Planning... What Should I Brew? Lots of yeast, can't decide.

[Chriso]

I have TOO many options & can't get things to line up in my head right. My goal is to use a similar yeast a few times in a row, to save on amount of effort spent washing & saving yeast... then move to the next strain for a few batches... then so forth.

I have separate sour & clean fermenters so space is not an issue. I have many, many sour Ale Pails plus I have 2 empty Speidel 30L's and 2 more with finished beer ready-to-keg in them. (See Yeast section.)

My batch size is flexible. I have 3gal and 5gal kegs, plus the 30L Speidel will hold nearly 8 gal. of fermenting wort if you try to squeeze it in. So I can brew in any increment... 1x 5 gal, 10 gal = 2x 5gal batches, 9 gal = 3x 3gal batches, 12 gal = 4x 3gal batches, etc.

So here is what's up...

On Tap Now:
- Oatmeal Pale Ale with Tahoma hops & WY1450 Denny's 50 - 11/2014
- American Stout with WLP001 - 11/2014
- IPA - Attempt at cloning Deschutes Fresh Squeezed, but in a Big Brew event with shared base wort... came out 8% instead. brewed 5/2014
- Mandarina Bavaria Wheat - with US-05 - single-hop basic blonde ale to get to know the hop variety - 7/2014

- Yeast -
WLP 001 Slurry (American Ale), from the American Stout. *fermenter*
WY1450 Slurry (Denny's Favorite 50), from the Oatmeal Pale Ale. *fermenter*
WY1007 Slurry (German Ale), 1 pint, about 6-8 weeks old.
WLP644 Vial (Brett Brux Trois), in the fridge, a few months old.
WY3726PC Smack Pack (Farmhouse Ale), in the fridge, over a year old, need to make a starter for sure...
WLP665 Flemish Blend slurry, 1 gallon of bottom crud, 2nd generation cake, originally pitched 9/2013, 2nd pitch 11/2013, harvested 6/2014.
(2) Belle Saison dry yeast
Mangrove Jack's M79 Burton Union dry yeast
W-34/70 dry yeast

- Things I Want To Brew, In General.... -
Imperial Stouts with flavorings
Lots of non-estery farmhouse ales of all strengths (not ultra-spicy Saison end of spectrum)
Polish Gratzer
Dry Stouts
Pale Ales (not so much IPAs)
Peanut Butter beer
ESBs and pales
"Faux" Dunkel's (e.g. ale-based Warsteiner clone)
Czech Pilsner
Session IPAs
Pumpkin Stout (next year)
Oatmeal Cream Stout
- Past beers I want to repeat -
Pyramid Apricot clone attempt
Spearmint Extra Pale Ale
Pecan Scottish 80/-

I have a bunch of Czech pils, Pale Ale Malt, and some vienna in bulk... then loads of random assorted specialty goods.
What do you think I should brew next?

 

[estricklin]

Well I'd probably use that farmhouse ale first since you've had it hanging around so long already. The American Ale you could use to start working on that big list of stouts you've got planned, not to mention if you keep saving it you'll have a good all purpose yeast for any "other" projects that pop up, (such as your session IPAs).

What's that oatmeal pale ale like?

Sorry it took so long for the reply, I read this last night but got distracted.

 

[Chriso]

No worries mate

I think here's the plan...

Tomorrow, 10 gallons of faux-Dunkel base e.g. Chainsaw Brewing Death By Dunkel adapted for what I have on-hand. Half will get either 001 or 1450, the other half will get WY1007.

To follow, there will be 15 gal. of 6-8% stout base, to be split three ways -- an Oatmeal Cream stout, a Pumpkin Spice stout, and a Chocolate Chipotle stout using Cascade Candi Syrup Chipotle flavored sugar.

Then... there will be farmhouse. Oh yes. I'm thinking, build the smack pack into one starter... use Belle Saison for a second... and then, I have slurry of Flemish Ale Blend left that should still have some funk in its' trunk. I'll pitch some sour gunky buggy shiiiieeeeet up in there and make a sour farmhouse out of the third batch.

 

[estricklin]

I just ordered some Belle Saison, what temperature do you run it at?

 

[Yooper]

Chris, you need a good standard pale ale!

Plain US two row, with, say 10-20% Vienna or a hint of Munich malt, a little crystal 40L, and hopped traditionally with a clean bittering hop and flavored with cascades. Just a good easy drinking (but not always as simple as it may seem) pale ale.

I was talking to one of my friends who owns a taproom/brewery, and he doesn't have a pale ale but he told me that his mark of a good brewery is one that makes a good pale ale.

 

[Chriso]

estricklin, I have no idea re: Belle Saison as I haven't tried my packs out yet! But I've heard it does ok in the low 70's without having to resort to crazy ramping schedules. They were giving away a lot of it at NHC, so I'd expect by now there should be tons of "Belle Saison... thoughts?" threads out there, I haven't gotten around to looking them up myself.

(Staff transition at work + Winter months = Chriso be fightin' for scant hours of brewin' time!)

Yoop, you're so right about pales, I have so many american hops on hand that what I really really need to do is brew up 15 or even 20 gal. of pale wort - do two separate 10g boils - each hopped with some neutral Magnum for clean IBUs. Then - Divide the wort four ways, and do four different 5 gal batches of Better Know A Hop Series Pale Ale. Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, and ... I would say Citra based on my inventory but BLECH! ... Simcoe. There we go. Simcoe.

Current hop stash?

...yeah, I need to brew some pales.

 

[gometz]

What did you think of the Mandarina Bavaria? I ordered 4 oz from Farmhouse and am planning on using 2 oz in a farmhouse ale in a few weeks. I was thinking 1 oz split between first wort and late addition, then 1 oz dry hop (using target and saaz as well). From your experience, would that be a bad combo?

 

[Yooper]

estricklin, I have no idea re: Belle Saison as I haven't tried my packs out yet! But I've heard it does ok in the low 70's without having to resort to crazy ramping schedules. They were giving away a lot of it at NHC, so I'd expect by now there should be tons of "Belle Saison... thoughts?" threads out there, I haven't gotten around to looking them up myself.

(Staff transition at work + Winter months = Chriso be fightin' for scant hours of brewin' time!)

Yoop, you're so right about pales, I have so many american hops on hand that what I really really need to do is brew up 15 or even 20 gal. of pale wort - do two separate 10g boils - each hopped with some neutral Magnum for clean IBUs. Then - Divide the wort four ways, and do four different 5 gal batches of Better Know A Hop Series Pale Ale. Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, and ... I would say Citra based on my inventory but BLECH! ... Simcoe. There we go. Simcoe.

Current hop stash?

...yeah, I need to brew some pales.

Magnum to bitter, amarillo + simcoe in late additions= heaven!

 

[Chriso]

Sorry I'm late Gometz.

I loved the Mandarina Bavaria in a single-hop american wheat beer. I plan to use more of it this summer, this time mixing in some other citrusy hops too.