Brush Valley Brewer

Sunday, May 20, 2012 Brew Day – Dark Mild

Brush Valley Brewer — Sun, 20 May 2012 19:23:58 +0000

Today, I am making an English Brown Ale. The recipe is Jamil Zainasheff’s Through a Mild Darkly from Brewing Classic Styles. I am making the all-grain version with only one substitution. I am using roasted barley in place of the black patent malt.

Yesterday, I disassembled my brew kettle and gave it a good cleaning. It looks like nice shiny brand new stainless steel rather than a cruddy old cook pot. Last night I set up the brewery, measured out the mash and sparge water, and weighed out and crushed the grains.

8:40 AM The yeast has been out of the refrigerator overnight and I just smacked it. The manufacture date is May 1, 2012.

8:58 AM Flame is on under the water. There are 5 gallons in the boil kettle for the mash and 3.5 gallons in the hot liquor tank for the sparge.

The recipe calls for 0.87 oz of 5% AA Kent Goldings. My hops are 3.2% AA. That should mean that I would need 1.36 oz (0.87 × (5 ÷ 3.2)), but I only have an ounce to work with, so that’s what I will use. To try to help my utilization a bit, I am going to add the hops directly to the kettle rather than using a hop bag.

9:28 AM Mash water at 177 °F in the kettle. Transferring to the mash tun.

9:37 AM Transfer complete. Strike water temperature is 168 °F in the mash tun.

9:45 AM Initial mash temperature is 157 °F. I’m going to stir with my big metal spoon to see if I cannot drop it a few degrees.

9:50 AM I got it down to below 156 °F. That”s fine. 157 °F would have been fine. This is a session beer and a little extra body isn’t going to hurt anything. I’ll be back at 10:45 AM.

10:45 AM 151 °F (WTF?) Vorlauff.

10:51 AM Lautering. Collected 4 gallons of 1.052 SG (1.041 SG at 122 °F) wort. The refractometer read 13.3 Brix, which is 1.053 SG, but the line was not crisp, so I’m going to stick with the hydrometer reading which is only 1 point different.

Jamil says he always uses a 1.3 qt/lb grist ratio. Repeat-ability – Can You Brew It 04-09-12 at 24:10. Tasty always uses the same amount of strike water.

11:01 AM Sparging. 170 °F 151 °F. Collected 3⅛ gallons of 1.017 SG (1.006 at 122 °F) wort. The refractometer read 4.6 Brix, which is 1.018 SG. Again, the refractometer is 1 point higher than the hydrometer.

11:22 AM Collected a total of 7⅛ gallons of 1.034 SG (1.023 at 123 °F) wort. The refractometer read 9.0 Brix, which is 1.034 SG. Jamil suggests a pre-boil gravity of 1.030 SG is expected.

11:24 AM The flame is on.

12:02 PM Boiling. Reducing heat to medium and waiting for the hot break to subside.

12:05 PM Adding the hops.

12:50 PM Adding chiller.

12:55 PM Adding yeast nutrient and Irish moss.

1:05 PM Flame out and chilling.

1:14 PM Just filled the 10 gallon mash tun. That’s 9 minutes, or 0.9 gallons per minute. The most recent BYO suggests 2.5 gpm is good.

1:36 PM Chilled to 68 °F. Ended up with 6 gallons of 1.040 SG (1.030 at 120 °F) wort. The refractometer read 10.6 Brix, which is 1.042 SG. Jamil’s target for the original gravity was 1.036 SG.

1:38 PM I just gave the wort a big stir to start a whirlpool. I’ll let it settle for 20 minutes before transferring to the carboy.

2:00 PM Draining.

2:21 PM Drained. Aerating.

2:28 PM Aerated. Pitching.

3:11 PM Everything is cleaned and put away. The beer is in the fermentation chamber with a set point of 69 °F. The thermostat is in heating mode. The set point is the “cut out” temperature. The differential is set to 2 °F. This means that — since the cellar is cold — the temperature of the beer falls until it is below 67 °F (2 °F below the set point). Then the thermostat turns the heater on until it reaches 69 °F (the set point) where the heater cuts out. That means that the beer will ferment at 68 ± 1 °F for this configuration.

Shared: Opening Beer with Chainsaw

If This Then That — Sat, 19 May 2012 11:41:43 +0000

Opening Beer with Chainsaw by Reborious:

You can open a beer with a fork? That’s nice…

Shared: Corny Kegs Leaking?

If This Then That — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:55:22 +0000

Corny Kegs Leaking?

If you only fill the small air space with CO₂, it will quickly be absorbed into the beer. You need to keep the CO₂ connected to the keg until it is completely carbonated for the pressure/temp it is at.

Shared: Beer Recipe of the Week: Vienna Lager

If This Then That — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:38:52 +0000

Beer Recipe of the Week: Vienna Lager on Homebrewers Association:

Summer months are here and it is time to brew something refreshing! Check out this award winning Vienna Lager all grain recipe that took a gold medal in the NHC.

Shared: Hair of the DOG STAR

If This Then That — Sun, 06 May 2012 20:37:40 +0000

Hair of the DOG STAR on The Non-Adventures of Wonderella:

It’s nice to get some wartime help from the Russians for once.

Shared: HOW TO BUILD A KEEZER by Northern Brewer

If This Then That — Sat, 05 May 2012 12:41:55 +0000

HOW TO BUILD A KEEZER by Northern Brewer by NorthernBrewerTV:

In this video, Northern Brewer shows you one way to build a KEEZER (a.k.a. kegerator). It’s a fairly easy process that results in many years of homebrewed beer on a multitude of taps.

For more information on the parts and equipment involved:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/keezer

Shared: LongShot 2012

If This Then That — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:11:00 +0000

In 1984, Jim Koch, founder and brewer of Samuel Adams beers, brewed his first batch of Samuel Adams Boston Lager in his kitchen. Now you can follow in Jim’s footsteps and have your homebrew nationally distributed.

Shared: a question about pickling lime v. chalk

If This Then That — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 18:26:43 +0000

a question about pickling lime v. chalk

I don’t care what the question is; in brewing, baking soda is never the answer.

Shared: The science of the Inebriati

If This Then That — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:28:24 +0000

The science of the Inebriati by Maggie Koerth-Baker on Boing Boing:

“Moderate alcohol consumption” — which I’m sure we can all agree to define as “not quite two drinks” — was shown to enhance performance on tests of creative thinking in a recent University of Illinois at Chicago study.

Shared: Beer Recipe of the Week: $12 Cream Ale

If This Then That — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:09:28 +0000

Beer Recipe of the Week: $12 Cream Ale by on Homebrewers Association:

$12 Cream Ale, a gold medal winning recipe from the 2011 NHC in the light hybrid beer category. This light beer is great for the upcoming warm season, but it's still tasty enough to satisfy.