Achieving a silky/pillowy/creamy mouthfeel (a la Hill Farmstead)?

[Oldsock]

Planning another round with 1318 after it finishes up in a porter. Thinking of adding 4 lbs of malted oats to the mash for 12 gallons this time. I've got a pound of Nelson that is calling for me to do something, but I also have a bunch of Citra/Mosaic/Columbus that I'd like to use up. Good problem to have.

I'll be heading up to Boston this weekend, hoping to stop by both Tree House and Trillium.

 

[bierhaus15]

Forgot to post this, but I was in Burlington for the Vermont Brew Fest a while ago and tried a bunch of HF stuff on tap. Here is the list. All of these were full pints except for the Dortothy and Hans.

Society and Solitude #1 IPA (Cascade)
Double Citra IIPA (Citra dry hopped)
Dorothy Saison (Citra and Brett)
Society and Solitude #5 IIPA (US/NZ hops)
Susan IPA ( Riwaka, Citra, Simcoe)
Nelson PA (Nelson Sauvin)
Conduct of Life PA (Citra Amarillo)
Edward PA
Harlan IPA (Columbus)
Legitimacy IPA (Simcoe)
Excursions #4 IPA (NZ hops)
Everett Porter
Sankt Hans - Amber Saison

Basically, all were good but not crazy good and they did have a soft mouthfeel. From the flavor, I have a hard time believing they are using 1318, or at least what we get from Wyeast. Way too clean with almost no residual sweetness. Also, the hop character was much more subdued than expected, although I found a lot of the big name VT breweries had a similar soft and pillowy profile. Would wager hard water is the cause.

 

[55x11]

Off topic slightly but can one get HF in Boston area? In bottles? (I assume no draft anywhere except brewery?)

 

[drez77]

Off topic slightly but can one get HF in Boston area? In bottles? (I assume no draft anywhere except brewery?)

Armsby Abbey in Worcester usually has a few on tap.

 

[mosaicbrewer]

Forgot to post this, but I was in Burlington for the Vermont Brew Fest a while ago and tried a bunch of HF stuff on tap. Here is the list. All of these were full pints except for the Dortothy and Hans.

Society and Solitude #1 IPA (Cascade)
Double Citra IIPA (Citra dry hopped)
Dorothy Saison (Citra and Brett)
Society and Solitude #5 IIPA (US/NZ hops)
Susan IPA ( Riwaka, Citra, Simcoe)
Nelson PA (Nelson Sauvin)
Conduct of Life PA (Citra Amarillo)
Edward PA
Harlan IPA (Columbus)
Legitimacy IPA (Simcoe)
Excursions #4 IPA (NZ hops)
Everett Porter
Sankt Hans - Amber Saison

Basically, all were good but not crazy good and they did have a soft mouthfeel. From the flavor, I have a hard time believing they are using 1318, or at least what we get from Wyeast. Way too clean with almost no residual sweetness. Also, the hop character was much more subdued than expected, although I found a lot of the big name VT breweries had a similar soft and pillowy profile. Would wager hard water is the cause.

I was up in VT drinking his beers recently as well. The hoppy ones have changed from before the expansion IMO. I drank several with almost no nose at all. I hope he gets it dialed in soon. Something is off right now. Still good, not as mind boggling as before.

 

[g-star]

I found a lot of the big name VT breweries had a similar soft and pillowy profile. Would wager hard water is the cause.

Based on what? Most geological survey maps I've looked at show Vermont water to be nothing more than "slightly/moderately hard".

 

[BreezyBrew]

My take is this. They must be doing something to the water since you can't make a world class IPA and a world class stout with the same water.

So who is going to make the trip to VT and bring back some municipal water to brew with?

 

[mosaicbrewer]

waterbury has a published report

 

[gotbags-10]

My take is this. They must be doing something to the water since you can't make a world class IPA and a world class stout with the same water.

So who is going to make the trip to VT and bring back some municipal water to brew with?

No doubt ! Where are the Vermont home brewers at? They need to chime in.

 

[Colbizle]

My take is this. They must be doing something to the water since you can't make a world class IPA and a world class stout with the same water.

So who is going to make the trip to VT and bring back some municipal water to brew with?

Exactly. As we've discussed this previously, they are messing with their water in one way or another. Shaune Hill even flat out said he changes his water profile depending on the beer he is brewing.

 

[kaz4121]

Armsby Abbey in Worcester usually has a few on tap.

More than a few. They've routinely had 4-6 HF beers on tap every week for the past couple months.

 

[hopsandhops]

Went up to VT this weekend and visited the HF brewery.. man that place is really out there! Thankfully I had written the final directions down as there was 0 service and the GPS wanted to take us down a path that was clearly not a road.

Anyways, I have to second the opinion that they aren't using 1318. The beers just don't have that "berry" thing going on that I get from fermenting 1318 at 68 and the finish is much crisper; there's almost no residual sweetness. It also seems to be less hazy than I've been getting with 1318, without gelatin, even after a few weeks in the keg.

The mouthfeel is just incredible! I compared a growler of Society and Solitude #5 (which might be the perfect DIPA) we brought home to an IPA I have on tap with 14% oats, a big 60 minute charge and (2) 15 minute 3 oz WPs of Falconer's Flight at ~170* and ~135*.

I used the following water profile: Ca: 92, Mg: 19, Na: 22, S04: 73, Cl: 187, Bicarb: 16 and an estimated (still need a meter) mash Ph of 5.38.

My review is that the mid sip feel is pretty close, but the last, almost swallow is still too substantial. It just doesn't "evaporate" the same way.

My 2¢

 

[Colbizle]

Went up to VT this weekend and visited the HF brewery.. man that place is really out there! Thankfully I had written the final directions down as there was 0 service and the GPS wanted to take us down a path that was clearly not a road.

Anyways, I have to second the opinion that they aren't using 1318. The beers just don't have that "berry" thing going on that I get from fermenting 1318 at 68 and the finish is much crisper; there's almost no residual sweetness. It also seems to be less hazy than I've been getting with 1318, without gelatin, even after a few weeks in the keg.

The mouthfeel is just incredible! I compared a growler of Society and Solitude #5 (which might be the perfect DIPA) we brought home to an IPA I have on tap with 14% oats, a big 60 minute charge and (2) 15 minute 3 oz WPs of Falconer's Flight at ~170* and ~135*.

I used the following water profile: Ca: 92, Mg: 19, Na: 22, S04: 73, Cl: 187, Bicarb: 16 and an estimated (still need a meter) mash Ph of 5.38.

My review is that the mid sip feel is pretty close, but the last, almost swallow is still too substantial. It just doesn't "evaporate" the same way.

My 2¢

Good information, thank you for sharing. I've brewed about 6-7 batches with 1318 so far and I'm ready to try something else. The 15% oats are probably contributing too much mouthfeel in the finish. I'd lower the chloride a bit and cut the oats a bit too.

MY take is that 1318 is a beautifully unique soft yeast but there's qualities about it that I'm starting to not like.

I still think that if HF can achieve this "mouthfeel" in all of his beers from saisons to pale ales, then it's not just yeast that's making his beer feel this way but a combination of water chemistry and certain "softer" yeast. There are plenty of ale yeast out there that finish soft. Namely boring ol' wyeast 1056 and less boring wyeast 1272 as well.

He could be using an american ale yeast.

Did you pick up any esters on his ales that would indicate a fruity american yeast or an english yeast? Or were they cleaner?

I'm also curious, since this experience is fresh in your mind, what level carb would you say HF beers are at? Low to low/med or med? I find that carb levels significantly impact mouthfeel too.

Cheers!

 

[Kiichi]

My future contribution to this thread is going to be an extreme one: A hoppy saison.
This is since I recently served a saison to a homebrew mate of mine (who produces some good stuff) and he reconed my brew had around 6%...while it only had 3.6%. Thing is that I was using French Saison yeast, one that is known to give really good mouthfeel. General feedback on that beer was very similar. Easy drinker, but full, not lacking.

Now I am about to brew a lot more saisons and use up my gigantic hop storage I have accumulated.

I will use a good amount of chloride, a yeast that helps with mouthfeel while being dry, and using good sulfate according to this article posted in another thread I can´t recall. It´s from Shaun before he opened HF. Does only talk about Saisons, but does in a way tell you something about IPAs as well. I´ll use if for saisons though.

http://archive.is/VkRos

 

[Colbizle]

My future contribution to this thread is going to be an extreme one: A hoppy saison.
This is since I recently served a saison to a homebrew mate of mine (who produces some good stuff) and he reconed my brew had around 6%...while it only had 3.6%. Thing is that I was using French Saison yeast, one that is known to give really good mouthfeel. General feedback on that beer was very similar. Easy drinker, but full, not lacking.

Now I am about to brew a lot more saisons and use up my gigantic hop storage I have accumulated.

I will use a good amount of chloride, a yeast that helps with mouthfeel while being dry, and using good sulfate according to this article posted in another thread I can´t recall. It´s from Shaun before he opened HF. Does only talk about Saisons, but does in a way tell you something about IPAs as well. I´ll use if for saisons though.

Article?

 

[kaz4121]

Anyone know if HF filters their hoppy beers? I would lean toward saying no due to that beautiful haze but am not positive. If they don't, why can't we just grow some up from a fresh growler?

 

[kaz4121]

Good information, thank you for sharing. I've brewed about 6-7 batches with 1318 so far and I'm ready to try something else. The 15% oats are probably contributing too much mouthfeel in the finish. I'd lower the chloride a bit and cut the oats a bit too.

MY take is that 1318 is a beautifully unique soft yeast but there's qualities about it that I'm starting to not like.

I still think that if HF can achieve this "mouthfeel" in all of his beers from saisons to pale ales, then it's not just yeast that's making his beer feel this way but a combination of water chemistry and certain "softer" yeast. There are plenty of ale yeast out there that finish soft. Namely boring ol' wyeast 1056 and less boring wyeast 1272 as well.

He could be using an american ale yeast.

Did you pick up any esters on his ales that would indicate a fruity american yeast or an english yeast? Or were they cleaner?

I'm also curious, since this experience is fresh in your mind, what level carb would you say HF beers are at? Low to low/med or med? I find that carb levels significantly impact mouthfeel too.

Cheers!

I would guess he is using something fruity because IIRC, Shaun was using Conan for a long while before switching over to something different in the past few years. If he strayed too far away from the Conan with something like a standard American Ale Yeast, I bet it would be noticeable. I'll try to dig up the reference that cited this.

 

[hopsandhops]

Good information, thank you for sharing. I've brewed about 6-7 batches with 1318 so far and I'm ready to try something else. The 15% oats are probably contributing too much mouthfeel in the finish. I'd lower the chloride a bit and cut the oats a bit too.

MY take is that 1318 is a beautifully unique soft yeast but there's qualities about it that I'm starting to not like.

I still think that if HF can achieve this "mouthfeel" in all of his beers from saisons to pale ales, then it's not just yeast that's making his beer feel this way but a combination of water chemistry and certain "softer" yeast. There are plenty of ale yeast out there that finish soft. Namely boring ol' wyeast 1056 and less boring wyeast 1272 as well.

He could be using an american ale yeast.

Did you pick up any esters on his ales that would indicate a fruity american yeast or an english yeast? Or were they cleaner?

I'm also curious, since this experience is fresh in your mind, what level carb would you say HF beers are at? Low to low/med or med? I find that carb levels significantly impact mouthfeel too.

Cheers!

Agreed on the oats and chloride. I also think I need to up the sulfate. The crisp finish on the HF feels like there's a good amount of sulfate in there.

I have another IPA fermenting currently that was hopbursted to 92 IBU and had a 3.5 oz, 20 minute, 170* steep. 6% oats and the following profile: Ca: 79, Mg: 18, Na: 22, S04: 99, Cl: 143, Bicarb: 16 and an estimated 5.32 mash Ph, so I'll see how that one compares. It was brewed before I went to VT, but the adjustments seem appropriate after this comparo. It was a simultaneous comparo for the hop schedules, S04/Cl amounts, and this mouthfeel thing.

I agree on 1318. I really like the softness and fruity/berry thing, but its a little much sometime. I didn't save any on this last brew, so I'll be moving on for now. I fermented at 68* on the 3 brews I've done with it, based on what I've read. Maybe a lower 60's temp would lower the esters, but this thread says otherwise.

I didn't pick up any obvious esters in the HF stuff, but I'm not great with picking up esters to begin with, so take that as you will. It didn't seem like a chico strain and I've yet to try 1272. They do all have a consistent bready note, but I can't tell if that's malt or yeast at this point.

The carb differs by the brew. I would call the S&S #5 medium and the growler of Legitimacy we had as light/med. The Legitimacy had much less of that airy feel and I find it interesting that the 8.1% brew was softer on the palette than the 6.6% brew.

I have a bottle of Arthur and Nordic Saison in the fridge, so I'm interested in seeing how those feel.

 

[Colbizle]

Agreed on the oats and chloride. I also think I need to up the sulfate. The crisp finish on the HF feels like there's a good amount of sulfate in there.

I have another IPA fermenting currently that was hopbursted to 92 IBU and had a 3.5 oz, 20 minute, 170* steep. 6% oats and the following profile: Ca: 79, Mg: 18, Na: 22, S04: 99, Cl: 143, Bicarb: 16 and an estimated 5.32 mash Ph, so I'll see how that one compares. It was brewed before I went to VT, but the adjustments seem appropriate after this comparo. It was a simultaneous comparo for the hop schedules, S04/Cl amounts, and this mouthfeel thing.

I agree on 1318. I really like the softness and fruity/berry thing, but its a little much sometime. I didn't save any on this last brew, so I'll be moving on for now. I fermented at 68* on the 3 brews I've done with it, based on what I've read. Maybe a lower 60's temp would lower the esters, but this thread says otherwise.

I didn't pick up any obvious esters in the HF stuff, but I'm not great with picking up esters to begin with, so take that as you will. It didn't seem like a chico strain and I've yet to try 1272. They do all have a consistent bready note, but I can't tell if that's malt or yeast at this point.

The carb differs by the brew. I would call the S&S #5 medium and the growler of Legitimacy we had as light/med. The Legitimacy had much less of that airy feel and I find it interesting that the 8.1% brew was softer on the palette than the 6.6% brew.

I have a bottle of Arthur and Nordic Saison in the fridge, so I'm interested in seeing how those feel.

Wow, just checked out Grassroots Legitimacy IPA on beer advocate:

India Pale Ale brewed with 2-row malted barley, oats, and citrusy hops from the Pacific Northwest. Dry hopped copiously with Simcoe. Its sessionable drinkability belies its true IPA nature.

Looks like he's using adjuncts in this one?!

 

[hopsandhops]

Wow, just checked out Grassroots Legitimacy IPA on beer advocate:

India Pale Ale brewed with 2-row malted barley, oats, and citrusy hops from the Pacific Northwest. Dry hopped copiously with Simcoe. Its sessionable drinkability belies its true IPA nature.

Looks like he's using adjuncts in this one?!

I found that too and after having a similar reaction and researching accordingly, it turns out the Grassroots Legitimacy was a collaboration brew. This didn't say anything about Grassroots or a collab brew at the brewery. It also didn't really smell like it was "Dry hopped copiously with Simcoe". It was ridiculously drinkable though. It came off as a pale ale until it warmed up.

Maybe an email is in order...

 

[The_Glue]

Went up to VT this weekend and visited the HF brewery.. man that place is really out there! Thankfully I had written the final directions down as there was 0 service and the GPS wanted to take us down a path that was clearly not a road.

Anyways, I have to second the opinion that they aren't using 1318. The beers just don't have that "berry" thing going on that I get from fermenting 1318 at 68 and the finish is much crisper; there's almost no residual sweetness. It also seems to be less hazy than I've been getting with 1318, without gelatin, even after a few weeks in the keg.

The mouthfeel is just incredible! I compared a growler of Society and Solitude #5 (which might be the perfect DIPA) we brought home to an IPA I have on tap with 14% oats, a big 60 minute charge and (2) 15 minute 3 oz WPs of Falconer's Flight at ~170* and ~135*.

I used the following water profile: Ca: 92, Mg: 19, Na: 22, S04: 73, Cl: 187, Bicarb: 16 and an estimated (still need a meter) mash Ph of 5.38.

My review is that the mid sip feel is pretty close, but the last, almost swallow is still too substantial. It just doesn't "evaporate" the same way.

My 2¢

An IPA i made had a very similar feel you describe, it had zero bittering hops @ 60, the first bittering charge was @ 30, IBUs in the boil were around only 17 but then I whirlpooled a lot of hops after 0 and then below 170F for about 30 mins.
OG was 1.053. (85% MO, 15% Oats) Despite the low IBUs the beer did not tasted sweet or cloying because the missing residual sweetness, it also missed the lingering aftertaste of the stronger IPAs. It "evaporated" fast.
Btw i like most of the aspects of this beer except for the low residual sweetness. I like a bit of that raisiny thing in my beers. It seems like my favorite IPA would have been some kind of hybrid of east and west coast techiques but that is the cool thing in homebrewing.

 

[hopsandhops]

I found that too and after having a similar reaction and researching accordingly, it turns out the Grassroots Legitimacy was a collaboration brew. This didn't say anything about Grassroots or a collab brew at the brewery. It also didn't really smell like it was "Dry hopped copiously with Simcoe". It was ridiculously drinkable though. It came off as a pale ale until it warmed up.

Maybe an email is in order...

I emailed HF and they responded that it is in fact Grassroots Legitimacy, which clearly states that it uses oats. What I find interesting is that it didn't have as much of a light, airy feel as the S&S #5, which was much higher in abv and didn't list oats in the ingredients.

 

[hopsandhops]

An IPA i made had a very similar feel you describe, it had zero bittering hops @ 60, the first bittering charge was @ 30, IBUs in the boil were around only 17 but then I whirlpooled a lot of hops after 0 and then below 170F for about 30 mins.
OG was 1.053. (85% MO, 15% Oats) Despite the low IBUs the beer did not tasted sweet or cloying because the missing residual sweetness, it also missed the lingering aftertaste of the stronger IPAs. It "evaporated" fast.
Btw i like most of the aspects of this beer except for the low residual sweetness. I like a bit of that raisiny thing in my beers. It seems like my favorite IPA would have been some kind of hybrid of east and west coast techiques but that is the cool thing in homebrewing.

What yeast did you use?

 

[gotbags-10]

I wonder if a Conan/1318 yeast combo or something similar would worth trying. Getting ready to brew tomorrow and I have both yeasts as well as 1272. I was thinking about doing a 9g batch split into 3 fermenters with different yeasts.

 

[The_Glue]

What yeast did you use?

MJ Burton Ale and Lallemand Windsor. (and US05 for control)
Burton was cloudier (as cloudy as you can see in the pictures in this thread) and had better mouthfeel and felt a bit more bitter and juicy. I was pleased with the mouthfeel.
Windsor was cleaner, average mouthfeel and a bit more one-dimensional. (i've seen a lot of posts that this yeast doesn't really attenuates well but it was almost bone-dry for me. The temps creeped high though after a few days due to a really hot summer, like 75F high in the fermenter)
Haven't tasted the US05 yet.

 

[more_betterness]

Anyone know if HF filters their hoppy beers? I would lean toward saying no due to that beautiful haze but am not positive. If they don't, why can't we just grow some up from a fresh growler?

Was wondering if anyone had tried this!

 

[Colbizle]

I found that too and after having a similar reaction and researching accordingly, it turns out the Grassroots Legitimacy was a collaboration brew. This didn't say anything about Grassroots or a collab brew at the brewery. It also didn't really smell like it was "Dry hopped copiously with Simcoe". It was ridiculously drinkable though. It came off as a pale ale until it warmed up.

Maybe an email is in order...

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/grassroots-hill-farmstead-relationship.198198/

^ Grassroots brewing is still Shaune of Hill Farmstead but just under a different moniker.

So in this one hes using adjuncts. Which makes me think he's may be using adjuncts in his other beers as well but just didn't list? Why would he all of sudden start using them in just a simple IPA? Interesting stuff lol

 

[Kiichi]

Article?

Damn I am a moron sometimes. Edited the post and here it is too: http://archive.is/VkRos

 

[Colbizle]

I would guess he is using something fruity because IIRC, Shaun was using Conan for a long while before switching over to something different in the past few years. If he strayed too far away from the Conan with something like a standard American Ale Yeast, I bet it would be noticeable. I'll try to dig up the reference that cited this.

Really? Conan? That's interesting. Ya ref would be nice!

 

[kaz4121]

Really? Conan? That's interesting. Ya ref would be nice!

From TheMadFermentationist (OldSock)

In his article Vermont Cult Clones in the October 2013 issue of BYO, Dave Green mentions that "n my conversations with the brewers it was indicated that Conan is no longer the strain that is being used." However there isn’t an explanation of whether this means that The Alchemist is no longer using the original isolate because it mutated, or if they have switched to a different yeast strain. (Luckily down in the comments, Art filled me in on his conversations with the author of the BYO article and John Kimmich of The Alchemist. Apparently they are still using Conan for Heady Topper, it is Hill Farmstead that is no longer using Conan, something I wasn't aware they did in the first place).

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2013/11/conan-ipa-and-yeast.html

 

[bierhaus15]

A friend came through with a growler of Edward and a four pack each of Fiddlehead's Second Fiddle and Focal Banger this afternoon. All fresh as of Saturday. Will run some of the liquid in the lab for a full analysis.

 

[Colbizle]

I would guess he is using something fruity because IIRC, Shaun was using Conan for a long while before switching over to something different in the past few years. If he strayed too far away from the Conan with something like a standard American Ale Yeast, I bet it would be noticeable. I'll try to dig up the reference that cited this.

My google-fu dug up the fact that Shaune is very good friends with John Kimmich way before he started HF. If at one point Shaune was using John's conan strain then this makes sense.

 

[hopsandhops]

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/grassroots-hill-farmstead-relationship.198198/

^ Grassroots brewing is still Shaune of Hill Farmstead but just under a different moniker.

So in this one hes using adjuncts. Which makes me think he's may be using adjuncts in his other beers as well but just didn't list? Why would he all of sudden start using them in just a simple IPA? Interesting stuff lol

Interesting read. I wonder why it didn't say Grassroots on the whiteboard at the brewery.

I read recently that Abner has citra in it but it's not listed in the ingredients either. I find it hard to believe they'd list some ingredients and not others though.

 

[kaz4121]

My google-fu dug up the fact that Shaune is very good friends with John Kimmich way before he started HF. If at one point Shaune was using John's conan strain then this makes sense.

I believe that is the case, but more importantly, Shaun was friends with Greg Noonan who granted both access to Conan (his strain).

 

[Callacave]

Shaun had a blog dating back to 2008. There's a link in reddit somewhere that takes you to it, but redirects to the Hill Farmstead website. If you stop the browser from loading before it redirects, you can still read the blog. Really cool stuff. There's some talk of relationships with various brewers, Kimmich is one of them.

Plus, you can see the beginnings of some Hill brews being born. Also, he gives you a glimpse of the amount of hopping on some of his brews. If I remember correctly, and did the math properly, one of his brews came out to about 24 oz per 5 gals. I think that was Ephraim. Another was 15 oz, so don't be afraid that you're using too many hops. One beer was dry hopped three times. Twice in the fermenter.

I'm seeing some people here starting to think 1318 isn't what he's using. I've been feeling that way for a while. I just can't pick up the esters from 1318 in his beers.

Another thing that may have been overlooked, and I mentioned it a while back, is it looks like he's fermenting with a bunging valve on his new setup. He mentioned it on Twitter a little while back, and he's doing about 5 psi at first, then ramping it up. This is known to reduce ester production, and by ramping, I'm guessing he's also getting a head start on carbing the beer naturally?

Grassroots is basically something that Shaun started while over in Denmark with Ryan Witter-Merithew. I think Ryan took over when Shaun came back to VT, and then Shaun took the name back later on, but you'll see some stuff being brewed with Anchorage that has the Grassroots name. It's really just an offshoot name for when any of these guys do colabs. Ironically, Ryan moved back here after being head brewer at Siren Craft, and is working for Shaun!! I love the fact these two guys are now working together.

 

[mosaicbrewer]

Shaun had a blog dating back to 2008. There's a link in reddit somewhere that takes you to it, but redirects to the Hill Farmstead website. If you stop the browser from loading before it redirects, you can still read the blog. Really cool stuff. There's some talk of relationships with various brewers, Kimmich is one of them.

Plus, you can see the beginnings of some Hill brews being born. Also, he gives you a glimpse of the amount of hopping on some of his brews. If I remember correctly, and did the math properly, one of his brews came out to about 24 oz per 5 gals. I think that was Ephraim. Another was 15 oz, so don't be afraid that you're using too many hops. One beer was dry hopped three times. Twice in the fermenter.

I'm seeing some people here starting to think 1318 isn't what he's using. I've been feeling that way for a while. I just can't pick up the esters from 1318 in his beers.

Another thing that may have been overlooked, and I mentioned it a while back, is it looks like he's fermenting with a bunging valve on his new setup. He mentioned it on Twitter a little while back, and he's doing about 5 psi at first, then ramping it up. This is known to reduce ester production, and by ramping, I'm guessing he's also getting a head start on carbing the beer naturally?

Grassroots is basically something that Shaun started while over in Denmark with Ryan Witter-Merithew. I think Ryan took over when Shaun came back to VT, and then Shaun took the name back later on, but you'll see some stuff being brewed with Anchorage that has the Grassroots name. It's really just an offshoot name for when any of these guys do colabs. Ironically, Ryan moved back here after being head brewer at Siren Craft, and is working for Shaun!! I love the fact these two guys are now working together.

link? Also, just curious, if you had to describe the esters of 1318, what are you getting? I drinking some fermented and dry hopped at 74 degrees, and all i can taste and smell are citra. Believe me, I am not saying that he is using 1318, but I do not think its that far off... Also, how did that beer we spoke about come out?

 

[Callacave]

link? Also, just curious, if you had to describe the esters of 1318, what are you getting? I drinking some fermented and dry hopped at 74 degrees, and all i can taste and smell are citra. Believe me, I am not saying that he is using 1318, but I do not think its that far off... Also, how did that beer we spoke about come out?

I don't remember the link, but maybe a Hill search on reddit can find it. I just read it yesterday. If I can find it again I'll post it.

It's been a while since I've used 1318, and I'm not the best at picking out specific flavors from esters, but maybe what someone else on a previous reply said here, it's possibly a berry type of flavor? It's at least unique enough that I think I might be able to pick it out again if I had something fermented with it. I'm surprised you're not picking up any esters, especially at 74F, but maybe the hops are covering a bunch of that, or your taste buds have become accustomed to 1318?

Haven't had much time for brewing, but it's still on my list mosaic. I'm going to do some stouts when I get a chance, but hopefully I can fit in another hoppy ale.

 

[Callacave]

Here's the link to Shaun's original blog guys.... http://hillfarmstead.blogspot.com/

You have to click on the "X" on your browser or ESC on your computer to stop it from completely loading and redirecting you to the Hill Farmstead site. Some cool stuff on here.

 

[Colbizle]

link? Also, just curious, if you had to describe the esters of 1318, what are you getting? I drinking some fermented and dry hopped at 74 degrees, and all i can taste and smell are citra. Believe me, I am not saying that he is using 1318, but I do not think its that far off... Also, how did that beer we spoke about come out?

I get lots of stone fruit flavors and aroma at 70F +.

I'm planning on doing an IPA with a 3 split this weekend with 1318, Conan, 1272 at 66F ish. I may even throw 1318 in a corny and try fermenting under pressure to see where that takes me..

Also how quickly you guys are turning around 1318? Maybe I'm turning it around too quick and it needs more time. I have been doing 1.050-60 ales in around 2 weeks primary including dryhop and a few days to carb.

 

[hopsandhops]

Has anyone tried 1318 in the lower 60s (wort temp)?

I generally primary 1318 for 15-19 days. It's such a slow yeast to finish! My last brew dropped 4 points between days 10 and 14.

@Callacave Thanks for that link! What a great read