Mosaic Pale Ale Split: Conan Vs. Drie

I had another quick brew session (~3 hrs for all - grain) as time is quite limited with house projects and the baby. I wanted to make sure I had some hoppy beer on tap for my birthday BBQ. I also have been meaning to brew another hoppy beer with Brett Drie, since I loved my first Extra Special Bretter (ESBrett). Speaking of yeast, I recently was sent some Conan (Alchemist's Heady Topper) yeast from Derek at Bear Flavored Ales and some Brett Custerianus from Ryan at Yeast of Burden. It only made sense to do a large batch and split it to test the yeast.











For the hops, I happened to purchase some Mosaic hops earlier in the year when we were planning our 2nd batch for the barrel (still not brewed). I've read a good amount about this hop and many brewers are using it as a single hop. I thought I'd give it a go since I don't know anything about hop blending anyways.














As for the recipe, I wanted something fairly simple since I want the yeast flavor differences to be obvious and to taste the hops. The recipe is about as basic as possible. I did make one tweak in which I added some rye malt to help build some body that the Brett Only batches would need.

Mosaic Pale Ale

IBU: ~30       SRM: ~7      Batch Size: 10 gal  (5 gal - Drie/Conan, 1 gal Custers) 

O.G.: 1.051              FG: 1.017 (Conan),1.009 (Drie), 1.006 (Custersianus)

Fermentables 

Name                            Amount          Color

American 2-row            14.000 lb         2 L

Munich Malt                  2.500 lb        10 L

Crystal 40L                     1.000 lb         40 L

Rye Malt                         1.000 lb          5 L

Hops 

Name         Alpha      Amount      Use      Time         IBU

Warrior     15.5%        1.25 oz       Boil     30 min      24.8

Mosaic      12.5%        1.00 oz       Boil     10 min       6.2
Mosaic      12.5%        1.00 oz       WP       0 min         0

Dryhop:
Conan - 1 oz  Mosaic for 7 days at 70F, 1 oz Mosaic in keg
Drie - 1 oz  Nelson for 7 days at 70F, 1 oz Mosaic in keg
Custersianus - .25 oz Citra at 70F

Yeast

Conan
Drie - 100 ml slurry
Custersianus - 30 ml slurry

Brewing Process 

Mash at 154 grain for 30 min

Boil 30 min (quick batch and no need for long boil)

Fermentation

Conan was fermented in glass carboys at 63 degrees for 10 days then raised to 68.

Drie was fermented in glass carboys at ~70 degrees
Custersianus was fermented in glass jug at ~70 degrees

Tasting Notes at Kegging:
Conan - Fantastic - huge fruity esters from both hops and yeast, nice firm bitterness and tastes pretty dry with the high F.G. (1.017)
Drie - Aroma is great and full of fruit, taste is a bit strange with some slight tartness that doesn't work with the bitterness, then a phenol astringency in the finish - Not good and I'm pretty sure my pitch of Brett Drie is now going to be retired.
Custersianus - Very fruit forward with that ripe funky nice to let you know its wild. Nicely dry and a bit thin, no astringency or tartness

Official Tasting Notes coming soon (hint: Conan version is almost gone- yum)