Return of the Black Mamba

The hops for this beer.

I was digging through the deep-freeze a few weeks ago and came across the tightly vacuum wrapped remains of 2014's hop harvest - 270 g (~9.5 oz) of Cascade hops. Not to sure what to with my unexpected bounty, I looked back to see what I did with the home-grown Cascades last year. Turns out last years beer was an Black Imperial Rye IPA - The Black Mamba IPA. Tasting notes (and memory) revealed that this was one of last years better beer, so I thought "what the hell, lets do it again".

Last years beer ended up being under-gravity (more a BRIPA than a BIRIPA) as I  had begun experimenting with wet milling my grain and had over-whetted the grain. I've now optimized this method, so I hope to hit the desired gravity (1.071) instead of missing it like I did last year (1.059).

But what to do with all those hops? The answer - add them all to one beer! For accuracy, the 75 minute bittering addition will be 34 IBU's of Northern Brewer, but everything else is the home-grown cascade.

My (hopefully temporary) $10
3-tier mash system

How do you work in 270 g (over a half-pound) of home-grown hops? The answer is lots of additions - 57 g (~2 oz) at 20, 12 and 5 minutes, plus another 57 g in a 15 minute hop stand (half added at flame-out; half added 7.5 minutes after flame-out). But that leaves 34 g (~1.5 oz) unaccounted for - that would be the prime hops; the ones I put aside into their own little pack as they had the most resin and aroma of the harvest. Those are being held back for a 3-day dry-hop after primary fermentation is complete. Estimated IBU's are 67; maybe lower or higher depending on just how bitter the home-grown hops are.

Grain bill is pretty much unchanged from last year - good quality Canadian pale malt as a base malt, 25% rye for that refreshing rye crispness, some carafa special II & victory malt to round things out. Again, I am trying Conan, but will coax more ester flavour out of it by under-pitching (50% the recommended rate) and minimally oxygenating the wort. Fermentation will begin at 18 C (65 F, AKA my basements temperature) and ramp up to 22C (72 F) to finish. I'm going all-out, and even altering the water to up the sulphate and magnesium to make the hops pop.

Full Recipe & Brewday Notes Below The Fold

100,000 Views!

When I started this blog a few years ago I didn't expect it to amount to much - this was intended as more of an unlosable brew-log (which it has failed as; I'm horrible at recording my brewdays here), but has morphed into something completely different. As of right now I'm a few hits away from 100,000 views (not counting my own), and will probably cross that mark by the time I hit the "Publish" button.

I'd like to thank all my readers for your interest in what I've been writing here - the ongoing hits, comments emails - and more recently youtube views - are what motivate me to add new material.

So to all my readers/viewers, thank you. I'd also like to thank my major traffic sources (check them out - they're all great):

• Canadian Homebrewers
• Homebrew Talk
• Bootleg Biology Blog
• Milk the Funk Facebook Group (private group)
• Jeffrey Crane's Blog

BREAKING NEWS - White Labs Official Statement on Brett trois.

As the followers of my blog are likely aware, there has been a growing body of evidence that WLP644 (Brettanomyces trois) is, in all likelihood, a Saccharomyces (conventional brewing) species. I, and other bloggers did a series of genetic tests that pretty firmly nailed down the genus  of WLP644 as Saccharomyces (although the exact species remains somewhat nebulous).

Many brewers have been directing questions at White Labs about this, and their reply to-date has been rather guarded. Today, they broke their silence (PDF), and confirmed that trois is, indeed, a Saccharomyces. Ironically, they've based this on a far less robust measure than the data myself and others have generated - they determined the genus simply by looking at the size of one of the regions myself, and others, sequenced to ID this yeast.

White Labs has an extensive sequencing project on-going which I expect will reveal to us some exciting (and perhaps upsetting) data on the yeast strains we know and love. While WLP644 is clearly a Saccharomyces, the exact species remains unclear - indeed, one of the sequences we have floating around suggests it may be something all together new. Indeed, white labs is rather guarded in their conclusions (they call WLP644 a "brux-like Trois"), which makes me suspect they too didn't get a clean species ID on the yeast.

More updates to come as more information becomes available.

Previous Posts:

• Brett Trois - A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma
• A (sort-of) update on Brett trois

Canadian Bacon Ya'll

Homemade peameal (sans meal), ready for frying

So this post has nothing at all to do with brewing, or even movies from the 1990's, but rather has to do with...bacon. Specifically, the making of the king of all bacons - peameal bacon (aka Canadian bacon, aka back bacon). My Canadian readers, depending on exactly where in Canada they live, will be well aware of this wondrous meat by at least one of three names - in the west it typically goes by the name of "back bacon", although some stores sell it as "Canadian bacon". Out east it is most often sold under the name peameal bacon - so-named as it was historically sold rolled in white bean meal (today corn meal is the norm). Regardless of which name you call it by, it is a wonderful thing - its the bacon you pull out for special events like Mothers Day brunch, or Christmas breakfast, or because you feel like spoiling yourself.

My international readers probably have no idea what I'm talking about - this isn't your classical salted and smoked pork-belly bacon, nor is it the product sold in some US states as "Canadian bacon" - this is a much more refined piece of cured meat; a cross between a corned beef, ham, and classical bacon. It is a brined pork loin, which after brining is typically rolled in either corn meal or white pea meal before cooking. You can slice it thin and serve it with breakfast, or smoke it to make a great sandwich meat, or even slice it thick and fry (or BBQ) it and eat it on a bun. And as with beer, it is easy to make at home, and when "home brewed", yields a product superior to that sold in most stores.

Recipe and all that other fun stuff below the fold...

New Video! Casting Agar Plates

The next video in my "your home yeast lab made easy" video series is finally complete. This video covers the preparation of agar plates for yeast and bacterial culture. The video covers two media preparation for propagating yeast and brewhouse bacteria, proper plate handling, sterilization, casting and growth characteristics. Additional media recipes can be found below the fold...

A (sort-of) update on Brett trois

Some of my readers will be aware that I and several others have done some genetic analyses that suggest that WLP644 (Brett trois) may in actuality be a Sachharomyces. For those not familiar with this issue, or who need a refresher, my post covering both my work and some of the work done by others can be found here: Brett Trois - A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

Chris White talked briefly about the "controversy" surrounding the true identity of Brettanomyces trois in a Cheers Charlotte podcast a few days ago (time stamp 28:45 to 30:05). He didn't give away the punchline, saying "it is too early to tell" and that "we have seen some signs it is Saccharomyces". He went on to state that the results he has seen are mixed and that it is not yet clear. Apparently, they are waiting for the whole genome sequence to determine what it is, and if it is a hybrid. But it sounds to me like he is leaning towards a Saccharomyces identification as well.

Ambrosio, The Fallen Monk

This post is the ultimate post (minus the inevitable tasting notes & updates which will follow over the upcoming months and years) in my Brewing Vintage Beers Series. Today's beer is  a Belgian Septuppel, which is the closest number I could come up with that matches the normal Belgian beer-naming scheme*. What is this oddity? It is a strong Belgian Dark Strong (aka a Quad) fermented to at least 20% ABV, and potentially 2-3% beyond that.

* An analysis of over 80 Belgian Enkels, Dubbels, Tripels and Quads reveals that commercial brew "names" follow the formula %_vol = [4.0296 * 1.3559^%vol]. I.E. a 20% beer would be:
20% = [4.0296 * 1.3559^Bel], where Bel = 1/2/3/etc (Enkel, Dubbl, Tripel, etc)

My new eHLT in action
(in my under-construction video
studio - AKA laundry room)

Why would anyone do such a thing? For me, there is two reasons. The minor reason being that while I've brewed mead's that pushed up close to 20%, I've never hit or exceeded this strength. Its a completely arbitrary, and yet almost mystical threshold. What lies beyond that I do not know - perhaps beer nirvana, more likely a really bad hangover, but either way I want to see what is one the other side.

The main reason is a bit different - December 9th, 2016 will mark the 20th anniversary of my first brewday. I though it would be nice to have a beer whose ABV was at least as large as the years leading up to the anniversary. To make sure this happens I have over-designed the beer; assuming it attenuates as I expect I should get a beer at 22-23%, but I suspect I may not get quite that much attenuation, and as such, I've hedged my bet. I'm brewing it now since I'm certain its going to emerge from the primary as a fusel, ester and phenolic mess, but with roughly 20 months of aging ahead of it, it should have turned into something really nice on time for 12/9/2016.

To get to that mystical 20% I'm using every trick in the fermenting high gravity beer playbook. Multiple yeast additions, holding back the ~20% of fermentables that are sugar until a day or two into primary ferment, multiple yeast additions, multiple oxygenations, and I'm pitching a shit-tonne of yeast (roughly 5 million/ml/^oP) thanks to my use of my last brews yeast cake. And the ace in my sleeve - a backup 2L starter of White Labs super high gravity yeast. I'm hoping to not need that bad-boy, but if I do he's ready to go.

41 L of wort boiling on the range.

Brew-day itself was a bit of a mix-up; I recently bought an electric HLT from one of the co-owners of Forked River Brewing (I guess you don't need to homebrew when you have a real brewery), so I was able to do my mash indoors, with the plan of venturing outside into the -25C weather for the boil. Turns out propane valves freeze at -25C - even if the propane itself is at room temperature, but my wonderful wife was kind enough to clear out the kitchen for the day so it was a full-volume boil on the electric range too get this beer down to gravity - adding an hour to what was already supposed to be a 3 hour boil. But in the end I exceeded my numbers slightly by 4 points), and everything looks like it went well, so now onto the ferment.

The recipe, brew-day notes and other details are included below the fold, but I thought I'd spare a word on what is now the second really odd name I gave to a beer in the past 2 weeks. These two beers are deeply connected - with "Matilda, The Seductress" functioning as a starter for "Ambrosio, The Fallen Monk". These names are not arbitrary - they are drawn from my favourite novel, "The Monk" by Matthew Gregory Lewis (legally available free from the Gutenberg Project). In this novel the young monk Ambrosio is seduced by Matilda - a familiar of the devil - leading Ambrosio down a road of murder, rape, insect, and eventually death at the hands of Satan himself. As with the novel, the beer "Matilda , The Temptress" gives Ambrosio his drive to darkness (namely, a lot of yeast) - and "Ambrosio, The Fallen Monk" somewhat follows the tradition of naming these beers after devils & other dark creatures...