Author: Mark Linton

In a humble log cabin off an unregarded back road, somewhere, deep in the heart of Pennsylvania’s hill country, we find our intrepid hero — the Brush Valley Brewer.
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Rager, Garetz, and Tinseth Bitterness Formulas

Norm Pyle’s Hops FAQ: “An IBU is defined as 1 mg/l of iso-alpha-acid in a solution. By estimating IBUs rather than HBUs, the brewer can get a more accurate (though admittedly still rough) approximation of the bitterness imparted into the beer by the hops. It is independent of batch size so that a 5 gallon batch with 29 IBU’s has the same bitterness as a 50 barrel batch with 29 IBU’s. The equations are commonly quoted from Jackie Rager’s article in the “Zymurgy” Hops and Beer Special Edition published in 1990. Revised numbers and formulae have recently been presented by Glenn Tinseth and Mark Garetz, in separate works. Rager has been taken to task for not supplying enough background references, and not fully explaining how he got his numbers. In general, his utilization estimates are believed to be optimistic. Garetz has been accused of extrapolating scant laboratory information, and overgeneralizing because of it. His numbers have been labelled unrealistic on the pessimistic side. Tinseth has just presented a revised method and set of tables, and though they are thought to be quite accurate, they have not stood the test of time. The calculated numbers tend to fall in between Rager’s and Garetz’s. Note also that these are all estimates. Actual IBUs can be measured in a laboratory, but the average homebrewer has no access to such equipment. The Rager, Garetz, and Tinseth estimation methods follow.”

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A. J. deLange on Predicting Beer Color from SRM

HOMEBREW Digest #3234 Fri 28 January 2000: “There are probably dozens of ways to do this but the following will give you a color that is very close to a real beer color – in fact it will give you something like the average color for a beer with a particular SRM based on the sample of about 65 beers I measured. Remember that SRM is a fair predictor of beer lightness/darkness but not a good predictor of beer color. I’ll give the formulas and then in brackets, […], the values for a beer of SRM 10.”

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Pliny Then and Now

The July/August 2009 issue of Zymurgy has the results of this year’s reader’s best commercial beer in the United States. After being beat out for first place two years in a row by Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Vinnie Cilurzo took first place this year with his Russian River Pliny the Elder. The issue includes an article by Vinnie himself where he spends five pages telling you how to brew a double IPA. It includes an updated recipe. I found it especially interesting because I recently featured the recipe he gave out at the the 2005 National Homebrew Competition. It seems he has been tweaking the recipe and this may account for the change in the polls. The IBU values listed are Vinie’s measured values, not calculations.

Then Now
OG: 1.075 1.070
FG: 1.013 1.011
ADF: 81.8%
IBU: 95–100 90–95
SRM: 5.9 7
 
Fermentables Then Now
Two-Row Pale Malt (1.8 °L) 13.3 lbs. (5.897 kg) 11.0 lbs. (5.0 kg)
Crystal (45 °L) 0.32 lb. (145 g) 0.5 lb. (277 g)
Carapils Malt (2 °L) 0.94 lbs. (425 g) 0.5 lbs. (277 g)
Dextrose (0 °L) 1.1 lbs. (500 g) 0.4 lbs. (181 g)
 
Hops
Warrior 15.6% AA, 90 min. 2.75 oz. (78 g)
Chinook 12.2% AA, 90 min. 0.5 oz. (14 g)
Columbus 13.9% AA, 90 min. 3.5 oz. (99 g)
 
Simcoe 12% AA, 45 min. 1.0 oz. (28 g)
Columbus 13.9% AA, 45 min. 0.75 oz. (21 g)
 
Columbus 14.3% AA, 30 min. 1.0 oz. (28 g)
Simcoe 12.3% AA, 30 min. 1.0 oz. (28 g)
 
Centennial 9.1% AA, 0 min. 2.25 oz. (64 g)
Centennial 8.0% AA, 0 min. 1.0 oz. (28 g)
Simcoe 12% AA, 0 min. 1.0 oz. (28 g)
Simcoe 12.3% AA, 0 min. 1.0 oz. (28 g)
 
Columbus 14.3% AA, dry hop. 3.25 oz. (92 g)
Centennial 9.1% AA, dry hop. 1.75 oz. (50 g)
Simcoe 12% AA, dry hop. 1.75 oz. (50 g)
Columbus 13.9% AA, dry hop. (12 to 14 days total) 1.0 oz. (28 g)
Centennial 9.1% AA, dry hop. (12 to 14 days total) 1.0 oz. (28 g)
Simcoe 12.3% AA, dry hop. (12 to 14 days total) 1.0 oz. (28 g)
Columbus 13.9% AA, dry hop. (5 days to go in dry hop) 0.25 oz. (7 g)
Centennial 9.1% AA, dry hop. (5 days to go in dry hop) 0.25 oz. (7 g)
Simcoe 12.3% AA, dry hop. (5 days to go in dry hop) 0.25 oz. (7 g)
 
Yeast
White Labs California Ale WLP001, Wyeast American Ale 1056
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(14) Sunday, May 31, 2009 Brew Day


A Toast from CJ in J

I finally did it.

I brewed my second batch of CJ’s JPA.

I did not want to tie up the whole day brewing, since it was Memorial Day weekend, so I got as ready as possible the night before and start as early as possible in the morning.

Here is the recipe as I made it:

I formulated this recipe to produce five gallons (19 L) of beer for packaging. I assumed a loss due to trub of a half-gallon in the fermenter and another half-gallon in the boil kettle. That left six gallons (22.7 L) at the end of the boil. I assumed a boil-off rate of about one gallon per hour, which means I needed seven gallons (26.5 L) at the start of the boil for a 60-minute full-volume boil. I adjusted the ingredient amounts accordingly to achieve the desired gravities, bitterness, and pitching rates. I assumed the use of bagged pellet hops for all hop additions. I use the Rager formula for calculating bitterness and the Morey model for calculating beer color.

Recipe: CJ’s House of the Rising Sun JPA

Pre-Boil Volume: 7 gallons (26.5 L)
BG: 1.051 (12.62 °P)
OG: 1.059 (14.51 °P)
FG: 1.015 (3.83 °P)
ADF: 73%
IBU: 89.7
ABV: 5.9%
Color: 7 SRM (17.4 EBC)
Boil: 60 minutes

Extract Weight Percent
Muntons Light DME 6.5 lbs. (2.95 kg) 76.5
Muntins Wheat DME 1 lbs. (0.45 kg) 11.8
Steeping Grains
Dingemans CaraVienne (19–27 °L) 0.75 lbs. (0.34 kg) 8.8
Dingemans CaraMunich (40–54 °L) 0.25 lbs. (0.11 kg) 2.9
Hops IBU
Northern Brewer 9.0% AA, 60 minutes 1.5 oz. (43 g) 51.7
Amarillo 8.0% AA, 45 min. 0.25 oz. (7 g) 6.7
Cascade 5.4% AA, 45 min. 0.25 oz. (7 g) 4.5
Centennial 7.7% AA, 45 min. 0.25 oz. (7 g) 6.4
Amarillo 8.0% AA, 30 min. 0.25 oz. (7 g) 4.3
Cascade 5.4% AA, 30 min. 0.25 oz. (7 g) 2.9
Centennial 7.7% AA, 30 min. 0.25 oz. (7 g) 4.1
Amarillo 8.0% AA, 15 min. 0.25 oz. (7 g) 2.0
Cascade 5.4% AA, 15 min. 0.25 oz. (7 g) 1.4
Centennial 7.7% AA, 15 min. 0.25 oz. (7 g) 2.0
Amarillo 8.0% AA, 5 min. 0.25 oz. (7 g) 1.4
Cascade 5.4% AA, 5 min. 0.25 oz. (7 g) 1.0
Centennial 7.7% AA, 5 min. 0.25 oz. (7 g) 1.4
Amarillo 8.0% AA, 0 min. 0.5 oz. (14 g) 0.0
Cascade 5.4% AA, 0 min. 0.5 oz. (14 g) 0.0
Centennial 7.7% AA, 0 min. 0.5 oz. (14 g) 0.0
Yeast
Fermentis Safale S-04
Fermentation and Conditioning

I used 11 grams of properly rehydrated dry yeast. Fermented at 67 °F (19.4 °C). When finished, I will carbonate the beer to approximately 2.5 volumes.

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(13) Saturday, April 18, 2009 Brew Day

I liked the result of the live-blog style post for my last brew day, so I am going to do this one the same way.

I have gotten a little behind on my brewing lately. The farm has a gallon-per-minute leak somewhere in the underground plumbing for the outbuildings. We’ve decided to abandon that system in place. With a temporary solution in place, I can now safely chill my beer.

8:00 a.m. — I have the ingredients for two recipes and I have to decide which to make today. The first set is the now-complete ingredients for the CJ’s House of the Rising Sun JPA that I was going to make last time. The other set is for Don Osborn’s Arrogant Bastard clone. Both are extract with specialty grain recipes. I am going to use dry yeast in whichever one I brew.

9:08 a.m. — I have decided to go with the AB clone. Here is the recipe as I am going to make it:

Recipe: Don Osborn’s Arrogant Bastard clone

OG: 1.062 (15.21 °P)

FG: 1.015 (3.83 °P)

ADF: 75%

IBU: 79.1

Color: 14 SRM (35.9 EBC)

Boil: 75 minutes

Pre-Boil Volume: 7.25 gallons (27.4 L)

Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.055 (13.5 °P)

Extract Weight Percent
Muntons Light DME 5 lbs. (2.27 kg) 50
Muntins Amber DME 3 lbs. (1.35 kg) 30
Steeping Grains
Dingemans Special B (140–155 °L) 0.5 lbs. (0.23 kg) 5
Dingemans Biscuit (18–27 °L) 0.5 lbs. (0.23 kg) 5
Dingemans Aromatic (17–21 °L) 0.5 lbs. (0.23 kg) 5
Dingemans Cara 45 (40–54 °L) CaraMunich 0.5 lbs. (0.23 kg) 5
Hops IBU
Chinook 9.9% AA, 75 min. 1 oz. (28 g) 42.7
Chinook 9.9% AA, 45 min. 1 oz. (28 g) 36.4
Chinook 9.9% AA, 0 min. 1 oz. (28 g) 0
Yeast
Fermentis Safale US-05
Fermentation and Conditioning

Use 11 grams of properly rehydrated dry yeast. Ferment at 64 °F (17.8 °C). When finished, carbonate the beer to approximately 2.5 volumes.

10:30 a.m. — Brewery set up. Ingredients collected. Heating 3 quarts of water for steep. Crushing grains. The CaraMunich smells a bit like Cracker Jack. It is very tasty, caramelly, crunchy, grainy. The Biscuit has a grassier, dirtier smell. Flavor is bready and biscuity. The Aromatic actually has relatively little aroma dry. The flavor is subtle, as well. Vaguely sweet. The Special B has a grainy, toasty smell. The flavor is slightly sweet, slightly burnt, toasty, with a very slight coffee flavor.

11:02 a.m. — Grains steeping at in 3 quarts of 158°F water for 30 minutes.

11:30 a.m. — Grains done steeping. Adding to brewpot. Adding DME. Adding water to bring volume to 7.25 gallons.

11:50 a.m. — Starting burner boil. Pre-boil gravity 1.055 (13.5 °P).

12:54 p.m. — Boiling. Added Bittering hops and started 75 minute timer.

1:09 p.m. — Rehydrating yeast.

1:25 p.m. — Added flavor hops.

1:50 p.m. — Placing chiller to boil kettle to sterilize.

1:55 p.m. — Adding Irish Moss.

2:00 p.m. — Adding yeast nutrient.

2:10 p.m. — Flame out. Adding aroma hops. Starting to chill.

2:28 p.m. — Chilled. Transferring to fermenter.

3:00 p.m. — Transferred. Original gravity 1.064 (15.6 °P). Rocking to aerate.

3:20 p.m. — Moved fermenter to fermentation chamber. Pitched yeast. Set thermostat. Time to clean up.

Update: 4/19 9:05 a.m. (The next day…) Fermentation started. Not terribly vigorous, but in my experience 64°F is pretty low. If the yeast seems to peter out before too long, I may raise the temperature and rouse the yeast.

Update: 4/21 8:03 a.m. (Three days later…) Slow fermentation != Weak fermentation. I do not normally ferment this cold, so I guess I should expect it to behave differently than I am used to. Normally — at 67 °F, say — I would expect fermentation to be mostly done by now. Instead, I check it this morning and the trub is swirling like mad, the kreusen has filled the head space and the airlock, and the fermenter is sitting in a puddle of stale beer. I sanitized my blowoff tube and slowly removed the airlock. It hissed like mad for quite a little bit of time. I am guessing it was almost ready to blow. I cleaned it up this morning and it is happily blubbing away in the blowoff bottle.

Update: 5/17 9:25 p.m. (One month later…) Finally bottled. Final Gravity: 1.016 (1.015 @ 68 °F calibrated for 60 °F — refractometer indicates 8.9 Brix or 1.017 SG). The sample jar sample tasted good. Promising. Bottled and moved to storage in the cellar.