Brewing with Brian

This is the first edition of many--or possibly only a few--blog posts about homebrewing. We'll see how much time I actually have to devote to journaling, or if I even enjoy doing this sort of thing these days. I used to post personal ramblings on Xanga back in the olden days (the 20th century), and the on Google Sites a little later (early to mid 2000s). But I pretty much lost interest, primarily due to how easy it is to document what you're doing and what you're seeing and who you're with on all the standard social media platforms (you know what they are). With Google Photos syncing every picture and video I take and Google Maps tracking my GPS every waking minute, reminiscing on the past is so much easier to do these days, and therefore I don't really need to write a story about what I've done. But hobbies are a little different because sometimes you might want to keep track of specifics as a resource for future endeavors. Like with homebrewing, there's so much that goes into the process, and remembering every little detail for repeatability (or avoidability) is important, and writing stuff down helps reinforce those memories. Plus reading back through the notes and the stories jogs the memory too. And I guess it could be entertaining, at least for me, if not for random strangers who happen on this blog. I like to write long-winded e-mails and texts, and blogging is basically an open text message to the universe, so here we are with my newly-created Blogger URL that identifies my intentions to post about the adventures of the Stiles Ale Project (my homebrew name--it's even official on Untappd!). I may stray occasionally from homebrew, but the goal is to keep this blog beer-centric as much as possible.


We begin this new chapter by anecdoting my most recent brew session with Brian G., a fellow craft beer enthusiast, and newest memeber to the Palmetto State Brewers club. This recent session was Brian's 2nd ever brew session. We previously brewed together about a month ago. So the story picks up here...

For the first time in Stiles Ale Project history (all 16 months' worth), I decided to re-brew a previously brewed beer. Of course, I can never leave well enough alone with anything, so as expected there were many tweaks to the brewing recipe and methods. Until I become a commercial brewer, I think that's going to be the norm, which is expected from a homebrewer anyway, so no apologies here. But still, actually trying to do "the same" beer again is kind of a big step for me. I mean, after all, we're only talking about 12 brew sessions in those 16 months. And with the vast array of styles and variations on each style, it took a little will power to attempt a repeat. Thus, Scientists Love Lasers gets a Roseanne-like 2nd treatment, and is guaranteed to turn out completely different than the original run.

So in addition to changing up the method from BIAB (brew-in-a-bag) to partial mash, I also modified some of the ingredients, the hop schedule, and even the fermentation schedule. I decided to use 2 different yeasts in a split batch so I could see how each yeast affected the base beer. Sub-batch #1 would use my standard dry pitch Safale US-05 American Ale yeast strain, while sub-batch #2 would feast on a Wyeast smack pack starter--which I had never done in my first 12 brew sessions. Brian used a starter for his inaugural brew session--the Sierra Nevada clone (Sierra Madre)--and he got amazing results with regard to the liveliness of his fermentation.

So let's get down to the nitty gritty. What changed? For starters, the original BIAB version consisted only steeped grains, with no additional extracts. This go-round I did a standard infusion mash of the base grains, then added a healthy dose of dry malt extract (DME) to boost the overall gravity. Mainly I did this because I was a little light on grains and had some DME that would ensure my gravity points would be more predictable since I had only done a proper mash twice with very poor efficiency based on limited experience.  I also brought flaked oats to the table for only the 2nd time in my portfolio. The first was used in my last brew session with the oatmeal stout. Knowing how NEIPA is reliant on oats and wheat for that signature haziness, I used 2 lbs of flaked oats and 1 lb of flaked wheat. 

So the original batch utilized 7 lbs of grain; the sequel incorporated 8 lbs of grain + 5.5 lbs of DME. This would cause the original gravity of the wort to grow from about 1.060 to about 1.080--a substantial sugar increase. And as a result we can expect the corresponding alcohol by volume (ABV) to jump from ~6% to ~8%, meaning we're in Double IPA territory instead of the regular IPA range. No worries, we'll probably rename the beer Scientists Love Love Lasers, as an homage to The Veil, or Sscientistss Llovee Llaserss and completely ripoff Tree House. I'll probably make the call after we tip a couple of these back and see if the flavor comes anywhere close to the original. 

Next stop, hopville. What did I change about the hop schedule? The original SLL (Jan. 2017) featured 3 fairly popular American varietals: Cascade, Simcoe, and everybody's favorite, Citra. All 3 hops were used in the boil, but only Cascade and Citra were used in the dry-hop stage. Cascade was the first dry addition, followed by Citra to really punch up the citrus hop presence before bottling. In the 2018 version also featured these 3 hops in the boil, but the dry hop additions will introduce Amarillo, Columbus, Centennial, and possibly Mosaic, as well as Citra and Cascade, in varying ratios, with the intent of really ramping up the complexity of this New England-style IPA. Since we're splitting the batch for 2 different yeast fermentation, the same thing will most likely occur with the hop additions. One of the subs will more closely resemble the 2017 version with only Cascade and Citra, while the sub-batch will get the 6-hop treatment.

One primary difference in the utilization of the kettle hops is the time and amounts used during the boil. Consequently, we'll have an estimated 50 IBU's for this batch, where the previous batch was closer to 90 IBU's. We will probably use many more hops overall this time, but they will definitely be back-loaded in the dry-hop schedule. A total of 7 oz. were used in 2017. We might be looking at upwards of 11 oz. combined in the 2 sub-batches. That should lend itself to a boosted hop aroma and a reduced perceivable bitterness in the finished product.

At the end of this exBEERiment, we'll try to pinpoint which elements of each sub-batch we like best and use that information to improve our brewing in the future. Fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong, like contamination! *knocks on wood*  I'll try to capture more pictures for a future post, since audiences like that sort of thing these days. 

Until next time, don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe, and I'll see you in the next one. 

j/k  

That was for all the unoriginal YouTubers out there who are brainwashed to say those exact same words at the end of every video, as if viewers need to be told what to do, and like the creator can actually "see" the viewers from the other side of the camera...