I tasted my golden promise/citra smash pale ale today and whoa is it hoppy. I was going to add another 1 oz of dry hop but I don't think it needs that.

One thing about the beer is that I was trying stove top BIAB for the first time and I messed up my numbers. First off I couldn't hold the temp that well so I ended up dropping from 154 to ~148, maybe lower. So my wort was much more fermentable which means instead of the ~4.5 ABV beer I was shooting for, it's now ~6.5 %. It's also a little thin, which I'm sorry about.

Anyways, I'm gonna let it clean up for a few more days and probably bottle it this weekend. So if anyone wants to swap ill have it ready next week, maybe the week after that.

Speaking of Citra, just stole a taste from my keg that's slated for a party this Saturday, and damn it is tasty. It's an IPA bittered with Centennial and hit with Citra at 15, 10, and 5 - then an ounce of Centennial and an ounce of Citra for the dry hop.

It's got an amazing, tropical citrus type flavor going on. If I didn't know better, I would swear this thing got racked onto 5 pounds of fruit.

Both of those beers sound insanely good guys. I'll be raising the temperature on mine this weekend to finish fermenting and bottling next weekend. After that I'll be ready to trade.

Citra really is awesome, I have a White IPA on tap that I made a moth or so ago with a ton of Citra, centennial, and cascade late in the boil. The tropical fruit aroma is outstanding, it's a great summer beer.

My Citra smash is ready, just gotta bottle. I'd normally leg but all 5 of my kegs are in use.

Also, I used ECY12 Old Newark Beer, on the Citra Smash. Ive never used it before so I honestly have no clue what will come of it. There isnt a ton of info on the strain online anywhere, but Ive read its pretty versatile and can ferment at lager temps. I stuck it at 62-64f for the first 5 days of fermentation then let it free rise to 70 to finish off, hopefully that wasnt too warm.

I'm sure it will be fine. It's mostly the 1st couple of days you need to control the temps. After that it doesn't seem to matter too much.

Bought the Palmer book this weekend, excited to dig in and start brewing.

This weekend's additions to my refrigerator:

Just had a Six Points Resin IPA for the first time.

I liked it. I heard people say it was really sweet, to like a "unique/weird" point, but I didn't get that at all. On the sweet side, and very fruity hop flavor, a bit thin of a body, but very tasty. I don't think it's as good as the top tier IPAs, but it's good and I'd buy it again.

So I have about 20 gallons of sour/funky brett'ed beers going into bottles this week. I bottled a Golden Strong/Saisonish beer using ECY01 Bugfarm on Monday night. They was in primary for 8 months and finished at 1.005, it might have stille went lower but I roughly calculated for that in my priming sugar. I primed to 3.7 volumes in thick walled Vinnie 375ml Belgian bottles so Im confident I will be fine even if it keeps attenuating and hits 5 vols.

Obviously I tried the beer at bottling and holy ****, its bracingly sour. Actually too sour, like sweet tarts combined with an atomic warhead sour. Im hoping when I taste a cold carbonated sample in a few weeks that it will not be as smack you in the face sour but we will see.

Once I tasted I started to wish I had tasted it before I racked to the bottling bucket and poured in priming sugar. I think this would have been good to use for blending, maybe brew a Belgian Blond and blend them together. I guess it wasnt too late but figured I would just forge ahead and bottle, I did manage to pull 1 gallon aside for blending down the road.

Next up to be bottled is a Saison Brett using ECY03 (4 months old) and a Belgian Strong with WLP550 and Brett Lambicus (same wort as the Bugfarm batch).

Coff can you school me on sour/brett/wild brewing?

I'm going to start doing some experiments in about a month with bugs but I need a bit of guidance. From what I understand, Brett alone is going to give me the following flavors (as per the MadFermentationist):

WY5112 Brettanomyces bruxellensis – Provides the classic Brett character made famous by Orval. Descriptors range through farmyard, wet hay, horse blanket etc…
WY5526 Brettanomyces lambicus – Big cherry pie character when young, but it fades as the beer ages. It seems to produce more tartness than the other Brett strains.

Now if I want a bit of sour I need lacto or pedio right?

The thing that is holding me back is using up fermenter space for months at a time to let these flavors develop. If I use a sacc yeast to drop the gravity, then add brett dregs at bottling, am I going to get those brett flavors to develop in the bottle over time without explosions?

I dont know if I am the one to "school" anyone in the wild brewing world as I just reached my 1 yr anniversary in the art so Im far from an expert. Most of what I have learned is from MadFermentationist/Wild Brews/and 1 gallon experiments.

For the most part yes. You can get some tartness from from some strains of Brett but but if you want something SOUR pitching Lacto and Pedio can get you there.

But honestly, Ive done more with blends than pitching each culture separately so Im not that knowledgeable on what to pitch when when it comes to Pedio and Lacto.



I think the best way to get into this is the 1 gallon batch and pitch commercial dregs path. You can buy 1 gallon glass carboys for cheap, buy a separate racking cane and one of those hose clamps so you can just rack right from the primary into bottles. At least thats how I started.

You can dose with Brett at bottling but Ive never done it, I think that method can be a little unpredictable. You'll have to try to calculate your carbonation volumes based on how far you think the brett will attenuate in the bottle. It can be done but will take some planning/research.

That sounds like a nightmare.

Yea I would never do that but I know that some people use Brett to prime their bottles as opposed to adding priming sugar (or adding enough priming solution for something like 1.5 volumes and allowing Brett to do the rest).

Thanks for the response Coff.

One last question: let's say I take 1 gal of a 1.060 saison and throw in a starter of some bottle dregs from a 100% brett beer. Any idea about how long until this beer is ready to bottle?

So youre going to ferment it with Brett as the primary strain? No Sacchromyces? If thats what youre doing you'll want to build that Brett starter up to lager pitching rates or close enough. An all Brett beer will be done in about 4-6 weeks, it attenuates just like Sacchromyces when used as the primary strain. When we all brewed the ESB earlier this fall I did a 10 gallon batch and fermented half with Brett C, it turned out awesome and finished in 5 weeks.

If youre pitching it as a secondary strain its going to take much longer, that situation Brett will work on metabolizing those long chain sugars that Sacch cannot ferment and that takes time. Id say anywhere from 3-6 months depending on the beer, I usually take a reading once a month to see where its at. Sometimes it can move 1 point a month so you need to spread out the readings. I usually dont take the first reading until 3 months anyway.

I picked up a few bottles of this the other day. Has anybody had it yet? I hear it's a little tame right now but will be nice with one age on it once the Brett takes over more.

I'm also thinking of using the dregs from a bottle of this and try to build it up to use as the only thing to ferment the Saison I mentioned earlier. Anybody ever built up from bottle dregs?

I bought one bottle the other day ($16 after tax) and wish I'd read all the people saying to put it up for a while before I drank it. Really... boring. It was ok, but nothing past that, and certainly not worth the $16.

I do hear it really compliments Doritos, though.

I've been waiting to get my hands on it, I haven't seen it around Philly yet.

Lol at the Doritos comment.

If it is $16 in Philly I'll be shocked, and actually very happy. It'll probably be more mid to late $20s.

Prices are so ****ed up by me, at the bottle shop a few blocks away a bottle of Jolly Pumpkins Bam Bier, one of my absolute favorites, is $22 for a 750 ml. But if I cruise I've the bridge to NJ for the same beer, $9.99

TN has the highest beer taxes in the country, so I was surprised at the price relative to what others were paying as well.

is PA the worst place to buy beer/wine? i remember 15 years ago my mother and i were visitng for weekend and she couldnt find a bottle of wine to buy anywhere. so she asked someone and they said to go into a restaurant or bar and ask to purchase a bottle there. is this how it works in random parts of PA? I dont recall where we were but it wasnt near a big city.

Saw Brux last night at my local ABC for $15.xx. I've got 15 gallons of beer and 5 gallons of mead that need to be bottled but exams are this week and next week :-\. First world problems.

It probably is one of the worst, doesnt Utah only let people drink beer under 4% or something? Anyway, yea its annoying bc the State owns all of the liquor stores and they jack up prices on spirits and wine, then to get beer you have to go to separate bottle shops or beer distributors. Its a pain in the ass but despite all of that we get a pretty killer beer selection in Philly.

I dont know where you were but it must have been in the middel of nowhere bc I have never went to a restaurant to buy a bottle of wine. I would buy it at one of the State stores although they close at 9pm and arent open on Sundays.

A few years ago I was in PA for a family reunion on my wife's side, and I had to go into a bar to purchase a sixer to go. We where on the outskirts of Wilksebarre - but no grocery stores, convenience stores, or gas stations had beer for sale.

Yea you cant buy any alcohol at those kinds of places in PA. Its all specialty joints.

Jesus man,I thought SC was bad. You really can't purchase beer in gas stations or grocery stores?