Brewing Grodziskie tomorrow

[Nosybear]

A friend sent me some Lublin (Lubelski) hops from Poland. The Weyermann smoked wheat malt came in yesterday. Time to brew the Grodziskie! I intend to split the batch and ferment half with Koelsch yeast and half with Berliner Weisse. Should be a fun test - I'm betting on the Berliner, given the location of Grodzisk....

 

[LarryBrewer]

Call it the big lubelski. :lol:

 

[Nosybear]

Not a bad name! We'll see how it comes out.

 

[Nosybear]

It's in the basement at about 68°. I'm checking the fermentation temps for the two yeasts, WLP630 and Wyeast 2563. Unfortunately the Brew Hut didn't have WLP1007 so I compromised on the yeast. I'm betting on the Berliner Weisse for this beer.

 

[Nosybear]

"Big Lubelski" Update: The Koelsch yeast has started, the Berliner is kind of sitting there. From tasting the wort last night, I think I got the smoke about right. We'll see on the hoppiness and tartness. And thanks again, Larry, for the name, I'm keeping it!

 

[Nosybear]

Big Lubelski update - primary fermentation is done with both yeasts, or at least mostly. I'd like to see both work off another 2 or 3 points but I won't quibble over that small a difference. Since I'm not racking, the yeasts still may munch a last bit of residual sugar but tasting the green beers, I can't find any.

Now on to the beers: The Berliner variant is more estery and has off flavors - to be expected. That fermenter smells like the gates of Hell. I've read the rotten-egg stink goes away in about a month. The Koelsch variant may likely make the best beer. Smoke flavor is very subdued, maybe a bit too much so (every new style is a learning experience, a many factor, many level experiment). Next batch I'll reverse my proportions of smoked to pale wheat. The Lubelski hops really compliment the smoke and the sugar in the mix makes a light bodied beer. As a first test, I'll call it a success, at least one-sided....

 

[LarryBrewer]

I bet the Berliner levels off with time and becomes the superior beer to a complex pallet.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Foster82]

I am currently drinking an oatmeal stout that I used some smoked oats in. I smoked them my self on the Weber with some Maple Wood . At first the smokeyness was a little much, but after about 4 weeks it really mellowed out. I have also noticed, the warmer the beer is the more smokey it taste.

 

[Nosybear]

Big L Update: I'm very happy with the Koelsch variant on the Grodziskie. Resultant beer has a light smoke aroma, some hops underneath. Very little malt aroma as this is a 100% wheat beer with adjunct sugar. The taste is a hint of smoke (good for me because I don't like really smoky beers), good bread-like malt and subdued hops, despite the bitterness of the beer (36 IBU for a 4.0% ABV ale). Otherwise, it's very dry (as expected with a pound of cane sugar in the boil), light bodied. It's a session beer, no doubt! Highly carbonated, this will be a good drinking beer.

And, being a homebrewer, for my next batch I'll up the smoke flavor just a bit through reversing the proportions of smoked to pale malt. Remaining treatments are cold-crashing (yes, I have a good reason - getting the yeast out of suspension) and bottling. The Berliner version - don't know yet how that's going to come out. The yeast takes its time.

 

[Nosybear]

"Big L" Update: I like this beer! Smoke is adequate (next time I'll up the smoked malt a bit), body is superb, tartness is good.... And it's been conditioning for less than a week! I'll be away from my beer supply for a couple weeks so it'll have a chance to finish conditioning while I'm gone. A friend sent me a Grodziskie from Poland - it was too smoky to my palate. This one is not.

 

[Nosybear]

I now have a "Little Lubelski", lower hops, higher ratio of smoked to pale wheat malt, very slightly sour mashed. I'm closing in. Next time I'll do a longer, warmer sour mash, I'll pick a maltier yeast that WLP 005 and hope for more complexity and use a bit less hops. This can be a very good style - I'm having fun with closing in on something I like using one-gallon batches.