Yard City Brewing

 

 

All of the bier I had at Washington Beer Commission's Belgianfest was at least good bier.  Well made, local, fresh beer, made in Belgian styles or Belgian inspired styles...  great! Totally happy, and none sucked.  The din of the crowd seemed to reflect the same notion.  Everyone seemed pleased and happy to talk about the beer in their glass.  (Nice little glass snifters!)  I had as great a time at this fest as any in our puget sound region and I hope the good people at Washington Beer Commission put it on again.

 

Must've had:

 

1. Fremont Brewing's Solstice Saison:  Blond, hoppy, turbid, fresh, fruity.  Not unlike one I might make.  Nice and fresh.
2. Ram - Northgate:  Flat Tire:  It was a 6.9% nutty, amber beer with Belgian Yeast character.  I liked it a lot and enjoyed the biscuity MFB Kiln Amber Malt.  I think it was on cask!?  (Already gettin' fuzzy?)
3. Skagit River Brewery:  Watou's Ale:  Tard tricked me into going out of order on this one.  This woulda been my last bier.  I was good.  Rich, dark, 9.8% abv.  A Bernardus 12 type of bier.  I was tricked!
4. Black Raven: Pour les Oiseaux wine barrel aged Saison:  Nice.  Really nice.  A blonde colored Saison that was put into Chardonnay and Voingior barrels from a Western Washington Winery.  I was gettin' plenty of wood, but not much tannin. (?) Everyone else I think was saying grape, but maybe that was another bier... oh well.  I liked it and it was well made bier.
5. Dick poured my Elysian beer. It was the bier called Groaning Board Trappist-style Table Beer.  I liked it then, the carbonation was real creamy.  I had it a few days later on capitol hill.  I would call it a Belgian Pale Ale.  Tasty!
6. I had Jesus' bier.  It was the Malaprop 8 from Big Time in Seattle.  Good, as the Lord's work usually is.
7. Another bier I remember was the crazy blended sour bier from Ram... kinda...
8. ?
9. ??
10. I know the last bier I had was the Port Townsend Hop Diggity that was fermented with a Belgian Yeast strain.  It stood out.  I don't drink a lot of IPA, but one that I always like is this beer from Port Townsend.  I can honestly say that creating it with a Belgian strain didn't mess with what  a great beer it is.  It was GREAT!

 

I hope to see the BelgianFest rear it's head again next January.  I wasn't sure about heading way down to Georgetown for a bier festival, until I went way down to Georgetown for a bier festival.  GREAT!!

I sampled the 4 carboys of Lambic that I have had around for quite some time. I never sampled any before because I didn't want to bother the pellicle. I will be blending some Lambic for the production of a Gueuze. It was great to see that there was at least some Lambic that was tasting how I'd hoped it would. While the beer was clear, there was turbidity in the samples from the pellicle. The assessments are as follows:

 

Lambic 1 (Dec '05), Wyeast Lambic Blend: Probably deep gold in color. Big, nice horsey aroma with some light fruitiness. Flavor: Moderatly sour, hop bitterness, moderate acid, some alcohol warmth. Attributes: Good aroma, bitterness. Has a pellicle like the one I saw in the barrels at Wyeast.

 

Lambic 2 (Mar. 18, 08), Wyeast Lambic Blend: More color than #1. Maybe deep gold/lighter amber. Some horsey, earthy, darker aroma, sulphur. Juicy grapefruit acidity on the pallet, some late bitterness. Attribute: Big acidity and should be large portion of the blend.

 

Lambic 2GF (Mar. 18, 08), GueuzeFest I starter: Same color and wort as above. Dark blueberry, watermelon (!?) aroma, fruity, horsey, minty/herbal. Orange juicy palate, grapefruit bitterness. Acidic, but not as bright as it's brother. I think I can understand some of the character from the Boone Biers involved in the starter. Attributes: Really complex aroma.

 

Lambic 4 (July 11, 08), Wyeast Roeselare Blend: Young. Fatty, some buttery popcorn, fruity, maybe a little bit of iron. Too young, not much there.

 

I'm seeing blending with 1, 2, and 2GF. Mostly 2 with some 1 and some 2GF. 1 has all the hoppy character that one would want. 2 has the main body: sourness. 2GF adds some earth and complexity. 4 is way too young. This is what I know so far.

Free stuff from paperboy's move to SeaTown.  New Belgium's La Folie & the greatly coveted Washington State Cougars pitcher.  Thanks!

No story here, really.  ...just content.  So, I got the growler of Rogue Dead Guy for under $10.  I figure, sure, I'll get it for the growler, the beer is just secondary.  When I opened it I smelled hangover.  Actually, first I smelled hop, then hangover.  Looked great, smelled great, but biers like this have always just been hangover beers.  I only drank half the growler (drank 2 pints), but show'nuff... HANGOVER!  It's the melanoidins!  Really, I can smell'em a mile away.  Tis the melanoidins in the Munich Malt.  But, it is actually a 6.6% abv bier.

LAMBIC IV


17 1/2#    Weyermann Pils
6#            Wheat
2 oz.        '01 Crystal hop flowers @90 min.
GueuzeFest  II & III bug starters

10 gallons H20 with 2# pils & 6# wheat @ 148 down to 143: 30 min.  Bring slowly up to 212 & boil for 30 min.  Add 3+ gallons of cold H20 + 14# pils @ 144 up to 158: 1 hour+.  Sparge with 200F.  Collect 14, boil down to 12.

OG:  1.054

Biers in GF II:
    -3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze: Nov '05
    -Petrus Aged Pale
    -Oude Beersal Gueze
    -?

Biers in GF III:
    -Cantillon Bruocsella 1900 Grand Cru: Sept '05
    -Gueuze Fond Tradition/St. Louis
    -Oude Beersal
    -Gueuze Girardin 1882
    -3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze: Nov '05

This time I made Lambic, I wanted to make sure to have plenty of starch in it for the Brettanomyces & bacteria to chew on for the long term.  I don't think that I'd provided enough in the past ones.  Mash schedules were more conventional multi step ones.  So, I performed a version of the Wyeast Lambic Mash Schedule™.  A lazier version, perhaps.  I also wanted to add aged whole hops because in the past I'd just used debittered chinook at about 1% alpha.  It might be best to use no hops at all.  This would allow the bacteria free reign to acidify without the possiblity of being impaired by certain hop compounds.  I couldn't resist, though.  So I compromised and used 2 ounces instead of like 9 or 10 which would be a more stylisticly appropriate amount.

GueuzeFest II starter tasted awesome.  Plenty of acid and complexity, and it has been the first bugs outa the gate to show visual fermentation.  Not a pellicle, but a blotchy head of foam.  GF III has just started to show some action, too.  Foam may have been any Saccharomyces that were in these, but who knows.  I yielded about 12 gallons so I was able to use some to feed to the Yard City Terrior bugs.  That carboy is pellicling up nicely now.

Biere de Garde

19 3/4#    Castle Pilsner
3 3/4#      Weyermann Vienna
1#            Castle Caravienn
1/4#         Weyermann Carafa
2#            Corn Sugar                15 min.
2 oz.         Domestic Fuggles    4.6% aa    90 min.
1/2 oz.      Liberty          5% aa        90 min.
1 oz.         Spalt            2.6% aa    10 min.

Wyeast  3725  Biere de Gard
Wyeast  1007  German Ale

Irish Moss & Yeast Nutrient
1g each in kettle NaCl, CaCO3, CaSO4

32 quarts @ 160 down to 150: 75 min. up to 168.  Ph: 5.2
Collected 13.6 gallons of 1.054 wort.  120 min. boil.

OG:  1.072

Day 18:  1007 is @ 1.021, 71% AA
Day 27:  1007 is @ 1.016, 77.7% AA
             3725 is @ 1.011, 84.7% AA

I thought they were done so I crashed them to 35F.  Boy was I wrong.  They were warm for a few days before they were lagered for nearly 3 months.  After lagering they were at ambient temperature for several days before I bottled them.  When I took the gravities I noticed that they had dropped 3 & 5 points sometime after primary.   Doh.

Oct. 23:  1007 @ 1.013, 82% AA & 7.9% abv
              3725 @ 1.006, 91.6% AA & 8.8% abv

3725 is estery and earthy.  1007 has some harshness.  I think it is from some sort of higher alcohol from being underpitched.  This is my new thought.  I always make a 20ish ounce starter for my bieres and that's fine for most of them.  My OG's are usually in the 1.050 to 1.060 range.  I read the yeast starter section of Jamil's Brewing Classic Styles with good information on pitch rate, etc.  It'll be my new thing to work on.  That is, knowing what my pitch rate should be for a given OG and propping up the right amount of yeast for it.  Happy New Year to me.

Oh, dear blog, how I have neglected thee.

I've brewed some since this blog died (and I'm apparently trying to revive it.) I've created two bieres with the Wyeast 3725 Bier de Garde. (I won't discuss that they should've added an 'e' at the end of 'Bier'... uh, no.) I find it way different than any of the other Saison strains that have been offered by the wonderful folks at Wyeast. =) Way different, and I haven't even made a Biere de Garde with it yet. I have, however, tasted a homebrewed Biere de Garde made with this strain and it was very good. After I tasted my own first 3725 biere it took me awhile to put a finger on the fact that it does put more emphasis on malt (or malt and hop) in a more basic way like, for example, 1056 American Ale does. It lets the ingredients shine a bit more than other Saison strains.

So, I've made 2 Saisons with 3725. Here they are:

The Lesser

13# 11 oz Gambrinus Pale Malt
3 1/2# Wheat (Wagner Wheat)
1.75 oz US Northern Brewer 8.1% AA (90 min)
2 oz German Hallertau 4% AA (K.O.)
Wyeast 3725 Bier de Garde (24 oz starters)

Mash Schedule: 124:30min 148:60min 169:15+min

OG: 1.045 TG: 1.004 91% Apparent Attenuation, 5.5% abv.
Apparently you can be malty and attenuative at the same time.

The Bigger (Les Bon Temps)

18# 6 oz Gambrinus Pale Malt
1# Wheat
2 oz US Northern Brewer 8.1% AA (90 min)
2 oz German Hallertau 4% AA (K.O.)
Wyeast 3725 Slurry from previous beer.

Mash Schedule: 148:50+min 168:15+min

OG: 1.054 TG: 1.003 94%AA, 6.8% abv

With this biere, I also decided to dry hop the kegged portion. One ounce of Hallertau in secondary for seven days before I transferred it to keg. It seemed to add a lot more hop flavor. More than aroma, I think. I have yet to bottle this beer (and the Lesser). The Bigger is still on draft and it has changed a lot. Since all protein and yeast have dropped out and it's become bright, the head has become extra dense (but quickly fades), it has become a little spicier and less earthy. It has also become rounder and more complex.

With the Bigger biere I decided to skip the lower temperature rest because it only had 5% wheat. The smaller biere had 20%. I wanted to see if 5% of unmalted wheat without a protein rest would aid in adding head retention. I don't think it worked for me. You see, I've had a head retention problem almost all year long. The last biere to have a reasonable amount of head retention was bottled on January 9th. I feel like each successive biere has had less and less head retention. I'm bummed. I have some sort of anti-heading bug in the system, I guess. Maybe I need to tear everything apart and clean, rinse, and sanatize as needed.

Any ideas?

Someone else writes about SaisonFest

here.

A great professional Saison Drink a' Thon we had one Saturday in September. A bit blustery as I remember. It worked fine inside our cozy shack. While men and woman drank and nodded their heads at one another, the merriment and radiant laughter of children was heard.

Did you ever notice that any informal beer tasting seems to gravitate toward a certain space or area or object? It's probably that way with any gathering. But, I notice that the kitchen is a popular spot. We have some good kitchens in our circle! There's even one with an island and it's own separate sink! We don't have a good kitchen at my house. Our gatherings are best had out on the back patio, but the weather dictated an indoor festivus. Apparently this event married itself to our dining table. It was a great time, with a healthy turnout of over a dozen-ish folks plus some offspring. We had just enough drinkers for the 750s so everybody got a little taste.

Now, the list:

1. Dickey - YCB
2. Bobbie - YCB
3. Ne Goeien - Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA
4. Saison du Pelican - Pelican Pub & Brewery, Pacific City, OR
5. Li'l Jib - YCB
6. Thiriez Blonde - Brasserie Thiriez, FR
7. Tannum - YCB
8. Saison Lo Terminal - YCB
9. Hunca Munca - YCB
10. L' Amalthee aka "Goat Biere" - Brasserie Lebbe, FR
11. NeDe Gard - Brewery 'Smoga', East B-town
12. NeDe Gard Dry Hopped - Brewery 'Smoga', East B-town
13. Le Bon Temps, draft - YCB
14. Brise Bon Bons, Fantome, Soy, BE
15. Saison de Janice - Altman Brasserie, Indianola, WA
16. Hennepin - Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, NY
17. 8% - YCB

We also opened a bottle of YCB Super I somewhere along the way, but it was an oxidized messy drainpour.

My favorites include: The Thiriez Blonde up against the Li'l Jib. It was great to be able to see that the Wyeast 3711 French Saison strain is the Thiriez strain. I was surprised to see that Li'l Jib tasted as good as it did next the the Thiriez Biere. I really enjoyed Smoga's homebrewed Biere de Garde. It was awesome. Balanced, flavorful, malty. Smoga's beer and the Le Bon Temps that was on draft were an interesting comparison. Same strain, two very different beers. I was sad that the Brise Bon Bons hadn't sealed properly and was more lactic than it would've been normally. It was all good. I don't know if we can top it next year. I'll have at least four Yard City beers that were not available this year, probably more.

Thanks, Wade! (goes good with my color scheme.)