Another brew day was underway – yesterday. (Kind of like how that rhymes.) If you missed it, a RIS was the theme. Being winter and cold and all it is a perfect choice. As I write this, SE WI is experiencing yet another winter weather event. From what I hear, southern WI has received more snow this winter than the great not so white north. Nice of it to share! Current projections has this event pegged at 10 to 15 inches with lake effect enhancement. Wasted on a weekend and not during the week when school could have been called. I shouldn’t complain, school was called due to the last winter event this past Tuesday and Friday was a non school day but for a different reason.
There isn’t a whole lot to comment upon with this brew. All went well except for the minor miscalculation in the sparge as I ended up with a tad more volume than there should have been. An extended boil evaporated the excess volume and added a whole lot of moisture to the brew garage. There was a heavy fog created by the process in the garage and looked kinda neat. Once the main door was opened, I knew the dry winter air would make quick work dissipating all that hard work the kettle put into making the clouds. Anyway, the garage sure smelled wonderful – and still does a day later.
I decided to go with a partial mash / extract route with this number. The grain bill for a RIS is pushing the limits on the equipment capabilities. The same needs to be done when entertaining a barleywine style ale.
This is going to occupy Mark’s beer fridge as the number 2 brew. Previously, he had the inaugural Belgian Quad occupying precious beer space. (See prior posts.) The assumption is that the Quad must have been OK as it didn’t hang around long. Or there was a drain or two that needed to be fed..
The beer is fermenting away in the conical – and fermenting it is. This is the second consecutive brew that is making a mess of the fermentor. This unit has been in use for a number of years now with no concerns. For some reason, these last two fermentations have been so vigorous that foam is spewing from under the lid seal. There is a blow off hose attached but for some reason the foam likes the shortcut route between the lid and unit. Perhaps it is the yeast? The last two batches have used Fermentis Safale S-04. Per usual, I make a 1 liter yeast starter and pitch that. It takes off in short order and goes to town doing what it does best. Seeing the results of a good active fermentation isn’t at all a concern. In fact, it is a very good thing. It just is making a dark, sticky, foaming mess on and around the fermenter. The unit is in the basement next to the floor drain if things should get out of hand so no worries there. One would think that the blow off tube would be the path of least resistance but apparently it is not. Once the foam fills the tube it becomes very resistive to the flow of escaping CO2 from what I can deduce. Interesting science going on.
This beer, as with all of the others of late, employed the no chill method. It is transferred to a 6 gallon container once the wort drops below 180° F. It then sits and cools overnight, transferred to the fermenter and the yeast starter added. This process eliminates the extra time and water normally used to cool the wort immediately after the boil to pitching temp. There have been no negative aspects to this procedure. It is a regular part of the brewing process here at the Fieldpointe Brewery.
Ok, enough already. Here is the RIS not so secret formula:
Grains
- 2 lb – 2 Row Brewers Malt
- 2 lb – Amber Malt
- 1.25 lb – Roasted Barley
- 1.25 – Black Malt
LME
- 9 lb – Liquid Amber Malt Extract
Hops
- 1 oz – Warrior at 60 minutes
Yeast
- Fermentis Safale S-04
I just took another peek at the fermentor. What a mess! That’s Ok – I know good things are happening on the inside. Sure hope there is something left inside when this is done as there is a black lake developing on the floor again.
