Vienna Brown Ale

Posted on by

viennaMany of my recent brews have explored styles that are new to me–saison, Bohemian pilsner, witbier, and altbier, to name a few. This has been a ton of fun (and produced some tasty results), and I am ever-searching for new ways to expand my brewing repertoire further. For the next round of exploration, I want to really delve into Vienna malt. My standard base malt has been American 2-row, and last winter I spent a bit of time playing with Maris Otter too. I’ve certainly brewed with Vienna malt as a minor ingredient, but still don’t feel like I have a good handle on its flavor characteristics. Time to change that!

Descriptors for Vienna malt are typically vague–phrases like “full-bodied” and “golden colored” don’t really tell me much about the flavor itself. “Toast” and “biscuit” aromas are also supposed to be present. I’m not yet confident what this means within this particular malt, so I need to find out firsthand.

Thus, I recently purchased a 55 pound bag of Weyermann Vienna Malt from my local homebrew shop. I plan to do a whole series of brews with it during the rest of 2016. First up is a brown ale, then an IPA, and after that a classic Vienna lager (because it would be a shame not to!).

My brown ale recipe for this time around is fairly simple, veering towards the malty side (which I like in a brown ale). I have a good feel for what the various crystal and chocolate malts taste like, so this batch makes a solid first chance to get my brain cells around the overall properties of Vienna malt.

Vienna Brown Ale

  • 9.5 lbs. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 lb. chocolate malt (Briess)
  • 0.25 lb. crystal 40 malt
  • 0.15 lb. de-bittered black malt (Dingemans)
  • 0.5 oz. Nugget hops pellets (13% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 tablet Whirlfloc, 10 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Nottingham dry yeast (Danstar)

Target Parameters

  • 1.051 o.g., 1.012 f.g., 5.1% abv, 24 IBU, 23 SRM, 5.5 gallons into the fermenter

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 4.1 gallons of water at 163°, to hit 154°. This was down to 151° after 45 minutes. After 60 minutes, I added 1 gallon of water at 190°, to hit a mash temperature of 155°. I waited 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected 3.3 gallons of first runnings. Then, I added 3.7 gallons of water at 182°, to hit 166°. After 10 minutes, I vorlaufed and drained the mash tun.
  • In total, I collected 7.1 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.039, for 71% efficiency.
  • I boiled the wort for 60 minutes, adding hops and Whirlfloc per the schedule. The wort had boiled down to around 6.25 gallons (unchilled) by the end of the time.
  • After 60 minutes, I turned off the flame and chilled the wort to 80°. I transferred the wort into the fermenter (5.5 gallons total), and pitched the dry yeast directly. I sealed up the fermenter, and will begin fermentation at 68°.
  • Starting gravity was 1.048, slightly below my target of 1.051. I brewed this batch on 20 August 2016.

Recirculating Draft Line Cleaner: Pin Lock Edition

Posted on by

Most of us who own kegging setups probably don’t clean our draft lines as often as we should (if ever). For me, the big deterrent has been that the procedures require either 1) wasting a bunch of CO2 to push cleaning solution out of a keg or 2) specialized, somewhat costly, and unwieldy equipment. So, I was really excited awhile back to read a post on Homebrew Finds about a DIY draft line cleaner. It looked cool, but the default build was for a ball lock keg. I use pin locks, and the alternative suggestions they had for pin locks assumed quick disconnects on the draft lines, which I don’t have. So, I needed to do some minor tweaking. Fortunately, the original post gave plenty of specifics for the base build, and a little research helped me put together my own pin lock recirculating draft line cleaning system.

The basics are the same as outlined at Homebrew Finds; the only minor change is in the hardware connecting the pump to the beverage lines. Parts include:

The cost for everything was roughly $45 (the main costs were in the pump and power switch).

20160816_181051

Bushing, Tube Fitting, and Keg Post

Once I had everything, I assembled the parts, using teflon tape to seal the threads. First I connected the bushing+tube fitting+keg post (in that order).

20160816_182222

Assembled Hardware

Then, I attached that assembly to the pump. Everything fit perfectly!

20160816_194706

Hardware Attached to Pump

Now, I was ready to go! I attached the silicone tubing to the beer faucet, connected the beer line to the pump, and pushed some hot water through to clear the beer out of the line. After this, I ran line cleaner for 20 minutes, recirculating the cleaner by draining it out of the faucet and back into the bucket with the pump.

20160816_195802

Once this was done, I rinsed out the line by running hot tap water through the entire assembly for another 20 minutes. Done, and done!

20160816_195754

So far, I’m pretty happy with this setup, and anticipate that it will reduce my excuses for not cleaning my tap lines more frequently. This will in turn lead to tastier draft homebrew!

A big thanks to the folks at Homebrew Finds for posting such a clear and easily modified tutorial. You made my own build that much easier!

Safety note: Please use good judgement and be aware of all manufacturer warnings and safety protocols for this equipment. Be smart, be safe!

Gondwana Pale Ale 1.3 Kegged

Posted on by

Tonight I kegged the latest draft of my Gondwana Pale Ale, after 10 days in the primary fermenter. The beer has a nice malty aroma and a smooth bitterness; this will be augmented further by 2 oz. of Mosaic hops pellets on the dry hop. The beer is still rather hazy, presumably because the yeast haven’t fully dropped out yet. Final gravity is at 1.010, down from 1.045, for 4.6% abv.

Citra Wit

Posted on by

It’s time to brew another light-and-drinkable beer (in anticipation of the inevitable kicking of my pilsner keg). For this round, I wanted to try a style I haven’t brewed before, and a Belgian wit seemed like just the ticket. I’ve done a few iterations of a white IPA with Belgian wit yeast, and a less hoppy brew wasn’t too much of a stretch from that.

In putting together this recipe, I settled on a 50% pils20160811_191734ner malt, 50% flaked wheat grist. Based on what I read, flaked wheat seemed like a nice alternative to whole unmalted wheat. The wheat was balanced with a hefty dose of rice hulls in order to ease sparging.

Belgian wits are commonly characterized by a generous dash of coriander and bitter orange peels. I had some coriander on hand in my brewing drawers, but was out of bitter orange. They didn’t have any at my LHBS, either, and fresh oranges are out of season here. So, I grabbed a grapefruit, zested it, and then did a quick peel. To continue on the citrus theme, all of the hopping was accomplished with a very late boil dose of Citra (only around 3 minutes before flame-out, with steeping for the duration of wort chilling).

Citra Wit

  • 5 lbs. pilsner malt
  • 5 lbs. flaked wheat
  • 0.87 lb. rice hulls
  • 2 oz. Citra hops pellets (14.1% alpha, 3.6% beta), 3 minute boil
  • 0.75 oz. fresh grapefruit peel, 5 minute boil
  • 0.25 oz. coriander (crushed), 5 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. yeast nutrient, 5 minute boil
  • Belgian Wit Ale Yeast (WLP400)

Procedure

  • Five days in advance, I built a 1.5L starter for some Belgian Wit Ale yeast I had harvested on May 5, when I last brewed a white IPA. After two days on the stir plate, I moved the starter into the refrigerator to cold crash the yeast.
  • On brew day, I mashed in with 3.8 gallons of water at 163°, to hit a mash temperature of 153.2°. This was down to 149° after 50 minutes, and around 147° after 65 minutes. At this time, I added 1 gallon of water at 190°, to raise the mash bed to 149°. I let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected 2.5 gallons of wort.
  • I added 3.7 gallons of water at 175°, which raised the mash bed to 164°. Because I had only collected 2.5 gallons on the first runnings, I added an additional gallon at 180°, to raise the mash bed to 165°. I figure that the wheat flakes absorbed a lot of extra water, hence the low volume on first runnings.
  • After another 10 minutes, I vorlaufed and collected the remainder of the runnings from the mash tun.
  • In total, I collected 6.6 gallons at a gravity of 1.038. This works out to 69% efficiency. This is a little lower than normal; most likely due to the high percentage of wheat flakes in the grist.
  • I started the boil, and added the various hops, spices, and yeast nutrient per the schedule. Because I was a little distracted, I ended up miscalculating the boil time and ended up with around 55 minutes total.
  • I cooled the wort to 81° (as far as I could get it with the current groundwater temperature), and transferred the wort to my primary fermenter while aerating. I pitched the yeast and sealed everything up.
  • This batch was brewed on 12 August 2016. Starting gravity was 1.043. I am fermenting this at 71°; vigorous fermentation had started within 12 hours of pitching the yeast.

Gondwana Pale Ale 1.3

Posted on by

I’ve been pretty heavy on the IPAs lately, so it’s time to give my tastebuds a break with a pale ale. My go-to recipe has been Gondwana Pale Ale–it has a clean but flavorful malt profile, which permits the single hop of my choosing to shine through. I’ve brewed this recipe with minor modifications on three different occasions, so this is iteration 4.

For the current round, the malt bill is pretty much the same as before (~82% 2-row, 10% Vienna, and the remainder split between crystal 40 and Carapils). Where I previously used Citra hops, though, I substituted in Mosaic. I have not yet done a single-hop Mosaic brew, so this is a good opportunity to really explore the characteristics of that variety.

Gondwana Pale Ale 1.3

  • 8.6 lbs. 2-row malt (Great Western Malting Co.)
  • 1 lb. Vienna malt
  • 0.45 lb. 40° crystal malt
  • 0.45 lb. Carapils malt
  • 1 oz. Mosaic hops pellets (11.3% alpha, 3.2% beta), 35 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Mosaic hops pellets (11.3% alpha, 3.2% beta), 2 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Mosaic hops pellets (11.3% alpha, 3.2% beta), dry hop in keg
  • 1 tsp. Irish moss (10 minute boil)
  • 1 pkg. Safale US-05 dry yeast

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 3.75 gallons of water at 163°, to hit a mash temperature of 153.3°. This was down to 152.5° after 15 minutes, and down to 149° after 40 minutes.
  • After 55 minutes of mashing, I added 1 gallon of water at 165°, to raise the mash temperature to 151.5°. I let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the first runnings.
  • Next, I added 3.7 gallons of water at 190°; this raised the mash to 174°, so added ~0.25 gallons of water in ice cubes, to bring the mash down to 165°. I let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the remainder of wort.
  • In total, I collected 7.2 gallons total, with a gravity of 1.037 gravity and 69% efficiency. This was a bit below my usually efficiency (~72%)–I suspect the more dilute mash was to blame.
  • I brought the wort to a boil, and added hops and Irish moss per the schedule.
  • After 60 minutes, I cooled the wort to 82°. Anything lower than this would have been too hard given my high groundwater temperature. I transferred the wort to the fermenter while aerating and then pitched the yeast.
  • I brewed this up on August 5. Starting gravity was 1.045. I am fermenting the beer at 64°; visible fermentation signs were in evidence after around 12 hours, and vigorous fermentation was underway after ~36 hours.
  • I’ve noted that my collected volumes have been a bit above what I predicted; I need to continue adjusting the BeerSmith settings for my mash tun volumes and dead spaces. Also, I suspect I am getting just a little sloppy with volume measurements; it’s easy to overfill my gallon measuring pitcher, which adds up after four or five pitchers’ worth.