pennine's brewdays

[Pennine]

157 - Chinugget!
7.6% abv - 1.076-1.019 - 119 ibus
i modeled this one after a clone recipe of stone's arrogant ******* i found on hbt a while back. its the 3rd or 4th edition i have tried to clone ab and none have done it justice, however they all ended up being delicious beers and i have developed an definite affinity for chinook in the meantime. ab was one of the first imperial ipa's (american barley wine?, american strong ale? etc...) that i fell in love with, turning me into a massive hop head. the oaked arrogant ******* is even more amazing.

this one turned out really sweet, definitely more like an american barley wine. and i kegged it back in early march. in suggestion of @An Ankoù for the mosaic red ale i also kegged, i ended up bottling the remainder of this beer as well to let it sit and age. its a higher alcohol brew and ridiculously hoppy so some months on furlough in the refrigerator should do it some good. it is essentially 2 row and weyermann cara-aroma, hops are chinook and nugget, and fermented with s-04.

this one turned out dark brown, much darker than the reddish brown arrogant ******* is. the s-04 did a nice job as it always does of clearing up. has a nice lingering head.

aroma is a blast from the malt side, yeasty bread dough, cedar, caramel, chocolate, molasses and a hint of vanilla

taste wise this is one of the few beers where the malts and hops strike simultaneously. its a virtual palate overload and its initally hard to distinguish flavors from the onslaught. this is very similar to a fresh arrogant *******. malt wise its again a caramel, chocolate, graham cracker (sort of a digestive biscuit), the woody and resinous hops are prominent on the hop side. there is a little citrus if you look for it and then some yeast and dark brown sugar. its definitely a sweet beer the mouthfeel is coating but not sticky. the hops linger for a long time its quite the bitter beer, but overall its well balanced with the malts and it makes it go down easier than the abv would lead you to believe. you can definitely feel the alcohol but the alcohol taste is pretty mild.

overall its quite enjoyable. it was too sweet for me at first but is definitely calming down with age. next time i try this will be to keep the malts almost the same but then move most of the hops to the whirlpool and dry hops. it wont be a palate crushing bitter arrogant ******* but might actually complement the simple and flavor complicated malt bill.

 

[Pennine]

160 - Rye Pale Ale
5.8% abv - 1.058-1.014 - 58 ibus

this is one of the simple easy drinkers i made for springtime and it came out pretty good. aroma is a light doughy with a bit of fresh hops, lemon and pine.

taste wise its a pretty simple american pale ale, very little malt flavor, has a bit of sweetness and light bready baguette like flavor and some grass. the hops hit with lime citrus and pine. mouthfeel is light and dissipates quickly, quite light on the bitterness definitely not in the 58ibu range.

overall its a good pale ale, a light easy drinking one although a bit lacking in character. this one is pilsner, munich and malted rye with simcoe for a bittering and whirlpool dose. yeast was US-05.

i have been working with whirlpools a bit more lately and can't say i am very happy with them. i keep getting this raw fresh hop like smell and taste that i am not really fond of, that seems to be only on the after boil steep additions. some recent exploration in the hop series, i am doing only first wort hops, aroma, flavor and dry hopping additions. back to the traditional hopping to see if i can eliminate that fresh hoppiness.

 

[Pennine]

question for @strange-steve

i gave my german porter a taste surprisingly it already has a bit of a sour kick, probably the perfect amount right now. when you used your brett for the orval clone you made how long did you let it go before you bottled it? i am wondering if it continued to get more sour with time or if it stabilized pretty soon after it was infected?

 

[strange-steve]

I left it for 10 weeks after pitching the brett to make sure it was done fermenting (well mostly anyway). There shouldn't be a lot of sourness from it, just a light citrusy tang which should stabilise fairly quickly I think. The funky flavours will continue to develop over a long time but not the sourness.

 

[Pennine]

I left it for 10 weeks after pitching the brett to make sure it was done fermenting (well mostly anyway). There shouldn't be a lot of sourness from it, just a light citrusy tang which should stabilise fairly quickly I think. The funky flavours will continue to develop over a long time but not the sourness.

cool thanks for the information.

 

[Pennine]

174 - El Dorado Pale Ale
11l batch - 1.060/1.012 - mash 66c

kicked this one off this morning. i have only used el dorado once before and it ended up having a diastaticus infection or massive hop creep so i ended up dumping most of them. i have been looking forward to testing it out again, the description sounds delicious. i think i had a mislabeled container and ended up adding extra honey malt and less crystal malt in the last batch. I tried to correct it with this one. likely its too small to notice a difference.

El Dorado is a relatively new kid on the block. Created by Moxee Valley-based CLS Farms, LLC in 2008, it was released to the public in 2010. A product of the Yakima Valley’s cooler climate, it features a uniquely fruity flavor profile in addition to desirable bittering and aromatic properties. High vigor, high alpha acids, lots of oils and resins, good storage stability and an exceptional yield also make this, on paper at least, an outstanding commercial variety. It exhibits bold tropical fruit flavors, said to be reminiscent of pineapple and mango, in addition to a resinous back note. On the nose, it imbues aromas of pear, watermelon, stone fruits and even candy. To date, it has seen use in wheat beers, Pale Ales and IPA’s.

1.05 kg	Hook Head Pale (5.0 EBC)	37.6 %
1.05 kg	Pale Ale, Golden Promise®™ (Simpsons) (5.0 EBC)	37.6 %
0.40 kg	BEST Munich (BESTMALZ) (15.0 EBC)	14.3 %
0.09 kg	Carabelge (39.4 EBC)	3.2 %
0.09 kg	Crystal Malt - 60L (Thomas Fawcett) (118.2 EBC)	3.2 %
0.05 kg	Honey Malt (49.3 EBC)	1.8 %
0.05 kg	BEST Acidulated (BESTMALZ) (6.0 EBC)	1.8 %
10.00 g	Hallertau Magnum [9.90 %] - First Wort 45.0 min	21.9 IBUs
7.00 g	El Dorado [15 %] - Boil 15.0 min	12.0 IBUs
12.00 g	El Dorado [15 %] - Boil 7.0 min	10.2 IBUs
1.0 pkg	Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml]	-
30.00 g	El Dorado [15 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days	0.0 IBUs

 

[Pennine]

154 - Chinook Pale Ale
5.6% abv - 1.060-1.016 - 57 ibus

found a bottle of this and figured to give it a review. bottled on 23 Feb to its 3 months old now and the age is noticeable.

nice and clear with ample head and long retention.
aroma is faint and lager like with hay a bit of spice and cedar.
taste is piney and grassy hops which is balanced out by a nice cracker malt flavor. is a bit sweet and coating. bitterness is solid but not overpowering and lingers for a while.
its a decent easy drinker, the recipe would probably be better at 1.050 than 1.060. i used pia yeast from cml on this one and it seems to give me a grassy lager like flavor. it's not unpleasant but i am not sure i prefer it.

 

[Pennine]

174 - Motueka Pale Ale
11l batch - 1.054/1.012 - mash 66c

this will be the last one of my hop sampling batch for now. i realize in this process thinking of new recipes and styles is what I really enjoy in this hobby. so three batches of pale ale with three hops i have never truly had before seems enough for now.

from Motueka - Hopslist.
Formerly known as Belgian Saaz or B Saaz, Motueka is a premier New Zealand hop. Developed by HortResearch, this triploid was bred from Saaz and an unnamed New Zealand breeding strain and lends itself well to Lagers, Pilsners and Belgian Ales. It makes an excellent dual-use hop, carrying an exciting fruit aroma with refreshing notes of tropical fruit and citrus. It can be used at any point during the brewing process and works well in sweet, malty and fruity beers. Massachusetts brewery brewmaster Jack uses Motueka in a Maibock and Sierra Nevada brewery also debuted their Southern Hemisphere Harvest fresh hops ale in April 2014 using Motueka, along with Southern Cross, as its finishing hops.

i did not realize this was a saaz descendent, i really love saaz so i am looking forward to this one.

on another note i will have a bit of motueka left, i am thinking for next week to do a pilsner with sladek, motueka and tettnang. since saldek is also a saaz descendent and tettnang is my other favorite noble.

Also just tossed a mozart pale in the refrigerator to try it out tonight, its almost a week in the bottle so should be carbed up by now.

edit: did not get close to the efficiency as the other 2 batches, i adjusted my grain crush ever so slightly and wonder if this is why? wort was super hop spicy, very saazish. i do not get any of the fruits in the description, yet...

1.05 kg​	Hook Head Pale (5.0 EBC)​	37.6 %​
1.05 kg​	Pale Ale, Golden Promise®™ (Simpsons) (5.0 EBC)​	37.6 %​
0.40 kg​	BEST Munich (BESTMALZ) (15.0 EBC)​	14.3 %​
0.09 kg​	Carabelge (39.4 EBC)​	3.2 %​
0.09 kg​	Crystal Malt - 60L (Thomas Fawcett) (118.2 EBC)​	3.2 %​
0.06 kg​	Honey Malt (49.3 EBC)​	2.2 %​
0.05 kg​	BEST Acidulated (BESTMALZ) (6.0 EBC)​	1.8 %​
10.00 g​	Hallertau Magnum [9.90 %] - First Wort 45.0 min​	21.0 IBUs​
15.00 g​	Motueka [7.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min​	11.0 IBUs​
25.00 g​	Motueka [7.00 %] - Boil 7.0 min​	9.9 IBUs​
1.0 pkg​	Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml]​	-​
50.00 g​	Motueka [7.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days​	0.0 IBUs​

 

[Pennine]

157 - West Coast Pils
5.7% abv - 1.057-1.014 - 42 ibus

Pours a nice yellow orange and murky with a massive head that lingers till the finish.
aroma is very intense, tons of lemon, grapefruit juice, blueberries, strawberry, mango and bit of sulfur and catty on the end.
taste is fruity again, lots of grapefruit juice, light sweet water cracker and malt, and has a really nice easy grapefruit pith bitterness that lingers for a while. bitterness is a bit heavy but spot on for a pils. mouthfeel is light and refreshing initially but also has a nice smooth creamy texture on the finish. the catty sneaks in there at the end and might be the one negative thing about this beer.

pretty happy with this one, on the initial pour the aroma is just amazing, easily one of the most aromatic beers I have ever made. i am going to try this recipe with the llalemand new england yeast. that one should really enhance the fruitiness. the 34/70 i used in this has a lot of sulfur that really makes the citra catty (read cat ****) stand out for me. it's not overwhelming at all so its still enjoyable but having a bit more acidic bite that the new england yeast gives will really make this one a standout beer.

 

[Pennine]

175 - Summer Steam Beer
11l batch - 1.060/1.015 - mash 67c

thought to make a lower alcohol california common since the temps are increasing and there is no room in fermentation chamber currently. unfortunately i overshot my efficiencies 88% vs. the estimated 75%. I will probably add some water during bottling to drop the alcohol down some to be closer to 5% vs. 6.6% if the M54 works as advertised.

also i havent been a big fan of northern brewer, so I dumped it and replaced it with magnum, sladek and tettnang.

one last comment, i used my home roasted brown malt. really happy with this addition it gives it a really unique light chocolate flavor. i think my next batch will be an actual hoppy brown ale really see what its like.

2.10 kg​	Hook Head Pale (5.0 EBC)​	82.0 %​
0.20 kg​	BEST Munich (BESTMALZ) (15.0 EBC)​	7.8 %​
0.08 kg​	Caraaroma (Weyermann) (350.7 EBC)​	3.1 %​
0.08 kg​	Carabelge (39.4 EBC)​	3.1 %​
0.08 kg​	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC)​	3.1 %​
0.02 kg​	Brown Malt (Home Roasted)​	0.8 %​
10.00 g​	Hallertau Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min​	29.5 IBUs​
20.00 g​	Sladek [5.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min​	10.6 IBUs​
20.00 g​	Tettnang [4.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min​	3.9 IBUs​
1.0 pkg​	California Lager (Mangrove Jack's #M54)​	-​

 

[Pennine]

tasting notes 165 - flyer esb

giving the whirlpool time to work its magic on the recent batch i figured to give this one a long overdue review.
pours a light hazy orange to light copper color. a bit over carbonated for the style but has a nice long lasting head.
aroma is a bit of toffee, caramel, woody hops and with a slight tart s-04 smell. overall quite a unique aroma. the flyer hops adds a super unique caramel woody aroma and flavor that i have not experienced in another hop before.
the hops are quite up front on the flavor side. more of the caramel toffee with resin and wood. caramel malt appears a bit later but is oddly light tasting for 15% caramalt, probably due to the high carbonation levels but also the hoppy overload.
Mouthfeel is light and fades quickly, bitterness is at a perfect medium and lingers every so slightly.
Overall it's a quite complex beer, really wish I had lower carbonation levels to help the malts shine. I would definitely make this one again but ease up on the hopping quantity in the late boil and dry hop.

 

[samale]

Hi pennine I was looking at brewing a saison soon using lallemand belle saison. Can you recommend a fermentation temp to follow.

 

[Pennine]

Hi pennine I was looking at brewing a saison soon using lallemand belle saison. Can you recommend a fermentation temp to follow.

i would probably cool and pitch at under 20c then go with room temp for the first day then up it to 25c after that. i am always careful to go too hot at first to limit fusels. i had pretty good luck with just keeping them at room temp in the summer too for the whole fermentation.

 

[Pennine]

177 - Red IPA
11l batch - 1.056/1.011 - mash 67c

forgot to post this up last week. i have an excess of columbus and summit in the fridge so i decided to make a simple red ipa. kind of a similar version to this one with a bit lower alcohol Columbus - | BROUWERIJ HET IJ |

2.00 kg​	Hook Head Pale (5.0 EBC)​	75.5 %​
0.50 kg​	BEST Munich (BESTMALZ) (15.0 EBC)​	18.9 %​
0.15 kg​	Caraaroma (Weyermann) (350.7 EBC)​	5.7 %​
8.00 g​	Hallertau Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 45.0 min​	22.7 IBUs​
20.00 g​	Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) [15.50 %] - Boil 12.0 min​	28.7 IBUs​
20.00 g​	Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) [15.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 10.0 min, 90.2 C​	12.4 IBUs​
20.00 g​	Summit [17.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 10.0 min, 90.2 C​	13.6 IBUs​
1.0 pkg​	Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml]​	-​

have a brown ale mashing right now will post that one up in a bit. also will be bottling up my german porter that's been sitting in the fermenter for 50 days. it tastes really good right now.

 

[Pennine]

tasting notes 170 - Strawberry Lemon Saison
6.1% abv - 1.052-1.006 - 35 ibus

pours a bit hazy, quite bubbly has a really nice white head. effervescent in the glass.
aroma is a strong rhubarb, lemon zest, pepper and a very slight strawberry and cracker in the background.
taste is a lemonade, with some sour. morphs into a bit of orange and kiwi and has a nice pepper kick in back end. very light mouthfeel a bit sweet but definitely flavorful, fades quickly to nice citrus pith bitterness, maybe a bit too bitter at the end for this one. surprised at how little malt i am getting in this one, could just be overwhelmed by the fruity esters. its there but super faint and like a baguette.

really good saison, the rhubarb & lemon zest tea really added a neat dimension to this one. i am also very happy with m29 has a great strong peppery note that i don't get from b134 or belle saison. i will probably try this again and drop any bittering hop in the early boil and only have late hop additions. i think saison's are a great variety to only do fruity hops in the whirlpool like a neipa. when it gets hot one of these weekends i will try this recipe with some citra and el dorado in the whirlpool and no fruit additions.

 

[Pennine]

178 - Texas Brown Ale
11l batch - 1.058/1.014 - mash 67c

2.20 kg​	Pale Ale, Golden Promise®™ (Simpsons) (5.0 EBC)​	80.0 %​
0.15 kg​	Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC)​	5.5 %​
0.10 kg​	Brown Malt (Simpsons) (515.0 EBC)​	3.6 %​
0.10 kg​	Caraaroma (Weyermann) (350.7 EBC)​	3.6 %​
0.10 kg​	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (Muntons) (118.2 EBC)​	3.6 %​
0.10 kg​	Smoked Brown Malt (300.0 EBC)​	3.6 %​
10.00 g​	Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) [15.50 %] - First Wort 45.0 min​	33.5 IBUs​
20.00 g​	Sladek [6.4 %] - Boil 12.0 min​	11.5 IBUs​
1.0 pkg​	American West Coast Ale (Lallemand/Danstar #BRY-97)​	-​

i have been thinking about a nice hoppy brown ale for a couple of weeks. and since i was bottling my german porter i skipped over the stout i have been planning. i also wanted to use a little more of my home roasted brown malt to try to get a good understanding of it. i have been really digging caraaroma as well in darker beers. i used up some us05 cake i had from the el dorado single hop ipa i made. i am still stunned at how much el dorado smells like cherry candy, but the aroma of that yeast cake was just out of this world. i am actually thinking about dry hopping a stout with it to get some cherry chocolate goodness. sounds like a good next beer.

 

[Pennine]

tasting notes 166 - Hoppy Marzen
6.3% abv - 1.060-1.012 - 50 ibus

the idea behind this beer was to give belma a try, a hop i had not heard of before but was supposedly to give nice strawberry aromas. never tried a hoppier type of marzen but after some luck with a previous ipl and hoppy pils figured why not.

pours a nice copper, mostly clear with a bit of chill haze. head is light and falls fast but leaves legs on the glass.

the aroma is the difficult, i described it like wet paint before and it still has a hint of that, almost latex like smell, that changes to a nice strawberry a bready malt.

the flavor is also challenging, its quite fruity up front, citrus and strawberry, a bit tart and blatantly hoppy bitter, not the easy going magnum like bittering but a mouth puckering, astringent bitter. 50 ibu's seem low on this one. carbonation wise its perfect and underneath the massive hops there is a really nice crisp bready malt that makes me think this would be a kick ass fest bier with a small magnum bittering charge. too bad.

overall its not really good, super unique and a great exploration of a hop i have not tried before. in the future i would only use belma as a whirlpool or dry hop. the bitterness is just too harsh.

 

[Pennine]

Might double up a brew day tomorrow. After bottling the German porter I left the yeast in the fermenter and I have this amazing pellicle. Thinking about doing a Chimay blue clone on this? Hmm

 

[Pennine]

179 - 2020 Double IPA
19l batch - 1.079/1.014 - mash 65c

trying to use up some spare ingredients hence the complicated malt and hop bill. i was going to use sugar to dry it out but pre-boil gravity was already higher than expected. haven't made a double ipa in a while hopefully this one is good.

5.50 kg​	Hook Head Pale (5.0 EBC)​	71.4 %​
0.75 kg​	Pale Ale, Golden Promise®™ (Simpsons) (5.0 EBC)​	9.7 %​
0.50 kg​	BEST Munich (BESTMALZ) (15.0 EBC)​	6.5 %​
0.40 kg​	Carabelge (39.4 EBC)​	5.2 %​
0.25 kg​	BEST Pilsen Malt (BESTMALZ) (3.5 EBC)​	3.2 %​
40.00 g​	Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) [15.50 %] - Boil 45.0 min​	61.6 IBUs​
50.00 g​	Citra [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 20.0 min, 80.0 C​	9.0 IBUs​
30.00 g​	Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) [15.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 20.0 min, 80.0 C​	7.0 IBUs​
20.00 g​	CF169 (Mozart) [8.69 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 20.0 min, 80.0 C​	2.4 IBUs​
1.0 pkg​	Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml]​	-​
50.00 g​	Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days​	0.0 IBUs​
50.00 g​	El Dorado [15.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days​	0.0 IBUs​
30.00 g​	Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) [15.50 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days​	0.0 IBUs​
30.00 g​	Summit [17.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days​	0.0 IBUs​

 

[Pennine]

180 - Oud Bruin Lager
10l batch - 1.070/1.010 - mash 65c

wanted to take advantage of the yeas cake from the german porter so brewed up another bacth today. ended up stretching over about 8 hours and somehow majorly under **** my mash pH at 4.8. figured it was a sour beer and hopefully it won't matter too much. the yeast usually take care of everything. i had a chimay blue the other day and was surprised how much i enjoyed it, which oddly enough was one of my first trappist beers i have ever had, a long long while ago. even though its not sour i thought it would mesh really well with some funk and the recipes between an oud bruin and dubbel are pretty similar. i also figure the brett has the equivalent of a whole pack now building up in the yeast cake.

2.50 kg​	Hook Head Pale (5.0 EBC)​	81.3 %​
0.12 kg​	Wheat Malt, Bel (3.9 EBC)​	4.1 %​
0.10 kg​	Caraaroma (256.1 EBC)​	3.3 %​
0.10 kg​	Caramunich I (Weyermann) (100.5 EBC)​	3.3 %​
0.05 kg​	BEST Acidulated (BESTMALZ) (6.0 EBC)​	1.6 %​
10.00 g​	Hallertau Magnum [12.00 %] - First Wort 90.0 min​	28.0 IBUs​
0.10 kg​	Candi Sugar, Amber [Boil] (180.0 EBC)​	3.3 %​
0.10 kg​	Candi Sugar, Dark [Boil] (900.0 EBC)​	3.3 %​
20.00 g​	Tettnang [4.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min​	11.1 IBUs​
1.0 pkg​	Bohemian Lager (Mangrove Jack's #M84)​	-​
1.0 pkg​	Brettanomyces Bruxellensis (Omega #OYL-202)​	-​