Arbor Brewing Company's Corner Brewery sits in Ypsilanti, MI directly east of easter Michigan University. This is one of my favorite places to get a beer in Michigan. Corner brewery has a large interior that gives off a towny feel. Slightly run down booths and sitting areas, with board games, and community style sitting makes for a great atmosphere to meet friends. Corner brewery also has a wide selection of beer styles on tap, ranging from Irish Stout, to IPA, and even a few sours.
This was a really straight forward brew day and recipe. With summer, I like a more tropical fruit IPA. I really like Citra hops, so I made them the main attraction, and used Simcoe and Mosaic to round out the flavors. I haven't used Mosaic a lot in the past and am honestly still trying to find good ways to use it in hoppy beers. I'm thinking a 100% Mosaic Saison may be in the near future.
The grain bill is a 50% US Pale Malt (2-Row), 50% Maris Otter, and 2 oz of Carmel/Crystal-120L for a little color. Bravo at 90 minutes for a smooth, but present bitterness and Simcoe for the late boil additions. Then I crammed 2 oz of Citra hops in the hopback. Fermented with WL 090 San Diego Super Yeast for 7 days at 66 degrees F, 7 more days in the primary with a 1 oz Simcoe Addition, and then racked to a secondary with an oz of Citra and Mosaic.
With 9 oz of hops in a 5 gallon batch this beer is exactly what you would expect. In quantity Simcoe is the dominate hop, but in the final taste and aroma Citra dominates. This ended up being a great IPA and I will be brewing it again.
One of my favorite beers of all time is Boulevard Brewing Company's Tank 7. Tank 7 is a modern take on a belgian farmhouse ale, or saison. I think of Tank 7 as a slightly stronger take on the style and hopped like an American Pale Ale. It's a dangerously good beer for 8.5% ABV and a all around great beer. Unfortunately Boulevard Brewing Company does not distribute in Michigan and none of the local breweries make anything similar to Tank 7 (not that I know about at least). So I decided to try and brew something similar.
The two classic saison yeast strains are WY 3724 Belgian Saison and WY 3711 French Saison. While I really enjoy the classic flavor of WY 3724, the yeast seems to take a long time to attenuate (which isn's great for a hop forward beer). WY 3711 is one of the fastest attenuating yeasts that I have ever used, but I fine the flavor to be too peppery at the temperatures I ferment. I did some digging on the internet and found a yeast company, Omega Yeast Labs, that produces a strain called Saisonstein's Monster. In their words:
The first in our line of hybrid strains. This strain is a genetic hybrid resulting from the mating of strains OYL-026 and OYL-027, created by and available exclusively from Omega Yeast. Less phenolic and more fruit character than 026. Exhibits some of the bubble gum character of 027.
After looking at their catalogue, the yeast is a product from mating belgian saison yeast and french saison yeast. After using this yeast for the first time, I really liked it. It attenuated quickly and produces some really great fruity phenolic notes which accompanied the Amarillo and Citra hops. While this beer is certainly not a Tank 7 clone, it does end up with a lot of the same character.
This years batch has come and gone. I struck out at my local liquor store, but was able to puck a case up at the local Whole Foods. This is a great beer. It drinks easy for it's 10% ABV, loaded with hops, and well balanced.
Straight forward IPA with some minor deviations. I used a blend of Centennial, Simcoe, and Citra for all the late hop and dry hop additions. A healthy amount of Vienna Malt for background and Dry English Ale yeast (WLP007) for a dry unique finish.
There are a couple of hopping techniques I like to use to brew IPAs. The first is an extended hops steep. I like to steep for 60 minutes between 140 - 150 degrees. This temperature is below the flashpoints for the varieties I use, so I don't have to worry about too much IBU contributions. But, because the hop stand is at such a low temperature, the duration has to be longer. I feel it definitely enhances the aroma and flavor in the final beer.
I also like to use multiple dry hopping additions. I like to add hops as soon as the krausen starts to fall in the primary fermenter and then add another addition to the secondary fermenter.
Milk Stout + Coffee isn't too radical of an idea. I love stouts and coffee so that was all the inpiration that was necessary. There are some great coffee shops in Ann Arbor, MI, but my favorite one is Mighty Good Roasting Company, on main street. They roast some really flavorful, aromatic beans. The base of the beer is a milk stout that I have developed over the past few years. 2-Row for the base, some crystal, flaked barley, 2 lbs of dark grains, and lactose. I really like the UK versions of Chocolate Malt and Roasted Barley, but it is important to note that UK Chocolate Malt has a lovibond of 350L, and UK Roasted Barley is 500L (which is a little darker than Briess). I kept the IBUs relatively low, because the added coffee imparts some of its own btterness.
For the coffee I used Mighty Good's Hacienda Rio Negro blend, which imparts a very robust, milk chocolate flavor and aroma. I cold brewed the coffee by taking two mason jars, adding 2 oz of coarse ground coffee, and topping them off with water. After 24 hours I filtered the coffee with a p60 pour over and added the concentrate to the secondary. I let the secondary sit for 7 days before kegging.
