Everything Went Black (Black IPL)

Final Look of Everything Went Black

My love for dark beers isn't limited to only Stouts and Porters. Black IPAs or Cascadian Dark Ales whatever you choose to call them, they are one of the unfortunate left behind styles. Yes, it's still being brewed by some breweries just not at the rate as it once did, even Firestone discontinued Wookey Jack. I found a love/obsession for them after having Lagunitas NightTime. If you want my opinion I think Dark Ale or Cascadian Dark Ale is probably a better descriptor for the style but honestly, I don't care. I had this beer called KCCO once and I think this was the moment that opened my mindset to the possibilities with darker styles. It was like a smooth cold brew coffee with little to no bite to it. After learning more about the style Black Lager/Schwarzbier style I started to seek them out and would always try when I saw them on tap.

Prior to this beer I only made one dark beer and it was a stout that didn't turn out good at all, I never made another dark beer after that for no real reason, basically, I was more into IPAs and would like a dark beer every once in a while. I wanted to start the year with a challenge and to try something different out, a Hoppy Dark Lager.

- First Wort Thoughts -

5 gallons of a dark beer, am I going to be able to drink this much? I hope so because I'm making it! I got a sudden urge to have a black ale and I really can't find any on the shelves at the time or in general so Homebrewing allows me to make my own. I didn't want to clone an example and didn't really have a full idea going into it. I wanted to build up my lager yeast for a Vienna Lager I planned on making. I harvested the yeast from my Day Of The Dead Mexican Lager, which was at the point that I needed to use it. I was also stacking my specialty grains to hopefully bring out a full range of flavors. Only first wort hops and large late and flame out additions. I didn't want a super roast character, just a note, so after some research on various dark styles, I opted for Briess Blackprintz, something I will experiment with in the future. I used a higher percentage than recommend but was within range, the roast was subtle for sure! This was apart of a double brew day and was the second beer of the day. At the point I started this beer, I was already doing my hop stand in my Brew At Birth Pale Ale.

Recipe:

I bought Beersmith 3 and used their new water and mash tool to balance the mash ph and water. I checked it against E-Z water and it was pretty much the same, that's what I used in the past.

Beersmtih || XML

Malts:

11 lbs (82.4%) - Simpsons Golden Promise (2.5 SRM)
1 lb - (7.5%) BESTZ Chit Malt (1.3 SRM)
1 lb -  (7.5%) Blackprintz Briess Malts (500 SRM)
5.6 oz - (2.6%) Golden Naked Oats

Hops:

1 oz - Warrior - First Wort Hopping
1 oz - Huell Melon - 5 minutes
3 oz - Huell Melon - Flameout
2 oz - Citra - Steep/Whirlpool - 180/170 - Held for 30 minutes

Yeast:

Mexican Lager (WLP940) harvested from "Day of the Dead"

Water:

Calcium: 51.3 ppm || Chloride 63.6 ppm || Magnesium 13 ppm || Sulfate 88.2 ppm || S/C Ratio: 1:4

- Brew Day -

This beer started after I had flamed out on Brewed At Birth V3 and it was a little hectic. I really didn't have the time to take a bunch of photos nor take notes. This is the unfortunate thing about doing double brew days by yourself, I'd rather focus on my numbers than take pictures, Plus I sort of forget throughout the day. Everything went as smooth as they could. The mash ran a little long due to Step mashing and waiting to get the water to temp. I was at the whirlpool step on the BAB and had the first mash step going on this beer. I was only 15 minutes late so I'm not too worried about it. The beer had no sprage basically - I just mashed out with the full amount and let it ride. The hop schedule was a large amount but was simple, Warrior First Wort, Huell Melon at 5 minutes, Tons of Huell Melon at Flameout and loads of Citra at 170/180 degrees. I held it there for 30 minutes. This beer I treated like a normal brew, My pale ale was sort of rushed to balance the time. My PH meter was off by 4 or so, but I hit my mash ph at 5.3.  I got the temp down to 60 degrees before transferring it to the fermenter. Things got fun then, I actually used the wrong fermenter and when I tried to use the bung to plug it, it kept popping out. I then sort of broke my airlock and the bung fell in the fermentor.

Holy shit, what do I do? Do I just say fuck it, will it just ferment no problem, will it make a flavor change? I didn't want any reason for some weird off flavors and rather than transfer back to the brew kettle (don't ever do this), I have extra fermentors so I cleaned and sanitized the good one and attached a blow off tube, decanted the yeast, pitched and called it a night.

transferring the beer into new fermentor (dropped the bung in it)

Apeman Home Tip: Always have an extra fermentor, ideally it's the same size and/or the same vessel, but you'll be able to save yourself in situations like this, I got two glass carboys for like 5 bucks each at a homebrew garage sale, look around you can find stuff. In the end, it's worth it.

Sunday morning  - still no movement, I will not worry yet about it as it's a lager yeast. If nothing even looks to be started 24 hours in, I'll think about getting new yeast but I'm going to wait it out as it's a lager yeast and in a controlled chamber. I plan on starting this yeast at 52 and then hoping to let it raise from there no warmer than 68F. I let the Mexican lager get to 70s F for a rest and had good results so I wasn't too scared to go into the high 60's for this.

Monday Morning:

I said I'd be patient with this strain and let it do its thing. I pitched this on Saturday evening and this yeast takes some time to show signs. Happy I didn't stress this strain again because Sunday evening just tiny bit of signs fermentation starting but Monday morning this yeast is rocking. This looks very similar to the Mexican lager I made but seems to be a little more vigor. I don't know if my starter was stronger, yeast is more viable as it's on its 2nd generation or if it's a little bit of both. This yeast was a little older, it was just about to turn brown as I could see slight signs. The real test is the flavor.


Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Checked the FG - this is the 10th day, but it has already been raised for the rest. currently, at 1.014  This matches BeerSmith.

First Tasting:

The yeast is strong still but I’m going to slowly cold crash then place in a keg, off the yeast to lager… 4 weeks we will see how it changes.

12th day - FG still 1.014 - Starting to cold crash now - I will do 3-5 degrees every 12 hours until I’m at lagering temp of 34.

I lagered this off gas for 4 weeks and then 2 more weeks on the gas. 6 week lager total.

So my kegs always give me a little bit of an issue which at the point of this post will be handled! So I had to fix a post and I boost carbonated this beer. I don't know if it was the chit malt (I've seen this malt have this reaction before) that helped with the over foam or I over carbed it but this beer never settled. I did everything I could to slowly pour but this beer was foamy!

 - Tasting Note - 

Early on this beer had a strong lager yeast character with some subtle coffee. Even with all the hops, they didn't come through too much. I do believe they may have helped with the overall character because the back end had a nice hop bite with some dark fruit notes. The yeast character was strong in this beer even after a long lager. It could have been the yeast were stressed out, it could just be what that yeast is and doesn't work in this format, I think maybe the latter. 

- Final Thoughts -

Even though you had to wait a little bit after a pour for the foam to settle, I enjoyed this beer to a point that I will rebrew it with a lager yeast, just not the one I used this time. Maybe split a batch and do an Ale and a Lager. I think the next dark beer I brew maybe a Stout and I'll come back to this at a later time. I liked the grain bill as it was, hops will change for sure, I don't think Huell Melon did much on this one but overall I'd brew this again as is with a different yeast no problem. If I were to use this yeast again, I'd change up the grain bill to remove oats, add flaked corn in it's place and add a little bit of a crystal malt, I think a little caramel would help with this yeast strain.

Go Brew!