Ode to Ol’Virginny

Between marathon training, catching up on way over due home projects, and an intensely hot VA summer, brewing has taken a back seat. We did manage to squeeze in an Oktoberfest and Smoked Lager during that time, but because of flaring tempers, due to the previously mentioned items, both of these brews almost ended up in the ditch. They are now safely in their designated lagering vessels and will be ready for tapping in November. Our Helles (first lager) is a bit on the grainy/husky side so we’re going to transfer to another keg and see if it improves the taste. Sadly, my first independent brew did end up in the ditch. There was just no way to salvage the hop tea, my taste buds retreat just thinking about that uber bitter sample. On the positive side, the DIPA we brewed to mix with the hop tea ended up being one of my favorite brews to date. The hefeweizen (my second independent brew) turned out really good, so good I had to brew another batch. I brewed a double batch on the second round and fermented half the batch with Wyeast 3068-Weihenstephan Weizen and the other half with Safale US-05 American Ale. The difference was amazing, one batch yielded a traditional hefeweizen and an American wheat with strong citrus notes. I dry hopped the American wheat with 2 ounces of Sorachi Ace so I’m expecting a citrus bomb.


After arriving home from our MI beer tour, I reflected on what VA meant to me and was inspired to brew a Bourbon Barrel Smoked Peanut Porter. So we’ll be taking the “brew through” adventure onto to BJCP Category 22B & C-Other Smoked and Wood-Aged Beer. The base beer should be apparent in both of these categories, with a pleasant balance between the smoke and the base beer and the wood-based character should be apparent. I’m going to follow Jamil’s Smoked Robust Porter recipe and age half the batch with VA bourbon soaked oak cubes. Didn't feel like shelling peanuts so going to go with de-oiled peanut butter.

Ingredients

Malt

Maris Otter-54%
Munich-6%
Smoked Malt-20%
Crystal 40L-6%
Crystal 80L-6%
Chocolate-5%
Black Patent-3%
Wheat-1 lb to assist with oil absorption
Total Grain Bill=32.5lbs.

Hops

Golding (Kent)
Williamette

Additions
Natural Peanut Butter-12.5 oz.(1 jar de-oiled)

Yeast

Wyeast 1056-American Ale
Safale S-04-English Ale

Crushing the Grains

I’m happy to report that I’ve found my power tool groove and crushing grains is no longer an issue.

Strike

Heated 7.9 gallons of tap water to 171 degrees. Added 8 g. of calcium carbonate, 5 g. of baking soda and 1.5 g. of calcium chloride to the mash (only have 18 g of calcium in our water). Target mash temperature was 154 degrees, but hovered around 157. Mashed for 60 minutes.

Sparge

13 gallons of tap is heated to 170 degrees and batch sparged for 30 minutes in three different batches due to limited space in the mash tun.

Boil

Pulled 14 gallons of wort @ 1.070. Brewing Classic Styles said 1.055 @ 7 gallons so our ratios are off, but not going to complain about a higher gravity. Added 3 g. calcium chlorideto the boil. Starting gravity was 1.075 and it had calculated 1.065 @ 5 gallons.

Fermentation

Pulled 5 gallons into a 6.5 gallon carboy and added the 2 liter starter of the 1056 and pitched the S-04 to the second 5 gallon batch. The beer has been in the fermenter @ 67 degrees for 4 days and the activity is ceasing. Planning to add the oak chips to the 1056 batch.