wheaty flavour), reminiscent of a hot farm day beer, coupled with the lemony/ lightly tart character with only the faintest hint of salt (like an ocean breeze or something), contributing to the round body of the beer as well. This beer really matured nicely, and lost those harsh / raw edges that I spoke about initially. I find this to be the perfect beer to have a few of with a buddy on a warm spring night. Excited for the Brettified portion to come out in a month or so, just in time for those late spring/ early summer nights.
June 6th: Last bottle of Brett portion cracked warm with Adam over discussion on a Monday night after hoop dreams, wack shots from jordy, a heat wave spring night (30 C in the day) and a nice sunset. Tasted beautiful. Really yeasty, light tart character retained, brett slowly becoming more prominent - somewhere in the space of being fruity, creamy and hay. High level of carbonation that was uniform amongst bottles and added a lively component to the beer. Happy where this beer began and ended. A journey but worth the wait.
March 28th (at kegging): tastes really nice actually. I was completely unsure about how this beer would turn out, but it's refreshingly tart, bordering on the line between sour and lightly tart - excellent, and lucky considering I don't own a pH meter yet. The other character in terms of flavour is a strong lemon quality which is delicious. This beer is very very cloudy and light coloured. I added some fining to the keg, so I'm hoping that it clears up (a little). The beer tastes pretty raw, but I'm feeling it. There's definitely a wheaty character to it that I haven't tasted before. So initially: raw, wheat, tart and lemon. Reading the BJCP description, I'm feeling close to the style. Once this is chilled, matures, clears a little and carbonates, I should have a dangerously drinkable warm spring day beer here.
April 18th: Last pint of *Clean* version. A little yeasty/ hazy at this point in appearance, but my god this beer has come around. I find it to be a really nice balance between the wheat and pilsner (with a great body and wheaty flavour), reminiscent of a hot farm day beer, coupled with the lemony/ lightly tart character with only the faintest hint of salt (like an ocean breeze or something), contributing to the round body of the beer as well. This beer really matured nicely, and lost those harsh / raw edges that I spoke about initially. I find this to be the perfect beer to have a few of with a buddy on a warm spring night. Excited for the Brettified portion to come out in a month or so, just in time for those late spring/ early summer nights.
June 6th: Last bottle of Brett portion cracked warm with Adam over discussion on a Monday night after hoop dreams, wack shots from jordy, a heat wave spring night (30 C in the day) and a nice sunset. Tasted beautiful. Really yeasty, light tart character retained, brett slowly becoming more prominent - somewhere in the space of being fruity, creamy and hay. High level of carbonation that was uniform amongst bottles and added a lively component to the beer. Happy where this beer began and ended. A journey but worth the wait.