Group Brew by Correspondence

[n87]

Just to put it into numbers that everyone should understand (and to work out my shopping list) i have thrown it into beersmith, and you end up with something like this:

5.00 kg Pilsner, Malt Craft Export (Joe White) ( Grain 69.7 %
1.00 kg Munich, Light (Joe White) (17.7 EBC) Grain 13.9 %
0.33 kg Aromatic Malt (51.2 EBC) Grain 4.6 %
0.23 kg Caramunich I (Weyermann) (100.5 EBC) Grain 3.3 %
0.08 kg Amber Malt (43.3 EBC) Grain 1.1 %
0.02 kg Carafa Special I (Weyermann) (630.4 EBC) Grain 0.3 %
0.50 kg Dememera Sugar (3.9 EBC) Sugar 7.0 %

this should get you in the region of 1.070 on a standard batch at 75% eff

 

[silvana]

I'm pretty happy with W-34/70, ill probably ferment at 16c then ramp up after a few days.

 

[silvana]

Recipe looks good to me. I'll be using a mix
of castle and wyermann malts as I already have them.
Are we happy brewing 1st - 2nd week of November?
How many participants do we have?

 

[n87]

Were we locking in the hops, or just the IBU?

 

[gone brewing]

I'm in. I think we should standardise the hops and the target IBU. How about a 90 min boil to get to 25 IBU with Saaz? I vary between 60 or 90 min bolis and I think the longer boil is better here for a bit of malt complexity.

 

[gone brewing]

I haven't used W34/70 before. I'm just checking out the spec sheet and it says to use 80-120/hL (which is 0.8-1.2g/L) for temps of 12-15 degrees Celsius. So for a 20L batch I could use 2 packets, or 23g, for a pitching rate of 1.15g/L then ferment at 15 degrees.

But there is no mention of varying this according to OG. If we are aiming for an OG of 1.070 can I stay with 23g or should I do another batch with a lower OG first to build up yeast numbers.

Any thoughts?

 

[n87]

My (award winning ) Porter was 1.070, done with 2 packs of 34/70
Finished at 1.016, but mashed higher than I would the beire de garde.

You could throw the sugar in the ferment if you were worried, this would make it around 1.060 to start with.

 

[gone brewing]

My (award winning ) Porter was 1.070, done with 2 packs of 34/70
Finished at 1.016, but mashed higher than I would the beire de garde.

You could throw the sugar in the ferment if you were worried, this would make it around 1.060 to start with.

Thanks, sounds like a plan.

 

[[email protected]]

All looks very good to me - and I haven't had to say anything

Looking forward to it!

 

[n87]

So single addition of Saaz at 90min to 25 IBU?
or a small ~15 min addition aswell?

Im happy with either

 

[silvana]

I think any noble hop for 20-25 IBU at 90 or 60 mins will work. The hops are pretty much non existent other than to balance the malt sweetness. "Hop flavour is uncommon and described as barely there" from the farmhouse ales book.
If adding late hops I would say 30 -20 mins. You don't want much flavour and no aroma from them.
I'm thinking I won't add any late hops just a bittering charge.

 

[gone brewing]

I think any noble hop for 20-25 IBU at 90 or 60 mins will work. The hops are pretty much non existent other than to balance the malt sweetness. "Hop flavour is uncommon and described as barely there" from the farmhouse ales book.
If adding late hops I would say 30 -20 mins. You don't want much flavour and no aroma from them.
I'm thinking I won't add any late hops just a bittering charge.

Agreed. I'm planning on a 90min addition to get to 25 IBU and nothing else.

 

[n87]

OK. Recipe as follows:

OG: 1.070
batch size: 23L ~75% eff

5.00 kg Pilsner Malt 69.7 %
1.00 kg Munich Malt 13.9 %
0.33 kg Aromatic Malt 4.6 %
0.23 kg Caramunich/vienna 3.3 %
0.08 kg Amber/Biscuit Malt 1.1 %
0.02 kg Debittered Black (Carafa) 0.3 %
0.50 kg Sugar 7.0 %

94g @90mins Saaz 25 IBU

2pk Saflager W-34/70


Low temp mash suggested to help it dry out
90min boil
sugar added either in the kettle or fermenter if you want to go easy on the yeast
Lagered for 3-4 weeks before packaging

Recipe blog here: http://ccbrewers.wixsite.com/ccbrew/single-post/2016/10/22/Recipe-Bi%C3%A8re-de-Garde

 

[fungrel]

Agreed. I'm planning on a 90min addition to get to 25 IBU and nothing else.

I'm with you there.

Will sort the brew for the case swap then get onto this. First few weeks of Nov. sounds good to me.

 

[n87]

Sorry, that should be 4-6 weeks lagered... Should have checked beforehand.... ah well.

 

[fungrel]

Question.. Are we or can we be permitted to use a secondary yeast? Happy to use 34/70, but upon checking the AABC guidelines it says that this style is related to Belgian Saison with attenuation rate 80–85% and low to moderate esters.

 

[silvana]

The only relation to Saison it has is geography and the term "farmhouse". I never realised it until this group brew and I kept reading about it. This beer is basically a slightly estrery lagered malt bomb.
Sugar, low mash temp and letting the ferment temp rise should do the trick for attenuation, and fermenting warmish 16-17c for some esters.

Saying that, I'm the only one pushing lager yeast with N87 and now Fungrel voting Saison.

Do the other participants want to cast a vote?

 

[[email protected]]

I vote for staying true to style - that way we get to learn the style too.

 

[gone brewing]

Ask 5 brewers a question and get 10 different answers...

I was thinking that S-33 would be a good choice for this style. It's fairly low on esters with a neutral flavour, depending on what temps are used. Not very attenuative though. US-05 would be another choice that comes to mind, also with a neutral profile and a bit more attenuative.

My vote would be to have people use whatever yeast they thought was good for style and we can appreciate the differences that brings. Should we make a list of what people are using to aim for no duplication??

But if people want to keep the yeast uniform to better evaluate process variation then I'm also OK to go along with that.

 

[[email protected]]

And now I vote for gone brewing's idea. How easily swayed am I?