Life Changing Beers
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Please excuse my terrible handwriting
Brooklyn Brewery makes a saison featuring Sorachi Ace, which knocked my socks off when I first had it. I think it was a turning point from liking "really hoppy beers" to "this hop has this characteristic and flavor depending on how you use it". I decided after that beer I would make my own single hop beer, but not a clone of brooklyn's sorachi ace. Thus the first Tiger Blood IPA was made.
Tiger Blood IPA
6lbs Briess DME Gold
.5lb CaraMunich 60
1lb Cara-pils dextrine malt
1oz Sorachi Ace whole flower hops 60min
.5 oz Sorachi Ace whole hops 30min
1oz Sorachi Ace pellet hops 5min
.5oz whole cone hops dry hop
WLP090 san diego super yeast
OG:1.063
IBU~70
The second "tiger blood IPA" was my 50 shades of greyskull IPA that was continuously hopped with sorachi ace. I shared that recipe in our first post but here it is again:
50 Shades of Greyskull IPA
13 oz sorachi ace hops leaf, 1 oz every 6 min, 3 oz dry hop
10 lbs 2-row or other base malt (extract: 6 lbs light dry extract)
1 lb cara munich
1 lb carapils
San Diego Super Yeast WLP090
OG: 1.065
ABV: 6.7 - 7%
WARNING: Making and sharing that beer may have life changing consequences.
Those consequences are the point of this story. I haven't made anything with sorachi ace in the past three years, until recently. In those past three years I have learned a lot about brewing, traveled half way around the world doing beer research, and met my match.
If I am out in the yard brewing when Lisa comes home it is nothing out of the ordinary. Apparently me messing with my camera and taking a bunch of pictures isn't out of the ordinary either. A few weeks back I brewed a single hopped saison. All sorachi ace up to IPA levels.
A few weeks before brewing, I designed and ordered a ring. Towards the end of July, with some support from the International Space Station and a very bright almost blue moon, I proposed and she said yes! And with that the beer had a name: Tiger Blood III: The Propose ale.
The international Space Station
a well brewed plan
First pour
This beer is meant to be more balanced, unlike the 2nd. Saison III has always been a great preforming yeast for us and it was a cool experiment to harvest it from one of our old bottles. It is a fruit forward yeast that I think works well with this type and amount of hops. Hopefully everyone at the engagement party enjoys it.
Tiger Blood III: The Propose Ale
WLP585 Saison III
2 campden tablets, 9 gal of water
2tsp gypsum
5 lbs pilsner
5lbs munich
mash 150 for an hour 4 gal, then 1 at 30 to keep temp
Mash out 4 gal 165
.5oz sorachi ace FWH
.5oz sorachi ace 40"
1oz sorachi ace 10"
1oz sorachi ace 5"
1oz full flower hop dry hop 4-5 days
OG:1.0475
FG: 1.004
ABV: 5.6
Large format sorachi ace on left, propose ale middle, 12 oz bottle right
It had been a while since I picked up Brooklyn Brewery's sorachi ace. They have started releasing 4 packs of 12 oz bottles in addition to the corked large format. The corked bottle mentions that it is refermented with champagne yeast. The 12 oz bottles don't say anything about champagne yeast. Comparing the two: the large format is much more Belgian but also very sweet. The smaller bottles are much more bitter and upfront hoppy. Both exhibit the sorachi ace hop well, but they are different beers.
