Brewversity Plan: Brewing Classic Styles/Walkabout Series

[philipCT]

Saturday, I'm planning to brew the 4th in my brewversity beers. I've organized Jamil's recipe collection of Brewing Classic Beers into an order to group ingredients so I can buy 6 brews-worth at a time (same/similar grains and yeast).

My goal is to brew at least one new beer from the book every weekend for the next 46 weeks. Of course, I figure on missing one or two, but I hope to double up on one or two, and maybe once I get everything really tuned up, brew on some weekday evenings.

I've only got 20 brew sessions under my belt thus far, so I consider this to be a maturing/educational exercise, perhaps along the lines of the Walkabout practiced by aboriginal Australians. Thus, I'm dubbing this the Walkabout series.

Even at one/week over 46 weeks I'll only be halfway through the book, but who knows, as I go along, I may decide to leave out some beers that are very closely related.

Over the last few weekends, I've brewed:
-American Amber Ale
-American Brown Ale
-American IPA

on deck this weekend:
-American Pale Ale

ingredients in-house for:
-American Wheat
-American Rye

My experience so far is that I've finally got the efficiency of my system dialed in really nicely, and I'm fine-tuning my process. I'm seeing the subtle differences in ingredients that is making some pronounced differences in beer. I'm working on a 10g system but brewing 5g batches because I can neither drink nor give away fast enough to support the larger volume at the pace that I want to brew.

I'm in the Northeast, where the temps have been spectacularly cold this winter. I brew indoors on an all-electric kal-clone type system, so the weather has been perfect for brewing Especially given the 47 degree F ground water temps - perfect for chilling - it's much warmer in summer.

So far, I like the program We'll see how it goes. Anyone else done something like this?

 

[VladOfTrub]

Perhaps, by banging out so many different styles of beer so quickly, you won't learn as much.
Dialing in the process is good. Understanding how and why the process works is good, too.
I think that you will have a lot of fun and you'll create a sounding board to work from, which will help greatly.
When you blow through all of the styles of beer by using the method that you brew with. Brew them again, but use the decoction method.

 

[Teromous]

So far, I like the program We'll see how it goes. Anyone else done something like this?

Interestingly in one of Jamil's podcasts he mentions doing something similar. If I remember correctly he was asked about all the gold medals and his two Ninkasi's...then was asked what a brewer could do to achieve the same results. Jamil said something about taking time off work and burning through all the styles...I think it was like two styles a day for a couple of weeks, I don't remember the exact timeframe or if he did every style but it was an impressive amount of brewing.

Anyway he mentioned that a homebrewer could take some time off work and do the same...brew as many beers as they could in a book like Brewing Classic Styles and they would end up being a better brewer because they would become more familiar with their equipment and the brewing process in general. I don't remember the exact wording but the concept really stuck with me. He has a point...if you think about how often we really brew, I'm sure that most of us don't brew more than once or twice a month. That's really not a lot of practice when you think about how often you practice a musical instrument or a sport.

 

[philipCT]

Perhaps, by banging out so many different styles of beer so quickly, you won't learn as much.
Dialing in the process is good. Understanding how and why the process works is good, too.
I think that you will have a lot of fun and you'll create a sounding board to work from, which will help greatly.
When you blow through all of the styles of beer by using the method that you brew with. Brew them again, but use the decoction method.

I definitely want to do a decoction brew or two. I just love the good Dopplebocks and really want to brew something like that. I don't think any of the recipes in the book call for decoction, but the candidates for it are pretty obvious.

 

[philipCT]

Interestingly in one of Jamil's podcasts he mentions doing something similar. If I remember correctly he was asked about all the gold medals and his two Ninkasi's...then was asked what a brewer could do to achieve the same results. Jamil said something about taking time off work and burning through all the styles...I think it was like two styles a day for a couple of weeks, I don't remember the exact timeframe or if he did every style but it was an impressive amount of brewing.

Anyway he mentioned that a homebrewer could take some time off work and do the same...brew as many beers as they could in a book like Brewing Classic Styles and they would end up being a better brewer because they would become more familiar with their equipment and the brewing process in general. I don't remember the exact wording but the concept really stuck with me. He has a point...if you think about how often we really brew, I'm sure that most of us don't brew more than once or twice a month. That's really not a lot of practice when you think about how often you practice a musical instrument or a sport.

Yeah, I must have heard/read the same comment, cause that's what inspired me. I'm not sure if my boss would be okay with the taking time off to brew part :cross::cross::cross: so it might take me a little longer. I also get full support for my brewing from SWMBO ===as long as I don't get too crazy with it===. As crazy as it's gotten, I'm not quite sure where that line is but I reserve some time each weekend for some heavy-lifting honey-doo activities and I think that helps.

Teromous, what you say about practice should really have occurred to me before - it seems so obvious now you've said it.

 

[Phunhog]

For the most part I think it is a great idea! There are some fantastic recipes in BCS...I have probably brewed 2/3 of them. The ones I haven't brewed are styles that either I don't enjoy (sours) or big beers that I don't really want 10 gallons of. If you don't enjoy a style I wouldn't bother brewing it. It would hard difficult for you objectively say you brewed it well if you don't like it to begin with.
I agree that the best way to become a better brewer is to brew a lot.

 

[phyllobeddo]

I've never read "Brewing Classic Beers," but my goal for the year is one batch per week. I brewed two batches last weekend and I have brewed seven this year. Seems that I need to get two done this coming weekend to catch up. I need to check this book out.

 

[philipCT]

For the most part I think it is a great idea! There are some fantastic recipes in BCS...I have probably brewed 2/3 of them. The ones I haven't brewed are styles that either I don't enjoy (sours) or big beers that I don't really want 10 gallons of. If you don't enjoy a style I wouldn't bother brewing it. It would hard difficult for you objectively say you brewed it well if you don't like it to begin with.
I agree that the best way to become a better brewer is to brew a lot.

I'm with you on that. I'm just not down with sours yet. Not sayin never, but I can't see brewing a batch if I don't really like drinking it.

 

[philipCT]

I've never read "Brewing Classic Beers," but my goal for the year is one batch per week. I brewed two batches last weekend and I have brewed seven this year. Seems that I need to get two done this coming weekend to catch up. I need to check this book out.

The thing about brewing a series of beers from this book is that the recipes have a very consistent form. They all have OG/FG quoted along with ABV and are all based on 70% efficiency. All the hops AA specs are standard wherever that hop appears in a recipe.

What this has done for me is help me tune in my system in terms of efficiency to within a percent or two, and even to highlight where I'm seeing greater attenuation than predicted. The recipes are so consistently spec'd out it's a really good baseline to test your processes and results against.

 

[srqbrew]

I really like this idea. I've always had a habit of toying with things as I go, and I think my brewing education has suffered a bit for it. Not only would this allow me to dial in my numbers, I think I would learn a lot about how specific ingredients and processes affect the final beer. I would become a better brewer; just like Teromous said, practice makes perfect! Also, as I've been brewing with friends lately that mostly use tried-and-true recipes, I have to say their beer is often noticeably better than the recipes I attempt to design. After I complete my new rig, I think I'm going to give this kind of a project a go.

Would you all suggest starting with BCS? Or is there another set of recipes that come highly recommended? What about a "Best of HBT" list?

 

[philipCT]

I really like this idea. I've always had a habit of toying with things as I go, and I think my brewing education has suffered a bit for it. Not only would this allow me to dial in my numbers, I think I would learn a lot about how specific ingredients and processes affect the final beer. I would become a better brewer; just like Teromous said, practice makes perfect! Also, as I've been brewing with friends lately that mostly use tried-and-true recipes, I have to say their beer is often noticeably better than the recipes I attempt to design. After I complete my new rig, I think I'm going to give this kind of a project a go.

Would you all suggest starting with BCS? Or is there another set of recipes that come highly recommended? What about a "Best of HBT" list?

The treasure troves of recipes on HBT and elsewhere are very enticing, but they are put together by a variety of brewers, and therefore reflect a variety of experience, standards, precision etc. The cool thing about BCS (worthy of having in the library of nothing else) is that all the recipes have been standardized, by a single brewer, of recognized excellence, and honed over time, therefore proven. So if you can adapt that recipe to your rig, you'll definitely get a good brew, and to the degree that your brewday numbers vary from the recipe, you have a solid point of reference.

Just brewed #5 in the series, an American Wheat Ale today. Never brewed a wheat beer before, and never worked with that Wyeast 1010. What a monster yeast. Great experience.

 

[philipCT]

Brewed last two weekends:
-American Rye Ale
-Belgian Pale Ale

So that's the seventh brew session in as many weekends. Only problem is I'm running out of fermentation chambers. I still have three kegs left, but if I want to continue I may have to get a few more, heh, heh.

The Rye uses a significant amount of wheat just like the American Wheat Ale. I had some really weird gravity readings with both brews, so I'm really gonna have to look at doing a double grind on the wheat or (god forbid!) set my mill a little tighter when grinding the wheat or something.

For the Wheat Ale, I made starter with Wyeast 1010 that completely blew out of the flask, and very likely I lost a significant amount of yeast. Pitched it anyway. Now that batch is down to a little below expected terminal at 1.010.

After that experience, I treated the starter for the Rye with a couple drops of fermcap. Then I realized a couple of drops in a 1.5L starter was waaay too much. Ooops. The starter seemed to do okay but never came close to showing any signs of krausen. Pitched at anyway and that fermentation seems to be doing just fine. Will test SG in a few days.

For the Belgian Pale Ale, I'm working with another yeast I've never worked with before, the Wyeast 3655 Belgian Schelde. The smack pack was six mos old but it was the only one the LHBS had. So I made a two step starter. I'm cold crashing the 2nd step starter today and it looks extremely healthy.

The brewday yesterday went _very_ smoothly. Brewing so often I'm really getting in a groove.

 

[ThomasO5608]

This is a very ambitious pace you have set for yourself. I too have a Kal clone set up and am loving the process. Going from brewing in the garage on propane to the basement with this setup is a night and day difference. I have brewed 6 batches in the last 4 weeks. I am going to take a few weeks off and test the results as I have just kegged the first few batches and waiting for carb to happen. I tried brewing after work one time but it made for a late night and I get up early for work so I won't do that again. Looking forward to hearing about more brew sessions.

 

[philipCT]

Yeah, I'm not sure at all that I can maintain this pace, I'm just gettin' while the gettin' is good. A few things have made this a good time to brew a lot for me.

Right now my groundwater is 44F. That makes for a really fast chill and no need to augment with the 4-6 bags of cube ice needed for pre-chill during the summer. I've also been able to make one day a weekend a major honey-do day, and then get the gold-plated hall-pass to brew the next day. The winter here has been positively brutal. Outside. Which is an *excellent* reason to be indoors (read "downstairs in the brewery").

Anyway, I figure I'm stockpiling now for summer. Maybe in May I'll move my kegerator out to the barn, invite a half a hundred people over, and do some kind of one-day tap-shack party/fund-raiser out back.