what to brew????

I havent brewed for a while and its starting to annoy me. I’m missing my zen time. But that doesnt mean I’m not spending a fair bit of time on beer related stuff, a few weeks back I paid the deposit on a 3000l fermenter that is right now being manufactured in China. I have a mental picture of a Chinese bloke with an angle grinder and a hammer knocking out a beautiful stainless conicle fermenter, I’m sure its way more mechanised than this but that’ll do for now. This fermenter will end up sitting in the corner of someone else’s brewery and be the vessel that my beer ideas become real. However before I do this I need to get some licencing stuff sorted, and all the marketing and branding stuff. Oh and no I don’t have the name sorted yet, I thought I did but we have a little more to work through before I have it all locked down and tell the world.

I really need to crack on with this lot and get it rolling or the tank will be here before I’m ready to go, just need to get married and deal with a bucket load of “day job” stuff at the same time. Its OK, I dont need to sleep much.

Anyway part of the planning is what the hell will I brew? I’ve done some costings on some of my old recipes and I can safely say I may well have made some of the most expensive homebrew in Australia. The hop bill alone from my IPA made me go “oh dear”. Still tastes great but I’m glad that I didn’t have a cost on it when I home brew it. Anyway I need to get the beer part of the brewing Co. down pat, I have the old homebrew recipes but I also have a bunch of hops in the fridge at work that I just remembered about, so on top of some grains of paradise (something belgo) and cacao nibs (into a stout), some hops that I’m used to like Galaxy, Citra and E.K Goldings I also have some Mosaic, Waimea and Pacific Gem. The last 3 I really don’t have a plan for and I’ve never used. All high alpha hops so they scream IPA but I think I was thinking something farm hose esk with some of them, maybe a Pacific Gem saison? Open to any ideas on these 3.

Anyway work to do now, and I need to book in for that RSA.

Cheers D

 

Search for the perfect Saison number 3.

Ah here we are again on a Sunday night, watching Homeland (excellent show), eating a bacon and egg sandwich (excellent sandwich even if I do say myself) and having a beer (saison no. 2, the one with all the Stella, its settled a little but still isnt great). This is all fairly normal. BUT TOMORROW IS A PUBLIC HOLIDAY. Thats a pretty good thing, a day off amid all the crazy bump and grind of work. Excellent, so I’m brewing. This will be Saison no. 4 of the season.

I’ve just bottled no. 3, the Sushi Tribute beer, it’s a little more caramelish and maltyish (I doubt either of those are real words) than I expected (that might be the rye or the fresh vienna malt?), and has less yeast influence but after a little time in the bottle I think this will be a fairly decent beer. A little darker than style but should be ok. The recipe for this beer is a post or two back (the one with 3 saison recipes on it) and although I think it is fitting that Sushi gets a good beer in his honor I have hope that tomorrows beer will be a little closer to where I am heading. The Sushi beer was fairly complicated, lots of malts. Perhaps that’s not what a saison is about and I’m fairly sure that palm sugar wasnt an on the shelf ingredient for french/Belgian farmers.

The recipe is incredibly simple. 100% european pilsner malt, mashed at about 64deg c with a little gypsum, hopped to about 30 IBU’s with some Styrian Goldings, and a bunch more thrown in at flame out. Add in the Wyeast Belgian Saison yeast and a hot few days coming and we are set.

However (there always needs to be a however doesnt there?) I’m taking the simplicity and fucking with it. I’m making a bigger batch than normal and 10 or so litres will be fermented out with some peaches. I’ve got about 1kg of yellow peaches from the South Melbourne Market today, I’ll let the beer get about 3 days into the ferment and throw them in, pits and all. No idea how this will go, but it works in my mind that a farmer with too much ripe fruit, in the peak of harvest, would have fermented some out in a beer.

I went to a show or presentation by Anthony Bourdain, one of my favorite authors and TV guys. He’s kind of cranky, hates vegetarians, loves good simple food prepared with care, and seems to be a generally happy guy despite it all. He spoke of his travels and sitting down with people in little back waters, always happy to share what they have with him, that simple good thing. This often involves him, as he put drinking cloudy fermented liquid from a Pepsi bottle that was fermented by Grandpa in a 44 gallon drum.

I’m thinking that Saisons are the cloudy shit in a Pepsi bottle of the beer world, made from what simple farming people have at hand. Perhaps the peach saison will get close to this. I might put some in a Pepsi bottle for Anthony Bourdain.

So fingers crossed this beer will be a step closer to what I see as my perfect saison recipe. After adding all but the kitchen sink, perhaps a simple no fucking around recipe could be the go. Time will tell.

Cheers D

Stuff

I have been neither blogging or brewing enough lately. Must remedy this ASAP. hmmmm too much stuff on.

Ah well entering 3 beers in the Westgate Stout Extravaganza this weekend (the comp is Sunday) that is a start (as is this post, lame as it may be).

Must brew more beer.

Cheers D