Garage Session #1

For those of us who are short on time, a quick brew day is a necessity. This summer I moved and between moving into the new house and trying to get everything unpacked I did not have much time to brew. Let alone, make a blog entry. This entry has taken longer than I had hoped for, but at last we are back with a new brew. One of the days while I was working in the new garage I decided to make a quick brew day while I was unpacking and putting stuff away. In order to keep things as simple as possible I made session ale. It was a little drier than most of my pale ales, and so drinks a little bit more like a session ipa. I was looking for something to come in around 5% and be on the dryer side for a crisp clean late summer beer. A Garage Session Ale.


For grains I went with a straight-forward malt bill that would give a light malty, bready character without being out of balance with the hops. I really do enjoy the taste of Vienna malt, as I think it brings just a touch of that toast character to that I enjoy.

Amount	Fermentable	PPG	°L	Bill %
7 lb	American - Pale 2-Row	37	1.8	77.8%
1.5 lb	American - Vienna	35	4	16.7%
0.5 lb	German - Acidulated Malt	27	3.4	5.6%
9 lb	Total

I used RO water and added brewing salts in the mash to hit a light and hoppy water profile.

Since I was pressed for time I decided on doing a 30 minute mash, and a 30 minute boil. Due to some timing issues I did end up mashing for 35 minutes. In order to get the most bang for my buck, I also decided to mash hop and first wort hop. This was something that I had never done before. Mash hopping does not give much in the way of IBU but it is supposed to help with boil stability. At least in this one brew day I did not have to use any boil stabilizers, so it seemed to work.


 I mashed in at 152 degrees Fahrenheit, added .5 oz of Idaho Gem into the mash, stirring twice in 35 minutes. Mashed out and collected 6 gallons of wort to boil. In order to save time, I fired up the burner as I began collecting wort into the kettle. I also added another .25oz of Idaho Gem at this time.

During the boil I added 1oz of Idaho Gem into the boil with minutes left, dropped in my hydra and yeast nutrient with 10 minutes left. At Knockout I added .5oz of Idaho Gem, cooled to 90 degrees and pitched in half a package of Imperial Loki.


24 hours into fermentation the original gravity had dropped from 1.046 to 1.011 so I added 2 oz of Idaho Gem, let it go for another two days and added a second small .5oz dry hop of Idaho Gem.  After four days my Tilt had indicated that fermentation was complete with a final gravity of 1.007 so I crashed the fermenter, waited two more days and kegged. I carbonated at 30psi for about 36 hours, reduced to 10 psi for serving and let the beer condition for two more days before I had some buddies over to try it.

Amount	Variety	Type	AA	Use	Time	IBU	Bill %
0.5 oz	Idaho Gem	Pellet	12.1	Mash		5.62	10.5%
0.25 oz	Idaho Gem	Pellet	12.1	First Wort		10.83	5.3%
1 oz	Idaho Gem	Pellet	12.1	Boil	15 min	25.44	21.1%
0.5 oz	Idaho Gem	Pellet	12.1	Boil	1 min	1.11	10.5%
2 oz	Idaho Gem	Pellet	12.1	Dry Hop	1 days		42.2%
0.5 oz	Idaho Gem	Pellet	12.1	Dry Hop	2 days		10.5%

Appearance

This beer came out a nice light golden color. Amazing head retention with thick white foam. Unfortunately, while I was making the beer I forgot to add the whirlfloc tablets and the beer does have some chill haze. If you let it sit and warm up a bit it ends up being clear and you can see the newspaper right through it.


Aroma

The nose on this beer ended up being piney with a subtle note of citrus. This was the first time I have used Idaho Gem and I wasn’t sure what to expect but I like it. There was a faint presence of malt on the nose but seeing as the beer finished at 1.007 that is what I would expect.


Taste & Mouthfeel

This one is crisp and refreshing. It has been perfect for working in the garage, or relaxing after a long day. Could easily be an all day crusher if you were so inclined. Before you know it, you’ve emptied your glass and need a refill.



Final Thoughts

Will definitely be making this one again, but will chance up the hop schedule. I really like keeping a good session beer on tap that is a no nonsense, clean, light-ish, satisfying pint.



Let us know what you think, and give is a follow on Instagram for more updates.

Little Mac

Sometimes we need a break from the hoppy beers and want something that is light and malty. We decided to make a style of beer that isn’t made all that often but can be extremely delicious and full flavored despite its low ABV. We were aiming at making a beer with notes of caramel, chocolate, and a full malt character while keeping the ABV around 3.5%. The recipe we came up with took first place in a local competition in the Dark British Beer Category, and took third overall in Best of Show. Little Mac, English Dark Mild.

Knowing that this beer was going to be really light on hops and would need a strong malt base with lots of character to keep people wanting to go back to it and for us to keep going back for it.

We started with a traditional pick for English beers, Maris Otter. The rich character of the Maris Otter would give the beer the full flavor we were looking for while still being a good background for the specialty malts we selected. In order to crank this up just a tad we also added about 10% Munich Dark 20L to bring a more intense malt flavor without any toasted notes.

Because this beer would only end up around 3.5% we really wanted to try and push the body as much as possible, in order to do this we added around 20% Dextrine malt to the recipe. We also added 5% flaked oats to also try and create the perception of fullness.

After creating the strong malty backbone and trying to make the beer as full bodied as possible we decided to add some more specialty malts try and give the beer notes of chocolate and caramel. As a result we decided to go with about 10% Caramel 120L and 10% Chocolate malt.

All together the malt recipe ended up like this for a 10 Gallon Batch.

Fermentables

Amount	Fermentable	PPG	°L	Bill %
6.67 lb	United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale	38	3.75	42.1%
3.33 lb	American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt)	33	1.8	21%
1.67 lb	American - Caramel / Crystal 120L	33	120	10.5%
0.83 lb	Flaked Oats	33	2.2	5.2%
1.67 lb	American - Chocolate	29	350	10.5%
1.67 lb	American - Munich - Dark 20L	33	20	10.5%
15.84 lb	Total

After heating our strike water, we mashed in at 151 degrees Fahrenheit for 60 minutes. Mashed out, collected out wort and boiled for 60 minutes.

For the hops we decided to use Challenger Hops from the UK for just a hint of spice. We added 1.75 oz of Challenger hops in single charge at 30 minutes. This gave us around 25 IBU.

After cooling down to 63 degrees we pitched Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale Yeast. We fermented for 5 days at 63 then raised the temperature by letting it free rise to 70 degrees to finish out. The result was the beer attenuated from 1.038 to 1.010 with a final ABV of 3.6%.

Appearance

The beer pours a deep brown color with just a hint of ruby when held up to the light. It has an off-white head that lingers and leaves a nice lacing as it is consumed.

Aroma

Malt forward aroma with a good amount of coffee, dark chocolate, and caramel. Slight dark fruit esters and no hop aromas are evident.

Taste & Mouthfeel

Malt forward with a roast edge, notes of caramel and dark chocolate with almost no hop presence. The finish is dry, which helps to balance the beer out. Dark fruit esters such as figs or plums round out the finish. Carbonation is medium light, only 2.0 Volumes, which allows for all of the flavors to shine through on such a light beer in terms of ABV.

Final Thoughts

This beer has done very well for us in competitions. It has finished 1^st, and 2nd in its flight for Dark British Beers, and even taken home a third in Best of Show. It earned a Silver Certificate in the  2019 National Homebrew Competition and is one that will be in our kegs again this fall when the temperatures start to drop. Don't forget to follow s on Instagram @twoshepherdsbrewing

Dog Days of Summer

One of the most intriguing things for brewers tends to be new hop varietals. We have been intrigued by Strata hops and their supposed pungent hemp like character, so we decided to pair them with a tropical variety that we have used a lot and are quite familiar with - Galaxy. The Dog Days of Summer is lighter, crisp, pale ale designed to quench your thirst on a hot summer day. 

When we were designing this recipe we decided to try and keep this beer relatively simple in the grain bill. We added American 2 Row, Flaked Oats for body, and some Flaked Maize to bring the beer to a crisp finish. 

The Grain was as follows

8lbs of 2 Row

1lb of Flaked Oats

1lb of Flaked Maize

That was it, the beer was designed to showcase the hops and provide a clean light malt profile as a backdrop. 

We mashed in at 150 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour and let time do it's magic. After the hour was over we recirculated the wort and collected into our boil kettle. 

For a hop profile we decided to do a very small bittering charge at 60 minutes with .25oz of Simcoe Hops and a 10 minute addition of the remaining .75 oz of Simcoe. This was able to net us about 25 IBU's and give us a lighter hop bitterness. 

For the whirlpool hop we went with 2 oz of Strata Hops and 1 oz of Galaxy Hops at 160 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes. 

We boiled for 60 minutes, whirlpooled and dropped our temperature to 90 degrees to pitch our yeast. 

Which brings us to the next major variable in this brew, Loki Yeast from Imperial. We decided to use the Kveik strain and ride high on our fermentation temperature. The idea was to try and really push for those tropical esters from the yeast during fermentation. This yeast was also a beast, as it basically was fermented out from 1.046 to about 1.012 in 3 days. After 7 days we were at 1.006 and held there until 10 when we kegged our beer.

Our dry hop charges were on 2 separate days, day 3 we dropped an ounce of Strata and an ounce of Galaxy. On day 7 we did also dry hopped with an ounce of each. 

Appearance

A slightly cloudy light gold color with a long lasting white head. Retention on this beer is crazy, about 10 minutes later it still has a slight head on it. 

Aroma

One of our friends described this beer as having a "dirty pineapple" aroma. Or as they stated pineapple mixed drink. We think it has a pineapple smell but also has a dankness, which might be what they described as "dirty."  This is most likely from the Strata Hops which are supposed to give a dankness to a beer. In having a few different beers with Strata, one last night in fact, it definitely has a specific flavor and smell that other hops do not have. 

Taste & Mouthfeel

This beer is light and crisp right up front when you take a sip. It doesn't feel heavy or have any creaminess. The body is thin, but exactly what you want on a hot day. It has a nice pineapple and subtle orange flavor that finishes with a medium bitterness. 

Final Thoughts

Overall, this beer was an open door for using Strata hops for us. Most likely we will make a 100% Strata beer this summer and might have to make an update on our thoughts on the hop. This one will be in the keg for the Dog Days of Summer that are upon us. Don't forget to follow s on Instagram @twoshepherdsbrewing