Smoked Helles '22

Smoked Helles has become my go to spring beer since first brewing a split batch that included it several years ago. This year I got a later start on it than usual but still wanted to get one going to have it on tap for the summer. Something about the low levels of bitterness, moderate crackery and bready malt, and a noticeable sweet smoke character from cherrywood smoked malt makes this one a refreshing drinker in the warm weather. It will be interesting to see how the Sugar Creek smoked malt compares to the Briess that I've used in previous versions.

Simple smoked helles:

75% (7.5 lbs) Pilsner malt (Weyermann)

10% (1 lb) Cherrywood Smoked Malt (Sugar Creek)

10% (1 lb) CaraHell (Weyermann)

5% (.5 lbs) Vienna Malt (Weyermann)

Tasting Notes:

Smell: light sweet caramel and honey like malts up front. The smoke comes through more as I drink but is fairly restrained and enjoyable giving notes of fruity sweetness and a touch of pork barbecue. No noticeable yeast or hop derived aromas.

Appearance: bright gold with a large fluffy white head. Probably a little too much carbonation making the head larger than intended but it works. The head fades fairly quickly to a thin layer but that thin layer then lasts throughout. Clarity isn't crystal clear but very good given that there were no filtrations or finings used.

Taste: leads with a lightly sweet and grainy malt character giving cracker, bread, and breakfast cereal notes that then wash slowly into a mild sweet and very lightly smokey flavor that lasts through a light but refreshing bitterness.

Mouthfeel: dry and crisp. Carbonation is maybe just a touch high but this drinks very well. Body is just the right level to let the flavors hit the entire mouth before fading away.

Overall: a very enjoyable and refreshing beer that I could happily drink multiple half liters of. The smoke is fairly low but I go back and forth on whether I would like it to be higher. Any less and it should be left out entirely but any higher and it might dominate some of the subtler character that makes the beer so enjoyable and refreshing. Even with how much I like to tweak my brews I could definitely see making this exact same recipe again with no changes. This one is probably in the top 10 beers I’ve brewed but probably wouldn’t make my top 5.

5/11/22
Planned out a vacation day to recover from the previous night's awesome The Menzingers show and brew a beer.

Mill had a couple rusty spots. Attempted to clean but couldn’t fully get them off, hopefully it doesn’t come off/carry through in the beer.

Mash started at 154 but fell to 148 by end. Mashed out with 1 gallon at 180F, ran off then batch sparged with water at 180F to reach 6.5 gallons.

Surprisingly little smoke smell during runoff. Maybe I should have upped the amount of smoked malt but at least I have 9 more pounds left to work with.

Brought to boil and added 1 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh hops and boiled for 60 minutes with an addition of Irish moss at 10 minutes. Chilled with immersion chiller to below 80F, transferred to 6 gallon plastic carboy and placed in kegerator at 45F.

After 7 hours pitched one jar of Munich lager yeast previously used for Maibock.

12 hours after pitching (19 after brewing) increased chest freezer temp to 50F. Added 1 pack of Lallemand Diamond Lager Yeast 8 hours later.

5/13/22
After 48 hours still not seeing any signs of active fermentation so increasing chest freezer temp to 55F

5/22/22
Still slowly fermenting with a decent krausen, increased chest freezer temp to 60F

5/27/22
Fermentation looks complete with just a few yeast rafts on top. Began slowly cooling.

6/12/22
After about 2 weeks at 30F the beer is still looking similar with some small yeast rafts but seems to be clearing up and looks ready for packaging soon. Gravity measurement shows it down to 1.011. Taste is fairly clean but a touch lighter on the smoke than I would like and maybe a little thinner/more watery, but both might improve with carbonation and warmer serving temperature. Will likely keg sometime in the next week.

6/17/22
Transferred to keg and set in chest freezer at 50F.

6/19/22
Poured a small sample tasting. Surprisingly clean, the smoke just barely shows up in the nose when I search for it, otherwise taste and smell is mostly clean with light herbal and honey character. I would probably use at least twice this much smoked malt, possibly more, if making this recipe with the same ingredients again. Not bad but closer to a plain helles than a smoked anything.

7/15/22
Tasting day with notes above. After about a month in the keg this one is quite nice. Interested to see what 9 pounds of the smoked malt does on its own given how subtle it is at 10% of a batch. It seems to be a bit more subtle than other cherrywood smoked malts I've used but has a very nice character to it.

Summer/Sommer Ales

Originally designed as an all grain batch inspired by Heavy Seas old Summer Ale (later renamed Sea Nymph) that I enjoyed in the summer of 2011. For the malt bill (and much of the beer) I aimed for this to ride the line between an American blonde ale and an American wheat ale with about 20% wheat and just a small amount of light caramel malt. Sea Nymph appears to have been 4.5% abv which fits the idea of a blonde or American wheat, though other styles could also fit that profile. While Comet is likely not the hop used in that beer I think it’s citrus and tropical character should go well in small amounts to balance the malt. I had originally designed the recipe to be straight forward with 2-row, wheat, and caramel 20 as the ingredients so in changing to an extract version I aimed for something similar but used Carahell in place of the crystal 20 and replaced the 2-row and wheat malts with a blend of extra light and wheat dry malt extracts. Half the batch will be fermented with Omega Lutra kveik, a strain notorious for its lager like character, and the other half on the classic Fermentis SafAle US-05 American ale yeast. This should give me two variations on a Summer (or Sommer in Norwegian) ale.

This along with my previous and next brews that will be on tap this summer are intended to be fairly pale, moderate in alcohol, refreshing, and interesting without being overly strong in any way, allowing for quaffability and cooling off in the heat. The two other beers of summer '22 are a lightly smoked Helles (usually my spring beer) and a Czech Premium Pale Lager (aka Bohemian Pilsner). Most likely these three will be the only beers I have on tap for the upcoming summer months, though summer essentially started weeks ago with temperatures topping 90F here in Maryland. I guess you could say they're "lawn mower" beers, though maybe a bit more complex and interesting than your average one.

Compared to the slightly smoke forward helles and noble hop forward Pils this beer should round out the mix by being a little more fruity due to the yeast and the American hops. If I am able to find some extra time to brew an additional batch to join these it would likely be a saison/grisette or a simple quick sour, since both could be enjoyable light drinkers but also provide something different than these 3 offer. My next brew day following these 3 was used to get some long aged sours started, with some lagers also planned to be brewed later this summer that will likely not be ready until the fall, after The Beers of Summer are gone.

6/8/22

Brewed after work inside on stovetop due to storms outside. This beer is the first time brewing a stovetop batch in this house and first time in a while doing an extract with steeping grains.  Ran into a few unexpected issues, including needing to take the wort outside to chill since my immersion chiller didn't connect to the kitchen sink as it had in my old apartment and the boil off being much lower than on my usual burner leading to more than an extra half gallon of wort that was added to a 1 gallon jug and pitched with dregs from a bottle of Saison DuPont and dregs from a bottle of my homebrewed "Gotlandsdricke" made with Jovaru yeast. The Lutra version was transferred to carboy around 90F while US-05 batch was chilled to ~80F (as far as I could easily get it down to). The two ended up being blended some prior to pitching yeast and pitching was slightly delayed so the Lutra version was probably a little lower than 90 at time of yeast being added and US-05 may have been in the upper 70's. Both were covered with shirts to prevent light and left in basement in low 60F ambient temps.

6/9/22

Despite pouring a decent amount of wort from the carboys to the extra jug in order to give headspace in the carboys the Lutra version fermented so strongly overnight that it blew off its airlock less than 12 hours after pitching. That version was left to open ferment and slowly bubble over the top of the carboy for about 12 hours before seeming to calm down at which point the airlock was re-attached.

US-05 version was also bubbling away after 12 hours but not nearly as intensely, while the farmhouse yeasts version isn’t showing much sign of life even 24 hours later.

6/12/22

Basement has warmed up some along with the outside temps and is now hovering between the mid and upper 60s, which should be good for both versions of this beer as this is around the low end of recommended temperature range for Lutra and the middle of the range for US-05.

Lutra version is barely bubbling, opening the airlock gives smells slightly of yeastiness and the kveik "twang" that people sometimes mention with this strain (milk/yogurt/overripe citrus?). This batch is likely done fermentation but may need a few days to clean up. Gravity sample shows 1.013, sample tastes and smells more fruity, citrusy and refreshing than carboy smells. Not clear or clean so I would not call this very lager like at this point but definitely enjoyable.

US-05 version is still fermenting moderately with a large krausen, lifting the airlock gives aromas that are citrusy and pleasant, but probably needs at least a week to finish and clean up so I didn't take a gravity sample yet.

Farmhouse version is showing some signs of life with a decent layer of krausen, smell off the airlock is smoky, probably from the Gotlandsdricke dregs. It will be interesting to see whether the smoke persists strongly through to the finish but I have no real plans for this small amount of beer so if it's unenjoyable it will be easy to dump and if it is enjoyable it might get bottled or blended in with something else.

6/17/22

Kegged both versions. Probably should have waited on the US-05 as first pour is tasting yeasty and a bit strange. Lutra version also tastes a bit more yeasty and less lemony and refreshing than the previous sample but that may be due to the yeast getting stirred up and coming out in the first pour here. Kegerator set to 50F with 20 PSI.

6/19/22

Poured a small sample of each. Both have a bit of a pizza aroma: herbal (basil and savory) and bready (dough, yeast, crust). The Lutra version tastes more lemony and nice, not clean but a pleasant character. US-05 is less clear in appearance and the flavor is closer to the nose with herbal and slightly yeasty notes. Both versions are under carbonated at this point. Hoping with some more time they can clean up. Neither is necessarily unpleasant at this point but they don’t quite hit the notes I’m hoping for in a refreshing summer ale where I probably would have liked a little bit less body and more lemony citrus character.

7/16/22

Side by side tasting of both versions with image above. Despite some differences and pros and cons to each I’m not sure I have a preference on either version but am fairly happy with the beer overall and am happy to have a lightly fruity, fairly low ABV, and otherwise fairly unremarkable, beer on tap.

Sommer (Lutra kveik version)

Smell: orange peel, nondescript fruitiness, light honey, cracker, and wheat bread malt notes. Fruitiness and a touch of milk caramel note is more noticeable after a few sips.

Appearance: fairly opaque golden orange with a large white fluffy head with good retention. Not hazy like a NEIPA but very far from clear and even more opaque than the American Ale yeast version.

Taste: similar to the nose with moderate fruity and slightly citrusy notes blending with mild graininess. Finish is again slightly milk caramel with a touch of tropical fruit. Hard to discern yeast from hops. Bitterness is very low but just enough

Mouthfeel: medium low body with medium carbonation and a touch of creaminess. Pretty nice.

Overall: I would definitely not say that this yeast produces anything like a lager as it is advertised, but as a moderately neutral and very fast fermentor it did a solid job. Not the best beer and I may have actually enjoyed it more with more kveik character but it was an easy to produce and easy to drink brew.

Summer (US-05 version)

Smell: similar to Lutra version with fruit, light citrus, and malt but also some doughy and yeasty character and a touch of pine. As I drink it that classic American hop citrus and pine-like character comes out more and more. 

Appearance: fairly cloudy but I can see my fingers through the glass unlike the kveik version. Large white fluffy head with good retention.

Taste: less rounded than the kveik version with the hops coming through more noticeably (though not super strong) with pine and citrus. Bitterness seems higher with less sweet malt character noticeable and none of the milk caramel character.

Mouthfeel: medium low body with medium carbonation. Maybe a touch thinner than the other version but in a nice range for the style and makes for a light summer drinker.

Overall: not quite what I was going for with this beer but certainly enjoyable enough. This version has less fruit/tropical and sweet malt character than the kveik one but still has enough enjoyable notes to go back for more.