Haven't posted here for a while so I thought I'd share a few things I've been doing with recent all grain brewing. All the talk of big hop additions caught my attention so thought I'd jump in.
After a bit of a break from the mad brewing in May, in August and September I completed 4 brews:
SAC2 DDH @8.8% ABV with a total of 692g of Hops (Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade and used in the 1st dry hop only, Citra)
Kiwi-tasm @8.0% ABV and a total of 559 g of Hops (Nelson Sauvin, Nectaron and Taiheke)
Nelson's Oats @7.5% with 450g of Nelson Sauvin (called Nelson's oats as it used only Golden Promise with three types of Oats as adjuncts - Big-O Malted Oats from Gladfield, Golden Naked Oats from Simpsons and plain old rolled Oats)
Phantas-Mc Hanlon - 8.1% with a total of 655g of Hops (Motueka, Taiheke, Moutere, Nectaron and Riwaka)
A while ago I was challenged by fellow homebrewer to try using Incognito, the hop oil extract.
I took up the challenge and used it in a couple of brew days and I have to say, using the hop oil extract was quite sticky and messy but I did like the results as I didn't have to use the normal amount of pellet hops.
However, it is bloody expensive here in Aus, $60 for 100g, so I'm not sure I will use it too often.
One new method I've gotten into is Mash Hopping, that is adding some hops along with the grain to your basket/bag. There are some varietals that work better than others for this and one that is well known to work well in mash hopping is Cascade. So I've used Cascade once in a Hazy IPA along with Amarillo and Simcoe at the whirlpool and double dry hopping.
The Cascade mash hop worked really well, adding more fruit flavour and in particular, aroma to the final beer.
Another recent brew I also mash hopped but this time with Nelson Sauvin, a personal favourite hop of mine. The reason for using Nelson Sauvin was that I also used another new product for the first time, Phantasm Powder.
For those who haven't heard of this previously, Phantasm Powder is made from the skins of sauvignon blanc grapes from Marlborough. I believe that Garage Project has lead the charge in terms of commercial breweries on this revival of an old method that was primarily used to add more bitterness with less hop.
The use of Phantasm plus the mash hopping really lifted those white wine fruit flavours and aroma!
I kegged that particular beer, calling it Kiwi-tasm as it used all Kiwi Grain as well as hops, Nelson Sauvon and Nectaron and Taiheke.
Another new thing I've been using is the very recently released Non-GMO Thiol producing yeast from White Labs, WLP077 Tropical Yeast Blend.
Those who follow bring might know that thiols are sulfur based compounds that make up less than 1% of the essential oils in a hops cone but are powerful in particular smells like those that occur in fruity white wines such as Sav Blanc, Riesling, etc.
The various yeast makers have been experimenting for a while now including using genetic modifications to allow the yeast to free the thiols with are found not only in hops but also in some grains, just in smaller amounts.
Here in Aus like other jurisdictions, we do not allow genetically modified products into the country so White Labs came up with a number of strains that were found to naturally free thiols and have put them together in their new released Tropical Yeast Blend.
Having used it twice already, I have to say it is now my new favourite yeast as Kiwi-tasm, is now my favourite beer I've brewed which was also my 30th recipe to grain to glass brew.