... and there on the cover, written in uppercase letters read the phrase:
DON'T PANIC
Well, here we are again. A few more notches in the belt, a few more bottlecaps busted open, and maybe with them, some more collective wisdom. and so, I think we've all learned something here today:
Patience is still paramount in brewing. Nothing sorts out the big questions quite like time. Papazian's mantra may seem simple at first, yet undue, and some rather amateur anxiety has led to near disaster when litterally, relaxing and drinking a beer instead of worrying would have resolved all problems on its own.
1. Know your yeasties. Very much like hiring a construction contractor, time spent in the details can make all the difference. What makes em happy, what environment they like to/ can only work in. What their style is in finished product. What size job they can handle and how long they take.
I brewed a nice saison mid-july, looking forward to drinking it in the final weeks of August. So when the dupont strain appeared to only be halfway through attenuation at 2 weeks, my mentality went quickly from "well, i guess lets just let them go at their own pace, try to eat what sugars it can and see what happens" to "GAHHH, NUKE THE BASTARDS! GO, KILL EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING!!"
I naively freaked and tossed in a vial of Brett C to finish the job, only to read up days later that the dupont strain ALWAYS does this. stalls exactly at 1.030, then takes weeks to finish up. poor choice overreaction. and although I'll have what I imagine to be a very nice and funky batch of saison come spring, more could have been saved from the clutches of evil wild yeasties.
2. Know green beer.
Brewed a weizonbock a few weeks later in August for a nice smoky, robust beer for fall. First sampling of the beer out of the primary nearly made me toss the batch. very harsh, strong, acetic/ sour flavors from the beer, combined with solvent alcohol sting. The alcohol burn I've handled in the past no problem from green beer, it happens. though a sting like this led my mind intot he darkest of places, acetobacter contamination. The more I dwelled on it, the more certain that's what it was that killed my beer. Didnt consider that I'd never made a big beer with so much wheat before however and the acidity sent me into a tailspin of rather fatalistic options:
1. dump the batch. fuck an acetic acid soured weizenbock. that aint fall! that aint even winter!
2. take it "to the next level." if its already kinda soured, maybe try making the first Berlinerdunkelweizenbockbier by adding in uncut lactic acid. the world was ready for that, right?
3. some bizzare salvaging options to kill the resident bacteria by boiling the finished beer, then hitting with new yeast for bottling. this was a shit idea no way you look at it.
4. Pretend it never happened, prime and bottle as such and tell people its how you meant it to taste.
I went with option 4, which turned out to be the right one. As the beer aged, it mellowed. The acid I was so certain was bacteria faded and the natural flavors present began to develop and come through.
though hit another roadblock in the mix. FG was 2 points below where I anticipated, so I added 4oz maltodextrin to the priming sugar batch to boost body. oh it did. and i ended up with a cloyingly sweet and syrupy brew that feels much heavier than it should and wold have at its original final gravity. A nice dessert beer for sure, but not much else.
So in the end I dodged one fearful bullet with patience, then ran myself on my own sword for another.
It seems the road to the perfect beer can take you to some dark places.
DON'T PANIC
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