Kentucky Common Attempt

[claphamsa]

Thanks for the heads up!:rockin:

This sounds great, it will be added to the list, maybe it'll get oaked.

cheers

make it once... then adjust, thats the best way to go

that being said..... if this tastes as i expect, some oak could be quite tasty!

 

[phished880]

What do you guess a good carb. level on this would be?

 

[claphamsa]

I would guess higher... but i serve everything at 10.... too cheap to get a multi regulator

 

[KYB]

What do you guess a good carb. level on this would be?

Carbonation is supposed to be pretty high, however I don't always have it that high. Back then it was very carbonated.

 

[krugulitis]

So, I am going to brew this over the weekend. I will bottle the first half after 2 weeks in the primary. The second half I will transfer to secondary and age for a month on 1oz oak cubes that are soaked in bourbon (sanitizes and adds flavor).

If I use 6-row instead of 2-row is there anything I should keep in mind (longer boil, etc.)? I have never used it before so I am not familiar with what I should do differently with it.

 

[krugulitis]

also, will i need a yeast starter for this? my instinct is to say no, because gravity is so low (guessing a vial of wlp will suffice), but i wanted to be sure.

 

[claphamsa]

****..... its 40 degrees a pooooooring!
so this is now inside

im gonna do it no chill (ive been on irc too much)

 

[krugulitis]

haha - it is 70 degrees and sunny in san diego right now. it is nice to never have weather constrain when/what you can brew.

 

[claphamsa]

didnt constrain me! im done!

never have i brewed a beer that so desperately needed the hop addition.....

 

[KYB]

So, I am going to brew this over the weekend. I will bottle the first half after 2 weeks in the primary. The second half I will transfer to secondary and age for a month on 1oz oak cubes that are soaked in bourbon (sanitizes and adds flavor).

If I use 6-row instead of 2-row is there anything I should keep in mind (longer boil, etc.)? I have never used it before so I am not familiar with what I should do differently with it.

Cool. I've been wanting to bourbon barrel one, I may do that with half of this next batch. Let me know how yours turns out. I don't boil any longer with the 6-row. Here's a tidbit:

Because American six-row barley malt is too high in protein to make stable beers, corn was first used to dilute the protein. Cost-cutting was a bonus - a bonus that soon got out of hand. The use of 20% corn, however, is a delightful flavor addition.

http://brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue3.5/renner.html

also, will i need a yeast starter for this? my instinct is to say no, because gravity is so low (guessing a vial of wlp will suffice), but i wanted to be sure.

With liquid yeast, I would recommend a starter even with the low gravity. I've had bad experiences not using starters, even with beers around 1.050. It can't hurt, it can only benefit. Of course dry yeast would only need to be re-hydrated shortly before.

 

[FSR402]

ODaniel, what's the best recipe for this that you have done?

 

[craigd]

Hmmm, wonder what would be the best category to enter this under for a comp? Specialty beer?

 

[phished880]

Hmmm, wonder what would be the best category to enter this under for a comp? Specialty beer?

I would see this as the only option, but i've been wrong before.


J

 

[Aubie Stout]

Hmmm, wonder what would be the best category to enter this under for a comp? Specialty beer?

Either that or American Brown.

 

[claphamsa]

Either that or American Brown.

not if you wanna do well.... OMG LACTO!

 

[Aubie Stout]

My sourness was VERY subtle.

 

[KYB]

ODaniel, what's the best recipe for this that you have done?

I would say #1. It has more flavor due to a little more specialty grains. The 1908 recipe is completely to style. Still great, but a little lighter in body and flavor. Depends what you want. I have the #1 in my fermenter right now, except with Safale US05 instead of Cali Ale.

Hmmm, wonder what would be the best category to enter this under for a comp? Specialty beer?

I'm going to enter it in Specialty some time just for the hell of it to see what they say. I doubt it will do well since it's just a nice easy drinking session beer.

My sourness was VERY subtle.

Yea mine are pretty subtle. Noticeable, but subtle. You can always mash longer if you want more sourness, but IMO that makes it less of a session beer, for me anyways.

 

[Aubie Stout]

Yeah mine are pretty subtle. Noticeable, but subtle. You can always mash longer if you want more sourness, but IMO that makes it less of a session beer, for me anyways.

I don't know that I'd change very much. Need to get a swap going when I get it conditioned.

 

[krugulitis]

So I just bought the ingredients for this and I now have a massive concern. Upon describing what I was hoping to brew to one of the guys at Home Brew Mart (at Ballast Point for those of you not from San Diego) he had many concerns. First was his thoughts that I would risk contamination of my mash tun and anything I subsequently came into contact with after sparging, etc. before the boil. Even after using bleach and/or pouring in boiling water into the mash tun he thought I might not get it all, or at least I could possibly transfer it to something else. His suggestion was to finish the mash and sparge like a normal beer and then tape up the brew kettle once it was filled and wrap it up with something to insulate it and then let it sit. That way you can just start the boil in a day or so and nothing would be contaminated and the boiling takes care of any concerns with the kettle.

I was hoping to start this tonight. Hoping for some feedback on this.

 

[scone]

Well, I don't know that I would worry about it as much. You could definitely do what he recommended, but even if some of the bacteria survive on your mash tun, everything you put through that thing in the future is still going to get boiled before it goes in the primary right? So if you contaminate future brews, you'll kill off any living organisms before you ferment anyway. Now if you are reusing that thing as a bottling bucket or something, then I'd be a little concerned...

 

[Bsquared]

+1 on not being too concerned about doing a sour mash in your mash tun. Grain is loaded with Bacteria and wild yeast, so every time you mash you are starting with a level of contamination.

This batch keeps being pushed back on my brew list.

good luck with it.

 

[krugulitis]

Well, I don't know that I would worry about it as much. You could definitely do what he recommended, but even if some of the bacteria survive on your mash tun, everything you put through that thing in the future is still going to get boiled before it goes in the primary right? So if you contaminate future brews, you'll kill off any living organisms before you ferment anyway. Now if you are reusing that thing as a bottling bucket or something, then I'd be a little concerned...

The sour flavor is already imparted by the time you boil the wort, that is why a sour mash works in regards to souring. Boiling does not remove the sour flavor, even if it does kill off living organisms - or else sour mash would not work. Thus, any souring agents created by doing the sour mash that are left behind in the mash tun would affect the next beers made even given the boil.

How have the beers you guys have made directly after the Kentucky Common turned out?

 

[scone]

The sour flavor is already imparted by the time you boil the wort, that is why a sour mash works in regards to souring. Boiling does not remove the sour flavor, even if it does kill off living organisms - or else sour mash would not work. Thus, any souring agents created by doing the sour mash that are left behind in the mash tun would affect the next beers made even given the boil.

How have the beers you guys have made directly after the Kentucky Common turned out?

Ah, I see what you are saying. So I think the souring takes a while. Leaving future mashes in your tun for the duration of mashing + sparging (so on the order of a few hours) shouldn't sour your mash. You would need to leave your mash in your tun for a long time to sour it (hence the 24 hour mash time on the kentucky common). If you soak your tun in sanitizer after mashing, you should kill off nearly all the existing bacteria, and the little that remains won't have time to sour your next brew before you've removed it from the tun. Anyway, your next brew will have all the same souring bacteria riding in on the grain anyway, you just don't leave it in the tun long enough to sour.

As long as you are cleaning your tun after using it, I don't see how enough of the souring bacteria could survive in the tun to affect your next brew, but maybe someone who has done this can chime in.

 

[krugulitis]

ok that makes sense. i'm feeling a little better about this now. but, i still wouldn't mind hearing from someone about how their next beer after this beer turned outl

 

[FSR402]

I have run out of time on brew days and dumped my grains the next day. Man they stink. But then you wash the tun and it's fine for the next brew. No worries man.

 

[Aubie Stout]

I have run out of time on brew days and dumped my grains the next day. Man they stink. But then you wash the tun and it's fine for the next brew. No worries man.

Me too! I haven't brewed since my Common attempt, but I've left grains in the mash tun many times!

 

[KYB]

+1 on not being too concerned about doing a sour mash in your mash tun. Grain is loaded with Bacteria and wild yeast, so every time you mash you are starting with a level of contamination.

Exactly.

I brew Kentucky Commons quite often, as well as other beers, which all turn out great. Hell sometimes I don't even sanitize the mash tun after, I just rinse with water. With other beers, nothing bad is going to happen in that hour mash, and you are going to boil right after the mash and sparging. How could anything get infected?

Good luck with the brews.

 

[KYB]

So I recently got the idea (of course when it's freezing balls out now) to capture some wild yeast in Louisville (my hometown), where this beer originated, and use that in it. Should be interesting. Sucks I have to wait until spring/summer to try it.

 

[krugulitis]

So I ended up brewing this over the weekend. I did not get the crazy efficiency everyone has spoken of - got 80% though (probably because my mash tun didn't maintain temp as long as I thought it would - when I opened it, the temp reading was 70 degrees). I added a bit of brown sugar, so that brought it up to my desired original gravity. I ended up letting it sit for longer than anticipated - 45 hours. I really like the level of sourness it produced, the taste is definitely there, but it isn't puckering or overpowering. Used a 1.5 liter WLP060 starter and it kicked off pretty quickly. Fermenting at a pretty low temp initially, but I will bump it up over time. Still planning to secondary half of this with bourbon soaked oak chips. Excited to see how it turns out.

 

[KYB]

Sucks you didn't get the efficiency, but everything else sounds good. Someone else got really low efficiency recently. Not sure why me and Ben get such good efficiency with these beers. My last batch I did end up getting 92%, and not 98%. I used my Barley Crusher for the first time with it. Like I said, Ben got 94%. Not sure what would cause the low or high efficiencies.