Weldwerks Achromatic Stout

Friday evening brew session! Today I'm brewing an Imperial Stout based on Weldwerks' Achromatic recipe. I was planning on brewing this beer back on Big Brew Day, but we ended up working on finishing up some yard projects...but I digress.

A few buddies and I recently traveled to Colorado to drop off entries for the AHA's National Homebrew Competition. Long story short, I talked them into a 500+ mile road trip to hand deliver competition entries, after which we'd visit a few tasting rooms; it really didn't take a lot of convincing. I was a little worried because we were set to arrive in Louisville, CO on the last day for drop-offs; if we ran into unexpected traffic, got a flat tire, whatever, we risked missing the 4:30pm deadline. 

We ended up leaving my house a little before 6AM, made incredible time, and arrived at the drop-off location at 1pm. Turns out that a car full of dudes needs fewer bathroom stops compared to family road trips. 

I'd also arranged to pick up a sack of Root Shoot Pilsner Malt, but that wasn't supposed to happen until closer to 4pm, so we had no other choice than to grab a bite to eat while visiting some tap rooms. On Friday we went to Odd13, Left Hand, Purpose, and Maxline. On Saturday, we hit Odell, Wiley Roots, and Weldwerks. It was a great trip especially after a year of COVID isolation.

As you can probably guess, I got to try some of Weldwerks Achromatic Stouts (which were amazing...especially the Coconut Achromatic) and after realizing I hadn't brewed an Imperial Stout for some time, I decided to brew this one one today. This recipe is based on the one published in Beer & Brewing which comes directly from Weldwerks head brewer, Neil Fisher. I've adjusted the grain amounts to account for my system efficiency and what was available locally. 

Here's the recipe as I'm brewing it today. I was planning on brewing this as a 5 gallon batch, then decided to scale it up to 10. The original recipe called for WLP001/A07, but I decided to do a split batch with half going on A07 and the other half on A01. Deviating from the published recipe, I'm cold steeping the dark malts; this can help ensure a smooth roast character in the finished beer rather than a harsher acrid roast character.

10 gallon batch

OG: 1.105

FG: 1.030

IBUs: 45

ABV 10%

27.25# Mecca Grade Lamonta

1.75# Simpsons Chocolate Malt (*cold steeped)

1.75# Weyermanns Chocolate Rye Malt (*cold steeped)

1.75# Crisp Pale Chocolate Malt (*cold steeped)

1.75# Simpsons DRC

1.375# Simpsons Light Crystal

1.375# Flaked Oats

0.375# Simpsons Roasted Barley (*cold steeped)

Imperial A07 Flagship (5 gallons)

Imperial A01 House (5 gallons)

84g Magnum (FWH)

Yeast Nutrient

Mash at 153F, collect ~12.33 gallons pre-boil volume (assuming boil-off rate of ~1.16 gallons/hour), 120 minute boil. Start fermentation at 60F, ramping up to 65F over 5 days.

Note: This recipe is based on the Chocolate Achromatic Stout, but I'm considering doing a Coconut variant. For the Chocolate version (5 gallons), add 8oz of roasted cacao nibs and one vanilla bean after fermentation is complete. Leave cacao in for 1-3 days (taste daily) and remove when desired character is achieved. Leave the vanilla bean in for 2-3 weeks then transfer for packaging.

Brewing Notes

No issues. The gravity came in right between 1.101 and 1.102, so only a couple points short of target. Mash pH started out about 5.4 and I used about 4.5ml of phosphoric acid to drop it closer to 5.2. I ended up with about 4.75 gallons in each fermenter. I aerated for 2 minutes at 0.5l/m before pitching yeast. If I'm not seeing active signs of fermentation in the morning, I'll probably hit it with another dose of oxygen. The wort tasted amazing. 

Update 5/15/2021 7:50AM

Both fermenters are showing active signs of fermentation with a glug about once every 5-14 seconds, so I'm going to skip additional oxygen this morning.

Update 5/16/2021 1:45PM

Fermentation seems to be rolling right along. The A01 half was actually blowing yeast off this morning.

Update 5/17/2021 10:00AM

As of this morning, I've had to dump my blowoff reservoir three times on the A01 half due to a very active fermentation. I actually held off on ramping up the temperature because it was so active, but I'm ramping up to 63F today on both fermenters.

Update 6/7/2021

I kegged both versions a little over a week ago. There are definitely noticeable differences between the two. The A01 House is a little smoother with a rounder roast character. The A07 Flagship definitely accentuates the roast character more. I didn't expect the yeast to have any impact on the roast, so this was interesting. Both versions have some residual sweetness, but neither is cloying. I decided to dose the A01 half with chocolate and Tahitian vanilla beans (2) and I ended up doing it as a tincture since I've had really good results in my Golden Milk Stout with tinctures.

Update 11/21/2021

I entered both the Cacao/Vanilla and TX Bourbon versions in a local comp (Utah Brew Fest Homebrew Competition). The TX Bourbon version took a silver medal for American Imperial Stout and the Cacao/Vanilla version took Bronze for Spice, Herb, Vegetable Beer.

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"Red" Sour Pale Ale

I brewed this beer back on March 7th for a "Red Beer" Competion. Since my blog is public and I didn't want to risk prejudicing any judges, I decided to hold off on posting details for this recipe. The competition is being put on by Bewilder Brewing in association with Jamie Burnham. Jamie is a cancer survivor and a huge part of both the homebrew and commercial beer scenes here in Utah. 100% of the entry fees for this comp go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Beers are judged on creativity and the use of red ingredients.

This is a varient of my Sour Pale Ale that I brewed a few months back. The primary red color contribution is from hibiscus tea and rooibos tea. Both of these teas are said to have a delicate berry flavor and aroma. I changed the hop additions up a little bit this time to reduce bitterness and hopefully get a little more fruity berry character that should compliment the character of both teas. Here's the recipe as I brewed it:

6.0# Root Shoot Pilsner

2.0# Mecca grade La Monta

0.5# Castle Chateau Munich Malt

6oz Weyermann Carared

1g BrewTan B (mash)

0.75# Corn Sugar (Boil)

7g Ekuanot Cryo (5 min)

14g Ariana (5 min)

1.0g Loral Cryo (5 min)

6.0g Mosaic Cryo (5 min)

4.66g BCAA (5 min)

7g Ariana (0 min)

7g Amarillo Cryo (0 min)

1g Loral Cryo (0 min)

8g Ariana (Whirlpool 170F)

3.5g Mosaic Cryo (Whirlpool 170F)

3.5g Amarillo Cryo (Whirlpool 170F)

3.5g Ekuanot Cryo (Whirlpool 170F)

1g Loral Cryo (Whirlpool 170F)

28g Ariana (dry hop 8 days)

28g Citra Cryo (dry hop 8 days)

14g Mosaic Cryo (dry hop 8 days)

13.49g Philly Sour (based on 1.057 OG)

Whirfloc

Wyeast Nutrient

Tea added at kegging (3 cups hot RO water combined with 1.5 oz hibiscus and 1.5oz Rooibos, steeped overnight in a French Press)

EDIT: I ended up adding an additional 1oz of each tea, for a total of 2.5oz of each (5oz grand total)

Mash at 152F. Ferment at 70F

Brewing Notes

No issues other than I was a little hungover from too many tiki drinks the night before. I did chill the wort more than I'd planned, down to the low 60s (F). I pitched the yeast after it had warmed up to mid-60s and I continued to warm the wort. O.G. came in at 1.057.

Update 3/10/2021

I'm not going to lie, I was starting to get a little worried with this batch after I saw zero gravity change 48 hours after pitching. I suspect this is directly related to the cooler pitch temperature. I'm glad to say this morning the gravity has dropped three points to 1.054. I have the fermentation temp set to 72F rather than the planned 70F, and I'll probably hold it there due to the sluggish start.

Update 3/11/2021

Gravity is down to 1.047 this morning. I probably won't take a pH reading until I'm ready to keg this beer.

Update 3/12/2021

Gravity is reading 1.031 this morning. I'm not convinced this is 100% accurate because the more active the fermentation, the more the Tilt tends to wobble. Regardless, things are looking pretty good.

Update 3/13/2021

Gravity is reading 1.024 this morning.

Update 3/14/2021

Gravity is reading 1.011 today. Fermentation is still fairly active today with a fairly regular "glug" about every 20-ish seconds. I went ahead and added the dry hops today.

Update 3/19/2021

I pulled a sample this morning and I really like the reduced bitterness from changing up the hop schedule. I didn't take a pH reading, but the perceived sourness doesn't seem to be as intense as the first time using this yeast. That could be related to the cooler pitching temps as the bulk of the lactic acid production happens at the beginning of fermentation. It's definitely still sour though, and it will also pick up some acidity from the rooibos tea. Corrected gravity reading is 1.006 and it tastes and smells great, so I'm going to start cold crashing today.

Update 3/23/2021

I'm preparing the tea today with plans to keg tomorrow. I'm going with 3 cups of hot RO water over 1.5oz of each (rooibos and hibiscus) in a French press. This will be added to the keg with finings, then the beer transferred in top of it. If I need more color, I'll dose as needed with additional tea.

Update 3/24/2021

I decided the color was a little on the light side, so I mixed up another batch of tea using 1oz each of hibiscus and rooibos with 2 cups of hot RO water.

Update 3/28/2021

Competition entries were bottled today. I thought it turned out well, but I'd probably tweak a few things if I were to do it again. First, I'd pitch at 70F or even a little warmer to try to maximize lactic acid production. Second, I think I'd try pairing this with some fruit (blueberries perhaps?) to bring out more berry character

. That said, I think it turned out well enough to enter it in NHC. I doubt it'll medal, but I think it's interesting and worth submitting. It carbed up and cleared nicely. It's not quite the blood red color I was hoping for, but it's definitely red. Hop flavor and aroma are really nice. Sourness is much more restrained compared to most of my sours, so I'm interested to see how it does in competition. The hops aren't quite as berry-like as I'd hoped, but I think the acidity, hops, plus mild berry character of the teas work well together. Overall it's a very approachable sour and an easy to drinking beer that fits in with the warmer Spring weather.

Update 4/12/2021

I'm publishing this post today. This beer didn't end up medaling in the Red Beer Competition. I'm not sure whether or not we'll get the regular AHA/BJCP scoresheets since it wasn't a typical homebrew comp...I hope so because I'd love to get some feedback and see if my thoughts align with the judges'.

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Golden Sour Solera 2021

Today I'm brewing 10 more gallons of base beer for one of my Soleras, barrel #03 to be exact. I pulled a sample off the barrel not to far back and I think we're about ready for our first pull so that also means I needed to brew this batch to refill the barrel. 

This batch is very similar to the first 30 gallons, with the biggest difference being I'm doing a 100% Brett primary, and I'm also bumping up the grain bill by 10%. Here's the recipe as I'm brewing it today:

11.55# Great Western Pure Idaho Pilsner Malt (*I was running low on PIPM, so I had to use a blend that also included Viking Pilsner and Root Shoot Pilsner)

2.86# Spelt Malt

56g Aged Hops (60 min)

Yeast Nutrient

Whirlfloc

Propagate 710 Brett Stave

Mash at 160F. Collect  ~9.0 gallons, then top up to ~12 gallons. 90 minute boil, ferment at room temp.

Water Profile

50/50 blend of carbon filtered tap water and RO water.

Brewing Notes

No issues with the brew itself, but late last night when I was setting up for the brew day, one of my GFCI outlets broke. It was too late to pick up a new one last night, so I used the HEX to heat my strike water then started the mash.  While that was going, I ran to Lowe's and picked up a new outlet and installed it in time to heat my sparge water.

pH was 5.4 about 20 minutes after adding phosphoric acid. I added a little more and it read 5.27 at the end of the mash.

First runnings were 16.3 Brix (1.065), pre-boil was 9.9 (1.038), post-boil was 11.2 (1.044).

Update 2/16/2020

Fermentation is pretty active this morning. I forgot to mention, the yeast for this batch was dated April 2019 and it's one that I completely forgot I'd purchased. It's been sitting in my fridge since I bought it on a trip to Colorado, but it looked healthy; mostly a light creamy color rather than brownish. For the starter, I stepped it up in gravity and volume starting with about 1.020 wort, then 1.030, then 1.040. About 3 days before brew day I hit it again with some 1.020 wort just because we'd been out of town for two weeks and I wanted to make sure it was good to go. 

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Lager Split Batch

Today I'm brewing a 10 gallon batch to test out my newly acquired Blichmann 20 gallon Mash Tun. The recipe today is based on the Bierstadt Slow Pour Pilsner recipe I brewed a while back. This one will be a split batch with 5 gallons going on Saflager 34/70, and 5 gallons going on White Labs 940 Mexican Lager. I'm also trying a different base malt. Here's the recipe as I'm brewing it today.

Batch size: 10 gallons

Target OG: 1.047

Target FG: 1.012

IBU: 33

18.0# Great Western Pure Idaho Pilsner

1.0# Weyermann Acidulated Malt

2.0g BrewTan B (dissolved in warm water, mash)

56.6g Hallertau Mittelfrüh (FWH), 3.1% AA

113.2g Hallertau Mittelfrüh (70 min) 3.1% AA

84.88g Hallertau Mittelfrüh (5 min) 3.1% AA

Wyeast Nutrient

9.32g BCAA (Dissolved in water or wort, 5 min)

1 Whirlfloc

Saflager W-34/70

WLP 940 Mexican Lager

The first step is a protein rest @131F for 10 min.

The second step is @144F for 30 min.

The third step is @160F for 40 min.

Finally, pull a 1/3 decoction (thin), bring to a boil, and boil for 10 min.

Return decoction to main mash and vorlauf until clear.

Collect about 9-9.5 gallons, then top up to a boil volume of 11.75 gallons.

90 min boil. 34/70 half gets chilled to 47F, and ferments at 47F. The WLP940 half gets chilled to 49F, then I'll bump it up 1F per day for the first three days. 

Perform diacetyl rest when gravity ~1.017.

Water Profile - For each gallon of RO brewing water, add:

0.38g Gypsum

0.32g Epsom Salts

0.49g Calcium Chloride

Brewing Notes

No major issues, but I'm pooped. During the boil, I went ahead and kegged both of my Fruited Farmhouse Ale (Peach/Apricot and Blackberry). 

I added about 1.5ml of phosphoric acid, pretty much because I was in autopilot. Because I used acid malt, I definitely didn't need as much phosphoric acid as I'd normally use, so the mash pH was lower than I usually shoot for. Here are some of the vitals:

• Beginning mash pH 4.99.
• Mash pH of 5.10 right before pulling decoction.
• OG 1.052

OG was definitely a little closer to target this time. The mash tun worked well but I did notice the wort didn't clear as much as with my original mash tun. I suspect it's because even though this was a 10 gallon batch, the grain bill wasn't huge and therefore the grain bed wasn't very deep. I had a great hop cone at the end of the whirlpool. I'm currently chilling down to my pitching temperatures.

Update 12/22/2020

I pitched the yeast yesterday morning. Both halves are actively chugging away this morning.

Update 12/29/2020

Both fermentors are chugging along. I decided not to do a diacetyl rest on the 34/70 half, per the original recipe from BYOB. Both will probably stay in the fermentors for at least another week.

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Sour Pale Ale

I've been busy with a bunch of projects lately so I haven't been brewing much. Some projects were planned...we decided to buy a hot tub, so we've been busy getting ready for that...patio... electrical hookups, etc. Other things weren't so planned; my son-in-law had a stroke back on Labor Day. At first it was touch and go and we weren't sure he was even going to survive the night. Thankfully he did and his recovery has been going really well. We moved them into our house for a while so he can continue his recovery, so there have been lots of projects related to that effort. Next, I decided to build a new brewstand. More details will come on that later, but this is the inaugural brew on Brewstand 2.0. 

If you've spent much time perusing my blog, you've probably noticed I'm really interested in sour beers. I also love hop-forward beers, so the marriage of sour plus fruity and citrusy hops is something I love. The challenge is lactobacillus isn't very tolerant of hops; not just high IBUs, but hops in general. The primary issue is hop oils coat the outer membrane of lactobacillus, rendering them incapable of producing lactic acid. So, what's a sour hop head to do?

Option one is kettle souring, where all souring is done up front before the boil so that the hops don't suppress lactic acid production. No problem, I've used this method in the past and other than the fact it spreads your brew day across multiple days (e.g. mash, pasteurize, pitch lactobacillus, wait a few days until desired pH is reached, then continue with your boil), it works fairly well. 

Another option, and one that I consider cheating and inferior to kettle souring, is dosing your beer with food grade lactic acid in order to reach your desired acidity level. In my opinion, this results in a very one dimensional sour character that basically lacks complexity.

Enter a third option, newly discovered yeast (Lachancea) that are capable of fermenting malt-based sugars while also producing lactic acid during the fermentation process. This yeast is from Lallemand and goes by the brand name Philly Sour because it was discovered in a Philadelphia graveyard. I'm excited to try it out in the beer I'm brewing today which is essentially a hop focused pale ale base.

If you're interested in brewing with this yeast, I highly recommend checking out the info on Lallemand's website, especially the pitch rate calculator. While this yeast is capable of producing lactic acid, the amount produced seems to be highly influenced by pitch rate and environmental conditions. High glucose content in the wort tends to favor lactic acid production. Over or under pitching both negatively impact lactic acid production, so this is one time that you really have to pay attention to what you're doing and take good notes.

Here's the recipe I'm brewing today. As I've noted before, bitterness and sourness tend to clash, so I'm looking for lots of hop flavor and aroma, but minimal bitterness.

Target OG 1.060

6.0# Pure Idaho Pilsner

2.0# Mecca grade La Monta

0.5# Castle Chateau Munich Malt 

6oz Weyermann Cara Munich III

1g BrewTan B (mash)

0.75# Corn Sugar (Boil)

3.0g Mosaic Cryo (20 min)

14g BRU-1 (15 min)

3.0g Mosaic Cryo (5 min)

1.0g Loral Cryo (5 min)

14 g BRU-1 (5 min)

4.66g BCAA (5 min)

7g BRU-1 (0 min)

7g Amarillo Cryo (0 min)

1g Loral Cryo (0 min)

3.5g Mosaic Cryo (Whirlpool 170F)

3.5g Amarillo Cryo (Whirlpool 170F)

7g BRU-1 (Whirlpool 170F)

1g Loral Cryo (Whirlpool 170F)

57g BRU-1 (dry hop 8 days)

28g Citra Cryo (dry hop 8 days)

14g Mosaic Cryo (dry hop 8 days)

14.2g Philly Sour (based on 1.060 OG)

Whirfloc

Wyeast Nutrient

Mash at 152F, 90 min boil. My plan was to start fermenting at 67F, then ramp up to 1F starting on day 3 for four days. I currently have my fruited farmhouse cold crashing to try to get the fruit to settle out, so my fermentation fridges are tied up. After re-reading my notes from the Philly Sour webinar, they indicated this yeast does better at the higher end of the temp range (67-77F) so I think I'm just going to let this go at room temp.

Water Profile

To 10 gallons RO water, add:

10.0g Gypsum

0.3g Epsom Salt

5.4g Calcium Chloride

Brewing Notes

No issues. I decided to try to include more details from my brew day, so assuming I don't forget, I'll start including pH readings and similar things in my notes.

• ~1.5ml of phosphoric acid used to acidify mash.
• pH read 5.15 about 5 minutes into mash.
• pH read 5.24 about 45 minutes into mash.
• First runnings gravity ~19.8 brix (1.080)
• Pre-boil gravity 10 brix (1.039)
• Post-boil gravity 15 brix (1.059)
• Aerated at 0.5L/minute for one minute.
• Yeast pitched at 60F; pitched dry directly into wort.

Update 11/16/2020

Tilt is showing a very slight gravity drop (1.058) and an occasional "glug" this morning. I've seen reports of fermentation taking up to 3 days to start showing signs of fermentation, so things seem to be headed in a positive direction.

Update 11/17/2020

Fermentation was quite a bit more active by end of day yesterday. I timed the "glugs" at about one every 2.5 seconds. Just checked it this morning and the gravity is down to 1.047. After watching the Lallemand webinar for this yeast and reading several posts about it on Reddit, I was expecting this yeast to be a very slow starter. It does seem to be a bit less vigorous compared to a lot of typical ale strains, but it's chugging along better than I was anticipating.

Update 11/17/2020 - Part 2

My buddy Devin asked what the pH was at, so I decided to pull a sample. It's currently sitting at 3.39. I tasted a small sample and it's noticeably sour but not super aggressive. I'm really interested in seeing what is like after fermentation is complete.

Update 11/21/2020

Fermentation is still moving along. Gravity is down to ~1.028 this morning, so the overall duration of fermentation is definitely longer than typical. Things seemed fairly standard the first 36 hours especially with the initial 10 point drop. Then the rate of the gravity drop seemed to slow, but not stall; kind of like the proverbial tortoise. Fermentation seems a bit more active this morning, but I suspect the 10-ish day fermentation period is going to be accurate.

Update 11/22/2020

Gravity was down to 1.014 today so I decided to start the dry hop a little early.

Update 12/7/2020

I kegged this beer tonight. Gravity finished at 1.009 and pH at 3.25. I tasted a sample and it's quite sour and there's tons of citrus and tropical fruit character. Flavor-wise, it reminds me of orange juice blended with pineapple juice.

Bitterness is pretty low, but I think it could be lower. The next time I brew it, I'll probably move everything back to 5 minute and later additions, but I'm going to hold off judgement until I get to try a carbed and cold sample. 

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