Experimental Beer: Ancho Chile Saison

This is my first ever chile beer that I have brewed. And I only made a small 1 gal batch with it. I got this idea from Jeff B at 1227 Brewing and his Ancho Amber Ale. I am a big fan of the flavor from smoked peppers and I thought it would fit nicely into my idea for a San Diego/Mexican  centric beer.

The only commercial examples that I am familar with was series of Chile Beers that Ballast Point made. These beers were more geared toward tasting menus and not as an everyday drinker. And the ones I tried were hot and spicy. It was a strange spiciness, your first sip was normal beer flavor then intense heat to your cheeks and tongue, finishing with the carbonation to help you recover. To be honest I was not a fan. But I am also the person that eats Mild Salsa or if I'm looking to party I'll step up to Medium. I just often think that spicy heat ruins the flavor of most foods. But I know there are people out there that just love there fix of Flame Thrower or Butt Twister.


Obviously, from my commentary above I am looking for smoked Chile flavor without the kick. Jeff B had success with "dry-Chiling" his beer after fermentation. The seeds and stems were removed to decrease the amount of Capsaicin that makes it into the beer (According to wiki - "Capsaicin is present in the placental tissue (which holds the seeds), the internal membranes .. the seeds themselves do not produce any capsaicin, although the highest concentration of capsaicin can be found in the white pith around the seeds"). This is one way to reduce the amount of spice/heat in your beer, the other way is to choose a Chile that is low in capsaicin. See below for two good resources that Jeff B recommended.



http://www.foodsubs.com/Chiledry.html
http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/chiles-kennedy/sidebars/4

I decided on Ancho Chiles partly because Jeff B had good success plus I liked the explanation on their flavor. In the future I may try a few different varieties. The Ancho chile was just put in the keg and a gallon of wort was racked on top. The beer was kept cold at 42F and carbonated. I tasted the beer every 2 days until I was really happy with the flavor. The flavor was right where I liked it around Day 10. It was then bottled and should be ready for a tasting soon.

Session Series: San Diego Session Saison

The idea for this beer came to me at the Stone Brewing AHA Rally a couple of months ago. It was a warm day and we were consuming a good amount of beverages and a lot of those beers were just big beers. I am very much a weather or situational drinker. (Just like I think it is gross for people to drink Milk at breakfast, it's a dinner drink). For me when the weather is warm I want a dry beer with a decent amount of carbonation. It needs to be thrist quenching. Which I completely associate with Belgian Saisons. They hit you with all this great flavor, but the best ones are nice and dry so they don't stay on your tongue too long and the high carbonation flushes your mouth for the next gulp.




With that thought in mind, I wanted to tailor this beer to have local influences. Considering I live 20 miles from the Mexican border. I thought I would try to use some traditional Mexican ingredients. The difficult part with this is trying to translate food flavors to beer flavors and still maintain the light refreshing beverage I was hoping for. I started thinking of some of my favorite Mexican dishes, like Mole, Chile Verde and fresh Tamales. A Mole beer sounds pretty amazing actually, but I don't see that relating well to a session style (For my Dark Saison coming up, this may work out nicely). The next one that hit me was the maize from the Tamales. As a brewer I can easily use flaked corn (though I may try maize next time), Plus the flaked corn will really help to lighten the body and help me achieve that easy drinking, warm weather beer. A few other ingredients I will experiment with in small secondary batches include Ancho chiles (Jeff B's idea at 1227 Brewing), cilantro, and  lime only seems logical.


Saisons also traditionally have some simple sugars added to help them dry out. I probably don't need to add the simple sugar because this beer should dry out due to the yeast I selected (Wyeast 3711). But for this beer the sugar addition will allow me to add another traditional Mexican ingredient and another layer of flavor. I will be using piloncillo, which is basically mexican brown sugar and is used in traditional beverages like tepache.







The final decision for this beer comes down to yeast selection. I think more than any other style the yeast for a Saison is crucial. The flavors for this style are almost all yeast driven. I did a fair amount of reading on BabbleBelt about Saisons. I finally decided on the Wyeast 3711: French Saison it got some great reviews, finished quickly and only needed to be brewed in the 70s. The temperature was a big key on this one because I am doing my first 10 gal batch. The larger batch meant I needed another fermenter so I am trying another first, fermenting in a keg (it worked great and I might be a convert once I have a bigger fridge).

 

Recipe: San Diego Session Saison
O.G.-1.044  F.G.-1.006   IBU-21 Size -10 gal
SRM-3   ABV-4.8%  

Grain Bill (76% Efficiency):
12 lb Belgian Pilsner (80%)
2 lbs Flaked Corn (13%)
1 lb Piloncillo Sugar (7%) - added to Boil

Hops:
.8 oz Amarillo, 9.5%, pellet, 60 min, 17.6 IBU
2 oz Saaz, 3.2%, pellet, 10 min 3.2 IBU

Yeast:
Made 1.5 L starter divided equally of Wyeast 3711: French Saison

Brew Day:
Brewed: 4/3/11
Kegged: 4/16/11

Water:
San Diego (Alvarado) Tap Water
1 campden tablet for 5 gal.

Mash Details:
H2O/Grain Ratio: 1 qt/lb
Mash Volume: 3.5 gal
Sacc Rest. Temp/Time: 148F @ 60min
Strike Temp: 161F
Sparge Volume: 9 gal
Sparge Temp/Time: 170F

Boil Details:
Boil Volume: 11 gal
Boil Time: 60min
Post Boil Volume: 10 gal

Ferment Details:
O.G.: 1.044
Ferment Temp: 65-67F(carboy version)
Ferment Temp: 72-76F (keg version)
Primary Length: 10 days

This yeast performed just like all the reports I read. It took off quite quickly and it appeared most of the fermentation was done in a few days. I didn't measure the gravity at that time. The keg fermented version was transferred, force carbonated and drank at my friend's bachelor party all within 2 weeks of being brewed.

I will follow-up with a side by side tasting of the 2 versions.





Tasting 6-6-11

Fiore Tandem Part 3: Assemble & Ride

It's done and with a pretty quick turnaround. Well, that's because I didn't have to do much. The hardest part of bike restoration is finding parts. And for this bike it wasn't difficult because we were not trying to keep it original. I really like how the bike turned out. And so were Meagan and Dan (look at those smiles).







 
The most difficult part of this bike was adjusting the brakes. For this style of pull brakes, you basically have to do a guess and check method. I first start out by holding the calipers against the rim. Then with the other hand I slide the nut up the brake line until it is tight. Maybe the picture will help.









For most of these bike repairs the Park Tools website is unbeatable and the best part it's free. I think its very important for people to know how their bikes work and are able to fix them. If not, go support your local bike shop.

Have a great Bike to Work Week.

Step 1 - Dissemble & Document

Step 2 - Cleaning & Ordering Parts