Dreg Series: Hoilday Party Oud Bruin 2011

In keeping with tradition, Ashley and I hosted our yearly Holiday Party. Which for me is a great excuse to bring out beers that I have been saving. Plus my friends' interest in craft beer has grown and they are always excited to bring a special beer to share.

And this year we had a full house and a great selection of beer. It was a good thing that I made a triple batch of my soft pretzels (they have become my specialty, along with homemade mustard (post to come)). Ashley also made sure to bake plenty of sweets to soak up the booze we drank.

This year I reserved the wort a little differently than last year's batch and it seemed to work very well. I racked off a gallon of my 2011 Oud Bruin wort just after I turned the flame off into a pre-heated/sanitized glass gallon growler. I put the lid on loosly and cooled the wort in a water bath in the sink. Once the wort was down to room temperature, I tightened the screw cap. Then the growler was kept in the fridge until the party. Right before the party I poured the wort from the growler into a 1 gal jug and aerated. Throughout the party we dumped the dregs from different commercial beers.

And it looks like we are going to have a good collection of different organisms:

Allagash Confluence 2011

• Belgian Sacc yeast strain and Brett strain - I already have had good experience from 2009 Allagash Confluence dregs

Trader Joes 2011 Vintage Ale brewed by Unibroue

• Belgian Sacc yeast strain

De Ranke XX Bitter

• Adds Belgian Sacc yeast strain and Brett (maybe)

The Bruery Batch 50 G.F.A.R (my favorite beer of the night)

• Adds a huge array of bugs (apparently ECY04 BRETT blend #1) from Al Buck from East Coast yeast

The Bruery Oude Tart

• Adds Lacto, Pedio and Brett

The Bruery Faster, Bigger, Better, Bolder (Gradually, Quietly, Steadily)

• Adds Sake Yeast

 

Dreg Series: Maredsous Belgian Dark Strong

Just like I did with the Belgian Pale Ale and Belgian Dubbel, I wanted to try other Belgian yeast strains on the same base wort (Belgian Dark Strong this round). And the easiest (and cheapest) way for me to accomplish this, is by using bottle dregs. When picking what yeasts to use I chose my favorite examples of Belgian Beers that work with dark malts. To be honest, I haven't really met a Dark Belgian beer I disliked. 

For this round, I decide to use the yeast from Maredsous Bruin. From my internet research, I have found that this appears to be the Duvel yeast since Moorgat owns both breweries. The Duvel yeast is supposedly WLP570 and Wyeast 1388. According to White Labs,  WLP570 Belgian Golden Ale - "From East Flanders, versatile yeast that can produce light Belgian ales to high gravity Belgian beers (12% ABV). A combination of fruitiness and phenolic characteristics dominate the flavor profile. Some sulfur is produced during fermentation, which will dissipate following the end of fermentation." And I have said before that I really enjoy my Belgian beers with a balance of fruit and phenols. And it looks like this yeast will do well with the high alcohol and provide good attenuation.

  

A simple 6-8 oz starter of 1.030 wort was used in the original bottle. This was allowed to build up over several days and then all of it was dumped into the 1 gal batch. There was active fermentation in less than a day and it was going strong. Active fermentation lasted about a week and then the batch was aged for another 1.5 month before being bottled. Fermentation ended at 1.008, which is 90% attenuation and 10.7% ABV.


The initial taste during bottling is nicely balanced with no obvious off-flavors and a decent amount of alcohol heat. The first bottle will be sampled in 6 months.

  

Dreg Series: Ommegang Belgian Dubbel

I am in general a fan of Ommegang. You know when you have one of their beers that it will be a solid, tasty beer. Not necessary the most interesting and complex flavor, but a great drinking beer. After the Achel dregs went bad, I needed a back-up so a quick run to the local good beer store, Best Damn Beer Shop, and I had a bottle of Ommegang Dubbel.

There is some mystery as to if the White Labs 410 is the Ommegang strain or if it is only a proprietary yeast strain not available to homebrewers. I will try to find out by comparing my results with the reviews of WLP410 and see if I agree. It appears like it is on the phenolic and spicy side of the Belgian flavor spectrum and some report a small amount of tartness produced.

This batch got the same treatment as the other dregs beers. I used 6 oz of a 1.030 starter wort + nutrients boiled and cooled. And added directly to the 750 ml bottle. Do this 3 days before and shake as often as possible. It was pitched at 65F and allowed to free rise up into the high 70s. I had activity in 12 hours and this beer seemed to ferment out in less than a week. Then it was bottled after 3 weeks.

12 hours














Day 1














Day 2














The three-way taste test will be posted shortly with the 575 Dubbel and Westmalle Dubbel.

Dreg Series: Westmalle Belgian Dubbel

This is not going to be a long post (because the background has been explained in a previous post), but more of a post so that I can keep updating with the beer's progress. My initial plan for the 2 - 1 gal batches using dregs from Belgian beers was to try Westmalle and Achel. The reason for this is because they use the same yeast according to Brew Like a Monk. So it would have been neat to see if how closely they turned out. Unfortunately, after building up the yeast in the bottle of Achel it may have had an infection. The Westmalle yeast had no problems.





According to the Mr Malty Yest comparison charts, White Labs 530 and Wyeast 3787 are both the Westmalle strain. So you can read those descriptions to get an idea if it is worth it for you to try using the dregs. Personnally, I really like Westmalle Dubbel. It is somewhat clean for a Belgian yeast with just a little bit of fruit to it. Which I think fits perfectly for a Dubbel and a Grand Cru.

I used my standard procedure for building dregs: 6 oz of 1.030 starter wort + nutrients boiled and cooled. And added directly to the 750 ml bottle. Do this 3 days before and shake as often as possible. I had activity in 12 hours and this beer seemed to ferment out in less than a week. Then it was bottled after 3 weeks.

12 hours













24 hours













Day 3

Dreg Series: Achouffe Belgian Pale Ale

Here is the 3rd batch all from the same Belgian Pale wort mentioned in the first post. This batch followed the same procedures as the Rochefort dregs. The only difference was that the dregs came from a 750 ml bottle. For obvious reasons like more yeast and a bottle big enough for a good starter I would suggest using these if trying to pitch bottle dregs.

It will be interesting to taste the difference in this yeast versus the others because as far as Belgian yeast goes this is on the other end of the flavor spectrum. I tend to favor the fruitier flavors that you get in Chimay and some in Rochefort beers. But the Achouffe yeast is much more focused on the traditional Belgian phenols (pepper, spice). By testing this yeast with bottle dregs I'll be able to know if I may want to try WLP550 yeast in the future.






The starter was made 3 days ahead of time right in the 750 ml bottle. There was some activity in a couple days. Just like the Rochefort dregs as soon as it was pitched into the gallon of wort it had strong activity in 24 hours. Also pitched at 64 and allowed to free rise.


This has been bottled and a three way taste will be conducted shortly.

Dreg Series: Rochefort Belgian Pale Ale

I have started to use dregs from non-sour beers recently because my stock pile of sours is starting to outweigh my supply of everyday drinkers. Believe it or not I don't want a sour beer everytime I have a beer. Plus being a homebrewer with thirtsy (but not always adventurous) friends means I need to have some beer that can please the masses.



The easiest beers to do this with are Belgian beers since almost all of them are bottle conditioned. And usually with the primary strain. My original goal was to brew enough batches to try all the Trappist breweries. And then eventually use each strain to brew a separate 1 gal batch with all the same wort. And then brew a batch were I blend all the strains or just blend my favorites. Stay tuned to see how this all works out.



I planned to brew the main batch with the White Labs 540 Abbey IV (Rochefort) yeast. And then also have a gallon of the same wort fermented with dregs from a bottle so I could compare. But since the Limited Edition WLP540 was not out yet, this did not work.

I made a 6 oz starter with frozen 1.030 wort from a previous batch. This was boiled for 10-15 minutes with 1/8 tsp Wyeast Nutrient.  I then poured the wort right into a small bottle after flaming the lip (the actual beer bottle can be used if large enough (i.e. 750 ml)). I will usually start this about 5-6 days before brew day. This is for a couple reasons:
1. If the dregs end up being bad (dead, contaminated) then there is time to change the plan. Smell and taste your starters!
2. I like to try to build the yeast up again with another 6 oz of starter to make sure they are going strong when pitched into the 1 gal container.

The Rochefort dregs showed some activity after about a day. The starters were shaken as often as possible. Then the whole starter was poured into the Belgian Pale Ale wort and there was strong activity in 24 hours. As I have read in Brew Like a Monk most brewers recommended starting the yeast in 64 degree wort and then letting it free rise. No temperature control was used for the 1 gal batches. They fermented out in about 3-4 days. The temperature rose to 70 in the first 24 hours and finished in the higher 70s.

I will do a tasting with all 3 batches from the same Belgian Pale Ale wort.

Update 11.09.11 - Tasting Notes

Homebrew Tasting: Petrus Common

This California Common wort with Petrus Pale and Oud Bruin was my first beer that I attempted the bottle dregs in 1 gallon container experiments. So far my techniques have changed only a little bit. I now make starters for the dregs by pouring 4-6 oz of 1.030-1.040 wort straight into the bottle a few days before brew day. I have also been trying non sour beer dregs with some good success (look forward to future posts).

 

The beer has changed considerably over the course of a year and a half. And to be honest I hope it will continue to change with time.

Notes:

• Be careful with oak cubes on pale beers (.25 oz French Oak/ 1 gal for 15 months was too much)
• Do not use hoppy/bitter wort for long aging sour beers. The aged hop flavors are not good and the bitterness clashes with the sourness. The bad hop flavors and bitterness have faded in this beer, but not enough. Now dry hopping a sour beer at bottling is a different story.
• Learn to taste and then adjust the beer as it ages. For example, I added oak cubes to this beer before I really tasted it and knew that it would keep this underlying bitterness. What I should have done was held back on the cubes and then dry hopped this beer before bottling. With my sour beers now I taste every 3 months and starting month 6, after the beer's character has started to development, I will make adjustments.

Dreg Series: Fantome Speciale De Noel Dark Saison

One of reasons I started to enjoy Saisons is because of Fantome. They have a loose grip on the "style", but you know when you taste the beer that it has been made in a Farmhouse in Belgium. The impression I get from the lineup of beers is that the brewer, Dany Prignon, tries to brew beers that may have been brewed like the original Saisons. And what I mean by that, from interviews I've read Dany uses a secret mix of spices and even different fruit juices to add complexity to his beers. None of the beers I've tried necessarily taste like any particular spice or juice but are there to up the impression of other flavors (similar to garlic in cooking). I feel like this is a method that brewers would have used on the old farms by just adding some produce that they had in excess on their farm.






It was a pure joy to harvest the yeast for this beer. This beer seems to have so much going on, but the flavor does not taste muddled. This is a skill that I am constantly trying to figure out. I think it has to do with providing certain flavors that are typically tasted with different parts of the mouth. I experienced this recently with a spiced cider where from the aroma you got cloves and banana. Then the initial taste was sweet apples and then finished with a dry cinnamon flavor. This is the experience I want to have in these types of beers. Send me on a flavor roller coaster.

For this batch I did not create a starter for the dregs, but should have in hindsight. I did not get any activity for 2 days so I decided to also add the dregs from Fantôme La Dalmatienne which I had saved in a White Labs vial from a previous drinking session. You could actually see a decent amount of yeast that settled in the vial. After adding this vial the fermentation took off within 12 hours.



08.16.11 Update
Gravity - 1.007
Smell is pretty clean with a touch of acetic acid and sweet wort. The taste follows with a sharp acetic acid bite and a sweet malt background. The acetobacter must have been working over the 2 day lag period I had with these dregs. (From this point on, I have been making starters for all the dregs. I only need about 6 oz and I pour the boiled 1.040 wort right into the flamed bottle.) I will give this beer some more time before I consider this a failure. I have had batches in the past that started out with an acetic bite, but I have mellowed out with time. I'm not an organic chemist but what I believe is happening is that as the beer mellows there is an equilibrium reaction happening with esters, acids and ethanol.

Ex. Acetic acid + ethanol -> ethyl acetate



"Ethyl acetate is synthesized industrially mainly via the classic Fischer esterification reaction of ethanol and acetic acid. This mixture converts to the ester in about 65% yield at room temperature:



CH3CH2OH + CH3COOH ⇌ CH3COOCH2CH3 + H2O "



Thanks wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethyl_acetate
Next for this batch I am going to add some non traditional wood - I think cedar (like Spanish Cedar from cigars would go well with this beer)

Dreg Series: Dupont Foret Saison

I have changed my thinking a little bit on the Dreg Series. It first started out as a way to make a bunch of unique creative sour beers and now it is expanding to test out as many yeasts as possible. I am very curious also how different some of the bottle dregs will turn out from the commercial available liquid yeasts. I have heard they can be quite different just from yeast health and mutations.

For this batch I won't be comparing the "same" yeasts, but both are Saison yeasts. A bigchange from just using sour beers dregs Vs. dregs that are "pure" Sacc strains is that it is important to have higher pitching rates (and yeast health). The Brett, Pedio and Lacto in sour beer dregs will work just fine at low pitching rates. Starters can be used for sour beer 1 gal batches, but in my opinion aren't needed. For this batch it will be important to build up the yeast to a good pitching rate. Plus this lets you quickly check if you have good yeast (smell and taste your starters!).

According to Mr. Malty for 1 gallon of 1.058 wort I'll need about 40 billion cells or any easier way to measure for me is about 20 ml (.67 oz) of healthy yeast slurry. This is a bit difficult to measure, but works for me as I have something to shoot for. A week ahead of time a made a cup (8 oz) starter of 1.030 wort. There was a decent amount of yeast in the bottle and there was activity after a day. I kept shaking for a few days and built up a decent layer of yeast (I should have built up another small starter to get the right pitching amount, but life got in the way).

After racking off a gallon of wort from my San Diego Session Saison I pitched the whole starter. I had strong activity by morning. The wort was pitched in the low 70s and the ambient temperatures was in the low to mid 70s. I know that this yeast likes some heat so I found my old aquarium heater and made a nice warm bath. I had to keep adjusting the knob to get the right temperature. It worked pretty well and kept the wort near 80F for another couple weeks. I read that this yeast can take a while so I gave it plenty of time.

Dreg Series: Mikkeller It's Alright Scottish Ale

This is tough to admit, but I have had a couple batches of beer go bad. Good beer, too. And when I mean bad they some how turned into Diacetyl bombs. I have yet to figure it out, but I believe it is somehow related to my gelatin procedure. I have posted in HomeBrewTalk thread to get to the bottom of it.






Well, in an attempt to salvage my Scottish 60/- (which turned out pretty nice for the 1 week before it went to the Diacetyl side) I decided to add some Brett. I know that Brett can break down diacetyl. This is a very important point in Lambics and other wild beers that contain Pedio because Pedio likes to produce diacetyl. So unless you want a sour buttery beer than you need to have both present.

I have been holding onto this bottle of Mikkeller It's Alright. I haven't read the greatest things about the beer, but I've read it described as basically a Session Orval. To me the nose was tart with a touch of funk. But the taste hardly followed the nose, it had a crisp breadiness to it. The mouthfeel was light (I'm sure due to the Brett eating everything) even with the high carbonation. This beer was very easy to drink and would be a great gateway beer for people new to Brett beers.






I added the Scottish 60/- to a gallon container and had to keep shaking to get the CO2 out of solution. Eventually, the beer was up to room temperature and most of the CO2 had off-gassed. The bottle had a good amount of yeast and it looked pretty fluffy. The Scottish 60 finished at 1.010, so I'm not sure how much the Brett will have to feed on.





Day 2 Update

Day 10 Update

Dreg Series: Old Ale with Avery 15 Brett

Since I was just blown away with my results with these Brett strains in the Avery 15 / Drie Bitter I had to do another batch. And also since this is a Brett Only beer with no other bugs, I'm not too concerned with super attenuation. I am still letting these beers sit for a couple months before bottling but not the normal 12 months I would with other sour beers.









I am still waiting for the Bitter to carbonate before I do a review but just from the smell and gravity sample I know this yeast gives off a lot of fruit flavors. So when I was constructing my Old Ale recipe and thinking about how I want the some dark fruit flavors I knew I had to try this yeast on some of the wort. I'm thinking this beer is going to give me a delicious thick FRUIT CAKE beer.

The yeast took off again, with activity within a couple hours even with this higher alcohol content. It appeared to be fully fermented in a week.

 
02.17.11 Gravity at 1.020 (that is 7.2% ABV, and 73% Apparent Attenuation)
The taste is fantastically sour. This beer tastes like a year old beer. It is not quite as complex as I want it and the malt flavor is hidden a bit behind all the sour fruity notes. Has a nice mouthfeel and is not too sweet. But easily one of the better sours I've had and only after a month!
Add .25 oz French Oak cubes and 3 oz Turbinado Sugar (adds 8 pts or 2% alcohol)

07.22.11 Gravity 1.014. Overall beer went from 1.071 + .008(sugar) = 1.079 = 8.6% ABV and 82% Apparent Attenuation. Bottled to 2.5 Volumes. Nice sweet and sour balance. Then carmel and toffee flavor. Also a decent amount of sourness for Brett Only. 

Dreg Series: Holiday Party Oud Bruin

 I heard about a fellow QUAFF member using the dregs from homebrews at a club meeting to make a cider. This cider I believe placed at the San Diego County Fair competition.








So I knew I was going to bring out some nice beers for our Holiday party. So I made sure to make some extra wort that we could pour the dregs into. The one problem with this idea is that the wort is going to have to sit around for about a week without yeast. Well I learned that is not a good idea. I like to think that I am pretty santitary but it is very difficult to have a gallon of sugar water and expect nothing to start growing in it. What I could do next time is to bottle this wort and then pasturize it one the stove. And right before the party pour the bottles into the gallon container.

After a few days I noticed some growth on top. I decided to let this go a couple days until right before the party when I boiled the batch. Then throughout the party we added dregs from a few commercial beers. We had less dregs than I thought (too much filtered beer).









I did add dregs from:
- Jolly Pumpkin La Roja
- Dark Horse Brewing Company Scotty Karate
- Dominion Oak Barrel Stout

The only one I have experience with is Jolly Pumpkin. So we'll see what happens. The plan for this batch is to give it some wild currants that I forage in late summer.




08.14.11 Update
1.010 Gravity has dropped to a nice level that balances the sourness with some sweetness. The La Roja dregs are sure giving the beer a nice Flanders aroma and taste. The beer needs some fruit to add some complexity. I decided to add 6 oz of juice I made from wild gooseberries (post about making wild gooseberry juice).

Dreg Series: Brett C Brown Ale

I had received some yeast from a fellow QUAFF member, Adrian, and while I was there he gave me a few parting gifts. He gave me a couple 2 year old bottles of a Dark Beer Blend that were dosed with WLP645 Brett C. Both bottles got a dose of campden tablets to kill the Brett but that didn't work so one of them also was heat pasturized. Fast forward a year, we drank these two beers and  they were wonderfully sour and complex. Easily the best homebrewed beer I ever had. (More info on Babble Belt)

We tried these beers while brewing the English Dark Mild on Teach  Friend to Brew Day. I brought an extra 22 oz bomber and foil to pour the dregs into and then fresh Mild on top of. This starter came to life within a couple days. It had a big krausen inside the bottle.

Next I dumped the yeast into 1 gallon of the Party Pleasing Brown Ale (post to follow, I put the cart in front of the horse this time). And it took off within hours. And that thing also had a very large airy krausen with a good amount of particles suspended. I had to leave on business so there aren't any good pictures at full krausen. But you can see the aftermath.

F.G. 1.009
Taste of hydro sample had much more roast than version with WLP002. Very clean and no funk. Maybe a bit of tartness.