50 SHADES OF GREG

Haven't posted in a while, life has been on warp speed since the birth of Sophia, but is seems particularly apparent over the past two years. Anyway, time to catch up...have not stopped brewing despite the ridiculously cold winter for the second year in a row. Sorry hopheads, not too much in the hop department, it's winter after all and time to celebrate all that is malty, roasty, reddish, brownish and to hopheads, dull. I'm also giving my liver a break for putting up with me for over 48 years by brewing some lower gravity (alcohol content), albeit, super flavorful stuff. Some recent beers that I'll make sure to document in future posts include a Multigrain Red ale, a well balanced quaffer that clocks in at 4.5% alcohol or so, and incorporates, Barley, Oats, and Rye in the grist and willamette and cascade hops in the kettle. A Schweet Stout brewed with lactose, for ummm...a bit of sweetness to balance out over a pound of roasted barley...a Dry Irish stout for the upcoming holiday...4.2%, which is around the ABV Dry Irish stouts should be (lots of misconceptions out there that Guinness is high in alcohol) a Holiday Red Ale that seems to be getting better with time, a Dyslectic Brown ale that saw me accidentally reverse my hop additions, so it's a bit on the bitter side, but we'll see how it mellows over time...an English mild and a session pale ale. Some beers already in the pipeline for March/April (because I already designed the recipe and bough the ingredients) are a Ginger Saison, session pale ale redux that I will use to build a yeast cake for an IPA, a Citra forward American Pale Ale and the aforementioned IPA.
Distractions aside, this post is about a beer I brewed to celebrate my brother in laws' upcoming 50th birthday in June, hence the title. Might be obvious to some, not so obvious to others, 50...as in years...Greg...as in name. Greg's favorite celebratory beer is Chimay Blue, or Chimay Grande Reserve. To anyone even remotely familiar with Belgian beer, Chimay Blue is a Trappist icon and the first beer to use the Trappist designation on its labels. As with all other Trappist breweries, the beer is sold only for financial support of the monastery and good causes. The brewery business pays rent for use of the property within the abbey, which is used to support the monastic community. The majority of the profit from the sale of the beer is distributed to charities and for community development around the region.
The water for the beers is drawn from a well located inside the monastery walls (I drew mine from a well under my home in Vermont). The filtered solids from the beer mash are recycled into livestock feed which is given to the same cows that produce the milk for Chimay cheeses. So let's get to it. This was a difficult beer to ferment given the severity of this winter, but I could no longer delay the process with the my b-laws birthdate in June and the need to condition this beer for several months based on the alcohol level and sugar content of the grist. While hoping for an exact replica of Chimay Grande Reserve, my enthusiasm is tempered by the fact that this beer has been brewed for hundreds of years, in a monastery, where there isn't much discussion, in a land far, far away. What I do hope to achieve is an exceptional Belgian Ale, brewed to end up being a fine example of the style, if not a close second to the real deal.

Date of Birth: 02.08.15
Weight: 12lbs 8oz
Name: 50 Shades of Greg

Grist:
11 lbs Belgian Pilsner
.50 lb Dingeman's cara 8
1 lb Torrified wheat (Golden winter wheat)

Hops:
1.75 oz Saaz 60 minutes (1.0 chez, .75 american)
1 oz Hallertau 30 min

Adjuncts:
1 lb D-90 candi syrup at flameout
1 lb D-45 candi syrup at high krausen in primary fermenter

Yeast:
wyeast 1214 (chimay), 3 packs

Mash in 5 gallons 163 degree water, target 150
Mash out 3.5 gallons 170 degree water, no need to stop conversion, looking for dry, dry, dry
starting volume 7.0 gallons, boil 90 minutes

Target OG: 1.077
Actual OG: 1.073 (prior to 2nd sugar addition in primary)

Fermentation temps: Chimay yeast is notoriously slow based on Internet feedback, so I actually left this beer at 70 degrees until I saw signs of visible fermentation, then I dropped it to 60 and froze my family out of the the house for 3 days. It's been so cold this winter, that the basement (where I usually ferment ales, even in winter) was 55 degrees!! I had no other option than to drop the heat in the house down to 60 degrees. I left it there despite numerous complaints from the rest of the house for three days. I slowly ramped up the temps from 60 to 72 over the course of the next 5 days. I was at 1.010 after 8 days, so placed it into a secondary fermenter, and moved it to the basement and ambient temps (55-58) for an additional 10 days. I then lagered it at 35 degrees for 6 days and bottled it at 40 degrees with 6 oz of simplicity clear candy sugar. I have to mention this because I have ALWAYS primed with corn sugar...always...and NEVER had an issue with carbonation. But this is a Trappist beer after all , so when in Belgium, do as the monks do and prime with clear candi sugar. I'm going to be honest, I am nervous. To this point, this beer has gone according to plan despite the temp issues and each sample I pulled tasted wonderful. I bottled this beer three days ago, so it's too early to tell if I screwed this up by trying to carbonate with a different sugar...only time will tell. Lastly, many Trappist beers are bottle conditioned for 10 days or so in "warming" rooms where the temps range from 72-75 degrees. I never keep the entire house that warm in winter, so I've been moving the beer back and forth between a spot in front of the fireplace (at night) and the warmest, sunniest room during the day for the past three days and will do so for the next 7-10. I will then test carbonation and cellar condition them until June (and longer). I was able to cork 22 750ml bottles and cap several more as test samples...lord candy sugar, god of perfect carbonation, don't let me down! Final gravity was 1.008, so the beer is approximately 8.8% alcohol. Chimay Grande Reserve is 9%.

Long.Ass.Day

AKA "There's No Rye'ing in Washington". A ridiculously Rye Saison brewed after a long ass day of work. Whole Foods 6:00-2:30, mow the lawn, clean the deck, braise a chuck roast, bottle my Bier De Mars and brew this beer onto the yeast cake(60 minute hop addition at 10:25pm).

Grist:
8 lbs Belgian Pils
2 lbs Belgian-Franco Pils
3 lbs Weyermann Rye Malt
.6 lbs Abbey Malt

Hops:
1.75 oz Celia Golding 60 min
.50 oz Celia Golding 30 min
.25 oz Celia Golding 10 min

Adjunts:
1 lb Dark Candi sugar 10 min
Yeast nutrient 10 min
8 oz D-90 Candi sugar high krausen (actually 23 hours after pitching, high krausen was already subsiding)

Yeast:
Wyeast #3711, pitch onto cake from Be De Mars brewed 3/26 and bottled 4/26

Note:
This beer was brewed with 100% Vermont well water gathered in Warren, Vt March 29, 2014.

Mash in 5 gallons 165 degree water, target 151 degrees
Sparge 3.38 gallons 190 degree water
Target OG 1.068 (before D-90)
Actual OG 1.072

I poured the beer onto the yeast at around 72 degrees, then let it fly at basement ambient which is around 63-64 degrees. The beer took off in 4 hours and blew off at 10 hours. I added the D-90 at 10pm on 04.27.14 and will wait one week until I take a gravity reading.


As a side note, this yeast carbonated the Bier De Mars in 3 days!!

Bye Bye Ms American Rye

Wife and child are away, so I'm using the down time to brew a simple Rye Ale, a super sessionable 1.042 original gravity Rye Ale brewed with American Rye Malt, American 2-Row, Liberty hops and US-05 yeast. It's a pretty simple, straightforward beer, so i used the time in between to bake some break and make the dough for several breads i'm going to bake and take to Ca. tomorrow for Easter.

Grist:
6lb Rahr 2-row Pale Malt
1.75 lb Briess Rye Malt
1lb Briess caramel 40l

Hops:
.80oz Liberty 60 min
1oz Cascade 10 min

Yeast:
US-05 Dry (starter for Rye IPA)

Mash in 3.4 gallons water, 161 degrees, target 152
Mash out 1 gallon boiling water
Sparge 3.25 gallons 185 degree water

Target OG 1.042
Actual OG 1.045

Saison Du Wit

Best laid plans...a call out at work today, so I go in...din;t get out until 6:30, so here I am adding the first hops at 10:20pm. I am scheduled 6:30-2:30 tomorrow, so it looks like about 4 hours of sleep tonight. My second time brewing this beer, I'm going to try adding some lemon grass directly into the fermentor this time.

GRIST:
5 lbs Weyermann Pale Malt
3 lbs Franco Belges Pilsen Malt

HOPS:
1oz Nugget 45 minutes
1oz Saaz 15 minutes
1oz UK Kent Golding 5 minutes

ADJUNCTS:
.75oz Sweet Orange Peel 5 minutes
.75oz Lemongrass 5 minutes
1 lb organic honey 5 minutes

YEAST:
Wyeast #3522 Belgian Ardennes

TARGET OG 1.052 ACTUAL OG 1.050 (too much volume, wound up with 5.5 gallons of wort)

Mashed in 3.3 gallons 161 degree water, target 151
Mashed out 1 gallon boiling water
Sparged 3.3 gallons 180 degree water

.25oz lemongrass added to fermenter at terminal gravity

Biere De Mars

That's my Irish Red on the right...

Or Biere De "March"....snuck this one in with a few days left to go in the month. Going to 17 degrees tonight, crazy temps for late March, but it will help my chill immensely. This style is a rare subtype of the French Biere De Garde. Low Bitterness from French hops reinforces the malt character while a french Saison yeast that will be used later in my Rye Saison creates a decidedly dry finish with distinctive farmhouse funkyness. Perfectly suited for the transition into the growing season that transitions the cold months of this past winter into the fertile days of spring.

Grist:
5 lbs Franco Belges Pilsner Malt
5 lbs Franco Belges Vienne Malt
12oz Caravienne Malt
4oz Aromatic Malt
4 oz Franco Belges Kiln Coffee Malt

Hops:
1.25oz French Strisslespalt 60 min
.75oz French Strisslespalt 5 min

Yeast:
Wyeast (the beast) #3711 French Saison

Mash in 4.25 gallons (3.25 Vermont well water) 166 degree water, target 153
Mash out .50 gallons 180 degree water
Sparge 3.25 gallons 190 degree water (2.0 gallons Vermont well water)
Sophia mashing in...

Target OG 1.056 Actual OG 1.056

Brew Date 03.26.14

Update:
We have liftoff...03.27.14 16 hours later, a bit slow because I'm purposely fermenting at low temps to minimize esters common with this yeast and acceptable in Saisons.



While many beer fans are aware that Germany's doppelbocks were originally brewed to help medieval monks get through Lent, another traditional spring style gets a bit less press: France's Bière de Mars. A variation on a Bière de Garde and a not-too-distant relation of Belgium's saisons, this beer was traditionally made by French farmers in late winter or spring for relatively quick consumption—the 'Mars' in the name refers to the month of March.

In contrast to Germany's monastic tradition, this particular stripe of French brewing originated at the household level. While the south of France was busy producing grapes and making wine, more northerly areas, in concert with their Belgian neighbors (and occasionally countrymen, depending on who oversaw which bit of land and when), made beer.

Tasting examples of both styles side by side is one clue suggesting that Bière de Garde is indeed closely related to Belgium's saison; the styles share both a similar agricultural origin and a French-speaking background. Both types of beer were originally brewed for thirsty farmworkers, so a reasonably malty, though dry, and probably lower-alcohol beer was usually the result.

Another characteristic both beers share is that they were typically cellared—Bière de Garde translates as 'beer for keeping'—and consumed some months after they were initially produced, so there is also a relationship with Germany's lagers. Indeed, in the middle of the 19th century, a technical dictionary of the period suggests that Bière de Garde, Bière de Mars, and Das Lagerbier were all useful synonyms for 'Blink' beer—a term one is unlikely to come across in modern usage. While the Belgian connections are widely acknowledged today, it would seem that some reference to German lager traditions may also come into play—especially given the frequency with which commercial examples of Bière de Mars from Strasbourg are mentioned in pre-20th century texts—and Germany was right across the river (much of the time).

But what makes the springtime version of Bière de Garde so unique? While originally brewed for consumption in March (before the heat of the summer made brewing a riskier proposition), it seems that the seasonal aspect of Bière de Mars was already something of a memory before the advent of refrigeration. The beer's reputation was firmly established beyond France by the 19th century, and it had become popular—and occasionally sneer-worthy—with the traveling set. Even an otherwise matter-of-fact British publication on trade laws and taxation, originally published in the 1840s, enthused about the beer of the Nord-Pas de Calais region:

Beer is brewed at all seasons in France, but that made in the month of March ("Biere de Mars") is the most esteemed."

Medical journals of the period also suggested that visitors to the Strasbourg area seek out Bière de Mars (as well as still-familiar names like 'bock-bier' and 'Lambick'), for both health and leisure purposes, while many travel guides also supported this notion. Biere de Mars even developed its own lore, garnering an association with Napoleon that seems to have come about via a bit of (fancy) folk etymology—classically-educated British visitors asserted, often in jest, that 'mars' referred to the god of war and that the beer fueled the army before battles, while the direct (and less romantic) French-to-English translation of 'March' was overlooked.

Beyond the name games, any modern beer fan knows that popularity can breed contempt in certain corners, and later Victorian writers such as George Augustus Sala, a well-known journalist who wrote for both Charles Dickens's and William Makepeace Thackeray's publications, was glad to escape Strasbourg '...and Biere de Mars abominations' for 'very good' German beer, while on this side of the Atlantic, the beer was slated as '...a countrified beer...known under the pompous name of biere de Mars' and did not seem to be highly recommended by Stoddard Dewey, a frequent correspondent on Things French.

History was not kind to the style either, as the early 20th century saw the demise of many of the smaller producers—with the small matter of two world wars and the rise of mass-produced lager, it's not surprising that only a few producers remained by the latter part of the century.

But the style has had a healthy, if small, revival, both in France and beyond. In America, Southampton Publick House features one of the most well-documented examples—brewer Phil Markowski knows these beers inside and out, having written a popular book on the subject, while New Belgium features a Bière de Mars as part of its popular Lips of Faith series.

One of the post popular versions for sale today domestically is made by Jolly Pumpkin—they take the aging element seriously by putting it in oak barrels before its seasonal release. French examples include La Choulette Bière de Printemps, which was reintroduced in 2010; La Choulette has been making French farmhouse-style beers since 1895, so it is a fitting return to tradition.

March need not play host only to green lager and Guinness—a nice Bière de Mars is a welcome and timely alternative at this time of year.

Teddy Hopper

Balanced malt, "heady" hops, Vermont well water....not a clone, but a beer that falls somewhere between an IPA and a double IPA. Hops=Warrior for clean bittering, Centennial for that classic floral/citrus flavor, a 1-2 punch of Citra and Simcoe for an intense hop finish that includes a wide range of aromas and flavors, from dank and piny to bright and fruity. Let's get to it...

Grist:
6.5 lbs Maris Otter 501
6.5 lbs Malteurop Pale Malt
.5 lb Cara 40 Malt
.5 lb Victory Malt

Hops:
.80 oz Warrior 60 min
2 oz Centennial 20 min
1 oz Citra 5 min
1 oz Simcoe 5 min

Dry Hops:
1 oz Citra 7-10 days
1 oz Simcoe 7-10 days

Yeast:
S-05 yeast cake from Chinookered Pale Ale, ferment ambient, which is 61 degrees in the basement right now

Mash in 5.25 gallons 166 degree water target 152
Sparge 3 gallons 190 degree water

Target OG 1.070
Actual OG 1.066

Brew Date 03.18.14

Update:
Final Gravity 1.010 in 7 days

Edit:
Added .25 oz Chinook to dry hop.

Chinook Pale Ale

A sessionable IPA? Isn't that an American Pale Ale? This beer straddles the line with a combination of Chinook and Citra, two of today's most popular hop combinations.

Grist:
9 lbs Two Row Malt
.375 Briess Caramel 60l
.325 lbs Belgian Biscuit Malt

Hops:
.25oz Chinook 60 min
.25oz Chinook 45 min
.25oz Chinook 30 min
.50oz Chinook 15 min
.50oz Chinook 2 min

Dry Hop:
.5oz Citra added to secondary fermentor for 7 days

Yeast:
S-05--will become the starter for Teddy Hopper

Target OG 1.049
Actual OG 1.051

Brew Date 03.02.14
Secondary 03.18.14 I don't, as a practice, secondary beer unless I am bulk aging, but I brewed this beer for the yeastcake for another beer, so I put it into a secondary fermentor the day I brewed Teddy Hopper