TwistedGray
El Jefe Brewing Company
- Recipe Type
- All Grain
- Yeast
- S-05 / Champagne blend
- Yeast Starter
- n/a
- Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
- n/a
- Batch Size (Gallons)
- 2
- Original Gravity
- 1.030
- Final Gravity
- 1.008
- Boiling Time (Minutes)
- 60
- IBU
- unknown
- Color
- Dirty blonde
- Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
- 21 days @ 65'F
- Additional Fermentation
- 14 days @ 65'F
- Tasting Notes
- Very lightly soured, perfect for beginner sour folks, amazing apricot aroma and flavor
I called it Apricot Clouds because it is light, fluffy, and the apricot really shines. It is also a bit cloudy (grain bill) as compared to a typical golden sour. With real fruit, not an extract, you get all of the apricot aroma and flavor without it being overbearing or artificial tasting.
I also aimed to brew something that was a bit of a day drinker. I wanted to brew a small beer (table beer) that could be drunk alongside your bowl of oatmeal. It's really quite good, my favorite kettle sour to date.
What would I change?
1 - I might consider bumping up the ratio between 2-row and wheat to 35% each; although, that might only provide a marginal different.
2 - I chose to go with something that I knew would not make it too sour. I felt that with a really low ABV beer I wanted to aim for a very light sour. I was concerned that would be the only thing that came through had I not. (If I did this again with OYL-605 I would bump up my poundage of apricot, at least.)
3 - I would mash at a little higher (maybe 155'F or 160'F).
4 - I might suggest to add in carafoam or swap it out for the flaked oats. The head retention is already quite good for the style; however, I would prefer something that lasts even longer and maints that billowiness of a cloud.
Grain Bill (pounds, grain, percentage of bill)
1lb 2-row (40%)
.75lb wheat (30%)
.25lb caramel 10l (10%)
.25lb Vienna (10%)
.25lb flaked oats (10%)
Brought 2.5 gallons of water up to 150'F
My boil off rate is 0.5 gallons per hour
Mashed at 150'F for 60 minutes
Using the Mash & Boil, temperatures fluctuated between 145-155'F
Added 1/8th teaspoon of Amalyze Enzyme
After the mash-in, added Yeast Bay Lacto. blend
If you want something more sour use OYL-605 or similar; Yeast Bay blends are typically used for long aging, traditional sours and generally do not do as well for kettle souring (personal experience).
Held temperature at 113'F for 3.5 days
Brought wort to a boil for 60 minutes
Cooled
I naturally cooled mine in my urn (I mashed, boiled, and fermented in the same vessel)
Pitched 5g of S-05 and 0.5g of Champagne yeast (dry, not rehydrated)
Pitched 19g of Amarillo pellets (8.4% AA)
Set fermentation temperature to 65'F
My fermentation time was three weeks only because I was gone for three weeks. Given the lower ABV, I imagine it's done in about half that time if not less.
After fermentation was complete I added 5lbs of Apricots (two gallons of beer at this point)
The gravity was at 1.010 when I added the fruit
After another two weeks the gravity dropped to its final 1.008, and I bottled the beer at that point directly from the Mash & Boil.
Side notes
No water treatments or adjustments were made
No pH measurements were taken
...I may brew a strawberry version of this next week.
