What're you brewing right now?

[atomeyes]

Tuesday's brew:

saison w/farmhouse yeast mix (brett!) and some other goodies.

[atomeyes]

Tuesday's brew:

saison w/farmhouse yeast mix (brett!) and some other goodies.

decided to toss some chardonay-soaked oak chips into the carboy. should be fun.

[matt7215]

Tuesday's brew:

saison w/farmhouse yeast mix (brett!) and some other goodies.

decided to toss some chardonay-soaked oak chips into the carboy. should be fun.

in primary?

[phirleh]

1 gallon of Maple Wine, fermented like a mead with staggered nutrient additions and champagne yeast. OG 1.090 with about 1 litre of amber maple syrup.

[markaberrant]

Kegged up an all Zeus pale ale last weekend. No dry hops. Trying to go for something straight up and balanced, ala Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Seems like it will be in the ballpark.

2 brews planned this weekend:

"Regina Wild Ale" - grew up 2 seperate yeast cultures last fall from grapes grown in my 2 friends' large gardens. We tried growing up a couple other cultures too, but they were gross and got dumped. Brewed 2 seperate batches in late Oct, tasted them for the first time last week. Both turned out well, one is an awesome pepper and citrus saison with some witbier-like spice complexity, the other is mildly tart and fruity with a light touch of funk. Going to brew another batch with the yeasts blended together for a light spring/summer thirst quencher. 50% 2-row, 25% flaked wheat, 12.5% flaked oats, 12.5% C20. 20ibu, 1.045 OG.

Obsidian Stout clone - if this ends up anywhere close to the real thing, I will be one happy camper.

[elproducto]

Kegged up an all Zeus pale ale last weekend. No dry hops. Trying to go for something straight up and balanced, ala Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Seems like it will be in the ballpark.

2 brews planned this weekend:

"Regina Wild Ale" - grew up 2 seperate yeast cultures last fall from grapes grown in my 2 friends' large gardens. We tried growing up a couple other cultures too, but they were gross and got dumped. Brewed 2 seperate batches in late Oct, tasted them for the first time last week. Both turned out well, one is an awesome pepper and citrus saison with some witbier-like spice complexity, the other is mildly tart and fruity with a light touch of funk. Going to brew another batch with the yeasts blended together for a light spring/summer thirst quencher. 50% 2-row, 25% flaked wheat, 12.5% flaked oats, 12.5% C20. 20ibu, 1.045 OG.

Obsidian Stout clone - if this ends up anywhere close to the real thing, I will be one happy camper.

Holy crap.. my Obsidian Stout clone is one of those batches of beer that shocks me everytime I drink it. It's def. an "I can't believe I brewed this" beer.

[atomeyes]

Tuesday's brew:

saison w/farmhouse yeast mix (brett!) and some other goodies.

decided to toss some chardonay-soaked oak chips into the carboy. should be fun.

in primary?

yep.
the brett's already there so i didn't see an issue. might be messy, but who knows.
you think otherwise?

[atomeyes]

Kegged up an all Zeus pale ale last weekend. No dry hops. Trying to go for something straight up and balanced, ala Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Seems like it will be in the ballpark.

2 brews planned this weekend:

"Regina Wild Ale" - grew up 2 seperate yeast cultures last fall from grapes grown in my 2 friends' large gardens. We tried growing up a couple other cultures too, but they were gross and got dumped. Brewed 2 seperate batches in late Oct, tasted them for the first time last week. Both turned out well, one is an awesome pepper and citrus saison with some witbier-like spice complexity, the other is mildly tart and fruity with a light touch of funk. Going to brew another batch with the yeasts blended together for a light spring/summer thirst quencher. 50% 2-row, 25% flaked wheat, 12.5% flaked oats, 12.5% C20. 20ibu, 1.045 OG.

Obsidian Stout clone - if this ends up anywhere close to the real thing, I will be one happy camper.

i would like to subscribe to this program that you're selling.

hot damn...how did you culture the yeast? i want to do that with some winery grapes.

[matt7215]

decided to toss some chardonay-soaked oak chips into the carboy. should be fun.

in primary?

yep.
the brett's already there so i didn't see an issue. might be messy, but who knows.
you think otherwise?

primary fermentation will probably scrub off most of the character the chardonay had added to the oak, also depending on how long you are planning to leave it in primary you might not get very much oak character

on the plus side you now have some wood that will have bret in it so you can use it to add bret to future batches

next time id add the oak to secondary, taste periodically, then bottle once you achieve your desired level of oak

[atomeyes]

primary fermentation will probably scrub off most of the character the chardonay had added to the oak, also depending on how long you are planning to leave it in primary you might not get very much oak character

on the plus side you now have some wood that will have bret in it so you can use it to add bret to future batches

next time id add the oak to secondary, taste periodically, then bottle once you achieve your desired level of oak

thanks for the feedback.

no plans to move it to a secondary. wouldn't make sense if its a saison and brett mixed yeast, would it? i figure that a pellicle would form shortly after the saison was done bubbling away.

i only used 2 ounces of wood (that i attempted to toast on my stove top) for 5 gallons. so i wasn't looking for an insane oak taste. i assumed the chard character would be gone, but eh, was worth a try.

i might as well ask you: once i rack that (and i rack my other beer, a belgian blonde that had brett added to it), can i simple pour a beer into the carboy and allow that pellicle to be re-used in that manner? and would i need to re-innoculate with a normal yeast or would the pellicle do its job?

[matt7215]

thanks for the feedback.

no problem

no plans to move it to a secondary. wouldn't make sense if its a saison and brett mixed yeast, would it? i figure that a pellicle would form shortly after the saison was done bubbling away.

how long are you planning on leaving it in primary?

i only used 2 ounces of wood (that i attempted to toast on my stove top) for 5 gallons. so i wasn't looking for an insane oak taste. i assumed the chard character would be gone, but eh, was worth a try.

2 oz is actually quite a bit of oak for something as light as a saison, i wouldnt leave this beer on the oak for too long.

i might as well ask you: once i rack that (and i rack my other beer, a belgian blonde that had brett added to it), can i simple pour a beer into the carboy and allow that pellicle to be re-used in that manner? and would i need to re-innoculate with a normal yeast or would the pellicle do its job

if your asking if you can re-use the yeast that will be built up on the bottom of your fermentors to ferment another batch, then the asnswer is yes, you most certainly can.

[atomeyes]

no plans to move it to a secondary. wouldn't make sense if its a saison and brett mixed yeast, would it? i figure that a pellicle would form shortly after the saison was done bubbling away.

how long are you planning on leaving it in primary?

for 3 months. using heat coils to heat up the carboy for a week (doing this 1 week from now).

i only used 2 ounces of wood (that i attempted to toast on my stove top) for 5 gallons. so i wasn't looking for an insane oak taste. i assumed the chard character would be gone, but eh, was worth a try.

2 oz is actually quite a bit of oak for something as light as a saison, i wouldnt leave this beer on the oak for too long.

would you re-think this after seeing that its a 3 month ferment?

i might as well ask you: once i rack that (and i rack my other beer, a belgian blonde that had brett added to it), can i simple pour a beer into the carboy and allow that pellicle to be re-used in that manner? and would i need to re-innoculate with a normal yeast or would the pellicle do its job

if your asking if you can re-use the yeast that will be built up on the bottom of your fermentors to ferment another batch, then the asnswer is yes, you most certainly can.

again, would i need to add more saison yeast or would i just give it a go with the brett?

[markaberrant]

hot damn...how did you culture the yeast? i want to do that with some winery grapes.

Pretty simple, carefully cut a handful of grapes straight into a small sterilized jar with a couple cups of cooled wort. Let that sit for 2 weeks, then added about 2 more liters of wort, and let sit another 2 weeks.

Harvesting wild yeast is definitely a crapshoot. Recommend doing it in a lush area, when everything is in full bloom and nights are cool (aka fall).

I was really surprised how these batches turned out. I was expecting them to be a little off or nasty, and definitely sour, but only the one has a bit of tartness. The other one is just a really good, clean saison.

[matt7215]

no plans to move it to a secondary. wouldn't make sense if its a saison and brett mixed yeast, would it? i figure that a pellicle would form shortly after the saison was done bubbling away.

how long are you planning on leaving it in primary?

for 3 months. using heat coils to heat up the carboy for a week (doing this 1 week from now).

3 months should be fine for the sac and bret but may be problematic because of the oak

i only used 2 ounces of wood (that i attempted to toast on my stove top) for 5 gallons. so i wasn't looking for an insane oak taste. i assumed the chard character would be gone, but eh, was worth a try.

2 oz is actually quite a bit of oak for something as light as a saison, i wouldnt leave this beer on the oak for too long.

would you re-think this after seeing that its a 3 month ferment?

i think you will have a ton of oak character after 3 months but your bret character wont be fully developed, if your ok with that then a 3 month primary seems fine

i might as well ask you: once i rack that (and i rack my other beer, a belgian blonde that had brett added to it), can i simple pour a beer into the carboy and allow that pellicle to be re-used in that manner? and would i need to re-innoculate with a normal yeast or would the pellicle do its job

if your asking if you can re-use the yeast that will be built up on the bottom of your fermentors to ferment another batch, then the asnswer is yes, you most certainly can.

again, would i need to add more saison yeast or would i just give it a go with the brett?

you will already have both saison yeast and bret in the yeast cake at the bottom of your carboy so you shouldnt need to pitch more saison yeast

[atomeyes]

i'll give it a taste in a month or so when i check its gravity. i can always yank a bag or 2 of oak out.
i assume that this beer will keep on getting better with cellaring in bottles.

so yeah...now I'm thinking that I should go home and yank a bag out tonight while the yeast is in the lag phase.