It comes up in my blog from time to time but I am a scientist. I have a Ph.D. in molecular biology and currently work at a national lab outside of Washington D.C. I don't do A LOT of chemistry with my beer...I measure gravities and pH sometimes....but I'd like to do more analysis. Part … Continue reading Beer Chemistry #1: Measuring IBUs in Beer
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Sorry about the delay in posts, I try to post weekly but there's been a lot going on. This means that I've had less time to write and so my backlog is building up. Hopefully I can power through a few posts in September and get back on schedule. Still dialing this Galaxy saison in. This … Continue reading Recipe #22: Galaxy Saison with Blaugies Yeast #2 (Batch #2014.17)
What is a brown saison? What is a Belgian brown ale? I don't know. Sort of like the Black IPA episode of a year back, when you do something odd like add a bunch of dry hopping to your porter recipe, what should you call it? There is a popular brewery around here called "Right … Continue reading Recipe #21: Brown Saison with Cascade Hops (Batch #2014.16)
Ever weed your garden and then decide to make a beer? This is my second attempt at a dandelion beer using flowers picked out of my yard. The first was last year using my blend of saison yeasts and Brettanomyces species...it was a big hit but the dandelion character was rather subtle. I added about 2.5 … Continue reading Recipe #20: Dandelion Saison (Batch #2014.10)
So in my last post, I wrote about a saison I made with my normal house saison yeast, the Saison Dupont strain (Galaxy Saison with Dupont Yeast). I have been talking with people about their saison yeast preferences and people do not like the Dupont strain for a variety of reasons. People complain about it … Continue reading Recipe #19: Galaxy Saison with Brasserie de Blaugies Yeast (Batch #2014.14)
I am auditioning additional saison yeasts for my house blend. I've been trying different home brews by people I trust with different blends and harvesting yeast, or getting yeast, from different brewers in order to expand my options. I have a few promising leads for future beers but the first two I wanted to check … Continue reading Recipe #18: Galaxy Saison with Dupont Yeast (Batch #2014.15)
Spring has sprung and what better way to celebrate than starting a new brewing project and make some flower beers! This will be the first in a series of flower beers made this spring / summer...hopefully they will all turn out well. This is the only one out of the four or five where I … Continue reading Recipe #17: Hibiscus Brett Saison (Batch #2014.08)
Authors Note: I try to post a recipe a week (or a post about brewing once a week) but this week I'm posting two, this being the second behind the Chinook and Cascade IPA disaster. I'm doing this to minimize the impact of that bad beer post on this blog and to reduce my backlog … Continue reading Sour Program — Part 2: A Blended Sour
There are going to be several IPA posts in the coming months as I try to dial in an IPA recipe that uses Chinook hops. I'll be trying out a few different grain additions in these beers and keeping the hops a little simple. The hop additions for these beers will not be what people … Continue reading Recipe #16: Chinook and Cascade English IPA (Batch #2014.13)
I'm past the half way mark with these beers and they have all turned out well so far. The first two were my favorites (the Azacca and the Expeirmental Pine Fruit saison). The last one, the Lemon Zest, was pretty underwhelming but still made for a good beer. Next year when I plan out this … Continue reading Experimental Hop Series #4: Experimental Grapefruit Saison (Recipe #15, Batch #2014.12)
A Ph.D. in Beer - A Study of Beer and Fermentation Science 