Gatto Nero Schwarzbier II

Second try for my wintery Schwarzbier! This beer style is close to a Porter or Stout in terms of grain bill, but uses a Lager yeast to yield a crispier finish. Traditionally brewed in the Czech Republic as well as in parts of Saxony and Northern Bavaria. To avoid getting too stouty which would be covering the nice malty flavors of a true Schwarzbier, I'm substituting the Chocolate Malt from the original recipe with a Nocturnal Blend from Northern brewer, plus adding 1lb of toasted Coffee Malt. See below! For comparison, my previous recipe is here:

BREW DATE: 01/28/2015

BOTTLING DATE: 02/22/2015

Temperatures during fermentation stayed at 60-62F despite some warm weather here in California.

GRAIN BILL: 12lbs total

-5lbs Briess Munich 10l

-4lbs Goldpils Vienna Malt

-1lb Weyermann Caramunich III
-1lb Franco-Belges Kiln Coffee
-1lb Northern Brewer Nocturnal Blend

MASH-IN: 1 hr at 153F, Mash-out 10 min  ramped to 165F. Fly sparked with 175F water.

HOP SCHEDULE:

-60min 1oz German Perle

-30min 0.5oz German Perle

-10min 0.5oz German Perle

OG: 16.0 brix for 14l wort filled up to 22l => alcohol content should come out at 4.8%.

YEAST: Wyeast 1001 Pilsener Urquell

12lbs of malt, hops and yeast ready to go

Lautering. Nice color already!

TASTE NOTES: wow this one came out fantastic! Very smooth and malty with deep caramel notes, but still very crisp and balanced as I would expect from a Lager. Pours a little hazy though, but that doesn't seem to affect the taste. I'll give it 4.5 stars, half a star deduction for the haziness. Next time I'll try 2stage fermentation, that should give it a cleaner look and taste.

And here it is, kind of hazy pour, but tastes great!

Panorama Heights California Lager

My attempt to fashion a California Lager local style a la San Francisco Anchor Steam. The thing about California Lagers is that fermentation is done using lager yeasts at elevated temperatures, somewhere around 50-60F. Compared to that, old world style lagers usually ferment much colder, around 40-50F. The result is a beer that has some more floral notes and added complexity compared to a crisp old fashioned lager. The danger is really letting the temperature run up too high, which can result in off flavors. Wyeast has a new California Lager yeast which should be a little bit more forgiving. Since I don't have a temperature controlled fermenter I kind of depend on the 4 weeks weather forecast. This time of the year it tends to get colder, but who knows. Let's see how it comes out!

BREW DATE: 10/25/2014

BOTTLING DATE: 11/16/2014

GRAIN BILL: 12lbs total

-6lbs Pilsener Malt

-3lbs Munich Malt

-3lbs Vienna Malt

Panorama Heights California Lager grain bill & hops

MASH-IN: 1 hr at 160F, no Mash-out. The purpose of a higher temp mash-out is to shut off the enzymes and precipitate the protein, but I found out that it could be a problem releasing tannins from the grain hulls. So for delicate lagers and other lighter beers I decided against it. Fly sparged with 170F water.

HOP SCHEDULE:

-60min 1oz German Spalt

-30min 1oz German Tettnang

-10min 1oz Cascade

OG: 16.2 brix for 12.5l wort filled up to 22l => alcohol content should come out at 4.9% abv.

YEAST: Wyeast 2112 California Lager

TASTE NOTES: Very fruity, combined with a nice hop bitterness. Overall very drinkable but not something I would really start totally raving about. Somewhere between a Koelsch and an Anchor Steam I would say. Unfortunately, this beer pours very cloudy, definitely not as advertised. As a result it did get some yeasty undertones, only very subtle though, but still enough to spoil the character a bit. Supposedly, the Wyeast California Lager should produce a crisp and clear beer, but looks like flocculation didn't work as expected. Worth a try anyways, but I'll stay with the Bohemian Pilsener strain instead for my next California Lager.  

West Coast Radical Red Ale

This is a Northern Brewer All-Grain kit that I wanted to try out. Haven't really done any Red Ales before, so let's see how it comes out!

From the package: "A gorgeous yet unassuming Crimson-colored brew, West Coast Radical Red is strikingly familiar in its smooth, copper body and distinctively American, crisp clean character. It's well balanced multi-grain backbone offers approachability, yet this radically malt and hop forward transformation of the classic red ale is fully deserving of a double-take. (now does that sound like a lot of bull?). Home-grown Cascade reminiscent of California grapefruit groves impart a citrus twist for a sessionable brew-next-door that's engagingly drinkable yet, without boasting, knows how to leave an impression."
I almost didn't buy it because of that description, but what the heck, I thought to give it a try. I really don't like it when people are talking about "hop-forward", this has become such a clichee. I does come with a lot of hops, and Chinook as the base load is pretty much a guarantee for strong hops flavor.

BREW DATE: 11/22/2014

BOTTLING DATE: 12/22/2014

GRAIN BILL: 10.625lbs total

-8.5lbs Briess 2-row Brewers Malt

-1.25lbs English Crystal Rye Malt

-0.75lbs Dingemans Cara 45 Malt
-0.125lbs English Roasted Barley

MASH-IN: 1 hr at 153F, Mash-out 10 min at 170F. Fly sparked with 175F water.

HOP SCHEDULE:

-60min 1oz Chinook

-20min 1oz Perle

-10min 1oz Centennial
-5min 1oz Cascade

OG: 13.7 brix for 14l wort filled up to 21l => alcohol content should come out at 4.8%. OG came out somewhat lower than predicted, so I didn't fill the fermenter all the way up.

YEAST: Wyeast American Ale II 1272

TASTE NOTES: Oh wow. This is a 5-star winter brew! Came out much stronger than what was predicted by the OG. I would say closer to 6% abv. Beautiful red color, very hoppy, lots of malt flavors, hints of coffee and tobacco aromas. Some caramel lingering in the end. Nice! Definitely a recipe that I can recommend. Never mind the boastful description, but this one is really good!

11lbs of malt, 4 different hops and a ready to burst yeast package!

West Coast Radical Red Ale: It is really red!