Suggestion on "Wort theft" brew

[VVbrewery]

My HB Club has made arrangements for a local brewery to give a number of us some boiled finished wort which they're dubbing a wort theft. The deal is we do what we want with fermentation, dry hopping or whatever and keep notes on what we do.

All we know now as it's going to be a SMASH bittered with magnum hops to a fairly low IBU. I assume it will probably be a lighter wort being a SMASH. I'm leaning towards do this as a lager but not sure as this would be my first. Anyone have suggestions or a recipe that would be close to this? I'm open to all suggestions.

Thanks

 

[tennesseean_87]

Do something fun with the yeast. Go Belgian or saison and add fruit like citrus zest at packaging.

 

[couchsending]

My HB Club has made arrangements for a local brewery to give a number of us some boiled finished wort which they're dubbing a wort theft. The deal is we do what we want with fermentation, dry hopping or whatever and keep notes on what we do.

All we know now as it's going to be a SMASH bittered with magnum hops to a fairly low IBU. I assume it will probably be a lighter wort being a SMASH. I'm leaning towards do this as a lager but not sure as this would be my first. Anyone have suggestions or a recipe that would be close to this? I'm open to all suggestions.

Thanks

Do you anything else about the wort? How fermentale it will be? Grain bill? Does the local brewery make good beer?

 

[VVbrewery]

Do something fun with the yeast. Go Belgian or saison and add fruit like citrus zest at packaging.

Hmmm... I was just thinking about a beer with lemon zest. I'm not that familiar with Belgian yeasts. Any suggestions? Something not too "Belgiany", too funky?

 

[VVbrewery]

Do you anything else about the wort? How fermentale it will be? Grain bill? Does the local brewery make good beer?

No that's all I know right now. Might know more closer to the date in mid August. Yes they make some excellent beers.

 

[tennesseean_87]

I've used T-58 and Belle Saison to good effect (both dry). The DuPont strain (3724?) is better in my opinion, but is reported to be tough to work with. I've only used it since having precise temp control, so I've never had a problem with it. If you want it super dry and crisp, 3711 (French Saison) or Belle with take it super dry and will work at ambient temps. I've used those strains with high mash temps (160) and still gotten to 1.004 without sugar. My T-58 experience was that it didn't attenuate nearly as much, which is fine if you want some residual sweetness (I like having that option for when I steal my own wort to make two different beers--a dry, hoppy one and a maltier one). I've also used Chimay and Westmalle, and I think I like the latter a bit better. Chimay is super fruity, but I thought Westmalle more balanced.

I've had good luck zesting oranges, lemons, and limes and throwing them in at flameout of my priming solution, then straining out before bottling. I'm about to keg my first beer, and I'm going to do something similar without sugar and rack on top of that.

 

[VVbrewery]

I think I will go with a Belgian yeast and lightly dry hopping it. Probably something noble like Tettanger or Saaz. I'm also thinking of zesting some lemons, soak it in vodka overnight and add it the day before I keg. You've got me completely turned around from what I was originally thinking of doing but this sounds a lot more interesting!
BTW I read your write up about pipeline diversity. Good stuff!

Thanks for all the great ideas.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I think I will go with a Belgian yeast and lightly dry hopping it. Probably something noble like Tettanger or Saaz. I'm also thinking of zesting some lemons, soak it in vodka overnight and add it the day before I keg. You've got me completely turned around from what I was originally thinking of doing but this sounds a lot more interesting!
BTW I read your write up about pipeline diversity. Good stuff!

Thanks for all the great ideas.

So what did you do? How’d it turn out?

 

[VVbrewery]

The wort turned out to be more highly hopped than expected and due to that and time constraints I ended up just treating it as a APA. I just dry hopped it with some Citra, Mosaic and Simcoe. Turned out really good but nothing spectacular. I see you're in Cave Creek are you an ASH member?

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I am kind of an introvert. I had a friend that told me about his riding club. They never really accepted him until he had an English saddle. That has been my experience with clubs. At best, I’ll be the guy who does things differently than everyone else. I am interested in ASH though.

 

[VVbrewery]

I've never been a "club" person that much either and had some negative experiences. I retired and we moved here in January. I figured it would be a good way to meet some people with a common interest. So far it's been a positive experience with a couple of bus trips to Tucson and Scottsdale to visit local breweries. Met some really nice people too. It's always difficult being the new kid because you have cliques of people who've know each other for years so it will take a while until I feel totally comfortable. If you're ever interested in checking out a meeting let me know.