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I like near-noble hops, and I love farnesene, so the Ukrainian ones were too hard to resist.

Not everyone feels this way. I sent a Kolsch made with Lubelski to competition recently, and the judges did not like it.

I have two more Polish hops (Marynka and Sybilla) arriving next week. I’m going to find the right hop or hops for Piwo Grodziskie if it’s the last thing I do…
 
I like near-noble hops, and I love farnesene, so the Ukrainian ones were too hard to resist.

Not everyone feels this way. I sent a Kolsch made with Lubelski to competition recently, and the judges did not like it.

I have two more Polish hops (Marynka and Sybilla) arriving next week. I’m going to find the right hop or hops for Piwo Grodziskie if it’s the last thing I do…
Interesting, I haven't heard about piwo grosziskie so I read this article.
https://byo.com/article/piwo-grodziskie/Good luck getting it right.
Lubelski, if I remember correctly had a herbal lemon grass thing going on. Not for everyone I guess.
 
More hops. “Hi, my name is Alex and I have a hops problem.”
368B9178-2A50-4293-B1BF-F526BB8A7D04.jpeg


(The glasses are new too.)
 
I like near-noble hops, and I love farnesene, so the Ukrainian ones were too hard to resist.

Not everyone feels this way. I sent a Kolsch made with Lubelski to competition recently, and the judges did not like it.

I have two more Polish hops (Marynka and Sybilla) arriving next week. I’m going to find the right hop or hops for Piwo Grodziskie if it’s the last thing I do…
From what I understand, Marynka is the hop used in the “Z” Baltic porter. Lublin is typical for Piwo Grodziskie. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t use whatever you like. I’ve had it from Live Oak Austin TX and I believe the brewer drank it in Poland, not many of us including judges have tasted it.
 
From what I understand, Marynka is the hop used in the “Z” Baltic porter. Lublin is typical for Piwo Grodziskie. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t use whatever you like. I’ve had it from Live Oak Austin TX and I believe the brewer drank it in Poland, not many of us including judges have tasted it.
I’ve only had my own Grodziskie, plus one I judged at a competition, which was not on target (tart, hazy, flat). Going to make the trip to Dovetail in Chicago next month to try theirs.
 
From what I understand, Marynka is the hop used in the “Z” Baltic porter. Lublin is typical for Piwo Grodziskie. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t use whatever you like. I’ve had it from Live Oak Austin TX and I believe the brewer drank it in Poland, not many of us including judges have tasted it.
Marynka used to be the best high alpha variety widely used in big breweries as well as in homebrewing.
Grodziskie was brewed with Nowotomyski as Grodziskie Redivivus states:
Hops. Brewers used hops planted in the closest surrounding, a very aromatic and highly valued since 19th century variety called Nowotomyski, with c.a. 5% content of alpha-acids. This variety probably remains available also today. But if not, one should use other aromatic varieties, like the Czech Zatec, Polish Lublin, German Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, or Tettnanger. Older sources indicate using 3 kg of hops per every 100 kg of wheat malt; Szmelich recalls that in the beginning of 1960s the proportion of the ingredients was 2,4 kg per 100 kg of malt or 270 g / hl of wort.
source: https://pspd.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/grodziskie-redivivus-raport-2.pdf

As you can see, Lublin was only the third choice. There is a lot more to tell about Polish hops (bittering Iunga, aromatic Oktawia), but maybe in a different thread?

And not to be completely off topic: Grifo HD capping machine is waiting for me in the mailbox today!
 
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Marynka used to be the best high alpha variety widely used in big breweries as well as in homebrewing.
Grodziskie was brewed with Nowotomyski as Grodziskie Redivivus states:

source: https://pspd.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/grodziskie-redivivus-raport-2.pdf

As you can see, Lublin was only the third choice. There is a lot more to tell about Polish hops (bittering Iunga, aromatic Oktawia), but maybe in a different thread?

And not to be completely off topic: Grifo HD capping machine is waiting for me in the mailbox today!
Thank you. We have limited choices for Polish hops in the US, I’ve never seen Nowotomyski available, and clearly didn’t know it was the preferred choice until now, thanks again for that. Enjoy your capper! Yeast from Bootleg is coming tomorrow.
 
I’ve only had my own Grodziskie, plus one I judged at a competition, which was not on target (tart, hazy, flat). Going to make the trip to Dovetail in Chicago next month to try theirs.
Any other plans while in Chicago? I know you like smoked beers. Alarmist has a Bamberger rauchbier on tap right now that's great. You can still find cans of Art History's Fastenbier around, Alarmist's smoked helles called Toke, Goldfinger's rauchbier, and you might be able to find cans of Sketchbook's Grodziskie if you're looking for more of the style.
 
Any other plans while in Chicago? I know you like smoked beers. Alarmist has a Bamberger rauchbier on tap right now that's great. You can still find cans of Art History's Fastenbier around, Alarmist's smoked helles called Toke, Goldfinger's rauchbier, and you might be able to find cans of Sketchbook's Grodziskie if you're looking for more of the style.
All good information! My planned Dovetail trip is after taking a class at Cicerone, as it is just around the corner. I don't often get to make drinking trips into Chicago, sadly. I am in the north suburbs to see family on a regular basis, so maybe I'll just take a side shopping trip and see what I can pick up that's smoked.

I've had people tell me that smoked beers age exceptionally well (phenols act as a preservative), and some others that they age poorly (oxidized phenols become particularly unpleasant off-flavors).
 
All good information! My planned Dovetail trip is after taking a class at Cicerone, as it is just around the corner. I don't often get to make drinking trips into Chicago, sadly. I am in the north suburbs to see family on a regular basis, so maybe I'll just take a side shopping trip and see what I can pick up that's smoked.

I've had people tell me that smoked beers age exceptionally well (phenols act as a preservative), and some others that they age poorly (oxidized phenols become particularly unpleasant off-flavors).
Spent 10 years in Evanston and now live just a little west in Glenview. Not sure how familiar you are with the area or how far north your burbs are, but you can PM me if you want more recs. Here are a couple more thoughts focused up north. By no means a comprehensive list. Also, if you are at Dovetail then The Beer Temple is 10 mins away back toward the highway. You can get Scratch there for your midwest beer tasting you mentioned in another post. Should also be able to get some great Chicago beers, including that Alarmist rauchbier. It's an absolute institution here in Chicago. Interesting to hear about aging smoked beers. I am just getting into them more so I will have to test this out. Thanks!

Stores
  • Beer on the Wall (Arlington Heights, Park Ridge) - crazy selection of everything, they sell by the can, and they have a few taps
  • Beer on Central (Evanston) - also crazy selection, also sell by the can, also have a few taps
  • Beermiscuous (Highwood) - decent store selection, sell by the can, ~15 taps with eclectic Chicagoland selection
Breweries
  • Double Clutch (Evanston) - won GABF last year for their helles and helles rauchbier
  • Roaring Table (Lake Zurich) - eclectic selection with great execution, maybe the best Czech-style pils I have ever had
 
Haven't posted here for a while since I've been a good wife, and am happy with what I have; but today I got my new 3g Fermonster in the mail, and I am just gobsmacked at how CUTE it is. I have two 7g fermonsters, this is just a mini-me of them and is adorable. Planning on using it for mead secondaries. Which means I have to go buy more honey. Oh cr*p.
 
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Eichenrauch-Weizenmalz for some Polish piwo action.
Nice! Our brewclub inherited a bag of this from our host brewery. Me and 1 other guy split about 90% of it to make our own versions of piwo grodziskie. The reaction from some of the other club members was interesting lol.
 
Nice! Our brewclub inherited a bag of this from our host brewery. Me and 1 other guy split about 90% of it to make our own versions of piwo grodziskie. The reaction from some of the other club members was interesting lol.
Is it too much smoke for most palates? (Classic would call for 100% oak smoked.) My first batch I have 50% Wheat with 50% Oak smoked, but I have never tasted a true Piwo Grätz.
 
Is it too much smoke for most palates? (Classic would call for 100% oak smoked.) My first batch I have 50% Wheat with 50% Oak smoked, but I have never tasted a true Piwo Grätz.
I would say the malt itself isn't overpowering, but when used by itself - as one is likely to do with this style - only those tolerant of smoked beers would enjoy it IMO. I cut it slightly with some unsmoked red wheat, so mine was 90% smoked. The other fellow used it as the sole malt in the grist and also used a higher hopping rate (and didn't make any water adjustments), so overall his came off a bit harsher, though I personally still enjoyed it. I do think the water is important here; there's a thread on here somewhere that I found some good info. The profile called for more Mg than I had ever used before, but it still didn't come across as too much in the final product.
 
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Finally dropped the hammer on an oxygenation setup; bit pricey at $40, but the mini-tanks are only $15 and should last a while. Fun fact: when I went to the hardware store to get the tank today, an associate had to open the locked cabinet it was in. Then walk with me to the checkout to make sure I paid for it. Apparently the kids like to get high on oxygen these days. When I hear stuff like that, I harken back to the days when we would huff on magic markers. Or eat paste. Do kids use paste these days? Does Gorilla Glue make paste? These are the thoughts that keep me awake at night.
 
I got 20 EDPM tri clover gaskets today in the mail to replace some of my older silicone gaskets. Since I have a electric herms system I don't need high temp gaskets like silicone (no gas flames on my system) and the EDPM stands up better to Star San and PBW than the silicone. Especially when I use those chemicals on my fermentor. Just gonna try it out and they are black in color so they don't discolor as quickly and turn brown!

John
 

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