Loral-Hopped Funky Saison

From the breeder who brought us Citra and Mosaic... now comes Loral (HBC 291)! It's amazing and weird that we've gotten to the point where hop breeders are being hyped! With a family tree that includes Glacier and Nugget, I'm glad Loral isn't pushing the tropical, melon, and fruit-punch flavors so many new varieties exhibit. It is nice to have a bit more subtlety in beers where some herbal, spicy, and (f)loral, flavors enhance a characterful yeast.

I fluctuate between using new ingredients in simple and complex recipes. Is it better to evaluate a hop against a blank canvas, or blended with complementary flavors? I decided to put the sample of Loral (courtesy of Yakima Valley Hops) to work in a saison fermented with my house culture (started two years ago as a blend of two saison strains, a wild Saccharomyces, and Lambic-sourced Brettanomyces). A couple months ago I sent slurry to Jeff Mello at Bootleg Biology for isolation and propagation. I've got a couple test batches showing promise with a prospective blend, hoping for a release early 2017!

The base for is maltier than I usually aim for in a saison that isn't roasty. Munich and Golden Naked Oats contribute a richer base more appropriate for the fall hopefully without being too distracting from the hops and yeast.

Twenty minutes into the boil I cast-out half of the un-hopped wort for a gose with smoked sea salt, fermented with the Lactic-culture from Right Proper Brewing Co. (harvested from my quinoa-grapefruit beer). I'll tap that once the saison kicks, freeing my kegerator's lone sour tap.

Loral Funky Saison Tasting

Smell – Really bright fruit aroma (pear and generic citrus). There is a deeper herbal-hop and honey complexity rarely found in “new” American varieties - reminiscent of Sterling or Crystal, but more potent. Pleasant interplay between the mildly phenolic yeast, earthy Brett, and the bright hops.

Appearance – Golden body with a slight haze still after a month on tap. Nice long-lasting tight white head. Good looking saison!

Taste – Tame peppery yeast to start. Mid-palate is fresh orange-lemon, faint tartness. Pleasing balance of present bitterness and lively acidity. The golden naked oats and Munich add a toasty flavor in the finish as it warms that is walking the line on distracting given the dryness.

Mouthfeel – Carbonation is a little low, always a trick when you run three beers off of one regulator. The oats make it a little fuller than previous hoppy house saisons despite the low final gravity.

Drinkability & Notes – A more subdued (less bitter/aromatic) riff on the hoppy saisons I've fermented with this culture. Loral is a good choice for a modern saison. Fruity without dominating, and adding some traditionally European attributes. In the same family with Crystal (which I also enjoy in saison).

Changes for Next Time – To mellow the toastiness, I’d walk the GNO back under 5% (where I've had good results for saisons before) and the Munich to 20%. Plus a bit more carbonation. Otherwise really nice! I could see Loral working in a hoppy pale later, or even a dry hopped sour!

Recipe

Batch Size: 6.0 gal
SRM: 5.3
IBU: 23.9
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.005
ABV: 6.3%
Brewhouse Efficiency: 74%
Boil Time: 40 min

Grain
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65.9 % - 7.5 lbs Dingemans Pilsen
27.5 % - 3.13 lbs Weyermann Munich I
6.6 % - .75 lbs Simpsons Golden Naked Oats

Mash
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Saccharification - 30 min @ 152 F

Hops
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2.00 oz Loral (Pellet, 9.2% AA) @ 20 min
2.00 oz Loral (Pellet, 9.2% AA) @ Whilrpool/Hop-Stand: 20 min
2.00 oz Loral (Pellet, 9.2% AA) @ Primary Dry Hop

Other
-------
0.50 Whirlfloc Tablet @ 5 min

Yeast
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House Brett Saison Blend

Notes
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Brewed 10/10/16

Malt/water adjusted to make a single beer (i.e., saison recipe can be brewed as is). Half of wort was diverted pre-hopping for a gose.

Filtered DC tap water dosed with 2 g of gypsum and 1.5 g of calcium chloride pre-mash.

Chilled to 75F with plate chiller, pitched House Brett Saison stepped up to 1 L on a stir-plate 24 hours prior. Splashing aeration only.

10/23/16 Dry hopped in primary, loose.

11/12/16 Kegged, better late than never. No extra dry hops. Harvested a bottle of house culture. FG = 1.005.

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Quick Sour, then what? Acid Tolerance of Brewer’s Yeast

December 2016 is a rare "double" BYO issue for my writing, including a feature on hoppy sours that is available on their website for free! The Advanced Brewing article digs into the pitfalls and mitigation strategies for fermenting with brewer’s yeast after kettle souring or sour mashing. You’ll have to read the article for all of the science and suggestions, but I wanted to relate the experiment I performed for it. My BYO articles usually aren't repeated here, but one of the rows of the results was omitted during editing, so I wanted to make it available.

A couple months ago I brewed 10 gallons of wort that fell somewhere between schwarzbier, dunkel, and bock (92% Weyermann Floor-Malted Bohemian Dark, 4% Weyermann CaraMunich II, and 4% Briess Blackprinz mashed at 158F to 1.058). I fermented half with 34/70 slurry harvested from my first LoDO Pilsner in an attempt to create a schwarzdunkelbock. The result was wonderfully bready-malty with a smooth chocolate-roast. It was so good in fact that I didn’t get around to taking formal tasting notes before it kicked… conversely I recently dumped the last couple gallons of that Pilsner.

I took the remaining 4.5 gallons of wort and split it nine-ways. The first three were left as is, with a typical post-boil pH of 5.10. I then added 88% lactic acid to the remainder to reach 3.54, a typical pH for a tart gose. After running out three more, I continued to add lactic acid to lower the remaining 1.5 gallons to a tongue-assaulting pH of 2.99 (close to as sour as any beer). I took one of each acidity trio and pitched WLP001 California Ale, WLP007 Dry English Ale, and WLP566 Belgian Saison II. For each jug I added 2 tsp of slurry directly from fresh White Labs pouches. This is a considerable over-pitch for .5 gallon, but I wanted to give each yeast their best chance without starters or pH acclimatization.

I took gravity readings along the way to judge how rapidly the yeast were attenuating. As you can see, for the most part, regardless of the strain the lower the pH the slower fermentation progressed. The final gravities were also affected by the high acidity. Dosing with lactic acid isn’t a preferred method for making sour beer (as you can see from the tasting notes), but clearly some strains performed better than others.

WLP001 (California Ale) (73–80% AA) at 65 °F (18 °C)

Initial  pH	AA% Day 2	AA% Day 6	AA% Day 11	Final  pH	Tasting Notes
5.10	57%	67%	71%	4.00	Clean, crisp, slightly fruity
3.54	52%	67%	69%	3.48	Tart, cocoa, estery-fusel
2.99	34%	60%	64%	3.00	Sour, strong fusel, chemical

WLP007 (Dry English Ale) (70–80% AA) at 65 °F (18 °C)

Initial  pH	AA% Day 2	AA% Day 6	AA% Day 11	Final  pH	Tasting Notes
5.10	62%	67%	67%	4.31	Englishy, malty, clean
3.54	64%	66%	67%	3.54	Oud bruin, malty-sweet, tart
2.99	48%	62%	62%	3.01	Sour, rubber, aged-out, light diacetyl

WLP566 (Belgian Saison II) (78–85% AA) at 75 °F (24 °C)

Initial  pH	AA% Day 2	AA% Day 6	AA% Day 11	Final  pH	Tasting Notes
5.10	62%	79%	79%	4.08	Peppery, fruity-sweet (apple)
3.54	59%	76%	78%	3.46	Tart, peppery, pleasant green apple
2.99	52%	67%	69%	2.98	Sharp, clove, chemical

Hopefully this provides a few data points for those looking to produce sour beers quickly. I often follow quick souring with a 100% Brettanomyces fermentation, as it tends to be better suited to low-pH fermentations and add some of those lacking notes of interest.

2017’s BYO Advanced Brewing topics including spunding valves, how mineral profiles change with brewing, and LoDO lagers! If you want to subscribe for all of that, use this link and I get a nice kickback. Thanks to all of those who have already subscribed.

Matt: Adam with Calvados and Candi Syrup

It is interesting to drink two glasses of beer side-by-side made from wort separated 18 months ago (recipe post). In addition to the recipe differences between these two Adam-variants (maple syrup and bourbon vs. dark candi syrup and calvados) the aging and serving were also different. I recently reconnected the maple/bourbon half (tasting) to the stout/nitro tap now that the weather has cooled off. The candi/calvados half has been aged at cellar temperature in bottles. The maple half is cleaner, with less dark fruit. Its ethanol is also more up front, although it is also a somewhat stronger beer.

HoTD Matt - Inspired

Smell – Interesting blend of dark fruit and earthy smoke. Much less direct than the maple-bourbon. The smoke melds in with dried fruit, caramel, and aged maltiness.

Appearance – Dark russet, amber crema. Head falls relatively quickly. Good clarity when held at an angle to the light.

Taste – Sticky, reads sweeter than the maple (less simple sugar and liquor to dilute the malt). Saturated with dark fruit, dates especially. The malt is rich, caramel and cocoa powder. No apple specifically, but a nice baked fruitiness. Finishes pleasant campfire singe.

Mouthfeel – Full, but the medium carbonation is a bit disruptive, more than I’d prefer.

Drinkability & Notes – Warmer aging and lower alcohol have resulted in a beer that has aged faster and perhaps peaked younger. The smoke, intense malt, and fruit-brandy blend into a unique combination I haven’t tasted before. This beer is based on a German style as brewed by an American brewery with Scottish yeast and malt, infused with Belgian candi syrup and French apple brandy... a real mutt!

Changes for Next Time – Clean up my bottling process… given that approximately one in three bottles have picked up a mild Brett character. Otherwise the "clean" bottles are what I wanted them to be! Still haven't had the beer that inspired it, Hair of the Dog's Matt, so can't judge how close I came.

Bonus Quick Tasting: Hoppy Halloween Adam
Before flying back to DC after a couple days in Fargo, ND for Hoppy Halloween 2015, I stopped by a brew day a few local homebrewers were having at Eric Sanders' house. They were brewing a 20 gallon batch of Adambier, so I brought along the last bottles of my original and "authentic" batches. When I bumped Tom Roan (the guy who had coordinated the whole thing) at NHC in Baltimore, he handed me a couple bottles of that batch (plus one of his delicious wheat wine)! Finally getting around to drinking one now that a rich smoky malty beer sounds good!

The results are really pleasant, good balance of intense-malt and apparent smoke. Dark fruit is more subdued than mine. The result is somewhere between my more and less authentic batches. Interested to try a sample of the version they fermented with Roeselare some day!

OG: 1.094
IBU: 42
SRM: 32.7
Boil Time: 90 min

70.1 lbs. Munich Malt
7.5 lbs.  Dark Munich Malt
7.5 lbs.  Smoked (Bamberg)
7.5 lbs.  Torrefied Wheat
3.0 lbs.  Thomas Fawcett Pale Chocolate
1.5 lbs.  Weyermann Carafa Special III
1.5 lbs.  Weyermann Caramunich II
1.5 lbs.  Dark Crystal

Hops:
Magnum Pellet to 42.0 IBU - First Wort

Yeast:
Wyeast German Ale 1007