If you need a marker point of how gracious the brewing industry is then this series certainly shows the greats skew it to a point of wonderful. As this series developes I’m reminded of how passionate and excited brewers are about living, mixed culture and wild fermentations. The end products which are only achievable by microbe driven fermentations, environmentally influenced layers and skillful artisanship.
The next 2 recipes come from John Rowley of Rowley Farmhouse Ales in New Mexico and Bootleg Biology in right here in Nashville!
I first met John and the crew a few years ago during GABF in Denver and absolutely hit it off with him, Elissa and the whole crew. Their dedication to detail and highly enjoyable beers shows in each batch, but most of all for me the great conversations mean a ton. John was kind enough to send in this recipe and process for a beer they made about 6 years ago.
Here’s a recipe I brewed before we opened for a mixed fermentation farmhouse ale that utilized pink grapefruits in the mash for secondary pH adjustment and flavor extraction. I affectionately called the beer Pink Parts, and it won a silver medal at Big Beers when it was still back in Vail if I recall correctly. My notebook says I brewed it on 5/17/14.
I grew up some mixed culture from what was to become my house culture for this, but you could just as easily utilize dregs from your favorite purveyor. Feel free to experiment as desired.
The following is directly copied from my brewing notebook (so I am assuming a batch size of 5.5 gallons, but adjust in your software as you like for your system and requirements):
To 9.9 gallons of RO water, add 4 grams CaSO4 and 70 drops of H3PO4
measured pH of H2O = 5.47
5 lbs pils
4 lbs wheat
2 lbs Munich 1
1 pound golden naked oats
mash in with 4.5 gallons
15 min protein rest @ 125F
45 min saccharifaction rest at 152F
Add 3 large halved organic pink grapefruits to the last 45 minutes of the sacch rest
pre grapefruit mash pH = 5.55
post grapefruit mash pH (after 45 min) = 4.99 (clearly a difference is made)
75 min boil
0.5 oz Citra addition @ 60 min
whirlfloc/yeast nutrient (I used to use Servomyces back then) @ 20 mins
Postboil OG was 1.063 (but tune it lower or higher depending on your tastes)
It’s very rare I’d miss a chance to talk about my buddy Jeff Mello the founder of Bootleg Biology. I first met Jeff around 2013 when he still lived in the DC area and he was visting Nashville to look at houses. He brought me some really cool microbes to play with and I recall us standing in the cooler at Yazoo tapping a keg of our new collaboration with New Belgium called “Rufus”.
From the unique project of isolating wild yeast from every zip code to making home yeast wrangling information/kits widely available Jeff and the crew at BB are doing some fun & inspiring work. Where would most breweries be without the dedication from yeast labs? I’m fortunate Bootleg is right down the road from our barrel cellar and excited to present these 2 recipes from their employees Sam and Don.
Hot and Hoppy Pils (5 gallons) – Recipe by Sam Wineka
OG: 1.046
FG: 1.011
ABV: ~4.6%
Malt
9lb Weyerman Pilsner
.5lb German Carapils
Boil Hops
.75 oz German Northern Brewer (9% AA) @ 60 min
.5 oz Perle (5%) @ 45 min
1 oz Spalt (3%) @ Flameout
.33 oz Perle (5%) @ Flameout
Dry Hops
.75 oz Saphir (3%)
Yeast
Bootleg Biology Oslo: Homebrew Pack
Single infusion mash @ 150F for 75 min. Boil for 60 min, adding hops at appropriate intervals. Chill wort to 90F and pitch full package of Oslo (or make a 500ml starter). When FG is reached (usually 3-5 days) “chill” fermenter to room temp and add dry hops. After dry hops have been in contact for 24 hours, cold crash and package. Can lager this beer to clear it up or drink it keller style. Any noble hops may be substituted, shooting for 35-40 calculated IBUs.
| Sour Weapon Saison (5 gallons) – Recipe by Don Graves |
OG: 1.047
F.G: 1.008 (Lower with Brett addition)
ABV: ~5.1%
PH: 3.5
Malt
9lbs Weyerman Pilsner
3lbs German Wheat Malt
1lbs Flaked Oats
Dry Hops
1 oz Mosaic
Yeast
Bootleg Biology Sour Weapon P : Homebrew Pack
Bootleg Biology Saison Parfait : Homebrew Pack
Optional – Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon 2 : Homebrew Pack
Mash @ 150F for 60 min. Boil for 60 min. Chill wort to 95F and pitch SWP, maintaining the temperature to 85+ for 24 hours to obtain PH. Once the target PH has been reached, decrease temperature to 72 degrees. Next, pitch Saison Parfait and add the Mosaic dry hop. Once fermentation is complete, you can package or optionally conduct a secondary fermentation with Funk Weapon 2.
These are great recipes! Remember to support your local homebrew shop and great local breweries. Thanks to Rowley and Bootleg for participating in this project. I have really enjoyed seeing these recipes and what producers are excited about in the beer world, Stay tuned for more recipes and techniques from these wonderful folks!
Embrace The Funk 