Brett IPA with Citra and Vic Secret - 1/2 fermented with Amalgamation, 1/2 with Brett C

After the "eh" feelings I had about my last Brett IPA (hopped entirely with Azacca, and fermented with Brett brux Trois Vrai), I've been itching to try brewing the style again. When done well, 100% Brett IPAs are delicious beers, exhibiting the perfect balance between bright hoppiness and Brett funk. Unfortunately, the Trois Vrai used in my Azacca Brett IPA wasn't - in my opinion - a good strain to use in such a beer... the funk, while tasty, barrelled through the beer (even in the early days of pouring) and masked most of the Azacca hoppy goodness.

The first two Brett IPAs, however (here and here), were a different story. Fermented with Amalgamation from The Yeast Bay, both beers were closer to what I look for in a Brett IPA - especially the first one, hopped with Amarillo and Hallertau Blanc. For those who don't know, Amalgamation is a "Brett Super Blend" of six different Brettanomyces strains; it works fantastically well in 100% Brett beers. After those two beers, unfortunately my Amalgamation slurry seemed to go south, so I had to toss it. This was a special order online that I had piggy-backed on with someone else, so getting it again wasn't looking like it'd be easy anytime soon.

Luckily, a friend had purchased a vial fairly recently, and saved me a small amount of slurry to brew with. He also had some slurry of White Labs Brett claussenii that he gave me; he had used it recently in brewing a Brett Session IPA (hopped with Citra, Equinox, and Galaxy) which was quite tasty. I had never brewed with Brett C before; White Labs describes it as having "low intensity Brett character", with "more aroma (fruity, pineapple) than flavour contribution". Again, his beer was really good, and the description sounds ideal for a Brett IPA. I had planned to brew two separate Brett IPAs, fermenting one with Amalgamation and one with Brett C, but then I had a thought - what about splitting a batch and comparing two otherwise-exact beers after fermenting with different Brett strains? Done!

This involved a little more work than usual, because I had to grow up (via two starters each) both Brett strains to pitchable amounts (~100 billion cells each, plus a little more to save for another beer), starting from somewhere in the line of 3 billion cells. Of course, I had no idea how many cells I had, but it was a very small amount of slurry for each strain, so I erred on the conservative side.

For the recipe, I used the same grist as for all of the Brett IPAs I've brewed so far. Maybe it's time to change this up, but I find the simplicity of 71% 2-row, 21% Wheat malt (to help bump up the body), and small amounts of Carapils and Acid malt, all mashed at ~153 F, works well in Brett beers. So far with this style and this recipe, I haven't had an issue with the body being too thin, as can be a common problem in 100% Brett beers, due to the minimal production of glycerol.

I pretty much stuck with my normal hopping schedule as well, but I was back and forth on exactly which hops to use. I wanted to keep the hops the same throughout, since the main purpose of this brew is to compare 100% fermentation with two different Brett pitches. I quickly settled on using two varieties, and made the decision of which to go with basically based on inventory. I still had 6 oz of Vic Secret on hand, and some Citra to use up as well; I considered throwing in a third variety, but decided to go with Vic Secret and Citra on their own, in a 2:1 ratio, respectively. As with the other beers, a small bittering addition with Polaris at the beginning of the boil, and then large additions at flameout and when I started chilling, and a single dry-hop.

Once brewed, boiled, and chilled, I split the roughly 20 L of wort into two 3-gallon Better Bottles (yeah, I flip back and forth between metric when it comes to volume; that's just how I roll), and pitched the two starters. As you can see from the pics below, the two beers looked pretty much the same during fermentation. The temperature for both got to 74 F, and while fermentation started fairly quickly, it wasn't long before it was petering off. The airlock for the Brett C half was bubbling slightly more than the Amalgamation half, but otherwise there wasn't much of a difference. After a couple of weeks, I took a gravity reading of each: Brett C got to 1.005, and Amalgamation to 1.003. This was a big difference compared to my other Brett IPAs, especially the Amalgamation ones, where the first beer finished at 1.014, and the second at 1.008. Since the grist and pitching rates for all three are the same, I assume this has something to do with fermentation temperature (the first Brett beer never reached higher than 70 F).

Not the prettiest laundry sink, I know.

I kegged the Amalgamation half, and bottled the Brett C half, simply because I didn't have two tap lines available at the time. Plus, this does allow you to let some of the bottles sit back and change with time, but right now, we're really more concerned with how these beers differ fresh. I mean, we're talking about a single-strain Brett IPA vs. one fermented with six strains, so these beers must have come out quite different, right?

Well, not so much, actually. Let me start off by saying that both of these beers are quite tasty, and in terms of Brett IPAs I've brewed, are rivalled only by the very first Amalgamation IPA. The Citra and Vic Secret work very well together, and with the Bretts, with a pleasant combination of pineapple, citrus and tropical fruit, and a bit of barnyard funk. The beers also look identical, as I expected. The main differences are in the mouthfeel (the Amalgamation is smoother and less carbonated; both of these may have to do with how they were carbonated?), and that the Brett C beer has a low level of phenolic spiciness in the aroma and flavour, that I don't really detect in the Amalgamation.

An interesting experiment! I'll continue to mess around in the future, but for now, Amalgamation remains my go-to fermenter when it comes to Brett IPAs.

Recipe Targets: (5.5 gallons, 75% efficiency) OG 1.057, FG ~1.005, IBU ~40-45, SRM 4.1, ABV ~6.8%

Grains:
3.7 kg (71.2%) Canadian 2-row
1.1 kg (21.2%) Wheat malt
200 g (3.8%) Carapils
200 g (3.8%) Acid malt

Hops:
Polaris - 10 g (17.7% AA) @ 60 min

Citra - 28 g @ 0 min (with a 20 min hop steep)
Vic Secret - 42 g @ 0 min (with a 20 min hop steep)

Citra - 28 g @ 0 min (when started chilling)
Vic Secret - 42 g @ 0 min (when started chilling)

Citra - 28 g dry-hop for 5 days (in primary, 14 g per fermentor)

Vic Secret - 86 g dry-hop for 5 days (in primary, 43 g per fermentor)

Misc: 1/2 tab Irish Moss at 5 min

Yeast: 1/2 batch Brett C, 1/2 Brett Amalgamation (with a starter, ~100 billion cells each)

Water: Fredericton city water, carbon-filtered; 3 g Gypsum and 5 g calcium chloride added to mash

- Brewed on September 7th, 2016, by myself. 50-minute mash with 15 L of strike water; mash temp on target of 153 F. Mashed-out for 10 minutes with 6.75 L of boiling water to 166 F. Sparged with ~3.5 gallons of 168 F water for final volume of ~6.75 gallons.

- Pre-boil gravity at 1.045. 60-minute boil. Final volume ~5.7 gallons; OG 1.056. Chilled to 64 F, then poured into two 3-gallon Better Bottles, ~10 L each. Aerated with 45 seconds of pure O2 per fermentor, pitched yeast at 66-68 F.

- 20/8/16 - Amalgamation FG 1.003, Brett C FG 1.005. Dry-hopped both in primary.

- 25/9/16 - Kegged Amalgamation portion, bottled Brett C portion (with 56 g table sugar, aiming for 2.4 vol CO2).

Appearance: Both beers look identical upon pouring - light-golden colour, hazy/downright cloudy, medium-sized stark-white head that shows very good retention, hanging around for minutes after pouring.

Aroma: Lots of citrus, lots of pineapple and tropical fruit in both, with a low background of barnyard (it's there, but not overly noticeable); very slight phenolic character as well, a little stronger in the Brett C beer.

Taste: Very similar, again, with a pineapple/citrus fruit character coming through strongest. Again, the Brett characteristics (barnyard funk) are there, but not strong... just enough to let you know what you're drinking. The Brett C beer has that slight phenolic spiciness carrying over into the flavour as well. Both finish with a medium-low bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Here's where the beers seem to differ the most - the Brett C beer is carbonated higher (likely because it was bottled) and isn't quite as smooth as the Amalgamation, exhibiting a bit of carbonic bite. Medium-bodied for the Amalgamation, medium-light for Brett C.

Overall: I enjoy both quite a bit, but Amalgamation is the winner, here.

India Pale Lager (Cascade, Comet & Vic Secret)

For me, the months of January and February equal Lager Season. Not necessarily drinking, of course, but brewing them. Ever since I purchased a separate freezer and a temperature controller in 2011 (my first major homebrew equipment purchase), I've brewed 2 or 3 lagers each year. Now, with a temperature-controlled freezer, I could technically brew a lager any time of year, but it's just so much easier in the winter, when ground water temps are a lot lower. Lagers aren't my favourite class of beer to brew, but I completely appreciate the talent it takes to brew a really good one. You have to pitch a lot of healthy yeast, you have to aerate properly, you have to pay close attention to fermentation temps and diacetyl rests and lagering periods... it goes on and on. It's not easy to brew a really good Pilsner, and that gets missed a lot by people who don't know a lot about brewing.

Last year was the first time since having the freezer that I didn't brew any lagers. This happened for two reasons: 1) I was kind of on a big hoppy kick and kept brewing APAs, IPAs, etc., and 2) my fermentation chamber had become a keezer; with 3-4 taps flowing at a time, there just wasn't enough room for a carboy, let alone two. This year, however, I figured that I could take the time to brew at least one or two; by cleverly using the back, closed-off room of my garage for fermentation (acting as my beer cellar, it's kept at a perfect 48-50 F thanks to a simple digital thermostat), and the garage itself for lagering (it's typically 2-4 F during January and February), I thought I could make it work.

So, in early January I brewed a Festbier (think paler, more-bitter Oktoberfest) using a private collection strain from Wyeast, Munich Lager II. I've used this strain before in a Vienna Lager and a Schwarzbier, and was quite happy with it... good malt character, decent attenuation, less diacetyl-producing. The Festbier turned out pretty decent, and - as usual for my method to brewing lagers - I kept lots of slurry to re-use for another beer. I had full intentions of brewing a bigger beer, like a Bock or Doppelbock, but as usual, all those hops in the freezer were calling to me...

While India Pale Lager is not a defined "style" of beer (at least, it isn't in the BJCP), that - as usual - doesn't keep plenty of commercial breweries from brewing it. I don't think I have to get too technical here: an IPL is basically an American IPA fermented with a Lager yeast strain. I believe the idea is that since Lager strains generally give a very clean beer (if brewed properly), an IPL should bring the hops (and supporting malt) even more forward than when used in an IPA (even one featuring a generally-neutral yeast strain, such as US-05). I can't really comment on whether this is true; I've never brewed an IPL, and I haven't tried many of them either. The standout for me is one that is definitely impressive to have been brewed well, TrIPL, a 10% monster with CTZ, Chinook and Citra from Jack's Abby, probably one of the best Lager breweries in North America.

Well, I decided to give it a go, if only to see if there was really a difference between a heavily-hopped Lager vs. a heavily-hopped Ale. When putting together the recipe, I didn't want a beer that was too dark, of course, but maybe something that wasn't Light Lager yellow, either. I was originally going to go with all-Pilsner malt for the base, as I would with a lot of pale Lagers, but after a bit of reading online, I decided to add some 2-row in. I made up the rest with some Munich, Wheat malt, and Melanoiden, trying to give the beer a bit of body and provide some breadiness. A bit of Acid malt, as usual, and that was that. I mashed fairly low, at 150 F; I wanted a fairly-dry beer, and with the attenuation of the Munich Lager II not being super-high, I hoped this would give me a good balance of enough-body with not-too-sweet.

I went with three hop varieties, one that I've used plenty of times, one I've used once and really enjoyed, and one that I've never brewed with before:

• Cascade - We've all used Cascade, and it often gets forgotten in the mad rush of new, hot hops out there... and it's a shame. Sure, it may not be as potent as Galaxy, Azacca, Citra, Mosaic, etc., but its citrus and grapefruit characteristics can be truly wonderful in a hoppy beer, and I've been trying to use it more often lately.
• Comet - I think this one has been around for awhile, but I hadn't brewed with it since my 2015 Meek Celebration (Christmas giveaway beer), and I really liked it in that beer. Described by the Bear Flavored hop guide as "intense wild American grapefruit/citrus character, extremely dank"; it doesn't disappoint. So obviously, I'm looking for grapefruit in this beer.
• Vic Secret - A new (~2013) Australian variety, this hop has been doing well - I see it popping up in a lot of beers lately, and I tried a single-hop beer from Fredericton's TrailWay awhile back that was quite good. Described as exhibiting flavours of passionfruit, pineapple and some light herbs and resin, I thought it would work nicely with the Cascade and Comet.

I mixed it up a bit as per the hopping schedule below, with an ounce or slightly more (when using up stock) of all three in a single dry-hop. But that raised the question: what is the best way to dry-hop an IPL? Do you lager the beer first, and then dry-hop? Or is the lagering period also the dry-hop period? Problem is, even light lagers are lagered for longer than your typical dry-hopping time (which is often no longer than 5-7 days, or even shorter). I looked into it some, and turns out that - surprise! - there are a lot of different opinions on the "best" way to dry-hop a lagered beer. So, I chose the following method: brew the beer, ferment cool as expected, raise temp for a short diacetyl rest, bring back down to ~50 F again, then after a couple weeks total, rack to a keg and lager the beer. After several weeks, throw the dry hops in that keg, move the keg inside to a warmer temperature for 5 days, then transfer the beer from that dry-hop keg into the serving keg, chill and carb. Make sense?

The brew day was fine, if a little longer than usual - with a 90-minute boil, a hop steep of 15 minutes, and having to chill to 50 F or lower, it definitely stretched out compared to an Ale brew. Fermentation was going about 24-36 hours after pitching, and in true Lager fashion for me, never got crazy... the airlock bubbling every 2 seconds for several days is what I'm used to for Lagers. After about 5 days the bubbling started slowing down, so I moved the fermentor inside for a 2-day diacetyl rest in the mid-60s F, then moved it back to 50 F ambient. After two weeks total, I racked the beer to my "dry-hop" keg and left it in the garage to lager... not exactly the most regulated way to do so, but my garage was holding at about 40 F or so, consistently, so it would have to do. Two weeks later I threw in the dry-hops, moved the keg inside for 5 days, and then transferred via CO2 to a purged serving keg, and started carbing.

And how did it turn out? I've got to say, I quite enjoy this beer. Really smooth and creamy, it's got a fruity, candy-like sweetness to it that in no way overshadows the citrusy, fruity, slightly-herbal flavours from the hops. The malt also complements the hops well, but be very clear, this is a hop-forward beer. It just seems a little less dry than a lot of hoppy ales I've brewed, but it's still juicy. That's the best way I can think to explain it. I'm sure a different Lager yeast with a bit higher attenuation would result in a drier beer, but I like how this tastes, and I'm a big fan of the mouthfeel.

This is something I'll definitely try again, although now it's probably going to have to wait until next winter. Lots of room for experimentation here - with many Lager yeast strains to play with, not to mention all those wonderful, wonderful hop varieties, this is a style I look forward to revisiting again. In the meantime, I need to track down some more commercial examples...

Recipe Targets: (5.5 gallons, 72% efficiency) OG 1.063, FG ~1.014, IBU ~52, SRM 5.7, ABV ~6.4%

Grains:
3 kg (50.6%) Bohemian Pilsner
2 kg (33.8%) Canadian 2-row
300 g (5.1%) Munich
300 g (5.1%) Wheat malt
200 g (3.4%) Melanoiden
125 g (2.1%) Acid malt

Hops:
Polaris - 10 g (19.8% AA) @ 60 min

Cascade - 28 g (6.4% AA) @ 10 min
Comet - 28 g (7% AA) @ 10 min

Comet - 28 g @ 0 min (with a 15 min hop steep)
Vic Secret - 28 g @ 0 min (with a 15 min hop steep)

Cascade - 28 g @ 0 min (when begin chilling)
Comet - 28 g @ 0 min (when begin chilling)

Comet - 44 g dry-hop for 5 days (in primary)
Cascade - 30 g dry-hop for 5 days (in primary)
Vic Secret - 28 g dry-hop for 5 days (in primary)

Misc: 1/2 tab Irish Moss at 5 min

Yeast: Wyeast 2352 Munich Lager II (slurry)

Water: Fredericton city water, carbon-filtered; 8 g Gypsum and 8 g calcium chloride added to mash

- Brewed on February 10th, 2016, by myself. 50-minute mash with 15 L of strike water; mash temp on target at 150 F. Mashed-out for 10 minutes with 7.75 L of boiling water to 165 F. Sparged with ~4 gallons of 168 F water for final volume of ~7.25 gallons.

- Pre-boil gravity 1.047 (target 1.048). 90-minute boil. Final volume ~5.5 gallons; OG 1.064. Chilled to 48 F, then poured into Better Bottle. Aerated with 120 seconds of pure O2, pitched yeast slurry at 50 F and set fermentor in back room of garage, ambient temp set for 50 F.

- Airlock showing signs of activity by the next evening, with steady bubbling occurring for the next week. When activity slowed, moved carboy inside for two days for a diacetyl rest at ~64 F. Moved back into 48 F temp for another 10 days or so.

- 1/3/16 - Racked to CO2-purged keg, set in back of garage where temp was approximately 38 F.

- 15/3/16 - FG 1.014. Added dry hops to keg, purged again, brought keg inside to sit at room temp.

- 20/3/16 - Transferred via CO2 to serving keg, began carbing.

Appearance: Pours with a moderate-large size white head that shows good retention, eventually fading to 1/2-finger. Body is a deep-golden colour, with very good clarity.

Aroma: Pleasant bready malt character, with a strong hop presence that is fruity and tropical, for the most part. Clean, no diacetyl, no sulfur.

Taste: Lots of hops, tropical, citrusy, with a bit of an herbal-like quality that two fellow beer geeks picked out. Backed by the malt sufficiently, but definitely a hoppy beer. Finishes crisp and fairly dry, smooth and easy-drinking.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, moderate carbonation. Very smooth and creamy.

Overall: Very enjoyable; I haven't had a lot of IPLs but this is one of the better ones I've had for awhile. Definitely a recipe to play around with; changing hop varieties and yeast strains really opens the possibilities.