Distillers Branching Out

I spotted this beer a number of weeks ago in the off license beside where I work, but passed up the opportunity to purchase it on a number of occasions mainly I suppose because of its expense and hefty ABV. I just wasn't in the mood for a heavy beer, and besides this establishment was knocking out the mighty tasty Brooklyn Lager a two quid a pop, so I loaded up on that because it is one of my favourite session lagers.

It is grandly dubbed 'Tullibardine 1488, Majestic Whisky Ale', and is brewed in the Tullibardine distillery, which is interesting to me because I am not aware of any other distilleries that have branched out into brewing beer. Sure, there are any number of breweries that have pilfered whisky and bourbon barrels from distilleries and stuffed their beer in them for a few months, but it's unusual for a distiller to bother himself with brewing beer. In some respects it's not that big a step, after all, the distiller has all the malt he needs, understands how to conduct a mash and handles yeast with skill. All he need do is get a kettle to boil in, purchase some hops and grab a brewing strain of yeast that won't over attenuate the wort (or wash, as distillers call it). I imagine there are any number of vessels lying about the place suitable for fermenting in, and of course he has a ready supply of fragrant whisky barrels.

Having studied a bit about the chemistry of whisky maturation I can see what these guys are driving at. Whisky casks must be made of oak, and usually stem from either Spain where they matured sherry in a previous life, or North America where they did their bit for Jack Daniels or Jim Beam before being bought up by Scottish distillers to mature their wonderful single malts. This goes a long way to explaining why typical North American bourbon is as rough as old boots compared to Scotch. While bourbon is not made from high quality malted barley - and this certainly affects the flavour, the raw woody aromas stem from the first time use of the charred oak barrel. The spirit is put in the barrel for a few years, and the ethanol extracts all manner of interesting compounds like tannins and lactones from the charred wood. Only once this process has occurred is the barrel suitable for the long maturation of Scotch whisky. Many of the rough elements are extracted by the bourbon leaving a more subtle and smoother flavour in the Scottish product. For some of the very flavourful and heavy single malt whiskies old sherry casks are used which are impregnated with potent flavour compounds derived from sherry maturation. During whisky maturation the spirit is often a 60% ABV and readily extracts compounds from the wood, so perhaps the hefty 7% ABV of this beer is intended as a means of getting a bit more character from the beleaguered oak barrels.

The beer itself is the colour of a rich single malt whisky, but the whisky character is not that pronounced; wine seems to be the dominant flavour suggesting that old sherry casks were used to mature the whisky that occupied the casks before the beer. The alcohol content is evident, with a satisfying warmth all the way down the throat. It perhaps resembles whisky more in this respect than any reference to flavour. There is little in the way of hop bitterness, and just enough malt to hold it all together. Interestingly, there is also a distinct lactic tang which likely stems from micro fauna in the cask, but how well bacteria can live in a cask filled with whisky is something I am unsure off. It is a light bodied beer for its alcohol content, and initially feels a little like a Belgian triple, but the over all impression is tart and refreshing, which is surprising for such a strong beer.

Go forth and Flocculate

This is the first of the technical posts I warned you about. Depending on the depth of your geekery you will either stop reading very shortly indeed, or lap up the wonderful information I am about to pour forth with.

I read up on flocculation recently in order to write an assignment for my brewing course and learned a number of interesting things in the process. I knew little of the mechanism of yeast flocculation, and was interested to learn that it appears to one of those things that is of little use to the yeast themselves, but crucial to the production of the beer we all love so much. First of all, flocculation was mistakenly attributed to individual yeast cells merely falling from suspension under the action of gravity and collecting in a smelly mass at the bottom of the fermenter. Studies have shown that flocculation actually involves complex interaction between groups of cells that clump together at very specific times in the fermentation cycle. Usually this is during the stationary phase of yeast growth when they have carried out the sterling work of transforming the sugars into ethanol.

In order to understand why the yeast decide to flocculate during this phase of fermentation we must turn to the yeast cell wall and look at the manner in which the cells stick together. The current thinking in yeast studies refers to the 'lectin theory of flocculation'. Lectins are long chain like molecules that stick out from the cell and bind to receptors on neighbouring cells. The receptors are also binding points for sugars, which wort is awash with. This is why most yeast strains will not flocculate before all the sugars are gone; the receptors are tied up with sugars and the long lectin molecules cannot gain access and hook up with the neighbouring cell. From a practical point of view this might explain why that beer you want for the stag night next weekend is refusing to clear; there is just too much priming sugar floating around and the yeast hasn't managed to get through it all yet.

Further practical issues with flocculation involve either premature flocculation, or a stubborn refusal to flocculate at all. Flocculation too early in the fermentation process results in under attenuation of the beer, with resultant alteration to expected character through excess residual extract and drop in ABV. Refusal to flocculate causes over attenuation, and a hazy beer if you're a home brewer, or a massive load on the filtration system if you are a commercial brewer.

There are a number of ways to reduce possible problems with flocculation, the most obvious of which is to avoid those strains of yeast that are known to hang about longer in the beer than is perhaps useful, or drop like a stone at the first opportunity. Certain beer styles require very specific flocculation characteristics to achieve distinctive flavour and body. The strain used by Fuller's for their ESB comes to mind because it flocculates very readily, and this gives the familiar full body caused by high residual extract.

A further way to maintain expected flocculation patterns is to ensure there is sufficient calcium present in the wort. Calcium is absolutely critical for all flocculation as well as mashing and break production, so add it to the brewing liquor if it's in short supply.

It's all gone

Last night I sadly emptied the barrel of a golden ale I brewed on St. Stephen's Day. I have got in the habit of putting half a brew in a 10 litre pressure barrel, and bottling the remainder. This provides me with a nice sized barrel that sits in my beer fridge at a tasty 12 degrees C. I was particularly happy with this ale not only because it tasted great but also because it looked the business too. It is without doubt the best looking beer I have produced, and so happy am I with the way it looks I allow it to grace the left hand side of my blog.

When I put the recipe together for this beer I anticipated a golden colour having used only pale malt and cara pils. However I expected all my efforts to be scuppered by my choice of yeast. I opted for US 05 along with oodles of cascade in the hope of producing an American type pale ale, but was aware in the back of mind that US 05 really doesn't like flocculating all that much and it could be quite some time before the beer achieved the golden clarity I hoped for, if it achieved it at all, because chill haze was another concern. Anyway, everything came together and the result was a gloriously deep golden brew with zingy citrus notes and strong malt profile. It's gone now save for a few bottles, but I think I'll venture down the route of assertive golden ales again not only because they look so tasty, but also because the commercial offerings of golden ale are so damn listless.

During the summer I received delivery of the CAMRA Club's beer selection only to discover is was awash with bland and gassy golden ales. I imagine they were a reflection of British brewers attempting to grab some of the lager market with lighter beers. I don't want to be quick to criticise because getting a foothold in any beer market for microbreweries is tough, so they might have no choice in the matter. I can't say I won't buy another commercial golden ale because any new craft beer turning up on the Irish market is a wonderful thing, and if I see something interesting in the off license I will buy it just to have the exciting experience of tasting a new beer.

Centennial Ale

My cycling endeavours went well yesterday, if a little tiring because while it is true I put my bike away for the winter, I neglected to mention that in was in fact the winter of 2005. As a result I brewed today with sore thighs and an aching arse. Still, at least I don't sit down much during the average brew day.

For today's brew I opted for:

4.2 kg Maris Otter
400g 75 EBC crystal malt

20g Galena 60 mins
16g Centennial 20 mins
16g Centennial 10 mins
16g Centennial 0 mins

Saf 05

I ended up with an OG of 1.045, which was bang on the money, and my newly purchased refractometer made it all the easier to keep track of the runnings and boil off rate.
I intended to use solely Centennial for this beer to get an idea of what it brings to the show, but with the shortage of aroma hops, and the measly 100 gram bags of pellets I had in stock, I decided to fall on the ever faithful bittering power of Galena. This hop is one of the most potent smelling hops I have come across, and just love opening the pack when the pungent raw hoppiness slaps you in the face. It is not a subtle hop at all, and I have heard of using Galena for aroma, but it seems a little resinous to me and think I'll stick with the tried and tested aroma hops for now.

This was my first time using pellets, and straight off can see how brewers who use pellets exclusively can pack way more hop flavour and character into their beer. I used a hop sock to take care of the debris from the pellets, which I assume were type 90 and was glad I did this because there was no way my dodgy hop back like filtering system could have dealt with the tiny fragments. This is an aspect of my set up I would like to change, and adding a tap to my kettle or investing in a fancy one from the USA should take care of it.

I took advantage of all my brewing kit being out and having sanitising solution sloshing around the place by bottling/kegging a bitter I'd had in secondary for a week. I put half in a 10 litre pressure barrel which is bound for a stag night in week or so, and bottled the rest for my own consumption and that of my guinea pig friends and family.

I'd eased back somewhat on the hops in this one in the hope that it might have a more substantial malt profile and it appears to have worked. I hopped with First Gold, a hop I was eager to try because I had heard good things about it, but the only commercial beer featuring this hop to any great degree is Badger's First Gold, which was way too gassy to enjoy and the hops were lost on me. Hopefully this bitter will provide a clearer insight into the flavour profile this hop brings to a beer.

John Waters would be horrified

I didn't realise setting up a blog was quite this simple. I might have attempted before now had I known, but I didn't have anything to say then, and have little to say now, but this doesn't appear to a stumbling block with some of the blogs I have perused.

I suppose my first post should be about beer or brewing, but it's not because the sun is shining outside for first time in months, and I feel the urge to dust down my bike after its winter hibernation and go for a cycle, rather than brew some beer, which is what I would usually do when I have a day off work. Happily I am off work tomorrow also, so I will put together that APA tomorrow which I plan to hop entirely with Centennial. I feel a little bad about it because I got those hops shipped all the way from Oz, which doesn't strike me as a particularly environmentally friendly way of sourcing ingredients. But deep down I'm sure I don't really care at all.