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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Testing for Diacetyl

Ensure no diacetyl left in beer before cooling fermented beer (if you indeed do that). To do this, put a small beer sample in a sealable jar. Immerse jar in 170 °F (77 °C) water bath until sample is 170 °F (77 °C), holding for 15 minutes. Cool jar to room temperature in a cool water bath, then smell sample. If you detect any buttery notes, continue to age beer at room temperature and check again the next day. Cool beer once diacetyl is not detected.

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p style=”margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;”>BurnSilver, Glenn. “Clones from a Can.” Brew Your Own Mar. 2012: 38-39. Print.

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(34) Saturday, January 27, 2012 Brew Day — NHDS1.2

Night Horse Dry Stout Label

Today is the third iteration of my Night Horse Dry Stout with the changes I described earlier.

Original Volume: 6 gallons
Original Gravity: 1.038 SG
Mash: Protein rest for 15 minutes at 120 °F then saccharification rest for 60 minutes at 150 °F.
Boil: 60 minutes
Fermentation: Ferment at 65 °F then do a diacetyl rest.
Serving: Serve at 52–55 °F with 1–1.5 volumes of CO₂.

Ingredient Amount
Crisp Maris Otter 78%
Flaked Barley 11%
Crisp Roasted Barley 11%
Kent Goldings (6.1% AA) 60 min. 38 IBU
Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale 149B Cells

For the Mash

Heat 3 gallons of water to 138 °F. Transfer to the mash tun. The strike temperature should stabilize at 129 °F. Add the crushed grains to the mash. The mash temperature should stabilize at 120 °F. Allow the mash to rest for 15 minutes. Heat 2 gallons of water to boiling. Transfer to the mash tun. The mash should stabilize at 150 °F. Allow the mash to rest for 60 minutes. Batch sparge with 3.5 gallons of 170 °F water.

Continue reading “(34) Saturday, January 27, 2012 Brew Day — NHDS1.2”

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Shared: An Interview with Brewer Dan Morey

An Interview with Brewer Dan Morey

I got to admit, I was shocked when I found out “real” brewing software was using the “Morey Equation.” At the time was writing my own brewing software. The original version was in Quick Basic and was really limited. I decided [I] wanted something that was executable and had editable databases, so I went to work on transferring it to Turbo Pascal. One area I was really unhappy with was color estimation. By using just the MCU value I felt my beers were usually lighter than the prediction.

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Shared: Lessons according to salt

Lessons according to salt

Think about the classic white shaker on every restaurant table. Most of the time we look right past it or ignore the invisible flavor in the small packets stacked next to the pepper. But stop for a moment, and consider salt’s history and presence — how far it traveled, what form it originally started in, how many people were involved just to get it to your table. It gets more interesting. Salt has inspired wars, funded the Great Wall of China, it’s been considered divine, it’s the name of cities, it has been used as currency. Today, it has over 14,000 uses and is considered a luxury in some parts of the world, while Americans just consume about a teaspoon and a half a day.

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Shared: The Dark Secrets of Stout

The Dark Secrets of Stout

The most famous stout in the world uses a liquid extract, called Guinness Flavor Essence (GFE), to convert pale lagers and ales brewed by licensed Guinness producers around the world into Guinness Foreign Stout. GFE, reportedly a mixture of roasted barley extract and special beer, is only made in Dublin and is used by breweries in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

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Shared: What can 1 gallon carboys be used for?

What can 1 gallon carboys be used for?

When I drain my kettle after whirlpooling, there’s always a gallon or two of gunk down there. I siphon it into a one gallon jug or two, pop it in the fridge, let the gunk settle out, then use the wort for starters. You can freeze it in ziploc bags or chiney foo soup containers. I also use my one gallon jugs for starters, test batches, or experiments with oak, fruit, or dry hops.

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(33) Saturday, December 31, 2011 Brew Day — BVBHA1.5

This is another in the ever-evolving Brush Valley Brewing House Ale. This one is largely driven by ingredient availability.

I formulated this recipe to produce five gallons of beer for packaging. I assume a boil-off rate of about one gallon per hour with a full-volume boil. I use bagged pellet hops for all hop additions. I assume a loss due to trub of a half-gallon in the boil kettle and another half-gallon in the fermenter.

Recipe: Brush Valley Brewing House Ale v 1.5

BJCP Style: 14B — American IPA
Brewhouse Efficiency: 74%
Pre-Boil Volume: 6.44 gallons (24.4 L)
BG: 1.054 SG (13.3 °P)
Original Volume: 5.5 gallons (20.3 L)
OG: 1.062 SG (15.2 °P)
FG: 1.017 SG (4.3 °P)
ADF: 73%
Bitterness (Tinseth): 50 IBU
ABV: 6.1%
Color (Morey): 11 SRM (22 EBC) — Deep amber
Boil Duration: 55 minutes
BU:GU 0.80
Calories per 12-ounce Serving: 216 — 119 from Alcohol, 96 from Carbs

Grains Quantity Percent
Crisp Maris Otter Malt (3.5 °L) 11.0 lb. (4.990 kg) 88
Crisp Light Crystal Malt (45 °L) 1.5 lb. (0.680 kg) 12
Hops IBU
Citra 11.4% AA, 55 min. 1.5 oz (43 g) 46.7
Citra 11.4% AA, 5 min. 0.6 oz (17 g) 3.8
Citra 11.4% AA, dry 1.7 oz (48 g) 0
Yeast
Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale™ (Manufactured 11/9/11; 60% viability) Want 229B; Have 120B
Other
Irish Moss, 15 min. 2.2 g
Brewer’s Choice™ Wyeast Nutrient Blend, 10 min. 2.2 g
Water Treatment Mash Boil
Gypsum (CaSO₄) 9.4 g 6.4 g
Calcium Chloride (CaCl₂) 1.4 g 1.0 g
Baking Soda (NaHCO₃) 0.9 g —
Canning Salt (NaCl) 0.5 g 0.3 g

Adjusted Mash Water Profile

Sodium (Na): 26 ppm
Calcium (Ca): 191 ppm
Magnesium (Mg): 3 ppm
Sulfate (SO₄): 301 ppm
Chloride (Cl): 57 ppm
Total Alkalinity (CaCO₃): 148 ppm
Residual alkalinity: 10
Chloride to sulfate ratio: 0.19 (Very Bitter)
pH: 5.2

Continue reading “(33) Saturday, December 31, 2011 Brew Day — BVBHA1.5”