Back on the Hombie Horse

I finally got past that bullshit summer hangup I had, got off my ass, and got back on the Homebrew train. Actually, let me re-phrase that. Not only did I get on that train, I did it with a neckerchief tied around my mouth, and proceeded to hijack the bastard and send it straight to Awesomeville, Kick-assia.

Let's begin:

Last weekend, I ended up in Saratoga NY - basically a last minute trip I needed to take, mainly to grab some music gear from my Dad's basement for eventual transfer to The Bones' new basement Rock & Roll studio. More on that sweetness later.

Anyway, while I was there I decided to follow through on an idea I had been mulling ever since I left Boston: to brew my first Brett beer and allow it to simmer away in my Dad's basement for a year or so and see what happens. I found a new homebrew shop in 'Toga and had a good time hanging there with a couple local homebrewers. Actually, because of this random meeting I got hooked up with my first judging gig, which is something I've always wanted to do. More on THAT sweetness later.

After procuring the necessary 'ients, My Dad & I mashed and boiled a half batch of a Belgian Pale Ale.

5.5# Briess 2-row Malt
.5# Aromatic Malt
.5# Dextrine Malt.

I mashed it pretty high, around 154 or so. I wanted to create some dextrins for the Brett to work on (a trick I picked up from Vinnie Cilurzo). We hopped it modestly with Styrian Goldings, and started the fermentation off with some of the Belgian yeast we use at the Fish. (It's White Labs 530, for you obsessive types) I probably used too much, because the fermentation was a crazy mess, blowing crap out of the carboy even though it was only half full of wort. 36 hours later the krausen was dropping and I pitched a packet of Wyeast's Brettanomyces Bruxellensis. For the uninitiated, Brettanomyces is a type of wild yeast, this particular strain cultured from the indigenous micro-flora inhabiting the Brussels region. Brett is a slow working organism capable of surprising complexity and intensity given enough time and the proper conditions. Some people describe its characteristics as "sweaty horse blanket," but I think that's the most god awful disgusting thing you could say about a beer, and to be perfectly honest I've NO IDEA what a horse blanket smells like, let alone a sweaty one. So, I prefer to use words like: musty, earthy, barnyard, sour fruit, spicy. But that's just me. Gravity was 1.054 - a little lower than I wanted.
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Tonight:

12# Rahr 2-row Malt
.25# British 60L Crystal
.5# Dextrine Malt
1# Dextrose sugar

This is going to be another Russian River-esque IPA. I've attempted these in the past, but was never satisfied. I had always used whole flower hops, and with my system (boiling on the stove) I just don't think I was getting the hop utilization needed for a beer like Pliny. Tonight I'm using pellets in the hopes of finally getting that hop profile I have been looking for. Also, I'm treating my water with Gypsum to help lower my mash pH and to accentuate the hop flavor. Hop schedule is crazy...here goes

Bittering addition:
1 oz Summit 16.7 AA%
1 oz Simcoe 11.9 AA%

Followed by 3 late additions:
1 oz Columbus
.75 Simcoe
.75 Centennial

1 oz Centennial
.5 Columbus
1 oz Simcoe

1 oz Centennial
1 oz Summit
.75 Columbus

Also there will be 2 Dry additions, using similar hops.

I'm hoping to get the gravity in the low 1.07's -fermenting with my old favorite American yeast.

More details to come...I'm about to come up to a boil now.

James Brown on the computer speakers

Cyser in the glass

Life ain't too bad sometimes

Love

-Wrence