Kit O' Beer #10 - Motueka Blonde

KoB #10. Motueka Blonde. Coopers Canadian Blonde dry hopped with Motueka pellet hops. Following on from KoB #8 where we dry hopped a Canadian Blonde with Cascade. Using up some more of the hops we had over from the clone KoB #7.

Purchased all ingredients from the LHBS.

The recipe:
1 x 1.7kg Coopers Canadian Blonde.
1.25 kg Brew Booster - from the preferred LHBS
1 pkt LHBS brand ale yeast 15gms. Used this before. It's a go'er.
23 gms Motueka pellet hops - dry hop secondary.

Changes:
I think it's basically the same recipe as the KoB #7. Different hops of course when we get to that stage.

OG 1.043

Brew temp: 20C - ambient
Pitch temp: 20C - wort
Current temp: 20C - wort
Volume: 23L

Notes: Grey wet windy day. Nothing better than to stay in doors and brew beer, clean some bottles and have a few bevies.

Straight forward brew. Was able to pitch the yeast right away. I was going to rehydrate the yeast but figured why bother. Temps seem right. Been an hour and a half and yeast is already getting in to it.

Day 9. We seem to have some nice fermenting going on the past couple brews. Hopping Time.

1st reading was 1.012 (@19C Day 7).
2nd reading was 1.008 (@20C Day 9).

I didn't write up the first reading. Was impressed with the progress. Again it's been under the blanket. Been able to keep it about 22C - 23C. Cosy.

OG was 1.043

This is nice and clean tasting. The taste is less sweet than the other blondes I've brewed. Between 1.012 and 1.008 is noticeable difference in sweetness. No complaints on taste. Colour is light golden, slight haze.

Racked this to secondary and dry hopped 25gms Motueka hops. Smelling the aroma of these its clear this will be different to the Cascadian blonde. The aroma reminds me of european lagers like pilsners.

This really sounds like a great batch Glass! Maybe I should look into some dry hopping?

It will be interesting to see how this turns out. The aroma on the Motueka is a bit different from the Cascade hops. I used both in the LCBA clone and I felt it was a bit bitter on the finish. Not offensive and that did mellow a fair bit. It's now at the point where sometimes when I open one I'm wondering where all the hoppy goodness has gone. It's still there but very subtle.

My impressions now are that the Motueka is more bitter than the Cascade. I feel like it is what is adding that bitter element I tasted. I remember the aroma clearly from when I brewed on premises years ago. Not sure if I used them back then. Tended to brew euro macro beer clones like heineken and stella atois so probably didn't use myself.

The last one I dry hopped was tasty. I can recommend Cascade in a summer ale of some sort, a cream ale or a pale ale. I'd like a sample pack of hops so I can smell them. Maybe 2 or 3 pellets of each type so I can get a good whiff.

I think for the effort of dry hopping its worth it. All you have to do is boil a stocking, plonk in some hops, bottom of 2nd fermenter and siphon in on top. Oh and give the beer a hug while you're at it. That seems to help.

I say have a go.

I've got another lager lined up to brew next. I've had it there to brew for a few weeks but I skipped it to do this one. It will be a straight recipe single ferment. But after that I'm doing another LCBA clone or the Cascadian again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Libertytree

This really sounds like a great batch Glass! Maybe I should look into some dry hopping?

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Ya think?? It's about time you guys started listening to me... sheesh!

:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BrewTech

Ya think?? It's about time you guys started listening to me... sheesh!

:)

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We realise we are in the company of the Mr Miagi/Yoda of brewing.

Quote:

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Miyagi: First learn stand, then learn fly. Nature rule, Daniel-san, not mine.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Glass

We realise we are in the company of the Mr Miagi/Yoda of brewing.

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I'm just giving you guys a hard time... since I can't get any Nelson (well, I guess I could trade for it possibly but contracting is out of the question through 2016 at least) I do use Motueka in a beer or two of mine. If you want that massive hop aroma in your lighter ales, dry hopping is the key, but it has to be done right to get the results you expect. Ideally, the beer should be cooled to allow the yeast to drop out of suspension (and perhaps the beer taken off the yeast altogether), but not so cold as to inhibit release of the aromatic oils. Southern Hemisphere hops are all the rage up here to get the tropical fruit flavors and aromas into IPAs. Dry hopping also helps to preserve the beer as well. Expect some hop haze to remain (from the polyphenols), but you can also expect better head formation and retention with proper levels of carbonation.

Bottled today. About 55 bottles or so. I've realised the bottles I am using are 375ml. I was using 330ml which works out 60 per 23L brew. Doing PET it takes 30 x 640ml.

This is fairly subdued aroma. I was not getting any aroma when racking to the bottling bucket and virtually none during the bottling. I've not smelt less of a beer before. I had to stick my head in the fermenter to pick anything up. It is pleasant. I'd say tropical fruit. Colour is nice and light. Same as previous blondes. It looks more amber in the fermenter but when bottling it's light. Taste follows aroma, light, hint of fruit.

Hops floated on this one. I'm wondering about these stockings as a sock. When boiling it takes a lot of poking to get them saturated. The fabric repels water for a long time. Wondering if they prevent too much contact between wort and hops. I chuck them after use.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Glass

Bottled today. About 55 bottles or so. I've realised the bottles I am using are 375ml. I was using 330ml which works out 60 per 23L brew. Doing PET it takes 30 x 640ml.

This is fairly subdued aroma. I was not getting any aroma when racking to the bottling bucket and virtually none during the bottling. I've not smelt less of a beer before. I had to stick my head in the fermenter to pick anything up. It is pleasant. I'd say tropical fruit. Colour is nice and light. Same as previous blondes. It looks more amber in the fermenter but when bottling it's light. Taste follows aroma, light, hint of fruit.

Hops floated on this one. I'm wondering about these stockings as a sock. When boiling it takes a lot of poking to get them saturated. The fabric repels water for a long time. Wondering if they prevent too much contact between wort and hops. I chuck them after use.

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So, you stuck them in a sock during the boil?

nope. Boil to sterilize sock. Then add em hops, tie it off, drop into secondary. rack beer on top.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Glass

nope. Boil to sterilize sock. Then add em hops, tie it off, drop into secondary. rack beer on top.

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Got it... next time you might just want to drop them in directly... and don't be shy! 50g+ would have been fine...

I had a couple of these at the weekend. It's still a bit young and is not currently getting much heat where I have them stored. So carbonation is low. The flavour is nice. It is less intense as the Cascade version but still nice. I think this one has a slight earthiness to it. It's very slight. It also has some nice tropical fruit tones to it.

Having used both Cascade and Motueka together you can see how they contribute their different flavours and aromas. As a result you get the citrus tones and the tropical fruit tones to make a great tasting beer.

I will probably have another go at the LCBA clone now and I think I will reduce the first Motueka bittering addition or skip it altogether and just use Cascade for the first addition and then revert to the regular additions of both for the remainder. I need to try another LCBA clone and see what it is like now. See if that bitterness has subsided. Last one I had I suspected it was.

This one is really not carbonating at this point. Acually not right. Carbing some but no head to speak of. I've got a case stashed elsewhere so we can leave it a bit.

Couple things here. I'm detecting a soapy after taste. I'm not going to bush beat. I think it's residue from when I cleaned the bottles. I did give them a good rinse but I did notice a slight foam when sanitizing them. Or either of the fermenters had a residue. I do use a washing liquid to scrub them, then rinse, dry and sanitize when needed. Will rinse the next batch 1 more time. It could be the hop itself. It has a slight bitter finish.

OR. the lack of carbonation is the screw tops I'm using. I have some crown cap bottles and they carbonate better from my short experience. It could be soap residue or the bottle or both. Need to remember the twist tops were experiment and might need to ditch them.

Nice beer though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Glass

This one is really not carbonating at this point. Acually not right. Carbing some but no head to speak of. I've got a case stashed elsewhere so we can leave it a bit.

Couple things here. I'm detecting a soapy after taste. I'm not going to bush beat. I think it's residue from when I cleaned the bottles. I did give them a good rinse but I did notice a slight foam when sanitizing them. Or either of the fermenters had a residue. I do use a washing liquid to scrub them, then rinse, dry and sanitize when needed. Will rinse the next batch 1 more time. It could be the hop itself. It has a slight bitter finish.

OR. the lack of carbonation is the screw tops I'm using. I have some crown cap bottles and they carbonate better from my short experience. It could be soap residue or the bottle or both. Need to remember the twist tops were experiment and might need to ditch them.

Nice beer though.

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When carbonating a perfect seal is required. Twist tops are a big no no. Crown corks only.

Depending on the sanitizer, some foam left after the process is usually no big deal, but I try to use low foam sanitizers like Iodophor or even Saniclean. Star-San is an excellent sanitizer, but has high foaming action. The word in homebrewing was "don't fear the foam", but I was never really cool with that, so I did what I could to minimize or eliminate it.

Soapy flavors can be from detergents left in the bottles, or could be a result of other influences:

Quote:

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Soapy
Soapy flavors can caused by not washing your glass very well, but they can also be produced by the fermentation conditions. If you leave the beer in the primary fermentor for a relatively long period of time after primary fermentation is over ("long" depends on the style and other fermentation factors), soapy flavors can result from the breakdown of fatty acids in the trub. Soap is, by definition, the salt of a fatty acid; so you are literally tasting soap.

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I should know this, as I have allowed it to happen to me more than once. As a result I now work twice as hard to get beer in my bright tanks out into kegs so I can move beer out of the FV as soon as possible to get them off the yeast.

I did my 1st sanitizing test using Star-San in the new unit, the foam was out of control! Way too much even if they do say don't fear it I'm not cool with it either. So the next test will be with the Saniclean for the reason that the foam is supposed to be drastically reduced and if that foams too much I'll then try the Iodophor.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BrewTech

When carbonating a perfect seal is required. Twist tops are a big no no. Crown corks only.

Depending on the sanitizer, some foam left after the process is usually no big deal, but I try to use low foam sanitizers like Iodophor or even Saniclean. Star-San is an excellent sanitizer, but has high foaming action. The word in homebrewing was "don't fear the foam", but I was never really cool with that, so I did what I could to minimize or eliminate it.

Soapy flavors can be from detergents left in the bottles, or could be a result of other influences:



I should know this, as I have allowed it to happen to me more than once. As a result I now work twice as hard to get beer in my bright tanks out into kegs so I can move beer out of the FV as soon as possible to get them off the yeast.[/SIZE][/FONT]

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Out of the two, Iodophor or Saniclean, which one do you like the best, esp for low foam? It seems they are camparable in results.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Libertytree

I did my 1st sanitizing test using Star-San in the new unit, the foam was out of control! Way too much even if they do say don't fear it I'm not cool with it either. So the next test will be with the Saniclean for the reason that the foam is supposed to be drastically reduced and if that foams too much I'll then try the Iodophor.

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Technically, Saniclean is a final acid rinse, not a sanitizer, but I know at least one commercial brewer who had good results using it as such. A flawless cleaning regimen is required prior to use, of course. When CIP cleaning fermenting vessels, I use Iodophor (a somewhat weak solution to avoid off-flavor carryover) because the CIP procedure is way too turbulent to use Star-San. I suspect your bottle washer has much the same action. You can't spray it under pressure... it wasn't really designed for that. It's more of a soak or gentle splash type of chemical.

Because I can't CIP my bright beer tanks, I use Star-San on those, basically splashing it up to the top at letting it run down. Any foam I generate just gets scooped out and the residual rinsed out. On both types of vessels, I use Saniclean for the acid rinse after cleaning with a combination of PBW and NaOH.

Here is the PDF for Saniclean:

http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/wp-...cleanTech1.pdf

I have read that Saniclean can't be called a sanitizer because of some technical issues about applying/paying for the proper regulatory designation. That though may be myth? There are lots of homebrewers that use the Saniclean as their final sanitizer and are quite pleased with it. It seems you're pleased with it and if a commercial brewer trusts it then, cool. I can't wait till it gets here!

I did run across this...

This is a very good interview with the inventor and owner of 5 Star on these two products (StarSan & Saniclean) and when and where to use these two products and the differences.

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/archive.p...subaction=&id=&

The bottles that I stashed at work have carbonated a little bit better than the ones I kept at home. Getting that conditioning temp right makes a difference. The head has improved to 1 finger. It falls away after a minute or two but the lacing is now present and there is a steady stream of carbonation happening.

I have had a couple of bottles that do not taste of any soap at all. That is a good sign. Must rinse bottles more attention pay do right next time.

Flavour is good, milder than cascade and a bit more bitter on the finish. I thought the cascade was going to be the bitter finish but not the case so far.

I happened to grab one of these without knowing what it was. Not much change. I think the carbonation is consistent. No head retention. thin head some lacing. Has a bit of funk to it now. Motueka needs to be behind something else instead of out front.