Brew Day: Dry Hopped Tripel

It has been quite a busy time for me till now. In fact it has been so busy that I haven’t even brewed for a while. On a recent trip with friends, I carried a case of 4 of my beers along with other notable tipples. The objective of carrying my own beer was to give my friends a taste of craft beer and not depend entirely on the mass produced horse piss which at a resort can cost quite a lot.

The responses and reviews to the beers were generally positive and favorable. I carried a Stout, a session IPA, a Simcoe IPA and a Hoppy Dubbel, of which the Hoppy Dubbel received the most praise. Brewing the Dubbel was simple and most of the prep was done beforehand which led to a smooth brew day which made me decide to take things to the next level and attempt to brew a Tripel.

Now, the Dubbel didn’t have the strong hot alcohol stab that big beers have and this can be attributed to some extent to the finishing hops. Since the Tripel is a bigger beer than a Dubbel and not having any Belgian yeast to brew a true blue Tripel, I suspected that the beer would have a strong alcohol note that may overwhelm the palate. To keep that alcohol aroma at a minimum, I decided to mask it with a dry hop regimen after 3 to 4 weeks of fermentation. I was also inspired by this post by Malcolm Frazer of Brulosophy.com to carry out a staggered addition of the sugars to the beer during fermentation and not add any of it to the boil.

This 5 litre batch is smaller than my regular 8 litre batches because I didnt want a large batch of a big beer and more so because this is an experimental batch of the Tripel. I used a mix of Pilsner and the remaining amount of Munich and kept the IBUs close to the same level as the Dubbel. I'm not sure where but I missed out on one gravity point according to the refractometer as against the recipe I formulated in brewersfriend.com. My biggest concern was the lack of a Belgian yeast (I'm using the oft used S-04 here and I am expecting brickbats) which would lend the fruity aroma that Tripels are known for, but I think I can try the next Tripel when I get hold of a Belgian yeast.

Right now, its been about 4 weeks of fermentation and the beer is undergoing its dry hop regimen. It does have the expected nostril-irritating alcohol aroma and I’m hoping that the dry hops will reduce this characteristic when I pour it for a tasting.

Dry Hopped Tripel

Specifics

Batch size (litres): 5 litres
Type: All Grain

IBU: 27

SRM: 14

OG: 1.084

Grains and Sugars

1 kg Pilsner
750 grams Munich 20

100 grams sugar added after 2 weeks in the fermenter

Hops

3 grams Horizon @ 60
4 grams Simcoe dry hopped for 5 days
4 grams Cascadedry hopped for 5 days

Yeast

Fermentis S-04 Ale Yeast. I made a yeast starter two weeks ago, cold crashed it and pitched it.

Schedules

Mash at 63°C for 60 minutes.

Batch sparged at 80°C.

Boiled for 60 minutes.

Brew Day: Simple Hoppy Dubbel

Going by the definition and most recipes, a Dubbel sounds like a boring beer. The all grain version has a malt character contributed by some base malt. Then there’s a good amount of sugar to up the gravity and keep it there. The hop additions should contribute around 25 to 40 IBUs and the Belgian yeast should produce mild fruity notes that complement the high ABV and bitterness.

Going by the review of Dubbel, it sounds to be anything but a boring beer. This is one beer that is bound to get drinkers hammered quickly but its also a beer that can keep the drinker warm if consumed over a long conversation. I had some time over the weekend and it felt good to get back to brewing after a while and decided to brew a Dubbel. The recipe I share below has had its fair share of additions, subtractions, changes, doubts and research. The day before I brewed, I went back to the original recipe and tweaked it a bit.

The grain bill is simple: Pilsner, Munich and sugar. Having already brewed a few recipes with different sugars, I had a fair number of options for the sugar addition: jaggery, cane sugar and Belgian candi. I decided to go with cane sugar as it was probably the easiest of all sugar additions; I would have to go out and buy jaggery and making 500 grams of Belgian candi is no easy task.

Bitterness was kept at 25 IBUs with 5 grams of Horizon, but I was constantly thinking of improving things. It was then that I decided to make this a more interesting Dubbel by adding some finishing hops. I measured out 4 grams each of Triple Perle, Cascade, Lemon Drop and Goldings and added it in the last 15 minutes of the boil and I’m glad I did this.

I do not have Belgian yeast and that is why this beer is not a true Belgian Dubbel. I made a yeast starter a week ago with S-04 and pitched it. Two days after pitching the yeast, I can still hear the fermentation going strong and the aroma is heavenly. And that’s when I thought of a small dry hop regimen. I will decide whether I need to dry hop or not after fermentation and doing an aroma check then.

One thing I decided to do with this beer is to give it some time to mature and mellow. I’m not thinking of ageing this beer like the Eis Stout, but a one month time frame before I open a bottle should have its advantages.

Simple Hoppy Dubbel

Specifics

Batch size (litres): 8 litres
Type: All Grain

IBU: 25

SRM: 9

OG: 1.078

Grains and Sugars

1.5 kg Pilsner
500 grams Munich 20

500 grams sugar

Hops

5 grams Horizon @ 60
4 grams Triple Perle  @ 15
4 grams Cascade @ 15
4 grams Lemon Drop @ 15
4 grams Goldings @ 15

Yeast

Fermentis S-04 Ale Yeast. I made a yeast starter a week ago and pitched it.

Schedules

Mash at 65°C for 60 minutes.

Batch sparged at 80°C.

Boiled for 60 minutes.

Tasting Day: Pomegranate Cream Ale

Recipe and Brewday here.

After about 3 weeks in the bottle, I popped open a bottle of the Pomegranate Cream Ale.

The last time I had a pink or pinkish colored beer was at Punjabi By Nature and I ordered it based on its description. The nose smelt of vomit, which contributed to a poor drinking experience. This pink beer however has a lot going for it.

The Cream Ale has proved itself to be a very good base beer. My other choice at the time of recipe formulation was a wheat beer but I’m glad I went with the Cream Ale. The low SRM of the Cream Ale and the dark pomegranate juice is the reason why this beer appears pink. Against the background, the body of the beer may not seem pink, but it is.

On the pour, a bright white head forms slowly and it sticks around for some time. The body is light and as you can see, pink. In fact, it is lighter in body than the Cream Ale. The use of a secondary fermenter has also provided a remarkably clear beer when compared to the Cream Ale, which remained hazy throughout.

The first sip was revealing: truly tart beer, and an inviting tartness at that. The pomegranate tartness is pronounced, but it isn’t overwhelming. I was hoping for a bit of sweetness too, but I guess all of the natural fruit sugars may have fermented out completely. 

I smelt a sour note on the nose, but this isn’t really a sour beer. I think the tartness provides a slightly different sour note and not a real sour note like a Berliner Weisse.

The light body, easy drinking and that slight tartness makes this a good summer beer.

I would rate this beer as a marginally good beer. It isn’t a particularly good one where I would speak volumes of it but as I said earlier, a marginally good beer. However, it is miles ahead of the Watermelon Wheat Ale I brewed earlier with no dank, vegetal notes and unpretentious drinkability.

The thing I’m glad about is that fact that the Cream Ale has proved itself to be a worthy base beer and I’ll continue to use it for other fruit beers or beers where I have additions in the secondary. Like a Mango Ale during the mango season.

Tasting Day: Simcoe SMaSH IPA

Recipe and Brewday here.

It has been a busy, busy November for me and in anticipation of this busy period, I brewed a few beers so I could come home and have some of them. I think that idea worked because work keeps me busy, but I don’t have to worry about running out of beer any time soon.

Last week, after close to 4 weeks of carbonation, I opened a bottle of the Simcoe SMaSH IPA. In as few words as possible, this beer is a mix of good and bad beer characteristics.

As I opened the bottle, a fair bit of hiss and smoke came out indicating a good carbonation. I did not have to pour aggressively and a two finger thick head quickly formed and remained for some time after which it ended up at the side of the glass. The color, being an extract beer, was expected to be around 25 SRM and it is spot on with its orangish-brownish, murky opaque look.

On the nose, there is a heavenly aroma of pines and earthy notes that make me want to smell this beer more than drink it. Needless to say, it was very, very good on the nose. In fact, I will say that the nose was the best part of this beer.

If there’s one aspect of this beer that trounces all others, it’s the bitterness. At a palate-shattering 62 IBUs, this beer coated my entire mouth for a while and made it seem like I was chewing through hops. The other problem with such high IBUs for me was that it took a while for me to truly taste food during the drinking session. The bitterness played around with my taste buds and I sipped water between sips of beer, and even rinsed my mouth quite a few times.

In a way, this beer is quite good, but the bitterness doesn’t allow any of those good characteristics to shine. It’s a beer I’ll make again, but I will certainly be more careful with the calculations.

Brew Day: Orange Peel Pale Ale

This was a beer I planned to brew during a long time back, but the brew day unfortunately got pushed due to work.

Even though many, many wise people have stated that packaged fruit juice in India is just coloured, artificially flavoured plain water, there are times when I reach for a Tropicana or a Real fruit juice. I usually keep away from packaged juices and prefer the freshly squeezed one but depending on the time of the day and workload, sometimes that orange flavoured drink has an impact. Maybe it works differently for different people but this is how it works for me.

Some brewers prefer adding fruit juices or extracts to their beer. I prefer adding the actual fruit or sometimes, fresh fruit puree. In this case, it was going to be orange peel. I had quite a large amount of oranges sitting at home and I decided on a simple extract brew. Unlike an earlier beer where I added orange peels to the secondary and had to deal with a strong, overwhelming orange flavour in the beer, this time I decided to add a large amount of orange peel for a long boil, say around 30 minutes, rather than a standard 15 or 5 minute boil.

The only problem with this approach is that I feared the orange aroma would be lost during fermentation. It would decrease from the initial few days of fermentation and may vanish completely by the end of fermentation. I could be completely wrong here but there was only one way to get orange flavour in the beer and keep it there during fermentation: add a truckload of orange peels during the boil. Yes, a truckload, like around 200 grams of orange peel for an 8 litre batch.

I took a whiff of the fermenter last week and there was a strong aroma of malt and a very pronounced orange note to it. I took another whiff of the fermenter yesterday and the orange aroma is not quite as much as I expected. I was right in guessing that fermentation would drive away the orange aroma. I will have to taste this beer before confirming if I need to add even more orange peel to the boil.

Orange Peel Pale Ale

Specifics

Batch size (litres): 8 litres
Type: Extract

IBU: 20

SRM: 16

OG: 1.046

Grains and Sugars
1 kg Dry Malt Extract
 - 500 grams added at the start of boil
 - 500 grams at flame out

Hops
4 grams Horizon @ 45 min

Other Additions

Add 200 grams of orange peel at 30 minutes to the boil.

Yeast

Fermentis S-04 Ale Yeast

Schedules
Boiled for 45 minutes.

Brew Day: Pomegranate Cream Ale

I made a Watermelon Wheat Ale and that’s about the only fruit beer I’ve made.

So when I sat down with my last kilo of Pilsner malt before restocking, I had various ideas for a simple yet flavorful beer. I was thinking along the lines of a previously brewed Cream Ale and add a bit of fruit puree or fruit juice in the secondary. For a fruit beer a lightly hopped wheat beer seems to be the best base beer, but my plan was to re-brew a slightly different version of my Cream Ale and I will let you know if this forms a good base. My understanding is that it will, but I will wait till I taste the beer and confirm my findings.

The decision about which fruit to use for this beer was simple: the in-season pomegranate. It’s a bit tart and sometimes if they’re not ripe, they can be sour too and choosing the right pomegranates can make all the difference.

There was a bit of an apprehension about how long I should keep the beer in secondary. I had a bit of an issue with the Water Wheat Ale in that the watermelon puree was in the secondary for about 3 days but ended up with a very pronounced vegetal flavor. But if I went with one day in secondary, I fear I may have a high amount of unfermented fruit sugars that can over-carbonate the beers and even give me a few bottle bombs. This brewwiki link said pomegranates are very subtle tasting, and its best to use pomegranate juice sold in stores. That wasn’t much nor was there enough to answer the million questions I had and there wasn’t enough information anywhere else that I could rely on. So I decided to go it alone: add about a litre of fresh pomegranate juice for 2 days and see how things turned out.

Based on this experiment from the folks at brulosophy.com, I targeted a mash temperature of 63°C to extract as much fermentables as possible. I got my hands on a new hop, Horizon, with about 12.3% AA and clean bittering properties and that was chosen for the single hop addition. Before adding the hops to the boil, I smelled it and it had spicy, pungent notes to and I think it will be interesting to see how this hop works with something as simple as a Cream Ale.

From the recipe, it’s a low gravity, really pale yellow beer. But the pomegranate juice with its sugars will raise the alcohol levels slightly and turn the beer to a slightly orange shade from the pale yellow.

Pomegranate Cream Ale (Tasting notes here)

Specifics

Batch size (litres): 8 litres
Type: All Grain, Fruit Beer

IBU: 25

SRM: 2.4, although this will change to a slight orange with the addition of pomegranate juice

OG: 1.036

Grains and Sugars

1.2 kg Pilsner

300 grams Flaked Rice

Hops

6 grams Horizon @ 45

Other Additions

Add 1 litre of fresh pomegranate juice to the beer in secondary for 2 days after a week of fermentation.

Yeast

Fermentis S-04 Ale Yeast

Schedules

Mash at 63°C for 60 minutes.

Batch sparged at 80°C.

Boiled for 45 minutes.

Brew Day: Simcoe SMaSH IPA

Honestly, its good to get back to brewing. No, it really feels good to sit down and review a recipe, go through my hops and malts and to check on my yeast starter from time to time. But I wish I did a better job of reviewing my recipes.

This beer was intended to be a riff of my Citra SMaSH Dark Ale with a few minute differences.

Truth be told, this beer was the result of a simple screw up. The original intent was to make a clone of the Citra SMaSH Dark Ale as is. No changes, none whatsoever. But the hop additions went wrong. I loaded the calculator at brewersfriend.com, entered the details and when it came to the hop additions, I added 15 grams of Simcoe (12.7% AA) to be boiled for 30 minutes to get about 24 IBUs which sounded fair enough, although it was slightly higher than the IBUs of the Citra SMaSH. So I was finally set.

It was only after I added the hops to the wort that I sat down to review my recipe and saw that when I converted from US to Metric units on the calculator, I forgot to change the batch size. The default batch size in the calculator is 5 gallons US, which when converted to Metric is 20.8 liters. And 15 grams of Simcoe will add 24 IBUs for 20.8 liters of beer over a 30 minute boil. Only, I wasn’t making 20.8 liters, it’s a much smaller 8 liter batch. I realized my mistake and changed the batch size to 8 liters to see that the calculated IBUs now stood at 62.

And that’s that. Every brewer has a story to tell about their beers and this is mine. So now I’ve got a beer that has IPA level bitterness but is also a SMaSH because there’s just one malt and just one hop and Simcoe will be used again to dry hop. So this is a Simcoe SMaSH IPA. I hope it can be called that but I'm afraid it would never completely fit the description of either an IPA or a SMaSH.

Simcoe SMaSH IPA (Tasting notes here)

Specifics

Batch size (litres): 8 litres
Type: Extract

IBU: 62

SRM: 25

OG: 1.060

Grains and Sugars
1.3 kg Dry Malt Extract
 - 600 grams added at the start of boil
 - 700 grams at flame out

Hops
15 grams Simcoe @ 30 min
10 grams Simcoe dry hopped for 5 days

Yeast

Fermentis S-04 Ale Yeast

Schedules
Boiled for 30 minutes.

Losing Beer and Getting Back

Its been quite a while since I posted anything here. This is a small post about what’s been happening so far.

I brewed two small batches of beer on a Friday and then I had to be hospitalized for 4 days about a week after I brewed. I couldn't get back to the beers quickly enough and when I finally did, I looked at spoilt beer in the fermenters, both of which I had to throw away with a heavy heart.

I’m in the pink of health now and I’m currently writing a few recipes to get back to brewing. These beers are simple, calculatedly flavoursome and easy drinking beers. Winter is approaching and usually this calls for some high gravity, body warming beers, but I’d like to get back to brewing with a few simple beers and then move onto the more complex ones.

I will start posting recipes shortly, so thank you for sticking around.

Tasting Day: Amber Wheat IPA

Recipe and Brewday here.

After about 3 weeks of carbonation, I opened a bottle of the Amber Wheat IPA just before a London derby in the EPL. The London derby was fiery but I will stick to reviewing the beer in this post.

This IPA pours a proper thick head, much like a head every brewer dreams of for all his beers. The head sticks around all the way to the end of the glass and then some. The pour is a beautiful dark amber and it is slightly darker than what I expected. It seemed to me like I took a bottle from one of my extract batches.

This is a medium bodied beer with pines and resins on the nose. Surprisingly, the aroma is less citrus even though there was a fair amount of Cascade and Simcoe in the dry hop. Although this was fermented with WB-06, there are no clove or banana notes on the nose and it wasn’t intended either. It was intentionally fermented at a slightly higher temperature to avoid the lighter aromas that WB-06 would have in a wheat ale.

This is not a perfect IPA because the aroma is not as intense as I would like it to be, but it does fit other characteristics of an IPA fairly well. I do not have a tolerance towards highly bitter brews and this beer was brewed with just 40 IBUs and the 40 IBUs definitely show: it is a clean bitterness and does not overpower the beer at all. 

The beer finishes crisp on the palate, it is slightly sweet but very drinkable with no overpowering characteristic. If I brew this beer again, and there are very good chances I will, I will tweak it to have a more hoppy nose and a less amber color, and that’s about all the changes I would want in it.

Tasting Day: Summer Wheat Ale

Recipe and Brewday here.

The first thing I understood from this beer was that I screwed up the carbonation. Even after an aggressive pour, it just had a plain jane 2-3 mm thick head. It stuck around for some time and then receded to give way to a clear headless beer.

Baring that one glitch, this beer has a lot going for it. Without much effort on my part, it is a much clearer beer than most of my other light beers. It was fermented with WB-06 and has light banana notes on the nose. The low bitterness makes this an easy drinking beer; it is easily a lawn mower beer and can be paired with a burger or pizza.

This is a no-fuss, session beer with no overpowering notes or complex layers. Its not a beer that will start off a conversation about how it was brewed or what its grain bill was or what techniques were used. Since this was brewed along with the Cream Ale, I intended the end result to be a beer that ends up being sessionable like the Cream Ale for loads of afternoon or evening drinking.

And it seems this wheat beer serves its purpose pretty well.