Two Row & Columbus SMaSH

Mmm, yeasty.

The second entry in my 'Getting Smashed' series is a Two Row and Columbus SMaSH. I'm pretty familiar already with what two-row can/can't do for lightness, flavor, and malt presence, but I decided to brew this one just to have a 'control' beer against which we can judge the others. Not the most exciting recipe in the world but dammit, we're collecting data for science! Well, I do get to make a yeast starter from the left over US-05 from last batch. So that's cool.

Recipe Notes
Style: Pale Ale

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: 3 SRM
Target Bitterness: 38 IBU
Target OG: 1.040

Grist
8 lb. Two Row

0.5 oz. Columbus 15.6% (FWH)
1 tsp. Irish Most (15 min.)

0.5 oz. Columbus 15.6% (5 min.)

1.0 oz. Columbus 15.6% (30 min Hop Stand)

1.0 oz. Columbus 15.6% (Dry Hop 5 days)

1L Yeast starter of 2nd generation US-05 slurry

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 4/26/15
Mash Temp: 151F
Mash Time: 60 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 5.25 gal
Measured OG: 1.042
Brewhouse Efficiency: 76%

Made a 1L yeast starter the night before. Started by measuring 100g Pilsnen DME into 800ml of water. Boiled for 10 minutes which is tough in an Erlenmeyer flask. Added 200ml of yeast slurry to reach the final 1L volume. Tried using stir plate but it's a weak piece of crap and the stir bar would stop moving after I left it for five minutes. Periodically agitated and aerated the starter.

After boil chilled to 170 for a 30 minute hop stand. Spent most of the hop stand at 165. Next time stop chilling at 175 to hit 170. Added hop stand hops immediately after flame out. They steeped during the two minute chill from boiling to 170. Chilled wort to 70F and poured through grain bag to collect hop material. Collected 4.5 gallons of 1.049 wort at 68F. Added 3/4 gal. of tap water to hit 5.25 gal. of 1.042 wort. Decanted beer from top of yeast starter and pitched yeast. Added gravity sample to flask, swished it around and pitch the remainder of the flask. Aerated by shaking 100 times.

Five hour brew day exactly with 30 minute hop stand.

Update 4/29/15 - Gravity reading is 1.007 already. Attributing to use of harvested yeast and yeast starter. Mashed two degrees lower but I've never really seen that have an effect before. Tastes smooth and buttery. I don't know exactly what diacetyl tastes like but maybe this is it. Probably let this go a week in primary instead of five days like the first SMaSH just to be sure this is cleaned up.

Update 5/2/15 - Racked to secondary. Gravity is 1.006. Decided to keep the yeast train going and with another yeast harvest. This time added a gallon of water to the fermenter before swirling around. Let the fermenter sit for ten minutes and poured 3/4 gal off the top into a one gallon jug. By adding more water I'm seeing much better stratification between beer, yeast, and trub. The image to the right is after letting the jug sit for 20 minutes. I'll wait 30 minutes total and decant into two pint size mason jars. This will be the 3rd generation of this US-05 yeast.

Update 5/5/15 - Dry hopped with 1 oz. of Columbus

Update 5/7/15 - Sample is very hoppy. A little bit of the 'dank' kind of hoppy I'm looking for. Gravity remains at 1.006.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.006
Attenuation: 86% (That seems high...)
ABV: 4.7%
Calories: 136 per 12oz.
Carbonation: 2.5 volumes (After force carbonating)

Update 5/11/15 - Kegged today. Doing the trick where I set it at 30 psi for 48 hours. Drinks clean but has a very noticeable 'back of the throat' bitterness that tastes like I swallowed lupulin powder.

Vienna & Columbus SMaSH

It's all about malt

This brew marks the beginning of a malt experiment that I'm calling my 'Getting Smashed' series. I intend to make the same SMaSH beer seven times with seven different base malts to hopefully acquire a taste for what each base malt brings to the game. The seven malts I have lined up are...

• Pale (2-row)
• Pale Ale
• Pilsner
• Maris Otter
• Golden Promise
• Vienna
• Light Munich

Today I'll be starting with Vienna malt. I chose to use Columbus hops for this experiment for a couple of reasons. First because I'm not that familiar with them but am excited to learn about their 'dank' contribution. Second, they're a very efficient bittering hop at 15.6% alpha so it keeps the cost down and minimizes the amount of plant matter in a 60 minute boil.

Recipe Notes
Style: Pale Ale

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: 6.2 SRM
Target Bitterness: 38 IBU
Target OG: 1.040

Grist
8 lb. Vienna Malt

0.5 oz. Columbus 15.6% (FWH)
1 tsp. Irish Most (15 min.)

0.5 oz. Columbus 15.6% (5 min.)

1.0 oz. Columbus 15.6% (30 min Hop Stand)

1.0 oz. Columbus 15.6% (Dry Hop 5 days)

Safale US-05

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 4/19/15
Mash Temp: 153F
Mash Time: 75 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 5.2 gal
Measured OG: 1.042
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%

Brewed outside today because it was one of those rare spring-summer days in DC that are warm and sunny but not boiling lava hot. Everything went swimmingly. After the boil reduced wort temp to 170 for a 30 minute hop stand at sub-isomerization temps. Cooled and collected 4.5 gal. of 1.048 wort. Diluted to 5.2 gal. of 1.042 but the gravity's still slightly higher than I was aiming for. Efficiency for this batch is 5 points higher than normal. Julie brewed last weekend and experienced the same thing but had >80% efficiency. Something magic in the spring air?

Update 4/24/15 - Measured SG of 1.009. Fermented only five days and already moving to secondary. Despite this being a malt experiment I added 1.0 oz of Columbus in a hop bag for some sweet aromas. Washed the yeast and saved two pint jars of slurry.

Collected slurry

20 min. settling time. No visible yeast-trub separation.

Before refridgeration

After 1 day of refrigeration

Update 4/29/15 - Sample tastes a little like melon and butter. Can't decide whether to keg this now or let it go another couple of days on dry hops. EDIT: Kegged today in a partial experiment to see what kegging a beer this young is like. After cruising some brewing forums it doesn't seem too extreme, especially with the 5 day dry hopping in secondary. Pressurized to 30 psi in my first attempt at speed carbonating. Too many experiments at one time? Probably. But there's so much I want to try out. Will let sit for 48 hours then reduce to serving pressure and see how that speeds things up.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.008
Attenuation: 81%
ABV: 4.5%
Calories: 137 per 12oz.
Carbonation: 2.5 volumes (After force carbonating)

Update 4/30/15 - Yesterday when force carbonating I set the pressure at 30 psi for that keg then disconnected it and set the rest of the manifold back to serving pressure. This was probably a bad idea because when I pulled a sample today it was not coming out 'vigorously' at all. When I hooked it back up at 30psi there was definite audible pressure equalizing. So now I'm keeping 30 psi on this keg for 48 hours and disconnecting the others. That's probably the right way to do it.

Update 5/16/15 - This brew acquired a bit of a diacetyl problem that went undetected while kegging. I'd never smelled or tasted diacetyl before but based on the descriptions I read this batch definitely has it. As an experiment in diacetyl reduction I pulled the keg out of the keezer and let it warm up to 70F. Then I top cropped my Maris Otter SMaSH during high krausen and pitched it into the keg. Stirred it around with my sanitized brew spoon. Excited to see if the krausening thing can help w/the diacetyl.

5/17/15 - Keg is at 78F. Sample has a lower diacetyl taste but may be harder to pick out when it's warm. I'll be leaving this for a few days to see what happens.

5/19/15 - Don't taste much diacetyl at all any more! Leaving for two more days just to be sure then chilling and carbing.

5/22/15 - After six days of krausen help and warm temperatures I can no longer detect what I believed to be diacetyl. Great news! Put it back in the keezer and started carbing. There's a bunch of crap at the bottom of the keg now. Will wait a few days for it to settle then hopefully just pour it off.