Out Of Key Brewing

I did a ten gallon split batch of Harry Knuckle Rye IPA.  Half is fermenting on US05 and the other on wyeast bavarian lager yeast at 50 degrees.  I am going to try and have the ale half ready for the holidays.

On Sunday I did a 5 gallon batch of Schwartz beer.  Not sure on the name.  The recipe broke down like this:

Pilsner (2.0 SRM) 60.5%
Munich Malt, Dark (15.5 SRM) 27.9%
Carafa III (525.0 SRM)  7.0%
Caramel/Crystal Malt – 60L (60.0 SRM) 4.7%

Magnum [14.10%] (60 min) Hops 24.3 IBU
Spalter [4.10%] (20 min) Hops 3.0 IBU

Mash at 154 for 60 minutes.

Mill the the Carafa seperate from the other grains and do not mash it.  You want to cap the mash with these grains. I added them to the mash before the first vorlouf.

The Schwartz is for the St. Patricks day party.  It should have 2 solid months to lager. It is fermenting in the same water bath as the Harry Knuckle Rye Lager.  I used a 2 liter starter of Bohemian lager yeast.

I came across a great blog today by a Masters Candidate and Professional Brewer from Colorado that focuses strictly on the funk.  He is using his blog to document his research into several different strains of  brettanomyces.  While many of his entries in his blog are quite technical, they are full of interesting information.  What really strikes me about the blog is that while he is doing a lot of lab work there is ongoing practical research going on @ Odells.  I would love the opportunity to sample some of that research.

Went to the Chicago Beer Society’s First Thursday meeting for the last night with Jon. I brought along a growler of my Bourbon Vanilla Porter and a liter of the Swine Flu Dark Mild.

I heard good feedback on both but I would say that the Porter received with great reviews. I must have had 15 people tell me that it was a great beer. Several told me that it was the best beer they had that night, commercial or otherwise. Great feedback. I knew this was a great beer (and have told many people that it probably is the best beer I have brewed) but to hear it from a more independent source really felt good. Ive got a handful of bottles that I pulled off the keg that I plan on entering into a few competitions this February.  Just really not sure what Category to enter it in.  I am leaning towards 12b Robust Porter but am not sure how the vanilla and bourbon would affect the judging.

The Dark mild is a good beer but of a totally different character. I think a couple people were disappointed when it did not exhibit the same strong flavors that the porter did. I think this is akin to saying that the chicken is awful because it tastes nothing like steak. I did have Randy Mosher try the beer and the first thing he asked me was if it was an extract beer. Not exactly off to a rousing start here. He admitted that he was not an expert at the style but from what he knew of it, he thought it was spot on. Another homebrewer thought that perhaps it was too clean. That there were not enough residual sugars remaining and that it was not fruity enough. Perhaps fermenting a touch higher and under pitching will resolve this.

All in all a great evening. It was really great to be able to meet Randy and tell him home much I really enjoyed his book Radical Brewing.  Its not every day that you have the chance to have brewing royalty try one of your beers.

Came across these guys today in a thread about yeast costs over at probrewer.  Their site has a ton of great yeast information including a section on how to troubleshoot your fermentation.
If you have any interest in yeast it is probably worth checking out.

After over 40 days of fermentation the sticke bock nuts (thanks again for the name Nate N) seems to finally be approaching it’s terminal gravity.  When I checked the gravity last night it had hit 1.022, down from the original 1.092.   The 40 day fermentation was probably a result of underpitching the yeast.  Even though I stepped up the smack pack 2 times I was still short probably by a factor of 2.  Add the fact that it only got the shake treatment for oxygen (+ a touch of EVOO) and it most likely did not have adequate aeration as well.  The new oxygen system will help with that in the future.

The hydro sample was quite nice.  Very malty with a solid hint of hop bitterness.  Similar to a barleywine without any of the fruitiness.  I think its going to be a nice beer.  Perfect for cold winter evenings.

I bumped up the fermentation temps to 60 for a couple days and will probably pull it out of temperature control this weekend.  It will find itself into a keg next week.

Now what do I do with this massive Bavarian Lager yeast cake?