#SoloBrewing

[makemyhome12]

Discover the ultimate coffee experience with our top-rated selection of the 6 best single serve coffee makers. From the convenience of pod brewing with Keurig coffee makers to compact and portable designs, our curated list ensures quick and delicious single cup brewing. Explore the world of premium espresso with sleek stainless steel options, or opt for an energy-efficient and affordable solution for your home or office. Find the perfect balance of style and functionality as you indulge in the finest single serve coffee makers that redefine your morning routine. Read More...

[pazzoredento]

That's better! #nonalcoholicdrink #solobrewing #stayingalive #merimbula #australia (at Cranky Cafe)

[solobrewing-blog]

SoLo Brewing // 2 x 7 // IPA

Recently, I took a couple of my beers up to a pro not too far away for analysis.  He immediately pointed out an astringent, lightly soapy flaw in the finish of my brews.  I never really noticed this until he pointed it out, but now that it has been brought to my attention, it’s glaringly obvious.

His first suggestion was wacky water.  I’ve never bothered to treat my water; more out of ignorance than lack of desire.  Up until this past year, the water I was brewing with was pretty fair untreated; hitting my mash pH would not have been difficult.  

A little investigation turned up that my current water is sinfully alkaline.  Only the blackest of black stouts would have enough acidity in their grists to balance out my mash pH.

An investment into a pH meter and toying with some water calculators led me to the conclusion that I desperately need to cut my water with at least 50% reverse osmosis water (and probably 75% for pale beers).

And thus the 2 x 7 was born.  Something pale and hoppy to test out my new water treatment regimen.  The paleness would let that soapy character shine through and the hops would really lose their punch if my water was still off kilter (or if these flaws were from something else).

Thankfully my brewer friend was right, and the beautiful (read: expensive) 14 oz of locally grown Centennial hops were not put to waste! 2 oz at 7 different points in the process, thus 2x7!

Estimated OG: 1.064 OG: 1.064 Estimated FG: 1.010 FG: 1.012 IBU: 86 SRM: 5 ABV: 7%

Grain Bill: 11 lbs 2 row 21 oz bonlander munich 6 oz flaked wheat 6 oz caramel 20

Hop Bill: 2 oz Centennial (9.1% AA) @ 90 min 2 oz Centennial (9.1% AA) @ 15 min 2 oz Centennial (9.1% AA) @ 5 min 2 oz Centennial (9.1% AA) @ FO 10 minutes 2 oz Centennial (9.1% AA) @ 160F whirlpool hopstand 10 minutes

Yeast: 1 pkg White Labs WLP 090 San Diego Super Yeast built to a cell count of ~358 billion

Other: 1 tsp wyeast yeast nutrient @ 15 minutes 1 tsp irish moss @ 15 minutes

Brew Notes: mashed at 152F for 60 minutes 50% RO water dilution 5 mL lactic acid added to mash 8.5 g gypsum added to mash water (for pH and Cl/S04 ratio correction) pitched at 60F oxygenated for 60 seconds with pure O2

Dry hopped in primary and in keg!

Appearance:  Pours hazy with hop debris, and likely some still flocculating yeast.  A burnished gold with a dense head of white foam that hangs around forever and leaves soapy lacing.

Aroma:  Amazing nose, loaded with dank pine, grapefruit rind, tangelo and fresh green hops.  Super juicy with some light caramel and bread malt tones to balance it out, but this is all about the Centennial.  Yeast is almost non-existent, but might be throwing a little nectarine type esters if that isn’t just the hops.

Taste:  Fruity sweet with a little malt up front and then an immediate assault of bitter citrus rind which gives into deeper, more resinous bitterness on the finish.  Long and sticky.

Palate:  Moderate body, not as thin as I thought it might have been with so little character malt.  Moderate plus carbonation helps to deliver the hop load and keep this easy to drink.  

Overall:  Oh and it is SO easy to drink!  Hides the alcohol well, lots of in your face hop flavor.  Easily the best beer I have ever made.  I only wish I had started adjusting my water sooner.  The difference is astounding.

[solobrewing-blog]

Scotch Martini // SoLo Brewing // Best Bitter

As I mentioned in the post from brew day, this beer was made with some help from a colleague of mine and his friend, both of whom are interested in homebrewing.  They came by to tap the keg and level a few pints with me one evening after work (I had the day off) and proceeded to tell me an interesting story regarding my restaurant's owner, an old man, a very dirty washroom and a pair of martinis made with Scotch: hence the name.  If you know me personally, feel free to ask for full disclosure--this is not the kind of tale you post freely on a beer blog.

I actually casked up 1 gallon of the Bitter, and kegged the difference with some dry hops.  This review is for the cask version, which I prefer.  While tasty, the brightness of carbonation and serving temperature lighten the beer a fair bit and dim it's complexity slightly.

Vitals: OG: 1.046 FG: 1.010 ABV: 4.75% IBU: 27 SRM: 9

Appearance: Wicked clarity, a perfectly rich, medium copper, with a thin lace of white head that never really leaves.  S-04 drops out like a rock.  I can literally tip my mock cask side to side and watch this heavy, dense yeast move around the bottom of the cubitainer rather than stirring up into the beer.

Aroma: Caramel toffee, crusty bread, biscuity malt, very warm.  Woody, earthy hops, a hint of dried orange peel perhaps.  A little disappointed with the lack of esters here, but I kept the ferment really cool.  I'd read about the dreaded bubble gum tones of S-04 if it gets too warm and opted to keep it on the bottom end of it's limit.  I would feel well comfortable bringing the temperature up to 65F next time to see if I could get a little apple or pear in here.

Taste:  Probably balanced slightly bitter for a traditional BB, but very much suited to my tastes. It opens with warm, sweet malt which subsides to a clean mid palate and a firmly bitter finish.  While I intended the beer to be slightly smaller (OG 1.042) and finish slightly sweeter (FG 1.012) I don't imagine it would have altered the balance much.

Palate:  My basement is just a little on the warm side for cask serving temperature. The beer is just cool to the touch and tongue.  Carbonation is also slightly shy, it just barely pricks the tongue.  Body is light to moderate and the finish lingers quite some bit.

Overall:  Honestly, I love this. Only a few minor alterations.  I'd like to hit my predicted numbers, so next time I will adjust the recipe for 80% efficiency and mash at 154F.  Rather than scaling all the ingredients down slightly to accommodate my better than average efficiency, I will probably take the difference out of the base malt to see if I can eek a slight bit more malt character out of it.  Aside from that, a simple increase in fermentation temperatures and a move to a similar, but liquid, yeast culture such as WLP 002 or WY1968.

[solobrewing-blog]

SoLo Brewing // Modern Belgian Pale // Belgian Pale Ale

A few weeks ago I cranked out this recipe to the tune of a Belgian Pale Ale balanced liked an APA.  A paler grist, increased hop rates, and the use of a non-traditional hops variety for aroma puts this beer well outside the style guidelines for a Belgian Pale, but well inside the guidelines for a delicious session beer.

It pits a combination of Galaxy and Saaz hops (which play quite well together) against the Orval yeast strain, which throws a note I can only describe as lemon drop.  A simple, lightly toasty base of Maris Otter and Munich rounds it all out and keeps out of the way of the other aromatics.

Vitals: OG: 1.046 FG: 1.008 ABV: 5% IBU: 26 SRM: 5

Appearance:  Pours a hazy peach nectar, with a thick froth of stable white head that leaves plenty of lacing.  Clarity could be better, but between Belgian yeasts, wheat malt and dry hopping there are too many reasons for this to be cloudy.

Aroma:  The nose on this beer is fantastic, the herbal tones of the Saaz fade into the grassy, tropical notes of the Galaxy dry hop, which easily become muddled with that lemony, stone fruit, pear character of the Bastogne yeast.  These elements seem to blend into one cohesive zestiness, nothing particularly over or understated.  A gentle, crackery maltiness rounds out the finish.

Taste:  Dry up front, giving way to a soft malt sweetness and finishing slightly bitter, even with a hint of fruity tartness.  Balanced for refreshment and ease of drinking, this would make a lovely lawnmower beer.

Palate:  Despite a low finishing gravity, this beer has plenty of mouthfeel and a light, but not thin body.  Carbonation is moderate and could use a slight bump into the moderate plus to full zone.  Finishes a bit sticky.

Overall:  Happy with this session ale.  The Saaz I got were stupidly fresh, but the Galaxy were questionable.  There were 2 ounces of Saaz added at 5 minutes, and Galaxy at both flameout and dry hop.  I would have hoped for a little more tropical character here.  The biscuity malt notes generate a slight clash with the hops for me as well.  While it's certainly not offensive, next time I might opt for Pale or Pilsner malt as the base, and a little more Caravienne or CaraHell instead of the Munich to avoid this.  All in all good, this keg won't last long.

[solobrewing-blog]

SoLo Brewing // Pleasant Pastures // Biere de Garde

Vitals: OG: 1.060 FG: 1.011 ABV: 6.5% IBU: 30 SRM: 9

Appearance:  Dark burnished copper with a thick layer of eggshell head that settles to a chunky collar and leaves some soapy lacing.  Crystal clear after 6 weeks of lagering, very pretty.

Aroma:  Complex malt tones on the nose; graham cracker, biscuit, mild toffee sweetness, subtle raisin and whisky-esque rye.  Over ripe apple and banana yeast esters, with a hint of musty earth.  A spicy, peppery finish that could be yeast, hop or rye malt derived.  Even fermented at the low end of the listed tolerance (70F), Wyeast 3726PC Farmhouse Ale is beautifully expressive and delicate: certainly a winning strain.

Taste: At a slightly higher FG than I expected, this beer is sweeter than I imagined, but there's lots of hop bitterness and a hint of alcohol to keep it all well balanced.  A nicely rounded brew.

Palate:  Creamy and moderate bodied with full carbonation.  You can really sense the flaked grain in the mouth feel. 

Overall:  Yes, yes, yes!  Hands down both the best tasting beer I have brewed and the closest end product to what I had planned.  That being said, I really cracked down on fermentation control for this batch: checking and adjusting my chamber temperature every 14 hours or so.  My two small complaints would be a muddy malt character that could be solved by a paired down grist and a high FG that suggests I might want a bit of table sugar in there as well.  My reformatted recipe will use only 4 malts: Maris Otter, Biscuit, Flaked Rye and Special B; as well as table sugar.

[solobrewing-blog]

Special Bitter Brewday

Brewed up a batch of special bitter today with one of my colleagues and his friend who are interested in taking up homebrewing.  With any luck they will be cranking out a recipe or two on my equipment in the upcoming months.

In a keep-it-simple-stupid type demonstration, we cooked up 6.5 G batch of bitter today, a recipe they could easily manage on their own with minimal startup equipment. 1 gallon of this is destined for a mock cask experiment: in a cubitainer a la qhrumphf; the rest to be kegged and growled for my helpful aides.

I've also taken up oxygenating with pure O2. 

Special Bitter -- 12/01/15

Estimated OG: 1.042 Estimated FG: 1.012 OG: 1.046 IBU: 28 SRM: 9

Grain Bill: 8 lbs maris otter 8 oz flaked oats 8 oz biscuit malt 8 oz crystal 45 4 oz crystal 150

Hop Bill: 1 oz East Kent Goldings (6.3%AA) @ 60 min 1 oz East Kent Goldings (6.3%AA) @ 15 min 2 oz East Kent Goldings (6.3%AA) @ 0 min

Yeast: 1 pkg Safale S-04

Other: 1 tsp wyeast yeast nutrient @ 15 minutes 1 tsp irish moss @ 15 minutes

Brew Notes: mashed at 152F for 60 minutes pitched at 65F oxygenated for 20 seconds with pure O2

Fermentation Notes: fermented @ 57F ambient

[solobrewing-blog]

SoLo Brewing // Autumnal // Lacto-Brett Saison

Vitals: OG: 1.058 FG: 1.004 ABV: 7.25% IBU: 7 SRM: 14

Appearance:  Lightly hazed, this beer is a reddish amber hue, not unlike buckwheat honey.  A small crown of off white head dissipates quickly.  Considering saison yeasts aren't particularly flocculent, and the grain bill here was loaded with flaked rye, this beer is pretty clear.

Aroma:  A complex nose, some floral and spicy Old World hop tones from a light dry hopping, a touch of lacto-lemonyness and layers of mildly sweet, fruity malt.  Banana, black mission fig, overripe apple, black tea and some bretty barnyard.

Taste:  Dry but unctuous with fruity sweetness, leading into a nice rounded mid-palate.  Finish is slightly fruity-tart (think more raspberry than lemon).  Was hoping for more lacto character, but I have heard that it can take it's time to develop in bottle.

Palate:  Light to moderate body with  elevated carbonation.  Quite easy drinking with a lingering finish.

Overall:  Yep, this is good!  Very happy with the way it turned out.  I was wanting a bit more lactobacillus action, so I could probably let it run its course a bit longer before pitching Saccharomyces, but all in all this is a nice treat.  In retrospect, my grain bill seems unnecessarily complex, but alas, you live and you learn.

[solobrewing-blog]

SoLo Brewing // House Saison MKI // Saison

The first beer I churned out since I've commited to going Belgian.  Brew day was a breeze and the beer came out most exactly as I imagined.  The damn thing took ages to ferment out and I am fairly certain the yeast profile is tamed due to the fact that I couldn't get it as hot as it wanted.  While it is a tasty first rendition, it needs some tweaking before I'd call it my house saison: the vienna malt is overpowering, the yeast and hop profiles are a little off kilter.

Vitals: OG: 1.056 FG: 1.006 ABV: 6.5% IBU: 30 SRM: 5

Appearance: A real thing of beauty.  The beer is a hazy golden with a billowing white head that holds well for a few minutes and leaves thick lacing in the glass.  Very likely the most attractive beer I have ever brewed.

Aroma: The nose is crackery with Vienna malt character, delicate spicy Dupont phenolics, banana, applesauce and apricot.  Hop presence is simple and rustic EKG earthiness.  A hint of musty smoke on the finish.

Taste: Malty for the style, depite being very dry, there's a lingering arrowroot cookie type sweetness that suggests an amber, rather than blonde brew.  Crisp and well bittered with a round finish.

Palate:  Creamy with high carbonation and light body.  The flaked wheat gives a glorious mouthfeel.  Nothing to change here folks, classic saison mouthfeel.

Overall:  I learned a lot from MKI. I have a finite starting point for MKII.  The beer is good, but it needs work to get to my dream saison.  I'm going to give up on 3724 until I have a sure way to get it up to 90F.  I'll go for 3726PC Farmhouse Ale if it is still around when I rebrew; barring that, it'll be 3711 French Saison.  I'm going to step down the Vienna Malt to slightly less intense Maris Otter, and use Flaked Rye instead of Flaked Wheat for a bit more character.  I may also add some Acid Malt.  As far as hopping goes, I need to see some more assertive bitterness (bitter with Magnum or Perle) and a slightly fresher aroma (EKG for flavor, but finished and dry hopped with Saaz). Very happy.

[solobrewing-blog]

Finally There!?!

SO, remember this saison I brewed at the beginning of last month?  Well it appears it's finally at terminal gravity.  In a water bath set to 80F (which I hoped would be hot enough, but evidently isn't) Wyeast 3726 Belgian Saison ripped through 21 points of gravity in 48 hours and then proceeded to take 35 days to drop the remaining 29 points to get to where it is today.

At a final gravity of 1.006 this brew is nicely dried out and has dropped mostly clear.  I removed it from it's cozy home to come to room temperature (around 70F) to condition for the next 10 days.  Wouldn't be totally surprised if it lost another point or two either, this stuff seems to defy all known facts about yeast.  After that it's a 4 day cold crash and then right into a keg.  The real question is; does this need an ounce or two of East Kent Goldings to dry hop?

[solobrewing-blog]

Biere de Garde

Landed a stellar day in October for brewing.  Overcast, but super temperate at 20C!  The great weather put me in the zone for a smooth brew day.  

This recipe for a BdG is based on one that I brewed last year around this time; but succumbed to the great gusher pandemic of 2013 (aka that time that I contaminated my bottling wand).  Based off of tasting notes from the fermentor samples of last years batch, I scaled back the caramel malts and chose a more characterful and attenuative yeast strain.  

Today, I ended up 2 points under gravity, but with a half a gallon of extra volume, not a bad trade off.

Biere de Garde — 28/10/14

Estimated OG: 1.062 Estimated FG: 1.010 OG: 1.060 IBU: 30 SRM: 9

Grain Bill: 5 lbs Vienna Malt 5 lbs Maris Otter 1 lb Flaked Rye 1/2 lb Caravienna 1/2 lb Biscuit 1/4 lb Special B

Hop Bill: 1.5 oz East Kent Goldings (6.3%AA) @ 90 min FWH

Yeast: 1 pkg Wyeast 3726PC Farmhouse Ale Yeast built to a cell count of 407 billion

Other: 1 tsp Wyeast yeast nutrient @ 15 minutes 1 tsp Irish Moss @ 15 minutes

Brew Notes: mashed @ 150F for 90 minutes

Pitched at 3:30 this afternoon (above, frothy with head) and it's already moving along (below, rocky with yeast particulate).  Praise those lively Belgian strains.

[solobrewing-blog]

Suggestions Anyone?

I pulled a sample off of my still fermenting Irish Red Ale today just to see how it was doing.  I was really curious to find out where it was, as I bulked the gravity with both sugar and LME, something I've never had to do before.

A big surprise came when the reading was .996!  Now considering that's next to impossible, I moved to my next problem: my hydrometer calibration.  I remembered that I dropped it on the floor the morning of my brew day.  I was so happy it didn't break that I never bothered to check the calibration.  It turns out that the paper guide inside the top of the bulb had shifted big time: rendering all my measurements useless.

I re-calibrated, and took a reading of 1.020.  Much more realistic.  

Now I realize that all of my measurements from brew day were likely off, possibly up to 24 points!  That might explain why my OG was SO low.  I ran the numbers on the Pearl Malt (which I originally thought was the culprit for a poor mash efficiency), and discovered that my brew would have had 31 of a minimum 30 points Lintner necessary for a quick conversion.  Not as poor as I had assumed.

Now the question is raised, what the hell WAS my OG?  I know my day-of reading of 1.043 (after the LME and sugar) was likely wrong.  IF it was off by 24 points (which my readings were this morning), it would mean that the OG before I added the LME and sugar would have been 1.057.  With a target of 1.045, this would mean I had a mash efficiency of 95%: both highly unlikely (as it's next to physically impossible) and far different from my usual 75%.

RDWHAHB.  It turns out I'm not a terrible brewer or recipe planner, I just unknowingly damaged a piece of equipment.  If only I could reliably determine my OG I'd be a happy man.  I'd also be filthy rich because I invented time travel, but that's a story for another day.

[solobrewing-blog]

'Closet Cleaner' Irish Red

Every so often you look upon your mass of brewing equipment and ingredients and think to yourself, "Wow, there's a lot of loose ends here!" So you wash and tidy all your gear, organize that collection of empty bottles you've been saving (corkers in one box, cappers in the other: oh shit, this one still has a label on it...), scrub the inside of your fermentation chamber and take hydro readings on all your long term aging projects.  Yet, after all this you still have six bags of half used grain, a vial of yeast with no brew planned for it and odds and sods of hops you were going to use but never did.  So you plan a beer.

Irish Red Ale -- 28/08/14

Estimated OG: 1.045 Estimated FG: 1.012 OG: 1.043 IBU: 27 SRM: 16

Grain Bill: 6 lbs Pearl Malt 1 lb Flaked Oats 1/2 lb Amber Malt 1/2 lb Crystal 40 1/4 lb Brown Malt 1/2 lb CaraFoam 1/2 lb Pale Chocolate Malt

Hop Bill: 1 oz Styrian Goldings 4.6%AA) @ 60 min 1 oz Styrian Goldings (4.6%AA) @ 30 min

Yeast: 1 pkg White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast built to a cell count of 215 billion

Other: 1 tsp wyeast yeast nutrient @ 10 minutes

Brew Notes: mashed @ 152F for 60 minutes

Then, once you plan it, your brew day goes to hell and you have terribly poor (read 55%) mash efficiency, a stuck sparge and you need to add all the DME you have as well as a half pound of table sugar just to get the beer into range of the OG you were looking for!  Hindsight is 20/20 but it turns out Pearl Malt has really low diastatic power: should have looked into that beforehand.

[solobrewing-blog]

Belgian Witbier

Banged out a nice session beer for the summer today: a classic Belgian Wit. Very little out of character here, except for the fact that the brew day went suspiciously well.  A base of 2-Row and Wheat Malt with some textural help from Flaked Wheat and Flaked Oats and a touch of complexity from Acid Malt.  Hallertauer Tradition for bittering and a hint at flame out alongside the spices: coriander, ginger, cardamom and bitter orange peel.  This will undergo a (hopefully) brisk fermentation with White Labs WLP410 Belgian Wit II, which is purportedly from Ommegang.  The ferment will be open and wrapped in a sleeping bag, I'd love to get this puppy up to 74-76F to let it really get expressive.

Witbier -- 29/05/14

Estimated OG: 1.045 Estimated FG: 1.012 OG: 1.045 IBU: 15 SRM: 3

Grain Bill: 3 lbs 2-Row 3 lbs Pale Wheat Malt 2 lbs Flaked Wheat 1 lb Acidulated Malt ½ lb Flaked Oats ½ lb Rice Hulls

Hop Bill: .66 oz Hallertauer Tradition (7%AA) @ FWH 60 min 1 oz Hallertauer Tradition (7%AA) @ 0 minutes added 15g bitter orange peel @ 0 minutes added 15 g  whole coriander @ 0 minutes added 15 g fresh ginger @ 0 minutes added 5 g dehusked black cardamom @ 0 minutes added 3 g ground nutmeg @ 0 minutes

Yeast: 1 pkg White Labs WLP410 Belgian Wit II in Primary

Other: 1 tsp wyeast yeast nutrient @ 10 minutes 1 tsp irish moss @ 10 minutes

Brew Notes: mashed @ 153F for 90 minutes

Forgot to take pictures of this one! Sorry folks!

[solobrewing-blog]

Setting Rules & Some Like it Hot

Right up until now I have just brewed whatever styles I have felt like.  The great thing about this is it allows me to experiment and enjoy all sorts of outcomes.  The downside is I rarely re-brew anything. I have such a wide array of ingredients and methods available to me that I never have a chance to become truly comfortable with any of them.  

That in mind, I decided for the next little while I would brew only Belgian styles.  I stocked up on stereotypical Belgian specialty malts, purchased a pound of East Kent Goldings, a package of Saison yeast and went on my way to creating a beer that I want to become a sort of house staple: a basic and refreshing Belgian Saison.

The simplistic grain bill for this beer came based on an All-Brett C Saison I did last year and truly enjoyed. The hop schedule was modified from what Phil Markowski says is Dupont's schedule (a moderate bittering addition, followed by an average dose for flavor and double that at flame out).  The yeast was the one any only Dupont strain-- Wyeast 3724.  Deliciously flavorful and spicy, this yeast loves high temperatures and is notorious for being finicky about fermenting below 80F.  Luckily I have a big rubbermaid tub and a bunch of aquarium heaters that will bring the temperature right to that point.

Belgian Saison — 07/10/14

Estimated OG: 1.053 Estimated FG: 1.005 OG: 1.056 IBU: 30 SRM: 5

Grain Bill: 8 lbs Vienna Malt 1 lb Flaked Wheat 1 lb White Sugar

Hop Bill: 1 oz East Kent Goldings (6.3%AA) @ 60 min 1 oz East Kent Goldings (6.3%AA) @ 15 min 2 oz East Kent Goldings (6.3%AA) @ 0 Min

Yeast: 1 pkg Wyeast 3724 Belgian Saison Yeast built to a cell count of 300 billion

Other: 1 tsp Wyeast yeast nutrient @ 15 minutes 1 tsp Irish Moss @ 15 minutes

Brew Notes: mashed @ 149F for 90 minutes

While I did brew this almost two weeks ago, it turns out that the 83F provided by my setup is still too cold for this yeast.  After a few days it stalled out and I have been rousing it regularly using a technique I harvested online (attaching a racking cane to a CO2 bottle and agitating with a slow stream of gas to prevent oxygenation).  I pray it finishes this year.