Cascadian Dark Ale

A collaborative brew with friend and fellow pro brewer Brent Baughman. We decided to brew up a decidedly American style of beer in honor of this holiday weekend celebrating the 234th birthday of America. We both agree it's a great time to be apart of this New American Craft Beer Renaissance that has been growing since the 70's. This fairly new style, first called black IPA, but renamed Cascadian Dark Ale, origins discussed further by Lisa Morrison. In her article she discusses how it's a style created in the Pacific Northwest, but Greg Noonan brewed a 'Black IPA' called BlackWatch in 1990. Anyway, I do like the name Cascadian Dark Ale and the idea and spirit of creating truly new beer styles, with new names that aren't derivative mash ups of existing beer styles. Let's agree on a name and start brewing even more regional beer styles to be celebrated nationally.

Grist Bill: Briess Two row, Honey malt, Flaked Rye, CaraPils, Chocolate malt, Black malt. First wort hopped with Perle and Centennial hop variety's. Finished with a heavy hand of whole leaf Centennial hops. Fermented with Safale US-05 American Ale yeast.

Centennial Pale Ale

Kicked my most recent batch of pale ale on draught and I have quitea bit of whole leaf Centennial hops. So, I'll be brewing an American Pale ale today with over a quarter pound of hops at end of boil. Also, I'll be collecting 900 ml of wort from today's brew to start a prop for a batch of Saison to be brewed tomorrow. The yeast for tomorrow's Saison is White Labs WLP568.

Grist Bill: Briess Two row, Munich malt, Dk. Munich malt, Toasted Flaked Rye, Amber malt, Briess Xtra Special malt. Hopped with over a quarter pound of whole leaf Centennial. Fermented with Safale US-05.

Farm Fresh Series: Blueberry Belgian Ale

Continuing my Farm Fresh Series with fresh Blueberries from my local farmers market. So far in the series I've brewed a Strawberry Cream ale and a Tart Cherry Porter. I kegged the strawberry ale yesterday and racked cherry porter to 2nd. I'm very happy so far with how both batches are maturing. Strawberry flavor comes through surprisingly well.

Today's recipe is similar to strawberry cream ale's grist bill, but instead of flaked maize I'll be using flaked barley and oats. Creating a golden ale for the blueberries to influence any way they please. Hopefully with some color and flavor. To mix it up from most commercial examples I'll be fermenting this batch with a Belgian yeast strain creating spicy and fruity flavors of it's own that hopefully won't overwhelm the blueberries. Just like the strawberry and cherry beers I'll also be adding the fruit directly into primary FV during knock out. Good results so far with whole, well slightly crushed or cut up, fruit fermentation.

Grist Bill: Pale two row, Honey malt, Flaked Barley, and Flaked Oats. Slightly hopped with Celeia variety with five and a half pounds of fresh blueberries from Fifer Orchards in the fermentation vessel. Fermented with White Labs WLP570 Belgian Golden Ale yeast.

Belgian Table Biere(s)

Brewing up a big batch today of low gravity Belgian blonde ale that I'm going to split between two carboys and ferment each with a different yeast strain from White Labs. It's always interesting to see how different strains affect the flavor profile of the same wort. In one carboy I will pitch WLP500, a strain from the Chimay Trappist Brewery. In the other carboy I'll pitch WLP575 which is a blend of Chimay yeast, Westmalle Trappist yeast, and Achouffe yeast. Originally I was looking for WLP550 which is just the Achouffe strain but alas my local home brew store didn't have any this weekend so I went with the WLP575 Belgian Blend. I'm able to find out the origins of these strains by using the yeast strain chart that Mr.Malty has created. It's very interesting and useful to determine what yeast to use knowing the flavor impact the yeast makes in the beers brewed from the brewery's where the yeast comes from. Giving you an idea of what your beer will taste like using that yeast.

Grist Bill: Belgian Pilsner malt, Briess Pale malt, Rye malt, Aromatic malt, and CaraPils. American whole leaf Palisade hops for bittering and finished with whole leaf Centennial hops. Adding a citrus kick to the nuances of the two different Belgian yeasts from White Labs, WLP500 and WLP575.

Petite Saison

Brewed with Barley, Wheat, Oats, and Rice. First wort hopped with Saaz andCeleia. With East Kent Golding hops at the end of boil. Fermented with Wyeast 3711 French Saison. Simple recipe, but most likely a delicious beer. Step mash for today's brew to break down extra proteins in the large portion of wheat and oats in the grist. This was a great beer for the middle of Summer. Dry and drinkable, but spicy enough to be interesting. Some more noble hop flavors from dry hopping would be a nice addition to recipe. Styrian Golding, Saaz, or Tettnanger would add the needed hop flavor.

Farm Fresh Series: Tart Cherry Porter

This weekend at the farmers market there were some fresh Tart Cherries and Blueberries. I decided to brew a Porter with the cherries. I'll be adding the cherries directly into the primary FV as I did during knockout for the Strawberry Cream Ale. Both the cherries and previously mentioned strawberries were from Fifer Orchards in Wyoming, Delaware.

Grist Bill: English pale malt, Amber malt, Crystal malt, Coffee malt, Chocolate malt, Black Patent, and CaraPils. Six Pounds of Tart Cherries. Lightly hopped with Willamette. Fermented with Safale US-05.

Abbey Ale

After working with and living with my house mate, who is also a professional brewer, for over a year now we haven't done a collaborative brew yet. Which is kind of ridiculous. We're brewing an Abbey style ale with Citra hops and dried orange slices. A blonde 7% hoppy citrus Belgian style ale.

Grist Bill: Belgian two row, Munich malt, Biscuit malt, and Aromatic malt. First wort hopped with Saaz and Willamette. Citra hops for finishing hops along with dried oranges at end of boil. Fermented with the Westmalle Trappist brewery strain the White Labs WLP530 Abbey Ale yeast.

Smoked Session Stout

This is a beer I would like to serve using nitrogen. The beer would be greatly improved by this serving method. A firkin would also compliment the flavors in this Stout. It's a low alcohol but full flavored offering. It's your usual 'sessionable' Stout but brewed with over 30% smoked malt adding a delicious old world twist. As most beers had smoke flavor back in the day due to open fire malting techniques.

Grist Bill: Pale two row, Smoked malt, Chocolate malt, Roasted Barley, Crystal malt, Flaked Barley, and CaraPils. Hopped with Super Galena and Willamette. Fermented with American ale yeast WLP001. I do need to get some Thames Valley and/or London III yeast around for when I decide to do brews like this, but this one will be fermented with chico.