Alta California Lager 2021

One of the best beers I have ever made was the 2019 edition of Alta California Lager, a Mexican-style light lager. Although I can buy excellent commercial examples easily enough at the grocery store, it is a fun challenge to make this somewhat unforgiving style. The 2020 version was okay, but not quite as good. That round used flaked corn instead of cereal-mashed grits, and I also had to use tap water (because I brewed it near the start of the pandemic, and wasn’t going out much) instead of mineral-light water built from RO.

My main changes for the 2021 version were to modify slightly for my Foundry system parameters, build up from RO water, throw in some BruTanB for clarification/oxidation mitigation, and use gelatin at the time of kegging for fining. I also went back to a cereal mash instead of flaked corn, in order to up the corn flavor and also hopefully get slightly better clarity. It’s also just a bit fun to do a cereal mash (sometimes)!

Alta California Lager 2021

  • 6 lb. Pilsner Zero malt (Viking)
  • 2 lb. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
  • 2 lb. corn grits
  • 4 oz. rice hulls
  • 0.45 oz. Magnum hop pellets (10.1% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BruTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 0.8 oz. Sterling hop pellets, 5 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient, 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Mexican Lager yeast (WLP940), prepared in 1.75L starter

Target Parameters

  • 1.046 s.g., 1.011 f.g., 4.6% abv, 21 IBU, 4 SRM
  • 6.5 gallons of RO water with 1.5 g CaCl to hit target parameter of 17 ppm Ca and 29 ppm Cl
  • 60 minute full volume infusion mash with cereal mash, 152°

Procedure

  • I made a 1.75L starter with 175g of DME, on March 4 (two days before brewing). I cold crashed the starter on the morning of the brew day (March 6), because fermentation had slowed greatly, but not quite stopped.
  • For the cereal mash, I used 2 pounds of corn grits plus 0.5 lb. pilsner malt. I had to add ~1 gallon of water to get the right consistency. I added another ~0.5 gallon due to absorption over the course of the cereal mash. I held the mash around 158° to 160° for 5 minutes before bringing it to a boil. It was closer to a 40 minute boil instead of the planned 30 minutes, to compensate for the fact that the boil stopped as I added cold RO water.
  • For the main mash, I added 6.5 gallons of RO water with 1.5 g CaCl in the main mash tun. This was heated to 150°. I added the hot cereal mash first, and then added the dry malts and stirred them. After adding the cereal mash, it hit around 146 to 148°; not bad! I let the mash settle for 10 minutes before recirculating at 152°. I did a 75 minute mash, just to be safe with full conversion. An iodine test showed full conversion after 65 minutes. Then, I raised the mash to 168° for 10 minutes, before removing the grains.
  • In total, I collected 6.75 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.039, for 70% mash efficiency.
  • I boiled for 15 minutes before adding the hops, to bring down the volume and bring up the gravity a touch. So, this meant a 75 minute boil total. Everything else followed the schedule in the recipe.
  • After the boil, I chilled the beer down to ~70°, transferred to the fermenter, and chilled down to 48°. I oxygenated for 40 seconds and then pitched the yeast.
  • I brewed this beer on 6 March 2021.
  • Starting gravity was 1.045, and I fermented at 50°.
  • I raised the beer to 54° on 12 March 2021, and then to 60° on 15 March 2021. On 29 March 2021, I cold crashed and let it sit near freezing until kegging on 5 April 2021.
  • I did a closed transfer, and then briefly opened the lid to add 1 tsp. of gelatin in 1 cup of water, for fining.
  • Final gravity was 1.012, for 4.3% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Brilliantly clear, light yellow beer with a persistent and fine white head. Gorgeous!
  • Aroma
    • Very clean and crisp, with a subtle, slightly sweet note (probably from the corn) along with a grainy malt note.
  • Flavor
    • The flavor profile is pretty subtle and unobtrusive on this one, making it a very easy drinking beer. There is a very light corn (not DMS!) note, layered on top of the grainy malt character. Bitterness is pretty low and very clean.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, moderately high carbonation, smooth and light finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • Absolutely! This is a really delightful beer, and I’m so glad that I made it again. It drinks so easily, especially on a warm afternoon, and is just about a perfect beer. The extra work for the cereal mash was perhaps worth it? The gelatin certainly helped the clarity, and I think the fact that I used BruTanB, did a closed transfer, and then purged the keg before adding the gelatin, followed by additional purges, probably helped stave off early oxidation. I’m so impressed by this beer! I might try it next time with flaked corn, and gelatin. My only other very minor note is that I could mash a touch lower, to lighten up the body a bit more…perhaps a 90 minute mash at 145° or so? That’s the only reason I gave it a 9.5 instead of a perfect 10!
  • Overall
    • 9.5/10

Baryonyx Brown Ale

For our November meeting, my homebrew club chose “British Brown Ales” (BJCP 2015 Style 13B) as our in-club competition. This is a style that I like (Newcastle and Sam Smith’s come to mind as good examples), but not one I brew very often.

My recipe research often begins on the American Homebrewers Association website, which has an extensive recipe library (some freely available, some available only to members). Many of the recipes are from National Homebrew Competition winners, so I figure they’re probably a decent representation of the style. Nick’s Northern English Brown Ale took gold in 2012, and I used that as my jumping-off point. My only real modification to the original recipe was in the yeast; I used Nottingham dry yeast, instead of West Yorkshire Ale yeast. A second minor modification was use of crystal 80 instead of the English crystal 77°, based on availability.

Baryonyx Brown Ale

  • 5.5 lb. Maris Otter malt (Crisp)
  • 3 lb. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.75 special roast malt
  • 0.5 lb. brown malt
  • 0.5 lb. caramel 80° malt (Briess)
  • 0.5 lb. Victory (biscuit) malt (Briess)
  • 6 oz. pale chocolate malt (Crisp)
  • 1.25 oz. East Kent Goldings hop pellets (6.0% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. East Kent Goldings hop pellets (6.0% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. Nottingham ale yeast (Lallemand)

Target Parameters

  • Infusion mash, batch sparge
  • Claremont tap water, treated with Campden tablet
  • 1.049 o.g., 1.011 f.g., 5.0% abv, 28 IBU, 19 SRM

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 3.75 gallons of water at 163°, to hit a mash temperature of 152°. After 60 minutes, I batch sparged in two steps with 1.25 gallons and 3.5 gallons of water (with 10 minute wait and vorlauf between each).
  • In total, I collected 6.8 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.046, for 78% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the flame and chilled the wort.
  • I pitched the yeast, and fermented at 68°.
  • I brewed this beer on 19 October 2019. Starting gravity was 1.052, just a hair above target.
  • I kegged the beer on 11 November 2019. Final gravity was 1.011, for 5.3% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Deep amber beer, fairly hazy still. Thin, tan head.
  • Aroma
    • Lightly malty, slightly earthy
  • Flavor
    • Malt-forward beer, with a chocolate note at the back end; hop bitterness hides behind the malt. Caramel notes are fairly minimal. The flavor deepens as the beer warms up in the glass.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, moderate carbonation, smooth and extended bitterness on the finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Maybe? This isn’t a completely amazing beer, but it ain’t bad either. It’s smooth and pretty darned drinkable, which is not a bad target to hit. The main deficit is that it needs more caramel character, perhaps with an extra helping of crystal 80. The chocolate note is nice in this one. Clarity is also a disappointment when I did the tasting today; maybe it will drop clear with another week or two in the keg?
  • Overall
    • 6/10

The beer was reasonably well received in our club competition; it scored in the mid-30s, earning third place after two other great entries. As I have mentioned before, I really like that club contests help push me to try out new things!

Comet Pale Ale

IMG_20191109_145744For our October meeting, my homebrew club decided to do a hop comparison test, with members brewing the same grain bill and different hops. At a recent homebrew festival, I had sampled an IPA with Comet hops, and rather liked it. My choice of hop was decided!

Comet Pale Ale

  • 10.5 lb. 2-row premium malt (Great Western)
  • 0.5 oz. Caravienne malt
  • 0.25 oz. crystal 20 malt (Briess)
  • 1 oz. Comet hop pellets (8.2% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Comet hop pellets (8.2% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. Safale American ale yeast (US-05)
  • 3 oz. Comet hop pellets (8.2% alpha), 5 day dry-hop

Target Parameters

  • 1.052 s.g, 1.012 f.g., 5.3% abv, 41 IBU, 6 SRM
  • Infusion mash, full volume
  • Claremont tap water

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 7.5 gallons of Claremont tap water at 159°, to hit a 152.8° mash temperature. This was a full-volume mash.
  • After 45 minutes, I vorlaufed and collected 6.3 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.041, for 63.4% mash efficiency. This was a bit lower than I had expected even for a no-sparge recipe.
  • I boiled for 60 minutes, adding hops and kettle finings at the indicated times.
  • After flame-out, I added the whirlpool hops and let them ride for 10 minutes.
  • Starting gravity was 1.048; this is definitely below my target, but not terribly unsurprising given the low efficiency. I did an adjustment of my grain mill after this, and found that the gap had wandered a bit wide since I last set it.
  • I brewed this beer on 5 October 2019, and pitched the yeast immediately. Fermentation temperature is set at 68°.
  • After five days of fermentation, I added the dry hops on 10 October 2019, and cold crashed the beer on 13 October 2019. I kegged the beer on 15 October 2019, using a modified closed transfer. I purged the keg with CO2, and siphoned the beer in via the out port of the keg.
  • This is one of the fastest turnarounds I’ve ever done for a beer, with 12 days between brewing and the tasting at our club meeting. The beer cleared up surprisingly well, and was well received by my fellow homebrewers. I normally like to have a bit more time in my brewing process (it’s a hobby after all), but the challenge of producing a beer in limited time was a fun one.
  • Final gravity was 1.008, for 5.0% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Light gold, clear but not brilliant; persistent white and fine head
  • Aroma
    • Strong citrus aroma, sometimes with a whiff of resiney goodness.
  • Flavor
    • Grapefruity/orangey citrus and grapefruit pith at the forefront, with a touch of pine behind that, for the hops. Bitterness is fairly prominent, perhaps just a bit too much so. There’s not much in the way of malt flavor for this one. It’s pretty clean, inoffensive, and squarely in the background.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Fairly light-bodied, moderately high carbonation. The finish is pretty dry, and there is a touch of astringency that detracts a little from the beer.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • I don’t think I would brew with the particular grain bill again (it’s just a little too lacking in malt character, which is fine for this experiment but not ), but I’m definitely going to be giving Comet more attention in the future. It doesn’t taste like a hop from 1974 (when it was released by the USDA)–it just as plausibly could be from 2014! It works pretty well in a single hop situation, and I bet would be really nice if paired up with Simcoe or Cascade. Some places I read referred to Comet as “Citra’s Little Sibling,” and I definitely can see that. Comet has a very prominent citrus character in the same vein as that of Citra; the main difference is that Comet has a bit of resiney harshness, where Citra is pretty smooth (to my palate). In the future, I might cut back the dry-hopping amount, or perhaps let it sit for 2 days instead of 3. I would also swap out the bittering addition of Comet for Magnum or another high alpha hop.
  • Overall
    • 6.5/10. The main deductions are for the relatively “boring” malt character, and the slight harshness on the hopping backend.

Cascade-o Classico Pale Ale

IMG_20191005_144434Lately, I’ve had a soft spot for “classic” American pale ales, from the era before Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe were a thing. I love the more subtle flavors of Cascade and Centennial…and the cheaper price point for those hops doesn’t hurt, either. I recently got a shipment of the new Cascade crop from my dad in South Dakota (he raises them for his own brewing), and decided to do another iteration of my Classico Pale Ale. Aside from the hops (Cascade instead of Falconer’s Flight), the only other change is upping the percentage of Maris Otter versus 2-row, from around 50/50 to 66/33 in the current recipe.

I know that you’re not supposed to put crystal malts in pale ales and IPAs, but I’ve decided that piece of advice is bunk in a well-brewed recipe with modest amounts of crystal malts. For this formulation, I think they add a subtle but important character, and I ain’t likely to remove them for future brews!

Cascade-o Classico Pale Ale

  • 7 lb. 0.5 oz. Maris Otter malt (Bairds)
  • 3 lb. 9 oz. 2-row pale malt (Rahr)
  • 8 oz. caramel 40 (Briess)
  • 4 oz. caramel 60 (Briess)
  • 0.70 oz. Warrior hop pellets (15.8% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Cascade whole hops (~5.5% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Safale American ale yeast (US-05)
  • 2 oz. Cascade whole hops (~5.5% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 152°, batch sparge
  • 1.058 o.g., 1.013 f.g., 46 IBU, 8 SRM, 6.0% abv
  • Claremont water with 1 tsp. of gypsum added during boil

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 3.2 gallons of water at 162°, to hit a 152.5° mash temperature.
  • After 60 minutes, I added 0.8 gallons of water at ~185°, let sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the first runnings.
  • Next, I sparged with 3.4 gallons of water, let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the second runnings.
  • In total, I collected 6.2 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.048, for 71% efficiency.
  • As I heated the runnings to a boil, I added 1 tsp. gypsum. Once the boil started, I added the various hops and Whirlfloc per the recipe.
  • After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat and chilled the wort. I transferred to the fermenter while aerating, and pitched the yeast. I am fermenting at 68°.
  • The beer was brewed on 24 August 2019, and fermentation signs were quite visible by the next morning.
  • I kegged the beer on 6 September 2019. Final gravity was 1.011, down from 1.058, for 6.2% abv. The dry hops were added to the keg in a mesh bag.

IMG_20191005_144934

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Pours with persistent ivory-colored head; brilliantly clear and copper-colored beer
  • Aroma
    • Lightly caramel, citrus/piney aroma
  • Flavor
    • Slightly grainy, caramel flavor, with firm bitterness. Bitterness is slightly piney
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, moderate carbonation, off-dry finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Yes! This is a nice base recipe, and a good way to highlight classic American hops. I feel like it could use just a touch more body, so might mash at 154° next time. It might be interesting to try this with 100% Maris Otter or even Vienna malt, too, to give a bit more malt character I love how clear this beer has turned out–it clarified really quickly and nicely, to make an incredibly pretty brew.
  • Overall
    • 9.5/10

Czech Pilsner

My homebrew club recently had a competition centered around Bohemian-style pilsners. I’ve done a few iterations, but haven’t quite hit where I want to yet. The primary issue concerns hop aroma–it’s really, really hard to get good Saaz as a homebrewer. Gotta keep trying.

Czech Pilsner

  • 10.5 lbs. Barke Pilsner malt (Weyermann)
  • 2.4 oz. melanoidin malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.3 oz. Carafa Special III malt (Weyermann)
  • 2 oz. Saaz hop pellets (3.0% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Saaz hop pellets (3.5% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient, 10 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Saaz whole hops (2.8% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. WLP800 Pilsner Lager yeast, prepared in starter

Target Parameters

  • 1.050 o.g., 1.010 f.g., 5.2% abv, 35 IBU, 5 SRM
  • 60 minute infusion mash, 150°, batch sparge
  • Water built from RO, to hit target of 20 ppm CA, 8 ppm Na, 15 ppm SO4, 35 ppm Cl, -61 ppm RA

Procedure

  • I made a 2L yeast starter a few days in advance, and cold crashed it, followed by decantation of the spent wort.
  • I built up the mash water using 0.6 g baking soda, 0.4 g CaCl, 0.4 g gypsum, added to 8.5 gallons of RO water.
  • I mashed in with 3.5 gallons of water at 161°, to hit a mash temperature of 150.2°. I added 7 mL of 88% lactic acid, to adjust the pH of the mash.
  • After a 60 minute mash, I batch sparged in two steps (first of 1.25 gallons, second of 3.6 gallons). At each step, I let the mash sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the runnings.
  • In total, I collected 6.9 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.043, for 75% mash efficiency. Right on target!
  • I boiled for 60 minutes, adding stuff per the recipe, and then chilled after flame-out.
  • I transferred the wort to my fermenter, and put it in the fermentation chamber to drop down to 48°. This took a few hours. Then, I oxygenated for 30 seconds and pitched the yeast.
  • I fermented the brew at 50°. The brew date was 25 May 2019.
  • After three weeks, I raised the temp to 65° for a few days, then cold crashed. After a few more days, I kegged the beer using a semi-closed transfer (CO2-flushed keg, but just air-pushed the beer into the keg). Alas, I neglected to take a final gravity!

Tasting

  • I didn’t get to do a formal tasting before the keg kicked, but did get a few quick observations.
  • The beer flavor was a bit too forward on the melanoidin; I will just ditch that in the future! I am still in search of good hop aroma…overall, the beer is just OK with good clarity, decent head; not quite there yet. Bitterness level is about right. Malt body is about right.
  • Overall, 6/10.