Sweaty Bretty Rye - Brett Rye Saison

I was a bit disappointed in my last saison experiment (in December, no associated blog entry). I believe the carafa II that I used threw some "nutty" notes into the beer, and it turned out an ugly brown. Not what I was going for. (The brett C portion tastes promising though.)

Recent failure in mind, I thought I'd brew up a replacement batch that was more in line with successful past batches. I wanted to make it peppery, but with a soft mouthfeel (I'm targeting something similar to one of my favorite saisons, Logsdon's Seizoen Bretta). For the pepper and mouthfeel I used 15% each of wheat and rye in the grainbill.

Requested Recipe: Little Heater Brett Stout

I've had a few requests for this recipe, so I thought I'd publish it here. It took first in the Belgian Specialty Ale category at Knickerbocker Battle of the Brews in November, and is a great winter beer. Funny thing is this was a "clean out my grain stash" beer, where I tossed a bunch of random stuff together...

Turbid Mash Lambic 2014

If I was to drown in a vat (or hogshead) of beer that I'd prefer it to be Lambic (or Gueuze). For my palate, Lambic's complex combination of funk and tart is heaven in a glass, and I can imagine no better style-driven drinking session than one exploring these beers. They can be a bit pricey, but it is a special treat to sit down with a few friends and drink around a few bottles.

Despite my affection for the style, I have never brewed one before. These beers require not only prowess in the brewhouse (as I will detail shortly), but also patience after brewday. There is no hard-and-fast rule regarding how long you should allow Lambic to sit in secondary (most brewers would say at least a year), but I had previously shunned tying up one of my vessels for such a long time. With a recent purchase of more kegs, I decided the timing was right to try my hand at brewing a Lambic.

Brewery Resolutions for 2014...(If its on the internet I have to do it, right?)

2013 was a great year of beer. (From Hill Farmstead's Zwanze Day).

It being the time to make resolutions and all that, I thought I'd post a couple of my personal goals for the upcoming year in beer. I'll just rattle these off:

2013.08.18 - Sweaty Bretty Petite

Another saison post here. Basically, my larger saison that is parsed down to be a table beer. 5 gallons of this will go to our friends' wedding in October. (You can check out their captivating blog on farming, The Farmer's Husband, here.) The concept was simply an easy drinking yet interesting beer.

Sweaty Bretty (brewed 4/13/2013); AND 3 things I have learned about my taste in Saisons

I started this blog when I began honing my saison skills (about a year ago), and have pretty much dialed in a "house recipe" at this point. While I do like the "classic" saisons (Dupont, certainly!), I find most commercial saisons to lack the full ester profile that these wonderful little yeasties can kick off if they are treated right. For those who know what I *really* like to drink (don't judge me!), I suppose it is also no surprise that I love the pairing of the spicy yeastiness of the saison yeasts with a earthy and fruity Brettanomyces character.

The basement lab set-up.

Before I shoot out my basic recipe to the world for the scrutiny of all, I wanted to list three rules I've adopted for my saisons. If you've read the above paragraph, the first might not be too surprising...

The Barrel Project: The Philosophical Implications of a Barrel...

The Heidelburg Tun in Germany. A very dilute
surface to liquor area... 

"Everybody has heard of the great Heidelberg Tun, and most people have seen it, no doubt. It is a wine-cask as big as a cottage, and some traditions say it holds eighteen hundred thousand bottles, and other traditions say it holds eighteen hundred million barrels. I think it likely that one of these statements is a mistake, and the other is a lie. However, the mere matter of capacity is a thing of no sort of consequence, since the cask is empty, and indeed has always been empty, history says. An empty cask the size of a cathedral could excite but little emotion in me. I do not see any wisdom in building a monster cask to hoard up emptiness in, when you can get a better quality, outside, any day, free of expense."                                   - Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad

I think that it is fair to say that within the past few years the oak barrel (in its various iterations and usages) has joined the hop as one of the hottest trend in the craft beer world. And for me it is almost more exciting than the hop. Here's why...

Keep it Crispy: Slightly Soured Citra Saison with Peppercorns

Coca-cola my ass! What's missing is a nice porter...
it could be sitting right there...

Battling a drafty house and consuming porter for warmth, I've recently been planning the nice crispy beers I will be drinking to slake my thirst during the summer. Although not a strict votary when it comes to drinking, I do find my year to be divided into two brewing seasons that correspond to my schedule at the university: richer malt-forward beers in late summer, fall and early winter (the "fall semester," in prep for the alcoholic hibernations of winter break); and drier, crisper beers in late winter, spring, and early summer (the "spring semester," gearing up for the horseshoe tournaments and canoe trips of summer).



While mid-winter is made for cast-iron stoves and comfort food, mid-summer (as Shakespeare has taught us) is for free-wheeling adventures and drinking in quantity with reunited friends. It being spring semester, I'm in prep mode for crispy summer drinking.