Currently Available
Grapefruit IPA #1 - 2 x 22oz bottles, 2 x 12oz bottles
Grapefruit IPA #2 - 3 x 12oz bottles
"JM Hall" Pale Ale - 2 x 22oz bottles, 4 x 12oz bottles
Rye Pale Ale #1 - 3 x 12oz bottles
Rye Ale #2 - 3 x 12oz bottles
For a tasting I've organized for a couple of friends, I'm going to offer up GfIPA1 and GfIPA2 (for comparison), rye ale #1, and likely the JM Hall Pale Ale. I've tried to keep the tasting notes on each page, because down the road I might want to make use of one of those services to turn the blog into a book.
The rye ale #2 is one that my wife really likes, so I'm very likely going to do another one of those in the near future, with some adjustments, such as less wheat in the malt bill, some carapils (for head retention), do a bittering with some hops that are higher in alpha acids, and push the Tettnang (3.5-5.5% AA) to much later in the boil.
Conditioning
Angel's Share #2 - 10 x 12oz bottles (bottled 31 Jul; used priming sugar in a fermenter, rather than fizz drops) - I'm really looking forward to trying this one, as it's my first all-grain brew.
Hefeweizen - 10 x 12oz bottles (bottled 11 Aug)
Azacca IPA - 10 x 12oz bottles (bottled 11 Aug)
Fermenting
Cider - rack to secondary ~ 17 Aug, let rest for 10 days. Will bottle ~ 27 Aug, should be ready for a first sample around 11 Sept, in time for my daughter's birthday
Hefeweizen
Thursday, August 13, 2015
YAH (Yet Another Hefe)
I opted to brew another hefe in order to make use of the other half of the Jasper Yeast that I purchased. I haven't yet tried my previous hefeweizen using this yeast (bottled 11 Aug), but I had the time, fermenter, as well as interest in brewing another hefe to have it available.
Brew Day: 12 Aug 2015
Partial Mash
11.7 oz Rahr Red Wheat Malt (what I had left)
3 oz German Pale Malt
1 oz CaraPils
Boil - 60 min
1 lb Briess Pilsen DME (@ 60 min)
7 g German Perle (AA: ~ 7%) (@ 60 min)
Yeast: JY074 German Hefeweizen yeast
Used the usual method for cooling wort and pitching yeast. After cooling the wort to 80 deg F, I transferred wort to the fermenter. When the fermenter was about half full, I aerated the wort by shaking vigorously. After adding the rest of the wort, I pitched the remaining yeast (about half of the 5 gal pitch...I'd used the other half on my previous hefe).
I checked in on the beer about 12 hrs later. The blow-off bottle wasn't as clear as the previous attempt (29 July), but that may have to do with the recipe, the head space in the fermenter (there's less this time than previously), etc. All in all, things are looking good so far.
Addendum, 16 Aug: I check in on my fermenters pretty regularly, given that they're in the downstairs bathtub. I will pull back the shower curtain and take a peek when I'm downstairs for some reason, such as cleaning the litter boxes or working out (our gym is in the room next to the bathroom). I checked in the fermenters this morning and the airlock cap for the YAH hefeweizen was resting on the top of the airlock spout. This was odd to me, and I'd only seen this once before, when I'd tightened the fermenter cap too tight and cracked the cap, causing me to loose the brew I'd done with Medusa hops. The other two fermenters (cider, Jarrylo IPA) were doing just fine. I'd checked on them all yesterday and the caps were all floating above the spouts...no issues at all. So, I quickly sanitized another fermenter, cap and airlock assembly, transferred the beer (still smelled like beer...) to the clean fermenter, and added just a little bit of WB-06 to it. After putting the fermenter back in the tub and cleaning up, I checked in on it and the cap was again floating above the spout; however, it was too soon for the yeast to take effect, so it could've simply been the result of gas pressure from the Star-San (don't fear the foam!). I'll check in on it again later...I'm hoping that the beer turns out okay.
Addendum, 26 Aug: Bottled today. I've had some pretty good success with bottling using 1 oz (or just a tad more) of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup of boiling water. I've been much happier with the results of using this method, even at just 2 wks of bottle conditioning, than with the use of the priming tablets (i.e., fizz drops). This batch had a slightly different malt bill and a bit more hops than the previous hefeweizen, so I'm kind of looking forward to this one, and doing a comparison.
Addendum, 9 Sept: Taste test tonight...and the first bottle I opened didn't pop or fizz. Fortunately, the second bottle did, and the pour resulted in a hazy, straw-colored beer with a full, white, pillowy head. Definite aroma of banana in the nose. The head diminished but didn't completely go away, and there was some minimal, non-persistent lacing in the glass. The body was good, and the flavor was a bit spicy, most likely as a result of the hops. Terri said that she liked this one, but wasn't as enthusiastic about it as the previous hefe.
 |
| Starting to boil |
Partial Mash
11.7 oz Rahr Red Wheat Malt (what I had left)
3 oz German Pale Malt
1 oz CaraPils
Boil - 60 min
1 lb Briess Pilsen DME (@ 60 min)
7 g German Perle (AA: ~ 7%) (@ 60 min)
Yeast: JY074 German Hefeweizen yeast
Used the usual method for cooling wort and pitching yeast. After cooling the wort to 80 deg F, I transferred wort to the fermenter. When the fermenter was about half full, I aerated the wort by shaking vigorously. After adding the rest of the wort, I pitched the remaining yeast (about half of the 5 gal pitch...I'd used the other half on my previous hefe).
I checked in on the beer about 12 hrs later. The blow-off bottle wasn't as clear as the previous attempt (29 July), but that may have to do with the recipe, the head space in the fermenter (there's less this time than previously), etc. All in all, things are looking good so far.
Addendum, 16 Aug: I check in on my fermenters pretty regularly, given that they're in the downstairs bathtub. I will pull back the shower curtain and take a peek when I'm downstairs for some reason, such as cleaning the litter boxes or working out (our gym is in the room next to the bathroom). I checked in the fermenters this morning and the airlock cap for the YAH hefeweizen was resting on the top of the airlock spout. This was odd to me, and I'd only seen this once before, when I'd tightened the fermenter cap too tight and cracked the cap, causing me to loose the brew I'd done with Medusa hops. The other two fermenters (cider, Jarrylo IPA) were doing just fine. I'd checked on them all yesterday and the caps were all floating above the spouts...no issues at all. So, I quickly sanitized another fermenter, cap and airlock assembly, transferred the beer (still smelled like beer...) to the clean fermenter, and added just a little bit of WB-06 to it. After putting the fermenter back in the tub and cleaning up, I checked in on it and the cap was again floating above the spout; however, it was too soon for the yeast to take effect, so it could've simply been the result of gas pressure from the Star-San (don't fear the foam!). I'll check in on it again later...I'm hoping that the beer turns out okay.
Addendum, 26 Aug: Bottled today. I've had some pretty good success with bottling using 1 oz (or just a tad more) of table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup of boiling water. I've been much happier with the results of using this method, even at just 2 wks of bottle conditioning, than with the use of the priming tablets (i.e., fizz drops). This batch had a slightly different malt bill and a bit more hops than the previous hefeweizen, so I'm kind of looking forward to this one, and doing a comparison.
Addendum, 9 Sept: Taste test tonight...and the first bottle I opened didn't pop or fizz. Fortunately, the second bottle did, and the pour resulted in a hazy, straw-colored beer with a full, white, pillowy head. Definite aroma of banana in the nose. The head diminished but didn't completely go away, and there was some minimal, non-persistent lacing in the glass. The body was good, and the flavor was a bit spicy, most likely as a result of the hops. Terri said that she liked this one, but wasn't as enthusiastic about it as the previous hefe.
Friday, August 7, 2015
Hard Cider
- Do NOT boil the juice/cider, as it causes the pectins to set and you'll end up with a hazy final product. You can bring it to 185 deg F for 45 min, as a means of killing off wild yeast and bacteria.
- After primary fermentation is complete, transfer to secondary and keep the fermenter in a cool place, in order to allow the cider to clear.
As a bit of a side note, I found out recently that there's a cidery near us.
Yeast
A couple of yeasts were mentioned in my reading. White Labs and Wyeast have cider yeasts, but I've also read in several locations where Lalvin EC-1118 is recommended (in one case, by a professional cider maker), and good things have been said about Danstar Belle Saison yeast. I just happen to have some Belle Saison, so I thought I'd give that a try.
Brew Day: 7 Aug 20154 qts cider - Harris Teeter brand organic "fresh pressed" cider
3 oz corn sugar
Start by collecting the cider (or use juice). Pour a cup or so of the cider into a sauce pan and warm it...do NOT bring it to a boil. Stir in corn sugar until it's dissolved. Add this to a sanitized fermenter and allow it to cool down a bit. Add the remaining cider, being careful not to splash it...unlike the wort for beer, we do not want to aerate the cider (a.k.a., must). Pitch the yeast, add a cap and blow-off tube to the fermenter.
Primary fermentation: 10 - 14 days
Secondary fermentation: 7 days
Bottle conditioning: 14 days
Note: for sparkling cider, bottle as one would a beer; dissolve 1 oz of table sugar in 1/2 cup of boiling water, cool, add to clean, sanitized fermenter. Rack the cider to the fermenter, allowing it to sit for a bit (do NOT agitate or aerate). Bottle normally.
Addendum, 9 Aug: Checked on the fermenter this morning; still activity and regular bubbles flowing through the blow-off tube, although not as frequent as yesterday morning. I did note the lack of a krausen-like build-up around the neck of the fermenter, like what I usually see with fermenting beer. The must is still a hazy, straw-yellow color...I'm not sure that it will completely clear up, due to the fact that what I started with was hazy; the only clear juice I found was from concentrate, and the "freshly pressed" products were hazy. I'm not too concerned about that at the moment because I'm looking more to the technique and flavor than anything else. I may be able to get some fresh juice or cider when the fall season comes around, but for the time being (and for doing this year-round), the hazy stuff may end up working just fine. I'll give it a couple of more days before putting an airlock on the fermenter.
Addendum, 17 Aug: Transferred to secondary this evening. Smelled of apples, which is a good thing. I'm not too sure that this is going to clear up, because I started with a cloudy product, but I got it into a clean fermenter, and within seconds, the cap was floating above the airlock. In about a week I'll bottle it, where it will have 2 weeks before my daughter's birthday.
Addendum, 24 Aug: Bottled today. I bottled 3 bottles with a fizz drop each, to get sparkling cider, but did nothing to the remaining bottles. These will just sit for a good three weeks, or more.
Addendum, 16 Oct: First tasting. I have nothing to judge the cider against, because cider isn't really my thing. My daughter's reaction was that she liked it (but that may have been more about me putting in the effort to make it than her actually liking it...), but that it was a little light with respect to body. I tried it...very dry, a little bit of apple flavor. I did do some research into how to get more body out of the cider, and there were discussion threads that talked about the addition of acid and/or tannins, and even a few comments about how carbonation can give the appearance of body. When I bottled the cider, I purposely did not add priming sugar to it; instead, I put fizz drops in three of the bottles, and labeled them "sparkling", and left the others as they were. My daughter tried one of the regular ciders last night, and it had moderate carbonation. Maybe one of the sparkling ciders will be "better", as far as body goes.
One comment that I ran across in one thread stated that the reason the OP wasn't getting the body or the flavor they wanted was because of the apples they were using. I'm no expert, and I haven't been home brewing for long, but I "get" that. So, my next attempt is going to be done while using a local cider, rather than a store-bought one. However, I think that if I was planning to have some cider available in the off-season for apples and cider in general, I could use the store bought cider, add some sugar and some brown sugar, and have something that would be pretty good.
Monday, August 3, 2015
Links
I just finished up watching "Brewing with Wil Wheaton" on Brewing TV, pt II (here's pt I). I was actually on YouTube looking at some non-brewing related videos, and saw that that part II was available.
We were at The V Eatery in Ashburn a while back and picked up a copy of Mid-Altantic Brew News. Reading through the paper this morning, I found out about Love2Brew, an online home brew supply store. Checking out their site, they have a bunch of interesting recipes, as well as a small supply of one-gallon kits. One of the things I really like about sites like this...other than the availability of the kits...is that they also share the ingredients and recipes. For example, I've got a rye ale fermenting right now, and I'm kind of excited about it because this is the first time I've used the Safbrew T-58 yeast. Well, the Belgian Golden Strong Ale partial mash recipe uses the same yeast. Browsing the recipes lets me see what others are using to achieve various results, such as "Belgian" or some other characteristic of the beer.
Another example of this is the recipe in the brew news paper (pg 12) for a Hefeweizen IPA. It's clearly a 5 gal recipe, and uses a combination of grain, DME, and LME. For the yeast, the recipe says "Safale S-06", but I think what they mean is "Safbrew WB-06". I've seen Belgian IPAs on the shelves, and I like this collision or cross-over in styles, and I'm thinking that using a similar recipe and swapping out the yeast will let me go from a Hefeweizen to a Belgian-inspired style.
Speaking of Belgian, here's a Belgian Tripel recipe that uses Safbrew T-58...I may have to try this one to redeem myself for the Tripel that I lost. I used the T-58 in my rye pale ale #2, and it turned out pretty well, I think.
Learning/Educational Resources
When I was going into college, I chose to get my BSEE, which was something I picked without any foresight or direction, other than I wanted to know how things worked. Later, during my time in the military, I had an opportunity to get my MSEE, as well. As of now, I've been out of the military for 18 yrs (at the time I'm writing this, 18 yrs and 2 days), and in that time, I've enjoyed a career that, well, used neither of those degrees. I will say that coming out of the military, the MSEE opened some doors that might not otherwise have been opened for me (I was told as much several times, so...). In fact, when I started in this career, there were no college courses you could take in DFIR; in fact, a great deal of what I did during incident response was cobbled together out of my military experience. Over time, as I've written books in my technical niche, those books have been used in some of the training and education courses that are now available in the field.
Anyway, I was wondering if there were any courses available on how to be a (more) professional brewer, and I found a couple:
Top Online Beer Making & Craft Brewing Courses
Options in Education
Homebrew Believer
The Homebrew Believer blog appears to be pretty much defunct (hasn't been updated in almost 2 yrs), but if you're in search of interesting recipes, check it out. He's got a dubbel recipe, as well as a witbier IPA recipe. Not all of the recipes are all-grain, either...there's a "Georgia Peach" wheat ale extract recipe, as well. Finally, there are some other recipes, as well as how-tos at the blog.
For recipe conversion to small batches, the wheat ale calls for 7 lb of wheat LME, with 1/2 used at the beginning of the boil and the rest added at "knockout". For a 1 gal batch, that would equate to 1.2 lb total extract, with .6 lb at the beginning and the rest added at the end of the boil.
What I Like About HomeBrewing
What I like about home brewing is not just the process, but also the freedom and the creativity. We go to stores to find our favorite bottles of beer, and find that much of what we like is seasonal. But what if you want a wheat beer or hefeweizen in the middle of winter? Or a hearty IPA in the heat of the summer?
I got up one morning and found an email from NorthernBrewer with a recipe for a Belgian wit that's pretty easy to make, and also found another recipe for a 20-minute boil pale ale. Lots of freedom...these can be made and enjoyed at any time.
We were at The V Eatery in Ashburn a while back and picked up a copy of Mid-Altantic Brew News. Reading through the paper this morning, I found out about Love2Brew, an online home brew supply store. Checking out their site, they have a bunch of interesting recipes, as well as a small supply of one-gallon kits. One of the things I really like about sites like this...other than the availability of the kits...is that they also share the ingredients and recipes. For example, I've got a rye ale fermenting right now, and I'm kind of excited about it because this is the first time I've used the Safbrew T-58 yeast. Well, the Belgian Golden Strong Ale partial mash recipe uses the same yeast. Browsing the recipes lets me see what others are using to achieve various results, such as "Belgian" or some other characteristic of the beer.
Another example of this is the recipe in the brew news paper (pg 12) for a Hefeweizen IPA. It's clearly a 5 gal recipe, and uses a combination of grain, DME, and LME. For the yeast, the recipe says "Safale S-06", but I think what they mean is "Safbrew WB-06". I've seen Belgian IPAs on the shelves, and I like this collision or cross-over in styles, and I'm thinking that using a similar recipe and swapping out the yeast will let me go from a Hefeweizen to a Belgian-inspired style.
Speaking of Belgian, here's a Belgian Tripel recipe that uses Safbrew T-58...I may have to try this one to redeem myself for the Tripel that I lost. I used the T-58 in my rye pale ale #2, and it turned out pretty well, I think.
Learning/Educational Resources
When I was going into college, I chose to get my BSEE, which was something I picked without any foresight or direction, other than I wanted to know how things worked. Later, during my time in the military, I had an opportunity to get my MSEE, as well. As of now, I've been out of the military for 18 yrs (at the time I'm writing this, 18 yrs and 2 days), and in that time, I've enjoyed a career that, well, used neither of those degrees. I will say that coming out of the military, the MSEE opened some doors that might not otherwise have been opened for me (I was told as much several times, so...). In fact, when I started in this career, there were no college courses you could take in DFIR; in fact, a great deal of what I did during incident response was cobbled together out of my military experience. Over time, as I've written books in my technical niche, those books have been used in some of the training and education courses that are now available in the field.
Anyway, I was wondering if there were any courses available on how to be a (more) professional brewer, and I found a couple:
Top Online Beer Making & Craft Brewing Courses
Options in Education
Homebrew Believer
The Homebrew Believer blog appears to be pretty much defunct (hasn't been updated in almost 2 yrs), but if you're in search of interesting recipes, check it out. He's got a dubbel recipe, as well as a witbier IPA recipe. Not all of the recipes are all-grain, either...there's a "Georgia Peach" wheat ale extract recipe, as well. Finally, there are some other recipes, as well as how-tos at the blog.
For recipe conversion to small batches, the wheat ale calls for 7 lb of wheat LME, with 1/2 used at the beginning of the boil and the rest added at "knockout". For a 1 gal batch, that would equate to 1.2 lb total extract, with .6 lb at the beginning and the rest added at the end of the boil.
What I Like About HomeBrewing
What I like about home brewing is not just the process, but also the freedom and the creativity. We go to stores to find our favorite bottles of beer, and find that much of what we like is seasonal. But what if you want a wheat beer or hefeweizen in the middle of winter? Or a hearty IPA in the heat of the summer?
I got up one morning and found an email from NorthernBrewer with a recipe for a Belgian wit that's pretty easy to make, and also found another recipe for a 20-minute boil pale ale. Lots of freedom...these can be made and enjoyed at any time.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Hefe, Again
I tried a hefeweizen recipe in June, and it really didn't turn out the way I had hoped. It was based on the NB 1 gal Bavarian hefeweizen recipe. The fermentables for my second attempt consisted of 1.5 lb 1 lb of Bavarian wheat, 0.5 lb of gold) of DME, which is approximately 2.25 lb of grain.
I also think that the type and amount of hops lent itself to a spicier flavor in the beer.
For this one, I'm looking at a total grain weight of just over 2 lb, and I'd like to get a bit better head retention. I also opted to use a different yeast, in hopes of getting something a bit closer to notes of banana and clove that you usually find in hefeweizens.
Brew Day: 28 July
Partial Mash - 1 lb of grain in muslin bag, strike temp of 156 - 158 deg F for 1 hr (in a cooler)
8 oz German Pale Ale malt
4 oz Rahr Red Wheat malt
2 oz carapils
Boil - 60 min
1 lb Bavarian Wheat DME (=~ 1.5 lb grain)
4 g German Perle (@ 60 min)
Yeast
Jasper Yeast JY074 - 5 gal pitch, pitch ~1/2 of container.
This time, I tried something a little different with respect to aeration of the wort. I filled the fermenter about 1/3 of the way up, and then removed the transfer hose. I put a piece of sanitized aluminum foil over the top of the fermenter, and aerated the wort. This created a bit of foam, but that died down as I added the rest of the wort. With the yeast, I had removed the container from the fridge and allowed it to come up to about room temperature, and kept it well mixed. I then pitched around half of the container (maybe a little less).
This morning (29 July), I checked on the fermenter. There's a steady flow of bubbles through the blow-off tube, and interestingly enough, there's nothing in the blow-off bottle besides the sanitizer solution I put in last night. Yep, it's clear. You can't tell from the picture to the left, but there's a good bit of bubbling activity in the fermenter...little bubbles rising up to the top of the beer.
Addendum, 31 July: The bubbles flowing through the blow-off tube has settled down quite a bit, so I replaced the blow-off tube with an air lock. In under a minute, the cap was pushed up slightly, and floating after that...a good sign. ;-)
Addendum, 6 Aug: I ran across this really interesting read today on what goes into a good hefeweizen. What I like most about it is that it goes through the process of making different award-winning hefes, and then follows up with an option for those of us without the equipment to follow the process.
Addendum, 11 Aug: Bottled today. Dissolved 1 oz of table sugar in 1/2 cup of boiling water, put that in a fermenter. After giving it time to cool down, I racked the hefe into the fermenter, and then let it set for about 15 min. I then bottled normally. Ended up with 10 bottles.
Tasting Notes, 25 Aug: Foamy, non-persistent head, good carbonation...so good, that after opening the bottle, some of the beer bubbled out of the bottle. Mild, non-persistent lacing. Definite banana aroma, still trying to figure out how it finishes. I may leave that to the next taste test. Terri likes it, definitely a keeper.
I also think that the type and amount of hops lent itself to a spicier flavor in the beer.
For this one, I'm looking at a total grain weight of just over 2 lb, and I'd like to get a bit better head retention. I also opted to use a different yeast, in hopes of getting something a bit closer to notes of banana and clove that you usually find in hefeweizens.
Brew Day: 28 July
Partial Mash - 1 lb of grain in muslin bag, strike temp of 156 - 158 deg F for 1 hr (in a cooler)
8 oz German Pale Ale malt
4 oz Rahr Red Wheat malt
2 oz carapils
Boil - 60 min
1 lb Bavarian Wheat DME (=~ 1.5 lb grain)
4 g German Perle (@ 60 min)
Yeast
Jasper Yeast JY074 - 5 gal pitch, pitch ~1/2 of container.
This time, I tried something a little different with respect to aeration of the wort. I filled the fermenter about 1/3 of the way up, and then removed the transfer hose. I put a piece of sanitized aluminum foil over the top of the fermenter, and aerated the wort. This created a bit of foam, but that died down as I added the rest of the wort. With the yeast, I had removed the container from the fridge and allowed it to come up to about room temperature, and kept it well mixed. I then pitched around half of the container (maybe a little less).
 |
| Hefeweizen, 29 July |
Addendum, 31 July: The bubbles flowing through the blow-off tube has settled down quite a bit, so I replaced the blow-off tube with an air lock. In under a minute, the cap was pushed up slightly, and floating after that...a good sign. ;-)
Addendum, 6 Aug: I ran across this really interesting read today on what goes into a good hefeweizen. What I like most about it is that it goes through the process of making different award-winning hefes, and then follows up with an option for those of us without the equipment to follow the process.
Addendum, 11 Aug: Bottled today. Dissolved 1 oz of table sugar in 1/2 cup of boiling water, put that in a fermenter. After giving it time to cool down, I racked the hefe into the fermenter, and then let it set for about 15 min. I then bottled normally. Ended up with 10 bottles.
Tasting Notes, 25 Aug: Foamy, non-persistent head, good carbonation...so good, that after opening the bottle, some of the beer bubbled out of the bottle. Mild, non-persistent lacing. Definite banana aroma, still trying to figure out how it finishes. I may leave that to the next taste test. Terri likes it, definitely a keeper.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Mathy Stuff, Conversion, and Troubleshooting
Conversion
Remember the early days of when you were in school and you were learning some math principle, and you asked yourself, when am I ever going to need to use this?? We've all done it, and decided that we'd never need it...but years later, we'd end up using those basic principles and skills so much and so often that we weren't aware of it.
The first time I discussed mathy stuff (i.e., converting recipes to small batches), the math was pretty simple...straight-forward division, with maybe a little rounding thrown in there for good measure. Part of what I'd been trying to do with that was to figure out why some of the initial 1 gal batches I'd tried were so lacking in body. By looking at the amount of fermentables in a 'good' brew and comparing that to what was in the recipe, I would then "do the math" to try to figure out where things might be lacking. I know that looking at the total weight of grains, and doing conversions for extracts (dry or syrup) isn't necessarily a 1-to-1 direct relationship in all recipes, but it's a starting point.
Here's some conversion math from MidWest. If you're really lazy, Jay's has a chart for you. Home Brewer's Assoc. has some similar calculations. Northern Brewer has some gravity per pound per gallon calculations you can use, if you're up for that sort of thing, and BYO has some similar calculations.
In short, I opted to go with the conversions from MidWest, which look like this...
LME/grain : 4/5; that is, 8 lb of LME =~ 10 lb of grain
DME/grain : 3.2/5; that is, 6.4 lb of DME =~ 10 lb of grain
Carrying that a step further, the above conversions line right up with the LME/DME conversion of 1.25/1 (or, 1.25 lb of LME =~ 1 lb DME).
Simply for the sake of comparison, let's take a look at three of the 1 gallon recipes available from True Brews, using these conversion factors...again, this is simply for the sake of comparison. What I've listed in the following table is the recipe, the total weight of the grain bill, and the estimated ABV specified by the recipe.
As you can see, all of these recipes utilize more than 2 lbs of grain for a 1 gal brew. One of the early beers that I brewed as a 1 gal small batch was the Wil Wheaton VandalEyes PA, from Northern Brewer. I really liked the body of the resulting beer, and if you use the conversion from above, the 1.5 lb of gold malt extract syrup is approximately equal to 2.34 lb of grain. The 5 gal all-grain recipe calls for 13 lb, 14 oz of grain; converting to a 1 gal recipe (simply based on weight), that would be 2.775 lbs (2 lb, 12 oz) of grain.
Yeah, I know that this process that I've walked through isn't a 1-to-1 conversion, but it's a simple method that I've been looking at to give myself an idea of what a beer that results in adequate body looks like from the beginning.
Troubleshooting - Lacing and Head Retention
Like many home brewers, I've run into issues with the beer I've brewed. Something that's on my radar at the moment is lacing and head retention.
So, here's the deal...my go-to brew when I'm out-and-about is Bell's Two-Hearted. It's got a great flavor, great color, a really nice head (it usually still has a head when it gets to the table), and some really awesome lacing going on. Most of the beers I've brewed haven't been like that...although, according to my tasting notes, the first rye ale I brewed did have some good lacing. So, I started doing some research into what might be the issue, particularly for the beer I brewed with ginger.
In doing my research, I found a couple of reasons why there might be issues with head retention and lacing. For the moment, I'm discounting the bottle cleanliness, as my cleaning process hasn't changed at all since I started; it's been consistent and I have had at least one beer with some good lacing. This thread on HomeBrewTalk has some good input (talks about wheat, carapils), and it references an interesting malt chart. This BeerSmith article includes some interesting tidbits for enhancing beer head retention. Here's a pretty interesting BYO article on techniques for getting good beer foam, which includes a brief discussion of how boiling barley malt denatures a protein called LPT1, which leads to good bear foam.
In reading through these and other sources, the understanding that I've developed thus far is that base malts should lead to good beer foam, and using wheat and carapils can lead to good head retention and lacing. Pretty simple at this point, I know, but it's a start.
Bell's Two-Hearted Clones
HomeBrewTalk Recipe
Recipe from the Home Brewer's Assoc.
BeerSmith Recipe
Remember the early days of when you were in school and you were learning some math principle, and you asked yourself, when am I ever going to need to use this?? We've all done it, and decided that we'd never need it...but years later, we'd end up using those basic principles and skills so much and so often that we weren't aware of it.
The first time I discussed mathy stuff (i.e., converting recipes to small batches), the math was pretty simple...straight-forward division, with maybe a little rounding thrown in there for good measure. Part of what I'd been trying to do with that was to figure out why some of the initial 1 gal batches I'd tried were so lacking in body. By looking at the amount of fermentables in a 'good' brew and comparing that to what was in the recipe, I would then "do the math" to try to figure out where things might be lacking. I know that looking at the total weight of grains, and doing conversions for extracts (dry or syrup) isn't necessarily a 1-to-1 direct relationship in all recipes, but it's a starting point.
Here's some conversion math from MidWest. If you're really lazy, Jay's has a chart for you. Home Brewer's Assoc. has some similar calculations. Northern Brewer has some gravity per pound per gallon calculations you can use, if you're up for that sort of thing, and BYO has some similar calculations.
In short, I opted to go with the conversions from MidWest, which look like this...
LME/grain : 4/5; that is, 8 lb of LME =~ 10 lb of grain
DME/grain : 3.2/5; that is, 6.4 lb of DME =~ 10 lb of grain
Carrying that a step further, the above conversions line right up with the LME/DME conversion of 1.25/1 (or, 1.25 lb of LME =~ 1 lb DME).
Simply for the sake of comparison, let's take a look at three of the 1 gallon recipes available from True Brews, using these conversion factors...again, this is simply for the sake of comparison. What I've listed in the following table is the recipe, the total weight of the grain bill, and the estimated ABV specified by the recipe.
| Recipe | Amount | ABV (est) |
| Amber Ale (pg 97) | 2 lb 14 oz | 6 % |
| IPA (pg 101) | 3 lbs | 6 % |
| Apricot Wheat Ale (pg 104) | 2 1/2 lb | 6 % |
As you can see, all of these recipes utilize more than 2 lbs of grain for a 1 gal brew. One of the early beers that I brewed as a 1 gal small batch was the Wil Wheaton VandalEyes PA, from Northern Brewer. I really liked the body of the resulting beer, and if you use the conversion from above, the 1.5 lb of gold malt extract syrup is approximately equal to 2.34 lb of grain. The 5 gal all-grain recipe calls for 13 lb, 14 oz of grain; converting to a 1 gal recipe (simply based on weight), that would be 2.775 lbs (2 lb, 12 oz) of grain.
Yeah, I know that this process that I've walked through isn't a 1-to-1 conversion, but it's a simple method that I've been looking at to give myself an idea of what a beer that results in adequate body looks like from the beginning.
Troubleshooting - Lacing and Head Retention
Like many home brewers, I've run into issues with the beer I've brewed. Something that's on my radar at the moment is lacing and head retention.
So, here's the deal...my go-to brew when I'm out-and-about is Bell's Two-Hearted. It's got a great flavor, great color, a really nice head (it usually still has a head when it gets to the table), and some really awesome lacing going on. Most of the beers I've brewed haven't been like that...although, according to my tasting notes, the first rye ale I brewed did have some good lacing. So, I started doing some research into what might be the issue, particularly for the beer I brewed with ginger.
In doing my research, I found a couple of reasons why there might be issues with head retention and lacing. For the moment, I'm discounting the bottle cleanliness, as my cleaning process hasn't changed at all since I started; it's been consistent and I have had at least one beer with some good lacing. This thread on HomeBrewTalk has some good input (talks about wheat, carapils), and it references an interesting malt chart. This BeerSmith article includes some interesting tidbits for enhancing beer head retention. Here's a pretty interesting BYO article on techniques for getting good beer foam, which includes a brief discussion of how boiling barley malt denatures a protein called LPT1, which leads to good bear foam.
In reading through these and other sources, the understanding that I've developed thus far is that base malts should lead to good beer foam, and using wheat and carapils can lead to good head retention and lacing. Pretty simple at this point, I know, but it's a start.
Bell's Two-Hearted Clones
HomeBrewTalk Recipe
Recipe from the Home Brewer's Assoc.
BeerSmith Recipe
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Azacca IPA
I had a bit of time today, so I looked around at what I had available and did a brew using the Azacca hops. I had some of the Northern Brewer Super Structure LME still available, so I added a partial mash, and used only the Azacca hops.
Brew Day: 18 July
Partial Mash
½ lb Belgian Munich malt
½ lb German Pale malt
Start with 2 ½ qt water at 156 deg F. Mash for 1 hr, then cycle wort through the cooler manually. Bring 3 qt water in brew kettle to 170 deg F, steep malt bag for ~ 10 min. Remove grains, add wort (~ 2 qt; total volume 5 qt). Add malt syrup, and then bring to gentle boil for 60 min.
Boil: 60 min
1.2 lb Northern Brewer Super Structure malt syrup (@ 60 min)
Hops
9 g Azacca (@ 60 min) (AA: 10.3%)
7 g Azacca (@ 30 min)
9 g Azacca (@ 15 min)
12 g Azacca (@ flameout)
Yeast: Safale US-50
At this point, my plan is to leave it in primary fermentation for approx. 10 days, and then do a dry hop in secondary, for at least a week.
Addendum, 20 July: I checked in on the fermenter this morning and there is a steady stream of bubbles flowing through the blowoff tube into the jar (Gatorade bottle). Things seem to be progressing nicely at this point.
Addendum, 29 July: Racked the beer to secondary, dry hopped with 13 g of Azacca. When I put the cap on the fermenter and inserted the air lock, it only took a few seconds before I could see that the air lock cap was being elevated by the production of gases from the beer.
Addendum, 11 Aug: Bottled today (2 wks dry hop). Dissolved 1 oz of table sugar in 1/2 cup of boiling water, put that in a fermenter. After giving it time to cool down, I racked the IPA into the fermenter, and then let it set for about 15 min. I then bottled normally. Ended up with 9 bottles.
Taste Test, 25 Aug: Starts with a big, pillowy head, which persists. Nice lacing. Definite flavors of grapefruit and pine. Very, very good flavor, and definitely an aggressive hop schedule (i.e., equal to about 6 oz for a 5 gal batch). Definitely a keeper.
Addendum, 2 Sept: Had a tasting with some friends at the end of last week, but didn't have time to add this...my wife came up with the name "So Fly IPA", because this one is just so...fly. ;-)
Addendum, 20 July: I checked in on the fermenter this morning and there is a steady stream of bubbles flowing through the blowoff tube into the jar (Gatorade bottle). Things seem to be progressing nicely at this point.
Addendum, 29 July: Racked the beer to secondary, dry hopped with 13 g of Azacca. When I put the cap on the fermenter and inserted the air lock, it only took a few seconds before I could see that the air lock cap was being elevated by the production of gases from the beer.
Addendum, 11 Aug: Bottled today (2 wks dry hop). Dissolved 1 oz of table sugar in 1/2 cup of boiling water, put that in a fermenter. After giving it time to cool down, I racked the IPA into the fermenter, and then let it set for about 15 min. I then bottled normally. Ended up with 9 bottles.
Taste Test, 25 Aug: Starts with a big, pillowy head, which persists. Nice lacing. Definite flavors of grapefruit and pine. Very, very good flavor, and definitely an aggressive hop schedule (i.e., equal to about 6 oz for a 5 gal batch). Definitely a keeper.
Addendum, 2 Sept: Had a tasting with some friends at the end of last week, but didn't have time to add this...my wife came up with the name "So Fly IPA", because this one is just so...fly. ;-)
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Angel's Share #2
 |
| Ingredients |
Our version of a Belgian-style Pale Ale. Brewed with pale, crystal and munich malts and a touch of flaked barley and then spiced with a light touch of Saaz hops. This beer is then fermented with a Belgian yeast strain from the A Chouffe brewery in the Ardennes region. Light burnished bronze in color with an accent on malt sweetness and a focus on fruit flavors from the yeast’s fermentation.
This description explains why we liked the beer so much. Also, I thought it went very well with the BBQ chicken flat bread that was on the menu; it had a sweetness from the BBQ sauce, as well as some goat cheese and red onion, and the beer went very well with all of that.
Brew Day: 15 July
Malt Bill
½ lb FB CaraMunich 80L
½ lb Rahr 2-row
½ lb German pale malt
½ lb Belgian Munich malt
½ lb GoldPils Vienna malt
Total weight of grain: 41.1 oz
Note: This is my first attempt at an all-grain recipe, using a brew-in-a-bag approach (methodology below). I was able to find a 2 gal RubberMaid cooler with a spigot, and after cleaning and sanitizing it, I used it for this brew. I'm hoping that the end product will not only be closer to the Angel's Share I remember, but also exhibit some lacing.
Bring 4 qt water to 156 deg F, add to cooler and then add
grain (in a bag). After 30 min, add 1 qt
water at 160 deg F. At approx. 50 min,
begin manually cycling the wort through the cooler. Bring 2 qt of water in the brew kettle to 170
deg F. At 60 min, steep the grain bag in
the kettle water for 10-15 min. Remove
grain bag, add wort (total volume of wort was slightly more than 3 qt). Bring to low boil
for 60 min.
2 oz light Belgian candy sugar (@ 60 min)
Hops: 4 g Czech Saaz (@ 60 min)
Yeast: Safbrew T-58
 |
| 9 hrs after boil, bubbling away |
Addendum, 31 July: Bottling day. I did something a little bit different this time around. I boiled a cup of water, and put a spoon in it to sanitize the spoon and container. I then poured out 1/2 of the water, and dissolved 1 oz of table sugar in the water. I put that in a water bath for a few minutes while sanitizing a clean fermenter, and once it was cool, I added the priming sugar to the clean fermenter. I then transferred the beer to the clean fermenter and let it set for about 15 - 20 min. I then bottled the same way I always do, but without adding fizz drops. I ended up with 10 good bottles, and they're conditioning.
Addendum, 20 Aug: Taste test - beer pours with a brown amber color and a beige, non-persistent head. Minor, non-persistent lacing. Good carbonation. Malt forward, slightly sweet flavor with some mild spice. Overall, not bad but still not close to what I was trying for with respect to flavor. The darker color and the caramel malt flavor comes primarily from the CaraMunich malt, so I'll need to back off of that in the future. The flavor of the beer has a very mild malty sweetness, and a very little bit of spice...maybe moving to an Abbey-style yeast will be the way to go going forward, to maybe pick up a little sweetness or fruitiness from the yeast.
Something else to cover here is the priming sugar used during bottling. My very first batch was 5 gal, and I used the 5 oz of priming sugar provided in the recipe kit. After that, when I moved to 1 gal kits and used the primer tablets, I wasn't entirely happy with the level of carbonation in the beer. The biggest recommendation I received from folks was to let the brew bottle condition longer, and what I've done is hold on to a bottle or two of some of my beers for future taste testing. However, I used the priming sugar method for this brew, and was very happy with the level of carbonation during this first taste test.
Something else to cover here is the priming sugar used during bottling. My very first batch was 5 gal, and I used the 5 oz of priming sugar provided in the recipe kit. After that, when I moved to 1 gal kits and used the primer tablets, I wasn't entirely happy with the level of carbonation in the beer. The biggest recommendation I received from folks was to let the brew bottle condition longer, and what I've done is hold on to a bottle or two of some of my beers for future taste testing. However, I used the priming sugar method for this brew, and was very happy with the level of carbonation during this first taste test.
Friday, July 3, 2015
Rye Pale Ale #2
I have some rye left over, and while I'm saving the dark rye for a sahti, I wanted to see if I could make a spicy, peppery rye pale ale. My first attempt at a rye PA turned out okay, so I wanted to see if I could do something a bit better. I thought I'd give it a shot by using some rye grain in a partial mash, as well as trying out a different yeast.
Brew Day: 2 July 2015
Partial Mash (2.5 qt water, strike temp: 156F, 1 hr mash time)
0.5 lb 2-row
0.35 lb Rahr red wheat
0.35 lb Weyermann German Rye malt
Just shy of 1 hr, cycle wort through cooler manually several times. For the boil, heat 3 qt water to 170 F; once mash time is complete, move muslin bag of grain to kettle, steep for 10 min. Add wort, DME, bring wort to a boil.
Boil time: 45 min (5 qt total volume)
1 lb Pilsen DME (@ 45 min)
7 g German Tettnang (@ 45 min)
Yeast: Safbrew T-58
Once the boil completed, the wort was placed in an ice bath until it reached 80 F, transferred to the fermenter, aerated, and about 1/2 of the packet of yeast was pitched.
About 10 or so hours after putting the fermenter in a safe location, this is what the beer looks like (left). Not bad, particularly since this is the first time I've used this yeast.
So, this beer is relying less on the hops and more on the rye and yeast for a bit of spice.
...and I thought I'd share something, because these images are funny, as well as likely very true for most home brewers...
Addendum, 8 July: To the right is a picture of the rye ale as of 8 July (the day I bottled the ginger beer). It's looking pretty good, with a yellow hue that I haven't seen before, but that's not a bad thing. The cap on the airlock floats just a bit, so I know that there's some gas being produced. I'll be bottling in another 8 days or so, and this one should be ready to try around the end of the month. Based on some of the recipes I've seen for tripels that use the same yeast, however, letting the bottle sit much longer may produce some interesting results.
Addendum, 16 July: I moved the fermenter to the bar area where I do my bottling this morning, and the picture to the left shows that its a nice golden color.
Tasting notes, 1 Aug: Hazy, pale straw yellow color, non-persistent head, no lacing. Very light, easy to drink, good flavor. Mild fruit flavor, most likely from the yeast. Terri said that this is likely her favorite thus far. Frank tried one tonight as well, and enjoyed it...which was high praise, indeed, because he started off with a barleywine ale that I had available. The beer is not spicy or peppery at all; rather, it's light, and easy to drink. Definitely a keeper.
With respect to the recipe, I think that I'll do next time is back off of the wheat malt a bit, and maybe put a touch of carapils in there. I'll also bitter it with something with a higher alpha acid, and move the Tettnang hop addition later in the boil.
Addendum, 20 Aug: Terri still really likes this one, and had one tonight, and then we split one. This one is still a hazy witbier, with a slightly sweet, yet mild, finish. I fully agree with the recommendations regarding the yeast made in this blog post.
Brew Day: 2 July 2015
Partial Mash (2.5 qt water, strike temp: 156F, 1 hr mash time)
0.5 lb 2-row
0.35 lb Rahr red wheat
0.35 lb Weyermann German Rye malt
Just shy of 1 hr, cycle wort through cooler manually several times. For the boil, heat 3 qt water to 170 F; once mash time is complete, move muslin bag of grain to kettle, steep for 10 min. Add wort, DME, bring wort to a boil.
Boil time: 45 min (5 qt total volume)
1 lb Pilsen DME (@ 45 min)
7 g German Tettnang (@ 45 min)
Yeast: Safbrew T-58
Once the boil completed, the wort was placed in an ice bath until it reached 80 F, transferred to the fermenter, aerated, and about 1/2 of the packet of yeast was pitched.
 |
| Rye Ale, fermenting |
So, this beer is relying less on the hops and more on the rye and yeast for a bit of spice.
...and I thought I'd share something, because these images are funny, as well as likely very true for most home brewers...
 |
| Rye Ale, 8 July |
Addendum, 8 July: To the right is a picture of the rye ale as of 8 July (the day I bottled the ginger beer). It's looking pretty good, with a yellow hue that I haven't seen before, but that's not a bad thing. The cap on the airlock floats just a bit, so I know that there's some gas being produced. I'll be bottling in another 8 days or so, and this one should be ready to try around the end of the month. Based on some of the recipes I've seen for tripels that use the same yeast, however, letting the bottle sit much longer may produce some interesting results.
 |
| 16 July, pre-bottling |
Tasting notes, 1 Aug: Hazy, pale straw yellow color, non-persistent head, no lacing. Very light, easy to drink, good flavor. Mild fruit flavor, most likely from the yeast. Terri said that this is likely her favorite thus far. Frank tried one tonight as well, and enjoyed it...which was high praise, indeed, because he started off with a barleywine ale that I had available. The beer is not spicy or peppery at all; rather, it's light, and easy to drink. Definitely a keeper.
With respect to the recipe, I think that I'll do next time is back off of the wheat malt a bit, and maybe put a touch of carapils in there. I'll also bitter it with something with a higher alpha acid, and move the Tettnang hop addition later in the boil.
Addendum, 20 Aug: Terri still really likes this one, and had one tonight, and then we split one. This one is still a hazy witbier, with a slightly sweet, yet mild, finish. I fully agree with the recommendations regarding the yeast made in this blog post.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Sahti
A commercial craft brew that my wife and I both enjoy is Dog Fish Head's Sah'tea. It has usually been available in the spring or early summer, and I would go out to my local Total Wine location and purchase a couple of bottles. Lately, I haven't seen that it's been available, and even check the AleBoards app to see if any of the local DFH locations has any available...and I haven't been seeing it. So, what better opportunity to try something new, eh?I started reading about the history of the style, and while I found some really good information about it, I also found some different recipes. What I thought was interesting about the style itself is that several descriptions suggest that it isn't supposed to sit (secondary fermentation, rest in bottles, etc.) for extended periods of time, which is somewhat different from what I've found with some more traditional recipes that I've worked with.
So, my thoughts on a small batch recipe that I'd like to try:
I'd have to get some juniper boughs, so I'll go to the local nursery first. If that doesn't work out, I'll see what I can find in the local park.
The partial mash will be predominantly Munich malt (with a small amount of dark rye), and I'll put the juniper boughs (hopefully, I'll be able to find some with berries still on them) in the cooler before adding the water. After adding the water, I will add the grains (in a muslin bag) and follow my usual process; as with most cases, I'm looking to have the water at 142-146F for about an hour.
Once the partial mash is complete, I'll add the juniper boughs and the wort to the brew kettle, bring the total volume of water up to 5 qt, add 1 lb of Pilsen DME, and bring everything to a boil. Most of what I'm guessing are more traditional recipes do not use hops, and several say that this brew only stays in primary fermentation for a week. I'll have to review the recipes again and look at the time required, and also look at my schedule...I don't want to have this stuff ready to put in containers and me be off doing something else.
Yeast: Instead of the Finnish baker's yeast, several recipes recommend using the Red Star Active Yeast, which can be found on Amazon.
HomeBrewersAssoc.
NorthernBrewer - also, here
TheBrewGuys
DistantMirror
MoreBeer
CraftedPours
HomeBrewTalk recipe
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)