This beer received a silver medal at the 2022 Between the Bluffs Homebrew competition in Lacrosse, WI.
The numbers for this beer all hit spot on. During the first mash step, the ferulic acid rest, we added 2.1g baking soda to raise the pH to a target of 5.8 (ended up being 5.88). After this rest was complete, we added the rest of the minerals and the acid malt to get the pH back down to 5.37 and proceeded with the sacc rest at 154F.
We fermented this at 62F and kept it there for the first 72 hours. Even at the cooler end of the spectrum, this yeast was climbing out of the fermenter like crazy. Once past the first 72 hours, starting raising temp 1 deg F every 12 hours until we reached 70F, and let it sit there for a week before crashing and carbonating.
This was the first hefe we tasted where there was so much clove flavor, it was ALMOST spicy! We loved it as we're not big fans of the banana esters. As the beer is aging, the banana is coming out a little more now but still not overpowering the clove.
One of the notes from the competition mentioned a tartness/sour note that I have yet to pickup on but my palette isn't top notch either. On initial flavor, we get a lot of clove and minor banana but we also get that fresh bread/grain flavor on the backend.
I think for this beer, we won't be making any more changes as we really like how it came out. Will upload picture of medal once it arrives.
Award Winning Recipe
