Fresh Old Ale

Enough is enough! Something has got to be done about that Ancient Old Ale hiding in the corner, behind a dark wooden chair collecting layers of dust in our tiny foyer. It's been sitting around for over 14 months! The Lambic blend of yeasts and bacteria have finally had their fill and are completely exhausted. I'm glad there is a nice thin & slimy pellicle protecting this precious brew, because time and again, I forget to refill an evaporated airlock.

Truth is, I really didn't know how to go about bottling a beer that's aged so long, especially under a more acidic & alcoholic environment. Until very recently, I've come to meet a new visitor to my blog who was dealing with a very similar old ale. I simply wanted to bottle this beer, but he suggested brewing a new batch of old ale to blend with the old batch of old ale. I thought, this is the more historical thing to do. Without hesitation, this beer fresh batch of old ale budged its way into my busy brewing schedule.

I must express my complete appreciation for Mikey's help today. I really couldn't have done it without you. I ran into technical difficulties with a borrowed carboy that seemed to be scratched on the inside, and decided not to use it. We had to keg and bottle the Copper Lager 2 in order to use it's carboy for this ale's primary fermenter. Then we bottled the Raisin Toast Stout for the yeast sediment resting at the bottom. Overall, the brewday went over very well, and wrapped up by 1:30pm. The mash temp started pretty high, so I got it down, and combined with a fairly thick mash, the efficiency suffered a little bit.

After this ferments and is ready for blending, I'll write about the bottling procedure and plans for extended aging of a blended portion. Take a look at the Ancient Ale for it's original post and recipe. The photo to the right shows the Ancient Ale's thin pellicle. If you like pellicles, click here for more photos.

Fresh Old Ale

Grains
7.00 lbs. Organic 2-Row Pale
2.00 lbs. Vienna Malt
1.00 lbs. British Crystal 60L
0.75 lbs. Crisp Amber Malt
o.75 lbs. Flaked Barley
0.46 lbs. Torrified Wheat
0.35 lbs. Special B

Hops
.60 oz. Pheonix, 10%, pellet, 90min
.60 oz. Progress, 6%, pellet, 90min
.40 oz. Pheonix, 10%, pellet, 10min
.40 oz. Progress, 6%, pellet, 5min

Yeast
Wyeast 1099: Whitbread Ale (slurry from 1gal starter)

Brew Day Stats

Brewed: 2/28/08
Racked blend w/Ancient Ale: 3/11/08
Bottled straight: 3/11/08
Bottled blend w/Ancient Ale: 3/11/08

Water Adjustment: added to only strike water...
.375 tsp. CaCl, .625 tsp. Gypsum, .25 tsp. acid blend

H2O/Grain Ratio: 1.20qt/lb
Mash Ph: 5.4
Sacch. Rest Temp/Time: 160-158-156-153°F/1 hour
Mash Out Temp/Time: 166°F/15min
1st Batch SG: 1.066

2nd Batch Sparge Vol/Temp: 2.75 gal/180°F water & hit 170°F
2nd Batch SG: n/a

Pre-Boil Vol: 6 gal
Pre-Boil SG: 1.055
Boil Time: 2 hours
Post-Boil Vol: 4.55 gal
Mash Efficiency: 79.6%

OG: 1.070
IBU: 48
Color/SRM: Amber Brown/15-19
Ferment Temp: 67-70°F

FG: 1.022
ABW: 5.78%
ABV: 7.2%

T&C Nut Brown Ale

Why does it have to be an absolutely beautiful day outside when we're stuck inside brewing another batch of beer? Just why couldn't it have been nasty weather like today...drizzly, chilly and damp. But with an open door, we invited the good weather in and got a good breeze pushing through the kitchen.

The planning of this beer goes back a good couple months. I asked my next door neighbor, Chad, what kind of beer he liked, and what beer he'd like to brew. He used to brew extract batches many years ago, and was interested in seeing the all-grain process. He talked about some styles that were fairly simple, balanced and easy to put down. So we came up with tentative plans to brew a batch of Nut Brown Ale.

The most difficult part about this beer was setting a date. Finally we chose the 30th of September. As for the brew day, it couldn't have went smoother. It only took 5 hours from dough-in to pitching the yeast.

The yeast showed signs of digestion within a couple hours, and was happy chowing down on all that maltose only a few hours after that. They're having a ball in there, swirling all around at about 72+ degrees. Its on the high side of the temp spectrum, and I've read that this style comes out better from a lower fermentation temp. But it smells very malty, toasty and chocolaty, so I'm not worried. Actually the scent pluming from it's carbonic exhalations actually remind me of one of those very first beers I made. I'm sure this one will taste so much better.

I looked all around for tips on Nut Browns, and there isn't a whole lot out there. In this recipe, I'm using two new malts. Victory, which is very close to Biscuit malt. One pound should lend a toasted character that, when mixed with the chocolate malt, will hopefully result in a "nutty" aroma and taste. Then I picked up a new Organic 2-Row base malt that's offered at the Brew & Grow. It crushes very well with minimal dust, and has a light aroma with a very mild taste...now we can call this beer 79.6% ORGANIC!

T&C Nut Brown Ale
5.9 Gallons

Grains
8.00 lb. Organic 2-row
1.00 lb. Victory
0.50 lb. UK Crystal 60L
0.25 lb. Crystal 80L
0.30 lb. UK Chocolate

Hops
.60 oz. East Kent Goldings, 6.9%, whole, 60min
.60 oz. Fuggle, 4.0%, whole, 60min
.25 oz. East Kent Goldings, 6.5%, whole, 10min
.25 oz. Fuggle, 4.0%, whole, 10min

Yeast
Wyeast 1088 British Ale (1.5 qt. Starter)

Brew Day Stats

Brew Day: 9/30/07
Racked: just primary
Bottled: 10/15/07

Water Adjustment: none...just filtered Chicago water

H2O/Grain Ratio: 1.4 qt/lb
Mash Ph: Ph strips may be worn out/stale
Sacch. Rest Time: 1 hour
Sacch. Rest Temp: 154°F
Mash Out Time: 10 min
Mash Out Temp: 166°F

2nd Batch Sparge: 3.75 gallons of 180°F rose mash to 168°F

Pre-Boil Vol: 7.5 gallons
Pre-Boil SG: 1.0417
Boil Time: 1.5 hrs
Post-Boil Vol: 5.9 gallons

OG: 1.0488
IBU: 23
Color/SRM: 15-18 - reddish brown
Mash Efficiency: Approx. 78.7%
FG: 1.013
ABW: 3.76%
ABV: 4.7%

Fermentation Temp: 70 on up to about 78*F
Cost: $26.58, .45¢/12oz., $2.72/6-pack

Tasting Notes & Photo

Appearance: Clear, rich brown w/ shade of amber, medium-low carbonation w/ lingering ring of bubbles
Aroma: Clean, soft malts, nuts, toast, sweet
Taste: Smooth, crystal malt sweentess with good toasted/nut flavor, light cocoa, clean & light hop bitterness
Mouthfeel: Medium-light body
Aftertaste: Light hop bitterness lingers, slightly sweet, cocoa
Drinkability: Balanced, very drinkable, session style

Ancient Ale - A Very Old Ale

I think I'll call this very old ale...Ancient Ale. Today marks 6 months of aging, and the longest I've ever bulk aged a beer. Since its original conception, I've significantly changed my attitude along side its progress. Since it's still "healthy," I've pretty much determined that its best to let it age in bulk...indefinitely. Periodic sampling will dictate my course of action.

On March 5, I wrote about how a pellicle was forming on the top of the tertiary fermenter. At that time it was still pretty cool in our dining room. Since then the average ambient temperature has risen. As a result, fermentation has really picked up. So much that the intensity of rising bubbles has caused the thin slimy pellicle to completely fall apart and into solution. I was really curious how it would grow...oh well.

Also we described its youthful state from sampling a bottle filled during secondary racking. Click here to see the entry "Pellicle" for the description (in small print). In that post I wrote about making flavor additions like dried fruit, rinds, dry hops, and spices. At this point flavor samples will help to confirm whether those additions will add any real interest.

Now that the blend of Lambic yeast and bacteria have been working on the residual sugars (1.030 before Lambic Blend) for 108 days, I'm please to see that the gravity has dropped around 6 points to a current gravity of 1.024. At this time I describe the Ancient Ale as...

An aroma of fruits and soft flowers (lily) malt and some citrus. It comes as a surprise that the bold hop flavors and aromas prior to the Lambic blend have vanished, or are too subtle for me to sense. The hop presence is only detectable within the bittering qualities. There is a very fast succession of flavor. It starts with a dark fruit flavor. A slit second after that a brett/"horse-like" taste rushes over the tongue and fades rapidly. Then the fruityness comes back with spicey flavors. In the finish there are malt notes and a lingering mild sourness towards the back of the tongue. An alcoholic flavor with a very slight oxidized quality hangs around. There is definitely a more thin and sherry-like quality. (Since my brother is very good at pulling out all the most subtle flavors in most food and drinks, I'm waiting to add his critique to my own.)

Though I'm positive the characteristics will evolve, at this point my ideas for this beer are to add some dry hops, but I'll wait until the flavors get more intense.

The recipe was formulated primarily by using the book Designing Great Beers, and other online sources. I like how Ray Daniels talks about how some versions of Old Ale can be aggressively hopped, and some can have a definite presence of bacterial souring. From what I could tell from the tables, I came up with a recipe that should fall within the range. The thing is, I've never had an old ale before. I'm not really sure how aromatic they are, nor how hoppy or malty. I'm going with what I think an old ale could taste like. So far I'm please with what's happening to it. It's definitely unique, and all my intentions for it are unfolding quite well.

Ancient Ale (Very Old Ale)
Brewed on 11/5/06 - 6 gallon primary
SG after Primary: 1.030

Bottled: 3/11/08
FG at bottling: 1.019
ABW: 6.72%
ABV: 8.4%

Grains (OG 1.083)
10.00 lbs. 2-Row Pale Malt
4.00 lbs. German Vienna
2.00 lbs. Belgian Aromatic
1.50 lbs. Flaked Wheat
0.50 lb. Belgian Special B
0.13 lb. Roasted Barley

Hops (57 IBU)
3 oz. Kent Goldings 6.6%, whole, 75min.
1 oz. Kent Goldings 6.6%, whole, 10min.

Yeast
Wyeast 1728 - Scottish Ale (13 days in primary, 1 month secondary, 14 months in tertiary)
Wyeast Lambic Blend (added to tertiary on 1/17/07)

Going All-Grain

My brother David went to a NOmeansno show back in Spring 2005. After the show, he made his way over to their merch table to see the goods. Among all the albums and t-shirts he found something just a bit unusual…a home made video about making home made beer. Looks like these legendary punk rockers were also big into brewing their own beer! And they were doing it all-grain!

So David bought the video as a bit of a surprise. Its a rad video. It clearly shows the punk rock way to make beer…which is pretty much the same way anyone else would make the stuff, but they’re punk rockers, and infuse the video with their own punk songs about brewing beer. It’s a must see. Oh, the only way you'd see it is to go to their show, or ask me to lend it to you. Thanks to Mr. John Hanson's video, I am now an all-grain brewer.

All-grain brewing totally rocks! The BIG difference is that with all-grain brewing you are in total control of the malt profile (aroma, taste & color) in the finished beer. My experience with malt extract has resulted in a similar “fruity” malt flavor and aroma no matter what style of beer I tried to make. On the contrary, all of the all-grain batches taste completely different, and much closer to what the style calls for. It’s a lot more fun, it requires a better understating of the large variety of malts, and the finished beer tastes loads better.

For our first batch, I decided to go with the recipe they had on the video. Its a light Scottish style, and very simple. This beer came out great!

Johnny's Rockin' Ale
Approx. 4.5%

7.5 lbs. Pale Malt (2-row)
0.5 lbs. Crystal Malt
2.0 oz. Chocolate Malt
2.0 oz. N. Brewer Hops (Pellets), 60min.
Irish Moss & Gypsum
Dry Yeast
Cost: Under $20 (about 30 cents per bottle)

Much like music or art, creative choices implemented within every step of the all-grain procedures provides the opportunity to express myself fully. In the beginning, I had to familiarize myself with it through practice. I was adjusting to the "science" and methodology of it all. After gaining experience with technicalities of many different beer styles, I now understand and appreciate the finer elements/variables. Using the AG method, I'm in total control over how the finished beer will taste. I'm sure bakers, coffee roasters, and other culinary artisans feel similarly. It is really a great feeling. And at this point I see how artistic expression is starting to blend with the practical/scientific element.

AG brewing is surely a more lengthy process, but it's much more fun and rewarding. I especially appreciate the assistance of my brother David and old HS friend Brian Mateja (they are always ready to help out). We're like a team that can easily work through difficulties and tighten productivity. Most of all, the finished beer is usually quite good. Most beers I make don't have outstanding negative traits, but I do have some areas to improve on...mainly malty, hop aroma, and alcoholic presence.

After a couple years of AG brewing, I've become a little more "scientific." It seems to be a natural inclination due to the required attention at every step in the process. After brewing experimental batches, I see how my beers can take on a sort of "artistic" expression. I plan to explore and write about these topics of "science" and "art" as it applies to our beers. I welcome everyone back to read those in the future..

Thanks for checking out my brewing journal. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed putting it together. It's definitely fun writing about brewing in between brewing. I plan on keeping up with it often. I'm also looking forward to changing the scope by periodically adding posts about bread making and fermenting foods such as kimchi, krauts, pickling and kombucha.