Tag Archives: tastings

Mountain Town Stout

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After 17 years of serious brewing with dozens (hundreds?) of batches under my belt, I’m sometimes amazed by unexpected gaps in my brewing experience. I’ve made stouts of all varieties–oatmeal, imperial, Irish, milk, and more–but never a classic American stout! The old standards from the late 1990s and early 2000s increasingly appeal to me, because I enjoy drinking them but they are nigh impossible to find nowadays. American stout is squarely in that category. Looking through my recipe books, I was somewhat shocked by how few recipes there are for American stouts. They’re mostly the substyles cited above–oatmeal, Irish, imperial, etc. It makes me wonder if my remembrance of a golden age of American stout was exaggerated through the prism of nostalgia?

From the BYO Big Book of Clone Recipes, I found a recipe emulating the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company Stout, and it was exactly what I wanted. My biggest change was to aim for a 3 gallon batch, because I wasn’t certain if I wanted 5 gallons of such a “heavy” beer. I also made some small ingredient substitutions, using Maris Otter instead of the Munich malt in the original recipe, and hopping with Columbus and Cascade (versus Bravo, Cascade, and Yakima Goldings in the original).

Mountain Town Stout

  • 5 lb. 2-row pale malt (Rahr)
  • 1.5 lb. Maris Otter pale ale malt (Thomas Fawcett)
  • 0.5 lb. 60L caramel malt (Briess)
  • 5 oz. Carafa Special II malt (Weyermann)
  • 5 oz. roasted barley (Crisp)
  • 3 oz. 2-row black malt (Briess)
  • 3 oz. chocolate malt (Bairds)
  • 0.5 oz. Columbus hop pellets (15.6% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (4.5% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (4.5% alpha), 1 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. American West Coast Ale yeast (Lallemand BRY-97)

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 152°, full volume mash
  • 1.061 o.g., 1.013 f.g., 6.4% abv, 53 IBU, 51 SRM
  • Claremont tap water, adjusted with Campden tablet
  • 3 gallon batch

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 4.6 gallons of water, heated to 158°, and then held the mash with recirculation at 152° for 60 minutes.
  • After the full 60 minute mash, I heated the mash to 168° for a 10 minute mash-out rest. Then, I pulled the grains and brought the runnings to a boil.
  • In total, I collected 4 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.051, for 68% mash efficiency.
  • Once the runnings were boiling, I added hops and finings per the recipe. After a 60 minute boil, I turned off the heat, whirlpooled the Cascade hops, and began the chill.
  • Once the wort was chilled to around 80°, I transferred it to the fermenter and then chilled the rest of the way down to 60° before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed this beer on 6 September 2025. Starting gravity was 1.063.
  • I let the beer free rise to 66° for the main bit of fermentation, pulling the fermenter to ambient on 13 September 2025.
  • I kegged the beer on 17 September 2025. Final gravity was 1.021, for 5.6% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • A deep, almost inky black beer, with a ridiculously persistent and creamy brown head.
  • Aroma
    • Notes of espresso and dark chocolate malt at a medium-high level; medium malty aroma also. Not much for hops or yeast aroma.
  • Flavor
    • High levels of rich dark coffee and chocolate at the forefront of the flavor. Bitterness is at a medium-high level, with a resiny quality. This is an intense (and flavorful) beer!
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium rich body, medium carbonation. Rich, slightly biting finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • Absolutely! This is an intensely flavored beer; classic “American craft beer” in all senses. It is surprisingly drinkable (unlike, say, an imperial stout), but not in a casual way. I am enjoying this one!
    • As a side note, the final gravity was 1.021, versus a BeerSmith prediction of 1.013. However, the recipe book claimed 1.020. I’ve noted that BeerSmith tends to do very poorly on estimating final gravity for beers with lots of non-fermentable malt sugars (~19% of the grist in this case).
  • Overall
    • 10/10

Mosaic SMaSH Session Pale Ale

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I wanted a quick-and-easy hoppy beer in the sessionable zone, so I threw together a SMaSH recipe with mostly on-hand ingredients. Maris Otter served as the base, for something a little more flavorful than average 2-row. I have a pound of Mosaic on-hand; I haven’t brewed with that variety in forever, and it’s interesting enough to stand on its own. Finally, I needed a yeast decision. This one required a quick turn-around to go on tap, so kveik was an obvious choice. My fantastic LHBS (Pacific Brewing Supplies in San Dimas) had a new brand in stock, a company called Kveik Yeastery. Looking through their products, a variety called Stalljen seemed perfect–it promised tropical fruit, mango, and pineapple, with citrus behind that. Reading a bit more about the yeast, I’m not sure if there are other commercial versions sold; if anyone knows differently, I’m happy to learn more. As a final note, this beer was set up as a “short and shoddy” style mash and boil, with 30 minutes on each.

Mosaic SMaSH Session Pale Ale

  • 10.5 lb. Maris Otter pale ale malt (Thomas Fawcett)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB (mash)
  • 1.25 oz. Mosaic hop pellets (10.7% alpha), 20 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Kick Carrageenan tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1.75 oz. Mosaic hop pellets (10.7% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. Stalljen kveik (Kveik Yeastery #K.22)
  • 3 oz. Mosaic hop pellets (10.7% alpha), dry hop

    Target Parameters

    • 30 minute infusion mash, 152°, full volume mash
    • 1.049 o.g., 1.012 f.g., 4.8% abv, 41 IBU, 5 SRM
    • Claremont tap water adjusted to hit 75 ppm Ca, 26 ppm Mg, 102 ppm Na, 164 ppm SO4, 130 ppm Cl, 10 ppm bicarbonate, RA=-60

    Procedure

    • Starting with 7 gallons of water, I added 7.2 mL of 88% lactic acid, 4 g of gypsum, and 2 g of epsom salts, in order to hit my water targets.
    • I heated the mash water to 157°, added the grains, and mashed at 152° with recirculation for 30 minutes. I then raised the mash to 168° for a 10 minute mash-out, before removing the grains.
    • My post-mash gravity was a bit underwhelming at 1.035 — that’s only 56% mash efficiency, well below my norm. Based on past results with the Fawcett Maris Otter, I’m thinking this is a malt that needs a full 60 minute mash at least; it certainly hasn’t overwhelmed me with its efficiency. Although I hadn’t planned a session ale, this is where I kicked things into session ale territory. I double-checked my mill gap, and all was OK there, so I can’t blame the mill.
    • I brought the runnings to a boil, but I upped the boil vigor a bit (85% power on the Foundry) and extended the boil to 60 minutes (instead of the planned 30 minutes).
    • After the boil, I added the last bit of hops and then chilled down to 93°. I transferred to the fermenter, pitched the yeast, and fermented at ambient.
    • I brewed this beer on 16 August 2025. Starting gravity was 1.043.
    • Vigorous fermentation kicked off within four hours of adding the yeast; the fermenter temperature was down to 68° by the next morning.
    • I added the dry hops on 21 August 2025, and cold crashed the beer on 24 August 2025.
    • I kegged the beer using a closed transfer on 30 August 2025. Final gravity was 1.012, for 4.1% abv.

    Tasting

    • Appearance
      • This is a hazy, light yellow beer that pours with a fluffy and persistent white head. The lacing is gorgeous!
    • Aroma
      • Aroma is dominated by a fresh citrus and blueberry hop character at a medium-high level. There is minimal malt or yeast character that I can pick up.
    • Flavor
      • Bitterness is at a high level, with slight astringency and hop bite. There is a medium-low level of malt flavor, with a grainy/malty-sweet character. The hops have a citrus and pine quality, with slight mango; it’s backed up by the citrusy notes presumably from the yeast.
    • Mouthfeel
      • Medium level of carbonation; light body and a dry finish with slight astringency.
    • Would I Brew This Again?
      • The core concept of this beer is great, but it definitely suffered from the low starting gravity. The astringency is annoying, but otherwise it’s a pretty decent beer. I would definitely do a version of this recipe again, with a higher gravity. Stalljen is a fantastic kveik strain; it’s unobtrusive and works well with Mosaic. I didn’t pick up the slight “twang” or tartness I get with Lutra (my other favorite strain), and I wouldn’t necessarily know this is a kveik otherwise. The persistent haze might be a negative in some recipes, but it’s so beautiful in this particular beer. Thinking ahead, I might aim for the same level of hops in a future version, with a starting gravity around 1.054. That would take a greater amount of malt as well as a longer mash.
    • Overall
      • 6/10

    Munich Helles BYO Edition

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    As a delicate yet flavorful lager, Munich helles has a reputation as a style that is difficult to brew well. My previous three versions have all been pretty decent, and after a few years’ hiatus I wanted to give the style another try. A recipe from the May-June 2018 BYO magazine presented a different take from my previous batches, and was worth an attempt in order to explore my taste preferences. The main difference is that it cut out Munich malt, leaning on pilsner malt with just a touch of character malt to accent things. I modified the BYO version slightly, taking out acidulated malt and using lactic acid instead, replaced Tradition hops with Perle, and moved all late addition hops to the 5 minute mark at the end of the boil. The latter was because I wanted to emphasize aroma and not boil off the volatiles. I also reduced the calculated bitterness a touch (20 IBU vs. 17 IBU). For yeast, I had two packets of White Labs’ dry Munich Lager (WLP860); I had picked them up at White Labs last year, and this was a perfect chance to use them.

    Recipe Name

    • 9 lb. Viking Pilsner Zero malt
    • 5 oz. Carahell malt (Weyermann)
    • 3 oz. Carafoam malt (Weyermann)
    • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
    • 0.65 oz. Perle hop pellets (6.3% alpha), 60 minute boil
    • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
    • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
    • 1 oz. Hallertauer Mittelfrueh hop pellets (2.5% alpha), 5 minute boil
    • 2 pkg. Munich Lager WLP830 dry yeast (White Labs)
    • 1 pkg. Diamond Lager dry yeast (Lallemand)
    • 1 oz. Biofine Clear, added to keg

    Target Parameters

    • Infusion mash, 45 minutes at 144°, 45 minutes at 160°, 10 minutes at 168°, full volume mash
    • 1.045 o.g., 1.008 f.g., 4.9% abv, 17 IBU, 4 SRM
    • Water built from scratch with RO water, to hit 55 ppm Ca, 61 ppm SO4, 53 ppm Cl, RA=-39

    Procedure

    • I built my water up from scratch, starting with 7.25 gallons of RO water, to which I added 3 g of calcium chloride and 3 g of gypsum. I heated this to 148°, before adding the BrewTanB, grains, and 0.2 mL of 88% lactic acid.
    • I held the mash at 144° for 45 minutes, with recirculation, before increasing the temperature to 160° and holding it there for another 45 minutes. Finally, I had a 10 minute mash-out at 168°, before pulling the grains.
    • In total, I had 6.5 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.039, for 71% mash efficiency.
    • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe. After a 60 minute boil, I turned off the heat and then chilled to 75° before transferring to the fermenter. I chilled the wort the rest of the way down to 48° before pitching the yeast.
    • I brewed the beer on 19 June 2025. Starting gravity was 1.039 – right on the numbers!
    • Fermentation was held at 50°. There was no sign of fermentation, neither krausen nor bubbles in the airlock, by 21 June 2025. So, I pitched a packet of Diamond Lager yeast just to be safe. Later reading shows this strain tends to be a slow starter and quiet fermenter, so I perhaps was a bit too hasty. Next time, I might take a sample and see if the gravity had changed. In this case, it was better to be safe than sorry.
    • I cold crashed the beer on 17 July 2025, and kegged it on 4 August 2025 using a closed transfer. At this point, the beer was pretty hazy but had an amazing flavor.
    • I added Biofine Clear on 25 August 2025.
    • Final gravity was 1.010, down from 1.045, which equates to 4.7% abv.

    Tasting

    • Appearance
      • Light yellow and brilliantly clear, with a persistent fine white head.
    • Aroma
      • Clean fermentation profile, medium-low malt with a sweet malty character. Hops very faint.
    • Flavor
      • Medium level of malty sweet flavor, with a low level of spicy hops behind that. It tastes good, but inoffensive.
    • Mouthfeel
      • Medium-light body, moderate carbonation, smooth and slightly dry finish.
    • Would I Brew This Again?
      • This beer is technically great, but it just doesn’t grab my attention in any particularly way. It’s clean, clear, and decently flavorful, but needs a touch more malt character. Versus previous recipes, I skipped Munich malt on this one, and that set things back a bit. I might try a different pilsner malt, too, but either way the malt needs a bit more of “something.”
        • Note added later: I tried this beer again, in a big mug, and it hit a bit differently. The malt character was more prominent, and it goes down easily. I’m not going to adjust my ranking based on this, other than to say that it’s a very drinkable beer, and would be a crowd pleaser, even if not the most interesting beer for me. I guess not every beer needs to be interesting!
    • Overall
      • 7/10

    No. 11 Bohemian Pilsner

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    I’ve been chasing the Bohemian pilsner style for awhile, with variable success. My most recent version, No. 11 Bohemian Pilsner, got pretty close to what I was looking for. It needed just a touch more malt character, so I increased the melanoidin contribution from 4 oz. to 5 oz. for my 2025 version. I was also a bit low on Carafoam, so I reduced that from 8 oz. to 5 oz.; I figured that would have a minimal effect. Finally, I’m using Viking pilsner zero malt as the base, versus Rahr.

    Recipe Name

    • 10 lb. Viking Pilsner Zero malt
    • 5 oz. Carafoam malt (Weyermann)
    • 5 oz. melanoidin malt (Weyermann)
    • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
    • 3.5 oz. Saaz hop pellets (2.4% alpha), 60 minute boil
    • 1.5 oz. Saaz hop pellets (2.4% alpha), 10 minute boil
    • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
    • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
    • 1 oz. Saaz hop pellets (2.4% alpha), 5 minute boil
    • 0.5 tsp. yeast nutrient (WLN1000), 5 minute boil
    • 2 pkg. Diamond lager yeast (Lallemand)
    • 1 oz. Biofine Clear, added to keg

    Target Parameters

    • 60 minute infusion mash, 154°, full volume mash
    • 1.049 o.g., 1.010 f.g., 5.1% abv, 37 IBU, 5 SRM
    • Water built from RO, to hit target profile of 6 ppm Ca, 5 ppm Na, 6 ppm SO4, 6 ppm Cl, 14 ppm HCO3, RA=7 ppm

    Procedure

    • I started with 7.4 gallons of RO water, to which I added 0.3 g gypsum, 0.3 g calcium chloride, 0.5 g baking soda, to hit target profile of 6 ppm Ca, 5 ppm Na, 6 ppm SO4, 6 ppm Cl, 14 ppm HCO3, RA=7 ppm.
    • I heated the strike water to 159°, before adding the grains, BrewTanB, and 4.1 mL of 88% lactic acid to hit my ideal pH.
    • I held the mash at 154°, with recirculation, for 60 minutes, before raising the temperature to 168° for a 10 minute mashout.
    • At the end of the mash, I pulled the grains and heated the runnings to a boil. In total, I started with 6.6 gallons of runnings at a gravity of 1.041, for 69% mash efficiency.
    • Once the kettle was at a boil, I added hops and finings per the recipe. After the full 60 minutes, I chilled the beer to 80°, transferred to the fermenter, and chilled the rest of the way to 50° before pitching the yeast. I set the fermentation chamber at 52°, and observed signs of fermentation within 12 hours.
    • I brewed this beer on 14 June 2025; it had a starting gravity of 1.049.
    • On 19 June 2025, I pulled the fermenter to ambient for about 4 hours, so that I could chill a second lager (Munich helles) down to 50°. During this time, the fermenter temperature rose to 60° and fermentation really kicked off. I chilled the beer back to 50° after this and completed fermentation at that temperature.
    • I cold crashed the beer on 17 July 2025, and kegged it on 4 August 2025 using a closed transfer. The beer had some haze to it still.
    • Final gravity was 1.011, for 5.0% abv. I hit my numbers really well on this batch!
    • To speed up the clarification process, I added 1 oz. of Biofine Clear on 25 August 2025.

    Tasting

    • Appearance
      • Brilliantly clear gold beer with a thick and persistent white head, which has a tall and creamy appearance when well poured.
    • Aroma
      • Medium-high malty aroma, medium low spicy/herbal hops as the beer warms.
    • Flavor
      • Bready maltiness at a medium level, against a bitter yet rounded hop character, with an herbal and slightly spicy quality.
    • Mouthfeel
      • Medium body, medium carbonation, smooth finish.
    • Would I Brew This Again?
      • This might be my best Bohemian pilsner yet. It is incredibly drinkable, and the balance between malt and hops is spot-on. Soft water definitely pays off, with the subtle bitterness that plays well against the malt.
    • Overall
      • 10/10

    Clonal Common 2025

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    This is the third iteration of my “house” California common (steam beer) recipe, following previous brews in 2015 and 2021. The 2025 version is pretty much identical to the others, except I swapped Imperial Yeast’s Cablecar for White Labs’ equivalent`, based on what the homebrew shop had on-hand. Also, I decided to make a 3 gallon batch on this round; I enjoy the style, but it’s more of a 3-gallon enjoyment than a 5-gallon enjoyment these days. As mentioned previously, this fits into my “make more small batches” Brew Year’s Resolution, too.

    Clonal Common 2025

    • 5.75 lb. 2-row brewer’s malt (Great Western)
    • 11 oz. Viking caramel 100 (crystal 40) malt
    • 6 oz. special roast malt (Briess)
    • 0.5 oz. Northern Brewer hop pellets (6.1% alpha), 60 minute boil
    • 0.5 oz. Northern Brewer hop pellets (6.1% alpha), 15 minute boil
    • 0.5 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
    • 1 oz. Northern Brewer hop pellets (6.1% alpha), 60 minute boil
    • 1 pkg. Cablecar liquid yeast (Imperial Yeast #L05)

    Target Parameters

    • 60 minute infusion mash at 150° with 168° mash-out, full volume mash
    • 1.050 o.g., 1.011 f.g., 5.1% abv, 36 IBU, 11 SRM
    • Claremont tap water, with Campden tablet

    Procedure

    • I collected 4.75 gallons of Claremont tap water and added a Campden tablet, heating the water to 155° before I mashed in with the grains. I added 4 mL of 88% lactic acid to adjust pH and held the mash temperature at 150° for 60 minutes before raising the temperature to 168° for 10 minutes.
    • I removed the grains, collecting a total of 4.1 gallons at a gravity of 1.039, for 65% mash efficiency.
    • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe. After a 60 minute boil, I turned off the heat and chilled the wort to 73° with an immersion chiller.
    • Next, I transferred the wort to my small stainless steel fermenter and chilled it all to 64° in my fermentation chamber.
    • Finally, I pitched the yeast and held the fermenter at 64°
    • I brewed this beer on 17 May 2025; starting gravity was 1.050.
    • I pulled the fermenter to ambient (~68°) on 24 May 2025.
    • I kegged the beer on 1 June 2025, with 1 oz. of corn sugar added to the keg to encourage natural carbonation and reduce oxidation. I held the keg at ambient for a few weeks, before putting it into my conditioning chamber, force carbonating to final CO2 volume (~2.8 volumes) and lagering at 34°.
    • Final gravity was 1.012, which works out to 5.1% abv. I really hit my numbers on this one!

    Tasting

    • Appearance
      • Light amber, clear beer with a slight chill haze. Pours with a creamy off-white head of good persistence.
    • Aroma
      • Light caramel malt aroma, light resiny and woody hop aroma, clean profile for yeast aroma.
    • Flavor
      • Medium-high bitterness with a resinous, woody profile, against a medium-low caramel and lightly grainy malt. Very low level of fruitness, almost imperceptible.
    • Mouthfeel
      • Medium carbonation, medium body, slightly dry finish accentuated by the hops.
    • Would I Brew This Again?
      • This is a solid recipe! I think it is a bit too bitter in this iteration, and I noted something similar in past batches. So, I think my next batch of this recipe will aim for around 30 IBU. The chill haze is annoying; I think some gelatin would be appropriate in the next batch.
    • Overall
      • 7.5/10