Modern Homebrew Recipes (41 page)

Water treatment:

RO water treated with ¼ tsp 10% phosphoric acid per 5 gallons

0.5 tsp CaCl
₂
and 0.5 tsp CaSO
₄
in mash

Mash technique:

Step mash, mashout

Mash rests:

144°F (62°C) 30 minutes

154°F (68°C) 30 minutes

168°F (76°C) 15 minutes

Kettle volume:

8.5 gallons (32 L)

Boil length:

90 minutes

Final volume:

6.5 gallons (25 L)

Fermentation temp:

75°F (24°C)

Sensory description:
Pleasantly fruity (banana, citrus) with a light hop taste. Deep gold to light amber color. Moderately strong bitterness with a very dry finish. Light spicy, lemony finish.

Formulation notes:
I used the rock candi sugar, not the syrups, because I was looking for color and fermentability but not much flavor. If you substitute, be sure to adjust the color to the darker shade noted. The coriander adds a light lemony note. The 3522 yeast strain is from the Achouffe brewery, and it can take a warm fermentation. The higher temperature will bring out more aromatic notes. High attenuation is critical for the style. Don’t go too high on the bitterness since the high attenuation will make it seem more bitter.

Variations:
Since this is such a simple beer, you could use it as the base for experimentation. Adding darker malts will bring in additional flavors, as will using other spices of your choosing. Make it once as is before varying it to suit your taste.

BIÈRE DE GARDE

The name of this style means
beer to store
or a
keeping beer.
It comes from the north of France, generally around the Lille area. It is widely misunderstood outside of France because of the condition of their exported beers. The style doesn’t have a musty, cellar-like quality; that is something that comes from dried-out corks used in old bottles. Some imported examples seem fruity due to oxidation. This version has some of those malty and fruity flavors since many judges have become accustomed to those flavors in the style, but please don’t intentionally oxidize the beer.

Style:
Bière de Garde
(brown) (Classic BJCP Style)

Description:
Smooth, malty, fruity, and fairly strong with a moderate bitterness and a malty finish.

Ingredients:

Water treatment:

RO water treated with ¼ tsp 10% phosphoric acid per 5 gallons

1 tsp CaCl
₂
in mash

Mash technique:

Infusion, mashout, dark grains added at
vorlauf

Mash rests:

149°F (65°C) 60 minutes

168°F (76°C) 15 minutes

Kettle volume:

8.5 gallons (30 L)

Boil length:

90 minutes

Final volume:

6.5 gallons (25 L)

Fermentation temp:

60°F (16°C) 2 weeks

40°F (4°C) cold condition for 4 months

Sensory description:
Caramel malt flavor and fruity esters with restrained bitterness. The finish is malty, fruity, and slightly sweet—as much from the lower bitterness as the fruity esters. Smooth and clean with warming alcohol.

Formulation notes:
A very malty beer with layers of crystal-type malts and specialty grains. The Carafa is just for color adjustment, not flavor. I’m sticking with a simple infusion mash because I’d like it to retain a little extra residual sweetness. If you want to speed up the lagering, store at near-freezing temperature instead and reduce the storage time to 2 months.

Variations:
Can be made with a single decoction mash to increase maltiness and smoothness. If you want it even maltier, try the Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager yeast. The beer can be made a little smaller, and the percentage of crystal malts can be reduced. The beer is made with a warm-fermented lager yeast to keep it smooth and to increase the fruity profile. It can be made as an ale using the White Labs WLP515 Antwerp Ale yeast, or possibly the Wyeast 3522 Ardennes Ale yeast (if kept cool). Those yeasts will be a bit spicier and have more of a classic ‘Belgian’ fruit character than the warmer-fermented lager yeast.

ODDS AND ENDS SAISON

My friend Steve Fletty makes some of the best
saisons
I’ve ever tasted. He’s experimented with different yeast strains and specialty grains, and I’ve helped him evaluate the differences. When I interviewed him for an article I was writing on
saisons,
he happily shared all that he had learned. I tried to take some of his best ideas and use them in a creation of my own. This one features rye as the specialty grain, Pacific Jade hops (lemon rind and black pepper flavors), and uses the Farmhouse yeast strain.

Style:
Saison (standard, pale) (Classic BJCP Style)

Description:
A
saison
using a variety of base malts along with sugar and rye. I called it my odds and ends beer because I was using up some mostly empty sacks of grain and figured this style would take advantage of that complexity.

Ingredients:

Water treatment:

RO water treated with ¼ tsp 10% phosphoric acid per 5 gallons

0.5 tsp CaCl
₂
and 0.5 tsp CaSO
₄
in mash

Mash technique:

Infusion, mashout

Mash rests:

149°F (65°C) 60 minutes

168°F (76°C) 10 minutes

Kettle volume:

8 gallons (30 L)

Boil length:

75 minutes

Final volume:

6.25 gallons (24 L)

Fermentation temp:

73°F (20°C)

Sensory description:
Medium gold color, white head. Initial grainy, bready malt taste with a spicy, and bitter finish. Medium-high bitterness. Dry (but not bone dry) finish. Earthy, spicy, and peppery hop flavor lingers into finish. Lemon rind and black pepper, but with a grainy-bready malt aftertaste. Medium-light body. The fruity, spicy flavors come out more as it warms.

Formulation notes:
I was using up partial sacks of malt for this beer, so feel free to use whatever you have on hand. Try to use at least half six-row, though. I loved the description of the Pacific Jade hops (smooth bitterness, herbal, fresh citrus, crushed black pepper) and thought it sounded exactly like something to use in a
Saison
. I picked a hop schedule that lets me emphasize aroma and flavor. I used a straight infusion mash, but might try a more intensive step mash schedule next time to try to get it a little drier. I thought 1.008 was good until I got 1.002 with another method (see the
Tom Fitzpatrick’s Last Saison
recipe). This beer needs to be highly carbonated (I force carbonate in a keg).

Variations:
Steve has worked with other specialty grains including wheat, oats, and spelt. In our side-by-side tasting, we liked rye the best. Flaked rye was used here, but malted rye can also be used. The Farmhouse (Blaugies) yeast strain was used in this batch, but the French Saison (Wyeast 3711) is also good. Any collection of base malts can be used, but Steve likes to use at least some six-row for that extra grainy flavor. Steve prefers Turbinado sugar, although I used white sugar in this batch. Spicing a
saison
is always an option, but I like to be able to evaluate the flavor contributions of the grains, hops, and yeast before experimenting with additions. Some ideas for spice additions include star anise, black pepper, ginger, orange peel, sage, thyme, coriander seeds, cumin, green peppercorns, and pink peppercorns. Don’t use all of them at once! Pick flavor combinations that suit your taste preferences and experiment to determine amounts that work for you. When testing these kinds of combinations, I make a tea of the spices by steeping them in boiling
water for a few minutes then straining the liquid (just like making tea). Taste the cooled tea and see if you like the balance. Once satisfied with the spice ratio, blend the tea with a small sample of beer to determine what dosing level is pleasing to your palate. It’s all very subjective. My advice is to look for a background flavor first since you can always add more.

TRADITIONAL HOMEBREW DUBBEL

This Belgian
dubbel
was my first all-grain beer. I wanted to brew something I couldn’t really make as an extract beer (at least in the 1990s). I went through several revisions, trying different balances and tweaks, yeasts and malts, but have returned to this recipe as the one I like the best. I enjoy drinking this one the most, and it does well in competitions. It represents the kind of recipe that you’d use if you were making the beer without access to the specialty sugar syrups available today. Specialty malts each add a flavor element and balancing those components is always a challenge.