I drank some Belgian Pale today. We finished the keg with the 1214 strain. It was good. Estery and more earthy than the one we have now. Currently on draft is the Belgian Pale fermented with the 3944 Belgian Wit strain. It's very different. The emphasis seems to be more so on the malt and hops. At least in this case. I can get the Styrians in the aroma. It has phenols, but I think those have become more background to malt and hops. It's balanced, dryish, slightly malt emphisized. Biscuity from Castle Biscuit and grainy from the GW 2-row. The aftertaste is fully grainy 2-row. I thought that I liked the 1214 half more, but now I'm not sure. They were both good. I should have them next time side by side.

My next task is to buy a bag of Gambinus Pale malt and compare it with GW 2-row.

We created a biere yesterday. Bier #6 on the year. (Boo yah, in yer face, etc.) I'll be calling it a Biere de Mars even though it's just a Saison with more color and a bit more maltiness than most others I've made. Ingredients include:

19# Castle Pils (the last available from Olybrew at present time... economic downturn, etc.)
1# Wagner Wheat
1# Castle Aromatic 20L
1# Weyermann CaraHell 9-12L
2oz Weyermann Carafa Spcl 425L
2oz US Northern Brewer 8.1% aa (75 min)
1oz Kent Golding 6% aa (KO)
1oz Bavarian Spalt 2.9% aa (KO)
Wyeast 3711 French Saison





I got permission to split my nearly 1 quart of Slurry from the previous two batches into 2 seperate biers. One portion of pitch 3 was on a 1.090 Super Saison made at Big Brew on May 3rd. That bier has finished, or nearly so, at 1.008 for a whopping 11% abv. But enough about that. The Current Biere de Mars is humming along at a comfortable 74-76F. I plan to lager one half for 3-5 weeks and bottle the other half with bugs from the Yard City Sour w/ Lambic Blend in the style of New Belgium's old Bier de Mars.

On brew day I ran out of Propane -both tanks! And ran down the street to steal some from an unsuspecting neighbor. I also ran out of oxygen! Fortunately I made it to Kitsap Lumber 15 minutes before closing time. It was a lengthy late day but at least I got to see The Posies live in BREMERTON!

Holy double rewards, Batman!

Today I racked the Saison II to secondary and retrieved a boat load of slurry from the carboys. It is tasting nice and pineappley. It finished at 1.003. That's 95% AA from the 1.063 where it started and 8% alcohol by volume. This yeast is crazy. I'm beginning to think that the next beer with it needs 5% or less of sugar. I was going to use 20%! Doh! The next beer will be a super saison with a high gravity of 1.095. So, I think I'll have to tone dow the sugar to 5% or under. Maybe no sugar. Maybe all Pils.

I also racked the Tannum to a keg and carbonated it at the appropriate PSI (25) at the dispense temperature (52F) to equal my desired volumes of dissolved CO2 (3.0ish). This might work. It seemed good on first pour, but maybe most things do. We'll see. I've always had trouble dispensing Belgian's because of how much carbonation I want from them.

The first pint of Tannum tastes good. It has a light and bright character. The bitterness hit differently. Some bright grapefruit. Lemony, maybe?

...picking up the pieces of a broken lock.

The one to my front door!

Anyway, this is what I made on Friday, April 11th.

Saison II for '08

22# Great Western 2-row
l.5# Dextrose
1 oz Newport pellets 11.6% AA
2 oz US Saaz pellets 4.4% AA
1 oz German Spalt pellets 2.6% AA
1 oz Styrian Golding flowers 4.7% AA
Wyeast 3711 French Saison - pitch no. 2
Irish Moss & yeast nutrient

Infused @ 148.5 for over an hour. I was aiming for a 1.33 q/# ratio. Mashed out to 168F.

Hopping: 35 IBUs
.5 oz Saaz: First Wort
1 oz Newport: 90 min.
.5 oz Saaz: 90 min.
1 oz each Saaz, Spalt, Styrians: Knock Out

10 gallons of 1.063 OG.

It's been fermenting between 76-80F. And boy did it take off. That's what I like about the 2nd or 3rd pitch of a yeast. It takes off and there's no starter, just slurry.

I mashed in at 8:20 am on this beer. I usually can't do so until about 10 am. I thought I'd see how it was setting up the day before so I could get an earlier start. Well it would've been faster... but... I checked for conversion after 1 hour and it looked like it hadn't converted. And there also wasn't as much liquor in there as I wanted. So I put the two together and thought I needed more liquor to convert. I added about 3 gallons from the hot liquor tank and was able to remain the same mash temp. Well whether it was truly converted or not the first time, I let it go nearly another hour before I checked and it was (of course!) fully converted. Doh. So, if you're going to save yourself time, make sure you don't waste it.

This beer is the fourth I've made this year. And it's the second pitch of the 3711. I recovered the slurry on Thursday night from primary, for pitching on this beer friday afternoon. That's the goal with multiple pitchings this time. Keeping the time between recovery and repitch to a minimum. This time was ideal. Unfortunately there will be a week between this recovery and the next pitch on Big Brew. =(

I also wanted to point out that the first beer was 1.049 with no sugar. This beer was 1.063 with 9% sugar. And sensing a theme... I'd say the next one will be big grav with up to 20% sugar. I'm still futzing with the numbers on number 3.

Single day, double shot.

On the tuesday of Spring Break I opted to make a batch of beer. April Fool's! I decided I'd make 2 batches of beer back to back in one day! I know. You say Sam Calagione used to brew 2 or 3 batches a day 5 days a week when he first opened Dogfish Head. Well, it was a first for me and my body ached for days afterwards.

My friend Wade opened up his garage for use. I usually make beer in the great outdoors, so it was nice to be semi indoors and have the heat dish available. I started assembling gear at 8 am. I brewed for about 9 hours and was there for a total of about 12. When the kettle came up to a boil for the first beer I began heating the hot liquor for the second while I was cleaning out the mash tun. It worked fine, but I think I could've shaved a few minutes off at this point. The biers:

Ahtanum 'ApriFoo' Saison

14# 5oz Castle Pils
3# 12oz Wagner hard white wheat
5 oz Ahtanum pellets 5.5% AA (2.5@90min 2.5@ KO)
Wyeast 3711 French Saison

9.75 gallons @ 1.049 OG


Cracklin' Belgian Pale

17.5# Great Western 2-row Brewers Malt
1.25# Briess C-40
3/4# Castle Biscuit 25L
5 oz Slovenian Goldings 4.7% AA (3.5@90 1.5@ KO)
Wyeast 1214 Belgian Ale & 3944 Witbier

10+ gallons @ 1.051 OG


That's 20 gallons in under 12 hours. Both are in primary. The Saison has fermented between 76 & 80F with the Pale at 66-68F.














Rosie Russnet: Brewing Assistant and Brown Dog

Look at these kids. Two vigorous Lambic ferments. Jib sticker has the GueuzeFest mix. Both were at 65F for most of the time. Then the kitchen heated up a bit. Ferment without the extended mix of bugs is calming down a bit sooner than its neighbor. And now they are residing nearby their other wild neighbors under the stairs in the basement... for a very long time.

I finally made biere this year. Rebecca said the weather would be favorable and boy (boi!) was it. Today I made lambic. Lambic number 2 in a series of 3 that would be blended to make a Gueuze (head exploding Gueuze!) that we'll be drinking in about 3 1/2 years. D'oh. The wheat is from my mother's family's farm in and around Lewiston, Idaho.

Lambic II

13# Castle Pils
6.5# 'Wagner' Wheat
8oz Debittered Hop Pellets
Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
Starter from 'Gueuzefest '07'

Mash schedule: 122 - 153 - 174
Boiled for 2 hours.

O.G. 1.052

On half the batch I pitched 3278 with no starter and a healthy amount of oxygen. On the other half I pitched unstarted 3278 and a starter from 'Gueuzefest '07'. You call it Thanksgiving, we call it Gueuzefest. Every Thanksgiving Wade and I drink several bottles of Gueuze. I made a starter for the dregs this year. I started it and then stepped it up one time. That's what I pitched today.

The first in the series of 3 was 5.5 gallons of 1.057 wort with 2 packs of 3278. The mash schedule was 113, 131, 143, 156, 171.

This is the end. Thank you.

'Lil Jib is the 'Infamous Saison' made on December 7, 2007.

13.25# Castle Pils
4.5# Wheat
1# 9 oz Dextrose
2 oz US Northern Brewer 7% aa
2 oz German Spalt 4% aa
2 oz German Spalt 2.6% aa
Wyeast 3711 VSS 'French Saison'

Mash regime: 126F, 150F, 169F

10.5 gallons of 1.052 OG wort.


I thought this bier was finished at 1.006. That would've been 88.5% AA, the most I'd have had from a yeast ever. It was still turbid and I thought since it was a low floculator it was done. BUT, after it sat it finished at... 1.002! 96% AA! and 6.6% abv. Wow.

Well, I was more prolific this year. Still, slightly disappointed that I didn't squeak out at least one more batch of beer than I did. In the recent past I had made 12 or 13 batches per year. And last year included in those were one batch each of mead and cider. And also in the past these were 5 gallon batches. This year I made 17 batches of beer at about 10 gallons each. I got to make multiple batches with big original gravities. So, I learned a lot about maximizing my own outfit. How much grain, how much liquor, etc. Set up, tear down, organization. Taking kids to and from school and making a kick ass dinner... brewing all the while! I also just learned a lot about making beer by doing it and by talking to other club dingbats.

The number would have been more gratifying if John hadn't pushed out 21 (or more) batches of beer. Oh, well there's always next.... I mean this year. (D'oh! I need to get off my lazy ass and make some beer this year.)

Since my notebook was lost (why can't they make ones that stick to the top of your car while driving!?) I don't have all my batches written out for this year. I'm missing info for the first three.

1. Yard City Gold A golden ale. I used all Amarillo hops. (?)
2. 1.076 Starter Stout for Imperial Stout yeast (?)
3. Bourbon Barrel Imp Stout: Boo, hiss, etc. (?)
4. Pedio Beers: 1007 & Pedio, B. Anomalus & Pedio T Apr 3
5. Saisons: 3724, 3724 & B. Anomalus (in my glass right now) W Apr 4
6. "Bobby" Saison: 3726 'Farmhouse' (1 bottle left) Th Apr 5
7. "Dicky" Saison: 3726, second pitch (Also 1 bottle left) Sat May 5th, Big Brew
8. Bourbon Barrel BarleyWine I: 1084, 1098 pitch from Silver City T May 22
9. Uptown B town Blonde Gets Her Ass Handed to Her in Yard City F June 8
10. BBBW II: Sat June 16 w/ Jack
11. Super Saison: 3726, third pitch. 1.103 OG (see below... somewhere) Th Jul 19
12. Yard City Sour: Red Beer w/ 3278 Lambic Blend F July 20
13. Summit Ave Presbyterian Pale Ale: APA w/ Summit Hops Sat July 21
14. B5 Belgian Quad for the silly barrel: Sept 20
15. WGV Bitter: 1968, 1056 Oct 5
16. AngleBrown: 1028, spot on (below)
17. Infamous Saison: VSS strain 3711 "French Saison" F Dec 7, 07

Oh, Yeah.... I didn't make the Dubbel that I've wanted to make. I'll do it soon. And I only made 50 gallons of Saison.....

An update from "Corking & Capping" below.

I redubbed this beer 'WeirdBierre' recently after I tried the first bottle. The first try was a capper, and then we uncorked the first corkable the other night. The corking seemed to work well. It had a nice 'pop' and I like having to take the wine key out for it. Anyway, back to the beer.

It's weird... Complex, almost 'multiple personality', in character. One minute I think one thing about it, and the next it has changed so much that I wonder what I was thinking the first time. At the very least I think that it will change favorably and greatly over a period of time. Uncorks with pop and visual 'smoke'. (I know it's not smoke, stupid!) Pours with plenty of head. It is dense and ever present with constant beads of CO2 to help keep it up. In fact the first one was so manic and constant with carbonation I thought that it was actually fermenting before my eyes. (Maybe it was!) Color is light gold with white head. The aroma is massively fruity. Maybe acetaldehyde, but definite cider character. Tutti Fruity. Some grainy malt. As it warms, the Brett funk becomes more obvious. At times it seemed more malty and other times more fruity. It's crazyweird. I'll try to elaborate on this bierre later when I have one in front of me. The labels are comin' soon, also. More on that later...