Still trying to crack this Oatmeal Stout egg?

Stouts, especially Oatmeal stout are mysterious, full bodied, roasty, deliciousness. With this next batch for the To Style Series I brewed an Oatmeal Stout that I entered into two stout sub categories, Oatmeal Stout 13c and Dry Stout 13a. The results were a bit surprising.

Oatmeal Stout
Briess Two Row         53%
Flaked Oats               14%
Oat Malt                     7%
TF Roasted Barley      7%
TF Chocolate Malt      7%
TF Crystal 45              7%
Melanoidin Malt           5%

mash 152*f

Super Galena  :60    .5 oz.
Delta              :10      1 oz.

15.4*P (1.061sg)
Safale US-05

Judging

Entered in category 13 c Oatmeal Stout

Aroma

#1-Some coffee. Mild Roast character. Low hop aroma. Mild fruity ester. No diacetyl. Clean

#2-Roasty, Coffee, Sweet Malt.

Appearance

#1-Black color, ruby highlights, clear. Light brown head with moderate retention.

#2-Dark Brown/Black color. Good head/carb

Flavor

#1-A high level of roast character. Finish is dry from high roast level. Some malt sweetness in background. Moderate hop bitterness. Balance is toward roast but malty sweetness is not far behind.

#2-Roasty but to the point of being burnt, astringent. Don't get too much oat, silky, smooth flavor per the style

Mouthfeel

#1-Medium body. Light astringency from roast malt.

#2-Medium body. Sweet but not too creamy.

Overall Impression

#1-A very roasty yet sweet example of an Oatmeal Stout. Clean fermentation character. Try reducing roast malt addition and increasing body to bring this beer more in style. Needs more creaminess.

#2-ok, drinkable beer. A bit too much roast which leaves more of a burnt flavor vs. a silky chocolate coffee sweetness. Watch use of black malt, try de-husked dark malts instead. Mash at 152-154*f

#1-Certified  29/50

#2-Certified  25/50

Overall 27/50---Good (21-29)

Same beer entered as a Dry Stout in category 13a with the same judges.

Aroma

#1-Some roasty coffee aroma, light malt sweetness, slight fruity esters. No diacetyl. No hop aroma.
#2-Big roasty, coffee rich nose. Slightly burnt.

Appearance
#1-Black color, clear with garnet highlights. Low tan head with with low retention.
#2-Black color, opaque, tight bubble tan head with medium retention.

Flavor
#1-Moderate to high roasted malt character. Slightly burnt but not astringent. Dry, unsweetened chocolate. Clean fermentation quality. Some light fruit esters. Finished somewhat sweet with a roasty balance.
#2-Roasty malty but not as strong as the aroma was. Slightly bitter with chocolate aftertaste. Hop/malt background noticed. Smooth

Mouthfeel
#1-Medium to light body with low carbonation. Slight roast malt astringency but not overwhelming.
#2-Medium to light body. Dry finish but not too harsh.

Overall Impression
#1-A roasty, sweet, light bodied example of a dry stout. Could use a little more body. Try mashing higher. Clean well attenuated. Good job.
#2-Nice, drinkable beer. Big aroma with smooth balance with roast and malt. Might benefit from more roasty, coffee flavor.

#1-Certified 33/50
#2-Certified 33/50

Overall 33/50---Very Good (30-37)

Clearly if I want this recipe to be an oatmeal stout I must create more body. First step for next batch will be to raise the mash temperature up to 154-156*f from 152*f. I've been experimenting with Oatmeal stouts at home the last couple of years with some success but still missing the elusive full body character present in some of the best examples. At this point I think it's more than just a higher finishing gravity and it's not necessarily just oats in any form (flaked, malted, steel cut) that gives the necessary body. My next batch of Oatmeal stout will also contain some flaked barley and bumping up the melanoidin malt addition to help give the tongue something to hold onto. It also appears the roast character needs to be dialed back a little bit and/or I need to look into making water adjustments. I find it interesting that this beer scored higher as a dry stout than the oatmeal stout style I was aiming for. I think this illustrates the subtle differences in processes and ingredients that can separate styles.

Strawberry Cream Ale

Continuing the "To Style Series" with an entry for category 20 Fruit Beer. Last summer I brewed a "Farm Fresh Series" featuring locally grown and procured fruits and vegetables from my local farmers market. It was a lot of fun not knowing what I would find each weekend to brew with at the farmers market. Strolling through the season I ended up brewing a Strawberry Cream ale in May. A Tart Cherry Porter and a Blueberry Belgian ale in June and a Mixed Berry Saison in July. As summer was coming to close I brewed a Smoked Pumpkin Porter (with smoked pumpkins and not smoked malt) at the end of August. I really enjoyed coming up with the recipes for each batch based upon accentuating the farm fresh ingredients. I was also experimenting with adding fruit into primary fermentor, where most brewing text recommends adding the fruit to secondary or at bottling. For me, I enjoy my sugars fermented and adding fruit into secondary or later in the process just creates a fruit beer that is too sweet. Adding the fruit to primary fermentor didn't drive off all the delicate fruit flavors. I felt the yeast being in contact with the fruit during fermentation helped to marry the flavors of the fruit and the base beer style and created a properly attenuated beer.

For the Tap Vermont tasting I presented this Strawberry Cream ale as follows, "Strawberry Split: An experimental batch using farm fresh strawberries from my local farmer's market. A traditional style Cream ale brewed with barley malt, flaked maize, and honey malt. The beer is barely hopped allowing the flavor and aroma of fresh strawberries to shine through, and it has fruit in it, so, it's good for you". This beer of course went over very well with the women in attendance but even the guys liked it because it's still a crisp, dry beer with out being overpowered by fruit flavor. 

Strawberry Cream Ale

Briess Two Row    

Flaked Maize       14%

Honey Malt           4%

mash 154*f

Celeia   first wort    .3 oz.

13.2*P (1.053sg)

7 lbs. of Fresh Strawberries

3 sliced Bananas

White Labs WLP009 Australian Ale Yeast

Judging

Aroma

#1-Strawberries up front with some banana on the back note. Quite sweet smelling

#2-Initial aroma of strawberry and banana. Light hay, straw, and meal malt. No hops or fruity esters. Clean

#3-Strawberry is the dominant aroma but banana does emerge. Very light malt character, to be expected from a cream ale.

Appearance
#1-Crystal clear amber orange, not much head.
#2-Clear. Orange with light ruby notes. Small, fizzy head. Short to no retention
#3-Brilliantly clear. Pours low head fades fast. Light copper with reddish hue

Flavor
#1-Slightly tart banana like malt followed quickly by a wave of strawberry. Slight dryness and tartness in the finish.
#2-Hay, straw, and meal malt with lightly tart strawberries. Faint banana flavor. Light to no hop flavor or bitterness. Fully fermented with no residual sugar. Dry finish
#3-Clean, crisp with a dry finish. Nice strawberry fruit flavor balancing light malt and low hop character. Banana is very subtle and if not cited may not have noticed.

Mouthfeel
#1-Medium bodied, medium carbonation
#2-Light body. Medium-low carbonation. No warmth. Medium Creaminess.
#3-Light body with medium carbonation and overall crisp.

Overall Impression
#1-I enjoyed this. Needs a bit more maltiness from the beer to really bring some complexity. Strawberry and banana were well balanced but needs a little more to bring it together.
#2-Nice beer. This could be better with more mouthfeel, and a persistent head.
#3-Very refreshing. Fruity & crisp a nice balance between strawberry and a light cream ale. Unfortunately banana got lost. Still, a well made beer.

#1-Recognized 32/50
#2-Certified     31/50
#3-Certified     32/50

Overall 31.6/50---Very Good (30-37)

3rd Place in Category

After brewing the same seasonal beer twice in a row I really feel I'm starting to dial in this seasonal one off. The head retention issue is most likely from the pectins present in the fruit. I could use a pectic enzyme to breakdown the pectins that destroy the head but I'll probably try adding Weyermann Carafoam next time. Also, I add the bananas not for flavor per say but as a strawberry flavor enhancer and to add a creaminess to the body. This is a trick I learned from a friend, former co-worker and master mead maker Jon Talkington of Brimming Horn Meadery where the banana adds body and boosts other fruity flavors present in the liquid whether it be mead, wine, beer, melomel , or cyser's. Thus I didn't mention bananas at the Tap Vermont tasting. I've found if something is in a batch and it's not a dominate flavor then it's better to just not mention it's presence.  Keep it as a your brewer secret ingredient adding complexity and a depth to a batch. One judges comment in flavor section sums it up as, "Banana is very subtle and if not cited may not have noticed". Next up in the To Style Series is an Oatmeal Stout that I entered as a Dry Stout and an Oatmeal Stout with interesting feedback.

Robust Smoked Porter

Next up in the to style series was a beer brewed for the other smoked beer style category 22b. With this category you can basically brew any base style and add smoked malt. Judges are looking for a balance of smoke in the base style and how the smoke blends into the balance of the style. Now I enjoy the smokiest of beers ie: Schlenkerla where many of the beers have nearly one hundred percent smoked malt but many people don't enjoy drinking liquid bacon cooked in a campfire. This robust porter was brewed with only a modest amount of smoked malt accounting for 25% of the overall grist bill.

For the Tap Vermont tasting I presented this robust smoked porter as, "Test Batch #161- This robust porter brewed with traditional German smoked malt creates a background of, bacon. Before the advent of in-direct fire malting techniques all beer had a smokey character. Brewed with English barley malt, pale chocolate malt, crystal malt, and flaked barley this 19th century London inspired ale transports you to another time." People enjoyed this beer but didn't love it. Many had never had a smoked ale before and enjoyed the barbecue flavors blending with the roastiness of the robust porter.


     Robust Smoked Porter
Briess Two Row
Best Smoked Malt      25%
TF Roasted Barley      8%
TF Pale Chocolate       8%
TF Crystal 45              7%
Flaked Barley              7%

mash 152*f

Super Galena  :75   .7oz pellet
Delta              :5      1 oz pellet

15.2*P (1.061sg)
Safale US-05

Judging 

Aroma

#1-Very Roasty - coffee, dark chocolate followed by a noticeable but not excessive smokyness

#2-Heavy chocolate & roasted malt; smoke is present, layers in nose, no diacetyl

Appearance

#1-Black nearly opaque, mahogany hues, thick tan head with good retention, legs, and lace work

#2-Black, opaque beer with nice clingy brown tan head

Flavor

#1-Lots of roast malt flavor, coffee, and dark chocolate. Lingering hop flavor in finish and aftertaste.

#2-Very rich chocolate initially, then complemented by smokyness; hops hard to distinguish from overwhelming chocolate flavor. Heavily malt flavored with little yeast character; no diacetyl

Mouthfeel

#1-thin body, moderate carbonation level. Some warming from alcohol

#2-Creamy and full bodied beer with no astringency. Slight alcohol warmth.

Overall Impression

#1-Well made beer, the smoke is not excessive. The roast malt is a tad strong for me maybe reduce roast slightly or replace with chocolate or de-bittered black malt. Raise mash temp.

#2-Interesting beer, I enjoyed it. Beer would benefit from less extreme chocolate slant, unless you were looking to develop a chocolate porter. Probably needs a cooler mash temp to loosen that body some.

#1-Professional Brewer  31/50

#2-Recognized               31/50

Overall 31/50---Very Good (30-37)

2nd Place in Category 22

Blonde Ale

This is going to be the first post in a series about brewing "to style" beers that were entered into the Delaware State Fair's inaugural home brew competition. The purpose of this was to challenge myself, my recipes, and my understanding of flavor development contributed from the myriad of yeast, barley, and hop choices available to the contemporary brewer to re-create classic beer styles.

First off, I have mixed feelings about brewing "to style". A large part of me honors the past, the unique circumstances in which all beer styles were created. Whether being ingredients available, water profiles, gruit taxes (increasing hops popularity in brewing), or yeast strains present (ales in England, lagers in Germany, phenolic Belgian strains for example) all styles are steeped in history, tradition, and dogma. Ultimately though people were generally just trying to create a delicious libation with what was available and what we have available today is global by comparison, but back to brewing to style.

For this brewing exercise I relied more than usual on the BJCP style guidelines since it was a sanctioned event. The guidelines are cliff notes for styles, with ingredient lists, stats (og, ibu, etc) and commercial examples listed. Also, most of the beers in this to style series we're also poured at my first brewery in planning (Tap Vermont) tasting party that I hosted in July in Vermont so I'll include those descriptions as well as the judges comments and scores.

Blonde Ale
Briess Two Row
Wheat Malt     22%
Flaked Barley   8%
Cara Pils           6%

mash 151*f

Willamette :60   1 oz. whole leaf
Willamette :0     1 oz. whole leaf
Centennial :0     .2 oz pellet

13.4*P (1.053sg)
Safale US-05

It was left in primary two weeks longer than I'm comfortable (total 4 weeks) is my only concession going in.

Judging

Aroma

#1-fruity, green apple, hop aroma low, malt aroma subtle, no diacetyl, phenolic, plastic
#2-fruitiness (cherry, bubblegum) seems to overpower whatever malt character is present. Strong green apple. Smells like a fruit roll up, no hops.

Appearance
#1-light burnt/rusty range, hazy, thin white head, good retention
#2-light copper with thin white head that sticks around. Decent clarity

Flavor
#1-grainy malt, a little caramel, hops are low. Both bitterness and flavors are low, balance is toward malt, finish is very dry, fruity aftertaste, light fruit esters present, green apple and plastic phenolic signs of under attenuation
#2-Malt sweetness, with orange citrus followed by a sweet finish with a low level of hop bitterness. Green apple not nearly as present in aroma. Very fruity.

Mouthfeel
#1-medium body, medium attenuation, low warming, low to medium creaminess, medium astringency, drying
#2-medium body, medium carbonation, no alcohol warmth or astringency

Overall Impression
#1-Seems underattenuated - yeast derived acetaldehyde present and phenolic - could lower fermentation temperature. Also make sure to use a starter and make sure more yeast is healthy. Get a quickly starting fermentation and make sure to complete before bottling. Just to be sure check sanitation procedure. Good try
#2-Too sweet to be an "easy drinking" beer. Be sure to pitch plenty of healthy/viable yeast, watch fermentation temperature and if all grain adjust mash temp. Up hop bitterness/dryness and lower sweetness to increase drinkability.

#1-Recognized-  25/50
#2-Certified-      29/50
   
Overall 27/50---Good (21-29)

Alright, so what's to learn from this entry to make the next batch better. First changes will be to lower the mash temperature to 149*f to create a more fermentable wort. Next the fermentation temperature needs to be kept lower, if someone says it "smells like a fruit roll up" it's too warm a ferment and not a to style character in a Blonde ale. I do suspect that the green apple and plastic phenolics one judge kept picking up is from leaving the beer in primary for too long causing flavors from yeast autolysis to enter the beer. It also appears I need to increase the hop presence in the finish. The color was also a little darker than it should be for a Blonde ale, the carapils malt I used is 10*Lovibond, so that's the culprit. This was my first shot at a blonde ale. I think a few minor adjustments will get this beer to score over 30, whatever that means.

This beer went over well at the tasting party. Some people scored it as their favorite of the nine that were served. I called it Dirty Blonde and the description was as follows: "Refreshingly crisp golden ale, brewed with barley & wheat malt. Lightly hopped with whole leaf Willamette for bittering and flavor with a touch of Centennial for aroma. Flavors of toasted bread and floral hop aroma create a balance for this easy drinking ale." 
   
An inspiration for this series was Peter Kennedy's post More Homebrew Lessons Learned.. Where his beer entries performed less than favorable and I think it took some cajones to post about it. One sentence struck me as positive critical thinking when he said, "Maybe it is time to go back to basics and reset".

Berliner Weisse (Lactobacillus)

A couple of weeks after brewing a no-boil Berliner Weisse using White Labs Berliner Blend WLP630 I brewed another no boil batch this time giving an isolated Lactobacillus strain a head start and then finishing with a clean ale strain a couple weeks later. These are my first couple batches of Berliner Weisse and I'm trying to understand how I can create the flavors I've found in the great commercial and home brewed Berliner Weisse's I've been able to sample. 

So far each batch is very different. To my surprise the White Labs blend is outperforming the isolated Lactobacillus batch in terms of lactic acid production (tartness). The Lactobacillus head start batch tastes more like a very low alcohol wheat beer with a light tang, while the white labs blend batch is puckering and smells like baby diapers. Blended 50/50 they balance each other out. Which I may do at bottling depending how these age. Aged only five months at this point I'll check back in another.

Brewed with Wheat Malt, Torrified Wheat, Unmalted Wheat, Pale Two Row. First wort hopped with Delta. 

Rose Water Wit

A Belgian style White ale brewed with rose water. Belgian style White beer is a refreshing summer beer that is perfect in the kitchen for cooking with and outside to drink by the grill. Traditionally brewed with a large proportion of Wheat in the grist bill and spiced with Orange peel and Coriander. The twist for this batch will the be the addition of rose water.

To make the rose water I steeped roses in warm water overnight.  This "rose water" was then used as the strike water. The bouquet of aromatics from the water the next morning was intense and tasted of perfume, grass, and just plain floral. I felt the White beer style would complement these flavors much the way Hibiscus flowers flavor Dieu du Ciel!'s White beer Rosee de Hibiscus.

Grist bill of N. American two row malt, Wheat Malt, Torrified Wheat, Unmalted Wheat, and Flaked Oats. First wort hopped with locally grown whole leaf Cascade (which are nothing like traditional Cascade) by Chesapeake Hop Co.  Fermented with Wyeast 3463 Forbidden Fruit.

Berliner Weisse (no boil)

Berliner style Weisse beer is from a by gone era, nearly a style forgotten by time. The BJCP style guidelines talks about the history of the style as, "A regional specialty of Berlin; referred to by Napoleon's troops in 1809 as the Champagne of the North due to its lively an elegant character. Only two traditional breweries still produce the product." Thankfully this refreshing, tart, session beer is making a comeback.

In 2008 at the La Fete Bieres & Saveurs in Quebec and I had the privilege of sampling my first Berliner Weisse that happened to be brewed by Hopfenstark. Weighing in at 3% I was amazed at the complexity in such a "small" beer. The grainy, malty background held up with a lactic tang was a shock to my palette. I had recently been indulging in the new, to me, world of sours and this was a wonderful surprise. Up until that point I had only read about this style of sour beer and after a couple of bottles were greatly enjoyed I knew one day I would attempt creating my own Berliner Style Weiss beer.  I've had a few more examples of this style since 2008 but two of the best have been home brewed. One by Jamey Barlow which was spot on and the other by Nate Zeender of DesJardin Brewing which was technically a Kvass style beer, it could have easily passed for it's wheat based cousin.

Since the grist bill is 48% un-malted wheat, 38% base six row malt, and 14% flaked oats I performed a step mash (122*f, 149*f, and mashed out hotter than normal to 185*f, for run off purposes) to break down and convert the un-malted wheat. The high diastatic power of six row malt compared with two row malt will also help to convert the un-malted wheat. I'm using the un-malted wheat instead of wheat malt for a softer mouth feel and I'm trying to get closer to the original grains flavor as possible in the finished beer, very wheaty. Also mash hopped this beer with some locally grown Willamette whole leaf hops. Run off was slow but only had to reset the bed once. After collecting the wort I brought it up to a boil then turned the heat off. Added a little crushed coriander, cooled the wort, knocked out into a carboy,and pitched the yeast blend. The yeast blend was White Labs WLP630 Berliner Weisse Blend. Looking forward to the results many months from now.

Loco Roja IPA

This beer was brewed for a unique home brew competition created by Peter Kennedy of Simply Beer called Iron Brewer. Iron Brewer brings together home brewers from across the country to create a beer from secret ingredients. Like Iron Chef which has one secret ingredient to showcase in all the dishes, Iron Brewer presents three secret ingredients for each brewer to showcase in one beer. After winning the third round with a Bourbon Infused Vanilla Bean Robust Smoked Brown Porter featuring Vanilla, Smoked Malt, and Centennial hops I was invited to compete against the winners of all six rounds for the Iron Brewer championship. In the Championship Round we had to feature Chili Pepper, Crystal 120, and Horizon hops.

When I first heard the ingredients I was surprised by the choice of chili peppers but the challenge of brewing a beer that also featured a strong hop character seemed like a difficult pairing. Then I decided I would just roll the dice and go for it and brew a vibrant red IPA (the red representing the heat of the chili peppers, and the color achieved from crystal 120) with chili peppers.  I didn't know how the hops would meld with the chili peppers flavor and heat. Having never used the Horizon hop variety before I wasn't sure of there flavor either. From what I read they were spicy and earthy. So that was encouraging. Nothing to crazy about the brewing process except I added three quarters of an ounce of re-hydrated and pureed chipotle chili peppers at end of boil to lay a foundation of chili flavor and what I thought would be enough heat. Here's the recipe.


After fermenting with an American Ale strain (Safale US-05) and racked to secondary I realized the heat wasn't where I wanted it to be so I created a red chili pepper tincture in vodka to boost the heat. The beer was dry hopped with two ounces of Horizon hops and keg'd. At which point I added the chili pepper tincture adding the heat to this hoppy red ale. After force carbonating I used a blichmann beer gun to bottle.

You can listen to the tasting of the championship round here, but long story short, I won! The Championship round had some really excellent beers, especially Jim Lavin with a chocolatey chili pepper ale and Jonathan Moxey with a delicious Red Chili IPA. After winning all I could say was "my jaw is dropped". It felt great to be recognized by my peers to have brewed the best beer that day. Looking forward to defending my title in the Championship Round of Batch #2.

8/28/11 Update: With the prize winning money from winning batch #1 of Iron Brewer I built a five tap home brew draft setup.  Nice to be done with cobra party taps at home and pour a pint from a stainless steel faucet. There were a few bottles leftover of this batch so I decided to enter this beer into the Delaware State Fair Home Brew Competition. There was a little age on the batch (5 months) but I thought why not, it fits into category 21a Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer.

Judging

Aroma

#1- Fresh herbal American hop nose. Pepper is a secondary aroma. Malt as well in the background with some caramel malt to support.

#2- Great classic amber ale aroma with hints of pepper hanging out.

Appearace

#1- Dark reddish-amber color. Creamy off white head with good retention.

#2- Color is deep amber. Great head retention.

Flavor

#1- Malt up front followed by hops and a bit of chili pepper at the finish. Some berry like fruity esters add a layer of complexity. Balance swings from malt to pepper spicy to hoppy.

#2- Sweet malt up front that fades as you wait for the slow creep of heat. 

Mouthfeel

#1- Medium body and carbonation. Carbonation adds fullness to mouthfeel. No alcohol warmth, but capsaicin warms the finish. Some creaminess. No astringency

#2- Carbonation is great. Hot on the finish.

Overall Impression

#1- A nicely balanced and well made spice beer. The base style comes through nicely and chili peppers are not overdone. A bit more of a malt balance would push underlying beer closer to the style.

#2- I like the blend of malt and chili peppers. I just can't help but wish it had more hop character.

#1- Grand Master III        36/50

#2- Professional Brewer   37/50   

Overall 37/50---Very Good (30-37)

First place in category winning Best in Style