Category: Journal

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I’ve Got Gas

I bought my first CO₂ refill today. I was comparing the receipt to the one I got when I filled my take the last (first) time over a year ago. No change in price! It cost me $11.23 for 5 pounds of CO₂ on 9/21/2010 and it cost me the same thing today.

Since that time, I’ve done 10 batches of beer, so that is my first data point on how long a tank lasts. I probably could have got a couple more out of it. It was not absolutely shot. I did mess around a little to learn how it worked at first, too. I made some carbonated water. I also transferred some sanitizer between kegs and carboys. Maybe I could have gotten as many as 15 batches.

That would be 75 gallons of beer carbonated with 5 pounds of CO₂ at $11.23. That is 800 beers at 1.4¢ per beer.

That is not too shabby.

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(31) Saturday, November 12, 2011 Brew Day — 2011 Holiday Ale

Today I am making another batch of my 2011 Holiday Ale. There are four things I am going to do differently with this batch then before.

  • I am going to get the mash salts into the mash tun correctly.
  • I am going to reduce the vigor of the boil. I have been tracking my brewhouse numbers and I find that my boil off rate is 21% ± 2%. Boil off itself is not bad, but it is a secondary indicator of thermal loading. That has an impact on the reactions that occur in the kettle. Below some level, there is not enough energy to drive off DMS precursors. Above some level, The Maillard reactions start to cause off flavors that can be mistaken for fermentation problems. There is some debate as to what the ideal evaporation rate is, but the suggestions range from 10–15%. Since DMS in Ales does not appear to be as much of a problem, I’m not going to worry about shooting too low.
  • I am going to repitch my yeast from the slurry in the last batch. Mr Malty suggests a bit more than half a cup.
  • I need to do a better job with the fermentation temperature. This is not so much a plan at this point, as an observation.

Continue reading “(31) Saturday, November 12, 2011 Brew Day — 2011 Holiday Ale”

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DMS in Ales

For ales, these sulfur-compound issues tend to disappear. For example, ale malt with only 1 μg of SMM per gram of malt is common. This low initial concentration means that the SMM level at the start of the boil is

1\; \mu g/g\; \times \; 200\; g/L =\; 200\; \mu g/L\;

This initial SMM concentration leaves a SMM residual of

200\; \mu g/L\; \times \; 0.21\; =\; 41\; \mu g/L\;

at the end of the boil. As noted above, 50% of the sulfur-containing compounds (be they SMM or DMS) is removed in the fermentation. Thus, the finished beer will have sub threshold levels of DMS no matter how the wort is cooled. Indeed, any hint of DMS in ales is likely from technical brewing errors, most notably contamination (see chapter 3). This fact probably explains why ale aficionados react very negatively to DMS in any type of beer.

Fix, George. “Production and Reduction of Dimethyl Sulfide.” Principles of Brewing Science: a Study of Serious Brewing Issues. Boulder (Colo.): Brewers Publications, 1999. 71-75. Print.

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While Thinking About Beer Styles…

Stop Thinking Outside the Box – Dan Pallotta – Harvard Business Review:

You cannot possibly think outside the box unless you understand the nature of the box that bounds your current thinking. You must come to know that nature deeply. You must have real insight into it. You must accept it, and embrace it at some level, before it will ever release you.

There’s a Zen saying, ‘What you resist persists, and what you allow to be disappears.’ Thinking outside the box without understanding the box is a petulant exercise in resistance — every idea that comes from the process has the box written all over it. It’s a reaction to the box. It’s fighting the box. It’s a child of the box.

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Aeration

Once the wort is chilled to pitching temperature, it needs to be effectively, but not overly, aerated. Most home brewers will not have the budget for a digital oxygen meter (unless you really have a serious bank account and are a possessed brewer). The dilemma of using pure oxygen versus aeration via agitation is easy to resolve. Use aggressive shaking if you are strong enough to do so. If it is too heavy for you, then use pure oxygen. It is easy to over-oxygenate the wort in a small vessel with pure O₂, so tread carefully. Levels of oxygen over 12 mg/l can have a toxic effect on the yeast and result in stopped fermentation.

Gordon, Dan. “Lager Brewing the German Way.” Zymurgy Nov.-Dec. 2011: 32–37. Print.

Methods of Aeration / Oxygenation

Homebrewers have several aeration/oxygenation methods available to them:  siphon sprays, whipping, splashing, shaking, pumping air through a stone with an aquarium pump, and injecting pure oxygen through a sintered stone.  We have tested all of these methods using a dissolved oxygen meter and have found that, when using air, 8 ppm of oxygen in solution is the best that you can achieve.  Injecting oxygen through a stone will allow much higher dissolved oxygen levels.  The chart below shows methods tested and the results.

Method DO ppm Time
Siphon Spray 4 ppm 0 sec.
Splashing & Shaking 8 ppm 40 sec.
Aquarium Pump w/ stone 8 ppm 5 min
Pure Oxygen w/ stone 0-26ppm 60 sec (12ppm)

It was concluded that pumping compressed air through a stone is not an efficient way to provide adequate levels of DO. Traditional splashing and shaking, although laborious, is fairly efficient at dissolving up to 8 ppm oxygen. To increase levels of oxygen, the carboy headspace can be purged with pure oxygen prior to shaking. The easiest and most effective method remains injecting pure oxygen through a scintered stone.

Wyeast Laboratories, Inc. “Oxygenation.” Wyeastlab.com. Wyeast Laboratories, Inc., 13 Dec. 2007. Web. 06 Nov. 2011. <http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_oxygenation.cfm>.

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(30) Sunday, October 29, 2001 Brew Day — 2011 Holiday Ale

Hey zeus
Die Hard: With a Vengeance. Dir. John McTiernan. Perf. Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons, and Samuel L Jackson. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 1995. Film.

The Brush Valley Brewing 2011 Holiday Ale is a smooth, full-bodied beer with a rich copper color from traditional, floor-malted English Maris Otter, caramel, and pale chocolate malts lending hints of caramel, chocolate, coffee, and nuts. Cascade hops used throughout the brewing process add subtle flavors and aromas of citrus and spice.The West Yorkshire yeast provides esters reminiscent of marshmallow and hazelnut. At 6.5%, this beer will help keep you warm on cold winter nights.

Recipe

Brewhouse Efficiency: 72%
Boil Volume: 7 gallons (26.5 L)
Boil Gravity: 1.054 SG (13.3 °P)
Original Volume: 5.6 gallons (21.2 L)
Original Gravity: 1.068 SG (16.5 °P)
Final Gravity: 1.021 SG (5.3 °P)
Apparent Degree of Fermentation: 69%
Bitterness (Tinseth): 64 IBU
Alcohol by Volume: 6.5%
Color (Morey): 16 SRM (31 EBC) — Copper
Boil Duration: 60 minutes
Calories per 12-ounce Serving: 232 (127 from Alcohol, 105 from Residual Extract)

FERMENTABLES Quantity Percent
Crisp Maris Otter 12.5 lb (5.670 kg) 89.3%
Crisp Crystal 60L 1.25 lb (0.567 kg) 8.9%
Crisp Pale Chocolate 0.25 lb (0.113 kg) 1.8%
14 lb
HOPS Bitterness
Cascade, 5.4% AA, 60 minutes 2 oz (57 g) 28.4 IBU
Cascade, 5.4% AA, 30 minutes 2 oz (57 g) 21.8 IBU
Cascade, 5.4% AA, 15 minutes 2 oz (57 g) 14.1 IBU
Cascade, 5.4% AA, Dry hopped 2 oz (57 g) 0 IBU
8 oz
YEAST Attenuation
Wyeast 1469-PC West Yorkshire Ale 234B Cells 69%

Continue reading “(30) Sunday, October 29, 2001 Brew Day — 2011 Holiday Ale”

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(29) Sunday, October 2, 2011 Brew Day — Dry Stout

You ate already. You're a night horse.

Today’s brew is Jamil Zainasheff’s Dry Stout recipe. For those of you with a copy of Brewing Classic Styles, this is the Cerveza de Malto Seco. Since this recipe is already available online, I am going to go ahead and document here what I am brewing. Perhaps you will feel encouraged to go buy your own copy of the book.

Original Gravity: 1.042 SG
Boil: 60 minutes
Mash: Protein rest for 15 minutes at 120 °F (49 °C) then saccharification rest for 60 minutes at 150 °F (64 °F).
Fermentation: Ferment at 65 °F then do a diacetyl rest.
Serving: Serve at 52–55 °F (11–13 °C) with 1–1.5 volumes of CO₂.

Grain Amount
Thomas Fawcett & Sons Halcyon 70%
Flaked Barley 20%
Briess Black Barley 10%
Hop
Kent Goldings 60 min. 38.5 IBU
Yeast
Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale 162B Cells

Continue reading “(29) Sunday, October 2, 2011 Brew Day — Dry Stout”

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(28) Saturday, September 24, 2011 Brew Day — Cider

Gretchen and I pressed 3½ bushels of the apples from our orchard today. It was a mix of a half-dozen varieties of which we are uncertain, though one is definitely Cortland and another is probably Macintosh.

Gretchen picked the apples Monday and Tuesday and they have sat in the garage all week. I find that letting the apples sit for a week softens them, which makes them easier to press, which produces more juice, and forces them to ripen more, producing more sugar. Some rot, but the improved yield more than makes up for the ones we have to toss.

We got 8¼ gallons of juice. I put 6 gallons in a cleaned and sanitized food grade plastic bucket along with six crushed Campden tablets. We pasteurized the rest, sealing two in clean gallon jugs. The remaining quart is the refrigerator. We will probably drink it for breakfast.

Continue reading “(28) Saturday, September 24, 2011 Brew Day — Cider”

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Magnesium

There is a discussion on the AHA Forum about adding magnesium to brewing liquor. I have wondered about this since my water is so low in magnesium (3 ppm). That is pretty low. I had heard, as had the poster, that you do not need to worry about the level because malt contained all of magnesium needed1. The poster points out that John Palmer cites a minimum of 10 ppm in How to Brew. Finally, the poster mentions his own experience in identical brews where the only deliberate difference was adding 10 ppm of magnesium — as magnesium sulfate, or Epson Salts — resulting in greatly improved fermentation.

Martin Brungard talks about seeing a paper that shows significantly enhanced yeast flocculation performance in wort with 5 ppm magnesium.

Denny Conn cites Tobias Fischborn’s 2009 NHC presentation, which mentions the importance of the calcium to magnesium ratio, though it gives no guidance on what it should be.

  1. According to Winning Homebrew it is from Greg Noonan’s book New Brewing Lager Beer, but it is also in George Fix’s book Principles of Brewing Science:

    Magnesium ions also play an important role in yeast growth, primarily as a cofactor in metabolic reactions. Malt generally will provide sufficient magnesium for these purposes, even when the brewing water is low in this ion. Corrections with MgSO₄ additions are needed only with very high adjunct worts.

    ↩

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Here’s To It

Here’s to it
And to it again.
If you get to it
And can’t do it
Call us!
We’ll do it.
We’re used to it.
We used to do it.
We want to do it.
We love to do it.
So, here’s to it.

This is an old toast I learned back in the 1980s with a friend.