What to brew now, to drink in a year...

[dawn_kiebawls]

TL;DR
My Fiancee and I just bought our first house and started moving in a few days ago. This has been an incredibly exciting month for us! We were anticipating the house hunt to last months due to budget, expectations and my local housing market is in the midst of a serious boom right now. You would not believe how fast houses are selling, it makes my head spin...Anyway, we ended up getting a house in the area we were targeting, under budget, that met all of our criteria and it was only the 2nd house we looked at! Not to mention, since we were expecting a much longer hunt I ordered a new puppy a month before we closed so there is a lot of excitement in our lives!

Since this is our first two major milestones together I want to brew a beer we (I) can open in a year from now to soak in the memories and enjoy our time together. She only drinks stouts/porters so the thought of a RIS is a contender but I'm not big on them and every time I try brewing a dark roasty beer it turns out very bitter, almost like 'burnt' grains? I don't know how to describe it but almost want to say tannic?..

My other thought is a sour since I like them (she doesn't) but I am able to brew lighter SRM beers with better results but have never used Brett or bugs..

We both like cider but our local mills won't be processing for another few months and that would almost defeat the purpose of an 'anniversary' brew...but I do like the simplicity..

Any and all thoughts are welcome! I'm not sure what I'm looking to get out of this post so lets hear it! Thanks guys and gals, cheers!

 

[Braufessor]

...... How about a dark saison that you add cherries to..... Dark beer for her, some sour tartness for you. I did a kettle sour dark cherry saison that was quite good. I bottled it in 750ml heavy bottles. It would be good for 1-2.... maybe even 3 years.

 

[Braufessor]

If you decide on something like the dark cherry saison, let me know - I can gladly give you the recipe.

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

How about a dark saison that you add cherries to

This is definitely something I could get behind! I love saisons and have been thinking of a chocolate cherry stout for a while now so this might be the perfect middle ground. Do you have a recipe you could link me to by chance?

 

[Braufessor]

This is definitely something I could get behind! I love saisons and have been thinking of a chocolate cherry stout for a while now so this might be the perfect middle ground. Do you have a recipe you could link me to by chance?

Let me get it in order and I will send it your way in the next day or two. It is a really good beer.... need to rebrew it myself. Only have a couple bottle of it left.

 

[Braufessor]

I really like this for the kettle sour.... https://omegayeast.com/yeast/bacterial-cultures/lactobacillus-blend

And, I really like this for a saison yeast, but you could also use something like 3711, or other relatively "clean" saison yeast.
http://bootlegbiology.com/product/the-mad-fermentationist-saison-blend/
Sometimes hard to find.... but, looks like you can get it here right now if interested .... https://www.highgravitybrew.com/store/pc/Bootleg-Biology-b111.htm

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Congrats, Dawn. As you probably know bigger beers age better, so an imperial stout, perhaps a sweet stout might fit the bill. Cold steeping the dark grains may solve the bitterness issue. Of course , Brauffesor's saison sounds interesting.

 

[Kent88]

How about making a stout with less roasty grains and/or maybe some debittered black malt or blackprinz, or something along those lines? (and absolutely look for other sources for those malts, I'm just trying to give you a description, not suggest a supplier/vendor/whatever).

I think I've also heard of people steeping those grains and adding that liquid towards the end of the boil, but that sounds tricky to me. I don't know what kind of extraction you get from steeping vs mashing. I assume that they're almost identical and I hesitated to bring it up, but for some reason I have this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that there could be a difference.

I'd suggest you keep the beer over 9.25% (unless you do go with a sour), so make sure you have lots of healthy yeasts. Also, aerate well at pitching and even again after 12-18 hours. Good aeration is not a substitute for lots of healthy cells, though.

Sounds like you're in an exciting time in your life. Enjoy it!

 

[ong]

Or maybe split the difference and do a big malt bomb like a wee heavy or a barleywine. Both would age nicely for at least a year.

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

I really like this for the kettle sour.... https://omegayeast.com/yeast/bacterial-cultures/lactobacillus-blend

And, I really like this for a saison yeast, but you could also use something like 3711, or other relatively "clean" saison yeast.
http://bootlegbiology.com/product/the-mad-fermentationist-saison-blend/
Sometimes hard to find.... but, looks like you can get it here right now if interested .... https://www.highgravitybrew.com/store/pc/Bootleg-Biology-b111.htm

I'm just about to order the lacto blend and the Bootleg Biology, Mad Fermentationist Saison Blend. Do you make a starter for it? I've never used any yeast blends so am unsure of proper procedure. Thanks!

Or maybe split the difference and do a big malt bomb like a wee heavy or a barleywine. Both would age nicely for at least a year.

I didn't even think about a Wee Heavy! Looks like I'll be having a double brew weekend coming up!...Now I just need to get some more bottles since I had to throw mine away for the move

 

[kevin58]

An English porter or stout would age very well indeed. For one thing they age well. English breweries very often aged their porter and stout for up to a year before shipping them off to the pubs. They also kept the grain bill pretty simple and did not use a lot of crystal malts. The typical grist for a mid 19th century porter made by Whitbread Brewery would have been roughly 80% pale malt. 17% brown malt and 3% black malt.

I've made this recipe a couple of times and is a smooth drinker.
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2015/10/lets-brew-wednesday-1937-courage-stout.html

 

[GRJBowers]

Or maybe split the difference and do a big malt bomb like a wee heavy or a barleywine. Both would age nicely for at least a year.

I second the barleywine. Though another option might be a big doppelbock and lager it for a year a la Samichlaus.

 

[Kee]

I would brew a Westy 12 clone.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/westvleteren-12-clone-multiple-award-winner.500037/

 

[Braufessor]

I'm just about to order the lacto blend and the Bootleg Biology, Mad Fermentationist Saison Blend. Do you make a starter for it? I've never used any yeast blends so am unsure of proper procedure. Thanks!



I didn't even think about a Wee Heavy! Looks like I'll be having a double brew weekend coming up!...Now I just need to get some more bottles since I had to throw mine away for the move

i do make staters.... basically, the day before i brew. i will get you detailed recipe wednesday morning.

 

[Home_alone1]

Lambic

 

[Braufessor]

This is what I do for the Dark Saison with Cherries for OP or anyone else who might be interested:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/dark-sour-saison-with-cherries.654220/

 

[Cavpilot2000]

I like the Wee Heavy or Doppelbock ideas.

 

[Cyclman]

A robust Porter heavily dosed with chocolate nibs would be an excellent beer in a year, maybe oak, vanilla, bourbon...

 

[deadwolfbones]

Belgian Quad!

 

[filthyastronaut]

You could do a split batch of a basic grain bill with continental malts, and make both a Tripel and Belgian Dark Strong by adding different sugars during fermentation. Both would be great in a year.

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

This is what I do for the Dark Saison with Cherries for OP or anyone else who might be interested:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/dark-sour-saison-with-cherries.654220/

Thanks @Braufessor I can't wait to get this batch going. I can't decide if I want to do the kettle sour or just pitch the Saison blend and lacto and let it ride. Either way, I'll get it going soon and keep you posted! Thanks again

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

@Braufessor I forgot to mention, I am unable to get the omega yeast lacto blend in my area. Would any standard lacto blend work or should I do some more digging to turn that specific one up? Thanks again

Edit: I just got a call from highgravity and was told they over sold the saison blend and are out of stock, so I'm out of luck...this one WILL get brewed, but I'll have to wait a few more months..

 

[Braufessor]

@Braufessor I forgot to mention, I am unable to get the omega yeast lacto blend in my area. Would any standard lacto blend work or should I do some more digging to turn that specific one up? Thanks again

Edit: I just got a call from highgravity and was told they over sold the saison blend and are out of stock, so I'm out of luck...this one WILL get brewed, but I'll have to wait a few more months..

Wow..... high demand. I would say any lacto blend would likely work fine for the kettle sour. Likewise, for the saison, there are probably multiple possibilities.... I just think you want something pretty clean.... You don't want a lot of "banana" or other types of esters/heavy phenols etc. I generally try to keep the temps in the 72-75 range so the saison yeast does not throw too much in the way of heavy handed flavors/esters.