Topic Archives: Vertical Epic

Posted in Stone Brewing Co.

Stone Vertical Epic 12.12.12 Home Brew Recipe

Stone Brewing Co’s Vertical Epic 12.12.12 marks the end of an era. The series, spanning more than a decade, was quite a game changer if you think about it. They were cellaring beer before it became popular. This edition of VE was pilot batched 8 times before getting to the recipe below. Homebrewers, take a crack at it. This is the all grain recipe. With musical numbers to go along with it.

Grain Bill

Pale Malt — 58%
Light Crystal (15°L) — 13.5%
Medium Crystal (60°L) — 11.5%
Vienna Malt — 9.5%
Midnight Wheat Malt — 7.5%
Dark Candi Sugar — 3.5% of total grain weight

NOTE: As always, I am only providing the all grain version of the recipe, and just percentages so that you can figure out the weights based on the size of your brewing system and your normal efficiencies.

Spices added to mash:
Cinnamon Stick, broken/ground — 0.025 oz per gallon (0.71 grams/gallon)
Ground Allspice — 0.025 oz per gallon (0.71 grams/gallon)
Ground Cloves — 0.0125 oz per gallon (0.36 grams/gallon)
Sweet Orange Peel — 0.025 oz per gallon (0.71 grams/gallon)
Rosehips — 0.025 oz per gallon (0.71 grams/gallon)

Make the spice additions on the basis of brew length (gallons wort recovered). Note that the orange peel is sweet orange peel, not Curacao or bitter orange peel. Rosehips should be purchased ground, not whole, as whole rosehips are very difficult to crush (we had to use a fork-truck to do it)!

Target OG: 22°P (1.088 SG).

Musical Selection: First up are some classics from the box set Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968: “Sugar and Spice” by The Cryin’ Shames. Follow that with “Maid of Sugar, Maid of Spice” by Mouse and The Traps, “Falling Sugar” by The Palace Guard and, finally, “Double Shot of My Baby’s Love” by The Swingin’ Medallions. These songs just seem to fit, given the ingredients we are using in this beer!

If you haven’t listened to this 4 disc box set, keep it playing. It’s amazing. Let it all hang out, man. Groovy.

Mashing

Use a 60-minute conversion rest at 154°F. This is a fairly high conversion rest temperature that should provide enough body to balance the spices, hops and roasted malt characters in the finished beer.

If you can, raise your mash temperature up to 165°F after conversion rest to stop the enzymatic conversion of starches to sugars before lautering. If you cannot raise the temperature in your mash, reduce the conversion rest from 60 to 30-45 minutes.

Lautering

Recirculate your wort gently from the bottom over the top of the mash to deposit the fine particles of malt on the top of the grain and to “set” your bed. Avoid splashing the wort. Recirculate for 5-15 minutes, depending on your system, before diverting wort flow to your kettle/boiling vessel. You should remove almost all the malt particles from the wort flow, but some haze is OK.

Start sparging in the lauter when the wort level is about a ½-inch above the grain bed. Starting earlier will decrease your efficiency because the water will dilute your first wort. Sparge water should be between 165°F and 170°F to maximize extraction, but avoid going over 170°F or you’ll extract harsh compounds from the malt husks.

Sparge until you hit your target boil volume or until the wort gravity being drawn off reaches 3°P (1.012 SG), whichever comes first. Don’t lauter past 3°P, because when the sparged wort coming off the lauter is that low in sugar content, you risk extracting tannins and other harsh character from the malt husks.

Be careful not to rush the mashing and lautering step or your brewing efficiency will go down. These steps should be done with care. A good music selection will assist in keeping things relaxed and gentle during lautering.

Music Selection: I always like to listen to J.J. Cale during lautering. Something about his laid back vocals and front porch blues approach has always appealed to me. He’s a great songwriter and a guitar maestro. If you don’t know JJ Cale, he wrote some true classics like “After Midnight”, “Call Me The Breeze” and “Cocaine”. His style has influenced Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler and countless others. JJ Cale now lives in California, somewhat near our brewery, another reason to celebrate his great music. Recommended listening is Anyway the Wind Blows, a two disc retrospective, or The Road to Escondido, a collaboration done with Eric Clapton.

Boil

Hop Bill:

0.15 oz per gallon (4.2 grams/gallon) Simcoe Hop Pellets (13% alpha)  at the start of the boil.
0.20 oz per gallon (5.6 grams/gallon) EACH Tettnang  (4.5% Alpha acid) and Willamette (5.5% alpha acid). Added 30 minutes prior to end of boil.

Spice additions (hung in a weighted down mesh bag):

Cinnamon — 0.009 oz per gallon (0.24 grams/gallon)
Nutmeg — 0.009 oz per gallon (0.24 grams/gallon)
Clove — 0.0045 oz per gallon (0/12 grams/gallon)

Boil for 90 minutes.

Music Selection: Alright, your brewing area should now have the aromas of holiday baking wafting tantalizingly through the house (or garage, or brewery). What better way to celebrate than to throw on some Christmas music? Yes, we realize Christmas has passed, but just as good Christmas beers taste perfectly fine in July, good holiday music can be listened to any time of the year. I recommend the following albums, these are some of my holiday favorites:Christmas with the Smithereens, Season’s Greetings from Moe and A Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Hey, nothing says Christmas like The Smithereens!

Whirlpool

Spice additions-add at the start of the whirlpool process:
Cinnamon — 0.22 oz per gallon (0.6 grams/gallon)
Clove — 0.22 oz per gallon (0.6 grams/gallon)
Sweet Orange Peel — 0.22 oz per gallon (0.6 grams/gallon)
Allspice — 0.22 oz per gallon (0.6 grams/gallon)

Admittedly somewhat unusual for Stone, we did not hop this brew in the whirlpool. With the influence of the spices, we wanted to keep the hop presence well blended. Massive flavor hopping in the whirlpool may have clashed with the aromatic spice flavors.

The whirlpool step is where you separate out your proteinaceous trub. It’s going to be a large trub pile with all these spices, though the lack of hops should help enhance your wort recovery.

Music Selection: One of my favorite new bands is The Sheepdogs from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Influenced by early 1970s classic rock, I think they creatively blend elements of The Allman Brothers Band, The Guess Who, The Grateful Dead and early Grand Funk Railroad. They groove and they rock with great guitar work, strong songwriting and fantastic vocal harmonies. Check ‘em out.

Fermentation

Yeast Addition

Pitch a Belgian yeast strain, enough to get 20-25 million cells per milliliter (requires a starter). We used the Wyeast High Gravity Trappist yeast for this brew, the first time we’ve ever used this yeast. This yeast produced a lot of banana character, especially at a 68°F fermentation temperature. The banana esters combined well with the dark malt and dark candy sugar flavors, giving the beer a bit of a chocolate-banana dessert flavor.

After the trub has been separated from the wort, chill the wort using an immersion chiller or a heat exchanger to about 65 °F. Add enough yeast to get a cell count of about 20-25 million cells per milliliter. We like to use a higher pitching rate (yeast addition rate) here, because we wanted to ferment at a lower temperature but still ensure the beer ferments out completely. This means that you will most likely have to build up your yeast culture at home using a starter.

Music Selection: By the time you are pitching, your brew day is just about complete. I think “The Last Time” by the Rolling Stones would be a great way to cap off this final epic brew day! “May be the last time, but I don’t know!” Alternative choice: Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Molly… just because! I like them!

So there you have it — the final homebrew recipe for the final edition of the Stone Vertical Epic Ale series. I hope those of you who have been brewing these recipes have enjoyed the experience as much as we have enjoyed brewing the beers here at the brewery. It’s been my pleasure and honor to supply you, our valued fans and brewing enthusiasts, with the last seven recipes.

Posted in Coming Soon, Stone Brewing Co.

Stone Wraps Up The “Epic” Series with 12.12.12

Stone Brewing Co. (Escondido, CA) will officially wrap up the Vertical Epic Series this year with the release of 12.12.12. The series spanned 12 years, and various styles meant to be cellared until this year. The last release is a Belgian dark ale with an array of spices.

epic (ep’Tk) adj. (1) Heroic and impressive In quality. (2) Surpassing the usual or ordinary, particularly in scope or size. (3) Of, constituting, having to do with, or suggestive of a literary epic.

The final chapter in an “epic” series.

As with any good epic, herein hen the promise of larger-than-life experiences, heroics, and twists & turns as the adventure unfolds. This bottle-conditioned’ ale is chapter eleven. Now is the time to enjoy it in a “vertical” tasting side by side with its ten Stone Vertical Epic Ale brethren! Each one unique to its year of release. Each with its own “twist & turn” in the plot line. Each one released one year, one month and one day from the previous year’s edition. To remind you, the release dates were:

02.02.02 03.03.03 04.04.04 05.05.05 06.06.06 07.07,07 08.08.08 09.09.09 10.10.10 11.11 .11 12.12.12

This year’s Stone Vertical Epic Ale is the very last one. Yep, this is it, The final chapter. Or as they say on the last slide in some old films: “Fin.” No worries though; this edition is particularly well suited for prolonging the experience, as it as Cellarable as any in the sexes, or more. In this, the final edition, you can expect a perfectly balanced *womp* of spices: cinnamon, ginger, allspice, sweet orange peel, clove (only a little!) and rosehips, all in the context of a dark Belgian style abbey-ish beer…but not as sweet. Dry even. Stone style. Thanks for coming on this Epic Stone-style journey with us! You can rest assured there will be new adventures to come…

Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale (w/ Ginger, Cloves, Allspice, Candied Orange Peel, Cinnamon, Rose Hips)
Availability: 22oz bombers, Draft
Arrival: Early December, 2012

9.4% ABV 

Posted in New Releases, Stone Brewing Co.

Stone 11.11.11 Released Today

Stone 11.11.11Stone Brewing has officially released the 2nd to last installment of their Vertical Epic Series.  Begun on February 2nd, 2002 (02.02.02), each beer had a Belgian influence, each much different than the first.

What’s up this year?  A chili beer.  The brewery took a Belgian amber, and added Anaheim chilies from New Mexico’s Hatch Valley.  Also, cracked cinnamon sticks.

Per Brewmaster Mitch Steele:
“The famous mild green chilies from the Hatch Valley in New Mexico add layers of delicious flavor with a very mild heat component. And the cinnamon doesn’t dominate the beer’s flavor by any means, instead adding a subtly complex spice note that blends amazingly well with the Hatch chilies and the banana esters present from the yeast.”

Hops: Warrior, Target, Perle and Pacific Jade
Malts: Pale, Crystal, Munich, CaraBohemian and Special B
Availability: 22oz bombers, Draft

9.4% ABV

Suggested pairings, provided by “Dr.” Bill Sysak

Appetizers: Bacon wrapped dates, foie gras, stuffed mushrooms
Entrées: Butternut squash soup, goulash, pork chops with cinnamon applesauce, mole negro, roasted duck, braised beef cheeks
Cheeses: Aged Gouda, Morbier, Vieux Chimay, Mahón
Desserts: Bananas Foster, crème brûlée, chocolate chip cookies, salted caramels
Cigars: Liga Privada No. 9, Alec Bradley Prensado Gran Toro, Padrón 6000

Previous Editions: 

2.02.02 — Witbier, 7.5% ABV
03.03.03 — Belgian Strong Dark, 8.5%
04.04.04 — Belgian Strong Pale Ale, 8.5%
05.05.05 — Belgian Strong Dark Ale, 8.5%
6.06.06 — Belgian Strong Dark Ale, 8.66%
7.07.07 — Belgian Strong Pale Ale, 8.4%
8.08.08 -Belgian IPA, 8.6%
09.09.09 — Belgian Strong Dark, 8.6%
10.10.10 –  Belgian-style Golden Ale with Chamomile flowers and white wine grapes.

Posted in Coming Soon, Stone Brewing Co.

Stones 11.11.11: Spicy Cinnamon Banana

November is getting every so close, signaling the next to last release of Stone Brewing’s Vertical Epic Series.  This year’s edition Stone calls a “non-sequitur” – due to the list of ingredients in 11.11.11. Chilies, Cinnamon Sticks, Flanders yeast.  For those non-beer geeky folk, that’s like ketchup, green beans & vanilla ice cream. Well, sort of.

Anaheim chilies are fairly mild.  The seeds were brought to Anaheim in the 1900’s, and the name stuck.   Cinnamon sticks – self explanatory.  The yeast? Bananas baby.  So on 11.11.11 you’ll be drinking a spicy, cinnamon banana. Maybe not so ketchup & ice cream.

As with any good epic, herein lies the promise of a larger-than-life experiences, heroics and twists & turns as the adventure unfolds.  This bottle conditioned ale is chapter ten, and is specifically designed to be aged until sometime after December 12th, 2012.  Provided you can wait that long.  At that time, enjoy it in a “vertical” tasting along with its ten Stone Vertical Epic Ale brethren.  Each one unique to the year of it’s release.  Each with its own “twist & turn” in the plot line.  Each one released one year, one month and one day from the previous year’s edition.  

 This year’s Stone Vertical Epic Ale might justifiably be considered the non sequitur edition.  We somehow came to the conclusion that adding Anaheim chilies from New Mexico’s Hatch Valley, plus whole cinnamon sticks, to an amber-hued brew fermented with Belgian Flanders Golden Ale yeast (which provides fairly intense character with lots of clove & banana overtones) would create a very tasty result.  And we believe it does! The Anaheim chili is know for it’s rich flavor more than endorphin-inducing heat, and the cinnamon adds a nice twist… part of the promise behind the Vertical Epic Ale series itself.  As with any epic remember that it’s not just the destination, but the journey! 

Style: Chili Beer (guessing.)

Availability: 22oz bombers, Draft

Release: 11/11/11

8.9% ABV

 

Posted in New Releases, Stone Brewing Co.

Stone Vertical Epic 10.10.10 Arrives!

The latest edition in Stone Brewing’ s Vertical Epic series has arrived.  Each year through 12.12.12, Stone is releasing a different beer, meant to be kept until sometime after 12.12.12.  Here’s this year’s description-

From the Label:
As with any good epic, herein lies the promise of larger-than-life experiences, heroics and twists & turns as the adventure unfolds.  This bottle-conditioned” ale is chapter nine, and is specifically designed to be aged until sometime after December 12th, 2012.  Provided you can wait that long.  At that time, enjoy it in a “vertical” tasting along with its ten Stone Vertical Epic Ale brethren.  Each one unique to its year of release.  Each with its own “twist & turn” in the plot line.  Each one released one year, one month and one day from the previous year’s edition.

This ninth edition of our Stone Vertical Epic Ale series takes two interesting left turns.  A Belgian-style golden triple is the starting point of this beer, but the first left turn is nearly immediate with the addition of dried chamomile flowers, tritcale and Belgian amber candi sugar.  The second, and rather unusual left turn takes us half an hour up the road from Stone to Temecula courtesy of  the addition of just pressed Muscat, Gewurztraminer, and Savignon Blanc grapes from our friends at South Coast Winery.  As the Stone Vertical Epic Ale series has moved through the calendar, we found that the brewing schedule for a 10.10.10 release coincided nicely with the grape harvest, neatly providing an interesting twist in the epic tale.

Availability: 22oz Bombers. 1 time release.
9.5% ABV

Looking for this? 10/8  In stock at Hop City, Green’s Beverages.

Tappings: The Porter Beer Bar, 12 noon 10/10/10

Posted in New Releases, Stone Brewing Co.

Stone Vertical Epic 10.10.10 Details

Courtesy of my friends at GABF, I have some more details about this year’s Vertical Epic from Stone Brewing.

From the Label:
As with any good epic, herein lies the promise of larger-than-life experiences, heroics and twists & turns as the adventure unfolds.  This bottle-conditioned” ale is chapter nine, and is specifically designed to be aged until sometime after December 12th, 2012.  Provided you can wait that long.  At that time, enjoy it in a “vertical” tasting along with its ten Stone Vertical Epic Ale brethren.  Each one unique to its year of release.  Each with its own “twist & turn” in the plot line.  Each one released one year, one month and one day from the previous year’s edition.

This ninth edition of our Stone Vertical Epic Ale series takes two interesting left turns.  A Belgian-style golden triple is the starting point of this beer, but the first left turn is nearly immediate with the addition of dried chamomile flowers, tritcale and Belgian amber candi sugar.  The second, and rather unusual left turn takes us half an hour up the road from Stone to Temecula courtesy of  the addition of just pressed Muscat, Gewurztraminer, and Savignon Blanc grapes from our friends at South Coast Winery.  As the Stone Vertical Epic Ale series has moved through the calendar, we found that the brewing schedule for a 10.10.10 release coincided nicely with the grape harvest, neatly providing an interesting twist in the epic tale.

Availability: 22oz Bombers. 1 time release.
Release Date: 10/10/10
9.5% ABV