Brazilian Blonde, Awenda Wheat, KWCBC, etc.

So, I've been remiss on posting lately. Slipping!

Brazilian Blonde

Early in June I ran a 10 gallon batch of Blonde Ale. There's not much notable about it. I'll include a recipe below.

It isn't even kegged, because the keg fridge already has a nice yellow beer in it (Windbreaker Pilsner, which has turned out very nice now that it's had a chance to age after I dry hopped it.)

IPEh Growler Event

The US-05 yeast version of Backyard IPEh went to the KW Craft Beer Club's IPEh growler event. It tied for 4th out of 10. I'm happy enough with that, but the event was too competitive (and some of the beers were not, to be honest.) Participants would have got a lot more value out of the event if they had a chance to describe the beer and hear people's responses.

I would have appreciated it, myself. I don't think the Backyard was that great a beer and one lesson I did come away with was that the better performing brewers are thinking tactically about their ingredients and recipe. Something I need to learn.

The next event is a Wheat beer event. Which brings me to:

Awenda Wheat

Sunday, I fired up the 5 gallon system for the first time this year, because this brew is a pair of firsts. One, it's my first wheat beer. Two, it's my first decoction mash. Normally I do infusion mashes (so called because the mash temperature is set and adjusted by the infusion of hot water into the grains). But this time, I decided to follow a simplified version of a traditional German brewing technique.

When you want to adjust the temperature of your mash, you scoop off the thickest part of the mash into a separate pot, so you have a big pile of soggy grain in there (leaving most of the liquid behind) and then you boil it. Once boiled, you return the hot grains and liquid back to the mash and mix it in.

It didn't go quite as smoothly as I wanted: I needed to move from 122F (protein rest) to 153F (sacharification rest, or the main starch-to-sugar conversion process) and what I thought would be one step ended up taking three whole cycles of scooping grain out with a slotted spoon and boiling it. In the end I settled for a mash temperature of 148F. That will change the body of the beer.

Decoction mashing is counter-intuitive for 2 reasons.

• Boiling the mash denatures the enzymes you need to mash (but since most liquids get left behind and the enzymes have dissolved, this doesn't end up being a problem.)
• Brewers are told not to subject their grains to more than 168F because of tannin extraction. But decoction involves boiling the damn things. BYO does an okay job of explaining why this isn't a problem.

There are some upsides to decoction, according to some. It changes the character of the beer, creating body without adding residual sweetness. We'll see.

For a fairly simple Weizen, though, it's completely in place. I even had a package of Weizen yeast on hand, but it was a little too old and didn't look viable, so I used a backup package of dry WB-06 instead.

Recipes below the fold.

Brazilian Blonde

Blonde Ale

Type: All Grain	Date: 08 Jun 2014
Batch Size (fermenter): 10.50 gal	Brewer: Chris Klein
Boil Size: 13.24 gal	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 90 min	Equipment: Brew Pot (19gal) + Coleman cooler
End of Boil Volume 11.44 gal	Brewhouse Efficiency: 77.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 10.50 gal	Est Mash Efficiency 80.7 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage	Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU 13 lbs Pilsner Bohemian (Weyermann) (1.7 SRM) Grain 1 76.5 % 4 lbs Vienna Malt (Weyermann) (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 23.5 % 0.80 oz Northern Brewer 10.6% Pellet [10.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 16.1 IBUs 0.70 oz Hallertauer Tradition [7.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 4 4.6 IBUs 2.10 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 5 - 0.70 oz Hallertauer Tradition [7.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 6 1.9 IBUs 2.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] Yeast 7 -
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.047 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.009 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.0 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 22.6 IBUs	Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 3.2 SRM
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body	Total Grain Weight: 17 lbs
Sparge Water: 7.07 gal	Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F	Tun Temperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE	Mash PH: 5.20
Mash Steps Name Description Step Temperature Step Time Mash In Add 21.25 qt of water at 161.4 F 150.0 F 75 min Mash Out Add 13.60 qt of water at 200.2 F 168.0 F 10 min
Sparge Step: Fly sparge with 7.07 gal water at 168.0 F
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Keg	Volumes of CO2: 2.4
Pressure/Weight: 13.72 PSI	Carbonation Used: Keg with 13.72 PSI
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 45.0 F	Age for: 30.00 days
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage	Storage Temperature: 65.0 F
Notes
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Awenda Wheat

Weizen/Weissbier

Type: All Grain	Date: 06 Jul 2014
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal	Brewer: Chris Klein
Boil Size: 6.94 gal	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 90 min	Equipment: Brew Pot (8gal) + Coleman Cooler
End of Boil Volume 6.12 gal	Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 5.25 gal	Est Mash Efficiency 74.8 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage	Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU 5.00 gal Distilled Water Water 1 - 4.00 gal Kitchener Water Water 2 - 12.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 3 6.8 % 7 lbs 2.5 oz Wheat Malt, Can (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 65.2 % 3 lbs 1.1 oz Pilsner (Weyermann) (1.7 SRM) Grain 5 27.9 % 0.50 oz Hallertauer Tradition [7.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 12.2 IBUs 1.10 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 7 - 0.50 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [2.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 0.9 IBUs 1.0 pkg Safbrew Wheat (DCL/Fermentis #WB-06) [50.28 ml] Yeast 9 -
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.048 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.050 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.3 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.0 %
Bitterness: 13.1 IBUs	Calories: 166.1 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 3.4 SRM
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Decoction Mash, Single	Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs 15.5 oz
Sparge Water: 1.15 gal	Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F	Tun Temperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE	Mash PH: 5.20
Mash Steps Name Description Step Temperature Step Time Protein Rest Add 21.94 qt of water at 129.2 F 122.0 F 35 min Saccharification Decoct 9.45 qt of mash and boil it 154.0 F 45 min Mash Out Add 8.50 qt of water at 209.9 F 168.0 F 10 min
Sparge Step: Batch sparge with 1 steps (1.15gal) of 168.0 F water
Mash Notes: Used in some authentic German styles. Attempt to draw decoction from the thickest portion of the mash. Profiles vary. Some traditional German mashes use a long acid rest at 40 deg C. Also some sources recommend the decoction amount be given a 15 minute saccharification rest at 158 F (70 C) before boiling it.
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Keg	Volumes of CO2: 2.7
Pressure/Weight: 17.22 PSI	Carbonation Used: Keg with 17.22 PSI
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 45.0 F	Age for: 30.00 days
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage	Storage Temperature: 65.0 F
Notes
Decoction mash: tricky. Ended up mashing at 148. Took 3 decoctions to do it. Stuck sparge, despite being careful. Lots of gum on the surface. Ended up not drawing as much water through, could have pushed batch an extra gallon or so. More boiloff than expected. Volume to fermenter was 4.5gal but above target gravity. Topped up to 5.5.
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