a double Hell'o'win story (not tried yet but already true)

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VLAGAVULVIN
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a double Hell'o'win story (not tried yet but already true)

Post by VLAGAVULVIN »

Well-well-well, lads... here's the story that allows me to think of myself like a dude from Hogwarts, at least. Or even like of a lucky bastard.

The missus was tryna make some sweet pumpkin stuff using her cheese press and a loosy cotton cloth. The stuff was never dehydrated well (her fail) but got them wild yeast thru the cloth (my win) that fly here and there in any dirty kitchen room.

As this ferment was smelling good I got some pumpkin mass and put it into a small jar with some wheat malt wort. The next morning (i.e. yesterday, October 31st) it smelled definitely beer-ish.

So I bought a 5-liter "glacier" water in a plastic carboy (aka my future fermenter) and made my micro brewing wort as 300g of wheat malt + 300g of barley malt + 4 liters (after boiling was finished) water. Starting gravity? Wut? Don't even ask me about! I'm an old good shaman so I (sort of) have no all those nerd-o-meters. And even used a wooden paddle for making the whirlpool... Sanitisation? Well, the paddle got some boiling water - that's all.
half-wort, just aerated
half-wort, just aerated
The hops... ooops, I sed "hops"?.. Nah, I milled a table spoon of juniper berries. Then added a half-handful of herbs like chaga (damn, it's a shroom, actually), sagan-dailya (have no idea what it was), dried apple pieces, raisins, junipers 'gain, cardamom, cinnamon, stevia, some 2 cent hops... okay. Actually, that was just a herbal tea collection. Nice for my gruit ale, yoh-ho-haw... But it's a mashroom gruit, lads. So, I dropped some more chaga. The true chaga. Grown on a living birch tree in the Taiga, and not in these sh!tboxes placed at "indoor farms" by iHerb Fakers, Inc. Truth to tell, my juniper berries were bought on the iHerb.com. But I bet they are really good, lol.
 some drugs, eh?
 some drugs, eh?
Okay. First off, I'm using the "pumpkin yeast" (that I filtered just into my micro fermenter). Secondable, it started on the 31st of October. Halloween'em all... It's now fermenting like crazy. No sour smelling so far. The air lock? Nah: the shamans never use it. The profile? Kinda wild strawberry artisan jam (with roasted berry seeds). Definitely, gotta wash my yeast after the fermentation is done.

Imma get my own Kveik strain, folks. Y'all hafta wish me a gooood luck... (flies away on a broom).
:twisted:
12h ferment
12h ferment

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Cristof
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Re: a double Hell'o'win story (not tried yet but already true)

Post by Cristof »

So how is it? 😄
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VLAGAVULVIN
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Re: a double Hell'o'win story (not tried yet but already true)

Post by VLAGAVULVIN »

gen.one
gen.one
The 1st generation was just "not bad". A bit sour but not musty. Not sure it had any bacterial lactic acid in. But the profile was distinctive and unlike anything. No stinky hard off-notes. Wouldn't say all those herbs impacted it a lot. The eldest son said to give it a time for becoming a true lambic. He keeps on working in a pub so maybe he should know it better than me, lol. Okay, I'll give it a time: one bottle is still sitting in a cupboard. But I had a feeling that the mash was slightly improper for my home unique strain(s). Which are easy-to-wash, by the way.
washed
washed
So, the second trial was definitely denser and had about 20% rye malt (separately saccharified and boiled with a bit of baked and mashed pumpkin). And it's a thang! The yeast made me 7% AbV at t=24C in 10 days. Not sour at all, with chaga and juniper berries it's very forceful and self-sufficient. But the same recognizable profile. My "strawberry" strains have it, in contrast to "neutral" Voss Kveik.
gen.two
gen.two
gen.two.too
gen.two.too
You may ferment a heavy tank spring and anyways you'll get a strawbery aroma. Plus some rye at the bottom of the faraway for this time. There are no hard stinky esters either. The necessary esters are all in their places. The body is rather dry. But there is no alco impact both in the taste or in the nose.

So, the wild yeast strains are turned out to be the well-do guys: I think my future pure malted rye mash for a triple distillation is a good idea for them to experiment with. And so far, they are sitting under the sterile wort with lysozyme.

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VLAGAVULVIN
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Re: a double Hell'o'win story (not tried yet but already true)

Post by VLAGAVULVIN »

Just another small remark. Now fermenting: 100% apple juice, clarified. No malts or nutrients added. Started quickly. Work well. My cool little bastards...

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VLAGAVULVIN
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Re: a double Hell'o'win story (not tried yet but already true)

Post by VLAGAVULVIN »

:wave: Well, I'm back just 2 years later to say that...
VLAGAVULVIN wrote: Fri Jan 01, 2021 3:33 am The eldest son said to give it a time for becoming a true lambic. He keeps on working in a pub so maybe he should know it better than me, lol.
... he was right and wrong together. The Gen.-2 (rye added), yeah, it developed into somewhat Belgium. But definitely, not into lambics. Much closer to trappists. Zero acidity. In two years the "wild strawberry artisan jam (with roasted berry seeds)" transformed into a deep malt profile, dissolved in it. Is it better than Trappist Dubbel by Westmalle? Lemme be not humble at all... but yes, it is. And... it's my best brewing experiment so far, folks...
.
2 years aged stuff.jpg
.
Three more comments:
1) Time and again, I'm able to catch the same "strawberry" strains at home / last time I multiplied them in August or September and they have successfully worked a few times.
2) Don't be afraid of wild yeast "cultures" that you catch on purpose: it's not the same "infection" that drops into your fermenter by some bad chance. My own small beasts have a high attenuation and an excellent profile.
3) "Le terroir" has to do more with marketing and not with common sense. All these Bayanuses and Bretts are the same in the countryside's conditions on the banks of either the Kama or the Senne. The Devil is in Aging.

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