Beer Mac 'n Cheese

Been completely crazy busy around here - it's competition season!! Though we've been madly fermenting and judging, I still found some time to do a little cooking. I whipped up this recipe for Mac 'n Cheese using Founders Porter last week. There was no porter in our house at the time, so I used the Maibock we have on tap and it worked great. Also, I ran out of panko so I used some crushed french fried onions for the topping instead - yes! (OK, they may be a little white-trashy, but french fried onions are my secret ingredient to a lot of things.) This was definitely not a cheap dish with all of that cheese, but it fed us for three nights and was pretty simple to make. Highly recommended!

Diacetyl Precursors and Purging Secondary Carboys

This is actually the 3rd "official" beer in our Cry Havoc yeast series. First we did a Blonde Ale, then a Maibock (more on that later when we get some scoresheets back - good but probably not in style), and then we brewed Charlie Papazian's Contrarian Amber-Golden Lager, which is what this is about.

I had high hopes for this beer, as it was the only recipe we made that's actually designed by Charlie himself to go with this yeast. After fermentation and a diacetyl rest, and slowly brining it down to 40F, it was tasting really good. Bready malt flavors and nicely hoppy. The only thing left was to dry hop it. So, I transferred it to a carboy, and dry hopped away. Then I was like - hmmmm.... shoulda purged that carboy with CO2. Oh well, I don't always purge carboys and never had a problem. The CO2 coming out of the beer usually makes the carboy sorta purge itself. 

So after 10 days or so of dry hopping, I put it in the fridge to crash everything down. Then today before we went to keg it, we pulled a taste and wow, diacetyl - right in the nose and on the tongue. The bready, hoppy goodness was gone. What happened?

Well, after reviewing my process and going through Jamil and Chris' Yeast book, I think I figured it out. There are diacetyl precursors in beer, namely acetolactate, that can produce diacetyl when introduced to oxygen. These precursors must have been present, and when I racked to the non-CO2-purged carboy, they took up the oxygen and whammo - diacetyl. I racked too soon. Next time, I'll perform a simple diacetyl test, which goes a little something like this. Anyhoo - the beer was butter. Yes, homebrew mistakes can happen.

But Can't You Save It?
There are ways to get rid of the dreaded "D". Your best best is to let the beer rise back up to room temp so the that yeast can reabsorb the diacetyl. Diacetyl is actually a natural product of fermentation - the yeast just reabsorb it towards the end. In lagers, that's why you do a diacetyl rest, and maybe even a follow a diacetyl reduction scheme (cold pitching). But since I'd already removed the beer from the yeast, that wouldn't work so well here.

You can also "krausen" the beer, where you pitch some actively fermenting wort back into the beer, with the hope that the active, healthy yeast will reabsorb the diacetyl - but since I'd already dry hopped the beer (used 1oz), I wasn't 100% sure that would work as the hop gunk could get in the way of the yeast. I could have racked *again* but I also know from past experience that if there's too much diacetyl that even krausening won't work, and there was a lot here. So going off my past experience, I made the command decision to dump and move on, causing the entire bathroom to stink of butter. I generally find trying to "fix" D-bomb beers an aggravating, time-wasting experience that never lives up to my expectations. Would rather re-brew.

The good news is that we've made another, final beer with this yeast, a smoke beer, and no diacetyl (just a smokey nose without any slickness on the tongue). And if there is, well, the smoke covers it nicely! I think this is further evidence that the "D" developed in the secondary.

Anyways, if I make this again - I'd just skip the dry hopping or dry hop right in the fermentor - maybe just extending the diacetyl rest into a dry hopping period (any tips on dry-hopping lagers?). It's an interesting recipe, and if you'd like to try it out - here it is:


Recipe: Contrarian Amber-Golden Lager

Wort Volume Before Boil: 8.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.72 US gals
Volume Transferred: 5.50 US gals
Water Added: 0.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 5.50 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.047 SG
Expected OG: 1.056 SG
Expected FG: 1.016 SG
Expected ABV: 5.1 %
Expected ABW: 4.0 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 56.0
Expected Color: 7.5 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 68.0 %
Mash Efficiency: 80.0 %
Boil Duration: 90.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 52-55 degF

Fermentables
German Pilsner Malt 9lb 14oz (74.9 %) In Mash/Steeped
German Pilsner Malt 8.00 oz (3.8 %) In Mash/Steeped (for boiling - keep reading)
US Flaked Rice 1lb 5oz (10.0 %) In Mash/Steeped (for boiling - keep reading)
US Rice Hulls 8.00 oz (3.8 %) In Mash/Steeped
Canadian Honey Malt (Gambrinus) 4.00 oz (1.9 %) In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Aromatic Malt 4.00 oz (1.9 %) In Mash/Steeped
Belgian Special B 4.00 oz (1.9 %) In Mash/Steeped
German Sauer(Acid) Malt 4.00 oz (1.9 %) In Mash/Steeped

Hops
French Strisselspalter (1.8 % alpha) 1.50 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 60 Min From End
US Mount Hood (5.0 % alpha) 1.50 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 60 Min From End
US Liberty (4.5 % alpha) 1.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 60 Min From End
US Liberty (4.5 % alpha) 1.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 20 Min From End
US Mount Hood (5.0 % alpha) 1.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 10 Min From End
French Strisselspalter (1.8 % alpha) 0.50 oz Loose Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped

Yeast: White Labs WLP862-Cry Havoc, lager-size starter or ready yeast cake

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name: Papazian 132 - 155F
Step: Rest at 132 degF for 30 mins
Step: Raise by infusion to 155 degF for 30 mins

Recipe Notes (from Zymurgy)
OG: 1.056
FG: 1.016
IBU: 55 or so
Color: 14 SRM

Special Instructions

1. Add 9q (2.75 gal) 140F water to rice husks and crushed malt. (Do NOT add .5lb pils or flaked rice). Stir, stabilize at 132F for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, add leftover pils and flaked rice to 7 quarts (1.75 gal) cool water and bring to a boil (stir to prevent boil over/scortching). 
3. After 30 minutes, add the boiling mixture to the mash, adding heat as needed to bring up to 155F and hold for 30 minutes.
4. Raise/Sparge at 167.

I did this in my 10 gallon cooler, and the mash worked great. 

Cheers!

Association of Beer Vixens

Wow, has it been a very beery past 15 months for me! Joining HOPS, studying for the BJCP, being chosen for the CBS board...fantastically fun (and educational) beer times. I must admit my favorite part of all of my new beer adventures has been meeting beer people, specifically my fellow Beer Vixens.

About a year ago me and a couple of other beer-minded ladies decided to form a women-only beer group. We weren't sure how many people would be interested or what our goals would be, but we thought we would give it a shot. Ten events and lots of beers later, over 100 ladies are members of the Association of Beer Vixens (ABV).

It's been amazing meeting so many extremely cool women who love beer too! We've explored sour beers, toured breweries, paired beers with cheeses, poked around Chicago's historic speakeasys, and most importantly had a complete blast. Every single lady at our events is down-to-earth, smart, funny, and helping to break stereotypes about women and beer. Or as my friend Colleen would say "my people."

Randy Mosher mentioned to me once that even if he could never have a drop of beer again he would still hangout with beer people, as they are the best in the world. Though I would be sad if I could never have beer again (and would guess that Randy would be too), I couldn't agree more. So a hearty Cheers to you ABVers! I look forward to sharing many, many pints with you in the years to come.

White Labs Cry Havoc: Batch 1 - Blonde Ale

White Lab's Cry Havoc (WLP862) is a unique yeast in that it can ferment at both ale and lager temperatures. This sounded extremely useful (imagine brewing a session ale in order to provide plenty of yeast for a lager - that's the plan here). So I thought I'd give it a shot - and also grab a piece of homebrew history as this is Charlie Papazian's personal yeast strain.

I kicked off my Cry Havoc yeast adventures with a blonde ale. I wasn't sure if it would turn out more like a bitter, but after bringing it to my BJCP class, the teacher said this is a very nice blonde.

When fermented at ale temps, Cry Havoc gives a lot of apply/cherry like esters, while keeping a nice bready, malty base that makes for a well balanced ale. The northern brewer hops, used mostly for bittering here, give a nice spicy/bitter flavor that keeps you sipping away. And at under 5% ABV, you can easily have a few.

After this batch, I used the cake to brew a Helles Bock, which is finishing up now (and will report on later). When Cry Havoc is fermented at lager temps, the fruitiness goes away, and a sample revealed a nice bready maltiness. Cry Havoc is a low floculator, which doesn't seem to be a problem with the lager, but the ale was a bit hazy - even with whirlfloc added in the boil. If clarity is important, you may wish to cold crash an ale before kegging/bottling with this yeast.

Anyhoo, here's the blonde-ale recipe:

Wort Volume Before Boil: 8.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.72 US gals
Volume Transferred: 5.50 US gals
Water Added: 0.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 5.50 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.036 SG
OG: 1.047 SG
FG: 1.012 SG
ABV: 4.5 %
IBU (using Tinseth): 32.9
Color: 5.7 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 73 %
Mash Efficiency: 81.0 %
Boil Duration: 60.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 67 degF (ramp to lower 70's towards end)

Fermentables
Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt - T.Fawcett 8lb 8oz (94.4 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Wheat Malt 8.00 oz (5.6 %) In Mash/Steeped

Hops
German Northern Brewer (10.4 % alpha) 0.75 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 60 Min From End
German Northern Brewer (10.4 % alpha) 0.25 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 30 Min From End
Kent Goldings (4.9 % alpha) 1.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 1 Min From End

Yeast: White Labs WLP862-Cry Havoc (small starter)

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name:Single Step Infusion (67C/152F)
Step: Rest at 152 degF for 60 mins

Big Brews, A Rainy Brew Day, Cry Havoc, and Fermcap-S - Oh My!

The past couple months have been crazy and we've been slackin' on the bloggin' - apologies! Here's a recap since the last post.

Big Brews
Wrapping up our brewing with White Labs 001 American Ale yeast, we finished big with an American Barleywine and a Russian Imperial Stout. The barleywine has been bottle conditioning for about a month and a half. We added both sugar and some fresh yeast at the time of bottling. We cracked one over the weekend, but there wasn't near enough carbonation yet. With the frigid weather here in Chicago and our house only staying in the 65-68F range, along with the hugeness of the beer, it looks like they're just going to take awhile longer to fully carbonate. Pleased to report it was quite delicious and we easily finished the bottle in spite of the low carbonation. I swirled the other bottles and moved them close to a heating vent, with the hope that helps keep the temp up a bit.

I also brewed a Russian Imperial Stout on impulse. We still had plenty of good 001 yeast left (NOT the barleywine yeast, which was totally pooped), so I brewed up a RIS with yeast I had left over from an American Stout - just pitched right on the cake and had an explosive, but controlled fermentation thanks to my temp controlled fridge. I have it kegged and sitting in the basement, where I plan on forgetting about it for awhile. An initial taste was smooth and choclately with hints of plum from the Special B malt.

Both of these beers were taken from Brewing Classic Styles, bastardized to suit the ingredients I had on hand. I can't say enough good things about this recipe book.

A Rainy Brew Day
Yesterday I brewed something like an English Bitter, or at least that was the intent - with an OG of 1.047 or so it's more like a Special Bitter. Boiled a bit too hard/long perhaps. Anyhoo - while I could have diluted with water to bring that down the beer already had precious little hops in it and I didn't want the color any lighter. The recipe, inspired by Steve Hamburg, was simple: 95% Marris Otter, 5% Wheat, 1oz Northern Brewer for bittering and 1oz Kent Goldings for flavor/aroma - around 32 IBUs.

Chicago weather has been on crack lately - while freezing all week it warmed up a bit to make it seem like a great brewday - but then it started raining as I was running off. So I rigged a tarp up to stay dry and keep that nasty city rain water out of my kettle:

This worked out well - it reminded me of camping in the Smokies in November, where it rained all the time. Those are stairs going down into our basement - so there was plenty of room for stacking things and actually standing up at the bottom, where there's also a convenient drain. The stairs are "pool style" - the curved ends are wider than the middle - just enough room for my propane burner and brew kettle.

I normally brew using a 5 gallon paint strainer bag in the kettle to hold hops in, since I tend to use a lot of them. I also put my runnings through the bag to catch any stray pieces of grain that may have made their way out of the mash tun. I then shake and rinse the bag out, and return it to the kettle for hops. But with only 2 oz of hops here, I decided the bag was pointless, but I still used it to strain my runnings.

Cry Havoc
Cray Havoc, White Labs 862, is Charlie Papazian's yeast strain - and I was intrigued to try it because it can ferment at both ale and lager temperatures. So, the bitter I brewed will be fermented with this, and then I'll use that cake to make a Munich Helles, and then an Amber Lager, and then a Smoke Beer (Rauchbier).

I made a starter, and decided to use some Fermcap-S, a foam inhibitor, in it while I was boiling it in the Erlenmeyer flask so I didn't have to watch it so much for boil overs. Well, I meant to add 1 drop, but instead a glob plopped out that was probably more like 4-5 drops. While it did a wonderful job during the boil, there was no krausen on the starter. I could see bubbles popping up from the bottom - but there's something reassuring about that krausen.

Anyways, after pitching the starter yesterday we have fermentation in the carboy this morning. This yeast is very English-like in that it clumps together at the surface like cottage cheese. Will be very curious to see how my Cry Havoc experiments go, and if that Fermcap mis-hap is going to affect the size of the krauzen in the carboy as well.

This'll probably be my last post before the holiday - so Happy Holidays and Good Brewing to all! Cheers.