Hazelwood Brewday

[Hazelwood Brewery]

The mash is under way now. Last time I made this beer I was fairly happy with the grist but felt it could do with just a little more sweetness to help the juicy fruity flavours to shine. I was thinking of increasing the proportion of Vienna malt but having ramped up the chloride in the water profile, which I think will accentuate the sweet malt flavour, I’m going to leave the grist this time round. So 3Kg Pilsner, 1.2Kg Vienna, and 600g flaked barley go in with 50g Citra.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Do you account for much in the way of bitterness contribution from anything the comes out of the hops making it to the boil? Are you selecting mash hops based on flavour or are they simply there to facilitate this chemical witchcraft of which you speak? Sacraficial hops.....?

Very little bitterness comes from mash hopping because the temperature is too low to isomerise the alpha acids. It’s isomerised alpha acids (iso-alpha-acids) that give bitterness. You have actually reminded me that I meant to note I use leaf hops here because they are removed with the grain before the boil. If you were to use pellet hops they would disintegrate and far more hop material would get into the boil where the alpha acids would isomerise and you would get far more bitterness.

It’s the alpha acids that complex metal ions so you want a high alpha acid hop for that. Magnum would be my default choice.

Having just learned that flavour compounds may make it into the finished beer, I’ve decided I’m going to use a flavourful high alpha acid hop on this occasion - Citra.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

The mash and sparge are done and the wort is just coming to the boil. Mostly things have gone to plan today with one minor exception, my sparge pump has died so I had to manually sparge and my pre-boil gravity is 1047 rather than 1048 as it would be with my regular fly sparge. The sparge pump is trivial and I do have a couple of spares, it just needs wiring up. I’ll do that later.

The wort is boiling now so I can sit back for an hour. There’s no bittering charge with this beer, all the bittering comes from the hotstand.

It may be time for a beer

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Boil is complete. Temperature dropped to 194F (90C) for the 20 minute hopstand with 50g each Galaxy and Citra.

 

[Galena]

Salts measured out and 20 litres of treated water is now heating to 148F.

I have always tried to crush Calcium Chloride as I am paranoid it is not dissolving, does yours dissolve okay? I think I read somewhere that CaCl dissolves better in cold water and Gypsum in hot water but not sure if that is correct or not.

You need a little sulphate in the water to bring out the hops but otherwise it’s chloride all the way.

Interested in this recipe as my blonde started out heavier on the chloride as I belive blondes should be malt forward but I have slowly changed it to a sulphate heavy brew to bring out the hops (First Gold and Jester)

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Often there’s not much between the highest and lowest scores, it comes down to some small difference(s) somewhere.

There was this time!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Both dissolve easily. Calcium sulphate, being a powder, dissolves almost immediately. Calcium chloride needs five minutes to soak in the water and then you can just stir it in.

Normally you would use a sulphate rich profile for a hoppy ale but this recipe is bordering on a NEIPA so the water profile is intended to make the ale soft, rounded, and juicy.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

There was this time!

Oh no! I’m glad you can laugh about it, you’ve done really well in other competitions so it’s not that you can’t brew a good beer. I’ve had poor feedback in the past too, you just have to reflect on it and make any changes you agree with.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Oh no! I’m glad you can laugh about it, you’ve done really well in other competitions so it’s not that you can’t brew a good beer. I’ve had poor feedback in the past too, you just have to reflect on it and make any changes you agree with.

Absolutely, no probs at all with the feedback, to be fair i'd sent it without trying it first. It's so bitter it's almost salty, could put it on your chips I reckon. I haven't had much luck with IPA's though, part of me thinks it could be water chemistry so i've been following your and @Galena conversation. I have very soft water so I think some calcium may be required.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Well, the wort is cooked and laden with thiol precursors ready for the yeast (combo of verdant and BRY-97) to make me some lovely fruity beer. Chill down is done and I’ll now just leave the wort to rest for a while before it goes in the fermenter with my day 0 hop additions - another 50g each of Galaxy and Citra.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Absolutely, no probs at all with the feedback, to be fair i'd sent it without trying it first. It's so bitter it's almost salty, could put it on your chips I reckon. I haven't had much luck with IPA's though, part of me thinks it could be water chemistry so i've been following your and @Galena conversation. I have very soft water so I think some calcium may be required.

What was the recipe? Did you use tap water and did you treat your water at all?

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Untreated tap water.

5kg Otter
200g Crystal
200g Carapils

Mashed for 5 hours or so at 65c

Boiled for one hour,

20g Chinook @60
30g Chinook @15
20g Centennial @15
25g Amarillo @5
25g Colombus @5

Got approx 17L in the kettle at an OG of 1060, diluted with 3L water to make it 1052 and 19l in the FV

Cooled and pitched CML 4.

Dry hopped with 90g of the above hops.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Untreated tap water.

5kg Otter
200g Crystal
200g Carapils

Mashed for 5 hours or so at 65c

Boiled for one hour,

20g Chinook @60
30g Chinook @15
20g Centennial @15
25g Amarillo @5
25g Colombus @5

Got approx 17L in the kettle at an OG of 1060, diluted with 3L water to make it 1052 and 19l in the FV

Cooled and pitched CML 4.

Dry hopped with 90g of the above hops.

Without knowing the Alpha-acid levels of the hops you used I think you’re still looking at about 70-80 IBU’s which is a bitter bomb. If you drop the 60 minute addition you’ll almost halve this and have something that’s less challenging.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Yeah, it was up there somewhere, i'd had previous comments about how my IPA's were lacking bitterness so I upped it a bit... too much....

My main problem with my pales and ipa's though is clarity, they just don't clear, despite changing lots of variables, protofloc or not, cold crashing or not etc. It seems as though calcium can help flocculation and thus clarity so thats what i'm going to try next.

 

[WonkyDonkey]

Very little bitterness comes from mash hopping because the temperature is too low to isomerise the alpha acids. It’s isomerised alpha acids (iso-alpha-acids) that give bitterness. You have actually reminded me that I meant to note I use leaf hops here because they are removed with the grain before the boil. If you were to use pellet hops they would disintegrate and far more hop material would get into the boil where the alpha acids would isomerise and you would get far more bitterness.

It’s the alpha acids that complex metal ions so you want a high alpha acid hop for that. Magnum would be my default choice.

Having just learned that flavour compounds may make it into the finished beer, I’ve decided I’m going to use a flavourful high alpha acid hop on this occasion - Citra.

http://scottjanish.com/the-locksmit...hops-and-phantasm-powder-to-thiol-drive-beer/
@Hazelwood Brewery You're no dount familiar with his other work on the subject, some further (long) reading from Scott Janish on bound thiols, mash hopping and GM yeast. Looks like you're already in the ballpark using Cascade, Simcoe could be another hop to add to the mash to get good results. Omega Yeast have recently released 'Cosmic Punch' to the American market which helps target thiols however, given that it is GM then we're unlikely to see it over here anytime soon

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

http://scottjanish.com/the-locksmit...hops-and-phantasm-powder-to-thiol-drive-beer/
@Hazelwood Brewery You're no dount familiar with his other work on the subject, some further (long) reading from Scott Janish on bound thiols, mash hopping and GM yeast. Looks like you're already in the ballpark using Cascade, Simcoe could be another hop to add to the mash to get good results. Omega Yeast have recently released 'Cosmic Punch' to the American market which helps target thiols however, given that it is GM then we're unlikely to see it over here anytime soon

Hi WD! Thanks for signposting this, I hadn’t seen it. Very interesting and confirms some of my own findings and thinking but I want to do a bit of testing before I make an ar5e of myself!

I’m familiar with much of his work and read several of the research papers. I’ve also looked around and found other information that was relevant or just interesting. For example, other edible plants have even more of the essential oils we cherish in hops. Lemon grass, geranium leaves, and rose petals all have higher quantities of geraniol and linalool. I have a beer that’s built on Pilgrim but also has these three additions hiding in my brew-shed

Edit: I think I’ll have to jump on the bandwagon by grinding up some lemongrass and calling it “Orgasmo dust”!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Curiosity has got the better of me. I want to know how the raspberry sour is coming on so I’m dressing this up as a taste test of my latest beers

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

First up Trappist Single. This is 5.8% and was kegged on the 1st so has now had a couple of weeks.

Clarity is not far off now and I do like the colour. Carbonation is fairly soft for a Belgian ale but that can easily be corrected. The aroma and flavour are almost saison like but without the peppery finish. Very nice.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Belgian Tripel next. This is at the lower end of the Tripel range (7.5-9.5) at a little over 8%.

I again like the colour, this ale being a little more golden. The carbonation is again a little soft for the style but easily rouses a head with a gentle swirl. It needs to clear more than the single although it was kegged the day after. The aroma is softer and sweeter than the single and the taste follows suit. It also has a slightly creamy quality compared to the single which is quite dry - this could be the yeast in suspension? Also nice.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

And the main event, the raspberry sour. This weighs in at 5.4% and was kegged last Monday (8th).

Well it’s definitely not clear! Carbonation is pretty good - the head quickly settles to a light foam over the surface but is easily roused again. The aroma is refreshing like a sour raspberry sherbet. The flavour is good, it’s very fruity and the sourness is soft and mouth-watering, not harsh like some of the commercial sours. I’m going to call this a good beer based on my taste preferences