tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42297359672321288252024-03-13T04:57:44.853-04:00Begin Brewing!Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.comBlogger277125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-16568113288695314752022-01-16T14:18:00.001-05:002022-01-16T14:18:15.859-05:00What I Learned About Brewing in 2021<p>Last year, I brewed 20 batches of adult beverages (primarily beer and test mashes).</p><p>In no particular order, here are things I learned during the year:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The COVID-19 pandemic left me with more time at home to brew, but at the same time made doing so a bit less enjoyable. Why? Because I could not share my homebrew with family and friends as easily as I could pre-pandemic. Without feedback from my friends about what they did (and didn't) like in my beer, I was less motivated to brew and less able to improve my beer than in prior years.</li><li>The pump on The Grainfather has a life span (in my experience) of around 200 brews before it dies, and the "official" replacement is way too expensive to suit me (like $190). I was able to replace it with a pump from Amazon for about $70 that seems to flow much better and stronger than the official pump. It took some redneck-looking jerry-rigging to fix it, but the system flows better now and I can continue brewing.</li><li>On a personal note, I have a very bad habit of accumulating brewing ingredients and not using them before they go stale. I get excited about a recipe and buy what I need to make it, then life gets busy and I forget that I have the ingredients. I get excited to brew some other thing, and rinse/repeat. Come January, and I find bags of grain that are a year or two old. I know from homebrew competition judging notes that this isn't going to make good beer. The only things I can do with this stale grain are:</li><ul><li>Brew test batches (to try out things like high-wheat, high-oat, or other grain bills)</li><li>Offer it up to local farmers to feed livestock</li><li>Toss it out (which I'd only do as a last resort)</li></ul><li>The above brings me to a rant to American lawmakers. The distillation of alcoholic spirits on the home level should be legalized. In the past, when information about the dangers of a still explosion, knowledge of how to clean a still to avoid poisonous contaminants, and to separate the methanol from the ethanol, it made sense to outlaw hobby distilling. Today, there are YouTube Channels like Still It, Bearded and Bored, and Barley and Hops to show people how to keep safe when distilling at home. There are written resources, and even online courses in the subject. The chances of a home distiller making a dangerous product, assuming that they actually do a bit of learning first, are extremely low. Legalizing home distilling would encourage companies to make safe distilling systems for home use, provide training and even certification, etc. And the home distillers would undoubtedly try out some non-traditional ingredients, inventing new styles of spirits that could be commercially produced - leading to some innovation in the very staid commercial spirit market. Looking at New Zealand as an example, the legalization of home distilling hasn't led to a huge illegal moonshine industry, hasn't killed the commercial spirits market, hasn't reduced the government's tax income, etc. It's just opened the country to some innovation and to a burgeoning home distilling marketplace. The US sees itself as a leader and innovator, but we're way behind on this one.</li><li>If home distillation was legal, all that stale homebrew grain of mine could be brewed into mashes and fermented, then distilled into a whiskey that I could enjoy anytime. Instead, my test batches end up going down the drain unless they're drinkable as a beverage (which they're generally not) and the grain more or less wasted. </li><li>As I get older, home brewing is less enjoyable because of the physical pain I experience doing it. The arthritis in my joints and the fibromyalgia pain I experience in general mean that brewing sessions are always painful to some degree, even on my best days. That leads me to think I am going to see an end to home brewing at some point in the future. This is making me think a lot more about choosing and creating good recipes, making smaller batches to minimize the wear and tear on my body, and brewing more tried-and-true recipes than new ones so that the effort I put in generates a better finished beer.</li></ul><div>Thanks for listening. Hope you have a great 2022 - or as good as COVID-19 will allow...</div><p></p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-57765865222115606962022-01-08T19:08:00.001-05:002022-01-10T08:23:25.941-05:002022 Batch 02 - Pecan Brandy Mead<p>I watched an episode of <i>Moonshiners: Master Distiller</i><b> </b>late in 2020 where one of the contestants made a Pecan Brandy that he (and the judges) described as being very tasty, like drinking a pecan pie. I thought that sounded good, and although distilling it into brandy would not be a legal option for me, turning it into a mead would be quite possible and might be good.</p><p>The recipe as described on the show was pretty simple... honey, water, yeast, and pecans.</p><p><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>12 pounds of Wildflower Honey<br />2 pounds of Pecans, crushed and ground<br />4 gallons of water, treated with some gypsum<br />1 tsp. yeast nutrient<br />1 package of Premier Des Cotes champagne yeast<br /></p><p><b>Batch Size:</b> 5.0 gallons (actual and estimated)<br /><b>Original Gravity:</b> 1.090 (actual and estimated)<br /><b>Final Gravity:</b> 0.984 (estimated)<br /><br /></p><p><b>Brewing Instructions</b></p><p>Bring water to a boil and sterilize wort chiller.</p><p>Add half the pecans in a muslin bag. Add the other half, in a different muslin bag, to the fermenter.</p><p>Gradually add honey while stirring the liquid.</p><p>When all the honey is added, pump the must through the wort chiller into the fermenter.</p><p>With sanitized tongs, transfer the bag of pecans to the fermenter so that both bags and all the pecans are in the fermenter.</p><p>Pitch two packages of the yeast when the must temperature is in range for the yeast.</p><p>Ferment until completely fermented, then bottle and enjoy.</p><p><b>Post-Brew Notes and Observations</b></p><p><b>01/08/2022:</b> Fermenter volume read exactly 5 gallons at 78F with a gravity of 1.089 SG.</p><p><b>01/09/2022:</b> Gravity has dropped to 1.088 SG.</p><p><b>01/10/2022:</b> Gravity is down to 1.086 SG at a temp around 66F. There are clear signs of activity in the airlock if you check, so I assume the yeast are still getting up to speed and that we'll see activity pick up today. If not, I may need to add more yeast and perhaps a farmentation heat wrap to get things kickstarted.</p><p><br /><br /></p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-32641393896516865052022-01-02T18:57:00.003-05:002022-01-05T09:08:26.646-05:002022 Batch 01 - St. Gambrinus Spiced Holiday Ale (Kit)<p>I purchased a St. Gambrinus Spiced Holiday Ale Kit from Great Fermentations in Indianapolis a few weeks ago and decided to get it made today... a tad late for the holidays, but it will give me a good idea if I like the recipe for next Christmas.</p><p>The kit basically comes as a bag of crushed grain with a packet of Northern Brewer hops. You supply your own spices and order yeast separately.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>8.5 pounds Two-Row Brewer's Malt<br />2 pounds Munich Dark Malt<br />1 pound Honey Malt<br />8 ounces Simpsons Dark Crystal Malt</p><p>0.5 ounces Northern Brewer hops (60 min.)<br />0.5 ounces Northern Brewer hops (30 min.)</p><p>1 package White Labs Edinburgh Scottish Ale yeast</p><p>1 tsp. Irish Moss (15 min.)</p><p>0.5 oz. Bitter Orange Peel (10 min.)<br />2 cinnamon sticks (I used 3) (10 min.)<br />0.5 tsp. Ground Ginger (10 min.)</p><p>0.25 tsp. Allspice (secondary)<br />0.25 oz. Ground Cardamom (secondary)<br />0.25 oz. Ground Cinnamon (secondary)</p><p>1 Tbsp. pH 5.2 Stabilizer added to mash after grain</p><p>6.8 gallons of RO water, treated with:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>3 grams Gypsum</li><li>2.5 grams Calcium Chloride</li><li>1.5 grams Epsom Salt</li><li>1.5 grams Magnesium Chloride</li><li>0.3 grams Canning Salt</li><li>0.3 grams Baking Soda</li></ul><div>According to Brewfather, the recipe should have the following characteristics:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>BJCP Category:</b> Spiced Ale</li><li><b>Batch Size:</b> 5.0 gallons est., 4.25 actual</li><li><b>Pre-Boil Volume:</b> 5.5 gallons est, 5.5 actual</li><li><b>Original Gravity:</b> 1.055 SG est. (1.057 SG actual)</li><li><b>Pre-boil Gravity:</b> 1.050 SG est. (1.053 SG/13 Brix actual)</li><li><b>Final Gravity:</b> 1.018 SG est.</li><li><b>BU/GU Ratio:</b> 0.255</li><li><b>IBUs:</b> 14 est</li><li><b>SRM:</b> 14 est</li><li><b>ABV:</b> 5.0% est.</li></ul></div><div>Mash Schedule:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Mash at 156F for 60 minutes</li></ul><div>Boil Schedule:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>60 minutes: 0.5 oz. Northern Brewer hops</li><li>30 minutes: 0.5 oz. Northern Brewer hops</li><li>15 minutes: Irish Moss</li><li>10 minutes: Bitter Orange Peel, Cinnamon Sticks, and Ground Ginger</li><li>0 minutes: Chill to 68F (or as close as you can get)</li></ul><div>Fermentation Plan:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Ferment in primary at ambient basement temps (63-68F) until gravity has dropped approximately 67% of the way to final gravity</li><li>Add Allspice, Cardamom, and Ground Cinnamon</li><li>Bottle when fermentation is complete</li><li>Condition at ambient basement temps until carbonated, then chill and serve</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Brewing Observations and Notes</b></div></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>01/02/2022:</b> I'd collected the RO water a couple of weeks back, so that part of the process went quickly. With the grains already crushed by Great Fermentations, that step could be eliminated as well. Water flowed freely through the grain bed, allowing me to run the Grainfather pump at about half-capacity, which hopefully will help filter the wort and achieve better conversion... we'll see.</div><div><br /></div><div>I gathered the hops, spices, and yeast while doing the mash. I then went to work cleaning and sanitizing a five-gallon fermenter to contain the beer while fermenting. This time of year, ambient basement temps are well in range for the yeast, so I didn't need to use temperature control for this batch.</div><div><br /></div><div>I took a gravity reading with the refractometer about 40 minutes into the mash, and got approximately 1.076 SG. I expected that to drop after sparging (i.e., pre-boil) but I wondered how close we were likely to be to the estimated 1.055 SG Original Gravity.</div><div><br /></div><div>Pre-boil gravity came up 1.053 SG (or 13 Brix) on my refractometer. Pre-boil volume after the sparge was a little low, so I topped it off with RO water to hit the target volume before taking that gravity reading. It will be interesting to see what the Tilt Hydrometer (which I think is a bit more accurate and was recently calibrated) will read once the beer is in the fermenter.</div><div><br /></div><div>Original Gravity read 1.057 SG on the Tilt Hydrometer at 63F. Yeast was pitched, along with a vial of White Labs Clarity Ferm to remove gluten and haze.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>01/05/2022:</b> The yeast took a very long time to really start reproducing in the wort. It was well over 24 hours before I saw any change in gravity via the Tilt Hydrometer, and closer to 48 hours before there was any airlock activity. Gravity is currently down from the initial 1.057 SG to 1.041 SG, which Brewfather estimates is 38% of the way to final gravity and suggests that the beer is about 2.1% ABV at this point. Temperature has remained in the 64F-67F range since pitching, which is well below the recommended fermentation range of 65-70F. I'll be keeping an eye on it to ensure that it doesn't exceed 70F, and will be adding the Allspice, Cardamom, and Ground Cinnamon once gravity is closer to 1.030 SG or about 67% fermented. (I'm adding late in primary fermentation to minimize the risk of any mold or bacteria gaining a foothold over the yeast. Adding later could allow some unwanted microbes into the beer that the then-dormant yeast might not fight off.)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-61511066606879545612021-11-14T23:30:00.046-05:002021-12-04T16:18:03.112-05:002021 Batch 16/17 - Horseman's Pumpkin Ale Kit from Great Fermentations<p>Although there are a few pumpkin spice ales on the market that I enjoy (Hoppin' Frog's Double Pumpkin, Samuel Adams Fat Jack, and Heavy Seas Great'r Pumpkin come to mind first), I've yet to brew a pumpkin spice ale that I have been happy with. Either I didn't feel like the base beer was quite right, or the spice mix was too "something" (insert random pie spice there) forward, it was too hop-forward, or it was wrong in some other way. This year, I decided to try the kit from Great Fermentations in Indiana to see if I liked that any better than previous brews.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>9 pounds 2-row Brewer's Malt<br />1 pound Munich Malt<br />8 ounces Crystal 40L Malt<br />15 ounces Canned Pumpkin (not included in kit)<br />1/4 tsp. Brewtan B (my addition to kit)</p><p>1 ounce Glacier Hops<br />1/2 tsp. Brewtan B (my addition to kit)<br />1 tsp. Irish Moss (15 min.)<br />0.5 tsp. Ground Cinnamon (not included in kit)<br />0.5 tsp. Vanilla extract (not included in kit)<br />0.5 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice (not included in kit)<br />0.25 tsp. Nutmeg (not included in kit)<br />0.25 tsp. Ground Ginger (not included in kit)<br /><br />1 packet Wyeast London Ale III yeast<br /><br />6.5 gallons of Reverse Osmosis filtered water, plus:<br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>3 grams Gypsum<br /></li><li>2.5 grams Calcium Chloride</li><li>1.2 grams Epsom Salt</li><li>1.1 grams Magnesium Chloride</li><li>0.3 grams Table Salt</li><li>0.3 grams Baking Soda</li><li>1 ml 88% Lactic Acid solution for pH balance</li></ul><p></p><p>Brewfather estimates the following characteristics for the beer:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Batch Size:</b> 5.0 gallons (4.75 actual)</li><li><b>Boil Time:</b> 60 minutes</li><li><b>Pre-Boil Volume:</b> 5.5 gallons</li><li><b>Mash Efficiency:</b> 59%</li><li><b>Original Gravity:</b> 1.048 SG estimated (1.048 SG and 1.053 SG actual)</li><li><b>Pre-boil Gravity:</b> 1.043 SG</li><li><b>Final Gravity:</b> 1.012 SG</li><li><b>IBUs:</b> 19</li><li><b>BU/GU Ratio:</b> 0.40</li><li><b>ABV:</b> 4.8%</li></ul><div>It's worth noting that this is the first time I've ordered a recipe kit for any spiced beer (Christmas, Pumpkin, or otherwise) that did not include the spices needed. That makes the cost of the kit deceptively low, since you might have to go out and purchase some or all of the needed spices. This is a factor to keep in mind if ordering from Great Fermentations.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Mash Schedule</b></p><p>The RO water was treated with the listed salts and the acid solution, plus 1/4 tsp. of Brewtan B to help the beer (hopefully) retain flavor and resist oxidation in the bottle. The grain came pre-crushed. Once the water was up to temperature, the grain was slowly stirred into it, followed by the can of pumpkin.</p><p>This recipe uses a simple mash schedule. Mash at 151-153F for 60 minutes or until conversion is complete. Sparge with room temperature water. (I know that's blasphemy to some brewers, but Denny Conn mentioned at Home Brew Con 2020 or 2021 that at home brewing scale, heated sparge water is not really going to increase efficiency or extraction enough to bother with.) I tend to believe Denny, and I've seen no difference using heated or room temp water so far.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Boil Schedule</b></p><p>The recipe requires a 60-minute boil with the following schedule:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>60 minutes (i.e., start of boil):</b> Add 1 ounce Glacier hops</li><li><b>20 minutes:</b> Brewtan B (1/2 tsp.)</li><li><b>15 minutes:</b> Irish Moss (1 tsp.)</li><li><b>10 minutes:</b> All spices and vanilla</li><li><b>0 minutes:</b> Turn off the heat, begin chilling down to as close to 64F as possible</li></ul><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Fermentation Plan</b></p><p>London Ale III yeast likes to ferment in a 64-74F temperature range, the low end of which is approximately what my ambient basement temperature is this time of year, so I do not think temperature control will be needed for this brew. If I can get it down to around 65F, I don't imagine it self-rising to much beyond 68-70F, which is still well within the yeast's range.</p><p>I decided to split the 5-gallon batch across two smaller fermenters, for two reasons. First, I think it will help with maintaining fermentation temperature. Second, it will allow me to add Bourbon-soaked oak chips to one of the fermenters and produce a "Bourbon Barrel Aged" Pumpkin Ale like Heavy Seas Great'r Pumpkin, which was a favorite of mine and I haven't seen in years. This also yields two batches of beer from a single brew day, which is also pretty cool.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Post Brew Notes and Observations</b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>11/14/2021:</b> Running enough RO water to start the brew was one hurdle that I had to overcome. Because I've made my share of spiced ales in the past, I had all the spices this recipe called for and didn't have to go purchase any (thankfully). However, I did not have a fresh can of pumpkin on hand. Thankfully, my wife was able to stop somewhere on her way home from visiting with family and pick up a can for me to use.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The 120V (Original) Grainfather took a while to get the 4.5 gallons of mash water up to temp. I continued running RO for the sparge as it did so, and stirred the grain into the water when the water reached about 120F. </p><p style="text-align: left;">A check of the wort pre-sparge with a refractometer read 14.1 Brix. Post-sparge there was about 4.5 gallons in the kettle (instead of the expected 5.5 gallons) and the reading then was 14.5 Brix. I decided to add in about a half gallon of tap water to raise the volume up a little. After that, the refractometer was reading 13 Brix or about 1.053 SG. All these gravity readings, I should note, are not temperature corrected and may be lower than the actual room temperature reading. I ended up adding another half gallon of water to bring me to the correct pre-boil amount (5.5 gallons). Even so, the gravity at temperature (~175F) was reading 1.048 SG.</p><p style="text-align: left;">I've not been doing 5-gallon batches in The Grainfather for a while now, and forgot how long it takes the original 120V model to heat that much liquid. </p><p style="text-align: left;">I decided to split this into two smaller batches. One will receive only yeast. The other will also receive some medium toast American white oak chips soaked in Bourbon. Original Gravity for the un-oaked batch was 1.049 SG on the Tilt Hydrometer, and for the oaked version 1.053 SG.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>11/16/2021:</b> Gravity on both batches is down to 1.027 SG today per the Tilt Hydrometer. That puts them at roughly 67% fermented at this point. The temperature has yet to exceed 70F, which is well within the yeast's optimal range.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>11/17/2021:</b> Gravity is now down to 1.010-1.011 SG for both batches. Both are 68-69F. The highest temperature either reached during fermentation was 71F for the barrel-aged one and 69F for the regular batch. That's well within the yeast's optimal range of 64-74F so I don't expect any off flavors. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>11/18/2021:</b> Gravity is now reading 1.007 in the regular batch and 1.009 SG for the barrel-aged batch. Temperature in both fermenters is now down to 67F, which is ambient basement temperature.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>12/04/2021:</b> Gravity in the both batches is 1.004 SG. It's held there for about 4 days in the non-barrel batch, but the barrel-aged batch held at 1.005 SG for a while before dropping down to 1.004 SG in the last 24 hours or so. This continued slow fermentation could explain why I've had a number of beers that seemed overcarbonated after a month or two. Primed to a "medium" level of carbonation, if they continued to ferment beyond what I thought was <i>final</i> gravity, they could easily reach an over-carbonated level in time. I got about 21 bottles of the barrel-aged version and 24 of the non-barrel version. A warm, flat sample from the fermenter tasted a bid underwhelming, with the spices seeming fairly muted. I'm hoping it's better cold and carbonated. We'll see.</p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-65738318750289380062021-09-27T12:23:00.003-04:002021-10-03T16:34:54.782-04:002021 Batch 15 - English Dark Mild AleFrom the first time I tried one at The Winking Lizard Tavern many years ago, I've been a fan of the English Dark Mild Ale style. It's a nice mix of roasty malt flavors without the heaviness of a porter or stout, which makes it easy to drink year-round.<div><br /></div><div>The recipe below is adapted from the <a href="https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/hey-man-dark-mild/">Hey Man Dark Mild recipe</a> by Nic Pestel of Missoula, MT. Nic won a gold at the 2018 NHC in Portland, OR, with the original version. This variant changes the original recipe in the following ways:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Swapped Maris Otter for the original's Montana 2-row Pale Malt</li><li>Swapped Munich DME for the original's Munich 10L Malt</li><li>Replaced the original's Dextrin Malt with some Pilsner (since I had no Dextrin or similar on hand)</li><li>Swapped Lallemand CBC-1 dry ale yeast for the original's Wyeast 2112 California Lager Yeast, mostly because I didn't want to deal with a lager and the CBC-1 should be fairly neutral yeast</li><li>Adjusted IBUs based on my hops' Alpha Acid levels</li><li>Changed the first hops addition to first-wort hops rather than 60 minutes</li><li>Cut the recipe size down from 10 gallons to 3.25 gallons</li></ul><div>Other than the above changes, and adjusting fermentation temp for the CBC-1 yeast, I followed the original recipe in the original Grainfather brewing system.</div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>4 pounds 12 ounces Maris Otter malt</div><div>8 ounces Briess CBW Munich DME</div><div>5 ounces Carafa II Special</div><div>5 ounces Pale Chocolate Malt</div><div>1 pound Pilsner Malt</div><div>1.5 tsp. pH 5.2 stabilizer</div><div>1/4 of a whirlfloc tablet</div><div>0.65 ounces Tettnang hops @ 4.5% AA (16.7 IBUs) FWH</div><div>0.75 ounces Hallertau Mittelfruh hops @ 3.8% AA (8.1 IBUs) 15 min.</div><div>0.50 ounces Hallertau Mittelfruh hops @ 3.8% AA (~1 IBU) 2 min.</div><div>1 package Lallemand CBC-1 (Cask and Bottle Conditioning) yeast</div><div><br /></div><div>4.4 gallons of RO water (2.85 gallons mash, 1.55 gallons sparge), treated with:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>2.9 grams Gypsum</li><li>0.9 grams Calcium Chloride</li><li>1.1 grams Epsom Salt</li><li>0.9 grams Magnesium Chloride</li><li>0.9 grams Table Salt</li><li>1.4 grams Baking Soda</li></ul><div>According to Brewfather, the beer should have the following characteristics:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>BJCP Style:</b> 13.A English-Style Dark Mild Ale</li><li><b>Batch Size:</b> 3.25 gallons estimated (3.7 actual post-boil)</li><li><b>Original Gravity:</b> 1.053 SG estimated (1.058 actual, see notes later)</li><li><b>Pre-Boil Gravity:</b> 1.039 SG estimated (1.061 actual, see notes later)</li><li><b>Final Gravity:</b> 1.017-1.019 SG estimated, 1.021 SG actual per Tilt</li><li><b>IBUs:</b> 26 estimated (20 post-brew, per Brewfather)</li><li><b>BU/GU Ratio:</b> 0.49 estimated (0.34 post-brew, per Brewfather)</li><li><b>Mash Efficiency:</b> 59% estimated (91% actual, per Brewfather)</li><li><b>Yield:</b> 28 12-ounce bottles</li><li><b>Carbonation Method:</b> 3 Brewer's Best carbonation tablets per bottle (low carbonation)</li><li><b>Fermenter Used:</b> Lister</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Mash Schedule</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>The mash water was treated with minerals and heated to 152F, at which time the grains were added and stirred in. At that point, some pH 5.2 Stabilizer was added since I had it on hand. The mash continued for 60 minutes, at which time the temperature was increased to 169F. After 10 minutes at 169F, the grain basket was lifted out of the Grainfather and drained into the kettle. The controls were set to start boiling while the grain basket drained. Sparge water was gradually added until all 1.55 gallons had been used and the grain basket seemed to be only draining a few drops here and there. The first-wort hops were added as soon as the grain basket was removed.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Boil Schedule</b></div><div><br /></div><div>The following boil schedule was used:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>60 minutes:</b> No additions</li><li><b>15 minutes:</b> 1/4 of a Whirlfloc tablet added, along with 0.75 ounces of Hallertau</li><li><b>2 minutes:</b> 0.50 ounces of Hallertau were added and the heat turned off</li></ul></div><div>Following the boil, the wort was given a good stir and allowed to settle in before pumping into the fermenter.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Fermentation Plan</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>The Lallemand CBC-1 yeast does best in primary fermentation at 72F. The wort entered the fermenter around 77F, so I rubber-banded a couple of ice packs to it to help chill it down to that temperature. When the temp had dropped to 74F, I pitched the dry yeast into the fermenter. </div><div><br /></div><div>My plan from that point would be to monitor fermentation temperature. Any time it exceeded 72F, I would stick a couple of ice packs to it to help cool it down. As long as it was at or below 72F, I would leave it alone to free-rise. In practice, this plan worked well, keeping the wort to 72F or less throughout fermentation.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Packaging Plan</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>As with nearly all my beers, the plan will be to bottle this one. I'll add 2.5 Brewer's Best Carbonation Tablets per bottle to give it low carbonation, consistent with the style.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Notes and Observations</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>09/25/2021:</b> I had recently re-gapped my motorized two-roller mill to 1.3mm before crushing this batch, which seems to have made a significant difference. Instead of the 59% mash efficiency I had been seeing in the recent past, this batch achieved a mash efficiency of 91% according to Brewfather. As a result, I ended up with a pre-boil gravity for the batch of approximately 1.061 SG instead of the expected 1.039. The original gravity post-boil registered 1.064 SG on the Tilt Hydrometer. Because I wanted to hit the OG from the original recipe, I ended up adding distilled water to the fermenter to bring my gravity down to 1.057 SG (which was as close as I could get without overfilling the fermenter).</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>09/26/2021:</b> The fermentation seemed to begin around 1am. At 11pm, the gravity had dropped to 1.039 SG per the Tilt Hydrometer. The temp had increased to 73F at that point, so I rubber-banded a small ice pack to the side of the fermenter to keep it cool. By 4am, Monday the temperature had dropped to around 67F.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>09/27/2021:</b> Early in the day, the temperature had risen back up to 71F and the gravity had dropped to 1.023 SG, which is just a few points from the expected 1.017 SG final gravity. However, at this point it doesn't look like the fermentation has slowed very much, so we might see gravity drop further before a final gravity is reached.</div><div><br /></div><div>(Somewhere in here I added some S-04 English Ale yeast to help consume some of the longer-chain sugars the CBC-1 would not eat, though I didn't see any change in gravity from doing this.)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/03/2021:</b> I bottled the beer today in 28 twelve-ounce bottles, each dosed with three (3) Brewer's Best Carbonation tablets. This should yield a carbonation level around 1.8-2.0 which is good for the style. The aroma coming off the fermenter was amazing. If the finished beer tastes anything like it smells, it's going to be amazing.</div>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-75479654568882020102021-08-29T22:42:00.008-04:002021-10-10T13:43:59.831-04:002021 Batch 14 Corn Tripel<p>The American Homebrewer's Association web site lists a recipe for a "<a href="https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/corn-tripel/">Corn Tripel</a>" (a Belgian style Tripel Ale brewed with corn as part of the grist). I decided to brew that beer today, tweaked a little for my system and preferences.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>8.25 pounds Belgian Pilsen malt<br />1.25 pounds Flaked Corn (Maize)<br />10 ounces Clear Candi Sugar Rocks<br />0.25 ounces Hallertau Magnum hops 11.6%AA (FWH)<br />0.50 ounces Styrian Goldings hops 1.3% AA (30 min.)<br />0.50 ounces Hallertau Mittelfruh hops 3.8% AA (15 min.)<br />0.50 tsp. Irish Moss (15 min.)<br />0.50 tsp. Yeast Nutrient (15 min.)<br />0.125 tsp. Brewtan B (mash)<br />0.25 tsp. Brewtan B (boil, 20 min.)<br />1 package Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity</p><p><br />5 gallons RO water, treated with:<br />1 gram Calcium Chloride<br />1 gram Table Salt<br />0.5 grams Epsom Salt<br />3 grams Gypsum<br />1 gram Magnesium Chloride<br />1 ml. Lactic Acid 88% solution<br />Use 3.75 gallons for mash, 1.25 gallons for sparge</p><p><b>Note:</b> If I was brewing this again, I'd do 3.75 gallons mash, 1.75 sparge, for 5.5 total gallons</p><p>According to Brewfather, the beer should have the following characteristics:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>BJCP Style:</b> 26.C Belgian-Style Tripel</li><li><b>Batch Size:</b> 3.0 gallons estimated (actual ~2.6 gallons)</li><li><b>Original Gravity:</b> 1.082 SG estimated (actual 1.098 SG)<br /></li><li><b>Pre-Boil Gravity:</b> 1.055 SG estimated (actual 1.067 SG)<br /></li><li><b>Final Gravity:</b> 1.011 SG estimated, 1.013 SG actual<br /></li><li><b>IBUs:</b> 27<br /></li><li><b>ABV:</b> 9.9% estimated, 12.2% actual</li><li><b>SRM:</b> 4.9</li><li><b>BU/GU Ratio:</b> 0.329</li><li><b>Brewhouse Efficiency:</b> 59% estimated, 68% actual per Brewfather</li></ul>Mash Schedule:<p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Load 3.25 gallons of water in The Grainfather and heat to 150F</li><li>While heating, add the water salts and Lactic Acid, plus Brewtan B</li><li>When at 150F, begin gradually adding malt and stirring in to ensure all is wet</li><li>When all malt is added, begin 45 minute mash countdown</li><li>At end of 45-minute mash window, heat to 168F</li><li>When at 168F, lift out the grain basket and sparge with room temp water (1.75 gal.)</li><li>Discard grain and rinse grain basket, add first wort hops</li></ul><div>Boil Schedule:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>120 minutes:</b> No additions (FWH already in)</li><li><b>30 minutes:</b> Add Styrian Goldings</li><li><b>20 minutes:</b> Add Brewtan B</li><li><b>15 minutes:</b> Add Irish Moss, Candi Sugar, Hallertau Mittelfruh</li><li><b>0 minutes:</b> Chill</li></ul><div>Fermentation Plan:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>From past experience, I know Wyeast 3787 is a "monster" of a fermenter, usually blowing through airlocks if given half a chance, so I'm planning a blow-off tube from the start. (<b>Update:</b> as it turned out, volume was low enough that I decided to risk using just an airlock.)</li><li>Wyeast 3787 ferments in the 64-78F temperature range, is a medium flocculation strain, and attenuates in the 74-78% range.</li><li>I'm planning to start fermentation toward the low end (~70F) and raise it 1F each day until we're at the maximum end of the range (78F) and final gravity is reached.</li></ul><div>Bottling plan will be to use thick Belgian-style bottles and 3 Brewer's Best carbonation tablets per bottle (which is "low" carbonation but I find it tends to carbonate a bit more for me than BB thinks it will, so I tend to under-prime things for that reason).</div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Notes and Observations</b></div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/29/2021:</b> It became obvious after I looked at the milled grain that my mill needed to be re-gapped. Most of the grain kernels were coming out almost totally intact, which isn't good. I re-gapped it and ran the grain through a second time to ensure it was crushed properly. It looked almost too fine then, so I added a good-sized handful of rice hulls to help with wort flow later on.</div><div><br /></div><div>Re-gapping the mill and running the grain through a second time seemed to improve efficiency on this brew. Although I'd calculated needing 3.3 gallons of mash water, I ended up starting with 3.25 gallons and adding another 0.5 gallons to ensure the grain was adequately wet.</div><div><br /></div><div>Wort came out of the chiller at around 85F, which was too warm for the 3787 yeast, so I strapped an ice pack to the side of the fermenter to help drop the temperature more quickly. In about 90 minutes, the temp had dropped from 85F to 80F. My goal was to get it down closer to 70F, the ambient basement temperature, so that I could pitch the yeast at midnight before I went to bed.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/30/2021:</b> At 9:30am, I saw possible indications that there was activity from the yeast. There were minor fluctuations in temperature and gravity picked up by the Tilt Hydrometer that sometimes indicate that the yeast is alive and active. Looking at the fermenter itself (clear plastic) from outside, there were no obvious indications that yeast was active. No krausen, no airlock bubbling, no obvious bubbles rising up the side of the wort. I'm hoping this does not turn out to be another case like my last batch, where the yeast died in transit from the homebrew shop. We'll see...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/31/2021:</b> After seeing no apparent activity from the 3787 yeast, I pitched most of a package of Mangrove Jack's Belgian Tripel Yeast M31 yesterday evening. Around 2am fermentation seemed to kick off. Gravity is down to 1.070 SG. The temperature reached 74F, at which point I strapped an ice pack to the fermenter to prevent it getting too hot and generating fusels or other off-flavors. In under an hour, the temp was down to 72F but the gravity continued to drop steadily.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>09/11/2021:</b> The beer (both fermenters) was bottled today. Bottles received 3 Brewer's Best Carbonation Tablets each. This is "low" carbonation but in my experience is probably enough.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/10/2021:</b> A bottle of the beer poured yesterday showed a nice, low carbonation level. Arguably too low for a Tripel, but it didn't gush out of the bottle either. The flavor starts sweet and fruity, but finishe with a lingering bitterness comparable to citrus pith (like the white pith in an orange).</div><p></p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-87938834827980645612021-08-22T23:08:00.002-04:002021-08-29T11:45:38.643-04:002021 Batch 13 - Belgian Dark Strong<p>If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you're probably aware that I'm really fond of Belgian ales, especially the Belgian Dark Strong Ale. A few weeks back, I purchased a large container of Briess Sparkling Amber liquid malt extract (LME) at a discount. I wondered if this extract could be used to produce a reasonable Belgian Dark Strong Ale with a relatively short brew day. This batch is my attempt to prove or disprove that theory.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>6 pounds of Breiss CBW Sparkling Amber LME<br />16 ounces Crystal 80L malt<br />2 ounces Special B malt<br />12 ounces Brun Fonce candi sugar<br />0.5 ounces Hallertau Magnum @ 11.6%AA (FWH)<br />1.0 ounces Hallertau Mittelfruh @ 3.8% AA (5 min.)<br />1.0 ounces Czech Saaz @ 3.8% AA (5 min.)<br />1/2 tsp. Brewtan B (boil)<br />3/4 tsp. Irish Moss<br />1/2 tsp. Yeast Nutrients<br />Dublin Ohio tap water</p><p>According to Brewfather, the beer will have the following qualities:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Batch Size:</b> 3.0 gallons</li><li><b>Original Gravity:</b> 1.095 SG estimated (1.095 SG actual)</li><li><b>Final Gravity:</b> 1.024 SG estimated </li><li><b>IBUs:</b> 31 estimated</li><li><b>ABV:</b> 10.6% estimated</li><li><b>BU/GU Ratio:</b> 0.32</li></ul><p></p><p>Brew schedule:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Heat 2.5 gallons of water to 150F</li><li>Add Special B and Crystal 80L malt inside muslin bags</li><li>Hold temperature at 150F for 20-30 minutes, then remove the grain</li><li>Turn off heat and gradually stir in the LME to dissolve it completely</li><li>Turn heat back on and add Hallertau Magnum as first wort hops</li><li>When a boil is reached, begin a 60-minute countdown</li></ul><div>Boil schedule:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>60 minutes: No addition (note Hallertau Magnum was already added)</li><li>20 minutes: Add Brewtan B</li><li>15 minutes: Add Irish Moss and Yeast Nutrient</li><li>5 minutes: Add Saaz and Hallertau Mittelfruh hops in muslin bags</li></ul><div>Fermentation plan:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://wyeastlab.com/yeast-strain/belgian-abbey-style-ale-ii">Wyeast 1726</a> (Belgian Abbey II Ale Yeast) prefers a temperature in the 65-75F range.</li><li>My plan is to begin fermentation at 70F and allow the yeast to free-rise until approximately 65-70% of fermentation has completed. At that time, I'll increase the fermentation temp one degree per day until at the maximum temp of 75F. I'll hold it there until fermentation is complete.</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Observations and Notes</b></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b>08/22/2021:</b> The brew day went off without a hitch. I ended up with the expected original gravity and fermenter volume, with just a bit higher temperature. I had to wait for the temperature to drop to approximately 70F before pitching the yeast. The packet of 1762 yeast needed time to swell up anyway.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/25/2021:</b> Unfortunately, the original package of 1762 yeast must have been dead, despite its November 2021 best-by date. I had to purchase and add another today. There are early indications that this new package is working, but it's too soon to tell yet. I may have to resort to a dry yeast. (Not that I have anything against dry yeasts, but for this recipe I really wanted 1762.)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/29/2021:</b> When I opened the fermenter earlier in the week to pitch dry yeast, I found mold growing on top of the wort. I was too busy at the time to deal with dumping the batch and cleaning the fermenter, so I left it alone, knowing I'd need to go back later and do that. In the meantime, it seems the 1762 yeast has come to life in side the beer, as the Tilt Hydrometer has been showing rapid drops in gravity consistent with yeast. I'm planning to dump the fermenter and beer today, the clean the fermenter well.</div><div><br /></div>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-30455156735337684462021-08-09T08:57:00.014-04:002021-10-10T13:45:23.833-04:002021 Batch 12 - Barleywine<p>As happens periodically in the home brewery, I find a lot of grain that needs to be turned into beer quickly before it gets stale. That usually results in some crazy high-gravity beer experiment, like today's American Barleywine batch.</p><p>I decided to really bump close to the limits of Lallemand CBC-1 (Cask and Bottle Conditioning) dry yeast for this batch, by aiming for a wort that would ferment out to something around 16% ABV. It's fairly common to make a beer like this using only base malt, but I wanted a little more complexity to mine, so I'm using a small amount of Special B and English Medium Crystal.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>4 pounds Briess 2-row Brewer's Malt<br />12.75 pounds Maris Otter Malt<br />1 pound German Pilsner Malt<br />3 pounds Belgian Pale Ale Malt<br />8 ounces Special B Malt<br />8 ounces Medium Crystal Malt<br />16 ounces Demerara Sugar</p><p>1/2 tsp. Irish Moss<br />1/4 tsp. Brewtan B in the mash<br />1/2 tsp. Brewtan B in the boil (20 min)<br />1 tsp. Yeast Nutrient</p><p>1 ounce Bravo hops (60 min.)<br />1 ounce Centennial hops (10 min.)<br />1 ounce Mosaic hops (5 min.)<br /><br />9 gallons of RO water, treated with minerals to a "balanced" profile</p><p>Brewfather's estimated measurements for this beer were:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Batch Size:</b> 4.0 gallons (in the fermenter, estimated), 3.5 actual</li><li><b>Original Gravity:</b> 1.123 SG estimated (1.131 SG actual)</li><li><b>Pre-Boil Gravity:</b> 1.073 SG estimated (1.057 SG actual)</li><li><b>Pre-Boil Volume:</b> 5 gallons estimated (6.4 gallons actual)</li><li><b>Final Gravity:</b> 1.018 SG estimated, 1.015 SG in the 1-gallon fermenter, 1.023 SG in the 3-gallon fermenter</li><li><b>IBUs:</b> 86 estimated<br /></li><li><b>ABV:</b> 19% in the 1-gallon fermenter, 16.4% in the 3-gallon fermenter</li><li><b>BU/GU ratio:</b> 0.66</li></ul><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Mash Process</b></p><p>For those of you playing along at home, that's a whopping 21.75 pound malt bill. To try to squeeze as much efficiency out of it as I could, I decided to mash low and do an iterated mash. The goal was to end up with enough wort in the kettle after sparging one iteration to have the amount of water needed to mash the next iteration. That meant breaking the grain bill up as:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Iteration 1 (all iterations mashed at 145F):</li><ul><li>4 pounds of malt, to be mashed with 1.6 quarts per pound of water</li><li>6.5 quarts of water to mash. However, the dead space in the bottom of The Grainfather meant that this wasn't enough mash water to cover it. I ended up having to bump that to 9.5 quarts.</li><li>45 minute mash time</li><li>6.5 quarts of sparge water.</li><li>At the end of this stage, I measured gravity at 1.015 SG with a Tilt Hydrometer</li></ul><li>Iteration 2:</li><ul><li>After Iteration 1, there should have been 11 quarts of wort in The Grainfather</li><li>6.75 pounds of malt, at 1.6 quarts per pound mash water, would need 10.8 quarts</li><li>11 quarts of sparge water</li><li>45 minute mash time</li><li>At the end of this stage, I measured gravity at 1.037 SG with a Tilt Hydrometer</li></ul><li>Iteration 3:</li><ul><li>After the sparge, there should have been about 18.6 quarts in The Grainfather</li><li>10.5 pounds of malt, at 1.6 quarts per pound, would need 16.8 quarts of water (so we were 2 quarts over)</li><li>120 minute mash time</li><li>After the mash, there should have been around 13 quarts left in The Grainfather</li><li>2.25 gallons (9 quarts) of sparge water were used</li></ul><li>This should have left me with approximately 22 quarts in The Grainfather. Somehow, which I've not taken the time to figure out yet, I wound up instead with about 26. Perhaps the additional 3 quarts added to Iteration 1 messed things up, but I don't think so.</li><li>Having 6.4 gallons of wort in the kettle where I had been expecting 5 gallons represented a fairly big problem for completing this brew in any kind of reasonable timeframe. While I had been planning to boil the wort for 2 hours to get down to about a 4 gallon batch size, this extra 1.4 gallons meant I'd need to boil for 3 additional hours to hit the target volume and gravity...</li></ul><div>I'd recommend working out how I screwed these calculations up before you go brewing this recipe yourself, unless you don't need to do an iterated mash.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Boil Schedule</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>The planned boil schedule:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>300 minutes (thanks to overage): Add demerara sugar</li><li>60 minutes: Add Bravo hops</li><li>20 minutes: Add Brewtan B</li><li>15 minutes: Add yeast nutrient and Irish moss</li><li>10 minutes: Add Centennial hops</li><li>5 minutes: Add Mosaic hops</li><li>0 minutes: Chill to ~72F and pump into fermenter</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Fermentation Plan</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>The fermentation plan will be:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>CBC-1's optimum temperature for primary fermentation is 72F. My basement this time of year tends to be around 65F, which is on the lower end of CBC-1's range, which is probably ideal since we're going to be pushing the yeast and I don't want to stress it by heating it too much.</li><li>I'll be monitoring the Tilt to keep fermentation temps below 75F, which I should be able to do with just the ambient air, but will use other methods as needed.</li><li>When the Tilt registers the expected Final Gravity for 7 days straight, or seems to stay at any other gravity for at least 7 days straight, I'll assume fermentation is finished and move on to bottling.</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Notes and Observations</b></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b>08/01/2021:</b> Unfortunately, the extra 1.4 gallons represented 3 additional hours of boiling at The Grainfather's usual 0.5 gallons per hour boil-off rate - on top of the planned 2 hours. That resulted in an estimated brewing finish time around 1am on Monday morning... not how I wanted this to go. I will need to go over the calculations again to figure out where I screwed this up, so it doesn't happen again.</div><div><br /></div><div>About an hour into the boil time, grain residue from the mash scorched just enough on the bottom of the kettle to trip The Grainfather's thermal cut-out switch and stop the boil. I scraped that off as best I could with my spoon and reset the switch. I decided to call it a night rather than stay up until 1am doing the boil. I clamped on a lid and turned off the heat to finish up in the morning.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/02/2021:</b> I finished the boil today, which took a lot longer than I would have liked. In the end, I had roughly 3.5 gallons of wort at a gravity of 1.131 SG. I put 3 gallons in one of my plastic fermenters and hooked it up to my temperature control setup. The other half-gallon was placed in a one-gallon plastic fermenter and allowed to ferment at ambient temperatures. Both were dosed with CBC-1 yeast. Yeast pitching didn't happen until several hours after wort chilling, due to the wort chiller being unable in the summer heat to get the wort down below 80F (the yeast's ideal temp is 72F).</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/03/2021:</b> Fermentation started around 6pm, based on Tilt Hydrometer readings. By midnight, gravity had dropped to 1.118 SG.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/04/2021:</b> By evening, gravity had dropped to 1.097 SG.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/05/2021:</b> Gravity is down to around 1.088 SG.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/06/2021:</b> Gravity is down to 1.082 SG.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/07/2021:</b> Gravity is down to 1.071 SG.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/08/2021:</b> Gravity is down to 1.062 SG. I've raised the temperature control to 74-75F to allow the yeast plenty of warmth to finish out the fermentation.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/09/2021:</b> Gravity is reading 1.058 SG this morning, and the temperature is staying in the 73-76F range, which is near the yeast's upper-end. The current readings represent an ABV around 11.5%. It's worth noting that the half-gallon batch without temperature control is not fermenting as quickly. Gravity in that fermenter is reading 1.087 SG. Fermentation appears to be slowing in both containers, as would be expected this late in the process, but more so in the cooler half-gallon container (temp around 70F).</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/13/2021:</b> Fermentation has slowed down in both the smaller and larger vessels. The 3-gallon vessel's gravity is now reading 1.051 SG (~12.5% ABV). The 1-gallon vessel reads 1.069 SG (11.3% ABV). Both airlocks continue to (slowly) emit bubbles, which suggests that fermentation may have slowed but is not stopping.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/22/2021:</b> The fermentation seemed to have greatly slowed or even stopped over the last few days. No change in gravity was witnessed for about 72 hours, and airlock activity seemed non-existent. When this has happened in the past with very high gravity beers, I've been able to restart fermentation by swirling the fermenter and/or heating it to the upper end of the yeast's optimum range. That did not seem to work in this case, so I resorted to another trick... adding just a couple of drops of glucoamylase enzyme into the fermenter. Since doing this, I'm seeing activity in both fermenters. I'm even seeing regular "burps" through the airlock of the one-gallon fermenter.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's worth noting that adding glucoamylase breaks down pretty much every remaining complex sugar into simple sugars yeast can consume. This will cause a lower gravity beer to dry out and lose most of its body, but super high gravity beers like this end up (in my limited experience to date) with a lighter body than some of the high-gravity beers like the ones from Avery in Boulder. (That's not a dig against Avery at all. I happen to love those beers.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Gravity for the 1-gallon fermenter is currently reading 1.061 SG. In the 3-gallon fermenter, it's 1.050 SG.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/25/2021:</b> Gravity for the 1-gallon batch is 1.050 SG, and for the 3-gallon it's 1.040 SG. The glucoamylase did seem to break down the sugars into something the yeast can more easily consume.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>08/29/2021:</b> Gravity for the 1-gallon batch is 1.040 SG and for the 3-gallon it's 1.030 SG. The gravity graphs in Brewfather both show a continued gradual decrease.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>09/11/2021:</b> The beer (both fermenters) was bottled today. Bottles from the 1-gallon fermenter received 2.5 Brewer's Best carbonation tablets. Bottles from the 3-gallon fermenter received 3 tablets.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/10/2021:</b> A bottle chilled and sampled from the 1-gallon batch showed no carbonation. I have not sampled one from the 3-gallon batch yet.</div><div><br /></div>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-22353214536873203452021-06-26T17:30:00.139-04:002021-10-10T13:46:46.454-04:002021 Batch 11 - Digital Haze IPA (kit)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP4x9N8lSMekG6JQqhUDM9jn3OqJpj8qst8TeZ-xx7OMzw6oUspqv136AHBFMVkju35d1YL2QmlJYeu27obgd0NmUsqJRx3KI4I4xw74ohH8aJ1psanfiD_OVGn9oMDn8l-BQcxOMpvGS6/s4032/PXL_20210731_184712430.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="The finished beer" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP4x9N8lSMekG6JQqhUDM9jn3OqJpj8qst8TeZ-xx7OMzw6oUspqv136AHBFMVkju35d1YL2QmlJYeu27obgd0NmUsqJRx3KI4I4xw74ohH8aJ1psanfiD_OVGn9oMDn8l-BQcxOMpvGS6/w320-h240/PXL_20210731_184712430.jpg" title="The finished beer" width="320" /></a></div><br />In a previous post I shared <a href="https://www.beginbrewing.com/2021/06/recipe-digital-haze-ipa-2021-kit-from.html">the recipe for the Digital Haze IPA kit</a> that was offered to attendees of HomeBrewCon 2021. Today, I decided to brew the kit. It was at that point that I realized the 8 ounce package of Carapils was missing from my kit. I decided to swap in some Pilsner malt I had that I wanted to use up - so what you see below is slightly different from the actual kit from Brewer's Best. Refer to the link above it you want the exact kit recipe.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /><b>Ingredients</b></div><p>4 pounds Pilsen DME<br />1 pound Corn Sugar<br />8 ounces White Wheat Malt<br />8 ounces Flaked Oats<br />1.5 pounds German Pilsner Malt (8 oz. to replace Carapils, plus 16 "just because")<br />1 package Lallemand Voss Kveik yeast<br />1/4 tsp. Brewtan B (boil, 10 min.) - added to reduce oxidation</p><p>5.5 gallons of RO water, treated with:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>1g Baking Soda</li><li>6.5g Calcium Chloride</li><li>3.3g Epsom Salt</li><li>1.5g Gypsum</li><li>2g Magnesium Chloride</li><li>1 Tbsp. pH 5.2 Stabilizer (optional, to hold pH at 5.2)</li></ul><p></p><p>Brewfather estimates the beer to have the following characteristics:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Batch Size:</b> 5 gallons (4.5 gallons actual)</li><li><b>Style:</b> 21B New England IPA</li><li><b>Original Gravity:</b> 1.053 SG (1.058 SG actual)</li><li><b>Pre-Boil Gravity:</b> 1.032 SG (actual value not measured)</li><li><b>Final Gravity:</b> 1.008 SG estimated</li><li><b>ABV:</b> 6.7% estimated</li><li><b>IBUs:</b> 15</li><li><b>BU/GU Ratio:</b> 0.28</li></ul><div>The partial-mash process was:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Draw 5.5 gallons of reverse osmosis (RO) water</li><li>Place 2.5 gallons in the Grainfather kettle and heat to 155F</li><li>While heating, add the minerals to the RO water</li><li>Add the grains, in a muslin bag, and start the circulation pump</li><li>Add the pH 5.2 Stabilizer (optional)</li><li>After 30 minutes, remove the grain bag and set it on a colander on top of the kettle to drain</li><li>Set the controls to boil</li><li>While the kettle heats, sparge the grain with 3 gallons of RO water</li></ul><div>The boil schedule was:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>60 minutes:</b> Add 3 pounds of Pilsen DME, saving 1 pound and the sugar for later</li><li><b>10 minutes:</b> Add Brewtan B, 1 pound of Pilsen DME, 1 pound of corn sugar while stirring constantly to ensure that everything is dissolved</li><li><b>0 minutes (hop stand): </b> Chill to 180F and set the Grainfather controls to hold 180F. Add 1 ounce of the Cryo Pop hops, stirring the wort occasionally. After 20 minutes, this hop stand is finished.</li><li>Pump the wort through the counterflow chiller into the fermenter</li></ul><div>The fermentation schedule was:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Stabilize the wort temperature to 90F</li><li>Pitch the dry yeast directly on top of the wort, wait a couple of minutes for it to hydrate a little, then stir it into the wort and seal the fermenter.</li><li>Hold the temp at no less than 90F and no more than 104F</li><li>24 hours after the yeast is pitched, add the remaining 2 ounces of Cryo Pop hops to allow for biotransformation to occur</li><li>When fermentation has finished, prepare to bottle as soon as possible to avoid any off-flavors from oxidation or from the hops remaining in contact with the beer for too long</li></ul></div><div>Brewer's Best describes this as an advanced kit. If you have a way to hold the temperature during the hop stand, know how to steep grain in a muslin bag, and you can remember to drop in your dry hops within 24 hours of pitching, you know everything you need to know how to do to brew this.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Notes and Observations</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div><b>06/26/2021</b>: This is the first kit I have brewed from for a while, and the first extract kit I've done in several years. That said, it was a fairly easy brew day and it went off without a hitch. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>06/27/2021:</b> This morning, the gravity was 1.017 SG, down from 1.058 SG when the yeast was pitched the previous day at around 5:30pm. The Kveik yeast makes quick work of a wort when held at a temperature it's happy with. I added the 2 ounces of dry hops in three tea strainer containers to give them room to expand. There was a thick krausen atop the fermenter and the airlock was bubbling quite well. The temperature has stayed within the 90-93F range throughout fermentation to this point.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>06/28/2021:</b> The gravity is down to 1.009 SG, just a point away from the expected final gravity. I've had the temp up to 94F since yesterday afternoon, to encourage the yeast to finish up its work. I'm expecting to perhaps be able to bottle this one in 2-3 days, given that fermentation seems to be practically finished now.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>06/29/2021:</b> The gravity is down to 1.008 SG today, which was the expected final gravity. That puts the beer (so far) at 6.7% ABV. Assuming the gravity holds for 2-3 more days, I should be ready to either bottle this or rack it off the yeast and dry hops.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>06/30/2021:</b> Gravity is flitting back and forth between 1.007 SG and 1.008 SG, suggesting that there may still be fermentation going on. Most likely this is a bit of "hop creep" caused from the dry hops in the fermenter. In any case, I think we're going to be in good shape to bottle this Thursday or Friday.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>07/01/2021:</b> Gravity has dropped to 1.006 SG.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>07/03/2021: </b>Bottled the beer using two Brewer's Best carbonation tablets per bottle. (Three is supposed to be the minimum, but my experience has been that 3-4 seem to overcarbonate the beer.)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>07/10/2021:</b> I chilled a bottle of the beer in the freezer for an hour and then opened it. Unfortunately, it was still quite flat. I think it will need to be conditioned a while longer.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgebS9tFqjNt8YPgYkYTRiqpgAutUEIZGl1al6rvKfICgoq7VbHK6yk-umr6aPSC849-rrd1QGSxdwJX1nr36CTLIaTvN_Q9p_PWvY-ppxtjxDk1WbIlpsM0PJrOT0QlVTGSN1-0fMPDtBo/s4032/PXL_20210710_210235933.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgebS9tFqjNt8YPgYkYTRiqpgAutUEIZGl1al6rvKfICgoq7VbHK6yk-umr6aPSC849-rrd1QGSxdwJX1nr36CTLIaTvN_Q9p_PWvY-ppxtjxDk1WbIlpsM0PJrOT0QlVTGSN1-0fMPDtBo/s320/PXL_20210710_210235933.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The "still mostly flat" Digital Haze on July 10, 2021</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvQScDWb4XUB78TEboZb3grKI33NHVyxbTfZ7z1zL4O6gHkbr87qSgRfi8Z94OqElX_joMiPHLSKKoT3ml1t2edAI2dGNEDEc4xOYe663kp-yyMSKKZUgVVkNO-0Os4aykcdLmIlaphbDL/s3412/PXL_20210626_203716086.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2538" data-original-width="3412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvQScDWb4XUB78TEboZb3grKI33NHVyxbTfZ7z1zL4O6gHkbr87qSgRfi8Z94OqElX_joMiPHLSKKoT3ml1t2edAI2dGNEDEc4xOYe663kp-yyMSKKZUgVVkNO-0Os4aykcdLmIlaphbDL/s320/PXL_20210626_203716086.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The labels provided with the kit</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><b>08/25/2021:</b> Despite more than a month in the bottle, carbonation levels in this batch remain low. This suggests to me that the hypothetical "infection" I was dealing with a while back is no more, or perhaps was a result of using too many of the Brewer's Best carbonation drops in some batches and not an infection at all...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/10/2021:</b> Bottles of this beer opened yesterday showed a nice carbonation level. The fruitier elements of the flavor have unfortunately become muted, leaving it more like a traditional IPA than a Hazy or NEIPA.</div><div><br /></div><p></p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-3229050419689889382021-06-22T18:36:00.006-04:002021-06-27T11:28:10.449-04:00Recipe: Digital Haze IPA 2021 Kit from Brewer's Best and Yakima Chief Hops<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBL8YqxG4C-XE3q59M9XDDKeswQ_vKqfZr2NYej_Yukk5AmHrI6jIsSPoVtTFKKQYmoXhkh58jVMEO9BBheqTeQewgUSidi4_Y41_TP19ltoyUoTB1ilQ4x2JTHv52o0yW_ST2pBjjjng/s3412/PXL_20210626_203716086.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2538" data-original-width="3412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBL8YqxG4C-XE3q59M9XDDKeswQ_vKqfZr2NYej_Yukk5AmHrI6jIsSPoVtTFKKQYmoXhkh58jVMEO9BBheqTeQewgUSidi4_Y41_TP19ltoyUoTB1ilQ4x2JTHv52o0yW_ST2pBjjjng/s320/PXL_20210626_203716086.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />This was a limited edition kit announced during the Soluble Hop Compounds Tech Talk from Yakima Chief and Brewers Best at HomeBrewCon 2021. Since you might not have a chance to pick up the kit, or you might at least be wondering what's in it, I'm reproducing the recipe below for reference. I just received my kit today (and haven't brewed it yet, more on that later).<p></p><p>The kit came with a bottle opener, some literature from Yakima Chief and Brewer's Best, a set of adhesive labels for the bottles, bottle caps, and priming sugar for bottling. Unfortunately, mine seemed to be missing the 8 ounces of Carapils.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>4 pounds Pilsen DME<br />1 pound Corn Sugar<br />8 ounces Wheat (malted wheat, not flaked)<br />8 ounces Carapils<br />8 ounces Flaked Oats<br />3 one-ounce packages of Cryo Pop(tm) Hops<br />1 package of Lallemand Voss Kveik Yeast<br /></p><p>Beer characteristics from the sheet:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>IBUs:</b> 16-19</li><li><b>ABV:</b> 4.8% to 5.4%</li><li><b>OG:</b> 1.046 - 1.049 SG<br /></li><li><b>FG:</b> 1.008-1.011 SG</li><li><b>Color:</b> Hazy Pale Straw</li><li><b>Batch Size:</b> 5 gallons</li><li><b>Difficulty:</b> Advanced</li></ul><div>Instructions (paraphrased from the actual sheet):</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Read everything once before you begin brewing</li><li>Sanitize everything that will come in contact with the beer</li><li>Steep the grains in 2.5 gallons of water at 150-165F for 20 minutes, then remove the grains from the water and discard. If you have space in your brew kettle, add water to the 5 gallon mark</li><li>Bring the wort to a boil, then add 3 pounds of the Pilsen DME (you'll have 1 pound left for later)</li><li>Start a 60 minute countdown timer</li><li>With 10 minutes left in the boil, add the last pound of Pilsen DME and the pound of corn sugar</li><li>When the boil is over (i.e., the timer hits zero), chill the wort down to 180F.</li><li>Add one pack of Cryo Pop hops.</li><li>Steep for 20 minutes at 180F, gently stirring occasionally</li><li>Chill the wort down to 85F. If you didn't boil the full 5-gallon amount, add cold water to get your volume back up to 5 gallons now.</li><li>Transfer the chilled wort to a clean and sanitized fermenter.</li><li>Pitch the yeast when the wort is at a safe temperature for the yeast, then seal the fermenter and attach your airlock of blow-off tube.</li><li>The wort will begin fermenting within 24-48 hours. Once fermentation is underway, open the fermenter, add the two remaining packets of Cryo Pop hops and re-seal the fermenter.</li><li>Leave the beer to ferment 4-6 days more until fermentation is finished. You'll know fermentation is finished if three days' worth of gravity readings are the same.</li><li>Bottle and/or keg the beer using your normal procedure.</li></ul></div><p></p><p>If you can get the kit from your local homebrew shop or online retailer, I recommend getting it that way, but if it's sold out, you should be able to reproduce it using the above information. The Cryo Pop hops are sold at Label Peelers and other fine retailers.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwO1eJMc48w3ad58J88lBAV8Ipyrl3r7Z1ITLYReANfcQM2p25IOSKTOWFUeyJDI0-eSadLN-uzSUf9aerY00he0IvZcVc2N8FZb4SHOGjG1QDJYtIZRe_gNebQq5HUh74n5HuGOP5-tkK/s4032/PXL_20210623_005951033.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwO1eJMc48w3ad58J88lBAV8Ipyrl3r7Z1ITLYReANfcQM2p25IOSKTOWFUeyJDI0-eSadLN-uzSUf9aerY00he0IvZcVc2N8FZb4SHOGjG1QDJYtIZRe_gNebQq5HUh74n5HuGOP5-tkK/w300-h400/PXL_20210623_005951033.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0AxJUVYzougYfvD3JzXLLN5z7Qq-I61yz9xKGUu_49X6cu90X_qKeIImH0aZ-IeFPzXYjn3HZ3zWrJLMqGvNqjUkwHt3B4Q1LOFYDDSBSXlOR3h22L8axdcd1l61Z5ztd2stwaZEtCk5G/s4032/PXL_20210623_010000337.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0AxJUVYzougYfvD3JzXLLN5z7Qq-I61yz9xKGUu_49X6cu90X_qKeIImH0aZ-IeFPzXYjn3HZ3zWrJLMqGvNqjUkwHt3B4Q1LOFYDDSBSXlOR3h22L8axdcd1l61Z5ztd2stwaZEtCk5G/w300-h400/PXL_20210623_010000337.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><br /><p><br /></p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-58002970660610927252021-05-16T22:00:00.007-04:002021-06-21T10:05:33.566-04:002021 Batch 10 - High Rye Mash<p>While cleaning, reorganizing, and inventorying my brewing area, I discovered a bunch of rye malt that I had purchased early in 2020. It's almost certainly stale by now, so it's not going to make a very tasty beer. However, it will give me a chance to see what it would be like to mash a brew that contains a high percentage of rye in the grist. I found a recipe online that is purported to be the grain bill used by Brown-Forman to make Woodford Reserve Rye. Although I can't legally turn this into a whiskey, there's nothing illegal about making the mash just for fun and dumping it out. In the process, I should learn something about how a whiskey is mashed and the potential problems a distiller might encounter using a high amount of rye in the grain bill. That will be helpful in brewing beers with a fair amount of rye. And someday, if laws in the United States change to allow home distilling, I'll have some experience mashing in a whiskey.</p><div><br /></div><div>The purported Woodford Reserve Rye recipe is:</div><div><ul><li>15% corn</li><li>65% rye malt</li><li>20% barley malt</li></ul><div>This is the approximate ratio I'll be using. I'll likely round up or down to the nearest ounce.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Undoubtedly, some of you reading this will be wondering why I would bother mashing some grain and then tossing the wort. One reason is that I doubt this will make an enjoyable beer. The grain is well over a year old, and even if I did hop it and turn it into a beer, it seems unlikely to taste very good. The other, more important, reason is that I will gain experience mashing with rye and be able to take gravity readings and other measurements to help me dial in my brewhouse efficiency and mash/sparge calculations without risking a batch of wort I really care about. (I can do all this while finishing the cleanup and organization in my brewing space, so the time spent in the area won't be wasted.)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Ingredients</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>5 pounds, 2 ounces Rye Malt</div><div>1.25 pounds German Pilsner Malt</div><div>1.25 pounds Flaked Corn</div><div>0.75 tsp. Alpha Amylase to ensure conversion</div><div>1.50 tsp. pH 5.2 Stabilizer to help hold pH</div><div>3 gallons of mash water</div><div>1.5 gallons of sparge water</div><div><br /></div><div>Brewfather estimates that I should end up with 3 gallons of mash at a gravity of approximately 1.060 SG.</div><div><br /></div><div>The mash will be a simple one-step mash at 140F for 60 minutes. I'll sparge with 1.5 gallons of room temperature water, then boil it down to 3 gallons, cool, and check the gravity.</div><div><br /></div><div>If I was going to make a whiskey of this (and I'm not), I would bring it to a boil to kill off any bacteria or wild yeast, then chill it to a temperature appropriate for a yeast like DADY or US-05 and ferment it. </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brewing Notes and Observations</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div><b>05/16/2021:</b> I got my first bit of bad news early in the mash. I tried to switch on The Grainfather's recirculating pump, to no avail. I could hear the controller relay clicking on, but the pump was silent and free of any vibration. Fortunately, I had purchased a potential replacement on sale a few months back, kind of expecting this to happen eventually. (The Grainfather is about 7 years old at this point.) Unfortunately, with the thing full of wort, I couldn't just swap the pump out mid-brew as it would have sent hot wort pouring out... which would have been a serious mess. I decided to go ahead, finish the mash, and dump the wort into a stainless fermenter to cool down (so that I could check the gravity and measure the finished volume) give it a quick clean, and then replace the pump and test out.</div><div><br /></div><div>I got my second bit of bad news going into the fermenter. Instead of 3 gallons at 1.060 SG, the result was 2.4 gallons at 1.030 SG. That makes for a really horrendous brewhouse efficiency. I guess that's no surprise, given that the wort could not recirculate through The Grainfather as it normally does.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I'd dealt with the disappointing wort, I disassembled the pump from The Grainfather's chassis. The new pump I had purchased, of course, was a different size from the factory pump and oriented in such a way that it could not mount to the chassis as it was. This left me with two options. Spend $189 plus shipping for a replacement pump, or cobble something together using the pump I had purchased and existing lengths of heat-resistant silicone tubing and hose clamps. I attached barbed hose ends to the pump input and output, sealed with teflon tape. I then sawed off the ends of the plastic assembly that covered the factory pump so that the new pump would fit. I constructed a metal band bracket to hold the new pump in place and screwed it to the existing plastic chassis. Then I cut lengths of silicone tubing and secured it to the stainless steel line coming from the kettle to the pump's input hole, and clamped those in place. Next, I cut a length of tubing to connect the wort return line to the pump's output side, and clamped that in place. It looks very jerry-rigged, but to my surprise it worked the first time without leaks.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdt5HOTnmIZ_rNgkebNHfW9ZhZx1pavfp9VepVk8QmsoUaALaC2ygYP-1FbjU5402VWfU2RgGnzpahAzaZRhqXgheYeyIlKuq7TiAkmDIEXJJYMz6_VWWhqfRlALjPdVtWfLMihQRe77-L/s4032/PXL_20210516_192546419.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image of the new pump attached to Grainfather" border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdt5HOTnmIZ_rNgkebNHfW9ZhZx1pavfp9VepVk8QmsoUaALaC2ygYP-1FbjU5402VWfU2RgGnzpahAzaZRhqXgheYeyIlKuq7TiAkmDIEXJJYMz6_VWWhqfRlALjPdVtWfLMihQRe77-L/w400-h300/PXL_20210516_192546419.jpg" title="The new pump installed on The Grainfather" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div>I'm grateful that the pump decided to die during a test mash that I didn't really care about, instead of during a full-size high-gravity brew that might have resulted in the loss of a lot of expensive ingredients.</div><div><br /></div>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-65581190662933975252021-04-17T21:49:00.004-04:002021-05-16T11:53:42.138-04:002021 Batch 7 - Hemp-infused Rye Pale Ale 1.0Label Peelers had a sale on hemp for homebrewing purposes a few weeks back, and I picked up a package of their Hawaiian Haze hemp variety. It should be noted that this is NOT a variety of marijuana, but a legal hemp product that does not contain the psychoactive compound THC which causes the "high" feeling but does contain some amount of CBD (which does not get a person high but purports to have anti-inflammatory and other health benefits). I'd had a commercial beer flavored with some hemp compounds and thought it was interesting, so I decided to try such a beer for myself... because I can.<div><br /></div><div>According to the label on the package of hemp, it contains less than 0.3% THC and 14.3% CBD. I added a half ounce to this three gallon recipe, with a small amount going in early in the boil to release CBD and the rest going in at whirlpool to release flavor and aroma compounds (and probably a lesser amount of CBD).</div><div><br /></div><div>The base recipe here started out as an American Homebrewers Association competition winner, but I ended up not having two of the three specialty malts or the hops, so for most intents and purposes it's my own recipe.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>6 pounds of Briess 2-row Pale Malt</div><div>13 ounces Flaked Rye</div><div>12 ounces Caramel 10L</div><div>4 ounces Baird's Carastan Malt</div><div>11 ounces Florida Orange Blossom Honey</div><div>1 Tbsp. pH 5.2 Stabilizer (after grain is added to mash water)</div><div>0.2 ounces XJA/436 Experimental Hops @ 15.2% AA (first wort)</div><div>0.2 ounces XJA/436 Experimental Hops @ 15.2% AA (15 min.)</div><div>0.2 ounces XJA/436 Experimental Hops @ 15.2% AA (10 min.)</div><div>0.4 ounces XJA/436 Experimental Hops @ 15.2% AA (5 min.)</div><div>0.1 ounces Hawaiian Haze hemp flower (first wort)</div><div>0.2 ounces Hawaiian Haze hemp flower (flameout/whirlpool 30 min.)</div><div>0.2 ounces Hawaiian Haze hemp flower (dry hop)</div><div>0.5 ounces XJA/436 Experimental Hops @ 15.2% AA (dry hop)</div><div>1/2 tsp. Fermaid K yeast nutrient (15 min.)</div><div>1/2 tsp. Irish Moss (15 min.)</div><div>1 packet Mangrove Jack's Liberty Bell yeast</div><div><br /></div><div>Brewfather estimates the beer will have the following characteristics:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>BJCP Category:</b> Not sure. Experimental Ale?</li><li><b>Batch Size:</b> 3.25 gallons</li><li><b>Original Gravity:</b> 1.061 SG estimated, 1.058 SG actual</li><li><b>Final Gravity:</b> 1.011 SG estimated</li><li><b>IBUs:</b> 50</li><li><b>SRM:</b> 15</li><li><b>ABV:</b> 6.2% estimated</li></ul></div><div>Mash schedule:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Mash in at 120F</li><li>Mash at 150F for 60 minutes</li><li>Mash out at 170F for 10 minutes</li><li>Sparge</li></ul><div>Boil schedule:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Add 0.2 ounces of hops while bringing wort to a boil</li><li>60 minutes: Added 0.2 ounces of Hawaiian Haze and 0.2 ounces hops</li><li>15 minutes: Add 0.2 ounces hops, yeast nutrient, Irish moss</li><li>10 minutes: Add 0.1 ounces hops</li><li>5 minutes: Add 0.4 ounces hops</li><li>0 minutes: Whirlpool 0.1 ounces Hawaiian Haze for 30 minutes</li></ul><div>Fermentation plan:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The yeast handles a temperature range of 64-73F. My basement is currently around 63-64F, which should help keep this yeast well within range during fermentation, without temperature control.</li><li>When fermentation starts to slow, add 0.1 ounces of Hawaiian Haze and 0.5 ounces of hops for 3-4 days until fermentation is finished.</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Notes and Observations</b></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b>04/17/2021:</b> The brew went pretty smoothly overall. I should probably have dialed the amount of water back slightly, because once I filled the fermenter to about the 3.1 gallon mark, I still had maybe a half-gallon or more in the kettle that I tossed. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKIpyMNxjRJHlXS6Ssc19v9xilT8NkVC_R0aRAh4telx1L0HwguQUf-RKzBCKKtJ5CRAa4ig8u9Dy56Weh8qd-GNBp8B3MhU1nLbw4Wk_j_Sx9DI4se-ILLQCRvg3Cz7ICXF7Jzs87pj7t/s4032/PXL_20210417_203042946.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKIpyMNxjRJHlXS6Ssc19v9xilT8NkVC_R0aRAh4telx1L0HwguQUf-RKzBCKKtJ5CRAa4ig8u9Dy56Weh8qd-GNBp8B3MhU1nLbw4Wk_j_Sx9DI4se-ILLQCRvg3Cz7ICXF7Jzs87pj7t/s320/PXL_20210417_203042946.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hawaiian Haze hemp package</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj19vMVUhh8chJuTTxYIb7Sr-R3gszJRKT98bNBAe3V74nCZsP6B6S0lPga_cBSxTwsPT-ftc5aM2r3m_NHKgfQtq4D_affkfkWGRoGysA8d6pr23W1KJ-SRoru2FPUEY7Zb8A9k4mpSJVp/s4032/PXL_20210417_203035207.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj19vMVUhh8chJuTTxYIb7Sr-R3gszJRKT98bNBAe3V74nCZsP6B6S0lPga_cBSxTwsPT-ftc5aM2r3m_NHKgfQtq4D_affkfkWGRoGysA8d6pr23W1KJ-SRoru2FPUEY7Zb8A9k4mpSJVp/s320/PXL_20210417_203035207.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Half-Ounce of Hawaiian Haze hemp</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbdJWofBcPxNVONzXT3D0h2rDp62PFlwUVkmZ4fmkaE8iHCfveH5_2eo4Cr52wScVQyic-xYpm0wPw6AGNIrRaLt0RIQmTqfJAKegMCmw4LQ1Rs5bDKjSI2RW_sElCHPA13veW8s-YAUva/s4032/PXL_20210417_214127321.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbdJWofBcPxNVONzXT3D0h2rDp62PFlwUVkmZ4fmkaE8iHCfveH5_2eo4Cr52wScVQyic-xYpm0wPw6AGNIrRaLt0RIQmTqfJAKegMCmw4LQ1Rs5bDKjSI2RW_sElCHPA13veW8s-YAUva/s320/PXL_20210417_214127321.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">XJA/436 Experimental Hops Package</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3XmxmK75u3uknff18oQlOve4eoZTuXFJaTFAMQjtVXJoyKn32NfBWBjBC_1eh0v8OlxRRDGT56Un4mb9t5L2Q7ub5HttPn_Kf5R21eUF4zFdo4DNd527ozD8hD3pluSoKdG94evueugx1/s4032/PXL_20210418_010642898.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3XmxmK75u3uknff18oQlOve4eoZTuXFJaTFAMQjtVXJoyKn32NfBWBjBC_1eh0v8OlxRRDGT56Un4mb9t5L2Q7ub5HttPn_Kf5R21eUF4zFdo4DNd527ozD8hD3pluSoKdG94evueugx1/s320/PXL_20210418_010642898.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finished wort in the fermenter</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-9604461693538006952021-04-04T17:21:00.009-04:002021-05-09T14:35:59.942-04:002021 Batch 6 - Mandarin Orange Wine 1.0<p>While watching an episode of Moonshiners recently, I saw Mark Ramsey and Digger Manes create a moonshine mash using nothing more than cans of Mandarin Oranges, sugar, and yeast. Mark and Digger had a problem with their mash, however, in that they did not account for the acidic content of the oranges. This acidity caused the yeast to go dormant or die out. To counteract that, they added baking soda (and maybe some fresh yeast) to jump-start the fermentation. When a nearby grocery chain had a deal on Mandarin Oranges, I decided to try making a mandarin orange wine myself.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>5 cans (15 oz. each) of Mandarin Oranges in light syrup<br />1/2 tsp. Gypsum<br />1/2 tsp. Yeast nutrient<br />8 pounds of table sugar (cane sugar)<br />2 gallons of RO water heated to 150F<br />2.5 tsp. baking soda (see Post-Brew Notes and Observations)<br />1 Tbsp. DADY (distiller's yeast)<br />Enough additional RO water to reach 5 gallons in the fermenter</p><p>Brewing process:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Clean and sanitize the fermenter</li><li>Begin heating the RO water to 150F</li><li>Open the cans of Mandarin Oranges</li><li>Pour 2-3 cans (whatever fits comfortably) in a blender and blend to break up the big chunks of orange, then dump in fermenter.</li><li>When the water is at temp, turn off the heat and stir in the 8 pounds of table sugar</li><li>Stir in the baking soda, gypsum, and yeast nutrient</li><li>Add the hot water to the fermenter and stir well</li><li>Add cold RO water to the 5 gallon mark in the fermenter and stir well</li><li>When the temp is 90F or lower, add the yeast and stir well again</li><li>Seal the fermenter and setup temp control to hold it at 89F</li></ul><div>Gravity should read around 1.065-1.070 depending on the sweetness of the oranges and other factors.</div><p></p><p>After 7-14 days, there should be no change in gravity for at least 3 days, signifying the end of fermentation. At that time, you can strain off the solid material from the liquid using cheesecloth or another straining/filtering medium. </p><p>Taste the resulting wine and decide on your next steps. If you want it to remain "still" (uncarbonated) and backsweeten it, you can heat the wine to 140F to kill off the yeast, then add sugar to your desired sweetness level and bottle it. If you want to carbonate it and backsweeten it, you'll need to use a sweetener that yeast cannot ferment (e.g., Stevia) to hit your desired sweetness level, then use priming sugar to reach the desired carbonation level. If it's legal where you are (in the USA it is not), you could also do what Mark and Digger did, which is to distill the liquid into a form of liquor and consume it that way.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Notes and Observations</b></p><p><b>04/03/2021:</b> I put this together fairly quickly and easily. The most time-consuming parts were heating the water, dissolving the sugar, and cleaning up afterward. My pH meter read somewhere in the 5.6 region in the fermenter, so I ended up adding another half-gallon of RO water to drop it closer to 4.2. If I was doing this recipe again, I'd only add 2 tsp. of baking soda and adjust if needed.</p><p>There was fermentation activity in the airlock pretty soon after pitching the yeast, so the slightly higher pH didn't seem to stop fermentation, thankfully. Gravity read 1.065-1.069 SG on the Tilt Hydrometer.</p><p><b>04/04/2021:</b> There is regular airlock activity now, about a "burp" every second. Gravity is reading only 1.064 SG, down from a high point of 1.070 SG overnight. I didn't have temperature control running overnight, but at about 5pm today I put that in place at set it at 89F, so I am hopeful that fermentation will kick into high gear when the liquid reaches that temp. It's about 73F as I write this.</p><p><b>04/04/2021 8:53pm:</b> Gravity is now 1.063 SG, and temp is up to 82F.</p><p><b>04/05/2021:</b> Gravity is down to 1.058 with a temp of 85F. That means the mash is about 14% fermented at this point.</p><p><b>04/06/2021:</b> Gravity is down to 1.046-1.047 SG today, with the temp holding at 85F. Gravity has been on a steady downward slope since yeast pitch, suggesting that the pH level is adequate for the yeast.</p><p><b>04/07/2021:</b> Gravity is down to 1.034 SG today with a temp of 87F. That makes it roughly 5% ABV already with plenty of fermentation still to do.</p><p><b>04/11/2021:</b> Gravity is down to 0.999 SG today with a temp of 90F. That makes it roughly 9.6% ABV.</p><p><b>04/12/2021:</b> Fermentation is definitely slowing. Gravity is showing as 0.998 SG today at a temp of 89F.</p><p><b>05/09/2021:</b> No real flavor to this thing. A hint of orange, but not what you'd expect for the color and aroma. I'm going to dispose of it.</p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-3748969287715074962021-04-04T17:00:00.012-04:002021-04-12T10:06:02.012-04:002021 Batch 5 - Rice Wine 5.0<p>I'm doing yet another batch of Rice Wine since I still have plenty of rice and Angel Yeast on hand. I had some issues with the last batch that I want to be sure I've sorted out.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>15 pounds of Kroger-brand long-grain White Rice<br />40 grams of yellow-label Angel Yeast<br />1/2 tsp. Gypsum<br />1/2 tsp. yeast nutrient (Fermaid O)<br />3 gallons of RO water, heated to 177F<br />Additional RO water to get to 5 gallons of fermenter volume</p><p>As with previous batches, the process for this one is:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Heat 3 gallons of RO water to 177F</li><li>Place 15 pounds of rice in a sanitized fermenter</li><li>Pour the heated water over the rice and let it sit for at least one hour (I did overnight)</li><li>Add cold water to the 5-5.5 gallon mark in the fermenter</li><li>When the temp is 90F, add the Angel yeast and stir well</li><li>Clean and sanitize your stirrer, you'll need it later</li><li>Seal the fermenter and hold temp at 90F</li></ul><div>For days 1-3, stir the contents of the fermenter twice daily with the cleaned and sanitized spoon. After day 3, leave the fermenter alone and allow the yeast mix to do its job.</div><div><br /></div><div>You may smell some funky and unpleasant aromas from the fermenter. Unless you're seeing mold or something growing on top of the fermenter contents, this should all be normal.</div><div><br /></div><div>After 7-14 days, you should notice the unpleasant aromas are nearly gone and a Saison-ish funk remains. If you're not seeing bubbling in the liquid or other signs of fermentation, or you've had three or more days of completely unchanging readings from your hydrometer, it should be finished.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Notes and Observations</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>04/03/2021:</b> Sanitized the fermenter, added the rice, and the hot water. Left it alone until almost 5pm on April 4, by which time the temp had dropped to around 73F. Stirred in the Angel Yeast and set up temperature control to hold the fermenter at 90F for the rest of fermentation.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>04/04/2021 ~5pm:</b> Temp is reading 74F and gravity is reading 1.009 SG. BTW, it's not at all unusual for the gravity in these batches using Angel Yeast to start out and remain low. The enzymes in the yeast mix tend to break down the starches in the rice into sugars at about the same speed that the yeast consumes them, so we generally only see some slight fluctuations in gravity during the fermentation process. This makes it a bit challenging to know when fermentation has finished, though if you use something like the Tilt Hydrometer to measure it, you'll see the gravity almost completely stop fluctuating at the time the fermentation is over. It will tend to just land on a value under 1.000 SG and stay there for 3-4 days.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>04/04/2021 8:54pm:</b> Gravity is reading 1.011 SG and temp is up to 88F.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>04/05/2021:</b> Gravity reading was 1.003 in the morning, and temp was 90F. This drop in gravity from last night suggests that the Angel Yeast is doing its job and has begun converting and fermenting the rice.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>04/06/2021:</b> Gravity is reading erratically on the Tilt today, randomly showing 0.999 SG through 1.007 SG depending on the moment you look at the data. However, in Brewfather, the general trend of gravity is downward - as I would expect to see from an Angel Yeast ferment.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>04/07/2021:</b> Gravity is reading 1.004-1.010 SG today, but as it fluctuates it looks as though it's still headed downward. Temp is holding at 89F.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>04/11/2021:</b> Gravity is now reading 1.023 SG, and has gone up periodically since its low point of 1.006 on Wednesday. I don't quite know what to make of that. I may need to toss another batch. I stirred the contents of the fermenter well and since the gravity seemed remarkably high, tried pitching some champagne yeast to see if that would scavenge any remaining sugar. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>04/12/2021:</b> Gravity continues to read 1.023 SG.</div>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-70966508912089478632021-03-11T23:50:00.007-05:002021-04-04T17:28:08.214-04:002021 Batch 4 - Rice Wine 4.0<p>Since I've still got plenty of rice on-hand and plenty of yellow-label Angel Yeast, I decided to do a few more batches of rice wine. I'll look for something fun to do with it later. I've about got this down to a science. Sanitize a fermenter, load it with 15 pounds of rice, add 178F water, wait until the temperature drops down to around 90F, and pitch the Angel Yeast.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>15 pounds Nishiki rice<br />3 gallons of water at 178F<br />1/2 tsp. Gypsum<br />1/2 tsp. Fermaid O yeast nutrient<br />1 tsp. Alpha Amylase<br />1.5 gallons cold water<br />40 grams Angel Yeast</p><p>Note: Gypsum is added for water conditioning. Fermaid O and Alpha Amylase are not strictly necessary, but I've been adding them because I have a good supply of both. I add the Amylase when I add the hot water, to help break down the rice some before I pitch the yeast mix.</p><p>Brewing process:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Begin heating 3 gallons of water to 178F</li><li>Sanitize 7 gallon fermenter</li><li>Dump 15 pounds of rice into fermenter</li><li>Add Gypsum, yeast nutrient, and alpha amylase to the rice</li><li>When water hits temp, put water over the rice</li><li>Stir well, then close up the fermenter</li><li>Leave at least one hour (I'm leaving it overnight) to hydrate the rice</li><li>Add cold water to the 5.5 gallon mark on the fermenter</li><li>When temp is 90F, add Angel Yeast and stir well</li><li>For the first three days of fermentation, stir well to degas and keep yeast in suspension</li><li>After 7-14 days, fermentation should finish</li><li>Strain liquid away from solids and apply finings, if desired</li></ul><div>After that you can bottle it, barrel age it, or whatever you want to do with it.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Notes and Observations</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>03/11/2021:</b> Loaded rice and hot water into fermenter. Wrapped insulation around the fermenter to keep it warm overnight. Set my temp control for 90F, though with the hot water it was around 150F inside the fermenter initially. I plan to leave this overnight. Tomorrow I'll add more water to get to the 5.5 gallon mark and when the temp is right, pitch the Angel Yeast.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>03/12/2021 (6pm):</b> Pitched the Angel Yeast and stirred well. Fermenter showed signs of activity pretty soon afterward, when I went to do the first stir.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>03/15/2021:</b> I've decided to stir only once daily, but for additional days, to see if this changes the yield in any significant way. I don't really expect it to, as the Angel Yeast works exceptionally well for rice wine and seems to be pretty bulletproof.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>04/04/2021:</b> Update... Although this batch did finish fermentation, choosing not to stir it appears to have been a significant mistake. It stalled out at a gravity around 1.009 SG and never finished out. It also picked up a pretty significant vinegary taste and aroma, which made it unpleasant to drink. I don't recommend skipping the twice-daily stirring - and it's possible that this picked up a bacterial infection that caused the vinegar aroma/flavor, so be careful with your cleaning and sanitation on it. I ended up tossing this batch.</div>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-33344343113559592112021-02-28T23:30:00.004-05:002021-04-04T17:01:32.295-04:002021 Batch 3 - Rice Wine 3.0<p>Decided to do a few more batches of rice wine with the Angel Yeast to see how well it continues to work.</p><p>This will be the strongest batch yet (or at least the one with the biggest grain bill).</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>15 pounds Happy Belly (Amazon) Calrose Rice (uncooked, fresh from the package)<br />3 gallons of water at 177F<br />1.25 tsp. Alpha Amylase powder (not needed, really)<br />1/2 tsp. Gypsum<br />0.50 tsp. Fermaid O yeast nutrient (also probably not needed)<br />1 gallon cold water<br />40 grams yellow-label Angel Yeast<br /><br /></p><p>"Brewing" Process:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Heat 3 gallons of water to 177F using The Grainfather (or your preferred method)</li><li>Place 15 pounds of rice, alpha amylase, gypsum, and yeast nutrient in sanitized fermenter</li><li>Put 177F water into fermenter, which should mellow out to about 155F depending on ambient temperature and rice temperature</li><li>Stir rice and water well to ensure all rice gets in contact with water</li><li>Let sit for 1 hour to hydrate the rice a bit</li><li>Add cold water to the 5.5 gallon mark</li><li>Wait for temp inside fermenter to drop to 90F</li><li>Once at 90F rehydrate the Angel Yeast in 90F water and add to fermenter</li><li>Stir one more time and seal fermenter</li></ul><div>Fermentation Process:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Hold the fermenter at 87F-92F (90F is ideal) for 14 days</li><li>On days 1, 2, and 3, stir the contents of the fermenter very well, basically until you no longer see a significant number of bubbles coming up from within the liquid (you're essentially helping remove the CO2 and keeping everything in suspension)</li><li>Note that for days 1-7 the contents of the fermenter may spell fairly unpleasant. This is normal and should be ignored. It will gradually dissipate and become a "funky" background note by day 10 or so.</li><li>For days 4-14, maintain temperature at 90-92F to allow fermentation to finish out.</li></ul><div>What you do with the rice wine at this point depends on you. You could apply finings and clear it up, then bottle it. You could also take the clear wine and pasteurize it, then back-sweeten and flavor with fruit flavor (like Korean Soju). Or you could process it any number of other ways. </div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Observations and Notes</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>02/28/2021:</b> Since this is my third batch of this, I wanted to share some general thoughts and observations that may help someone doing this for the first time:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The stirring during the first 3 days is important. This yeast generates a LOT of CO2 and could suffocate itself if you don't degas it on a regular basis. </li><li>You <i>can</i> cook the rice before fermenting, but in my experience this makes for a bigger mess and makes it harder to separate the grain from the liquid at the end of the process. The uncooked rice ferments just fine with Angel Yeast.</li><li>Super Kleer finings will help clarify the rice wine, but in my experience was not enough. You may need to try some other finings until you get something that works. I've not succeeded in getting crystal clear rice wine yet.</li><li>ABV is hard to estimate because of the way Angel Yeast works, but I think this will come out to around 12% ABV... but that's a best guess and is not a true measurement.</li><li>I add the alpha amylase and yeast nutrient, though I have done batches without them and they have turned out no different, so they are optional for sure. I find that adding the alpha amylase does convert some of the starches before the Angel Yeast is introduced, which I think allows it to get to work a lot sooner and finish a little sooner. Your results may vary.</li><li>The finished rice wine, using a Goya Medium Grain rice, had an aroma that was a little citrusy, a little rice-like, and having a hint of a Saison-like funk. The flavor was lighter than the aroma, being a tiny bit funky, a little tart, and mostly kind of neutral with some hints of rice. The mouthfeel was decidedly thin, nearly watery in fact. You could certainly drink and enjoy it just as it is, but I think if you filtered (or used finings) until it was clear and maybe carbonated and/or flavored it, you might have something pretty nice. I can see it being a good summertime beverage if it was sweetened slightly and flavored with lemon or orange.</li></ul></div><div>This is really a very simple brew. Heat water, add to rice, stir. Rehydrate yeast, add to fermenter, and stir again. Stir fir the first three days every 12 hours (roughly), and let it go until it's finished. Given the cost of rice (I picked up 20 pounds at a grocery in town for under $13), it's an inexpensive brew to experiment with, which is one reason I've kept doing it this year.</div><p></p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-2376294554280941032021-02-19T09:32:00.002-05:002021-04-21T11:25:36.275-04:00Yellow Label Angel Yeast vs. Typical Brewing Yeast<p>I currently have my second batch of rice wine fermenting with the "magical" yellow-label Angel Yeast from China, and wanted to share some of the more unusual aspects of using it. If you've never seen or used this yeast, I suspect you're not alone. It ships in a 500 gram package that looks like this:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRrgifl9KOvn3JtdnoCLDOyPQgjuB4jXKPRkfz4MqE99KVcUiSv0ouFUAoTKxH_YXQkAwP_YwmL1CpphyrB4Iune2HDoiv82XzXkOkknrs-AhvmzU7EIEmX68YVg3Y3TQ1ZqTwa8XsiDHB/s4032/PXL_20210113_222013208.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRrgifl9KOvn3JtdnoCLDOyPQgjuB4jXKPRkfz4MqE99KVcUiSv0ouFUAoTKxH_YXQkAwP_YwmL1CpphyrB4Iune2HDoiv82XzXkOkknrs-AhvmzU7EIEmX68YVg3Y3TQ1ZqTwa8XsiDHB/s320/PXL_20210113_222013208.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>What makes it "yellow label" is that yellow box you see in the upper left corner of the package. This implies that it's yeast for distilling (though you do not need to have a still or distill the output to use it). </p><p>As I understand it, inside the package is a mix of yeast and other materials which will convert starch into sugar and directly ferment it, without the need for a traditional mash step. This can radically shorten your brewing time. For my most-recent batch of rice wine, I heated 3 gallons of water to 155F, poured it over 13+ pounds of uncooked rice straight out of the bag, let that soak for an hour, rehydrated some of this yeast in warm water, added cold to the fermenter containing the rice mix to get the temp down to 90F, then pitched in the rehydrated yeast and stirred. Within hours there was airlock activity. The total time investment on my part had to be well under two hours to get that going. Compare that with any all-grain homebrew activity. Even with a shortened mash and boil, you would be hard pressed to keep the time under two hours.</p><p>One thing that's kind of odd about using Angel Yeast is that it can be hard to determine the equivalent of starting gravity and the alcohol by volume. That's because when you initially pitch the Angel Yeast, the gravity will show as approximately the same as water because none of the starch has converted. It will stay fairly close to water throughout the conversion and fermentation process. The current batch I'm fermenting started with about 13.4 pounds of uncooked rice in a total volume (water and rice) of 5.5 gallons. Using Brewfather and substituting flaked rice for uncooked rice (which is not likely to be a 1:1 substitution), I get an original gravity around 1.071 SG. My best guess is that it should end up around 10% ABV, but this all depends on how well the yeast mix converts the rice. </p><p>I wondered what I would see if a Tilt Hydrometer measured the gravity of a batch brewing with Angel Yeast. The answer is that you can see that there is "activity" going on in the fermenter (in the form of changing gravity of the liquid) but it doesn't directly correlate into a traditional fermentation process. </p><p>For example, here's a graph of fermentation for a beer wort fermented with traditional ale yeast:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiVwSTdBCsAyFkFdnA_jeX2vumBzWeqbcl2zQnIfpyNtEmTRenjP8gT5acO7z81B19nG91fbV42kYOy2ZUbvCpKNIB6HMVL5aIThBpjkEe-YpjQWm25EffhFyee8RvIu8RFAtmG-kutSl-/s572/Chateau-Jiahu-Fermentation-in-Brewfather.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="572" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiVwSTdBCsAyFkFdnA_jeX2vumBzWeqbcl2zQnIfpyNtEmTRenjP8gT5acO7z81B19nG91fbV42kYOy2ZUbvCpKNIB6HMVL5aIThBpjkEe-YpjQWm25EffhFyee8RvIu8RFAtmG-kutSl-/s320/Chateau-Jiahu-Fermentation-in-Brewfather.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>The red line in the graph depicts the gravity of the wort as measured by the Tilt Hydrometer. We see virtually no change in gravity for a while as the yeast acclimates to its new home and gets ready to reproduce. Then there's a sharp drop-off as the yeast starts fermenting very actively and consuming lots of the sugar in the wort. Finally, the curve levels off as the yeast finishes up the last of the sugar it can eat and begins going dormant. </p><p>A graph of fermentation of a rice "mash" with the yellow-label Angel Yeast shows a totally different behavior profile:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3nWQgLysKYdQyWMay8sbH1mVaD2bDAgn65vydG4wzi0NdcsP-7lWw4hd35eanr0k1SzLxH5SJNKdlVDu8USYqSb1NOumnybbYXznU9L8apGo4TEOs6a3KK1_K3DwzXNMViJt67KUW2MAI/s916/angel-yeast-graph.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="916" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3nWQgLysKYdQyWMay8sbH1mVaD2bDAgn65vydG4wzi0NdcsP-7lWw4hd35eanr0k1SzLxH5SJNKdlVDu8USYqSb1NOumnybbYXznU9L8apGo4TEOs6a3KK1_K3DwzXNMViJt67KUW2MAI/s320/angel-yeast-graph.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>There's a slight increase in gravity at the start as the starches are broken down into sugars and the Tilt sees the increase in gravity. Soon, however, the yeast gets to work on these sugars and gravity begins to approach 1.000 SG. Gravity tends to stay in the 0.994 SG to 1.003 SG range as simultaneous conversion and fermentation take place in an approximately-balanced process.</p><p>This gradual decrease in gravity is consistent across batches. For example, here's the graph from another recent batch fermented with Angel Yeast. Note a very slight gradual decline in gravity over time:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBCCPO_aeidf20ylICp5HtVa8pryKyLl29aKu1eccnx9AbECt-XXn5JGGhPujSf4Hu5xZvQKWa6YDS_HDPOMdOwHcxe2nGsP_QtrmCX1n-9PcM9zZiUTmG5nI0LTTaumxiF7LUYdXVXzQO/s1198/Angel-Yeast-Gradual-Gravity-Drop.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="761" data-original-width="1198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBCCPO_aeidf20ylICp5HtVa8pryKyLl29aKu1eccnx9AbECt-XXn5JGGhPujSf4Hu5xZvQKWa6YDS_HDPOMdOwHcxe2nGsP_QtrmCX1n-9PcM9zZiUTmG5nI0LTTaumxiF7LUYdXVXzQO/s320/Angel-Yeast-Gradual-Gravity-Drop.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>During the first 2-3 days of fermentation, you have to keep stirring the contents of the fermenter to help de-gas the liquid, keep everything in suspension, and (I suspect) aerate it a little. You'll notice when you do this that the aroma coming off the fermentation is pretty unpleasant, something like like rotten eggs or old socks. This will gradually subside and won't be there in the finished product (in my experience, anyway). You'll also notice a lot of carbonation being released by the stirring, resembling a soft drink or champagne initially and gradually dropping off. </p><p>Knowing that you want to get as much out of your grain (rice) as possible, a challenge is knowing when the Angel Yeast is finished doing its job. Having an airlock on your fermenter will help with this, though that's only somewhat reliable. I saw no airlock activity at all for the first 24 hours or so, despite it being obvious when I stirred the fermenter contents that CO2 was coming out in quantity. It was only on days 2-3 that I saw very clear, very active airlock activity. You're probably better off relying on a combination of airlock observation and time to determine when fermentation is finished. I'd recommend that even if you think conversion and fermentation are finished on day 4-7, you let it run through to day 14 before considering it finished. Even if you are right, the extra time will allow the solids to settle out and any remaining unpleasant aromas to work their way out as well. </p><p>I've yet to try this on barley or any other grain, but I do plan to do so in the future just to see what the finished product tastes like. To be honest, I am doubting it will be anything like a real beer, but I am curious to know whether it's pleasant and/or drinkable.</p><p><b>Update 04/21/2021:</b> This yeast looks like it does have an ABV limit. Monitoring with the Tilt Hydrometer, I've seen that any time I use 15 pounds of rice in a 5-gallon batch, gravity will slowly drop to a certain level, then gradually start increasing over time. For example, a batch I started about two weeks ago got down to a gravity reading of around 1.006 and then started climbing. It's currently reading 1.030 SG and shows signs of increasing further. I tried compensating by adding champagne yeast to the fermenter but this seems to have made no difference.</p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-17253724651059820952021-02-17T08:30:00.003-05:002021-02-19T09:38:07.662-05:002021 Batch 2 - Rice Wine 2.0<p>The last batch of rice wine turned out OK. It was very thin-bodied and fairly low in alcohol (an estimated 7% ABV). The flavor was fairly non-descript with a slight tartness. I decided to do another, stronger batch to put the yellow-label Angel Yeast through a bigger challenge.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>13.4 pounds (uncooked) medium grain rice<br />3 gallons of water at 155F<br />36 grams yellow-label Angel Yeast<br />1 tsp. Gypsum<br />Additional cold tap water, about 1 gallon</p><p>The entire "Mashing and Brewing" process:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Heat water to 155F. While the water is heating, sanitize a fermenter and dump the rice into it.</li><li>When the rice hits 155F, pour it over the rice in the fermenter and stir to ensure the rice gets wet.</li><li>Cover the fermenter and leave to sit for an hour or more.</li><li>Add cold water to the 5.5 gallon mark and stir well.</li><li>Add the Angel Yeast to about 5-6 ounces of 90F water and stir well to rehydrate.</li><li>Add the rehydrated yeast to the fermenter and stir well again.</li><li>Seal the fermenter</li></ul><div>Fermentation plan:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Days 1, 2, and 3:</b> Hold the fermenter at 90F. Every 12 hours (approximately), stir the contents of the fermenter to ensure all is mixed well and to off-gas the CO2. You'll know you've stirred enough when you see the carbonation bubbles stop appearing after a stir.</li><li><b>Days 4 through 14:</b> Hold the fermenter at 90F until all activity appears to have stopped. If you're seeing nothing from the hydrometer for a really long time, it's probably done. Depending on the temperature, amount of yeast and rice, and other factors, it might take longer than 14 days or might finish a little sooner.</li></ul></div><div>You can complete the mash and brew process in an hour or so, depending on how quickly you can heat the water to 155F. That makes it a fairly quick and easy thing to make.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Notes and Observations</b></div><div><br /></div><div><b>02/16/2021:</b> Although not at all necessary, I added about a tsp. of Alpha Amylase to the water while heating it. I dropped a Tilt Hydrometer in with the rice and water while waiting for the mix to "mash" and noted that the gravity increased quite a bit as the amylase went to work, going from a gravity around 0.994 SG on the Tilt to around 1.017 SG. After adding the additional code water to drop the temp to 90F, adding the Angel Yeast, and stirring, the Tilt readings pretty much became meaningless as the Angel Yeast simultaneously converts starches to sugars and consumes them simultaneously, so you really don't have an accurate estimate of gravity or ABV with this brewing method.</div><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-64460795908407949932021-01-13T23:22:00.011-05:002021-01-22T11:47:45.128-05:002021 Batch 1 - Rice Wine made with Yellow Label Angel Yeast<p>I've become a big fan of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCThY8lOKKkVDd9HVBT59zCg">Still It channel</a> on YouTube. About a month ago, Jesse posted <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmvaVWaFFUM&ab_channel=StillIt">a video about how he made rice wine</a> using nothing more than water, rice, and a purported "magic" yeast from China called Yellow Label Angel Yeast.</p><p>Perhaps even more amazing was the fact that he was able to make the rice wine without gelatinizing or mashing the rice. He shows three batches in the video. One was made by cooking the rice before adding the yeast mixture. Another was made by adding uncooked rice to boiling water. The last was made by adding uncooked rice to room temperature water. All three fermented out to roughly the same amount of alcohol in about two weeks. He was amazed by this, as was I. I resolved to buy some of this magical yeast from <a href="http://Aliexpress.com">Aliexpress.com</a> and try it out.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvuHrPu_8Gbq7RWEbAC17UZmmsCS8IYGoB7iuwUczCUNqyUgLJS-9sGnak5_1cJXTCgwuIdYOc2uAe8GzoFR30LVWU4QxwVJc5iNUqYfJB0wWlnJQgMn5ZPySCHhZ9Tw_itwB-4IrRvomI/s4032/PXL_20210113_222013208.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvuHrPu_8Gbq7RWEbAC17UZmmsCS8IYGoB7iuwUczCUNqyUgLJS-9sGnak5_1cJXTCgwuIdYOc2uAe8GzoFR30LVWU4QxwVJc5iNUqYfJB0wWlnJQgMn5ZPySCHhZ9Tw_itwB-4IrRvomI/w300-h400/PXL_20210113_222013208.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhACEalvWzcLg4tjNdB_E2stlA63N4uY3jzWZWa6U6myaOGIqyI7L7cz2KVjpXz8a79BTztLztp2STBEW_8FeA9OH-aSeuaWe-fL31Wn1fvUHav-Ywn4f3YooZ9y_Z4WS0gjElcq8WoCdDL/s4032/PXL_20210113_222020706.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhACEalvWzcLg4tjNdB_E2stlA63N4uY3jzWZWa6U6myaOGIqyI7L7cz2KVjpXz8a79BTztLztp2STBEW_8FeA9OH-aSeuaWe-fL31Wn1fvUHav-Ywn4f3YooZ9y_Z4WS0gjElcq8WoCdDL/w300-h400/PXL_20210113_222020706.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqz-5Xq-CdEQxcfvuZ8-nCD0SKFOWw1liDKkv8ybKer9MA3S_15ZITHtUT_o1QeqTYQ6oOUqyFGwJEN25Tsu8NpL8t-7O88MvjYtj1Hc3RDQFo18MPpNYPfhZfBteSgCgz4vQ6dGuH9lT-/s4032/PXL_20210113_222028779.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqz-5Xq-CdEQxcfvuZ8-nCD0SKFOWw1liDKkv8ybKer9MA3S_15ZITHtUT_o1QeqTYQ6oOUqyFGwJEN25Tsu8NpL8t-7O88MvjYtj1Hc3RDQFo18MPpNYPfhZfBteSgCgz4vQ6dGuH9lT-/w300-h400/PXL_20210113_222028779.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmEiSMB4K-YnKypl2lRo580nJGpX6pRjiy-gDThB5GKRBdQyuRnbxOWBr6_Za560_-vK8O9UKTMVNMonbnjEGN0Qs244kUckIHAZowXx4_y2-vXiIPILNE8tA2bPEumhMorMWnTmFdKL5Y/s4032/PXL_20210113_222034219.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmEiSMB4K-YnKypl2lRo580nJGpX6pRjiy-gDThB5GKRBdQyuRnbxOWBr6_Za560_-vK8O9UKTMVNMonbnjEGN0Qs244kUckIHAZowXx4_y2-vXiIPILNE8tA2bPEumhMorMWnTmFdKL5Y/w300-h400/PXL_20210113_222034219.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><p>In the Still It video, the rice is ground up in the grain mill into smaller chunks to make it easier for the enzymes in the yellow label yeast to convert and ferment. I'm changing this up slightly, switching a blender for the grain mill. I think that will break the rice down better and hopefully will yield a better overall result. Apart from that, I'm following the Still It recipe as shown on-screen in the video.The yeast arrived early in January. Last week, on one of my rare trips out of the house (thanks to COVID-19), I picked up two 10-pound bags of rice to play with. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>3 kg. Medium-Grain Rice (uncooked)<br />8 liters near-boiling water<br />Enough cold water to reach 18 liters in fermenter<br />9 grams of Yellow Label Angel Yeast (rehydrated in 95F water)</p><p>"Mash" process (we're not really mashing):</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Bring 8 liters of water to a boil, then remove from heat</li><li>Stir in the 3 kg. of rice</li><li>Cover and let sit for at least 1 hour</li><li>(This is my addition to the process, not strictly necessary.) Scoop rice and water into a blender and blend until the rice is in pretty fine chunks but not necessarily a "rice milkshake". I figure this will get the rice finer than if I used my mill, which may result in better conversion and yield. I figure this will be easier to do after the rice has had an hour to soak in boiling water.</li><li>Transfer this mixture to a sanitized 5-gallon fermenter</li><li>Add cold water until you hit 18 liters in the fermenter</li><li>Add the rehydrated Angel Yeast<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ5ODVEvsnUWSVYOZ7ytCu1jA5wHS1GgNNrvt7MtJf-ohhFWOGodrsjIDVccVmXjKp-CHTHumVt8svwXbh6LQMiJQ0s_y4q0KmXnrniRPK64StBa2tsyT1KTNZ9lfNMcY_AkWpCyBLUIvB/s4032/PXL_20210113_221951715.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ5ODVEvsnUWSVYOZ7ytCu1jA5wHS1GgNNrvt7MtJf-ohhFWOGodrsjIDVccVmXjKp-CHTHumVt8svwXbh6LQMiJQ0s_y4q0KmXnrniRPK64StBa2tsyT1KTNZ9lfNMcY_AkWpCyBLUIvB/w300-h400/PXL_20210113_221951715.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">20g of Angel Yeast being rehydrated</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></li><li>Stir well to make sure the yeast gets into suspension and that there is decent aeration</li></ul><div>Fermentation Plan:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Hold at 90F, the reported "ideal" temperature for the yeast</li><li>For the first 3-4 days, stir the fermenter contents twice per day (per Angel Yeast instructions provided by a seller online, presumably translated from the Chinese on the package)</li><li>Allow it to ferment from here on without any stirring or intervention until activity has stopped.</li><li>Wait 3 more days and rack the liquid off the sediment</li><li>Cold crash and (optionally) add finings if needed to clarify</li></ul><div>After fermentation is complete, I plan to taste a sample of the rice wine to decide what I might want to do from there. For example, I might want to add a flavoring or age it with some wood to enhance the flavor.</div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Notes and Observations</b></div><div><br /></div><div><b>01/13/2021:</b> Because the kitchen stove heats water considerably faster than either my Grainfather or my induction cooktop (which both run on 120V outlets), I decided to do the boil and soak on the kitchen stove instead of in The Grainfather or elsewhere. This turned out to be a good move because the water was boiling in just a few minutes. I added the rice, stirred, and turned off the heat. About two hours later, the rice had absorbed all the water and was nearly fully cooked. I ran some through the blender but got tired of that and put it all in the fermenter with cold water. The temperature was well over 100F even with cold water added, so I had to wait for it to get down to a yeast-safe 86F before pitching. This was no problem, since the yeast needed time to rehydrate anyway.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3fyD8D2UmTAvd3oP1Jwb7_nTYPMeqOiOvPYHwXrhR0dSIZyEDVDgZ76FBLskliKSxfGsLy0RtsOiK4JkuBzkQ8Wa8l7ucGjVJjhQGcPNBM5evY3yZ1P5_vKXVJCsG-L4n7Ec8ucyqSeeb/s4032/PXL_20210114_001439602.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3fyD8D2UmTAvd3oP1Jwb7_nTYPMeqOiOvPYHwXrhR0dSIZyEDVDgZ76FBLskliKSxfGsLy0RtsOiK4JkuBzkQ8Wa8l7ucGjVJjhQGcPNBM5evY3yZ1P5_vKXVJCsG-L4n7Ec8ucyqSeeb/w300-h400/PXL_20210114_001439602.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div>If I had this to do again, I would follow Jesse's lead and put the rice in the fermenter first, then add the boiling water. I might run the dry rice through the blender to break it down a bit, since I think it would do a better job than the grain mill, but that's something I'll consider next time.</div><div><br /></div><div>I dropped a Tilt Hydrometer in the fermenter, though I suspected the readings might be useless. Why? In a traditional all-grain mash, enzymes in the malted grain convert the starches in the grain into sugars. Then we separate the grain from the liquid and allow yeast to consume the sugars converted by the enzymes. In this case, we are not mashing the grain and not converting any of the starches into sugars. Instead, components in the yeast mix begin breaking down the starches gradually. As sugars become available, the yeast begins eating them. It might not be a one-to-one balance between the conversion and fermentation, but because this is a two-part activity and not a straightforward fermentation, the Tilt (which measures gravity or sugar content) won't necessarily report what's really going on. However, I expect that it will show changes taking place in the fermenter - so it might be interesting though not necessarily useful.</div><div><br /></div><div>Initially, before I added the yeast and stirred it in, the Tilt registered a gravity of 1.011 SG. A few hours after the yeast mix went in, it had increased to 1.022 SG, suggesting to me that the enzymes were doing their job and converting sugars which would at some point start feeding the yeast. I might see gravity move up and down over time as conversion and fermentation continued. We'll find out.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>01/14/2021:</b> The gravity read as high as 1.025 SG during the night, but has since dropped down to 1.021 SG. There seemed to be a good amount of activity in the airlock last night before I went to bed, so it appears the yeast mix is doing well in its new rice wine home. The temp has dropped a bit overnight, which I need to fix before it gets too low. (As it turned out, when I went down to stir it, I learned that I had not plugged in the heater. I also learned that it had liquified quite a bit of the rice, making it much easier to stir than it was last night, with no large chunks of rice in it anymore that I could find.) Gravity read on the Tilt as 1.031 SG after stirring.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>01/15/2021:</b> After the morning stir, the gravity read 1.013 SG. About 12 hours later, it had dropped to 1.000 SG. The nasty sulfur smell has pretty much disappeared at this point, and the smell is basically neutral at this point.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>01/16/2021:</b> Gravity has dropped to 0.994 SG overnight, suggesting that there is enough alcohol in the fermenter to make the resulting liquid lighter than the starting water. When I checked around midnight, the airlock was still bubbling very actively, like a beer fermentation at the height of fermentation activity. When I stirred it, a lot of CO2 bubbles came out, and quite a few individual rice kernels swirled around in the liquid but no clumps. The liquid itself felt thin and easy to stir, unlike earlier in the process when it was much more porridge-like and harder to stir.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>01/18/2021:</b> Fermentation seems to have stopped. No airlock activity and no visible indication of fermentation. Gravity has been at 0.993 SG for a while. I used a strainer to remove the remaining rice from the liquid, and applied Super Kleer finings to clarify the wine a bit.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>01/20/2021:</b> The wine is a little clearer, though you would not call it crystal clear by any stretch of the imagination. I extracted a sample to taste. The flavor was mildly tart and reminded me of a watered-down white wine. It's very easy to drink. I've no idea what the ABV is, but I could smell a definite alcohol note when racking the wine off the yeast and rice leftovers, so it's probably higher than it seems.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>01/22/2021:</b> Best guess, after doing some analysis, is that the finished wine was around 7% ABV. Next time around, I'll use more rice and let it ferment longer to be sure it finishes.</div><p></p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-5517808386942989242020-12-25T22:42:00.008-05:002021-02-28T15:05:35.823-05:00Joe's Ancient Orange Mead 1.0<p>For some time now, I've read about Joe's Ancient Orange Mead, but I've never taken the time to actually create a batch of it. This year, I had the time and the ingredients on hand.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>3.5 pounds of honey (mostly orange blossom, some clover)<br />1 large orange<br />1 cinnamon stick<br />1 clove<br />A small pinch of freshly grated nutmeg<br />25 raisins<br />Enough water to make 1 gallon<br />1 package of Fleischmann's bread yeast</p><p>Making the must:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Wash the orange and remove the zest. Peel the orange, throw away the pith, then thinly slice the orange across the segments,</li><li>Collect one gallon of reverse osmosis water</li><li>Add the honey and about half of the water to a sanitized fermenter</li><li>Shake to aerate the must and mix in the honey</li><li>Add the orange, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and raisins</li><li>Add water to the one gallon mark</li><li>Shake the fermenter again to mix in the yeast and aerate further</li><li>Add an airlock and allow it to ferment until the liquid is clear</li><li>Strain out the solid ingredients and bottle</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Notes and Observations</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>12/25/2020:</b> Brewed the must and sealed up in the fermenter.</div><p></p><p><b>12/27/2020:</b> The airlock is showing steady signs of activity. The mead itself is cloudy, which I expected this early in the process.</p><p><b>12/29/2020:</b> The airlock continues to show signs of activity. The mead is still cloudy, and the fruit (and cinnamon stick) is still floating.</p><p><b>01/12/2021:</b> Fermentation seems to still be going on. The mead remains cloudy and the fruit is still floating.</p><p><b>02/19/2021:</b> Fermentation seems to be over, and the mead is clearing nicely. Looks like it's time to strain and bottle.</p><p><b>02/27/2021:</b> The mead was bottled today in 9 bottles of 12-ounces each. The aroma inside the fermenter after bottling was very impressive, and I'm looking forward to trying this.</p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-5384928823317676662020-12-25T14:36:00.011-05:002021-02-28T15:08:52.382-05:00Blackberry Wine 1.0<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDj676WHPqwyzRJEh10OGKcl7dl5K74TnzaSOaeKN9iJauvQ3gqrKltUyHdZXwxKA32yf2H0-iEwsbTmGsP5l8ZIxsKXAtyvlSrd-xVCs0R1AZ4kjhVgV6W-cbyirChejMUTuR3fz9yVnr/s4032/PXL_20210228_015310989.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDj676WHPqwyzRJEh10OGKcl7dl5K74TnzaSOaeKN9iJauvQ3gqrKltUyHdZXwxKA32yf2H0-iEwsbTmGsP5l8ZIxsKXAtyvlSrd-xVCs0R1AZ4kjhVgV6W-cbyirChejMUTuR3fz9yVnr/s320/PXL_20210228_015310989.jpg" /></a></div><br />Adventures in Homebrewing had 96-ounce cans of Blackberry Wine base on sale for $10, because they were past the sell-by date. I decided to chance it and buy two of the cans to turn into blackberry wine. When opened, the cans smelled perfectly fine, so I think the wine is going to turn out well. We'll see.<p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients (per 5-gallon batch)</b></p><p style="text-align: left;">1 can of Vintner's Harvest Blackberry Wine Base<br />8 pounds of cane sugar<br />3 tsp. Citric Acid<br />4 tsp. Yeast Nutrient (DAP + Fermaid O)<br />2.5 tsp. Pectic Enzyme<br />1/2 tsp. Wine Tannin<br />1 packet CR51 Vintner's Harvest wine yeast<br />Enough RO water to reach 5 gallons in the fermenter</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Original Gravity:</b> 1.086 SG for one batch, 1.077 SG for the other</li><li><b>Final Gravity:</b> 0.988 SG estimated<br /></li><li><b>Batch Size:</b> 5 gallons per batch</li><li><b>ABV:</b> 13.5% estimated</li><li><b>Fermenters Used:</b> Two 7.5 gallon SS Brewtech Brewmaster Buckets</li></ul>Preparing the must was pretty straightforward. I heated three gallons of the RO water to about 120F and began dissolving the sugar in it. When the sugar seemed dissolved, I added the Citric Acid, Yeast Nutrient, Pectic Enzyme, and Wine Tannin. I then pumped it into the fermenter and topped off with room temperature RO water to the 5 gallon mark. The yeast was pitched and the fermenter contents stirred with a sanitized steel spoon.<p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Notes and Observations</b></p><p><b>12/23/2020:</b> The batch filled to the 5-gallon mark had an original gravity of 1.076 SG. The other batch was filled to around 4.75 gallons and had an original gravity of 1.086 SG. I was surprised there was so much actual fruit in the container (see photo below).</p><p><b>12/24/2020: </b>Fermentation is underway. By noon, the gravity in one batch had dropped to 1.066 (from 1.086) and the other from 1.076 SG to 1.047 SG. The primary difference between the two was that the second batch (1.047 SG) was a few degrees warmer from the start.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAvqHqts9yaXmiDwtbw7XxXy5r6xgNj7PEEv9Mg94I8kLz5kTZUao-zXuecK-guzpYU3v_yp9n3TMPM87JxG9UoSplSmVnozf7LIpZr-yWvt4tKG0tAydab99NM4k9QaF9J0tyvkCb43s6/s4032/PXL_20201223_212105421.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAvqHqts9yaXmiDwtbw7XxXy5r6xgNj7PEEv9Mg94I8kLz5kTZUao-zXuecK-guzpYU3v_yp9n3TMPM87JxG9UoSplSmVnozf7LIpZr-yWvt4tKG0tAydab99NM4k9QaF9J0tyvkCb43s6/w480-h640/PXL_20201223_212105421.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p><b>12/25/2020:</b> One batch (the one starting at 1.076 SG, which we'll refer to from here on as the Blue batch because it has a Blue Tilt Hydrometer in it) is down to 1.038 SG and 71F (5.4% ABV). The other batch (which we'll refer to as the Red batch) is down to 1.063 SG and 66F. I'm planning to attach a fermentation wrap heater to both batches later today to hold them at the same temp for the remainder of fermentation. According to the manufacturer, the best results are obtained with this yeast at 61-75F. I'm planning to aim for the middle of that range, or 68F.</p><p><b>12/26/2020:</b> The Blue batch is at a gravity of 1.037 SG today. The Red batch is at 1.064 SG. I added temperature control to both this morning, aiming for 68F in both fermenters. As of this writing, the Red batch is 68F and the Blue batch is at 67F. I'll need to bump them up to the desired temps soon. Since my temperature probe takes a while to settle in, I wanted to give both controllers time to establish a solid base reading before tweaking temperature settings.</p><p><b>12/27/2020:</b> The blue batch is down to 1.026 SG today, and the Red batch is at 1.055 SG.</p><p><b>12/29/2020:</b> The blue batch reads 1.012 SG today, and the red reads 1.035 SG. Both are being held at a temperature of 72F.</p><p><b>01/02/2021:</b> The blue batch reads 1.003 SG and the red reads 1.013 SG. Both continue to hold at 72F.</p><p><b>01/12/2021:</b> The blue batch is reading 1.000 SG (and has for a few days). The red batch is reading 1.005 SG. Both continue to hold at 72F, though I plan to disconnect temp control from the blue batch today since it seems to be finished fermenting.</p><p><b>01/15/2021:</b> The blue batch has been holding at, or just below, 1.000 SG. I dosed the wine with Turbo Clear to strip out the yeast and sediment, clarifying the wine.</p><p><b>02/27/2021:</b> I bottled the wine today, using a mix of Grolsch style bottles and standard beer bottles, since they were what I had on hand (and I don't own a corker). The wine had a nice flavor and was quite clear. There was a clear, but not strong, blackberry note to it and a red-wine-like tannin note. I am looking forward to seeing what others think of it once the pandemic is over.</p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-80591665954276196362020-12-07T09:01:00.005-05:002020-12-27T23:16:01.516-05:00Christmas Ale 2020<p> A few months back, I saw one of David Heath's YouTube videos where he brewed a "Fast Christmas Beer" using a couple of methods to reduce brewing and fermentation time. The recipe sounded interesting, so I decided to brew it for Christmas 2020. Thanks to COVID-19, I won't have many opportunities to share it with others, but my wife and I will get to check it out.</p><p>I deviated from the recipe in the video in that I elected to go for a 60-minute boil rather than boil the hops, orange peel, and cinnamon separately on the kitchen stove. I also deviated slightly in using a mix of base malts that I needed to use up, rather than the straight up pale malt he used. Otherwise, this is basically David Heath's recipe.</p><p>I also decided to use Lutra Kveik yeast for half the wort and SafAle S-04 for the other half, just to see how the beer would differ with a different yeast. Heath recommended Tormodgarden Kveik yeast, but also noted S-04 and US-05 as options if you didn't want to use Kveik or couldn't get it.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>10 pounds Golden Promise malt<br />3 pounds and 4 ounces of a mix of 2-row and Belgian Pale Ale malts<br />13 ounces of a mix of Caramel 120L malt and Special B malt (mostly 120L)<br />4 ounces Carafa I Special Dehusked malt<br />0.5 ounces Bravo hops @ 17.5% AA (60 min.)<br />0.75 ounces Bitter Orange Peel (5 min.)<br />0.75 ounces Sweet Orange Peel (5 min.)<br />0.25 heaping tsp. Cinnamon Powder (5 min.)<br />0.25 tsp. Wyeast yeast nutrient<br />1 pkg. Omega Lutra Kveik (for the first 2 gallons)<br />1 pkg. Safale S-04 (for the other 2 gallons)<br />1/8 tsp. Brewtan B (mash)<br />1/4 tsp. Brewtan B (boil)<br /><br />5.75 gallons RO mash water, treated with 0.4g Baking Soda, 2.5g Calcium Chloride, 0.3g table salt, 1.3g Epsom Salt, 2.5g Gypsum, 1.2g Magnesium Chloride<br />1.35 gallons RO sparge water, untreated</p><p>Per Brewfather, the recipe stats are:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Batch Size:</b> 5.0 gallons (actual 3.9 gallons)</li><li><b>Pre-Boil Volume:</b> 5.5 gallons (actual 5 gallons)</li><li><b>Boil Time:</b> 60 minutes</li><li><b>Mash Efficiency:</b> 59%<br /></li><li><b>IBUs:</b> 27</li><li><b>Pre-Boil Gravity:</b> 1.060 SG (actual 1.056 SG)</li><li><b>Original Gravity:</b> 1.066 SG (actual 1.059 SG)</li><li><b>Final Gravity:</b> 1.015 SG estimated (Lutra), 1.017 SG estimated (S-04)</li><li><b>ABV:</b> 7.0% estimated (Lutra), 5.7% estimated (S-04)</li><li><b>Fermenters Used:</b> Mandalorian, Nomad</li><li><b>Tilt Hydrometer Used:</b> Black for Mandalorian, Green for Nomad</li></ul><div>Mash Schedule is simple. I began adding the grain as The Grainfather reached 120F on its way to heating to 156F. Once 156F was reached, I mashed the grain for 45 minutes. An iodine test indicated conversion was complete by that time and I began sparging while heating to a boil.</div><div><br /></div><div>Boil Schedule:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>60 minutes: Add Bravo hops</li><li>20 minutes: Add Brewtan B</li><li>15 minutes: Add Whirlfloc tablet and Yeast Nutrient</li><li>5 minutes: Add Cinnamon, Sweet and Bitter Orange Peel</li><li>0 minutes: Chill</li></ul><div>Fermentation Plan:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Split the wort into half-size batches in different fermenters</li><li>Pitch Lutra in one fermenter and heat to 90F (which Omega says is its optimal temperature), holding there until complete</li><li>Pitch S-04 in the other fermenter and hold at ambient 65-68F basement temp until complete</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Post-Brew Notes and Observations</b></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b>12/06/2020:</b> I had some trouble during the sparge. After adding the last of the water, it seemed like the sparge was going too slowly. It wasn't stuck, just very slow. I tilted the grain basket to have a look, which popped the ring (which holds the mash basket in place) out of the rim of The Grainfather. I couldn't pop the ring back in place while also holding the mash basket, so I moved the mash basket to the sink. This caused me to lose some amount of wort, however much was still in the grain and which had not yet drained out... I'd estimate maybe a quart or two. This lost some volume. (The sink was dirty and I didn't feel right putting the grain basket back on the kettle.)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>12/07/2020:</b> Both batches are showing signs of activity. The S-04 batch dropped from 1.059 SG to 1.055 SG. The Lutra Kveik batch dropped all the way to 1.045 SG. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>12/23/2020:</b> The S-04 batch is reading 1.007 SG. The Lutra batch is reading 1,013 SG.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>12/26/2020:</b> Both batches were bottled today with two small Brewer's Best carbonation tablets per bottle.</div><p></p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-68990785747399164402020-10-24T22:46:00.011-04:002020-12-11T21:47:47.332-05:00Courage Russian Imperial Stout Clone 1.0<p>I've heard quite a lot about this beer over the last couple of years, so I decided to try brewing a batch with the best recipe I could locate, adjusted for my Grainfather and a three gallon batch. This will be the first Imperial Stout I think I have ever brewed. I don't know where I found this recipe, and I tried to locate it again on the web with no success. My apologies to whoever originally published it, but since I've significantly altered it below (adding DME, swapping out the flavor/aroma hops, and the yeast) that may be just as well if the beer doesn't turn out.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>5 pounds 5 ounces Maris Otter malt<br />3.3 pounds (1 large can) Maris Otter LME<br />8 ounces English Medium Crystal malt<br />6 ounces English Pale Chocolate malt<br />2 ounces English Black Patent malt<br />2 ounces English Roasted Barley</p><p>1/8 tsp. Brewtan B (mash)<br />1.5 tsp. pH 5.2 stabilizer (mash, after grain)</p><p>10 ounces cane sugar (start of boil)<br />4 ounces Lyles Treacle (10 min.)<br />1 tsp. yeast nutrient (15 min.)<br />1/4 tsp. Brewtan B (20 min.)<br />1/2 tsp. Irish Moss (10 min.)</p><p>0.5 ounces Warrior hops @ 60 min.<br />0.25 ounces Target hops @ 15 min. (swapped for Willamette 4.8% AA last minute)<br />0.25 ounces Target hops @ 5 min. (swapped for Willamette 4.8% AA last minute)</p><p>1 packet Mangrove Jack's New World Strong Ale yeast, replaced with Lallemand CBC-1 yeast which has a higher alcohol tolerance needed for the OG obtained<br /><br />2.6 gallons of RO water for mash<br />2.5 gallons of RO water for sparge<br />Treat the mash water with 1.4g baking soda, 1.5g calcium chloride, 1.2g canning salt, 1.4g epsom salt, 2.6g gypsum, 1.4g magnesium chloride</p><p>0.25 ounces Medium Toast American Oak Chips</p><p>16 ounces Pilsner DME added to bring gravity up</p><p>Brewfather estimates that the beer will have the following characteristics:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>BJCP Style:</b> 20.C Imperial Stout<br /></li><li><b>Batch Size:</b> 3.0 gallons estimated, 2.65 gallons actual</li><li><b>Pre-Boil Volume:</b> 4.5 estimated, 4.4 gallons actual</li><li><b>Original Gravity:</b> 1.107 SG estimated, 1.121 SG actual</li><li><b>Pre-Boil Gravity:</b> 1.032 SG estimated, 17 Brix on refractometer, approx. 1.065 SG</li><li><b>Final Gravity:</b> 1.030 SG estimated</li><li><b>IBUs:</b> 58</li><li><b>ABV:</b> 13.1%</li><li><b>SRM:</b> 39.5</li><li><b>BU/GU Ratio:</b> 0.49</li><li><b>Fermenter:</b> ?</li><li><b>Bottling Wand:</b> n/a</li><li><b>Carbonation Method:</b> n/a </li><li><b>Tilt Hydrometer:</b> Green</li></ul><div>Mash Schedule:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Put 2.6 gallons of water in The Grainfather and add the salts</li><li>Heat water to 120F and begin stirring in the Maris Otter LME until dissolved</li><li>Add the grain and some rice hulls, stirring well to make sure all grain is moistened</li><li>Add the mesh grain bed cover and overflow cap</li><li>Adjust the pump flow so that wort trickles over the cap</li><li>Mash at 120F for 20 minutes</li><li>Mash at 140F for 15 minutes</li><li>Mash at 156F for 45 minutes</li><li>Mash out at 168F</li><li>Sparge with 2.6 gallons RO water (room temp or 168F, your choice, both will work)</li></ul><div>Boil Schedule:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>180 minutes:</b> No additions</li><li><b>60 minutes:</b> Warrior hops</li><li><b>20 minutes:</b> Brewtan B</li><li><b>15 minutes:</b> Target hops, yeast nutrient, Irish Moss</li><li><b>5 minutes:</b> Target hops</li><li><b>0 minutes:</b> Chill and pump into fermenter</li></ul><div>Fermentation Plan:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>CBC-1 ferments optimally at 72F. This time of year, my basement is around 65-68F, so if I start fermentation low enough it shouldn't get much above 72F even without temperature control.</li><li>Once gravity is down to around 1.035 SG, I'll be adding the oak chips to primary. This will minimize the risk of introducing oxygen into the beer (since fermentation should still be underway and CO2 can push out any oxygen I introduce putting in the chips) and still allow the oak to infuse the beer.</li><li>When the oak is properly infused, I'll bottle directly from the fermenter and use 3 small Brewer's Best carbonation tablets per bottle (low carbonation).</li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Brewing Notes and Observations</b></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b>10/24/2020:</b> Using Brewfather's ability to transfer a recipe to The Grainfather's controller, the brewing process went pretty smoothly. The Grainfather dutifully changed temps when needed to follow the mash schedule and all I had to really do was keep an eye on wort flow.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I smelled my Target hops, they smelled a bit soapy to me, so I did not want to take the risk of using them as flavoring and aroma hops, so I dumped them and switched to the closest substitute I had at the time, which was Willamette.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I checked the gravity a good bit through the boil, it was running a bit low, so I added a pound of Pilsner DME. In the end, though, it turned out to be unnecessary as the gravity was a bit high at the end of the boil. One the wort was in the fermenter, the temp was too high for the yeast, so I let it cool down naturally until it was in range.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/25/2020:</b> The temperature dropped to 68F overnight. I pitched the yeast around 2:45pm. I switched from Mangrove Jack's yeast to Lallemand CBC-1 because the high gravity seemed to lend itself to a tougher yeast. CBC-1 is said to leave behind a more full-bodied beer with some residual sugar, which should work well with the significant IBUs in this beer.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/26/2020:</b> The temperature is currently reading 69F and the gravity has dropped to 1.108 SG. I saw a healthy looking krausen atop the wort last night, so it's clear that fermentation is underway.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/27/2020:</b> Gravity is 1.085 SG today, and the temp has dropped back down to around 68F.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/30/2020:</b> Gravity has continued to drop gradually, and is currently 1.058 SG. The temperature has been holding steady at 67F. The current level of attenuation represents approximately 10% ABV.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>11/2/2020:</b> Last night, I swirled the fermenter well to ensure that the yeast remained in suspension. Prior to that, the gravity reported as 1.048 SG. Today it's reporting as 1.050 SG. I added a drop of glucoamylase enzyme, after which gravity began dropping again.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>11/3/2020:</b> Gravity is 1.046 SG today. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>11/7/2020:</b> Temperature has been holding pretty consistently at 66F. Gravity has continued to steadily drop, and currently registers 1.029 SG, making the beer approximately 14% ABV. Oak cubes were added on Thursday while fermentation was still active, to guard against oxidation.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>11/19/2020:</b> Gravity has dropped to 1.012 SG, which represents about 16.3% ABV. That's slightly over the yeast's rated tolerance of 16.1% ABV, so I don't expect it will drop much further. Hopefully I can get it to carbonate in the bottle once fermentation seems to have stopped (which it hasn't yet).</div><div><br /></div><div><b>12/11/2020:</b> I chilled and opened a bottle tonight. Well-carbonated. Lots of chocolate in the aroma. Nice roasty flavors behind the chocolate. A decent warming note. Relatively light-bodied, which makes it surprisingly easy to drink for 16.5% ABV.</div><p></p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-79798569494317360652020-10-18T21:27:00.007-04:002020-12-03T22:40:24.178-05:00Irish Red 7.0<p>Thanks to the mold infection, I had to toss Irish Red 6.0 before I even got to taste it. Since it was mostly a mash optimization experiment, it was less painful to toss it out than it might have been. Today, I decided to brew a sixth version of the beer, as a further test of mash optimization.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>6 pounds, 6 ounces Maris Otter malt<br />6 ounces Caramel/Crystal 120L<br />6 ounces British Medium Crystal<br />5 ounces Chocolate Rye Malt<br /></p><p>0.57 ounces Whitbread Golding Variety hops @ 7.1% AA</p><p>1/4 tsp. Brewtan B during boil (20 min.)<br />1/2 tsp. Yeast Nutrient (15 min.)<br />1/2 tsp. Irish Moss (15 min.)</p><p>3 gallons RO mash water<br />1.75 gallons RO sparge water<br />1 gram Calcium Chloride<br />0.5 grams Canning Salt<br />1.1 grams Epsom Salt<br />2.5 grams Gypsum<br />0.5 grams Magnesium Chloride</p><p>1 package Wyeast English Ale III yeast</p><p>Brewfather estimates the batch will have the following characteristics:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>BJCP Category:</b> Irish Red Ale</li><li><b>Batch Size:</b> 3.0 gallons, 2.7 gallons actual</li><li><b>Original Gravity:</b> 1.058 SG estimated, 1.060 SG actual </li><li><b>Pre-Boil Gravity:</b> 1.043 SG estimated, 1.043 SG actual </li><li><b>Final Gravity:</b> 1.015 SG estimated, 1.015 SG actual</li><li><b>IBUs:</b> 24</li><li><b>SRM:</b> 16.5</li><li><b>ABV:</b> 5.7%</li><li><b>Mash Efficiency:</b> 59%</li><li><b>Fermenter:</b> Mandalorian</li><li><b>Tilt Hydrometer:</b> Red</li><li><b>Carbonation Method:</b> 2 small carbonation tablets</li><li><b>Bottling Wand:</b> Stainless 1</li></ul><div>Mash Schedule:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Mash in at 120F and hold for 20 minutes</li><li>Mash at 154F for 60 minutes</li><li>Mash out at 168F for 10 minutes</li><li>Sparge with room temp RO water</li></ul><div>Boil Schedule:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>90 minutes: No addition</li><li>60 minutes: WGV hops</li><li>20 minutes: Brewtan B</li><li>15 minutes: Yeast nutrient, Irish Moss</li><li>0 minutes: Turn off heat and begin chilling</li></ul><div>Fermentation Schedule:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Ferment at ambient basement temps unless we get within 2 degrees of the yeast's upper end, in which case I'll slap a couple of ice packs against it to cool it down.</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Brewing Notes and Observations</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b>10/18/2020:</b> The grain mill behaved itself for the second batch in a row, crushing all the grain without jamming or have any trouble. The mash went fine and an iodine test showed full conversion. Sparge was unusually slow but went fine. When I looked at the kettle volume at the boil, I realized that we were a little high, so I extended the boil by 90 minutes to compensate. I ended up with a higher gravity in the fermenter than expected, so I diluted it down using distilled water until I was within a couple of points.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/21/2020:</b> Gravity is down to 1.029 SG today. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/27/2020:</b> Gravity is around 1.023 SG today. I raised the fermentation temp and swirled the fermenter, hoping to bring it closer to the intended FG.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/30/2020:</b> Despite my raising the temperature of the wort to 72F and giving the fermenter a good swirl, gravity has held at 1.024 SG since Wednesday. This is a bit too high for the style, so I may pitch in some US-05 yeast to see if that helps attenuate it a little more.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>11/02/2020:</b> Gravity has been holding at 1.024 SG now for a week. I'm concerned that this is higher than it should be for the style, and higher than the Brewfather-estimated 1.015 SG. My primary concern is that the beer could continue fermenting in the bottle and result in "gushers" or explosions, so I may try adding the US-05 today.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>11/19/2020:</b> Gravity seemed to hold at 1.023 SG for about six days, then started to drop again. It's currently down to 1.018 and has only been there for about a day. I'm keeping an eye on it and hoping that it has not picked up mold. I noticed this happen with an earlier batch of a different recipe. The gravity was steady for a while, then suddenly dropped. When I looked in the fermenter (a clear one), I saw a dime-sized bit of mold on the surface. Since this is a stainless fermenter, I can't see inside it to tell and don't want to open it in case it's not mold - as I might introduce some by doing so.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>12/3/2020:</b> The beer was bottled today. Because I've had an issue with what seems to be bacterial infections, but more likely seem to be bottling the beer too soon, I've waited until this hit the expected FG and held it for a long time. I've also only used two carbonation tablets, which would be below "low" carbonation according to the manufacturer. With any luck, if the beer continues to ferment a couple of points in the bottle, that will leave me at a normal carbonation level. If this one becomes a foamer as well, I'll be about out of options.</div><p></p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4229735967232128825.post-15946470300126497782020-10-11T22:21:00.003-04:002020-12-04T09:27:45.710-05:00Heady Topper DIPA Clone 1.0<p>I've heard a lot of people rave about <a href="https://alchemistbeer.com/">The Alchemist Brewing's </a>Heady Topper DIPA, but I've never had the opportunity to actually try the beer. In cases like this, I tend to default to locating the actual recipe or a generally-recognized good clone recipe and brewing that. I've had to adjust this recipe because I didn't have as much Amarillo hops as I thought I did - and went for Mandarina Bavaria as a substitute. Otherwise this is the recipe I found.</p><p><b>Ingredients</b></p><p>7.25 pounds 2-row Brewer's Malt</p><p>12 ounces cane sugar (added during boil, 60 min.)</p><p>9 ounces Briess White Wheat Malt</p><p>6 ounces Baird's Carastan Malt</p><p>4-6 ounces of Rice Hulls (3-4 large handfuls)</p><p>3 gallons RO mash water, treated with 7.6 grams Gypsum, 2.2g Epsom Salt, 0.9g Calcium Chloride, 0.8g Magnesium Chloride, 0.2g Baking Soda, 0.2g Canning Salt</p><p>1.9 gallons RO sparge water, untreated</p><p>0.6 ounces Magnum hops @ 12% AA (60 min.)</p><p>1 ounce Amarillo hops (5 min.)</p><p>1 ounce Apollo hops (5 min.)</p><p>i ounce Centennial hops (5 min.)</p><p>1 ounce Columbus hops (5 min.)</p><p>1 ounce Mandarina Bavaria hops @ 10.1% AA (whirlpool)</p><p>1 ounce Centennial hops (whirlpool)</p><p>1 ounce Simcoe hops (whirlpool)</p><p>0.5 ounces Mandarina Bavaria hops (dry hop 4 days)</p><p>0.5 ounces Apollo hops (dry hop 4 days)</p><p>0.5 ounces Centennial hops (dry hop 4 days)</p><p>0.5 ounces Columbus hops (dry hop 4 days)</p><p>0.5 ounces Simcoe hops (dry hop 4 days)</p><p>1/8 tsp. Brewtan B (mash)</p><p>1/4 tsp. Brewtan B (boil, 20 min)</p><p>1/2 tsp. Yeast Nutrient (boil, 15 min.)</p><p>1 package Omega DIPA yeast OYL-052</p><p><br /></p><p>Brewfather reports that the beer will have the following characteristics:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>BJCP Style:</b> 22A Double IPA</li><li><b>Batch Size:</b> 3.0 gallons estimated (3 gallons in the kettle, 2.65 in the fermenter)</li><li><b>Original Gravity:</b> 1.078 SG estimated (1.065 SG actual)</li><li><b>Pre-Boil Gravity:</b> 1.050 SG estimated (1.053 SG actual)</li><li><b>Final Gravity:</b> 1.010 SG estimated (1.011 SG actual)</li><li><b>IBUs:</b> 105 estimated</li><li><b>SRM:</b> 7.4 estimated</li><li><b>ABV:</b> 9.1% estimated (7.4% actual)</li><li><b>BU/GU:</b> 1.34</li></ul><p></p><p>I'll add the actual values achieved above as I measure them.</p><p>I had to move to a 90-minute boil for this one because a 60-minute boil left too little sparge water to suit me.</p><p>Mash Schedule:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>60 minutes at 150F</li><li>10 minute mash out at 168F</li><li>Sparge with 168F water (1.9 gallons)</li></ul><div>Boil Schedule:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>90 minutes: No additions</li><li>60 minutes: Magnum hops</li><li>20 minutes: Brewtan B</li><li>15 minutes: Yeast nutrient</li><li>5 minutes: Amarillo, Apollo, Centennial, Centennial, Columbus</li><li>0 minutes (whirlpool): Mix up the pellets and add few every 30-90 seconds as you stir and chill the wort: Mandarina Bavaria, Centennial, Simcoe</li></ul><div>Fermentation Plan:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Ferment at 68F for the first 3-4 days until fermentation starts to slow</li><li>When gravity is down to around 1.020 SG on the Tilt, add the dry hops</li><li>Raise to 72F until fermentation is finished, this should allow the fermentation to finish out and hopefully go through any "hop creep" in the fermenter rather than the bottle.</li></ul><div><b>Brew Day and Post-Brew Observations</b></div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/11/2020:</b> Had to substitute Mandarina Bavaria for the Amarillo hops in the whirlpool and dry hop portions of the recipe, so it may not be quite the perfect Heady Topper clone for that reason. Hopefully it will be close enough. </div><div><br /></div><div>Had to shift 38 ounces of water from the sparge to the mash to have enough to cover the grain bed (the amounts given in the ingredients section are the adjusted figures). I'll need to adjust the equipment profile in Brewfather to increase mash water, as it's been consistent about 32-38 ounces low. </div><div><br /></div><div>Adding the rice hulls seems to have helped with wort flow through the grain bed, which has been an issue in recent 2.5 gallon brews. This is looking like a practice I should continue.\</div><div><br /></div><div>Despite the reasonably good flow through the grain bed during the mash, the sparge was unusually slow. I wouldn't call it "stuck" because it definitely still flowed, but it was much more a trickle then a flow. I guess the bright spot in this is that the wort was able to get up to boiling well before the sparge finished, which meant there was no delay in starting the boil countdown.</div><div><br /></div><div>As I mentioned in the notes for my last brewing session, I've been really disappointed with my brewhouse efficiency since changing to 2.5 gallon batches. I've adjusted to a 3 gallon batch size since then, in part because this gives me more water to work with for mashing and sparging, and in part because it means I can undershoot my volume and still get the 2.5 gallons I want - making it (hopefully) easier to nail the gravity at least. This is the second 3-gallon batch. I ended up with 2.5 gallons (roughly) of mash water and 1.9 gallons of sparge water, which is still shy of the 1.0 to 1.5 ratio of mash to sparge water that experts recommend.</div><div><br /></div><div>Pre-boil volume was a little shy of the expected 4 gallons, so I added some more RO water to reach that. A refractometer reading returned 14.1 Brix, which for my refractometer would be about 1.059 SG, about 9 points higher than the estimated 1.050 SG. I'm hoping this carries through to the end of the boil, because it would mean that my brewhouse efficiency is better on this batch with the rice hulls. If that turns out to be the case, I may have a solution to my efficiency troubles.</div><div><br /></div><div>Original gravity was a disappointing 1.065 SG after the 90-minute boil. That's 13 points below what the recipe calculator computed in Brewfather. </div><div><br /></div><div>One thing that came out of this was that I think it's a good idea to do some adjustment to see if I can get my refractometer, Tilt Hydrometer, and hydrometer to measure close to the same figure. I have to wonder if the pre-boil number of 1.053 SG was an overestimate by the refractometer and conversion factor.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/12/2020:</b> Gravity has dropped to 1.062 SG with no obvious krausen or significant activity yet.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/15/2020:</b> Dry-hopped the beer, now that the gravity is down to 1.028 SG and has somewhat stabilized.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>10/16/2020:</b> Gravity is down to 1.023 SG now and slowly dropping, likely due to some hop-creep activity in the fermenter.</div><p></p>Michael Salsburyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05424370346585784411noreply@blogger.com0