Not having ever drank a true patersbier the style nonetheless intrigued me enough to spend the rest of my Christmas gift certificate on the Northern Brewer kit as well as the Timothy Taylor Landlord clone know as the “Innkeeper.” More on the Innkeeper in a later post. Think of a patersbier as a Belgian pilsner. It contains all Belgian pilsner malt and quite a bit of noble hops but the difference being that it uses an abbey strain of yeast to add a phenolic and peppery  note to the beer.

Having already brewed and consumed it there are a few take aways on brewing this style of beer. One, the Safale Abbaye is an aggressive yeast and got a high level of attenuation but definitely had a sulfur bite and aroma to it even while fermeting on the cool side. I think I would let the fermentation free rise towards the end to blow all that sulfur out and then condition on the yeast for another week and not keg so soon. Two, with the high level of attenuation I would use a really soft water with the pale malt grist.

Besides those slight flaws it was a pretty sessionable beer but the overall consensus not a repeater. My wife commented it was “too earthy” tasting. I might revisit the style sometime in the future to see if I can nail it.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.043
Estimated FG: 1.005
Estimated Color: 3.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 27 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 5.0%

Grain
12 lbs Belgian Pilsner (2 SRM) 100%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Tradition [6%] – Boil 60 min 19 IBUs
14.00 g Saaz [3.75%] – Boil 60 min 5.9 IBUs
14.00 g Saaz [3.75%] – Boil 10 min 2.1 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
50% RO water
50% Ventura (high bicarbonates and sulfates)
4ml lactic acid added to mash water
2ml lactic acid sparge water
Mash in 4.75 gallons water 157F and let stabilize to 148F for 60 min
Mashout 170F
Batch sparge 4.7 gallons cold

Yeast
Safale Abbaye

Fermentation
Ferment until done 65F
Cold crash two day
Rack to keg and carbonate using your preferred method

It has been awhile since I brewed a hefeweizen, almost 4 years, and it was when I first moved to Ventura. I remember it was a learning experience in water chemistry. Not really having paid attention to water chemistry before, it was shocking to find out the water here is pretty unsuitable for brewing anything other than a stout,  porter, or other similarly roasty type of beers, without some kind of adjustments and treatment for a pale beer, because of the extreme alkalinity of the water. The hefe wasn’t undrinkable but had a unpleasant astringency on the finish. Ditto the next beer I brewed, a Belgian pale ale. Narrowing down the possibilities I figured it could only be the water, so I looked up the local water report.

Ventura is one of the few cities in California with it’s own water supply. Since we have been in a drought a major percentage of our water is well water and it is really, really hard. Water with a high alkalinity  has a high pH leading to problems with pale grists not able to drop the pH to a proper level for mashing and leaving a harsh minerality and astringency. Almost every brew I do now is at least 50% RO water with  filtered tap water to get it into an acceptable pH range and mineral content. Even then I usually dose with lactic and calcium chloride.

Anyhow, this is a pretty simple recipe with pils, wheat, and a dose of Munich for color. All German malts on this one. Brewed it Sunday and it’s already done this Wednesday. Will cold crash for a day and then keg. The krausen on this beer is like nothing I’ve seen before. It started with a nice inch of foam and then settled down to just producing huge soap like bubbles while it was churning away. I was a little worried so did a little research and thankfully this is not that uncommon with the White Labs Bavarian Hefeweizen strain. Tasted great out of the fermenter when I pulled a gravity reading.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.048
Estimated FG: 1.010
Estimated Color: 4.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 18 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 5.0%

Grain
6 lbs German Pilsner (2 SRM) 46.2%
6 lbs German Wheat Malt (2 SRM) 46.2%
1 lbs Munich  (9 SRM) 7.7%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Hallertau [3.8%] – First wort 60 min 12.6 IBUs
28.00 g Hallertau [3.8%] – Boil 15 min 5.7 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
50% RO water
50% Ventura (high bicarbonates and sulfates)
4g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
3ml lactic acid added to mash water
2ml lactic acid sparge water
Mash in 5 gallons water 162F and let stabilize to 152F for 60 min
Mashout 170F
Batch sparge 4.5 gallons cold

Yeast
WLP351 Bavarian Weizen Yeast

Fermentation
Ferment until done 70F
Cold crash one day
Rack to keg and carbonate using your preferred method

This is my ongoing saga of nailing what I believe to be a great Czech pils. To put the metamorphosis into perspective look at the table below

OK a lot of data but the overall gist is I’m not getting enough malt body. I’m close to nailing it but even mashing at 152 the beer seemed overly dry and the bitterness just a tad biting. To remedy this I decided to use Melanoiden malt, which is a German malt that basically mimics the color and taste of a decoction, instead of Carapils. I also added the bittering charge as a first wort hop. Apparently a majority of Czech brewers do this. In theory it should smooth out the bitterness.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.051
Estimated FG: 1.012
Estimated Color: 4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 44.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 5.0%

Grain
11 lbs German Pilsner (2 SRM) 93.6%
.75 lbs Carapils  (2 SRM) 6.4%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Northern Brewer [6%] – First wort 60 min 20.4 IBUs
28.00 g Sterling [8%] – Boil 30 min 19 IBUs
28.00 g Sterling [8%] – Boil 5 min 4.9 IBUs
28.00 g Sterling [8%] – Boil 0 min 0 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
75% RO water
25% Ventura (high bicarbonates and sulfates)
2g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
1ml lactic acid added to mash water
Mash in 5 gallons water 163F and let stabilize to 154F for 60 min
Mashout 170F
Batch sparge 4.5 gallons cold

Yeast
Saflager S-23 2 packs

Fermentation
Ferment 5 days at 57F
Let free rise 67F and hold for 3 days
Take gravity reading and if terminal cold crash to 28F for 1 day
Add fining – 1tsp gelatin to cup of boiling water and stir to dissolve and let settle 1 day
Rack to keg and let carbonate – depending on your preferred method to carbonate it will be ready to drink but I found on the last batch at least a week was optimal for conditioning, so were looking at around 3 weeks from “grain to glass” for best results.

My wife’s cousin is graduating from UCSB and we’re hosting her graduation party so I was asked (twist my arm) to brew something approachable for the whole gang. I was thinking a blonde ale but it just seemed a little too ho hum. I have been wanting to see the difference how a hop stand versus flameout additions taste and smell, so here’s a pale ale to test out hop standing. There is no bittering hop additions – all additions are at 5 and 0 and then you turn off the heat and let the hops steep for 20 minutes before turning on the chiller. Hop selection at the homebrew store is starting to get grim – no chinook, cascade, centennial, or citra. Went with Calypso and Jarrylo which are both pretty tropical with the Jarrylo being very pungent. The wort was smelling amazing in the fermenter. Hopefully all those beautiful aromas don’t all off gas during fermentation!

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.051
Estimated FG: 1.014
Estimated Color: 6.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 43.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
ABV: 4.8%

Grain
10.25 lbs Pale Two Row (2 SRM) 85.4%
1.25 lbs Vienna  (3.5 SRM) 10.4%
.5 lbs Caramunich II (63 SRM) 4.2%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Calypso [13%] – Boil 5 min 8 IBUs
28.00 g Jarrylo [15%] – Boil 5 min 9.2 IBUs
28.00 g Calypso [13%] – Steep 20 min 12.1 IBUs
28.00 g Jarrylo [15%] – Steep 20 min 14 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
50% RO water
50% Ventura (high bicarbonates and sulfates)
3g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
2ml lactic acid added to mash water
3ml lactic acid added to sparge water
Mash in 4.65 gallons water 163F and let stabilize to 154F for 60 min
Mashout 170F
Batch sparge 4.75 gallons cold

Yeast
WLP 001 Cal Ale no starter

Fermentation
Ferment 3 days at 65F
Let free rise 70F and hold for 4 days
For Cal Ale let it start to drop before crashing
Take gravity reading and if terminal cold crash to 28F for 1 day
Add fining – 1tsp gelatin to cup of boiling water and stir to dissolve and let settle 1 day
Rack to keg

This is another go at the two week lagering method. This time however, I have created the recipe for my system and made some minor tweaks such as adding a bit more carapils and mashing a a little higher for more  mouth feel in the body. One of the landmarks of a good Czech pils is its nice malty body. I have not been able to source any Saaz at all locally so Sterling, which is a gorgeous and under utilized hop in itself, will make a good substitution. Added some flameout hops also, hoping to catch just a bit more hop aroma.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.047
Estimated FG: 1.012
Estimated Color: 4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 50.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 4.6%

Grain
11 lbs German Pilsner (2 SRM) 93.6%
.75 lbs Carapils  (2 SRM) 6.4%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
14.00 g Northern Brewer [10%] – Boil 60 min 15.8 IBUs
14.00 g Northern Brewer [10%] – Boil 45 min 14.5 IBUs
28.00 g Sterling [8%] – Boil 20 min 15.3 IBUs
28.00 g Sterling [8%] – Boil 5 min 5 IBUs
28.00 g Sterling [8%] – Boil 0 min 0 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
75% RO water
25% Ventura (high bicarbonates and sulfates)
2g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
1ml lactic acid added to mash water
Mash in 4.65 gallons water 161F and let stabilize to 152F for 60 min
Mashout 170F
Batch sparge 4.75 gallons cold

Yeast
Saflager S-23 2 packs

Fermentation
Ferment 5 days at 57F
Let free rise 67F and hold for 3 days
Take gravity reading and if terminal cold crash to 28F for 1 day
Add fining – 1tsp gelatin to cup of boiling water and stir to dissolve and let settle 1 day
Rack to keg and let carbonate – depending on your preferred method to carbonate it will be ready to drink but I found on the last batch at least a week was optimal for conditioning, so were looking at around 3 weeks from “grain to glass” for best results.

I was going to make an IPA using the same hop schedule as the American Stock ale I made about three weeks ago which consisted of El Dorado and Citra, which really paired well together. Unfortunately, El Dorado is in very limited supply. On the fly at the homebrew supply I decided to use all New Zealand hops instead, plus they are more affordable at $2.00 an ounce instead of $2.50 and $3.00 for El Dorado and Citra. Trying to stay within the citrusy taste, I went with Pacific Jade and Wakatu. I used Wakatu, also know as New Zealand Hallertau, with really good results as a dry hop before. Pacific Jade is an unknown to me but I liked the descriptors of citrusy, spicy and herbal while Wakatu has citrusy characteristics of lime and the last time I used it was very floral.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.065
Estimated FG: 1.012
Estimated Color: 8.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 56.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 6.8%

Grain
14 lbs Pale Two Row (2 SRM) 90.3%
1 lb Turbinado Sugar (10 SRM) 6.5%
0.5 lbs Bairds Crystal 77 (80 works fine) (80 SRM) 3.2%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Warrior [15%] – Boil 60 min 41.7 IBUs
28.00 g Pacific Jade [15%] – Boil 7 min 11.2 IBUs
28.00 g Wakatu [7.5%] – Steep/Whirlpool 10.00 min 3.8 IBUs
28.00 g Pacific Jade [15%] Dry hop 3 days
28.00 g Wakatu [7.5%] Dry hop 3 days

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
50% Ventura water (very high sulfates and bicarbonates)
50% RO water
4g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
4ml Lactic Acid added to mash water
2ml Lactic Acid added to sparge water
Mash in 5.75 gallons water 162F and let stabilize to 152F for 60 min
Mashout 170F
Batch sparge 4 gallons cold

Yeast
WLP 022 Essex Ale 2L starter

Not quite sure where this beer sits. A little maltier than a “Red IPA” but this puppy is heavily hopped like an IPA. Could be considered a strong ale, stock ale, Christmas ale, or keeping ale. Really not that concerned about styles but I was thinking about it and this beer could almost be Hop Head Red. Check out this recipe I did a couple years ago.

It’s funny the more I brew the more I think I have things dialed in. Reality is you always have to double check everything in your process. I only measure final volume once it’s in the kettle. By then its too late if you have too much volume. I measure out my filtered tap water in a marked 5 gallon PET carboy and my RO water in a marked gallon jug from the under sink RO filter. As you can imagine you might lose count. This batch was 1.25 gallon over in the kettle resulting in a much reduced pre-boil gravity. Not too sure how this happened but it did. So need to take my trusty measuring dowel and mark the other side for the mash tun in one color and hot liquor in another and measure before firing up. Simple yeah, but never thought about it until I screwed up.

Anyhow, lesson learned and had to do a 2 hour boil to get the gravity up, but hey some of these English, Scottish and Belgian beers were boiled for a couple hours. Maybe it will add some extra maltiness? On my second attempt with dry yeast. The Czec Pils had a successful ferment with the much maligned Saflager S-23 but that will be a another post. The Windsor really fired up quick.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.071
Estimated FG: 1.013
Estimated Color: 19 SRM
Estimated IBU: 74 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 7.7%

Grain
13.25 lbs Pale Two Row (2 SRM) 72.5%
2.5 lbs Vienna (3.5 SRM) 13.7%
1.75 lbs Bairds Crystal 77 (80 works fine) (80 SRM) 9.7%
10 oz Special Roast (50 SRM) 3.4%
2 oz Carafa III (470 SRM) .6%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Cascade [6.9%] – First Wort  21.5IBUs
28.00 g El Dorado [15%] – Boil 60 min 39.6 IBUs
28.00 g Cascade [6.9%] – Boil 10 min 6.6 IBUs
28.00 g Citra [12%] – Boil 5 min 6.3 IBUs
56.00 g Cascade [6.9%] Dry hop 3 days
28.00 g Citra [12%] Dry hop 3 days

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
50% Ventura water (very high sulfates and bicarbonates)
50% RO water
4g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
2ml Lactic Acid added to sparge water
Mash in 7 gallons water 157F and let stabilize to 148F for 60 min
Mashout 170F
Batch sparge 4 gallons cold

Yeast
Lallemand Windsor 2 packs

I love a good Pils whether German or Bohemian (Czech), problem is getting them in good condition is still a bit of a challenge. Toronado in San Diego used to get Radeberger (hopefully they still do) which I could guzzle by the pint no problem. Here in the 805 Pivo is pretty easy to get but, although a excellent beer, its definitely a pils with an American flair. Pilsner Urquell is purportedly shipping cold through the supply chain now but haven’t had it in ages. Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yellow Pils is about as close to a fresh Bohemian style pils you’re going to get this side of the Rockies. Just an excellent beer. I drank 2 liters recently and was astounded how great a well done (and fresh!) pilsner can be. I could have easily drank 2 more liters. Anyhow I had a Northern Brewer gift card burning a hole in my wallet and thought why not do a proper lager. Going to try the rapid lagering method:

5 days cold at 57F
Ramp up to 68F and hold 3 days
Take gravity reading and if fully attenuated cold crash 1 day
Add gelatin and let settle 1 day
Rack to keg and carbonate 3 days

Total estimated time: 13 days.

That’s right two weeks turn around. That’s a tad longer than many of my pale ales and bitters using my favorite Dry English Ale yeast.

5.5 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.045
Estimated FG: 1.008
Estimated Color: 3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 45.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 4.7%

Grain
9.5 lbs German Pilsner (2 SRM) 97.4%
.25 lbs Carahell (Carapils)  (2 SRM) 2.6%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Perle [8%] – Boil 60 min 28.4 IBUs
28.00 g Czech Saaz [3.75%] – Boil 30 min 10.2 IBUs
28.00 g Czech Saaz [3.75%] – Boil 15 min 6.6 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
100% RO water
1g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
1g Calcium Chloride added to sparge water
Just a pinch of gypsum in mash and sparge water (1/8 teaspoon or so)
Mash in 4 gallons water 157F and let stabilize to 150F for 60 min
Mashout 170F
Batch sparge 4.75 gallons cold

Yeast
Saflager S-23 2 packs

A Vienna lager without the lagering. Same malt bill and hop schedule as a typical Vienna but utilizing a  clean ale yeast instead of lager yeast which will allow for a quick turn around,  although I’m thinking when I finally attempt a lager I’m going to do the 2 week lagering method. I went with Edinburgh but any clean ale yeast would do – Cal Ale, German Ale, etc.  I have not been able to find real German Tettnang hops. This has been an ongoing trend for years now. It’s not exactly like I’m using them all the time but I always look in the cooler at the homebrew store to see what’s available and never see them. Are they not available in the US anymore? Also, all these noble landrace varieties have had extremely low alpha acids recently – Herrsbrucker 2.9%, Saaz 3%, etc. Not exactly that ideal for bittering. Anyhow, used US Tettnang and Liberty. Both hops smelled really really nice.

Ferment this beer pretty cool. I’m shooting for 60F for 3 days and then letting it free rise till it finishes out, which should be around 5 days or so. Crash and then fine with gelatin. I used gelatin on the last batch and it worked wonders. Usually have floaters from dry hopping. 24 hours at 32F and the beer dropped clear. A couple more days while carbonating and it was close to crystal clear.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.058
Estimated FG: 1.015
Estimated Color: 10.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 23.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 5.7%

Grain
9 lbs Munich (10 SRM) 60%
6 lbs Vienna  (3.5 SRM) 40%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g US Tettnang [5%] – Boil 60 min 14.6IBUs
28.00 g Liberty [4.5%] – Boil 15 min 6.5 IBUs
28.00 g US Tettnang [5%] – Steep/Whirlpool 10 min 2.6 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
5g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
Mash in 5.75 gallons water 161F and let stabilize to 152F for 60 min
4g Calcium Chloride added to sparge water
Batch sparge 4 gallons cold

Yeast
WLP 0028 Edinburgh Ale 2L starter

A winter classic. For many years I used to brew this around Christmas using the 2006 edition. Been quite a few years since and I am using the 2013 recipe this year. Comparing the two years you can see that the hopping is almost twice as much in the newer version demonstrating the trend of hoppier beers over the years. I don’t know what it is with me and WLP001 it just doesn’t seem to flocculate all that well for me. Eight days in and  krausen is still lingering even though it had reached finishing gravity. Went and did my first dose of dry hops anyway and it seemed to help settle that out. Will add the second dose in the keg using some tea balls. I’m never really satisfied with my dry hopping outcomes. I’m hoping that dry hopping in the keg will capture those aromas without the off gassing that happens in the fermenter.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.065
Estimated FG: 1.011
Estimated Color: 12.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 65 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 7.2%

Grain
14 lbs Pale Two Row (2.0 SRM) 83.6%
2 lbs Crystal 60 (60.0 SRM) 11.9%
12 oz Carapils (2.0 SRM) 4.5%

Schedule
60 minute Boil
28.00 g Chinook [13.0%] – Boil 60 min 35.9 IBUs
28.00 g Chinook [13.0%] – Boil 15 min 17.8 IBUs
42.00 g Cascade [5.5%] – Boil 15 min 11.3 IBUs
42.00 g Cascade [5.5%] – Boil 0 min 0 IBUs
28.00 g Chinook [13.0%] – Boil 0 min 0 IBUs
28.00 g Cascade [5.5%] – Dry hop 3 days
28.00 g Chinook [13.0%] – Dry hop in keg

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
6 g Calcium Chloride added to mash water
Mash in 6.5 gallons water 157F and let stabilize to 148F for 60 min
Batch Sparge 4 gallons cold

Yeast
WLP 001 Cal Ale 2L starter