Today is the house ale again. The only variation is that I am using up 2 pounds of golden promise by substituting out an equal weight of the maris otter.
Continue reading “(25) Saturday, July 9, 2011 Brew Day – BVBHA1.3”
(24) Friday, June 17 2011, Brew Day – BVBHA1.2
I am brewing version 1.2 (Chinook) of my House Ale today. The weather is odd this morning. There is a thick fog and I am having a hard time waking up.
Continue reading “(24) Friday, June 17 2011, Brew Day – BVBHA1.2”
(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.
(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.
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.
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.
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.
(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.
(20) Sunday, September 5, 2010 Brew Day — The Beer of India
Thursday, September 2, 2010, 9:52 p.m. I made a starter with two quarts of water, six ounces (by weight) of Briess Pilsner dry malt extract, a quarter teaspoon of Brewer’s Choice™ Wyeast Nutrient Blend, and two Wyeast 1028 London Ale Activator Packs (one dated 08JUN10 lot 0815147, the other 26JUL10 lot 0816196). Shook vigorously and covered with foil.
According to The Secret to Healthy Yeast: Making a Starter, by Jamil Zainasheff:
You do not want to make a high gravity starter to grow yeast. As a ballpark measurement, use about 6 ounces (by weight) of DME to 2 quarts of water… Add ¼ teaspoon of yeast nutrient, boil 15 minutes, cool and add yeast.
Mr Malty’s Pitching Rate Calculator™, based on one pack of the newer yeast, said to use a 2.57 L (2.72 qt.) starter and estimated 70% viability.
It estimated a 36% viability for the older pack.
If I combine them I get one pack with 106% viability — it’s cool it actually lets me enter that — and I need a 1.49 L (1.57 qt.) starter.
I went with 2 quarts anyway.
Update: I shook the starter back up occasionally to knock the CO₂ out and introduce some new O₂. At 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 4, 2010, I put it in the fridge to drop the yeast out of suspension.
This is my take on Jamil Zainasheff’s “Bière de L’Inde” from Brewing Classic Styles. He gives the recipe on the English IPA episode of The Jamil Show. The name is French for The Beer of India, and seems like a play on the French Bière de Garde, or beer for keeping, style.
This recipe produces five gallons (19 L) of beer for packaging. I assume a loss due to trub of a half-gallon in the fermenter and another half-gallon in the boil kettle. That leaves six gallons (22.7 L) at the end of the boil. I assume a boil-off rate of about one gallon per hour, which means I need 7 gallons (26.5 L) at the start of a 60-minute full-volume boil. I use bagged pellet hops for all hop additions.
Recipe: BVB English IPA
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70% Pre-Boil Volume: 7.0 gallons (26.5 L) BG: 1.053 (13.2 °P) OG: 1.062 (15.2 °P) FG: 1.016 (4 °P) ADF: 75% IBU (Rager): 49.4 BU:GU ratio: 0.79 Balance value: 1.65 ABV: 6.4% Color (Morey): 12 SRM (23 EBC) — Deep amber / light copper Boil: 60 minutes
| Grains | Weight | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Crisp Maris Otter (4 °L) | 12.25 lb. (5.55 kg) | 86.7 |
| Rahr White Wheat Malt (2.8 °L) | 0.5 lb. (227 g) | 3.5 |
| Castle Malting Belgian Biscuit (25 °L) | 0.5 lb. (227 g) | 3.5 |
| Briess Caramel 40L (40 °L) | 0.5 lb. (227 g) | 3.5 |
| Briess Caramel 120L (120 °L) | 6.0 oz. (170 g) | 2.7 |
| Hops | IBU | |
| Challenger 7% AA, 60 min. | 1.7 oz (48 g) | 44.5 |
| Fuggles 4% AA, 10 min. | 1.5 oz (43 g) | 4.9 |
| Kent Goldings 4.8% AA, 0 min. | 1.5 oz (43 g) | 0 |
| Yeast | ||
| Wyeast 1028 London Ale | 238B Cells | |
| Brewer’s Choice™ Wyeast Nutrient Blend, 15 min. | ½ teaspoon (2.2 g) |
Step by Step
A few days ahead of time, make an appropriate starter. Shake intermittently. Cold crash and decant before pitching time.
The water should have at least 50 ppm of Calcium, a residual alkalinity between 14 and 73, and a Chloride to Sulfate ratio between 0.5 and 0.77. For my starting water profile, I add 2.3 g Gypsum and 1.5 g Calcium Chloride to the mash and 1.6 g Gypsum and 1.1 g Calcium Chloride to the boil. My resulting water profile is:
| Calcium: | 102 ppm |
| Magnesium: | 3 ppm |
| Sodium: | 1 ppm |
| Chloride: | 43 ppm |
| Sulfate: | 78 ppm |
| Residual Alkalinity: | 44 — Best for 9–14 SRM |
| Chloride to Sulfate Ratio: | 0.55 — Best for bitter styles |
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This is a single step infusion mash at 1.36 quarts/pound with a batch sparge. It will need a total of 8.3 gallons (31.5 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 placing it in the closed mash tun while you heat the strike water.
Heat 4.81 gallons (18.2 L) of strike water to 164 °F (73.3 °C). Drain the sparge water from the preheated mash tun into the boil kettle. 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 152 °F (66.7 °C). Take a few readings and use the remaining strike water, boiling water, or ice water to adjust the temperature. The volume should be about 5.9 gallons (22.5 L). Cover the mash tun and let it rest. Transfer the sparge water back to the hot liquor tank.
After 60 minutes, vorlauf, and lauter. Sparge with 3.5 gallons (13.2 L) of water to bring the collected volume to about 7 gallons (26.5 L) at 1.053 SG (13.2 °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, cool the wort to 68 °F (20 °C). The volume should be about 6.0 gallons (22.7 L) at 1.062 SG (15.2 °P). Transfer about 5.5 gallons (20.8 L) to a sanitized fermenter. Aerate the wort and pitch the yeast.
Hold at 68 °F (20 °C) until fermentation is complete. The final gravity should be about 1.016 SG (4 °P).
Transfer about 5 gallons (18.9 L) to a priming bucket and prime using 3.72 oz (105.5 g) of sugar for about 2.25 volumes of carbonation. Package in 53 12-ounce bottles.
Last Night — Crushed grains and measured out hop additions.
8:15 — Setting up brewery. Heating mash water to preheat mash tun. Heating strike water.
9:00 — Preheating mash tun.
9:23 — Strike water is hot. Draining sparge water from mash tun to hot liquor tank.
9:50 — Adjusted mash temperature to 152 °F. 50 minutes to go. Added mash salts.
Took a sample to cool for mash pH measurement. 
I’m calling it 5.2. (Woo hoo!)
10:40 — Starting to vorlauf and lauter the first runnings.
10:50 — Sparging. Tried to measure the first runnings gravity with my refractometer, but the screen was entirely blue. Tried it with tap water and it read 0 Brix (as expected). Don’t know what the problem is. Resorted to the hydrometer. Waiting for the sample to cool. 1.072 SG @ 92 °F. I believe my hydrometer is calibrated for 60 °F, so BeerAlchemy says the corrected gravity is 1.076.
Second runnings read 1.022 @ 113 °F which is 1.031 corrected to 60°F.
The combined wort is 1.046 @ 112°F which is 1.055 corrected to 60°F.
The expected boil gravity is 1.053. I’ve got 6.4 gallons. According to Drew Beechum’s Dilution Calculator I need to add a quart to make the adjustment.
I just broke my lab thermometer!
11:26 — Heating to boil. Added boil salts.
12:05 — Boiling.
12:07 — Added bittering hops.
12:50 — Placed wort chiller in kettle. Added yeast nutrient.
12:57 — Added flavor hops.
1:07 — Flame out. Added aroma hops. Chilling.
1:26 — Chilled to 68 °F. Removed hop bag (draining into pot) and chiller. Stirred to create whirlpool and put lid on while the trub settles.
2:03 — Draining wort into the carboy. Original gravity is 1.062. Spot on!
2:25 — Drained. Aerating.
2:39 — Wort is in the cellar.
2:50 — Decanted starter beer and pitched yeast. Cleaning up.
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p>Update: Saturday, September 25, 2010. Kegged the beer today. Refractometer read 7.8 Brix. With an OG of 1.062, that would make the FG 1.011. Hydrometer read 1.007 at 70 °F, calibrated for 60 °F. That would make the corrected FG 1.008. That would correspond to 7.2 Brix. I think I need to calibrate these. Since went with the hydrometer to start, I’ll finish with it’s reading, too. 7.2 % ABV. 201 calories per 12 ounce serving. The keg is in the refrigerator at 45 °F under 11 PSI of CO₂. That should give me about 2.2 volumes when it reaches equilibrium.
(19) Sunday, July 4, 2010 Brew Day
Today I am going to make a recipe from Fred Bonjour, of the AHA Governing Committee, that he posted in a thread asking, “Is a good, low ABV IPA possible?”
I weighed and crushed my grains and set up the brewery last night. First thing I need to do today is start heating the strike water.
8:43 — Strike water is heating.
The taste of Simpson’s Golden Promise is not initially sweet, but has a nice malt flavor with a slightly sweet aftertaste.
Weyermann® Light Munich has a nuttier, grainier flavor.
Castle Aromatic is much harder with an earthy flavor.
Flaked Barley is relatively tasteless. Simple flakes of starch.
Briess Caramel 20L tastes vaguely sweet.
Briess Caramel 60L tastes of darker sugars and dried fruit. Beginning to taste slightly burnt.
I got myself a stainless steel dipper. Filled to the brim it holds a quart. It has some markings, but they appear to be in random locations.
9:22 — Mashing. I believe it is 150–152°F. I took a pH reading with some litmus papers and it looks to be about 5.0. Lower than I expected. I will not make any adjustment. I will be back out later to start the sparge water heating.
Update: It could be that “pH papers are made to be used on room temperature samples.”
The hops are supposed to be:
| Amount | Description | IBU |
|---|---|---|
| 2.00 oz | Amarillo (leaf) [9.4 %] (60 min) | 72.2 IBU |
| 1.00 oz | Cascade [5.5 %] (15 min) | 6.3 |
| 1.00 oz | Cascade [5.5 %] (1 min) | 3.9 |
My Amarillo are pellets, but I use a bag and I understand the gain from the pellets over the leaf and the loss from the bag over loose cancel out. They are also 8.2% alpha acid, but the recipe makes it look like the 2 ounces was the target.
My Cascade are 4.0% AA.
10:29 — Finished infusion and vorlauf and now I am lautering. Mash is not terribly clear. Tastes sweet, but not as sweet as some I have had. The temperature dropped about 5 °F during the mash. I need to learn how to do a starch test. First runnings are 19.2 Brix (1.077 SG). Only got 2.75 gallons from the mash. I expected 3.36 gallons.
10:41 — Sparging. With second runnings the batch comes to 5.75 gallons. Expected 6.71. Almost a gallon short. Second runnings are 6.8 Brix (1.027). Vaguely sweet. Combined gravity is 12.0 Brix (1.047 SG). Should be 12.7 (1.048). Sparging more to make the boil volume would only reduce the boil gravity, so I am going to go with what I have.
10:58 — Heating to boil.
Cleaning mash tun. I scooped out the spent grain into a bowl and stuck it in the fridge so it does not spoil. Gretchen plans to make a spent grain bread.
11:23 — Boiling.
11:25 — Bittering hops are in.
12:10 — Flavor hops are in, as is the immersion chiller so it has time to sanitize.
12:24 — Aroma hops are in.
12:25 — Flame out and chilling.
1:05 — I have given up on chilling. By the way, it helps to turn on the water at the tap. I cannot get the wort below 80 °F. The ground water appears to be about 75 °F. I could be fighting the air temperature and the sun on the garden hose. I am transferring to the carboy and I will chill it further in the refrigerator. Original gravity is 14.5 Brix (1.057 SG). Target was 1.048.
I see now that when I was deciding whether to sparge more I looked at the original gravity, not the boil gravity. The boil gravity should have been 1.041. Since I do not know the volume, I cannot calculate the amount of water to add to fix it. My record stands unbroken!
5:00 — The wort has chilled to about 69 °F, I am going to call it. Pitched the yeast. I rehydrated it in a zip lock bag — something John Palmer recommended in a recent podcast. It worked well and the baggie smelled of peaches when I opened it. The carboy is sitting in the coldest corner of the basement — about 61 °F — with an airlock attached. Everything is cleaned and drying on the porch. The animals are fed and now it is time to grill some pork chops for dinner.
Happy 4th of July everybody!
Update — It is 5:44 a.m. on Tuesday (7/6). Beer is fermenting actively. Temperature is 72 °F. This one could be fruity!
Update — It is Wednesday (7/7). Beer temperature is 75 °F. This is going to be rocket fuel. =(
Update — It is Saturday (7/24). Beer temperature is 74 °F. Bottling with 4 ounces of corn sugar. There is just about 4 gallons of beer. Surprisingly, it does not taste awful. Final gravity is 6.8 Brix (1.008 FG).That seems kind of low, but maybe the insane fermentation temperatures helped it along. That works out to 6.6% ABV and 187 Calories.
Update — It is Saturday (7/31). I put one bottle in the refrigerator yesterday to check the carbonation progress. I just sampled it. It is carbonated. It pours a hazy, turbulent cascade of bubbles with a thick creamy head. It is light copper in color. It has a nice balanced aroma with a mix of citrus hops and beery malt. It is smooth on the tongue with a chewy mouthfeel. Flavor is balanced, as well, with a lasting bitter aftertaste. No sign of any of the off flavors or aromas I expected. Based on how much I messed up this batch, I am surprised it is even drinkable. Now I wonder if I ever try again and get it right, whether I will be disappointed that it does not taste like this one.
If there is anything to learn from this, it is that no matter what you do, you will make beer. It may not be what you were planning, but it will be beer. Relax. Don’t worry. Have a home brew.
(18) Tuesday, June 1, 2010 Brew Day
It’s the last day of my vacation and I’m going to brew my Best Bitter. There’s an 80% chance of rain today. AccuWeather says the morning rain should be past by 8:00 a.m. and the afternoon rain shouldn’t start until after 1:00 p.m.
7:38 Collecting ingredients, removed yeast from fridge and smacked, finishing mash and sparge calculations. I’m going to try adding a half-teaspoon of gypsum to the mash.
8:03 It’s raining. Haven’t started to set up yet. Still gathering equipment and ingredients. Printed out recipe and placed in a sheet protector. Finishing my coffee.
9:02 Brewery set up (in the garage). Weighing grains.
Maris Otter is nicely tasty. Like a good breakfast cereal. Nice plump blonde kernels.
Malted wheat tastes about the same. Maybe slightly sweeter or saltier. Crunchier too.
Medium crystal is much crunchier. Sweeter with subtle toasty flavors. A hint of dried cherry.
Pale chocolate is mild with hints of sweetened coffee.
9:14 Grains weighed and crushed.
9:34 Heating mash water.
9:56 Mash water heated. Doughing in.
10:01 Mashing.
10:18 Ran into town to get a replacement propane tank for my empty spare. Got the last one. Remembered I hadn’t added the gypsum to the mash. Added and stirred. Temperature holding steady.
10:29 Collected sparge water.
10:37 Chewing on malted wheat. An oriole just flew by and there’s a pileated squawking nearby. Gretchen thinks they may have a young one this year. Still getting occasional showers.
10:47 Lighter gave out. Had to find matches. Heating sparge water.
10:58 Sanitizing carboy.
11:05 Vorlauf and lautering. First runnings taste like chocolate milk. 15.1 Brix (1.060 SG).
11:15 Forgot to close the drain valve on the kettle. Lost more than half a gallon before I realized what was happening. Just over three gallons of first wort remaining. Floor is wet and sticky. Sparging.
11:22 Second runnings 4.7 Brix (1.019 SG). Total is just shy of 7 gallons at 9.4 Brix (1.037 SG). Don’t know whether to do a 60 minute boil because of the reduced volume or stay with the 90 minutes for the sugar concentration.
11:40 Checked ingredient stash. No DME. Note for future: keep a few pounds of DME on hand. Poured myself a homebrew. Hosed down garage floor.
11:44 I just checked the recipe and the expected boil gravity is 1.033. Even with the loss mine is 1.037. Maybe I’ll go for a 60 minute boil after all. Perhaps my efficiency was higher than expected. Rechecked gravity. Around 10 Brix looks right.
11:52 Checking hops. They’re actually 9.2% AA. Expected 8.5% AA. Should actually use 0.92 oz.
11:59 Boiling… and there goes the alarm test at the VFD.
12:10 Okay. All is not lost. Sky is not falling. I learned a lesson today. There are two valves to remember to close. One on the mash tun, which I remembered. One on the boil kettle, which I did not. Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want. Today I gained experience.
12:30 Bittering hops are in. 0.92 oz of bagged 9.2% AA Centennial pellet hops.
12:50 Lunch is black beans and rice and another homebrew.
1:10 Connected hoses to immersion chiller.
1:12 It’s raining again.
1:15 Immersion chiller in to sanitize. Added Whirlfloc™ tablet.
1:20 Flavor hops added. It’s raining again.
1:30 Aroma hops in. Flame off. Cooling water on. Stirring.
1:51 Chilled. Whirlpooled. Rinsed chiller.
2:00 Draining to carboy.
2:31 Drained. Aerated. In fermentation chamber. Cleaning up.
2:49 12.2 Brix OG (1.048 OG, target was 1.042). Pitched. Currently 69 °F. Set point is 68 °F. Attached heat belt to carboy. Inserted thermowell and temperature probe. Attached airlock.
Note for next time: Save some of the spent grain for bread!
Update: It’s Thursday morning (6/3) and it appears the fermentation is finished. The kreusen is starting to fall and the airlock is slowing down. I guess it makes sense it would be quick. It was a low gravity beer to start with, so there was not much sugar to convert to begin with. I’ll check the gravity later. If it’s done, I’ll add the dry hops.
Update: It’s Thursday evening (6/3) and just checked the gravity. It’s 9 Brix (1.027). The target is 1.012 FG, so it still has a ways to go. I swirled the carboy to rouse the yeast.
Update: It’s Friday evening (6/4) and just checked the gravity again. It’s 6.5 Brix (1.012) which was the target. 4.8% ABV. 158.2 calories per 12 oz. serving. Now to add the dry hops.
Update: It’s Saturday morning (6/5) and I’ve been doing some thinking about this brew. The OG is freaking me out. Recall that I lost about three quarts of the first runnings — the best stuff with the most sugar — onto the floor of my garage. If I had not, and had ended up with an OG of 1.048 instead of my 1.042 target, that would have meant that I would have gotten 80% efficiency. Since I did lose that wort, it means my efficiency would have had to have been even better than 80%. I batch sparge and the last two batches I did were just about 70% efficient. Except for remembering to close the valves I followed the same procedures, so I have no reason to believe this batch should be much more efficient. The only conclusion I can come to is that I measured the weight of the grains wrong. Since the Maris Otter is the biggest contributor, I have to assume I used too much of that.
Update: It’s the following Saturday morning (6/12) and I’m going to bottle today. First I’m going to make up the priming solution so it has a chance to cool by the time I’m otherwise ready. In theory, this is a Best Bitter and Charlie Papazian says¹ that the carbonation level should be between 0.75 and 1.3 volumes of CO₂. I’m going to shoot for the middle and say one volume is my target. It has been fermenting at 68 °F, so I should be starting with around 0.86 volumes already, which means I’m going to need to generate another 0.14 volumes with my priming solution. I’m going to eyeball the volume and say I’ll get 5 gallons and I’m using corn sugar, so I’ll need about 0.37 oz (10.5 g) to get that much.² As a sanity check, that is less than a tablespoon.
I’m going to be using flip-top pint bottles, and if I’ve really got 5 gallons, I’ll need 40 of them.
I checked the gravity again and it came out to 6.2 Brix (1.010 FG). 5.0% ABV. 198.4 calories per pint.
I ended up with 35.5 pints. Given the sugar I added, the actual carbonation will be 1.02 volumes of CO₂, which is close enough to make no difference.
The initial reaction is “nice hoppy aroma, tastes like hop juice.” Maybe the flavor addition is too much or even unnecessary. We’ll evaluate again when the carbonation is done and the serving temperature is appropriate.
¹ Charlie Papazian, The Home Brewer’s Companion <http://www.beertools.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=11625&sid=bc62db82f5350363b0e70498a78a314b#11625> [accessed Sunday, May 2, 2010]
² Michael L. Hall, Ph.D., ‘Brew by the Numbers – Add Up What’s in Your Beer’, Zymurgy (Summer 1995) <http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/2497/Math_in_Mash_SummerZym95.pdf> [accessed Sunday, February 7, 2010]
(17) Sunday, April 11, 2010 Brew Day
It’s another great day to brew. Today (4/11) I’m doing the BYO Stone IPA clone.
9:38 Finished mash/lauter/sparge calculations.
9:42 Yeast smacked.
10:30 Brewery set up. Heating strike water. Weighing grains.
10:49 Grains crushed.
10:56 Filling MLT with 160 °F strike water.
10:59 Mashing at 152 °F.
Note: Beiss Caramel 10L is very hard (crunchy) with a grainy flavor and very slight sweetness. Rahr 2-row has a much earthier flavor and is not as hard.
11:36 There’s a mocking bird running through her repertoire in a nearby oak tree. Sunny skies with a temperature of 61 °F.
11:44 Heating sparge water.
12:00 Vorlauff.
12:05 First runnings 19 Brix/1.076 SG.
Note: First runnings are DELICIOUS! Very sweet. Nice light color. The yeasties should be very happy.
12:10 Adding sparge water
12:15 Vorlauff.
12:18 Sparging. Gravity of second runnings 9 Brix/1.035 SG.
Note: Second runnings not as sweet as first. Subtle earthy flavor.
12:22 Combined wort 12.4 Brix/1.049 SG (BG). Expected 1.050. Sight glass says about 7⅜ gallons, but the kettle is leaning back a bit because the ground under the camp stove is uneven so I’m going to call it 7½ gallons, which was the target.
Note: About the level of sweetness of hot cocao.
12:26 Heating to boil.
12:34 Dumped spent grain on compost pile.
12:54 Measured out boil hops.
Note: Drinking a Stone IPA while brewing a Stone IPA clone. How fitting. Thank you, Gretchen, for thinking of it and joining me.
1:02 Boiling. I can see the hot break this time. It does look like egg drop soup. I still have no idea why I could not see it last time. Adding bittering hops.
2:14 Placed chiller in kettle to sanitize.
2:19 Adding flavor/aroma hops and whirlfloc tablet.
2:28 Sanitize fermenter.
2:34 Flame out. Chilling.
2:56 Chilled to 68 °F. Removing chiller, whirlpooling, and cover.
3:06 15.2 Brix/1.060 SG (OG). Expected 1.063 (1.065).
3:12 Draining to fermenter.
3:38 Aerating.
3:41 Pitched. Fermenting at 66 °F.
4:25 Everything put away.
Update: It is Monday (4/12) and when I went to see how my beer was doing, I noticed the thermostat for the fermentation chamber heater was on. It was set for 66 °F, but it was reading 60°F, so I investigated further. Turns out I did remember to put the temperature probe into the thermowell in the carboy, but I forgot to wrap the fermwrap heater around it. It was desperately trying to heat the carboy, but it did not have much of a chance since it was a few feet away. Easy enough to fix, but my streak of messing something up every batch is still unbroken. They say that colder fermentation can be cleaner, so I do not think this will be a problem.
Update: It is the next Monday (4/19) and I just added the dry hops.
Update: It is the next Sunday (4/25) and I’m bottling. The gravity measures 7.6 Brix/1.011 FG. Expected 1.019. Wow. 80.9% ADF. 6.5% ABV. I have to assume that my mash lost temperature (or my thermometer reads high) and my wort was much more fermentable than I expected. The beer had been fermenting at 64 °F. I got 51½ bottles (618 oz or 4.8 gallons). I used 3 oz of corn sugar. I should end up with about 2.2 volumes of CO₂.
(16) Vernal Equinox 2010 Brew Day
Going to brew commemoration ale today (3/21)…
Ground the grains last night (3/20).
10:04 Strike water is hot. Started targeting 5½ gallons. Forgot to close valve on kettle. Guessed a quart lost. Added more. Ended up reading 6 gallons on sight glass.
10:08 Mashing. Mash temperature 158 °F. Added ½ g. 67 °F (tap) water. Settled at 152 °F. Mash volume just under 8 gallons.
10:48 Heating sparge water.
11:08 Vorlauf twice. ½-gallon Each. Temp 147 °F.
11:13 Lautering. Gravity of first runnings is 18.3 Brix. 1.073 SG.
11:18 First runnings collected. Sight glass says 4½ gallons.
11:24 Added sparge water. About 3¼ gallons.
11:34 Sparging. Starting with two ½-gallon vorlauf. Then collecting 3 gallons.
11:43 Sparge complete. Gravity of second runnings is 7.4 Brix. 1.029 SG. Total collected volume 7¼ gallons by sight glass. Boil gravity 13.7 Brix. 1.054 SG. Nailed it!!!
11:45 Heating to boil.
12:23 209 °F but rolling. I’m calling it a boil. Starting 90 min timer.
12:27 Boil over. Just barely. Don’t think it will effect anything.
12:36 Dumped spent grain on compost pile and rinsed MLT.
12:56 Bittering hops added.
1:41 Flavor hops added. Put immersion chiller in kettle to sanitize.
1:51 First aroma hop added.
1:55 Second aroma hop added.
1:56 Cooling.
2:20 Chilled. Original gravity 17 Brix. 1.068. Nailed it!!! Final volume 5⅓ gallons by sight glass. Draining to fermenter.
2:45 Aerating.
2:50 Pitching.
3:00 In fermentation chamber at 68 °F.
4:08 Everything cleaned and put away.
Next morning (3/22) I remembered to put sanitizer in the air lock. There is activity but it’s pretty weak.
So. Now that I have a chance to think I realize that I didn’t do some things. Nothing tragic, but if I’m taking notes i should have.
I tasted the grains as I was grinding them but I didn’t write my observations down. I remember the two-row was delicious and the dark kilned caramel was not but nothing in between and I have no record of my observations.
The other thing I didn’t do was taste the wort. Every time I took a gravity reading I should have tastes the wort. First and second runnings. Pre- and post boil. It might be interesting to taste the mash. It would also be good to taste the beer before carbonation.
Tuesday evening (3/23) I noticed that the beer temperature was 72 °F. The ambient temperature had warmed up during the day and wasn’t providing enough cooling capability. Fortunately the forecast for the evening was to be quite cold. I cracked a window and opened the panels on the fermentation box. After a few hours the temperature was down to 69 °F and was 66 °F by morning (that’s actually a bit low for what I had in mind).
There was also an issue with the Wyeast smack pack. It was partially inflated and I couldn’t get enough pressure on the nutrient pack to break it. When I pitched, a lot of the yeast appeared to be stuck in the package. I managed to break the nutrient pack once the smack pack was open, thinking that I could use it to rinse the yeast out of the outer pack with it. However, I managed to spray it all over the ceiling while breaking it open. So I think this batch is pretty severely underpitched. That and the temperature may result in a fairly strained yeast culture which may affect the beer flavor.
The following Saturday (3/27) I swirled the carboy and started raising the temperature targeting 70 °F for a diacetyl rest.
The following Monday (3/29) I added the dry hops. Gravity read 8.4 Brix (uncorrected) or 1.012 final gravity. Predicted final gravity was 1.016, so I’m guessing my wort was a little more fermentable than expected. That will give me an ABV of 7.5% when I expected 6.9%.
That coming Thursday (4/1) and Friday (4/2), the hops had begun to sink and settle to the bottom of the carboy. I swirled the beer in the carboy to re-suspend some of it and get as much out of them as I could.
Saturday (4/3) I bottled. I went with 2.2 volumes of CO₂. The beer finished fermenting at 70 °F. My calculations showed that I needed 0.84 ounces per gallon. I estimated that I had five gallons in the carboy, so that made 4.2 ounces total. I used 2 cups of water. I ended up with 12, 22-ounce bottles and 24, 12-ounce bottles (552 ounces, or 4.3125 gallons). That gave me 0.97 ounces per gallon, which should result in something under 2.7 volumes of CO₂, which is pretty high.
Here it is, the Tuesday after bottling (4/6). I had noticed the beer did not clear very well. I figured there was a lot of suspended yeast that would settle in bottle conditioning. I wondered if it was the amount of dry hops I had added leaving a haze of resins. Then today I was walking across campus while listening to a brewing podcast. They started talking about clarifiers. Then I remembered. I did not use one. I had not added it to my recipe and come brew day I forgot. I would normally use Irish moss or Whirlfloc. I do not know why I missed it this time. It will still be beer though.
It’s Wednesday (4/7). I found some leftover grains from the brew. I don’t have everything, but it’s worth tasting and recording what I do have.
The two-row is terrific. I would eat this as a snack or with breakfast. I had some trepidation when I first tasted my brewing grains. My wife rolls her own (our) oatmeal and every once in a while an oat sneaks through that still has the hull intact. Let me tell you, those things are inedible. GET THIS THING OUT OF MY MOUTH. NOW! For some reason, malted grains are not like that. I’ll gladly eat their husks. Anyway, I digress. The two-row is lightly flavorful. Unsurprisingly a bit like the insides of malted milk balls. The Munich malt has a very similar flavor, but ever-so-slightly sweeter. The Caramel 120L has a slightly burnt taste to it. Like the un-popped popcorn hulls in the bottom of the bowl that you eat anyway.
I mentioned that I hadn’t added any clarifier. The other thing I noticed, or rather that I had not noticed, that I had expected to notice was hot break and cold break. I have heard that one of the differences between extract and all grain is the presence of hot break and cold break. I have heard it described as being like egg drop soup. Well, I did not notice any of that. It seemed much like the extract brews I have made.