time for some overdue professional, homebrew, and beer scene updates!

• a couple of weekends ago the phantom carriage’s first release, muis, made an appearance at the tour of long beach’s craft beer garden.  inspired by my all-brett blonde experiment, muis is an all-brett belgian blonde with terrific mouthfeel, a smooth backing bitterness, and a great earthy tropical fruit aroma.  this batch was keg conditioned instead of being force carbonated, which results in a fine effervescence and great fluffy head.  stay tuned for mainstream release information – this beer will be on LA south bay taps soon!
• last weekend I kegged and bottled vizcaino II, the latest iteration of my golden strong wild ale.  while my other pipeline wild beers were inspired by commercial brews, vizcaino’s recipe was formulated from scratch, and my first stab at it left me a little disappointed.  however, after reworking the recipe and mash schedule based on my pipeline experience and racking the batch onto a mess of raspberry puree, I ended up with what I can only describe as an “imperial framboise” – a 10.23% (finished at 1.005) brilliant red brew with an intense yet smooth acidity that transitions seamlessly into some serious raspberry flavors.  I can’t wait until this carbs up.
• on a final note, I want to congratulate beer paper LA on the release of their first physical publication.  I stopped by their release party at beachwood BBQ long beach and was filled with pride for the ever-evolving LA beer scene (kip at bierkast has a great writeup that I completely resonate with).  it’s never been a better time to be a beer drinker in LA!  

with a phantom carriage draft release on the horizon, the need for tap handles to go with the beer was imminent.

• although my previous experiences with tap handles were both successful, plain branch segments weren’t going to cut it for TPC’s purposes.  we needed something easily recognizable and slick, but also easily repeatable in quantity  and low in cost.
• after mulling it over a bit I decided to pick up a mini lathe and try my hand at shaping some inexpensive 2″ diameter dowels into mini-barrels.  luckily, the design and process in my head translated seamlessly to reality, and after a few hours of shaping, sanding, and staining I ended up with around twenty tap handles ready to serve up phantom carriage creations.  I’m planning on further customizing the barrels with one or more of a branded logo, splatter paint design, and wax dipping in the near future.  be sure to keep an eye out for one of these in the tap lineup soon!

another challenge posed by the draft release was getting the beer carbonated and in kegs.

• TPC purchased a mess of stainless sixtels, but a brite tank wasn’t available to force carbonate and fill them.  as a result, each keg was individually primed with sugar after cleaning and filled directly from the fermentor using an awesome manual keg filler (after dropping the trub/yeast).  this way, the beer will undergo a secondary fermentation in the keg and will carbonate itself, creating a keg-conditioned beer with a fine, soft carbonation.  the wait is almost over!

as you might have guessed, the majority of my available brew time over the last few months has been spent working on the phantom carriage project.

• instead of filling this year’s sour beer pipeline in my basement, I have been starting another, more substantial pipeline by helping develop an ever-growing barrel collection over in torrance based on my own wild lineup.
• the latest batch destined for the barrel racks was also the first one completed using the phantom carriage’s 3bbl nano system.  although a simple lambic-style recipe (60/40 pils/wheat, low alpha bittering) and a single infusion mash schedule promised a straightforward brew day, snags such as a missing mill, thermometer discrepancies, a wonky burner, and a flawed kettle whirlpool design resulted in long hours and headache for everyone involved.  on the positive side, the mash and sparge went down without a hitch, system efficiency was terrific, and all the other hiccups can easily be addressed during the next brew day.
• on another note, the phantom carriage facebook page is live – check it out!  MS and I have been working on delivering a steady stream of content for the page, including details on upcoming releases and events.  for example, check out the teaser video I tossed up yesterday, featuring production and a soundtrack by yours truly.  more great developments are on the horizon – stay tuned!

over the past week a lot has been happening over at the phantom carriage.

• first, a full batch of brett saison (french saison yeast with a brett trois/drie kicker in primary) crept below 1.01 in the conicals, so it was time to rack it into barrels.  the brett accentuated the saison yeast nicely and gave it a nice earthy tropical fruit kick.  hopefully three months in barrels will round out the beer even more (I got some baking spice, vanilla, and sweet vinous notes from the barrels as they were being filled).  I can also see some dry-hopping in the cards…
• next, it was time to fill the void left by the saison with another wild creation.  this time, 14bbls of blonde ale based on my all-brett blonde experiment hit the stainless and was introduced to a sizable pitch of the brett trois strain (which I selected from the three trial strains due to its great aroma and flavor contributions as well as its strong and relatively rapid fermentation).  this batch was special – it will be the phantom carriage’s first release!  more info is imminent, so keep an eye out for updates!

last sunday, after delabeling and rinsing a case of bottles, I finally got around to bottling cabrillo II.

• ten months of exposure to cherries and french oak were very kind to the beer – it has an amazing sour cherry and slightly oaky aroma.  the fruit came through nicely in the beer’s flavor, complementing smooth vanilla notes and an intense overall acidity. 
• the beer finished at 10 brix (1.009) on the dot, for an ABV of 10.67%.  I mashed a little higher for this second iteration, which resulted in a little more body for an improved overall balance.  I also saved three pints of slurry for a future phantom carriage brew.  I’m really excited for this one to carb up!

over the last few months MS and I have been working on developing the barrel program for the phantom carriage.

• since the inception of the project, three batches (two based on banning and one based on white) have been fermented and barreled with great initial results.  the oldest filled barrels are only a month in, but some are already deviating from the pack (for example, a barrel into which an older east coast yeast slurry was pitched is already exhibiting a slightly higher gravity and stronger acidity than its peers).
• the youngest set of filled barrels is also primed for diversity – varying primary saccharomyces strains were pitched into some barrels and plenty of dregs from some outstanding bottles have been making their way into the lineup.  stay tuned for more developments as the racks grow taller and the bugs work their magic!

a week or two ago the first phantom carriage batch was transferred to oak for the long haul.

• 14bbl of wild blonde was racked into seven neutral red oak barrels (a mix of hungarian and french) that had been left to soak overnight.  the barrels appeared to be freshly dumped and had a great vinous aroma during filling.
• true to form, the wild blend used for the batch acted slow and steady, and along with a high mash temp, resulted in a gravity hovering around 1.03 when the beer hit the wood.  this relatively high amount of residual long-chain sugars should provide plenty of food for all the resident microbes to work their magic.  now the waiting game begins!  

last tuesday AP and I headed up to golden road to participate in their “winter situational” meetup with the LA beer bloggers.

• the event was at chloe’s, a private club adjacent to the main brewpub.  they had homebrewers/authors drew beechum and john palmer speaking, complimentary drafts pouring, and great food offerings.  I definitely have to hand it to golden road for embracing the blogosphere and throwing an impressive event to foster community and connectivity amongst both brewers and writers.  bierkast’s review can be found HERE, and I uploaded some pics from the event HERE.

in other news, the first batch of phantom carriage beer was pumped out last weekend.

• 14bbl of wort inspired by banning were racked into two 7bbl fermentors, and will be shortly transferred to barrels for the long haul.  as usual, more details are forthcoming, but there are some awesome projects in the works!

has it really been six months since my last house saison went in the fermentor?

• as I had mentioned during the last house saison brew day, even though I was more than pleased with how my house saison line had evolved (and had gotten very positive feedback from the tasting public), I felt that the beers themselves were a bit redundant.  more specifically, I feel as though my house saisons had become dark and light versions of a “wild” beer instead of a “saison,” and I also considered white and banning to be superior to their house saison equivalents (e.g., they had a more balanced acidity, a more complex/deeper funk, etc.).
• as a result, I decided to rework my “house saison” six-month fermentation lineup by focusing on a rustic, somewhat high gravity base beer finished long-term with brettanomyces:

• 23 lbs	Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM)	Grain	1	80.7 %
  3 lbs	Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM)	Grain	2	10.5 %
  2 lbs 8.0 oz	unmalted spelt, cereal mash	Grain	3	8.8 %
  4.00 oz	Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] – Boil 60.0 min	Hop	4	24.4 IBUs
  1.00 oz	Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] – Boil 15.0 min	Hop	5	3.0 IBUs
  1.00 oz	Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] – Boil 0.0 min	Hop	6	0.0 IBUs
  1.00 oz	Saaz [4.00 %] – Boil 0.0 min	Hop	7	0.0 IBUs

• I ended up with an OG of 1.067 and initially fermented at 69F with a stepped up starter of WLP565.  hopefully the saison yeast will stall in about week (as this strain is prone to do), at which time I will add a vial of WLP650 (as well as an oak cube or two).  I also mashed at 155F to slow down the sacc and help give the brett a foothold.  the relatively high mash temp (and use of unmalted spelt) should counteract any thinness caused by the serious attenuation of my yeast blend.
• during the main mash, I performed a cereal mash on the unmalted spelt addition, following my earlier unmalted wheat mash method.  to avoid a stuck mash, I added copious amounts of rice hulls to the cereal mash before adding it to the main mash tun (it worked like a charm).  the spelt should add some depth and mouthfeel to the finished product, as well as some complex fermentables for the extended fermentation.
• after six months in the fermentor I’m planning on dry-hopping this batch with 2 oz. of EKG and 1 oz. of saaz for a week before bottling/kegging.  then it will be time to formulate its dark house counterpart!

during the last couple of weeks I set aside some time between the lights and action of the holiday season to finish up some projects from the last few months.

• first up was the bottling and kegging of the three variations of the rye amber I brewed a month ago.  the five gallons of all-brett B (FG: 1.008, ABV: 5.83%) and standard saison  (FG: 1.005, ABV: 6.3%) each went into kegs, while the two gallons of saison/brett blend  (FG: 1.006, ABV: 6.14%) were bottled.  after some thought, I primed with brown sugar for a little extra depth in the finished product – the molasses in the sugar seemed to complement the nuances of the saison in particular.
• upon tasting samples of each variety, the saison predictably produced the most assertive aroma and flavors, while the brett B variety was somewhat neutral.  however, after recently tasting a matured version of my all brett B blonde,  I’m confident that the brett complexity will develop in the rye amber (the blonde had a very refreshing, funky, and dry brett character after a month in the fermentor and another in the bottle).

I also set aside part of an evening to review the three bkyeast variations I had bottled up about a month ago.  here are some thoughts:

• WY3191 brett isolate: decent carbonation, clear gold, transparent; lemony, tart aroma; clean taste with a slight bretty lemon back; mellow and drinkable
• cantillon iris isolate C2: very little carbonation, amber gold, transparent; funky fruit nose; floral earthy taste; pretty good depth/complexity, may add something interesting to a saison or wild beer, seems like it would take a while to fully develop
• cantillon iris isolate C3: very light carb, amber gold, transparent; light stone fruit, characteristic brett finish; like C2, would make a good complementary fermenter, like C2, may have to wait a while for all the flavors to round out here

in addition, I finally got around to waxing a bunch of bottles for the long haul.

• I waxed up my mead, banning, and apricot lambic bottles with dark grey wax, which represented the last of this year’s vintage.  I hit my bottles with a different color wax for easy age identification and display consistency.  I also buy my wax in big bulk chunks that I melt down in a larger coffee can over the stove and then pour into a small tomato paste can for bottle dipping so that the melted wax can reach further down the neck of each bottle.