As part of the MN Homebrewers Club 2011 bulk cider buy, I picked up 10 gallons of un-pastuerized apple cider from Pine Tree Orchard (note – it’s not sold on their sales floor).

I split it into two 5 gallon batches.

1. Another take on my well received sour cider. Same yeast (dredges of 2 bottles of Orval).
Starting Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.005 (~6% ABV)

2. A Cranberry-Cyser with 5lbs of Ruby’s Bottled Sunshine Honey from Krosch Gardens, a pound of whole cranberries, and WYeast 4766 Cider yeast.
Starting Gravity: 1.076
Final Gravity: 1.005 (~9.5% ABV)

In the daily churn it’s easy to miss truly remarkable projects. Remarkable in origin, in execution, and in presentation. Projects that market themselves. Projects that compel you. That haunt you. That remind you somewhere, deep inside you, there is an extraordinarily meaningful project – that must be birthed. And you’re the only one that can.

“The beer itself is a robust 28% blonde ale. After fermentation it is aged for 6 months in some amazing whisky, bourbon, rum and sherry barrels. There is only one Ghost Deer head and this beer will only ever be available on draft, served in a stemmed 1/3 pint glass, direct from the mouth of the deer himself. The elusive deer is going to be resident in BrewDog Edinburgh for a very limited time period commencing at 5pm on Wednesday the 7th of September. The deer himself will decide where he will next appear.”

Where is your Ghost Deer?

Here’s my ranking of the hops in Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA Deconstructed.

1. Simcoe
2. Zeus
3. East Kent Goldings
4. Ahtenum

Great pie chart from illustrating the percentages of beer recipes within Hopville.com that fall into recognized styles.

My neighbors have a fantastic garden gnome. Turns out, it hit a rough patch a while back and needed significant repair. Immediately I knew this story needed a commemorative beer.

This Belgian Dubbel Rye is dedicated to that Broken Gnome
• 10# Belgian Pilsner Malt
• 2# Rye Malt
• 2# Belgian Biscuit Malt
• 1.0 oz Crystal hops @ 60
• 1.5 oz Crystal hops @ 30
• 1.5 oz Crystal hops @ 15
• Wyeast Belgian Ardenes (3522)

Inspired by J’s comment, I gave the brew-in-a-bag technique a try for this beer. So far, I’m extraordinarily happy with the process. Straight forward all around. Took about 4 hours total (30 min set up + 60 min mash + 60 min boil + 45 min cool down + 30 min cleanup).

Broken Gnome on Hopville

• OG 1.068
• IBU 22.3
• BU:GU 0.32 (malty/sweet)

I’ve been itching to make a cider. Yet, since it’s off season, I don’t feel like going too crazy. So, I thought I’d make a nice simple recipe. If successful, this should be ready around Thanksgiving. If really successful, it’ll be gone by then.

Sour Cider (Mach I)
• 4 gallons Indian Summer apple cider
• ~2 tbsp Brettanomyces (aka dregs of 2 Orval bottles)

Update 15 June 2011
The Orval bugs are still going strong. A fresh layer of krausen has been ebbing and flowing twice a day for the past week. If/When it stalls out, I’ll bottle.

Update 09 July 2011
Bottled today. FG: 1.004
A little funkiness on the nose, smooth full body. Real easy to drink – even before the carbonation.

Elsewhere:
The Mad Fermentationist’s Sour Cider

Turns out, I’m addicted to Hopville’s Beer Calculus in much the same way others are addicted to Angry Birds. And the game play (get a group of ingredients to match a beer style) I find just as engaging.

The first of many recipes I’ve been working on is this Amber Rye in dedicated to my grandfather.

Aloysius Amber Rye
• 8# Briess Amber LME
• 2# Rye Malt
• 1# Crystal 50-60L
• 8oz Flaked Rye
• 0.5oz Chinook @ 60
• 1.5oz Sterling @ 30
• 1.0oz Ahtanum @ 15
• Wyeast Headwaters Ale
• Original Gravity: 1060. (Hopville estimated it @ 1074 – makes me think I could have done a better job of milling the rye.)
• ABV: 7.5
• IBU: 43
• BU/GU: 0.59

This was also my first attempt at a DeathBrewer-style partial mash. It’s just the bridge I was looking for into all grain brewing. The process was straightforward and much more ‘Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew‘ than many of the other partial mash processes I’d been reading up on (even in step 2 DeathBrewer reminds us to be comfortable).

The fermentation was strong by morning, and now – 24 hrs later is going full bore. I’m thankful this batch is in a 7 gallon brew bucket – rather than a 5 gallon carboy.

Here’s the Aloysius Amber Rye on Hopville

Update 9 July 2011:
F.G: 1.020
Medium brown in color.
Pre-carbonation: Tasting notes – Sharp black pepper & caramally-sweetness right away. Finishes clean.

For the past week all the commercial beer I’ve tasted has this flat, grey, toffee-textured, corn-like taste. Doesn’t matter if I’m drinking at one of many brew pubs in Wisconsin or a sixer of something imported from the 49th state.

In all cases, this taste is so strong the beer is undrinkable.

Thankfully the first time this happened, I was catching up with a friend with a history of judging beers.

He pulls out his phone and points me to the Home Brewing Wiki’s page on DMS (Dimethyl sulfide).

Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is an organic sulfur compound present above its flavor threshold in most beers. Because of its low flavor threshold, 10 – 150 ppb, it is a primary flavor and aroma compound that makes a significant contribution to beer character, especially in lager beers. It has a characteristic taste and aroma of cooked corn or creamed corn.

Yes, I think as a general rule I’ll be skipping lagers containing 20% corn.

@ the Aster Cafe. Most delicious Belgian sour I’ve enjoyed to date.

Tonight, I loaded my beer recipes into Hopville’s Beer Calculus (thanks to Mr. Hadden for the tip).

Yes, they’re all off style. Some by a little, and some so off – they’re on (the Maibock passed BJCP guidelines for American Barleywine).

In all honesty – this round of brewing wasn’t about hitting a style, it was about the confidence of building a recipe. And, turns out, becoming fixated on making the recipe better.

There’s a lesson in here about being ready for new tools & insights. The first time I read Hitchhikers – it was complete jibberish. Three months ago, Beer Calculus would have been as well.

Where I really see Hopville’s Beer Calculus excelling is in setting up the bounds for a style and helping me find my target within there.

Easily, the best homebrew resource yet.

With Basic Brewing Radio & The Mad Fermentationist coming in a close second.

I just had a long, difficult conversation with the Out Like a Lion. We both agree that things have to change, no one’s at fault, and we’ll both try harder next time.