Category: Journal

Posted on

(23) Memorial Day 2011 Brew Day – BVBHA1.1

7:40 Gas on.

8:11 Adding strike water to mash tun. Temperature 170 °F.

8:16 Strike water stabilized to 165 °F.

8:20 Grains mixed into mash.

8:26 Mash stabilized at 155 °F. 6.87 gallons (26 liters).

8:57 Just realize that I forgot to add my mash salts. I stirred them in and remeasured the temperature at about 152 °F. Also, the volume is dropping which seems to indicate that the grain is absorbing more as time goes by.

9:20 Beginning vorloff for first runnings. Volume is 6 gallons in mash tun.

9:27 Boil salts are in the kettle. Collected just shy of 3.5 gallons. Gravity of first runnings was 1.075 (1.065 at 118 °F).

9:30 Flame is on under the first runnings while collecting the second. Sparge water temperature is 180 °F. The batch temperature when the sparge water was added is 167 °F.

9:40 Collected just shy of 3.5 gallons for the second runnings for a total of about 6-15/16 gallons in the kettle. Second runnings gravity was 1.029 (1.012 at 143 °F). Boil gravity is 1.052 (1.050 expected).

9:55 Boiling. Waiting for hot break.

10:00 Bittering hops added.

10:19 Smacking yeast packs. One manufactured on 5/4 (78% viability). The others on 5/16 (87% viability). Together providing 252 billion cells. The recipe calls for 225 billion.

10:45 Flavor hops added. Immersion chiller in. Irish moss in.

10:50 Yeast nutrient in.

11:00 Aroma hops added. Flame out. Lid on loosely. Letting hops steep for 20 minutes.

11:20 Started chilling and lifted hop bag to drain.

11:47 Wort chilled to 68 °F. Turning off and removing chiller. Removing hop bag. Stirring to form whirlpool and letting the wort settle for 20 minutes.

12:09 Taking original gravity sample and draining the kettle to the carboy. Original volume is 5.5 gallons.

12:17 Original gravity is 1.059 (1.056 @ 82.4 °F) as expected.

12:25 Kettle is drained. Rocking carboy to aerate wort.

12:36 Carboy in fridge. Yeast pitched. Temperature is 72 °F. Set for 68 °F. When it reaches that temperature, I will lower it to 64 °F.

Wednesday Evening, June 1 Added dry hops.

Monday Evening, June 6 Final gravity is 1.016 (8.3 Brix). Expected 1.018. 5.7% ABV. 72% ADF. Cold crashing to 38 °F.

Saturday, June 11 Kegged. Gravity 1.015. Added a hop bag containing 15.4g Chinook 11.4% AA, 14g Chinook 11.1%AA, and 28.9g Cascade 7.1%AA. So, that’s about an ounce each of Chinook and Cascade. Carbonating to 2.3 volumes (15 psi at 50 °F).

I sampled the beer while testing the carbonation in the keg. I did detect a low level flaw. While reading the notes from Wyeast, I found the following:

A thorough diacetyl rest is recommended after fermentation is complete.

Yeah… I didn’t do that. I cold crashed right after fermentation completed. Next time, I will let the beer sit warm for a few days while the yeast cleans up after itself.

Friday, June 23 I am going to say this beer is at its peak, 12 days after packaging. The last one was 19 days.

Sunday, July 3 Kicked. Good to the end.

Posted on

Brush Valley Brewing House Ale v 1.1

Tomorrow I am going to make the first revisions to my house ale recipe.

The changes in this recipe are:

  1. Adding Irish Moss
  2. Adding Brewer’s Choice™ Wyeast Nutrient Blend
  3. Using Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale™ yeast, rather than Wyeast 1056 American Ale™
  4. Because I am changing the yeast, I will also be raising the fermentation temperature from 62 °F to 66 °F

These are also a couple of procedural changes:

  1. Adding all of the mash water at once and stabilizing at the strike temperature
  2. Fermenting in a refrigerator — I built a plywood stand for the fermentor to sit on and switched my controller from heating to cooling mode

Tonight I set up my brew stand. I measured out my mash and sparge water. I have my mash tun and fermenter standing by. I weighed and ground my grains and measured out my three hop additions as well as my mash and boil salts. I rounded up my Irish Moss and my yeast nutrient. I’m sure I’ll think of some things I have forgotten when I finally need them. For now, I think I have enough of a head start to call it an evening.

Posted on

Tasting Notes on BVB House Ale v 1.0

This was not supposed to be one of those “Wow!” beers, and it is not. It is a good tasting, smooth, creamy beer, with a nice citrus aroma and flavor, a good malt backbone and some sweetness to offset the bitterness of the hops. It does all of that and I am quite pleased.

That is not to say it is perfect. It is not.

There is a tremendous amount of yeast still in suspension.

I wanted to play with different yeast varieties, but I think I need to try to address the flocculation of the yeast first.

Wyeast 1056 (WLP001) typically exhibits good flocculation — Wyeast describes it as medium to low.

I had thought that my adjusted water and all-grain recipe would provide enough nutrients to not require supplementation or assistance, but there are two things that I could try in future brews.

First, I have some Brewer’s Choice™ Wyeast Nutrient Blend. It could be that the yeast is simply missing something it needs. There were no off flavors that would have indicated stressed yeast, but perhaps whatever is needed to allow good flocculation does not impact flavor when it is missing.

If that does not work, I also have some Whirlfloc tablets. I have this belief that they should not be necessary. James Spencer of Basic Brewing Radio and Chris Colby of Brew Your Own magazine did a collaborative experiment to demonstrate the effects of Irish Moss — the source of the carrageenan in Whirlfloc — that I felt showed minimal impact to the clarifier. Besides, they are intended to bond with positively charged proteins, rather than yeast.

If none of that works, I may have to crash cool my fermenter before racking to the keg.

When I get around to experimenting with the yeast variety, I have in mind trying both 1968 (WLP002) and 1098 (WLP007). In particular, 1968 exhibits very high flocculation. It does not attenuate quite as well, so it may be slightly sweeter. It also has a higher temperature range, so I might have to go with 64 °F fermentation instead of 62 °F.

Update 3/24/11: I believe this beer is just peaking. It is just slightly too bitter — that is, slightly too much contribution from the first addition, it is not too hoppy. Apart from that it is nicely smooth. A bit hazy, but the yeast seems to have finally dropped.

Posted on

(22) Friday, February 18, 2011 Brew Day – BVBHA1.0

8:39 I printed out the recipe for markup during the brew day. I weighed out and ground my grains and measured out my hops and my mash and boil salts last night. Setting up brewery.

8:54 Collecting sparge water in hot liquor tank to use to preheat the mash tun.

9:01 Flame on under sparge water. Collecting mash water.

9:20 Boil kettle sight glass measures accurately for two and four gallon measured volumes.

9:25 Mash water collected and heating.

9:33 Adding sparge water to mash tun to preheat.

9:47 Transfer sparge water back to hot liquor tank. Transfer mash water into mash tun. Add grains and mash salts. Mix. Rest ten minutes.

10:03 Mash stabilized at 150 °F. Boiling water to adjust.

10:14 Mash stabilized at 156 °F. Mashing until 11:00. The mash occupied about 6.75 gallons in the mash tun. The recipe expected 5.7. It sounds like I have a calculation wrong on my spreadsheet somewhere.

10:48 Heating sparge water.

10:59 Vorlauf. Lauter. Sparge. First runnings were 3.75 gallons. The recipe expected 3.5. Heating first runnings while sparging.

11:15 Sparge complete. Boil volume is 6.5 gallons. Recipe expected 7 gallons. Going to do a second sparge with another half-gallon of water.

11:19 Boil salts are in. There are some grain chunks in the boil kettle.

11:31 Ended up with about 7-1/8 gallons of boil volume. Took pre-boil gravity sample.

11:52 Boiling. Hot break. Adding 60-minute hops to hop bag and starting 60 minute timer.

12:21 Pre-boil gravity is 1.052 SG. Recipe expected 1.050 SG.

Boil gravity

12:38 Adding 15-minute hops. Placing immersion chiller in kettle to sanitize. Retrieving yeast from refrigerator and smacking. According to the Mr. Malty Yeast Pitching Rate Calculator, yeast manufactured on 2/1/2011 has a viability of 85% on 2/18/2011. Since each pack starts with 100 billion cells, 85 billion of them are viable. I have three packs, so I have 255 billion. The recipe calls for 225, so I have enough.

Pitching Rate Calculator

12:53 Added 0-minute hops and turned off flame. Letting hops steep for 20-minutes. Taking original gravity sample. End-of-boil volume was slightly less than 6 gallons.

1:14 My 20-minute hop steep is complete. The wort temperature has dropped to about 180 °F, as expected. Lifting hop bag out of wort to drain and beginning wort chilling.

1:38 Wort has cooled to 68 °F. Removing chiller, starting final whirlpool and allowing trub cone to settle for 20 minutes prior to draining. Original gravity is 1.059 which is what the recipe expected.

Original gravity

1:59 Draining wort from boil kettle to carboy fermenter.

2:17 Drained to carboy. Aerated. Going to pitch yeast and adjust fermentation chamber controls to 62 °F.

Saturday, March 5th Kegged. Final gravity was 1.012 (expected 1.015). That gives an apparent attenuation of 78.8% (expected 75%), and 6.2% ABV (expected 6.0%). I’m guessing the wort was more fermentable than I expected because I was low on initial mash temperature (150 °F instead of 156 °F) and it took a while to get it up to temperature (15–20 minutes). I expect if mashed properly, the beer would have more body than this one will.

Final gravity

Posted on

Brush Valley Brewing House Ale v 1.0

I am finally starting on my own house ale recipe. I plan to brew it this Friday.

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 1.0

BJCP Style: 14B — American IPA
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%
Pre-Boil Volume: 7 gallons (26.5 L)
BG: 1.050 SG (12.4 °P)
Original Volume: 6.0 gallons (22.7 L)
OG: 1.059 SG (14.4 °P)
FG: 1.015 SG (3.7 °P)
ADF: 75%
Bitterness (Rager): 52 IBU
ABV: 6.0%
Color (Morey): 11 SRM (21 EBC) — Deep amber
Boil Duration: 60 minutes
BU:GU 0.89
Balance value: 1.84
Calories per 12-ounce Serving: 197 — 117 from Alcohol, 80 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
Centennial 9.6% AA, 60 min. 1.0 oz (28 g) 36.9
Centennial 9.6% AA, 15 min. 1.5 oz (43 g) 14.8
Centennial 9.6% AA, flame out 1.5 oz (43 g) 0
Centennial 9.6% AA, dry 1.0 oz (28 g) 0
Yeast
Wyeast 1056 American Ale 225B Cells
Water Treatment Mash Boil
Gypsum (CaSO₄) 2.0 g 1.5 g
Calcium Chloride (CaCl₂) 2.0 g 1.5 g

Adjusted Mash Water Profile

Sodium (Na): 1 ppm
Calcium (Ca): 107 ppm
Magnesium (Mg): 3 ppm
Sulfate (SO₄): 71 ppm
Chloride (Cl): 57 ppm
Total Alkalinity (CaCO₃): 118 ppm
Residual alkalinity: 40
Chloride to sulfate ratio: 0.81 (Balanced)
pH: 5.42

Nomograph

Step by Step

This is a single step infusion mash at 1.5 quarts/pound with a batch sparge. It will require a total of 8.2 gallons (31 L) of water.

Preheat the mash tun by bringing the 3.5 gallons (13.2 L) of sparge water to 170 °F (77 °C) and place it in the closed mash tun while heating the strike water.

Heat 4.69 gallons (4.5g + 3c, 17.7 L) of strike water to 168.0 °F (75.6 °C) for a grain temperature of 69 °F. Drain the sparge water from the preheated mash tun back into the hot liquor tank. Add all but about a gallon of the heated strike water to the mash tun.

Mix in the crushed grain and the mash salts, making sure to break up any dough balls. Cover the mash tun and let it sit for about 10 minutes. The mash should stabilize at 156 °F (68.9 °C). Take a few readings and use the remaining strike water, boiling water, or ice water to adjust the final temperature and volume which should be about 5.7 gallons (21.5 L). Cover the mash tun and let it rest.

After 60 minutes vorlauf, and lauter. Sparge with 3.5 gallons (13.2 L) of water to bring the collected volume to approximately 7 gallons (26.5 L) at 1.050 SG (12.4 °P).

Add the boil salts and boil for 60 minutes. While boiling, add the remaining ingredients according to the schedule in the ingredient list.

After the boil, whirlpool hot for 20 minutes, then cool the wort to 62 °F (16.7 °C). The volume should be approximately 6 gallons (22.7 L) at 1.059 SG (14.4 °P). Whirlpool for another 20 minutes, then transfer approximately 5.5 gallons (20.8 L) to a sanitized fermenter. Aerate the wort and pitch the yeast.

Hold at 62 °F (16.7 °C) until the end of high kräusen, then increase the fermentation temperature 1 °F per day until the beer temperature is 68 °F. After 9 days, add dry hops for five days. The final gravity should be about 1.015 SG (3.7 °P).

Keg and force carbonate to 2 volumes, or transfer approximately 5 gallons (18.9 L) to a priming bucket and prime using 2.80 oz (79.4 g) of sugar for approximately 2 volumes of carbonation, then package in 53 12-ounce bottles.

Posted on

Mash Temperature Experiment

Say you have a fairly simple recipe that you like. A base malt, one specialty malt, one hop variety, and a readily available, consistent yeast. Simple enough that you can make it consistently.

Now, vary only the mash temperature. Mash the first batch at 142 °F. Mash the next at 150 °F. Mash the last batch at 158 °F.

Do a side-by-side comparison and record your observations.

Posted on

An Observation

“Fred Brooks in The Mythical Man-Month quotes: never take two chronometers to sea. Always take one or three. Meaning, if two chronometers contradict, how do you know which one is correct?”
— Wikipedia on Unit Testing

It seems I have another tip to add to the four I gave yesterday.

  • Trust but verify

You see, in yesterday’s post, I said I was going to try my hand at cheese making. Gretchen and I bought ourselves a basic cheese-making kit for Christmas and tried a recipe today. It called for pasteurized milk. We only had raw milk, so we pasteurized it by heating it to 145 °F for 30 minutes. I used my Thermapen to measure the temperature. Gretchen noticed that the kit came with its own dial thermometer and I asked her if she would clip it on the pot so I would not drain the battery on mine. She did and it read — within our ability to tell — the same as the Thermapen. She went and fished around in the kitchen drawers. I asked her what she was doing as she pulled out our kitchen dial thermometer. ”Oh nothing,” she said nonchalantly and stuck it in the warm milk on the stove. It read 160 °F.

Hmmm…

Did I mention that this batch of beer — the one I described as “amazing” — is the first one I have made since I got the new thermometer?

Posted on

I Must Be Different

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge
— Charles Darwin

I must be different from most people. I tried my hand at home brewing in the early nineties. I made one passable stout. I could not tell you what kind. After repeated failures I gave up. I tried again in the spring of 2008. My first attempts were still awful, but there were enough people that talked about making good beer that I figured it must be possible. I kept reading about people that made one batch of beer and were hooked because it was so good! I could not understand what I was doing wrong. Everybody made it seem so easy.

I must have crossed some threshold with this last batch. I would not say I did anything different from before. I would not say I did everything perfectly. Still, this beer is amazing. I guess I have been suffering from the Dunning–Kruger effect. I thought I knew what I was doing. Clearly I did not.

Some people are lucky. I have to work at it. When I learned to cook, I am sure I was the same way, but I cooked all day every day and got paid to do it. I climbed that learning curve quick enough that I did not know it was there. Apparently at the rate I brew — about once a month — it takes me about two and a half years to get the basics down.

Here are a few things I have learned along the way.

  • Close your valves
  • Control your temperature
  • Use the best ingredients you can find
  • Know what you like

Now I am going to branch out. Cheeses and cured meats are next.

Posted on

(21) Sunday, November 28, 2010 Brew Day

Today I am making an all-grain variation of C.J.’s House of the Rising Sun JPA.

Brewhouse Efficiency: 74%
Pre-Boil Volume: 7.0 gallons (26.5 L)
BG: 1.050 SG (12.39 °P)
OG: 1.061 SG (14.97 °P)
FG: 1.015 SG (3.83 °P)
ADF: 74.4%
Bitterness (Rager): 89 IBU
ABV: 6.1%
Color (Morey): 8 SRM (16 EBC) — Amber
Boil Duration: 60 minutes
FERMENTABLES Weight Percent
Crisp Maris Otter 10 1/2 lb (4.763 kg) 83.2%
Rahr White Wheat 3/8 lb (0.170 kg) 3.0%
Briess Carapils 1/2 lb (0.227 kg) 4.0%
Dingemans CaraVienne 1/2 lb (0.227 kg) 4.0%
Castle Aromatic Malt 1/2 lb (0.227 kg) 4.0%
Dingemans CaraMunich 1/4 lb (0.113 kg) 2.0%
HOPS Bitterness
Northern Brewer, 8% AA, 60 minutes 1.50 oz (42.5 g) 46.2 IBU
Amarillo, 8% AA, 45 minutes 0.25 oz (7.1 g) 6.7 IBU
Cascade, 7.5% AA, 45 minutes 0.25 oz (7.1 g) 6.3 IBU
Centennial, 8.3% AA, 45 minutes 0.25 oz (7.1 g) 7.0 IBU
Amarillo, 8% AA, 30 minutes 0.25 oz (7.1 g) 4.3 IBU
Cascade, 7.5% AA, 30 minutes 0.25 oz (7.1 g) 4 IBU
Centennial, 8.3% AA, 30 minutes 0.25 oz (7.1 g) 4.4 IBU
Amarillo, 8% AA, 15 minutes 0.25 oz (7.1 g) 2.1 IBU
Cascade, 7.5% AA, 15 minutes 0.25 oz (7.1 g) 1.9 IBU
Centennial, 8.3% AA, 15 minutes 0.25 oz (7.1 g) 2.1 IBU
Amarillo, 8% AA, 5 minutes 0.25 oz (7.1 g) 1.4 IBU
Cascade, 7.5% AA, 5 minutes 0.25 oz (7.1 g) 1.3 IBU
Centennial, 8.3% AA, 5 minutes 0.25 oz (7.1 g) 1.5 IBU
Cascade, 7.5% AA, 0 minutes 1 oz (28.3 g) 0 IBU
Chinook, 11.5% AA, 0 minutes 0.50 oz (14.2 g) 0 IBU
Amarillo, 8% AA, Dry hopped 2 oz (56.7 g) 0 IBU
Amarillo, 8% AA, Keg hopped 2 oz (56.7 g) 0 IBU
YEAST Attenuation
Wyeast 1026 British Cask Ale 211B Cells 75.00%
Brewer’s Choice™ Wyeast Nutrient Blend, 15 minutes 1/2 tsp (2.2 g)

Mash at 154 °F (67.8 °C) with a grist ratio of 1.25 quarts per pound for 60 minutes. Treat the mash water with 2.3 g of gypsum and 1.5 g of Calcium Chloride. Treat the boil water with 1.6 g of gypsum and 1.1 g of Calcium Chloride.

Ferment at 64 °F.

Process

I used a gallon of boiling water to preheat my mash tun. I brought 3.95 gallons of local well water to 169 °F. After draining the preheat water, I added the mash water and mixed in the crushed grains (at 60 °F) and the mash salts and closed the mash tun. After 10 minutes the temperature stabilized to 154 °F. After 1 hour, I infused an additional 3 quarts of boiling water. This brought the mash temperature to 158 °F before I vorlaufed and lautered. I batch sparged with 3.5 gallons to collect 7 gallons of 1.050 wort. I added the boil salts and started to boil the wort.

Once the wort was boiling, I added the hops and yeast nutrient according to the ingredient schedule. At the end of the boil, I allowed the late hop additions to steep for 20 minutes with the flame off before starting the chiller.

Once the wort reached pitching temperature, I removed the chiller, started a whirlpool in the boil kettle, and allowed the trub to settle for 20 minutes before draining.

Once drained to the fermenter, I aerated the wort by shaking, then pitched three activator packs of yeast. Production dates and viabilities were: 10/5/10 (59%), 11/9/10 (83%), and 11/16/10 (88%). This should be approximately 261B cells. I set the fermentation temperature for 64 °F.

Four days later (Thursday), active fermentation was nearly complete. At this point I added 1 ounce of dry hops. I also began increasing the fermentation temperature by 1 °F per day to 68 °F and occasionally rousing the yeast.

Five days later (Tuesday), I added an additional ounce of dry hops.

After fourteen days of fermentation, I transferred the beer to a keg for carbonation, adding 2 ounces of hops.