And yet, so much has happened. In 2017, I got a new brewing system, "The Eagle"-- a pair of 15-gallon keggles and other gear from a brewer in Ottawa. I settled into a rhythm of brewing, with a few years of starting with an english pale ale, followed by a cream ale or blonde, and then a hoppy "Warbler" series pale ale, all at 10 gallons that the new system allowed.
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| The Eagle in the morning sun, ca. 2019 |
Then in 2018, I built Ferdinand the fermentation chamber, which is an old chest freezer driven by a Brewpi. Room enough for 2 fermenters, with temperature probes driving extremely precise temperature control. It has given me the ability to better control my fermentations, and even do lagers-- though practically speaking, my calendar rarely allows me to give a lager 2 months in the chamber when I have other beers to run.
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| Brewpi controller and relay box |
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| Ferdinand and his contents |
And finally, when COVID descended upon our lives, came a surprising move out of Kitchener, up the road to the little town of Fergus. With it, a complete uprooting of the brewery away from the Mount Hope-Breithaupt neighbourhood that gave the brewery its name.
The new place presents a nice new brewing setup. There's an attached double garage, with room for equipment storage and also the fermentation chamber. Because it's insulated and temperature controlled, I can run consistent fermentations despite garage climate swings. The inner entrance to it is the laundry room, which makes for easier brew day cleaning. All in all, a lot less work to set up and tear down.
At the new place, I've now run three brew days so far. The first two batches have followed my now usual pattern, but with a twist: I tried my first Kveik yeast brews.
The first: Kveiking Voyage, a variation of my Voyage of Discovery English Pale Ale. This one was an attempt to minimize grain-to-glass time, with a ludicruous (to me) 75 degrees F fermentation temperature. It turned out OK, but had a definite stamp of character from the yeast. It was ready to drink less than 2 weeks from brew day, but it took some weeks after that to shed some of this overpowering character to mellow out.
The second, Krispy Kreme, was a cream ale using Escarpment Labs "Krispy" Kveik yeast. This time, no ridiculous fermentation temperature. The goal was to get something as clean as possible and see if this yeast lives up to its reputation to be used as a "quick faux lager yeast". This one came out fairly clear, but still didn't finish low and imparted some fruity character with a slightly lemony edge. Still, the second keg of this beer (which got an effective month of finishing time) is excellent.
So, what's my overall take on these Kveik yeasts? They haven't really given me the results others have bragged about, and I'm not sure why. They both left stamps on their beer that time only improved by diminishing, which defeats the original purpose. There seems to be no replacement for good cold conditioning. Still, they aren't bad-- but unless I'm brewing some kind of IPA that would benefit from them I'll probably stay away in the future. My tastes continue to drift towards clean, clear, drinkable beers... and Kveik hasn't given me a quicker path to that.
Here's to many more brews here, a half hour's drive upriver from the old digs!
Recipes below the cut!
| Brewing Steps: Kweiking Voyage |
| Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale) |
| Type: All Grain | Date: 27 Feb 2021 |
| Batch Size (fermenter): 10.75 gal | Brewer: Chris Klein |
| Boil Size: 12.46 gal | Asst Brewer: |
| Boil Time: 60 min | Equipment: The Eagle (10 gal) |
| Final Bottling Volume: 10.00 gal | Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 |
| Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage | Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0 |
| Taste Notes: | |
Prepare for Brewing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No yeast starter used | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Clean and Prepare Brewing Equipment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total Water Needed: 14.98 gal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mash Water Acid Treatment: None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mash or Steep Grains | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sparge Water Acid Treatment: None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fly sparge with 5.92 gal water at 168.0 F | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Boil Wort | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Add water to achieve boil volume of 12.46 gal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Estimated pre-boil gravity is 1.047 SG | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Estimated Post Boil Vol: 11.46 gal and Est Post Boil Gravity: 1.053 SG | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cool and Prepare Fermentation | |||||||||||||
| Cool wort to fermentation temperature | |||||||||||||
| Transfer wort to fermenter | |||||||||||||
| Add water to achieve final volume of 10.75 gal | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Measure Actual Original Gravity _______ (Target: 1.053 SG) | |||||||||||||
| Measure Actual Batch Volume _______ (Target: 10.75 gal) | |||||||||||||
| Fermentation | |||||||||||||
27 Feb 2021 - Primary Fermentation (4.00 days at 67.0 F ending at 67.0 F)
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| 03 Mar 2021 - Secondary Fermentation (10.00 days at 67.0 F ending at 67.0 F) | |||||||||||||
| Dry Hop and Prepare for Bottling/Kegging | |||||||||||||
| Measure Final Gravity: _________ (Estimate: 1.012 SG) | |||||||||||||
| Date Bottled/Kegged: 13 Mar 2021 - Carbonation: Keg with 3.12 PSI | |||||||||||||
| Age beer for 30.00 days at 65.0 F | |||||||||||||
| 12 Apr 2021 - Drink and enjoy! | |||||||||||||
| Notes | |||||||||||||
| 100% fergus water Forgot irish moss :( Put in more yeast nutrient. Fair bit more 5.2 (About 3tbsp) because the Fergus water is so hard... pH readings seemed to help. Maybe this is why efficiency shot up?? | |||||||||||||
Created with BeerSmith | |||||||||||||
| Brewing Steps: Krispy Kreme |
| Cream Ale |
| Type: All Grain | Date: 04 Apr 2021 |
| Batch Size (fermenter): 10.75 gal | Brewer: Chris Klein |
| Boil Size: 12.46 gal | Asst Brewer: |
| Boil Time: 60 min | Equipment: The Eagle (10 gal) |
| Final Bottling Volume: 10.00 gal | Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 |
| Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage | Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0 |
| Taste Notes: | |
Prepare for Brewing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No yeast starter used | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Clean and Prepare Brewing Equipment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total Water Needed: 14.62 gal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mash Water Acid Treatment: None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mash or Steep Grains | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sparge Water Acid Treatment: None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fly sparge with 6.76 gal water at 168.0 F | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Boil Wort | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Add water to achieve boil volume of 12.46 gal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Estimated pre-boil gravity is 1.044 SG | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Estimated Post Boil Vol: 11.46 gal and Est Post Boil Gravity: 1.050 SG | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cool and Prepare Fermentation | |||||||||||||
| Cool wort to fermentation temperature | |||||||||||||
| Transfer wort to fermenter | |||||||||||||
| Add water to achieve final volume of 10.75 gal | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Measure Actual Original Gravity _______ (Target: 1.050 SG) | |||||||||||||
| Measure Actual Batch Volume _______ (Target: 10.75 gal) | |||||||||||||
| Fermentation | |||||||||||||
| 04 Apr 2021 - Primary Fermentation (4.00 days at 67.0 F ending at 67.0 F) | |||||||||||||
| 08 Apr 2021 - Secondary Fermentation (10.00 days at 67.0 F ending at 67.0 F) | |||||||||||||
Dry Hop and Prepare for Bottling/Kegging
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| Measure Final Gravity: _________ (Estimate: 1.008 SG) | |||||||||||||
| Date Bottled/Kegged: 18 Apr 2021 - Carbonation: Keg with 17.22 PSI | |||||||||||||
| Age beer for 30.00 days at 65.0 F | |||||||||||||
| 18 May 2021 - Drink and enjoy! | |||||||||||||
| Notes | |||||||||||||
| Big starter! 11.2oz at 3.3L to hit a 1.0 pitch rate (39% viability on the yeast!?) Another use of 5.2 to make for a predictable mash Ferment at 18.5C to try and get a clean ferment. | |||||||||||||
Created with BeerSmith | |||||||||||||
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