The Herrmann Brew Company Blog

Oops, I forgot about 2010

2011-01-18T13:47:00.001-08:00

It has been a long time since I update the few but faithful of you that read about my Adventures in Homebrew. Enough has been going on , but not so much I couldn't stop to take a few moments to let you know I'm still in the game. Interestingly enough I have garnered the attention of a few people of whom I am a great fan. The folks down at iBrewmaster.com dropped me a quick line, but I have been a bit too shy and humbled recently to respond. Thanks guys!

iloveyou

First off, I didn't miss my anniversary. On September 1, 2009 I started this blog writing about my limited understanding of what beer is. One year after, September 1, 2010 I started a massive blog entry with several gigs of photos and videos painstakingly detailing my, albeit flawed, process. The entry became a huge albatross around my neck and eventually spanned into three separate posting outlining the equipment, the process, and then the aftermath - fermenting, bottling/kegging, and serving. None of the entries flowed into one another and the pictures I intended to use needed endless explanation which I found myself repeating over and over. It also made me look at my process and really see it's amateur status. Several of my beers had spoiled last summer and several more have still. I stopped writing partially from shame, but I never stopped brewing.

A quick catch up since last I posted:
To cure those aforementioned Summertime Blues I inherited a large closet freezer. Since I already have a Kegorator, I put it to use as a fermentor by setting it at 70 degrees with a Johnson Analog Refrigerator Thermostat and got back to brewing in August. I had just gotten back from a west coast vacation and in Pike's Place Market,Seattle I bought some Washington grown dried Apricots for the smash hit of the summer:

Rouge Wheat

	Style: Witbier
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 195
	Rating: 4.0	Efficiency: 70 %
	IBU's: 15.16	Boil Size: 5.00 Gal
	Color: 4.9 SRM	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
		Boil Time: 60 minutes

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	08/07/2010
OG:	1.059	1.060
FG:	1.018	1.015
ABV:	5.37 %	5.89 %
Serve Date:	09/18/2010	08/27/2010


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F	08/07/2010	08/07/2010
Secondary	14 days @ 72.0°F	08/14/2010	08/12/2010
Bottle/Keg	21 days @ 74.0°F	08/28/2010	08/25/2010


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Gravity	Color
5.00 lbs	45.45 %	White Wheat Malt	1.040	2.4
5.00 lbs	45.45 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel	1.037	3.0
1.00 lbs	9.09 %	Wheat, Flaked	1.035	1.6


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	15.16	Hallertauer	60 mins	4.80


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.00 pkg	Safbrew WB-06	Fermentis (null)


Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
8.00 oz	Apricots	60 mins	Boil
1.00 lb	Honey	60 mins	Boil

Mash Profile

Medium Body Temperature

60 min @ 154.0°F

Add 14.00 qt water & heat to 154.0°F over 15 mins


Notes
Preboil OG: 1.055

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I made a beer for my twin friend's, Jeb and Josh's, birthday. We kegged most of it but I saved three bottles of what has become a Herrmann Brewery staple:

Rye Pale Ale

	Style: English IPA
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 173
	Rating: 0.0	Efficiency: 70 %
	IBU's: 70.24	Boil Size: 7.50 Gal
	Color: 15.6 SRM	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
		Boil Time: 60 minutes

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	08/31/2010
OG:	1.053	1.042
FG:	1.013	1.012
ABV:	5.24 %	3.93 %
Serve Date:	10/12/2010	09/11/2010


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F	08/31/2010	08/31/2010
Secondary	14 days @ 72.0°F	09/07/2010	09/05/2010
Bottle/Keg	21 days @ 74.0°F	09/21/2010	09/09/2010


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Gravity	Color
1.00 lbs	9.09 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L	1.033	120.0
8.00 lbs	72.73 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) UK	1.036	3.0
2.00 lbs	18.18 %	Rye Malt	1.029	4.7


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	15.67	Amarillo Gold	15 mins	8.50
1.00 ozs		Cascade	14 days	5.50
1.00 ozs	48.28	Simcoe	60 mins	13.00
1.00 ozs	6.30	Amarillo Gold	05 mins	8.50


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.00 pkg	Dry English Ale	White Labs 0007


Additions
(none)

Mash Profile

(none)


Notes
Preboil OG 1.032

www.iBrewMaster.com	Version: 2.731

Granted I did a poor job mashing and the ABV suffered for it, but I have since improved the recipe and my efficiency. I am using more water now to better pull off sugars - 4 gallons to mash and 6.5 - 7 gallons to sparge - and I then boiling for 90minutes to reduce to 5 gallon. At this point I was quickly running out of supplies, but before I reupped at the brewstore I wanted to finish off what little supplies I had left. The resulting beer was quite akin to the India Brown Ale I had crafted once before, but that beer went sour on account of a moist summer and problems with my cooler while this one flourished and came out quite delicious.

Everything Else IPA

	Style: American IPA
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 211
	Rating: 0.0	Efficiency: 70 %
	IBU's: 92.26	Boil Size: 6.50 Gal
	Color: 27.4 SRM	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
		Boil Time: 90 minutes

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	09/18/2010
OG:	1.064	1.062
FG:	1.019	1.014
ABV:	5.90 %	6.29 %
Serve Date:	10/17/2010	10/21/2010


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F	09/18/2010	09/18/2010
Secondary	14 days @ 40.0°F	09/25/2010	10/03/2010
Bottle/Keg	2 days @ 40.0°F	10/17/2010	10/15/2010


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Gravity	Color
7.00 lbs	56.00 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	1.036	2.0
1.00 lbs	8.00 %	Biscuit Malt	1.036	23.0
1.00 lbs	8.00 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L	1.033	120.0
1.00 lbs	8.00 %	Rye Malt	1.029	4.7
1.00 lbs	8.00 %	Cara-Pils/Dextrine	1.033	2.0
1.00 lbs	8.00 %	Turbinado	1.044	10.0
0.50 lbs	4.00 %	Chocolate Malt	1.028	350.0


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	40.33	Simcoe	60 mins	13.00
1.00 ozs	35.41	Nugget	40 mins	13.00
1.00 ozs	10.34	Williamette	20 mins	5.50
1.00 ozs	6.19	Cascade	10 mins	5.50


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.00 pkg	Safale S- 05	Fermentis (null)


Additions
(none)

Mash Profile

Protein Rest

10 min @ 122.0°F

Decot 8.00 qt mash & heat to 125.0°F

Full Body Infusion In

60 min @ 158.0°F

Add 8.00 qt water @ 212.0°F


Notes


www.iBrewMaster.com	Version: 2.731

Things were going well in my little shed in the back yard and with the holidays fast approaching I made another Herrmann holiday tradition for bottling and another for kegging:

Punkin' Porter

	Style: Brown Porter
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 234
	Rating: 0.0	Efficiency: 70 %
	IBU's: 23.06	Boil Size: 7.00 Gal
	Color: 30.4 SRM	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
		Boil Time: 90 minutes

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	10/03/2010
OG:	1.071	1.072
FG:	1.021	1.014
ABV:	6.55 %	7.60 %
Serve Date:	10/30/2010	11/25/2010


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F	10/03/2010	10/03/2010
Bottle/Keg	21 days @ 74.0°F	10/10/2010	10/09/2010


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Gravity	Color
2.00 ozs	0.93 %	Black (Patent) Malt	1.025	500.0
10.00 lbs	74.77 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	1.036	2.0
0.50 lbs	3.74 %	Caramunich Malt	1.033	56.0
0.50 lbs	3.74 %	Chocolate Malt	1.034	350.0
0.25 lbs	1.87 %	Rye Malt	1.029	4.7
0.50 lbs	3.74 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L	1.033	120.0
8.00 ozs	3.74 %	Molasses	1.036	80.0
1.00 lbs	7.48 %	Dark Dry Extract	1.044	17.5


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	9.45	Cascade	20 mins	5.50
1.00 ozs	13.61	Hallertauer	60 mins	4.80


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Safale S-04	Fermentis (null)


Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
1.00 tsp	Allspice	05 mins	Boil
1.25 tsp	Cinnamon Powder	05 mins	Boil
1.25 tsp	Cloves, Ground	05 mins	Boil
1.25 tsp	Nutmeg	05 mins	Boil
2.00 tsp	Vanilla	15 mins	Boil
0.25 oz	Ginger Root	05 mins	Boil

Mash Profile

Full Body Infusion In

45 min @ 158.0°F

Add 16.00 qt water @ 170.0°F

Notes

Roast one small cooking pumpkin with innards removed for 45 min, scoop out meat and add to grain. Mash for 90 min. Add 1 tsp of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and any other seasoning at flameout.

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Amber Clone

	Style: American Amber Ale
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 198
	Rating: 0.0	Efficiency: 70 %
	IBU's: 25.50	Boil Size: 6.50 Gal
	Color: 14.0 SRM	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
		Boil Time: 90 minutes

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	10/10/2010
OG:	1.060	1.060
FG:	1.018	1.012
ABV:	5.50 %	6.29 %
Serve Date:	10/30/2010	11/06/2010


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F	10/10/2010	10/10/2010
Secondary	14 days @ 72.0°F	10/17/2010	10/18/2010
Bottle/Keg	2 days @ 74.0°F	11/01/2010	10/28/2010


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Gravity	Color
10.00 lbs	83.33 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	1.036	2.0
1.00 lbs	8.33 %	Biscuit Malt	1.036	23.0
0.50 lbs	4.17 %	Caramunich Malt	1.033	56.0
0.50 lbs	4.17 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L	1.033	120.0


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
0.66 ozs	6.95	Williamette	20 mins	5.50
0.34 ozs	1.18	Williamette	05 mins	5.50
1.00 ozs	17.37	Cascade	60 mins	5.50


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.00 pkg	Safale S- 05	Fermentis (null)


Additions
(none)

Mash Profile

Protein Rest

10 min @ 122.0°F

Decot 8.00 qt mash & heat to 140.0°F

Medium Body Infusion In

60 min @ 154.0°F

Add 8.00 qt water @ 166.0°F

Medium Body Infusion Out

10 min @ 168.0°F

Add 4.00 qt water @ 196.0°F


Notes
Preboil 7+ gallons 1.040

www.iBrewMaster.com	Version: 2.731

Both of these were to be consumed for my birthday celebration, which in 2010 was Thanksgiving day itself. We jumped the gun with the Amber, so I made another Rye Pale Ale to consume instead, then turned my attention to the coming Christmas celebration.

Holiday Stout 2010

	Style: American Stout
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 221
	Rating: 0.0	Efficiency: 70 %
	IBU's: 38.74	Boil Size: 7.00 Gal
	Color: 40.8 SRM	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
		Boil Time: 60 minutes

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	11/07/2010
OG:	1.067	1.056
FG:	1.020	1.015
ABV:	6.16 %	5.37 %
Serve Date:	12/12/2010	12/31/2010


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F	11/07/2010	11/07/2010
Bottle/Keg	21 days @ 74.0°F	11/13/2010	11/21/2010


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Gravity	Color
10.00 lbs	74.07 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	1.036	2.0
0.50 lbs	3.70 %	Black (Patent) Malt	1.025	500.0
1.00 lbs	7.41 %	Caramunich Malt	1.033	56.0
1.00 lbs	7.41 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L	1.034	80.0
0.50 lbs	3.70 %	Chocolate Malt	1.028	350.0
8.00 ozs	3.70 %	Molasses	1.036	80.0


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	27.83	Northern Brewer	60 mins	8.50
1.00 ozs	10.91	Williamette	20 mins	5.50


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Safale S- 05	Fermentis (null)


Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
0.50 tsp	Yeast Nutrient	10 mins	Boil

Mash Profile

Full Body Infusion In

45 min @ 158.0°F

Add 8.00 qt water @ 170.0°F


Notes


www.iBrewMaster.com	Version: 2.731

I aged this beer for a decent amount of time and manage to hold onto a few yet still for further aging. Unlike last year's, this stout was nothing special. It was good enough, but stouts aren't really my favorite.

It seems my little operation here goes through periods of flourish followed by a series of bumbling catastrophes. While some of the above beers aged well in their bottles, the next few bombed.

It's my fault once again in this case. With my new fermenting tool, the temperature regulated freezer, my yeast was erupting and actually cause quite a few spills within the chest of the freezer. I didn't clean it very well (or at all) and lost a 10 gallon batch of Brown ale followed by another iteration of the India Black Ale.

Brown holiday
	Style: American Brown Ale	OG: 1.052
	Type: Partial Mash	FG: 1.016
	Rating: 0.0	ABV: 4.72 %
	Calories: 172	IBU's: 38.12
	Efficiency: 70 %	Boil Size: 12.50 Gal
	Color: 34.9 SRM	Batch Size: 10.00 Gal
		Boil Time: 60 minutes


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F
Secondary	7 days @ 72.0°F
Bottle/Keg	2 days @ 74.0°F


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Gravity	Color
3.33 lbs	20.50 %	Dark Liquid Extract	1.036	17.5
3.33 lbs	20.50 %	Dark Liquid Extract	1.036	17.5
3.33 lbs	20.50 %	Amber Liquid Extract	1.036	12.5
1.00 lbs	6.16 %	Chocolate Malt	1.034	350.0
0.25 lbs	1.54 %	Black (Patent) Malt	1.025	500.0
1.00 lbs	6.16 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L	1.034	80.0
1.00 lbs	6.16 %	Biscuit Malt	1.036	23.0
1.00 lbs	6.16 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L	1.033	120.0
1.00 lbs	6.16 %	Caramunich Malt	1.033	56.0
1.00 lbs	6.16 %	Molasses	1.036	80.0


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
2.00 ozs	28.85	Northern Brewer	60 mins	8.50
2.00 ozs	9.27	Williamette	15 mins	5.50


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
2.00 pkg	Safale S- 05	Fermentis (null)


Additions
(none)

Mash Profile

(none)


Notes


www.iBrewMaster.com	Version: 2.731

I wanted to make a big load of beer for the holidays, but didn't want to go through too much work, so I made a partial mash. I hadn't done anything other than all grain since I February of that year, and almost a year before that.

Anyway I paid for my laziness and I took my wife's scrubbing out the freezer - thanks honey - before I could get back on track. Since the obliged Holidays have past I can really focus on my favorite house brews. I recently mastered the ever elusive Istrouma Pale Ale and I'm going to stick to this recipe, and try to keep it at all times.

Istrouma Pale Ale

	Style: American IPA
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 204
	Rating: 0.0	Efficiency: 70 %
	IBU's: 84.48	Boil Size: 7.50 Gal
	Color: 12.7 SRM	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
		Boil Time: 90 minutes

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	12/12/2010
OG:	1.062	1.052
FG:	1.019	1.010
ABV:	5.63 %	5.50 %
Serve Date:	01/07/2011	01/17/2011


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F	12/12/2010	12/12/2010
Secondary	14 days @ 72.0°F	12/19/2010	12/22/2010
Bottle/Keg	2 days @ 74.0°F	01/05/2011	01/05/2011


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Gravity	Color
10.00 lbs	80.00 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	1.036	2.0
0.50 lbs	4.00 %	Rye Malt	1.029	4.7
1.00 lbs	8.00 %	Biscuit Malt	1.036	23.0
0.50 lbs	4.00 %	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L	1.034	80.0
0.50 lbs	4.00 %	Caramunich Malt	1.033	56.0


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	3.72	Cascade	05 mins	5.50
1.00 ozs	11.31	Cascade	20 mins	5.50
1.00 ozs	44.13	Simcoe	60 mins	13.00
1.00 ozs	25.33	Amarillo Gold	40 mins	8.50
0.50 ozs		Simcoe	14 days	13.00


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Safale S- 05	Fermentis (null)


Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
0.50 tsp	Irish Moss	15 mins	Boil
0.50 tsp	Yeast Nutrient	15 mins	Boil

Mash Profile

Protein Rest

20 min @ 130.0°F

Decot 8.00 qt mash & heat to 150.0°F

Medium Body Infusion In

60 min @ 154.0°F

Add 8.00 qt water @ 212.0°F


Notes
Preboil: 1.040

www.iBrewMaster.com	Version: 2.731

I am going to flip-flop week-to-week with this and my Rye Pale Ale recipe which I made just last week according to this batch recipe I made just before the new year.

Rye Pale Ale

	Style: American Wheat or Rye Beer
	Type: All Grain	Calories: 208
	Rating: 0.0	Efficiency: 70 %
	IBU's: 60.28	Boil Size: 7.50 Gal
	Color: 10.5 SRM	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
		Boil Time: 90 minutes

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	12/30/2010
OG:	1.063	1.062
FG:	1.019	1.010
ABV:	5.76 %	6.81 %
Serve Date:	01/15/2011	01/15/2011


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp	Estimated	Actual
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F	12/30/2010	12/30/2010
Secondary	14 days @ 72.0°F	01/06/2011	01/10/2011
Bottle/Keg	2 days @ 74.0°F	01/24/2011	01/13/2011


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount	Percentage	Name	Gravity	Color
10.00 lbs	76.92 %	Pale Malt (2 Row) US	1.036	2.0
2.00 lbs	15.38 %	Rye Malt	1.029	4.7
1.00 lbs	7.69 %	Caramunich Malt	1.033	56.0


Hops
Amount	IBU's	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	10.34	Cascade	20 mins	5.50
1.00 ozs	3.40	Cascade	05 mins	5.50
1.00 ozs	26.37	Amarillo Gold	60 mins	8.50
0.50 ozs	20.17	Simcoe	60 mins	13.00


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Safale S-04	Fermentis (null)


Additions
Amount	Name	Time	Stage
0.50 tsp	Irish Moss	15 mins	Boil
0.50 tsp	Yeast Nutrient	15 mins	Boil

Mash Profile

Light Body Infusion In

40 min @ 150.0°F

Add 6.50 qt ( 0.50 qt/lb ) water @ 200.0°F

Protein Rest

30 min @ 120.0°F

Decot 2.00 qt mash & heat to 140.0°F


Notes
Pre-boil: 1.030 Added 1 lb raw sugar.

www.iBrewMaster.com	Version: 2.731

If I can keep these two beers flowing I'll be a happy man. I also figure that in between the first and second week of aging these beers in secondary fermentation I can brew a specialty batch and quick bottle it right after primary fermentation. In fact I plan to d this tomorrow by brewing the Rouge Wheat again and this time use Louisiana Grapefruit from my friend's front yard. Barring anymore sanitation catastrophes, 2011 should be a good year.

Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues

2010-07-25T15:47:00.000-07:00

Things are falling apart. For a time everything was going so well. After the brew-a-thon mentioned in the last post two months ago, I've not had want for beer. I had plenty. I tore into the Amber quickly. Fortunately I made 10 gallons of it and partitioned them into two separate vessels so I could age one a tad more and enjoy them a tad longer. I had such a surplus that I bottle-conditioned Andrea's Almond Amber Ale, which had been aging for nigh two months. The Black IPA spoiled on me. I don't know what went wrong and that troubles me more than anything. I tasted it and got a headache, sure enough a few weeks later a white filmed developed at the top, sure sign of spoilage. The brewing of the IPA went better than expected. I followed a Dogfish Head technique and continually added hops the full 60 minutes of the boil - one ounce at start of boil and a handful every five minutes or so - bringing the total to four. It is currently sitting in more whole leaf Cascade hops as I write this.

I took a vacation. Three weeks along the West Coast. We met some friends in L.A. and we all drove north to San Fransisco. Parting ways, my wife and I flew to Portland and hopped (no pun intended) a train to Seattle before flying home. It was wonderful. I ate some great food and drank some amazing beers. But this blog is not about what I did on my summer vacation. This blog is about my homebrew and that was no vacation.

While I was touring the coast, with an average temperature of 72 degrees F, my carboys were sitting in a dark closet where the average temperature just outside was in the triple digits. I cannot imagine how hot it got inside but I'd save 85 is a conservative estimate. Once Andrew Godley of the Parish Brew Company gave me a piece of advise that I knew to be true, but never took to heart. Temperature Control is the most important factor in fermentation, he said. I paraphrase of course, I was pretty drunk on IPA at the time, but I am feeling the effects of my folly.

Temperature control costs money. I have little. As I've stated in the past most of my equipment has been donated including the initial kit. I told myself the off temperatures would add "local color to my beer," but it has only added funk. Andrew had a vast array of chest freezers. I have one but it's being used as a keg-orator and generally is colder than desired. I did some lagering in there once, but only once. Most of my brews are ales. Ales ideally ferment at low 70's or upper 60's range, say 68-72 degrees F. We're lucky to get those temperatures in the winter here in South Louisiana. I can see why the Northwest is an ideal climate for brewing with 72 all year long, I loved it there.

So when I returned from my vacation I had less than a gallon of Amber Ale left in the keg-orator, a batch of spoiled Black IPA I have yet to clean out, a carboy of IPA still dry hopping one month after the initial transfer, and five gallons of bottled Almond Amber Ale all roasted in the Louisiana heat. The last of the 10 gallon Amber was safe in the keg-orator, but it didn't last a day after my homecoming. I consoled myself with a six-pack of Almond Ale and a few loose 22's, and for the first time since I can remember I drank a beer that was absolutely undrinkable.

Let me amend that; I've never drank one of my beers that was undrinkable. If other people give me their beer and I think it nasty, I'll quaff it quietly or politely leave it unfinished, but for the first time it was one of my beers that tasted like feet. Again I don't know what went wrong. Everything tasted fine during the transfers so it was an error in bottling or the damned heat. I don't need to sugarcoat it to myself or spare my own feelings - this beer is terrible. I tried everyone of the six-pack and two of the 22's hoping that the flavor was a fluke of the individual bottles, but no. Each and everyone I had to pour out. Right now I find myself with a five gallon excess of marinade beer, a position usually reserved for High Life, and a slug bait*.

I sit in my air-conditioned home afraid of the heat. I've stopped by a few brew stores for ingredients and even bought Washington grown dried figs during my travels, all to make a fresh batch of Rouge Huit, but I cannot bring myself to brew. It is brutal not only on human life, but on yeast cultures**. I'm not worried about sweating in the heat, but at these temperatures the yeast will produce funky flavors rather than mellow bready goodness. As I write this the spoiled black IPA rests in a carboy right behind me. There's no need to clean it out as there are no other batches to take its place. I have everything ready to transfer the IPA, the last of my homebrew, into a keg for consumption. But if the Almond Amber funked-up in a bottle, what's to stop the IPA from spoiling in its carboy. I'll know when I muster the courage to try it.

But all hope is not lost. I've got some new toys to help beat the heat. My dad gave me a cylindrical refrigerator, one that you might see Powerade being kept cool in at a convenience store. A carboy won't fit in it, but my food-grade plastic bucket - converted for lagering - might. In addition my mother-in-law is getting rid of a standup freezer. If I attach a temperature regulator to it and reinforce the shelving I can keep it at 68 degrees F constantly and store up to four carboys at a time. It'll take a little investment on my part and the time and energy to import the equipment from Lafayette, but it might be just what I need for the Summer Time Blues.

* Handy tip: If your garden is plagued with slugs, take a can lid or other semi-shallow basin, fill it with beer and leave it in the garden. The slugs will be attracted to it and drown in it.

** Historical Fact: Before refrigeration, refreshing summer beer was brewed in the winter and fermented in cool cellars for the yeast esters to develop those mellow tastes, and winter beers were brewed in the summer for the yeast to impart those heavy funky warm flavors. This of course takes a lot of foresight, planning, and temperance.

Craft Beer Week Celebration

2010-05-15T13:47:00.000-07:00

Monday May 17 is the start of American Craft Brew week. It took me by surprise this year as it does every year. Luckily I've been active enough to have a batch or two ready to celebrate with.

Apparently Homebrewers are suppose to start things off for this celebration early. The first weekend in May is National Homebrew Day. It occurred this year on May 1 and the American Homebrew Association, in association with the coordinators of American Craft Beer Week, have declared a Big Brew Day Recipe. This year's recipe is the American Craft Beer Wheat. I love a good pun.

Unfortunately, I am only finding out about this now as I research for this post. Fortunately I did make a beer on the first and it was none other than the smash hit of the summer and Baton Rouge's favorite wit beer The Rouge Huit! Really, I brewed it on the second, but the fact that it too is a wheat beer is a happy coincidence.

I do plan on sharing my love of craft brew this joyous week, by crafting some brew! I always need help with my homebrewing - there is a lot of equipment to be lifted with a lot of very hot wort inside of it - but often there is no set time to when I will brew. I'll let a few friends know a few hours or days before I begin, and if no one shows up to help my wife is cosigned to the project. But this week is a big deal.

Here is a set week to share the joys and mysteries of brewing. I decided to send out an open invitation to all of my friends and curious connoisseurs. Often they will say "We need to brew sometime." Well let's make it this week. Find some time to make it out. I have the grain, I have the technology, we can craft it stronger, hoppier, better.

In the manner that is most befitting our generation's social interactions, I have created an event on Facebook. I don't want just anyone to show up at my backdoor so I invited a select few, but I extend invitations to third party friends-of-friends. After all more hands makes the work easier.

Sunday I plan on brewing a large amount. I know I'll have the help of my wife so I intend to make 10 gallons. I also plan to do two five gallon batches on Tuesday and Thursday. However, brewing 10 gallons is not only ambitious but utilitarian. I have only two primary fermentation vessels, two 6.5 gallon glass carboys, but recently my wife bought me a Brew Cube. Although plastic, it hold 13 gallons of liquid and so makes a formidable 10 gallon primary fermentation. She got it from the Austin Homebrew Store although I spotted another one at my local veterinarian. Seems it makes a formidable dog food storage unit as well, the only difference is mine has a hole for an airlock in the screw on lid.

To make the large quantity on Sunday I will be using some old equipment in a different way. My large Igloo mash tun busted and needs repair. In the meantime I want to use my stainless steel lauder tun on the burner itself to control the temperatures. The only problem is the false bottom is high and extra water will be needed in the mash, leaving less water to sparge and possibly less efficient sugar extraction.

So here's the agenda for the upcoming week. Sunday:

Amber Clone (10 gal)
	Style: American Amber Ale	OG: 1.055
	Type: All Grain	FG: 1.016
		ABV: 5.11 %
	Calories: 181	IBU's: 32.24
	Efficiency: 70 %	Boil Size: 10.00 Gal
	Color: 13.1 SRM	Batch Size: 10.00 Gal


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F
Secondary	14 days @ 72.0°F
Bottle/Keg	21 days @ 74.0°F


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount			Name
1.00 lbs			Biscuit Malt
1.00 lbs			Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
1.00 lbs			Victory Malt
17.00 lbs			Pale Malt (2 Row) US
1.00 lbs			Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
1.00 lbs			Caramunich Malt


Hops
Amount	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	Northern Brewer	60 mins	8.50
1.00 ozs	Cascade	60 mins	5.50
0.67 ozs	Goldings, East Kent	20 mins	5.00
0.67 ozs	Cascade	20 mins	5.50
0.33 ozs	Goldings, East Kent	10 mins	5.00
0.33 ozs	Cascade	10 mins	5.50


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
2.0 pkg	Safale S- 05	Fermentis


Additions
(none)

Mash Profile


Notes


www.iBrewMaster.com	Version: 2.630

Then on Tuesday, unless plans change, an old classic. This one made with a hint of Rye and a bolder hop profile:

Istrouma Pale Ale
	Style: American IPA	OG: 1.059
	Type: All Grain	FG: 1.018
		ABV: 5.37 %
	Calories: 195	IBU's: 55.55
	Efficiency: 70 %	Boil Size: 6.50 Gal
	Color: 11.3 SRM	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F
Secondary	14 days @ 72.0°F
Bottle/Keg	21 days @ 74.0°F


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount			Name
9.00 lbs			Pale Malt (2 Row) US
0.50 lbs			Cara-Pils/Dextrine
0.50 lbs			Rye Malt
0.50 lbs			Biscuit Malt
0.50 lbs			Victory Malt
0.50 lbs			Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
0.50 lbs			Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L


Hops
Amount	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	Chinook	60 mins	13.00
1.00 ozs	Cascade	5 mins	5.50
1.00 ozs	Cascade	20 mins	5.50


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Safale S-04	Fermentis


Additions
(none)

Mash Profile

Protein Rest

20 min @ 130.0°F

Decot 8.00 qt mash & heat to 150.0°F

Light Body Infusion In

75 min @ 150.0°F

Add 8.00 qt water @ 212.0°F


Notes


www.iBrewMaster.com	Version: 2.630

Then, on Thursday, necessity becomes the Mother of Invention, and because of a limited hop selection and I fuse two recipes to make:

India Brown Ale
	Style: Schwarzbier	OG: 1.064
	Type: All Grain	FG: 1.019
		ABV: 5.90 %
	Calories: 211	IBU's: 63.77
	Efficiency: 70 %	Boil Size: 6.50 Gal
	Color: 27.7 SRM	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal


Fermentation Steps
Name	Days / Temp
Primary	7 days @ 68.0°F
Secondary	14 days @ 72.0°F


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount			Name
2.00 ozs			Black (Patent) Malt
0.25 lbs			Chocolate Malt
0.50 lbs			Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
0.50 lbs			Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
1.00 lbs			Caramunich Malt
9.00 lbs			Pale Malt (2 Row) US
1.00 lbs			Molasses


Hops
Amount	Name	Time	AA %
1.00 ozs	Chinook	60 mins	13.00
1.00 ozs	Cascade	20 mins	5.50
1.00 ozs	Cascade	10 mins	5.50


Yeasts
Amount	Name	Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg	Safale S- 05	Fermentis (null)


Additions
(none)

Mash Profile

(none)


Notes
(null)

www.iBrewMaster.com	Version: 2.630

It combines the hops of an IPA with the malt and roasted characteristics of a Brown Ale, but you've probably already figured that out. I got the idea from some unique brews I've had. Dogfishhead makes one, and I even have a recipe for it from Sam Calagione's excellent book Extreme Brewing. Also, for the second time on this blog, Athens, GA's Terrapin gets a plug for their interpretation, Hop Karma Brown IPA.

There is one problem with this mass production of craft beer. I will quickly run out of room for it. If I follow my aging times as planned I will have beers that need to go into secondary vessels and no where to put them because the ones that came before it will need at least another week, but I hope my friends who celebrate with the crafting this week will enjoy imbibing the brew a bit early.

Stepping It Up

2010-05-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

Istrouma Pale Ale 3

Style: American Pale Ale

Type: All Grain	Calories: 188

IBU's: 37.98	Boil Size: 7.00 Gal
Color: 10.3 SRM	Batch Size: 5.00 Gal

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	03/29/2010
OG:	1.057	1.042
FG:	1.017	1.008
ABV:	5.24 %	4.45 %
Serve Date:	05/11/2010	05/01/2010

Fermentation Steps

Primary

7 days @ 68.0°F

Est: 03/29/2010

Act: 03/29/2010

Secondary

14 days @ 72.0°F

Est: 04/05/2010

Act: 04/10/2010

Bottle/Keg

21 days @ 74.0°F

Est: 04/24/2010

Act: 04/20/2010

Grains & Adjuncts

9.00 lbs

Pale Malt (2 Row) US

0.50 lbs

Cara-Pils/Dextrine

1.00 lbs

Victory Malt

1.00 lbs

Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L

Hops

1.25 ozs

Cascade - 60 mins

1.00 ozs

Cascade - 20 mins

0.75 ozs

Cascade - 10 mins

Yeasts

1.0 pkg

Safale S-04 - Fermentis (null)

Additions

0.50 tsp

Irish Moss - 15 mins / Boil

0.50 tsp

Yeast Nutrient - 10 mins / Boil

Mash Profile

Protein Rest

20 min @ 120.0°F

Add 12.00 qt water @ 130.0°F

Light Body Infusion In

30 min @ 140.0°F

Add 3.80 qt ( 0.33 qt/lb ) water @ 200.0°F

Full Body Temperature

30 min @ 160.0°F

Add 0.50 qt/lb water & heat to 160.0°F over 15 mins

Notes

Sparge with 5 gallons @ 170. Boil 90 minutes.

http://www.ibrewmaster.com/ Version: 2.620

This is what I ended up submitting to the homebrew competition. In the last incarnation I was happy with the hops profile, but the body was watery and the alcohol lacking. For this pale ale I had to replace the Chinook bittering hops with Cascade because I bought that in bulk, and I had limited supplies of Chinook.

I won't say too much about this brew because to tell you the truth I'm sick of Pale Ales. I've made three different Pale Ales for this competition and none of them have met my ideal standard. It must not have met the judges standards because I didn't win. Perhaps it's because I have limited supplies of specialty grain; perhaps my hops profile lacked imagination; Lord knows my mashing process needs work!

I made one more Pale Ale, thinking to submit it - a Rye Pale Ale. I've mentioned this recipe several times and didn't deviate from the recipe except I used exclusively Cascade once again. I didn't submit it, although my wife thinks if I did I would have won. I wanted to craft a real Pale Ale for this contest, because that was what the contest was about. Aaron, the store owner, told me he wasn't being too by-the-booky though, and that someone had submitted a Satsuma Pale Ale! The weekend after the competition my wife graduated and we drank all the Rye P A at her graduation party.

So I am done with Pale Ales! For the first time in my life I think I've had enough Hops. The competition was also the store's new location GRAND OPENING! I got several 1oz for $1 loose leaf hops, a couple of pounds of this and that in the way of specialty grains - Oh and another 50lb Sack of Grain for $35! That means I'll be good to brew for the rest of the summer. Speaking of; the best way to get past a hops hangover is with the smash hit of the Summer:

Rouge Huit

Style: Witbier

Type: All Grain
OG: 1.042
FG: 1.012
Color: 4.6 SRM

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	05/02/2010
OG:	1.054	1.042
FG:	1.016	1.012
ABV:	4.98 %	3.93 %
Serve Date:	06/12/2010	/ /

Fermentation Steps

Primary

7 days @ 68.0°F

Est: 05/02/2010

Act: 05/02/2010

Secondary

14 days @ 72.0°F

Est: 05/09/2010

Act: 05/08/2010

Bottle/Keg

21 days @ 74.0°F

Est: 05/22/2010

Act: -

Grains & Adjuncts

5.00 lbs

White Wheat Malt

4.00 lbs

Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel

1.00 lbs

Wheat, Flaked

Hops

0.00 ozs

Tettnang - 60 mins

Yeasts

1.0 pkg

Safbrew WB-06 - Fermentis (null)

Additions

8.00 oz
1.00 oz

Apricots - 60 mins / Boil
Coriander - Flamout

Mash Profile

Light Body Infusion In

75 min @ 150.0°F

Add 12.50 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 162.0°F

Notes

http://www.ibrewmaster.com/ Version: 2.620

Unfortunately I forgot the honey. It's not that I didn't remember to buy some; it completely slipped my mind to add it. Because of that, it will be low alcohol, but no biggie.

Did you notice the new iBrewMaster app outlines Mash Profiles now? Pretty neat, huh? Did you notice that this batch was a single infusion? Yeah I am done with step mashing. I am just unable to control the temperature the way I need to for it. For this simple recipe I infused with 170°F water, and let it be, but still my sweetwater came out with low sugars - 1.020 O.G. with an estimated 1.052.

I couldn't figure it out. The past few batches, ever since I started Step Mashing, have been weak. I assumed it was a temperature control issues but for this Rouge Huit I used the tried and true method I've always used - Single Infusion, and still it faltered. I almost wept I walked away from my test tube and hydrometer in defeat. When I returned a few minutes later my hydrometer measured 1.000!

I really started to loose it. Not only did my beer sugars suck, but the were also decaying at an alarming rate! My wife - with the cooler head - investigated further. Turns out my hydrometer was cracked and leaking wort inside itself. So it bobbed lower due to flooding. Turns out there was nothing terribly wrong with my mash, my measuring device was just defective. I pulled out an extra I had lying around because I never gave it to the friend who asked me to pick it up - sorry Caleb.

I don't know how far back this malfunction goes, but it could explain my mash woes ever since I started Step Mashing. With a new found confidence I tried once again to Step It Up. With the new grains I got from the Brewstock sale and at my wife's requests I combined two of my favorite recipes; the Amber Clone and Andrea's Almond Brow Ale to craft:

Andrea's Almond Amber Ale
Style: American Amber Ale
Type: All Grain
OG: 1.045	ABV: 5 %
FG: 1.012	IBU's: 42.18
Efficiency: 70 %
Color: 15.7 SRM	Batch Size: 5.50 Gal

Fermentation Steps

Primary

7 days @ 70.0°F

Secondary

14 days @ 70.0°F

Bottle/Keg

21 days @ 70.0°F

Grains & Adjuncts

1.00 lbs

Caramunich Malt

0.50 lbs

Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L

0.50 lbs

Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L

0.50 lbs

Biscuit Malt

8.00 lbs

Pale Malt (2 Row) UK

0.50 lbs

Victory Malt

Hops

1.00 ozs

Northern Brewer - 60 mins

0.67 ozs

Williamette - 20 mins

0.33 ozs

Williamette - 10 mins

Yeasts

1.0 pkg

Safale S- 05 - Fermentis (null)

Additions

1.00 lb

Almonds - 60 mins / Mash

Mash Profile

Protein Rest

15 min @ 130.0°F

Decot 8.00 qt mash & heat to 150.0°F

Light Body Infusion In

60 min @ 150.0°F

Add 8.00 qt water @ 200.0°F

Notes

Sparge with 5.5 gal at 170°F

http://www.ibrewmaster.com/ Version: 2.620

I am very pleased with the turn out. By using my propane burner instead of my range oven I was able to bring the second addition of water to 200°F much more quickly, resulting in a shorter protein rest and a faster beginning to the 60 minute sugar rest. Also I hit the money with my temperature. Using my igloo cooler I held it at exactly 50°F for a solid hour.

There were two minor problems. I used too much sparge water so my yield was about 5.5 gallons and the almonds kept getting my lauter tun stuck. I used pre-roasted almonds this time so I am slightly worried about the oil levels, which have been known to cause a loss of head retention. Also, as I said, the almonds kept sticking in the false bottom so that when I cleared it almond chucks would fall into the brew kettle. I am afraid that boiling these slivers might impart some of those oils too.

I plan on doing another Amber soon, sans Almonds, and to keep cranking out the Rouge Huit. I am about done with Pale Ales, save the Rye Pale Ale. You see I can't find a Rye Pale Ale in Baton Rouge. Austin, Texas's Real Ale makes a damn fine one as well as Athens, Georgia's Terrapin. So in the typical American fashion what can't be bought, must be crafted on one's own.

Fifty Pounds of Grain and a Pound of Hops

2010-03-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a while and I've been going through brew withdrawals. Besides the extract recipe I made some time back I hadn't brewed like a big boy in some time. Back in January I made a Scotch Ale for my friend's birthday and two months later, just last Friday, I put it in a bottle. It'll bottle age for 7-14 days or more before it's ready for consumption. With the weather somewhat favorable I crafted the Black Lager I alluded to in the same post. I'm leaving it to ferment and age outside in the cool dark of my shed. The temperature outside has been fluctuation between lows in the 40's and highs in the 70's, so I figured the average temperature in my shed would be ideal lager temperatures between 50 and 60. Crafting these fancy beers takes time and attention, not to mention I'm a novice to both styles. What I really wanted was to get back to my roots - to craft a beer I love and drink it! What better way to inspire the spark of creativity while simultaneously resurrecting an old favorite style a brew contest.

The homebrew shop in New Orleans is calling on brewers of South Louisiana to use their experience to craft a recipe kit for a Pale Ale. There will be two winners, an Extract Recipe and an All-Grain Recipe. The winner receives a $125 gift certificate to the store, Brewstock, a Brewstock T-shirt, and a recipe kit sold at the store with the brewer's name on it.

Pale Ales are my favorite beers. I enjoy the hops a little more than most people should and the maltyness can range from deep caramel to golden dry. For some time I've been trying to craft my ideal Pale Ale, but I have never quite gotten it down. I was determined to get it right this time and, if unsuccessful, continue until I do. To accomplish this I dropped some cash and reached a new milestone in my homebrewing adventures, Bulk Grain.

I had to pay a little more than I should plus an arm and a leg for shipping, but instead of a 10 to 12 pound kit I ordered a 50lb sack of basic unmilled 2-row barley. This called for me to pull out an old hand-cranked grinder to mix and mill my grain personally. I got a little carried away and used more than I should have for the first batch, but if I average 10lbs per five gallons, I should have enough for 5 batches. To accomplish this end I bought a few pounds of specialty grains and - get this - a POUND of hops! That's sixteen ounces of whole leaf cascade. I had everything I needed to craft another iteration of my ideal ale:

Istrouma Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
OG: 1.065
FG: 1.019
ABV: 6.03 %
IBU's: 52.33
Primary: 7 days @ 68.0°F
Secondary: 14 days @ 72.0°F
Aging: 21 days @ 74.0°F
Color: 8.9 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
11.00 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US
0.50 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
1.00 lbs Victory Malt
0.50 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine

Hops
1.00 ozs Chinook - 60 mins
1.00 ozs Cascade - 20 mins
0.50 ozs Cascade - 10 mins
0.50 ozs Cascade - 14 days

Yeasts
1.0 pkg Safale S-04 - Fermentis

www.iBrewMaster.com

Using some rudimentary eyeballing skills I measured my grain - poorly. I intended to use ten pounds of 2-row Barley and three pounds of specialty grains for a grainbill of 13 pounds. As I said, I got a little carried away and used 11+ pounds. So I halved the Crystal 40 and Carapils to keep the grainbill constant. Using the grinder I crushed the grain to expose the sweet seed and increase the surface area of hot liquid on the grain in the sugar-to-starch conversion process called Mashing. I used the usual single-infusion mash process, and in this practice my brewing faltered.

With the exception of my first all-grain recipe - a failed pale ale - I've used a mashing process known as single-infusion. In this practice I use a 5 gallon Igloo cooler to hold a set amount of water at or near 155 degrees. This is an ideal temperature for the starches in the grain to react with natural enzymes and convert to fermentable sugars in a process called Mashing. I've had problems with this method in the past, but coupled with too much sparge water, this was an utter disaster.

Perhaps I am being too hard on myself. The beer is fine. It is in my closet, fermenting well. I came out with close to 5.5 gallons of wart, and, with three bottles submitted to the contest, I will have the majority to keg, consume, and enjoy. The problem comes with the Gravity and the final Alcohol By Volume (ABV). Due to improper temperature, too much grain, or some other variable I cannot quite isolate, I was not able to convert all of the starches to sugars. On top of that I watered it down too much. This means a beer that was estimated to have an O.G. of 1.065 with a potential ABV of 6%, turned out to have a measure O.G. of 1.040 with potential ABV around 4%. It's not the end of the world. It's just disappointing, especially in the face of competition.

Also, I used a more potent strand of hops, Chinook, in this batch. In addition to my pound of hops I bought a single ounce of Chinook. Which is a strand similar to Cascade, but on steroids. It was to counteract the higher alcohols somewhat like an India Pale Ale. I plan on brewing this again and submitting it to the competition as well, only with exactly 10lbs 2-row for sugar, one pound of Crystal 40 for color and caramel flavor, one pound of Victory Malt for bready taste, one pound of Carapils for body and head retention, and the same hops profile except all Cascade and no Chinook.

What made this weekend so Brewtastic, despite my shortcomings, is my friend and fellow homebrew-adventurer, Caleb, was ready to brew as well. He had a terrible experience with his first all-grain batch early this month, but was back on the horse. Ironically, he had problems with his mash as well, but he had talked it up and showed me a new method of mashing, Step-Mashing.

In single-infusion, the mash is mixed at a certain temperature and left to its own devices, whereas step-mashing controls the temperatures by gradually adding set amounts of hot water over a course of time. There are formulas and ratios for how much and how hot of water to add to increase the mash x degrees per y pounds of grain. It's something I'll have to experiment with, but the process gives more control of what types of sugars are produced.

It starts at a lower temperature around 130 degrees and held there for a Protein Rest. Then boiling water is added to increase the beer and hold it between 150 to 158 degrees - higher for more body lower for more alcohol, less body. Then, if desired, the temperature can be raised to 168-170 to end all enzymatic activity in a Mash Out before sparging and boiling. For my next beer I plan on using this process to increase the production of sugars. I'll most likely use a protein rest for 20 min and raise the temp to 155 for 15 then up to 158 for 15 shooting for an medium bodied beer. If I am really paranoid I can test the starch conversions with an iodine test.

Caleb tells me that the stuff I used to play with as a kid, purportedly called Monkey's Blood, was a vial of iodine you can pick up at any pharmacy. The iodine will change into a crimson color in the presence of starch. When placed into a small sample of mash - less than an ounce - the iodine will change if any starches are present, but if no color change occurs then all starches are converted. I might not go to such extremes in the near future, but if I wanted to I could. After all, I have Fifty Pounds of Grain and a Pound of Hops!

First Batches

2010-02-28T14:09:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately I did not journal my first experience with home brewing. It started off as a mild curiosity and then fate intervened - my friend Kirk Herrmann, for whom the brewery is named, gave me his unused True Brew Gold Kit. It came with a 6 gallon glass carboy - which I have since destroyed - a 7.8 gallon bottling bucket with a spigot, various tubes, a racking cane, and a three-piece airlock complete with bung for the bunghole! Kirk was moving to Germany and had received the kit for his birthday before making his first recipe, an Octoberfest. So my first beer was Kirktoberfest, and thus began the Herrmann Brew Company. For those of you curious as I was, if you can make pasta, you can brew a beer. The most basic process, and how I started are listed below.

My soon to be brother-in-law-in-law - his fiance is my wife's sister - has been dieing to make a beer and so on a visit to my hometown, Lafayette, I brought most of the equipment listed above and we set out to brew a simple ale.

Trey Wheat #38
Style: American Wheat	OG: 1.060
Type: Extract	FG: 1.018
	ABV: 5.50 %
Calories: 198	IBU's: 15.16

Primary: 7 days @ 68.0°F	Volume: 5.00 Gal
Secondary: 14 days @ 72.0°F	Efficiency: 70 %
Aging: 21 days @ 74.0°F	Color: 5.9 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
3.30 lbs	Wheat Liquid Extract
3.30 lbs	Extra Light Dry Extract
1.00 lbs	Honey

Hops
1.00 ozs	Hallertauer - 60 mins

Yeasts
1.0 pkg	Safbrew WB-06 - Fermentis

http://www.ibrewmaster.com/

Trey, my b-in-lw-in-lw, and I set out to craft a simple extract recipe. At the inception of this blog I began brewing in the all-grain fashion, which is to extract sugars from the roasted grain itself. This method is time-consuming and requires specialized equipment, but anyone who can make pasta can make an extract recipe. Extract refers to a thick solution that is all of the sugars made by the grain boiled down into a syrup. It is much easier to manage but you limited by the types of grains used by the extractor. It takes:

6.6 lbs of Liquid Malt Extract. This recipe I got a 3.3lb can of Wheat Malt and a 3.3lb can of Extra Light Barley Malt. The Barley comes in grades of Light, Extra Light, Amber, and Dark. This gave me a straight 6.6 lbs of sugar and little Honey rounds it up to 7 and a half pounds.

A Large Stockpot. This one is 5 gallons in which I boiled 4 down to 3.5gallons. I've used pots as small as 3 gallons, but the larger the better.

A Primary Fermentation Vessel. This is a six gallon glass carboy. It can ferment five gallons of beer and leave head room enough for yeast head. A food-grade - plastic or stainless steel vessel will work as well. Doggie not included.

A Spigoted Plastic Bucket or Bottling Bucket is useful, but not essential.

Sanitary Solution, Hops (Hallertau Pellets), Yeast (Fermentis UB-06), Airlock, Hydrometer (non-essential), as well as some tubes and a racking cane (not pictured).

Five Gallons of Pre-Made HomeBrew. Not essential, but it sure does help. For this occasion we drank a classic recipe made with Grapefruit instead of Apricot:

Rouge Huit
Style: Witbier	Calories: 177
Type: All Grain	IBU's: 18.34

Primary: 7 days @ 68.0°F	Volume: 4.00 Gal
Secondary: 14 days @ 72.0°F	Efficiency: 70 %
Aging: 21 days @ 74.0°F	Color: 4.6 SRM

	Estimated	Actual
Brew Date:	-	01/24/2010
Secondary:	01/31/2010	02/25/2010
Bottle/Keg:	03/11/2010	02/25/2010
Serve:	03/18/2010	02/27/2010
Orig. Gravity:	1.054	1.058
Fin. Gravity:	1.014	1.008
ABV:	5.24%	6.55%

Grains & Adjuncts
5.00 lbs	White Wheat Malt
4.00 lbs	Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel
1.00 lbs	Wheat, Flaked
0.50 lbs	Rice Hulls

Hops
1.00 ozs	Vanguard - 60 mins

Yeasts
1.0 pkg	Safbrew WB-06 - Fermentis

Additions
1 Whole	Grapefruit Peel - 60 mins / Boil
1.00 lb	Honey - 60 mins / Boil

Mash Profile
(none)

Notes


http://www.ibrewmaster.com/

Yum!

Bring to boil as much water you can fit into your stockpot. Mine held approximately 4 gallons - though I did not measure. Remove from heat and add sugars while stirring. It is important to remove from heat because the risk of scorching is great.

Stir thoroughly as to dissolve as much of the sugars as possible and return to a boil.

It will take some time to return this dense sugar solution to a boil so stir sporatically and when it reaches a rolling-boil add your hops.

The hops addition is volatile so be careful. You are introducing cold oils to a boiling concoction and the probability of boil-over is close to certain. Reduce the heat and add the hops slowly, stiring throughout the process. When the concoction returns to a rolling boil start the timer for 1 hour. Use this time to take care to clean and sanitize everything that will come into contact with the beer after the boil is over. This includes the bottling bucket, carboy, and airlock.

Some beers call for secondary hops addition, tertiary hops addition or other additions, but this ale was easy. Sit it and forget it. After an hour create a whirlpool to drag the sediment to the bottom.

The hour of hops boil will pull all the alpha oils from the hops to bitter the beer appropriately and when it is over you want to create a homeostasis environment suitable for yeast proliferation. Adding the yeast to a 212 degree boiling brew will have the same effect as cooking a lobster. The unfermented beer, called wort, needs to be cooled. An ice-bath or a large freezer will bring it down to about 90 degrees in a quick enough manner.

Ninety degrees is a suitable temperature for yeast proliferation. Although I did not measure the rule of thumbs in no steam rising or the pot is touchable.

We poured the wort into the bottling bucket and watered it down to five gallon. We ended up with 2.5 gallons of syrup solution and used 2.5 gallons of Lafayette tap water. Some purist will use distilled or ionized water, but I've learned to care less about purity and enjoy the local color.

The next step in a homeostasis environment is to create an oxygen rich environment. Yeast, like plant, eats oxygen and creates carbon dioxide. On the flip side bacteria exist in the air so it is essential to disperse oxygen throughout the wort. This can be accomplished by shaking the carboy in a process calld "Rock the baby," or , if you have a bottling bucket you can create a cascade.

Pour your watered down wort through the spigot and into your sanitized glass carboy. This will churn the wort into the surrounding air. At about half way through cut the flow and pitch your yeast into the carboy. Pour the rest of the solution and cap your carboy.

From there find a cool dark place - like a closet - with a relatively constant temperature and let the yeast eat the sugar, piss alcohol, fart CO2 and have sex with itself until its eaten all its sugars and falls dormant. This primary fermentation stage should take 5-7 days and you can see the airlock bubbling to be sure.

As the week passes keep an eye on your carboy. You will see the airlock bubble with rapid succession as the fermentation escalates. It is not uncommon for the yeast to emit a bubbly head and if overly violent it could pop the airlock off.

I don't anticipate this to happen, but coming up we'll outline the next steps leading to consumption. It could take as little as one week or up to a year.
Update:
After a few short hours, four or so, we have a healthy yeast head. The airlock is bubbling rapidly and all seems well. This short amount of time is not common and signifies the yeast is happy and healthy. As they say Happy Yeast Makes Happy Beer. Overnight it should cool down and the fermentation should slow, but, unless it gets too cold, the yeast will eat all sugars available.

One thing I am concerned about is if this rapid, violent fermentation continues the yeast head (above) could expand its way up the carboy's neck and leech into the airlock. Worse yet if the CO2 produced reaches too high a pressure for the airlock to handle it could pop off all together and spew yeast head all over my sister-in-law's closet. Yikes!

Birthdays

2010-01-20T15:48:00.001-08:00

Recently I brought a bottle or two of homebrew to my friend Marty, he's a folksy guy from up north. He will unabashedly pick up a guitar and an impromptu hootenanny invariably ensues. I join in. I'm hip to it. Although in most social situations I attend the capacity to play an instruments decays exponentially with the amount of beer consumed.

Anywhoo, I brought him a Rouge Wheat, a Punkin' Porter this year and last, and he helped my finish off a keg of Kolsch recently. So you know, he's hip to it too. Recently, in Novemeber, he proposed I make a keg of beer for his girlfriend, Nicole's, birthday in October. Yes, it had just past, but Marty, being a considerate guy, didn't want to bother me with time constraints he just asked I make it whenever I was ready.

I knew immediately what Nicole would want. Last April she went gaga when we discussed St. Arnold Brewing Company having a Strong Scotch Ale homebrew contest. I didn't enter as I didn't have time and the brewery is in Houston anyway. So I set out to make Nicole a Scotch Ale which should be ready about the end of February, 7 months before - or 5 months after - her birthday.

Strong Scotch Ale
Style: Strong Scotch Ale
OG: 1.073
FG: 1.021
ABV: 6.81 %
IBU's: 23.52
Primary: 7 days @ 68°F
Secondary: 14 days @ 72°F
Aging: 21 days @ 74°F
Color: 20.8 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
10.00 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK
0.50 lbs Biscuit Malt
1.00 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
3.00 ozs Peat Smoked Malt
1.00 lbs Invert Sugar
1.00 lbs Caramunich Malt
0.25 lbs Roasted Barley

Hops
0.50 ozs Fuggles - 60 mins
1.00 ozs Goldings, East Kent - 60 mins
0.50 ozs Fuggles - 15 mins

Yeasts
1.0 pkg Safale 04 - Fermentis

www.iBrewMaster.com

The O.G. was 10 points off at 1.060, to be expected. I am suspecting inefficiency in my equipment and perhaps it is time to upgrade. The lower O.G. is ok though, as I use single infusion mashing and expect a lower F.G., as most of the sugars will be fermentable. It should still be a very decent 6.5%. They both came over to help me make it and we split a Wee Heavy to mark the occasion. The Scotch Ale, Wee Heavy, is from Belhaven, Scotland's oldest brewery and the only ale of this style that I was familiar with. She had fond memories of it from a brewery back hom in St. Louis, a micro- or smaller brewery.

In my research I found a traditional Scotch Ale is similar to it's southerly cousin, the English Ale. An English Ale would have more of a hops presence, like an Extra Special Bitter or a Pale Ale, but nowhere near the green monsters brewed here in the US. A Scotch Ale would be more malty and ferment at lower temperatures due to the climate. Another key ingredient that set a scotch ale into a genre all its own is Smoked Peat Malt or just Peated Malt.

Scotland is a very barren, rocky country. I visited there in the 10th grade, when I was 16, and we toured the Isle of Wight. It was very pretty country side and we saw a lot of it. It seemed we drove hours and hours in our tour bus to reach our destination, occasionally taking "pee-breaks." We would get out and walk around and pee on a stone wall usually finding a sheep skull or carcass in the process. Well after a few hours we realized these breaks were our destination. We went sight seeing on a flat green island with no trees. No trees means no fire and Scottish people had to roast there malt with whatever they could find. Often the used peat moss and its smoke imparted a particular flavor still favored to this day.

My friends Marty and Nicole quickly became greedy and wanted more beer. So they bought me more. No complaints here.

1554 Black Lager Clone

Style: Dark American Lager
OG: 1.058
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5.90 %
IBU's: 22.51
Primary: 7 days @ 50°F
Secondary: 14 days @ 48°F
Aging: 21 days @ 40°F
Color: 28.3 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
6.00 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US
4.00 lbs Munich Malt
8.00 ozs Cara-Pils/Dextrine
8.00 ozs Caramunich Malt
6.00 ozs Chocolate Malt
5.00 ozs Black (Patent) Malt

Hops
1.00 ozs Cluster - 60 mins

Yeasts
1.0 pkg American Lager - White Labs WLP840

Additions
1.00 oz Seeds of Paradise - 15 mins / Boil

www.iBrewMaster.com

Nicole and Marty knew about my clone recipes. Nicole even helped me brew a batch of the Fat Tire Clone from New Belgium Brewing, which we still struggle to get here in Louisiana. She wanted the 1554 Enlightened Ale they craft, which is a delicious light-bodied roasty beer with old world charm. Supposedly the recipe was culled from a monk's recipe dating back to, you guessed it, 1554. There is something misleading about this recipe, however. The Enlightened Ale is a Lager.

I've never made a lager, but these friends talked me into it. It will be a challenge especially since the cold pseudo winter weather is waning. A lager ferments at a much lower temperature and uses a particular yeast. It doesn't tolerate temperature variation, and is generally very unforgiving. I will need to use my extra space in my Kegorater and perhaps buy a temp regulator. In addition I will need to chill the wort more efficiently than I am now. This might take two trips through the counter flow chiller, but so be it.

I attended a social gathering the Saturday before MLK day. It was the 14th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Chicken Fry Off. It's been going on for 14 years and is tolerably racist. I was telling my friend about the plans for this beer and he conscripted me to make a similar recipe for next year's Chicken Fry Off and call it Martin Luther King Black Lager.

2009; a Tasting in Remeberance

2010-01-08T08:12:00.000-08:00

Ugh. What a Holiday! It's over now, but in that time I imbibed massive amounts of homebrew. All the preparations for my Holiday company paid off in full. The fretting over the Christmas Stout was for naught. Everything went off without a hitch. In addition to finishing off 20 of the 25 gallons made for the occasion, my guests, my wife, and I managed to visit the New Orleans Rum distillery, the Abita brewery, and attend a beer tasting of my own exploits.

Since I began brewing in the All-Grain method last summer, I have saved one 750mL bottle of every beer I made, except those I kegged. In total I had 8 bottles. On one of the last nights of my guests visit we sat down, all eight of us, and I unloaded the vault.

The first beer tasted was made in June. It was a Pale Ale, my first attempt at the yet unperfected Istrouma Pale Ale. This being my first foray into All-Grain methods it was fraught with mistake, inefficiency and frustrations. I mashed in my brew kettle on the burner in a futile attempt to control the heat. My false bottom did not operate in the manner I had suspected so I had to wedge it into place in the lauter tun. I believe now that I am missing a piece to it so I am forced to continue to use this method. The wort chiller my father-in-law and I crafted did not work as suspected and I had to abandon counter-flow methods and opt instead for immersion chilling, a dirty process indeed. The beer itself was drinkable, but lacked any flair and was quite generic. One could almost taste the amateur nature of the brew, or maybe only I could.

Of the next two beers I made that summer one went bad completely due to a chlorine-based sanitizer, and the other was kegged. So the next beer was dated August and it was the summer wheat ale to which I allude to in other posts, Rouge Wheat. I saved two bottles of those so I was fortunate enough to enjoy it twice. I made it often and once in the form of a 10gallon batch. Five gallons I bottled and saved and the other five I kegged and brought to a homebrew/swimming party. Other beers there were an IPA and a very tasty English Old Ale, but being a hot summer day the Rouge Wheat was a smash hit, the smash hit of the summer.

Between those and following later were two more incarnations of the Istrouma Pale Ale. The recipes were similar, but one was created in another 10gallon batch, which I again kegged 5 and bottled 5. The major difference were not what types of hops, but the order to which they were used. It was interesting to notice how Chinook, Centennial, and Cascade hops, all very similar strains save higher Alpha Acids %, used at different point could change the brew. With the first I used Cascade as bittering hops, Centennial as flavor, and Chinook as aroma. In the other I reversed the Order as Chinook has highest Alpha Acid, therefore more bitter, and Cascade the least for more Aroma. The second bottle was a 7.5% ABV monster and the closest I've come to what I desire in an IPA, but only 3 gallons were yielded so I strive to do better next time.

I had saved a bottle of the ill-fated Kolsch, which never met my expectations, from another 10gallon recipe. I believe the failure was due in part to the heat. A Kolsch, unlike an IPA, does not rely on its hops flavors, it is a Malty brew. The types of malt are important, but not as important as the way the yeast uses them. I have since come to find that in the old country summer beers, like a Kolsch, are brewed in the winter and aged in the cold until summer. At lower temperature yeast are more mellow and impart mellower tastes, better esters. Different types of yeast require different temperature, but a good temperature is 68-70 for a malty Kolsch. I couldn't leave my A/C in my house at 65 in a Louisiana summer without going bankrupt. As a result the beer fermented and aged at something more like 80. This produced a rather sour, flat taste. It was drinkable, but this year I am more likely to be brewing Kolsches and Blondes in Late February/Early Spring time.

The last two bottles of the evening you can read about in other posts here on the Herrmann Brew Company Blog. The Punkin' Porter and the Amber Clone. It seems that my Adventures in Homebrew have caught up to my e-jounaling about it. 2010 looks promising for brew in general. I've begun a new vault. The Holiday Hangover is the only resident there now. It is getting lonely and I have to refill it now that the craziness of the Holidays is over. I hope to open it Christmas 2010 as The Ghost of Christmas Past, it has the alcohol to last that long. New Orleans Lager & Ale Brewing Company and its distributor settled their differences (the distributors won), and now the Blonde is flowing again. Their new IPA, Hopitoulas, is amazing, but just starting to flow. Its name is a pun on their brewery's address, 3001 Tchoupitoulas Street. In addition two breweries are starting up in and around my hometown, Parish Brew Company and Bayou Teche Brewing. I wish them the best of luck. I cannot imagine it's easy with all the bull-crap you have to go through to get beer to people and try to make a living doing it. I know I'm discouraged to even dream of it. Good luck to us all.

A Conversation We All Need to Be Having

2009-12-21T11:37:00.000-08:00

I got my Christmas present early this year. In part it was my wife's generous nature, in part it was done out of necessity. My 10 gallon batches being made for our holiday company are on schedule, but I am running out of storage capacity. When what to my wondrous eyes should appear, but a featured item at the Austin Home Brew Store Website, The Brew Cube.

It is plastic yes, and I've never used plastic, but I am ready to make that leap of faith. It's ideal because I can ferment 10gallons without wasting the space of two carboys. The extra three gallons leaves plenty of volume for a healthy yeast head, but its opaque exterior make it impossible to watch it form and churn, a simple pleasure I took for granted.

Ten gallons of Amber Ale Clone are in there now and ready to be transferred to a secondary vessel. The Brew Cube is so convenient that I will probably clean it and transfer the 10 gallons back into for aging, again saving lots of space.

With this extra space I will brew the Satsuma Wheat again this week. I have a slightly different recipe, more akin to the Rouge Wheat. In fact exactly akin, save Satsumas in lieu of apricots. In addition, to make it a more Winter ale I plan on adding mulling spices at flame out. Chamomile might make a nice addition as well as cinnamon, allspice, more citrus peels, etc.

Everything seems all set for an enjoyable holiday season, yet there is no joy in Mudville for a most depressing development has come to pass. The conversation transcribed below took place on Monday December 21, and carries an important Christmas Message. The names have been changed to protect the innocent, and the grammar corrected for the same reason:

Not Me: your off now?
Sent at 12:59 PM on Monday
me: yes i am off
Sent at 1:14 PM on Monday
Not Me: damn your black heart
Sent at 1:16 PM on Monday
me: mwha haha
Not Me: how was your weekend?
me: very nice, relaxing
we spent most of it with family
Not Me: coolio
and your working half days this week right
Sent at 1:22 PM on Monday
me: no i am off all this week
last week the kids had half days,but mine were full
Friday I took off around noon and never looked back
Sent at 1:31 PM on Monday
Not Me: hah
me too
went to nola and went to the Avenue Pub, then when I got back here, i have sinus problems now
at work and slightly miserable
me: the Avenue pub is great!
did you head about the problems with NOLA brew distributors?
Not Me: i had not
whats up
me: http://www.nola.com/drink/index.ssf/2009/08/nola_brewing_cos_dispute_with.html
they're being sued by their distributor
Not Me: ?
why?
me: they tried to switch distributors and got caught in a license legal argument
the old distributor sued and so a cease and desist order was called by a judge
Bar tender at the Bulldog told me all this and NOLA.com verifies
you can't get NOLA in this town anymore
some places have a few kegs, but when they're gone, they're gone
Blonde is nowhere in town
Not Me: wow
that sucks
me: yeah
worst case scenario is NOLA pulls out of LA for 2 years
Not Me: so they were trying to switch and got caught in a breech of contract?
wtf is with NOLA liquor producers?
both of them are screwy now
me: If I understand the situation correctly,
NOLA claims their distributor Glazer broke contract
when they claimed "premium distributive services"
Not Me: that's a hard one to press
me: to which NOLA says was not "premium" because they won't distribute on the weekends nor in the Quarter
so yeah until the dispute is settled, their new distributor, Southern Eagle, cannot sell a drop
NOLA can sell to Southern Eagle, but Eagle cannot sell to anyone else
screwy huh?
Not Me: welcome to LA
Sent at 1:41 PM on Monday

Welcome to LA will be the first thing I say to my visitors and, God willing, I will be able to serve them a NOLA brew. Now the half dozen of you who might be reading this most likely know the backwards-ass distributing laws that govern the State of Louisiana. It has taken a long time and a slow progression to repeal or amend most of the "Blue Laws" in my town. Now we can purchase alcohol on a Sunday whenever the spirits take me. (pun intended) But the 800 lb gorilla that prevents most of us Beer Nerds from satisfying our unquenchable pallet with a variety of fresh and unique brews is the distributing laws. These laws are in place as a form a political pork. There's more of gravy than grave in this set up. The only way for anyone to sell any fermented beverage in this state is through a middleman, a distributor.

These distributors are an independent company and, as with any independent company in place since Prohibition, the strong have survived by placing a parasitic, vice like grip on people's booze-to-money stream. I understand the need for such an organization. By going through a middleman we are setting up checks on sanitization and cost control, but there are only 3 of them who have any pull. New Orleans Lager and Ale Brewing Company has fallen victim to these companies greed and capitalistic intentions.

For some reason the legal norm is to hold the producers up to the whims of the distributors, not the other way around. After years of mediocrity in the beverage community, distributors need to go away like the dinosaurs. At one time 3 distributors was all that was needed because there were only 3 breweries, Budweiser, Coors, and Miller. It made sense for a distributor to hook up with a macro brewery to funnel the money from the consumers all over the world to a centralized location in St. Louis or Colorado, but the times have changed. We are clutching like barnacles on a sinking ship and trying to force an ever mutating market into a system which crushes creativity and prohibits change.

Moreover, the companies listed above are not even located in the United States. Craft brew is becoming our beer of choice and rather than embracing the change the courts of Louisiana are holding up our consumption on a technicality of legal terminology. Basically NOLA wanted to fire its distributor, it did, and now they cannot sell any brew at all. It could be that not a drop of NOLA flows for 2 years. That would cripple the company and set the flow of events leading up to where we are now back 30 years.

Update: Wednesday December, 23 Two days until Christmas

On Monday December 21, shortly after this post NOLA brew made this statement via their Facebook Page:

"We are pleased to announce that NOLA and Glazer's have resolved our differences and all legal proceedings are being terminated. Although we have had our differences with Glazer's, we are looking forward to working together in the future. They will serve as NOLA's distributor in the state of Louisiana."

So it seems the worst is over, though it appears that Glazer won the dispute. What that means as far as NOLA's desired distributing, I don't know. What I do know is that yesterday, while eating oysters with my wife, I ordered a NOLA Blonde, which has been hard to find, everyone was sure they were out, but the waitress checked and sure enough I got what I ordered. It has never tasted so good. Maybe now we'll see some of their new Hopitoulas make its way down here.

Favorites: Mass Productions and Variance

2009-11-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

I have friends visiting for the holidays. They will be here shortly after Christmas and stay a few days after New Year's. I need to be ready. I asked them what kind of beer they wanted and they gave a rather wishy washy response. So I took it upon myself to brew up some of my favorite styles. I chose to recreate the Rye Pale Ale for them as well as the Amber Clone, but I chose to do 10 gallons. Adapting a 5 gallon recipe to a 10 gallon recipe requires close attention to detail and a knowledge from experience of which variants need to be remeasured or multiplied by an exact coefficient to produce a consistent product. I, on the other hand, just doubled everything. Looking at the Recipes side by side:

Amber Clone
Style: American Amber Ale
OG: 1.049
FG: 1.013
ABV: 4.72 %
IBU's: 37.22
Primary: 7 days @ 68°F
Secondary: 14 days @ 72°F
Aging: 21 days @ 74°F
Volume: 5 Gallons
Color: 9.4 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
0.50 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L
0.25 lbs Biscuit Malt
8.25 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US
0.50 lbs Munich Malt
0.25 lbs Victory Malt

Hops
1.00 ozs Northern Brewer - 60 mins
0.66 ozs Williamette - 15 mins
0.34 ozs Williamette - 5 mins

Yeasts
1.0 pkg California Ale V - White Labs WLP051

www.iBrewMaster.com

Amber Clone (10 gal)
Style: American Amber Ale
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.014
ABV: 4.72 %
IBU's: 36.69
Primary: 7 days @ 68°F
Secondary: 14 days @ 72°F
Aging: 21 days @ 74°F
Volume: 10 Gallons
Color: 8.5 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
0.50 lbs Biscuit Malt
1.00 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
0.50 lbs Victory Malt
1.00 lbs Munich Malt
17.00 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US

Hops
2.00 ozs Northern Brewer - 60 mins
1.25 ozs Williamette - 15 mins
0.75 ozs Williamette - 5 mins

Yeasts
2.0 pkg Safale US-05 Dry Ale Yeast - Fermentis

www.iBrewMaster.com

we can see roughly the same numbers as predicted by iBrewmaster. Now those of you who are math sticklers can see that the hops were misadjusted. If I doubled everything then the flavoring hops should have doubled from 0.66oz to 1.34oz, or from 2/3 to 1 1/3, and the aroma from 0.34oz to 0.66oz, or 1/3 to 2/3. Good for you for knowing fractions and ratios! The total hops ounces are the same, but you can see a slight variance in the IBUs.

Looking at the Rye Pale Ale:

Rye Pale Ale
Style: English IPA
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5.24 %
IBU's: 41.50
Primary: 7 days @ 68°F
Secondary: 14 days @ 72°F
Aging: 21 days @ 74°F
Volume: 5 Gallons
Color: 11.2 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
0.50 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L
8.50 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK
2.00 lbs Rye Malt

Hops
1.00 ozs Cluster - 60 mins
1.00 ozs Amarillo Gold - 15 mins
1.00 ozs Glacier - 5 mins
1.00 ozs Cascade - 14 days (dry hopped)

Yeasts
1.0 pkg Dry English Ale - White Labs WLP007

www.iBrewMaster.com

Rye Pale Ale (10 gal)
Style: American Rye Beer
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5.24 %
IBU's: 41.50
Primary: 7 days @ 68°F
Secondary: 14 days @ 72°F
Aging: 21 days @ 74°F
Volume: 10 Gallons
Color: 10.5 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
1.00 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L
17.00 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US
4.00 lbs Rye Malt

Hops
2.00 ozs Cluster - 60 mins
2.00 ozs Amarillo Gold - 15 mins
2.00 ozs Glacier - 5 mins
1.00 ozs Cascade - 14 days (dry hopped)

Yeasts
1.0 pkg Dry English Ale - White Labs WLP007
1.0 pkg Safale S-04 - Fermentis

www.iBrewMaster.com

we see exactly the same numbers, save a slightly lover SRM color rating. Note the amount of dry hops stays constant from 5 gal to 10 gal, but the overall IBUs didn't change. I usually don't use a whole ounce of hops for 5 gallon batch, but I do use a handful of whole leaf - enough to cover the surface area.

These two recipes are solid, but I wanted to revive one of my favorites, The Rouge Wheat. If I haven't mentioned it, it's a pun. You can read all about it in my Note on Facebook:

Brew 6/24 Wheat

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 3:18pm
I'm making a summer wheat beer. I made one for my friends wedding involving orange peel, honey, and chamomile flowers called the Honey Moon Wedding Wheat. This one skips the flowers and uses grapefruit rather than orange. The honey is still there. I can't think of a good name. Suggestions? Preferably something Baton Rouge related.

It contains:

1 x Brewers 2-Row Malt 4 lbs 8 oz

1 x White Wheat 4 lbs 8 oz

1 x Rice Hulls 1 lb

1 x Rye Malt 8 oz

1 x Flaked Wheat 8 oz

1 x Vanguard Pellet Hops (1 oz) boiled 60min

1x Grapefruit peel boiled 20min

cheers!

The comments had names like Bitter Bee Summer Wheat (Bitter for the Grapefruit, Bee for the Honey), sweet nip summer, and Jangle. In the end I settled the discussion by commenting:

"..and the winner is Red 8. Which [in] French is Rouge Huit ("rouge wheat") get it? so Rouge 8 it is, thank you Sarah Dee I cannot resist a bilingual pun."

The name turned out to be too clever for its own good. To keep it simple I now call it Rouge Wheat and its label is a Red #8, don't think too hard about it. The recipe evolved from there. I dropped the Rye Malt altogether, I gravitated towards a 60/40 ratio wheat to barley, and the grapefruit was replaced by dried apricot:

Rouge Huit
Style: Witbier
OG: 1.054
FG: 1.016
ABV: 4.98 %
IBU's: 18.34
Primary: 7 days @ 68°F
Secondary: 14 days @ 72°F
Aging: 21 days @ 74°F
Volume: 5 Gallons
Color: 4.6 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
5.00 lbs White Wheat Malt
4.00 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel
1.00 lbs Wheat, Flaked
0.50 lbs Rice Hulls

Hops
1.00 ozs Vanguard - 60 mins

Yeasts
1.0 pkg Bavarian Wheat - Wyeast Labs 3638

Additions
8.00 oz Apricots - 60 mins / Boil
1.00 lb Honey - 60 mins / Boil

www.iBrewMaster.com

This beer was the smash hit of the summer. I made it exactly as listed numerous times and once as a 10 gallon (double the recipe). I wanted to recreate this recipe for my visitors - they come from all over; several are on the East Coast, Baltimore and New York to be specific, others are on the West Coast, Los Angelas. In accordance I have adjusted the recipe to better suit the Gulf Coast:

Satsuma Wheat
Style: American Wheat Beer
OG: 1.061
FG: 1.018
ABV: 5.63 %
IBU's: 17.22
Primary: 7 days @ 68°F
Secondary: 14 days @ 72°F
Aging: 21 days @ 74°F
Color: 4.7 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
1.00 lbs Honey
0.50 lbs Oats, Flaked
5.00 lbs Wheat Malt, Bel
5.00 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel

Hops
1.00 ozs Vanguard - 60 mins

Yeasts
1.0 pkg Safbrew WB-06 Wheat Beer Dry Yeast - Fermentis

Additions
Peel and separated 3 satsumas with white part of peel zested off. Add satsumas and peels to boil for 60 min. At flame out add saved shavings of peels.

The homebrew shop was out of Flaked Wheat and low on White Wheat. I used standard, slightly darker Belgian Wheat Malt as well as Flaked Oats, which he assured me was a fine compliment to any Wheat Ale. I couldn't get my hands on any coriander - out of season I suppose- but Satsumas are plentiful these days.

I got my satsumas from my wife's parent's neighbor's tree. It was hanging over the fence and loaded with satsumas. In a matter of minutes we had a bagful and it seemed the tree had barely been picked at all. Some recipes call for fruit or fruit peel addition late in boil, but my experience with the previous mutations told me the best favor can be achieved by a full boil as I did with the Apricots and the Grapefruit.

One of the major catalysts for the switch to Apricot from Grapefruit was my wife. She did not favor the extreme bitterness of the grapefruit. I mean I used a huge grapefruit! Peel and all! As a friend pointed out I should have used zested Grapefruit peel. Supposedly the white stuff between the peel and the fruit was quite bitter. In addition the Rye might have imparted a spicy bitterness. I enjoyed the bitterness. In my opinion it makes a wit more than the fruity notes and the Abita brewery's interpretation of a very similar brew was decent, but could have used more citrus and bitterness - more satsuma.

I intend to achieve this bitterness. As I described I peeled and separated the chunks and used a fine cheese grader to sand off as much of the white stuff off the peels. I collected it and added it at flame out, as you would flavor hops. The fruit and its peels went into a bag and got boiled for an hour along with 1 lb of honey and a single ounce of hops. Very easy brew, just add it and forget it.

This will be the first brew my visitors try when they get here, unless some of the brews mentioned earlier are still available (not likely). I then hope to crank 'em out, age slightly, and force carbonate for quick consumption. This next month will more than likely fly by, as the Holidays usually do, and I have set a grueling pace for myself... That's it. That is all.

Pretty Soon We'll All Be In Cider

2009-11-23T13:55:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I was at a festival, the Black Pot Festival. It's been put on annually for the past 3 or 4 year in my hometown. My parents still live there, but we take full advantage of their policy to allow camping on the festival grounds over the weekend. Some friends of mine brought Organic Apple Juice and mulling spices to make Apple Cider. "Apple Cider?" I thought, is if fermented apple juice? No, it was just cloudy apple juice they wanted to heat up and add spices to. They also brought whiskey to mix into it. The beverage was delicious both leaded and unleaded, but it shook my concept of what a cider really is.

Now these friends of mine are from Michigan and Illinois, so they probably know more about hot cider than I do. Traditionally ciders are alcoholic and bubbly, but thanks to breakthroughs in carbonation technology it is possible to get sparkling, non-alcoholic cider called cider. What I have traditionally called cider is now labeled hard cider. So a traditionally fermented beverage gets the boot for another spiced beverage that we, ironically, spiked with whiskey. I set out to make a true apple cider, it's not difficult.

Ingredients: 1 gallon jug of Apple Juice, 1 pkg Champagne Yeast

That's it. The particular Apple Juice we used came in a gallon glass growler and you can pitch and ferment directly into it. I, however, wanted to get a little fancy.

Process: We emptied the juice into a stock pot and brought it to a near boil, a gentle simmer that stopped when the bubbles started. This was to purify, but I was afraid a full boil would ruin the taste. After that we added some mulling spices to recreate that camping beverage. The mulling spices came prepackaged in tea bags and contained nutmeg, cinnamon, and the like. You can add this to the ingredients list or not, it's not essential. We drank a mug or two to clear some head space in the gallon growler in anticipation of a yeast head resulting from fermentation. The growler itself was thoroughly washed and sanitized. After letting the Champagne yeast get started in a simple sugar solution we pitched it and let it go to work. Champagne yeast is preferable here because it imparts very little taste and can stand higher gravities. This apple juice register a 1.060 on the hydrometer, which means a potential ABV of 6.5-7%. Ive never fermented juice, but I suspect an amount of unfermentable sugars to be present so it shouldn't get that high, but I'll know in about 2 weeks.

In addition, it's the holidays and I find myself with some free time, so why not brew a beer! A basic brown ale I have lovingly and fittingly called:

Brown
Style: American Brown Ale
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.014
ABV: 4.98 %
IBU's: 43.55
Primary: 7 days @ 68°F
Secondary: 14 days @ 72°F
Aging: 21 days @ 74°F
Color: 20.8 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
1.00 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine
1.00 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
0.50 lbs Chocolate Malt
8.00 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US

Hops
1.00 ozs Northern Brewer - 60 mins
1.00 ozs Cascade - 20 mins
0.50 ozs Cascade - 10 mins

Yeasts
1.0 pkg - Safale US 05 - Fermentis

www.iBrewMaster.com

Nothing too special about this number. Taking a lesson from when I tried to brew the Almond Brown, I am keeping this one simple. Pale 2 Row for basic sugars, Crystal 40L for color, Chocolate to make it a brown to be happy about, and Cara-pils for head retention and stability. I am going to add an amount of cane sugar, about 10oz, to give it more flavor and perhaps more ABV, but, more or less, this is a simple ale.

I bought more Apple Juice this morning. My wife's company was having their annual Thanksgiving meal and we were without a dish to contribute. My wife made a delicious salad and I decided to make that camping beverage. I used 1/2 gallon of Apple Juice and the spices I mentioned earlier, then I funneled it into a growler and took it to the party under the name McHargrave Hot Apple Cider (non-Alcoholic). It was a hit, but now I have 1/2 gallon of apple juice leftover and it will go bad quickly. 100% apple juice is that dark cloudy stuff that has no preservatives and come straight from apples crushed by hippie feet. In fact if I was to leave this out and open to the air too long, airborne yeast would ferment it in most unfavorable manner. So what am I going to do with it, you might ask? I'm going to ferment it along with my brown ale.

This might sound crazy or it might not. Woodchuck makes beer ciders though I have no idea what process they use or what ratio or juice to beer. What I plan to do is to take 1/3 or 1/4 gallon of the wort from this beer and add it to the juice. Then I'll ferment it in another growler and taste it in about two weeks. Rather than champagne yeast I'll use the Safale US 05 dry ale yeast from Fermentis, I'll have extra since I started it. I hope it comes out palatable, but if it doesn't oh well. I'll have only wasted 1/2 gallon of Apple Juice, 1/4 gallon of wort and an few million yeast cells. No biggie.

Chirstmas is Ruined

2009-11-22T16:22:00.000-08:00

I don't want you to get the impression that all of my beers are wild and crazy. My feet are firmly planted on the ground though my branches be lofty. I've started you off with the icing, but now we hit the fluffy sugar bread which is the meat of the cake that is my home brewing exploits. Got all that?

What I mean to say is that I'd like to tell you about the beers I tend to brew (and consume) on a regular basis. I am doing this in part because of the humbling troubles I've had with my Holiday Stout. As my brother once put it, "You put all this shit in your beer and expect it to come out all awesome. No. You're dumb." I might have added that last part and I doubt he said awesome, but those of you that know him can confirm it was an understood statement.

The Stout fermented nice and heavy for a few days and the following weekend when I was to transfer it to the secondary vessel, I got lazy and didn't do it. So it sat there for a few days more before I transferred it. The OG was 1.090 and upon time of transfer it was 1.065 leaving it with 3 - 3.5% ABV and a sickeningly sweet taste. Second mistake - I didn't start the champagne yeast which was to finish fermenting the still massive amounts of sugar. I dumped the dry yeast into the beer cold and dehydrated. Nothing happened. I waited a week for a sign of fermentation, but nothing happened! I read up a lot on stuck fermentation and what to do about it. As I gathered from a www.bodensatz.com FAQ there are some tricks you can do to correct it, but #7 was pray. Things looked grim. I broken some fundamental laws of smooth fermentation. I believe I used too much adjunct sugars (sugar cane), I transferred too late into the process, and this one time I spit on a gypsy.

This past weekend, well two weekends ago as I write this, I brewed what has become a very common drink here at Herrmann Brew works, A Rye Pale Ale.

Full Moon Rye Pale Ale Clone
Style: English IPA
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5.24 %
IBU's: 41.50
Primary: 7 days @ 68°F
Secondary: 14 days @ 72°F
Aging: 21 days @ 74°F
Color: 11.2 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
0.50 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L
8.50 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK
2.00 lbs Rye Malt

Hops
1.00 ozs Cluster - 60 mins
1.00 ozs Amarillo Gold - 15 mins
1.00 ozs Glacier - 5 mins
1.00 ozs Cascade - 14 days

Yeasts
1.0 pkg Dry English Ale - White Labs WLP007

www.iBrewMaster.com

This is another clone recipe of a commercial beer, one brewed in Blanco, Texas just outside of Austin by Real Ale. They make a quality brew using the waters of the Blanco river. I hope to go out there soon next time I visit the capital of Texas. All of their beer are excellent, but their Rye Pale Ale, available year round, has a hops profile rarely seen in this part of the south. This recipe is simple - 2-Row for base sugars, Crystal 120L for color, and Rye for a spicy, woody, some even say grapefruit taste, but the amount of hops and pairing with the rye give it a kick. I have the right yeast this time too, the Dry English Ale, and I intend to use it correctly.

Starting a yeast culture is not difficult, but it does require some forethought. A simple sugar solution needs to be made by boiling a 1/3-1/2 a cup of sugar in 1-1 1/2 cups of water to purify, then cooling it to pitching temperature, room temp to 75 degrees, so the yeast can thrive. I do this with raw cane sugar I get from a friend of a friend on the Cajun Blackmarket. It comes straight from the fields to the mills into a bucket and somehow into my kitchen. I've already said too much. It's much better then table sugar, I assure you. Once you pitch the yeast into the sugar water in a sanitary container, it is important to keep things sanitary. I cover my vessel, a mason jar, with a coffee filter and fasten with a rubber band. This will stop dust and other airborne bacteria from getting in, and it will allow the Carbon Dioxide produced to escape. Starting yeast gets them active and alive. They reproduce and divide rapidly so that when they hit the wort fermentation starts in a matter of minutes. This proliferation of cells also allowed me to divide the culture.

About half, maybe more, of my starter went into the Rye Pale Ale. It fermented heavily for a few days and slowly petered out. It has an OG of 1.054 and ended at an FG of 1.010 putting its ABV at 5.5%. Due to the nice weather as of late I was more or less able to ferment at an optimal temperature, 68-75 degrees. Because of that, this beer has a great taste. The fermentation wasn't volcanic, it didn't erupt and quickly die out, it was steady. This temperature range gave off desirable esters. Esters are the subtle flavors and aromas given to a beer by the type yeast used. They can be fruity as in a typical Wheat beer yeast, or hearty like a stout yeast. I was so pleased with its progress I allowed the brew to sit in primary for 2 weeks when normally I allow one. I could have transferred it, but its bubbling never ceased or even slowed to a point I felt comfortable with. I added whole leaf cascade to another carboy and transferred the beer on top of it. The beer will sit in the hops for aroma and flavor in a process called dry hopping. I usually allow 2 weeks of dry hopping, but I might rush this beer because it's just that good.

The other half of my yeast starter went into the abortion that is my Holiday beer. My wife says I'm being dramatic, even so it's frustrating. To get yeast fermenting you need oxygen in the beer. To achieve this, I transferred the beer from one carboy into another and allowed it to cascade and splash all the way to the bottom of the vessel. Normally Oxygen is kept out of the beer at all costs, but if I wanted my strong stout, desperate measures needed to be taken. It took a few more days than usual, and I move the carboy into another, warmer room, hoping that would aid the yeast, but finally it started to ferment. it gathered some momentum and peaked about 4 days into it. I let it die down, but the bubbles never ceased entirely, meaning the yeast was still viable. I transferred it today and the FG was 1.040. That is still pretty sweet. For a reference my Rye Pale Ale starts at 1.054, whereas this one has had 2 fermentations, 3 different strands of yeast, and almost a month of aging. The OG was 1.090 and now it is at 1.040 which gives it an ABV of 6-7%. It is still sweeter than I like, and with an ABV that high I'll have to give champagne yeast another try. If I do I'll start it this time, but if I can't get it fermented and in a bottle before the end of this month, it might not be ready in time. We can only hope for a Christmas Miracle.

Hargrave's Holiday Hangover

2009-10-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

Hargrave Holiday Hangover
Style: Imperial Stout
Calories: 293
IBU's: 44.36
Primary: 7 days @ 68°F
Secondary: 14 days @ 72°F
Aging: 21 days @ 74°F
Color: 52.3 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
15.00 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK
0.50 lbs Biscuit Malt
0.50 lbs Black (Patent) Malt
1.00 lbs Chocolate Malt
0.50 lbs Caramunich Malt
0.50 lbs Roasted Barley

Hops
2.00 ozs Goldings, East Kent - 60 mins
1.00 ozs Cascade - 60 mins
1.00 ozs Fuggles - 10 mins

Yeasts
1.0 pkg Manchester Ale - White Labs WLP038

Additions
2 tsp Cinnamon, 1 tsp Nutmeg, 1 tsp Allspice, 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract, and 1 tsp Ground Cloves.

www.iBrewMaster.com

Happy Holidays everyone! I know its 2 months early, but in the world of brew, I'm late. I am shocked at the recommended waiting times for most holiday brews. 4-6 months in the bottle. That means I would need to wait the normal 3-4 weeks for fermentation and aging and an additional 4-6 months. I'd have to make my Holiday Brew in March! So forget that. Two months is all I got so 2 months it will be. I tapped the Almond Brown this weekend. A full two weeks before I intended to because I am broke and in need of a brew. I can tell the flavors have not fully developed. You see the more complex the beer, the longer it takes for the flavors to mellow and blend, and this brew is a doozy.

The additions and some of the ingredients might sound like the recipes below, the Almond Brown and the Punkin' Porter. I don't always make these thick porters in fact I rarely do so, but I do enjoy writing about them. An ale is a very forgiving beer and a dark one even more so. I feel more free to experiment and take risks. Just so you know, I've made several beer less noteworthy in between the ones I blog about. I've just bottled my Istrouma Pale Ale, a hoppy Baton Rouge Brew. I've fiddled with the recipe several times and I think I've got it where I want it. The hops profile is heavy, just as I like it, the ABV is a decent 7%, but the yield was only 3.5 gallons. I need to fix that. On the other side of the coin I made a Fat Tire Amber Ale, which is a clone recipe of the fine beer made by the New Belgian Brewery in Fort Collins, CO (a shame we don't get that here in Louisiana). In that brew I got the 5 gallons I was after, but fell short of the intended ABV, around 4%. I am writing about this because first off it's a Holiday brew and second it is the largest beer I've ever made. Although I am not particularly fond of the style and less so of the label, this is defiantly an Imperial Stout.

I asked my wife what should we make for our Holiday brew? She likes her brews spicy and she told me to go ahead and make it super alcoholic. I said sure why not, and I reached into my old bag of tricks. Reading through various recipes I settled on the recipe shown above. Normally my grain bill is around 10 to 12 lbs, this one totaled 18. I've made 10gallon recipes with 18lbs, this is 5! In addition to the massive amounts of malt I've settled on some adjuncts sugars. Into the brew kettle I added 16oz of Louisiana's own Steen's Cane Syrup. I enjoy using Louisiana ingredients, and Cane Syrup is known for its potent fermentation possibilities. Also when I transfer from Primary to Secondary fermentation vessels I will add an amount of pure Maple Syrup, just for the holidays. I have used these tricks before to impart flavor and up the ABV, but a new trick I'm trying is the double fermentation process.

At an OG of 1.090, which is what I measured yesterday after all was said and done, the ABV could be as much as 10%, but will probably be somewhere around 8 or 9%. At this high gravity brewers yeast will fizzle out. In about a week I will transfer to secondary and, along with the maple syrup, I will add a packet of Champagne Yeast. Champagne Yeast differs from Brewer's Yeast in two respects, it can live at higher ABV and it imparts a dry, more tart taste.

The high-gravity tolerance is desirable, but the tart taste is not. That is why I am starting with the Brewer's Yeast which will do the bulk of the fermentation. I intended on White Labs London Ale Yeast WLP-013, but the homebrew store was out. The owner recommended the standard English Yeast, but I wanted more specific region not less. So I settled on Manchester Yeast. For those of you who don't know, in the country of England there is the metropolitan of London, and a borough of London is Manchester - so I elected a more specific geographical region. Moreover, the Manchester region is home of some of my favorite things. Boddington's Pub Ale is brewed there. It is like a cream ale Guinness. Its brewery is on a street called Strangeways, which brings me to the other Manchester link, The Smiths. I love The Smith, and although their lead singer, Morissey, is kind of a tool his songs are great. My favorite album is Strangeways, Here We Come. The signs were too great I elected to use the Manchester Ale Yeast with a little too much enthusiasm, the homebrew store owner may never know the source of my zeal.

The Champagne yeast will dry out the stout so hopefully it will taste like a Guinness - not too sweet, dry, and more roasty. In addition to this impressive gravity I got more yield than I can handle. I wanted to make sure I didn't short change myself nor my friends, to whom this beer will be a holiday gift, so I went a little overboard with my water. The extra grain bulk called for 5.5 gallons of mash water and 4.5 gallons of sparge water. I stuck to the 5.5 gallons of mash, but used 6 gallons of sparge. This gave me about 7 gallons of sweet water. Because of the high gravity and the excess water I boiled hard for 1 hour and 45 minutes, but still came out with 5.5gallons of beer. The brew barley fits in my 6 gallon carboy and when I came home today, about 18 hours since pitching the yeast, it was overflowing. What's incredible to me is that even with the excess water I achieved an OG of 1.090. The yeast is reacting violently and I had to replace my 3-piece air lock with a lenght of tube submerged into a cup of water. This device will allow the CO2 to flow more quickly and hopefully quell the possible explosion. This will truly be a big beer - just in time for the holidays!

Punkin' Porter

2009-10-11T08:28:00.000-07:00

Punkin' Porter
Style: Brown Porter
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.014
ABV: 5.11 %
IBU's: 30.28
Primary: 7 days @ 68°F
Secondary: 14 days @ 72°F
Aging: 21 days @ 74°F
Color: 37.4 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
1.00 lbs Black (Patent) Malt
1.50 lbs Pale Malt (6 Row) US
8.00 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US
0.50 lbs Caramunich Malt

Hops
1.00 ozs Hallertauer - 60 mins
1.00 ozs Cascade - 20 mins
0.50 ozs Hallertauer - 10 mins

Yeasts
1.0 pkg California Ale V - White Labs WLP051

Additions
Roast one small cooking pumpkin with innards removed for 30 min at 350, scoop out meat and add to grain. Mash for 90 min. Add 1 tsp of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and any other seasoning at flameout (end of boil).

www.iBrewMaster.com

I am finding out the iBrewmaster application is buggy and needs updates fairly often. It is good to know that the people over there are hard at work, but their errors have caused me a bit of grief lately. A recent update duplicated all my beers on schedule and I had no way to delete the bogus batches. So I backed up all my recipes and current schedule with their email feature, then uninstalled it and reinstalled it. I spent some time re-inputting my recipes and schedules and now it works like a charm. Another area of grief was the huge disparity between the estimated number and my actual results. For example, see the Almond Brown Recipe in which an 7.99% ABV was estimated from an OG of 1.084 while I ended up with 4.19% from an OG of 1.050. I wasn't upset by this limitation, I just felt inefficient - a quality I cannot tolerate. Well, a recent update has remedied my shortcomings. I suppose a change in the algorithms was the key reason for this update, because now all my number look great. The update now has my Brown recipe at 5.63% from an OG of 1.059 which is very near my 1.050. Also I never adjusted for the temperature of my wort when the gravity reading was taken. So the 1.050 should be more like 1.056, but I cannot be certain of that figure. Other recipes are right on the money though. I now have an exact match between estimated and actual OG, or close to that. So while it is at times frustrating, I am still happy with this app and it is now a vital part of my brewing process. I will continue to support it and extol it praise to anyone who will hear me.

Today I crafted my harvest time Punkin' Porter. I made this recipe last year as a partial mash recipe. This brew is very special to me because not only do we enjoy it on or near Thanksgiving, but it is my birthday brew. Every few years or so my birthday falls on Thanksgiving itself. This year it occurs the day before. However, my date of birth is a very common one. In high school a classmate and I had the same birthday and my best friend's was the day before. Another close friend of mine has her birthday the day after and she shares that date with my father in law. I have a hypothesis to explain this phenomenon. If you count 9 months back from November you arrive at February. With a small leap of faith, you could say we were all conceived on that international day of getting it on, St. Valentine's day.

I cannot take full credit for this recipe, nor the name. I got the Partial Mash, or Mini-Mash, recipe from a wonderful book, Extreme Brewing, by a man who is now my craftbrew hero, Sam Calagione, of Delaware's Dogfishhead Craft Brewery. A friend of mine found it at a bookstore he was employed by at the time and bought it for me. I had been brewing for several years at the time, but the book's chapter "Brewing Step-By-Step: A-Z Brown Ale" not only showed how to brew an extract recipe with large picture illustrations, but also illuminated some techniques I still use to this day. Calagione writes about the history of alcohol and its evolution from fermented sugar water to the incredible diversity we see today. With the history and knowledge to guide him he goes farther than most brewers dare to and shares his philosophy of anything goes brewing, known as Extreme Brewing. After reading this book I felt more confident as a brewer. I felt I had the power to craft any beer I wanted any way I chose to. I stopped buying kits recipes and instead ordered my own ingredients and my own hops. I followed and used many of the "Extreme Recipes" he gives in his book, all of them Mini-Mash or Extract only, and even adapted some to meet my personal taste. I started making additions to my beer on a whim. Adding extra hops, a pound of honey, cane syrup, literally anything I wanted and they all came out fine. I did not destroy any brews with my straying from a recipe, although some of them might have been a bit too "extreme." I have calmed down a great deal since then, but not as much as to adhere to the German Purity Laws of Reinheitsgebot - which could be thought of as the opposite of extreme brewing - Barley, Hops, Water, Yeast, and NOTHING ELSE.

This beer is an All-Grain Recipe and it has been my task and pleasure to adapt extract recipes from the past into all-grain recipe. As I mention, I adapted this from Sam Calagione's Punkin' Porter Recipe. It is a Partial or Mini-Mash Recipe in which Grains are used, but only special grains. The bulk sugar-source will come from the Malt Extract, a syrup derived from mashed grains rinsed with water and with the water boiled off, leaving mostly sugar. In any all-grain adaptation the specialty grains are kept constant, but the sugars are also grain, usually 2-Row. Two-Row Barley is the brewers grain. Also called Pale Male it gives maximum amounts of sugar with minimum amounts of color alteration. Calagione's recipe called for light malt extract, amber malt extract, and dark malt extract to give the porter its dark brown hue. Knowing that these ingredients would impart a lot of sugar I compensated with 8lbs of Pale Malt. The color I had to handle in a different way. The most common way to adjust color is with Crystal Malt also known as Caramel Malt. It comes in a variety of darkness measure in Degrees Lovibond (L). They differ by roasting times and range somewhere between 10L to 120L. I decided to use a special type of Caramel Malt known a Caramunich which is somewhere between 30-48L, somewhere around Amber Color. The other color augmenter was a specialty grain chosen by Calagione, Black Patent Malt. Black Patent registers off the chart of Lovibond at somewhere around 500L, and it will turn the brightest of beers black as the Devil's heart. One very interesting fact I learned from Calagione's recipe is to include a small amount of 6-row malt. There are two types of barley, 6-row and 2-row, named for their number of stems. 6-row is said to have more protein which can cloud a beer, but it also has more enzymes for mashing. The pumpkin added is like the grains in that its tough starches need to be converted to sugars for fermentation and flavor. 2-row doesn't produce enough robust enzymes to take care of its own starches and the pumpkin, but 6-row has enough to spare. This recipe requires a mash to make the pumpkin part of the brew. I followed the recipe as a Partial Mash, and adapted it for all-grain. I could have added more. Chocolate is always nice in a porter or perhaps Roasted Barley for that roasted aromas and coffee taste, but I took the Almond Brown recipe as a warning not to over complicate a beer. I want the Pumpkin to come through so I chose not to make it too "extreme."

This morning I halved the Pumpkin, removed the innards, and roasted it in my oven at 350 for 30min. I didn't have to, but I roasted it to make it easier to scoop out the meat. I did this and added it to my mash water, 3.75 gallon with 2tsp of gypsum to harden it - up the pH. Letting it sit and do its thing for 90 minutes, I readied everything else. I sparged (rinsed) the grains with 5.5 gallons of water and boiled it for an hour with 1oz of Hallertauer hops. Twenty minutes before the end, or 40 minutes since, I added 2/3 of an ounce of Cascade and the other 1/3 55 min in or 5 min from the end. Due to an ordering mistake I did not get the extra 0.5oz Hallertauer hops the recipe called for so I improvised. At flame out I let my wife choose the spices and she added a teaspoon of Nutmeg, Allspice, Cinnamon, and two teaspoons of Pumpkin Pie Spice, which is just more of the same. The weather has finally cooled here in South Louisiana, and perhaps I will maintain a decent storage temperature this time, if the summer is indeed over. I will follow the schedule for fermentation and bottle this brew rather than keg it. Bottles last longer and, even though it will be my birthday, it is easier to give them as gifts this way. Last year I saved one until May, the beginning of summer, and it was tainted. Ironically the pumpkin spoiled it, but, like the seasons, even great brews must pass.

Almond Brown

2009-09-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

Almond Brown
Style: American Brown Ale
Type: All Grain
OG: 1.083
FG: 1.022
ABV: 7.99 %
Calories: 272
IBU's: 33.21
Primary: 7 days @ 68°F
Secondary: 14 days @ 72°F
Aging: 21 days @ 74°F
Color: 41.3 SRM

Grains & Adjuncts
9.00 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US
0.50 lbs Black Barley (Stout)
1.00 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
0.75 lbs Chocolate Malt
0.75 lbs Caramunich Malt

Hops
1.00 ozs Northern Brewer - 60 mins
0.50 ozs Williamette - 20 mins
0.50 ozs Cascade - 20 mins
0.50 ozs Williamette - 5 mins
0.50 ozs Cascade - 5 mins

Yeasts
1.0 pkg California Ale V

Additions
Add one to one-half lbs. of crushes roasted almonds to grains, steep and sparge.

www.iBrewMaster.com

Homebrewers, I sing the praise of the iBrewMaster App. There truly is an app for everything and beer brewing is no exception. If you use the iPhone I highly recommend it. It has 50 or so preset recipes ranging from Extract and Partial Mash to full All-Grain. You can also type in your own recipe as I did above. You select the type and amount of grain or extract and it calculates an estimated ABV (%) and SRM (color) based on a 70% efficiency brew system (which I have never quite achieved). You can select hops and boil time, including dry hopping, and get estimated IBU's (International Bittering Units). With the aging times set it will even give you a calender of events to follow for best results.

Today I set to brew an Almond Brown Ale with real Almonds. I made this recipe as a Partial Mash last year for my wife's birthday in February. If this all-grain adaptation is anything like the original, it will be quite a treat. The problem with using real nuts is that the oil in the nuts can kill head retention. Lazy Magnolia, in Kiln, MS, uses Pecans and roast them three times to remove oil before using it in their beer. I chose Almonds because a) they are my wife's favorite and b) they are not as oily as other nuts.

Unfortunately, I cannot remember how I prepped the nuts last year. Hopefully the App mentioned above will remedy my poor recording practices. I read on the intranet from a natural foods website that almonds should be roasted at low temp for 15-20 minutes as to preserve the healthy oils for consumption. That's exactly what I didn't want so I roasted them for about 1/2 an hour at 250 in my oven then left them in a brown paper bag for another 1/2 hour to get as much oil out as possible. Then I crushed them in a food processor and added them to the grains for the mash. I mash in a 5 gallon Igloo water container, although I don't spare in it. I heated 4 gallons of water to 170 degrees and dumped it into the mash tun/Igloo cooler, then stirred in the grains and the nuts in. After the addition, the water was just above 150. I let it sit for a good hour to do its thing, and the final temperature was just below 150, so my Igloo seems effective as a mash tun. We'll see how it comes out.

This recipe was a little bit of this and a little bit of that from brown recipes I've read and seen. I fear it might be a black ale rather than brown. Perhaps the Roasted Barley, aka Black Barley, was too much, but I wanted the roasted coffee taste that it would impart. I figured the coffee taste would compliment the almonds like coffee and amaretto does. Finally I used some Chocolate Malt, because hey why not! I might be mixing too many flavors for a solid nut brown ale. It might come out more like a porter or stout than a brown, but again we shall see.

I took a hydrometer reading of 1.050 so I'm far off of the estimated 1.083, but it seems every beer I make lately is 1.050. Maybe my hydrometer is broken. For those of you who don't know, a hydrometer is a buoyant thermometer like device. Using a test tube of wort (unfermented beer) you drop the hydrometer into the sugar water and depending on the level of sugars it will float up to a certain level, this is called the OG or Original Gravity. More sugar in the solution will cause the device to float higher, because the solution is more dense. After Fermentation is complete - usually one week for Ales - a second hydrometer reading is taken. The difference in the OG and the second reading, FG or Final Gravity, gives the amount of sugar that has been consumed by the yeast. Multiplying this difference by 1.31 or 4/3 will give you a rough idea of the amount of alcohol produced. Here's the example:

My Estimated OG is 1.084 and FG 1.023:

1.084 - 1.023 = 0.061 <-- This amount of sugar is gone, where did it go? Yeast food.

0.061 * 1.31 = 0.0799 * 100% = 7.99% or 8% ABV (Alcohol By Volume)

Actually I'm looking at an OG of 1.050 and because I don't take the time to get those sweet unfermentable sugars just right I usually end up with an FG of 1.010 so:

1.050 - 1.010 = 0.040

0.040 * 1.31 = 0.0524 * 100% = 5.24% which is fine by me, I'm done with my days of high gravity and high alcohol. Make a beer that taste good, and not to get drunk on.

A hydrometer reading of 1.000 is a neutral, sugar-free solutions like water. You might be asking yourself why doesn't the yeast eat all the sugar so the FG is always 1.000. Well my alcohol loving friends that would produce a very boring beer. There are sugars that can be desirable that are unfermentable. These sugars add complexity to a beer, like a sweet Porter or toffee-rich English Ale. With a Brown Ale these unfermentables are desirable, but I am not nearly talented enough to control their production. Unfermentable sugars are produced with varying temperature in the mash. My Igloo Mash Tun is plastic and therefore trying to apply heat to it is difficult.

UPDATE: 10/3/2009
The Almond Brown is Black. As I had feared, it was too dark. I should have know since the est SRM is 41. After one solid week of fermentation I transferred it to a secondary carboy to sit for another 2 weeks before it is kegged or bottled. I took a final hydrometer reading (FG) and a tasting. It is roasty, no doubt about that. It's what I said I wanted, and it is what I got. Unfortunately, I think the Almonds were overshadowed. There is a perceptible woody taste I could attribute to the Almonds or the Roasted Barley. The Chocolate is not overpowering either. It is a very drinkable beer and it shall be good, but perhaps something other than what I set out to craft. The brew is more akin to a porter, but I will call it a brown none the less. I'll play with the recipe and make it again. I've settled on a name. Andrea's Almond Brown Ale. Andrea, my wife, is whom I originally made this recipe for, and the initials AABA have a special connotation to musicians. It's the pattern of most pop song structures. Two verses (AA) a chorus or bridge (B) and back to the verse (A). Besides being black as the night the other porter characteristic of this brew is the low alcohol.

The final gravity was 1.020. Using the formula from above and the OG 1.050:

1.050 - 1.020 = 0.03

0.03 * 1.31 = 0.0393 * 100% = 3.93% ABV or about 4%

That's good for me. If I so choose I could add some cane syrup, maple syrup, or molasses boiled in water to sterilizes, and then add them to the beer. Those three sugars would add a nice flavor to the beer. The fermentation would start again and if enough was added I could bring it up to stout levels of alcohol, around 8%, but I won't. That would take time. Since siphoning the beer from one carboy to another I filtered out massive amounts of yeast. To be sure, there are still millions of living cells suspended in the beer, (there always will and should be in unfiltered beer) but it would take some time for those cells to process the new tougher sugars. Then I would need to siphon again and let age for longer periods of time, months as oppose to weeks. Leaving it at 4%, I believe I will allow it to age longer than most as the flavors in this beer are complex and varied. Which is a good thing. A Final Gravity of 1.020 after a week of strong fermentation means I achieved some of those unfermentable sugars that are desirable in this type of beer.

Stepping into All-Grain Brewing

2009-09-07T17:15:00.000-07:00

Stepping into All-Grain Brewing

On May 28 2009 I attempted to craft my first all-grain recipe. I had some handy new equipment I made or had donated to me by my brother and some of his friends. I read a lot on the subject and was given a great DVD entitled Stepping into All-Grain Brewing to help guide my craft. I needed all the help I could get, and, despite my best efforts, I still screwed up quite a bit. I’ll outline the steps and procedures here and clue you into easier ways.

I’ve been brewing on and off since 2003, but those have all be extract brews. Some of those brews were excellent and I would never dream of downplaying the quality that could come from an extract brew. The brewing process is the same in both cases, what differs is the way in which the sugars are put into the water. In an extract brew, brewers buy a set amount of malt extract. This is a thick syrup-like substance that differs in color and flavor depending on the type of malt used. All-grain uses bulk grain on which the sugar crystals are still attached and the sugars must be washed off, or extracted, from the grain. To be sure, extract save time and energy, but you are bound to the types of malt present in the extract, whereas whole grain you can use any combination you wish.

Equipment for Extracting

My last extract brew was made sometime in April to be ready for my friends wedding at the end of May. Since that time I’ve been slowly collecting many new contraptions to prepare myself for all-grain brewing.

The first was a gift from my brother, who in turn got it as a gift from another home-brewer. It is an Anheuser-Bush half-keg you’re used to seeing, converted for brewer’s use. Roughly 14.5-15.5 gallons, a hole was cut in the top, about a foot in diameter and a meshed two-piece false bottom was cut and measured to fit snugly around the diameter of the keg with some supports there to keep it in place. A false bottom is simply a device at the bottom of a lauder tun that allows water to flow through while holding the grain in place. At the bottom of the keg, below where the false bottom was to be placed, is a small hole. Through that drilled hole a small copper pipe was placed, bent as to catch only the water at the bottom of the keg. On the other side is a simple ball-lock mechanism to turn the flow of water on and off. There is a garden hose attachment to let the water flow out, and this was key to me. I had planned to use this keg for two purposes, as a lauder tun and a cooling implement.

For some time wort chilling presented a problem to me. When the beer is done brewing, but before fermentation takes place, the beer is a sweet unfermented concoction called wort. When it comes out of the boil it is very near boiling, maybe 210 degrees. This is way to hot for yeast to survive. So the wort must be cooled to approximately 80 degrees, called pitching temperature before you can pitch, or add, the yeast. A problem is presented because the longer it takes to cool, the more bad flavors will be introduced into the beer as well as unwanted bacteria at certain temperature. In the past I would leave all 5 gallons of brew in its brew pot and submerge the pot into a cold bath. This took some hours to cool and the beer actually pulled some flavors off of the stainless steel pot. The second piece of equipment I made, with my father-in-law’s help, was a coil of copper tubing I was going to use as a wort chiller. It was not difficult to make and it could be bought from a homebrew store for $60-$70. I went to Home Depot and bought 20 feet of copper tubing for $18, and industrial strength washer hose with garden hose size attachments for $15, various attachments to connect the hose to the copper tubing for $10, and a few feet of vinyl tubing for next to nothing, maybe $2. So I got everything I needed for around $45. First my father-in-law and I looped the tubing around a bucket roughly ½ foot in diameter. The idea was that I would submerge this copper coil into ice or cold water and flow the beer through it. It would go into the tubing 210 degrees and, hopefully, come out pitching temperature. So we left the copper straight for 6 inches then started the coil. We looped it over and over till it was about 1½ foot deep then bent the other end straight up so that it was parallel with the 6-inch beginning. At the 6-inch beginning we placed quite an attachment. The tubing was ¼-inch and the industrial strength hose (remember 210 degree water would come through) was ¾-inch so it was quite a feat linking those two, but we linked them with brass fitting and it worked. On the other end I simply forced the 5/16-inch vinyl tubing onto the copper, not worrying about melting because on this side the wort would be chilled, hopefully. So the idea was to attach the wort chiller to the keg with the garden hose attachment, dump the boiled wort into the keg, let the ball-lock open, and allow the wort to flow through the chiller while it was submerged in cold water or ice, and collect the chilled wort out of the vinyl tubing at the other end. Sounds simple. Ah, but the best laid plans of mice and men…

The other plan for the keg was to be both a mash tun and a lauder tun. A mash tun is a large vessel that can hold temperature for extended periods. A lauder tun is a large vessel that can separate the water from the grain. To mash, the grain must be put into water that is roughly 145-155 degrees. It is at this temperature that the natural enzymes present in the grain start to convert the complex starches into useable, fermentable sugars. This would occur naturally at any temperature, but it works most efficiently at this temperature. After sitting or resting at this temperature for about an hour the sugars are ready to be extracted. That is when the grain is transferred to the lauder tun, unless your mash tun and lauder tun is the same vessel. Here there must be a false bottom and some way to let the water run off, like a ball lock. When the water runs off it will be milky and full of grain husks and other nastiness. A clarification process must be done called vorlauf. To vorlauf the milky water is gently sprinkled back into the grain. I collect the runoff in a pot and pour it back into the lauder tun over a colander to gently rain on the grains. It is important to do this gently because you want all the grain to settle on top of the water to form a natural filter, called a grain bed. If you do it right, the grains will compact and float at the top of the lauder tun. All of the water that runs through it will be filtered from nastiness and at the same time its sugars will be extracted most efficiently. Just letting the water run through the grains will not get all of the sugars, so you must sparge. Sparging is the process of adding water to grain to wash all of the sugars off. Again it must be done gently as to not disturb the grain bed. You want the water to be the same temperature of the grain as not to shock it, but not too hot because it will collect the bad taste of the grain husks. Since the grain will absorb some of the heat, you want your water a little hotter, around 160-170 degrees. Sparging should be slow and can take from 30min to 2 hours plus. You shouldn’t over sparge, again because you can pull some of those husky flavors. You want to use enough sparge water to bring your volume of water around 6-7 gallons, then boil it down to your target 5 gallons.

Sounds easy, right? The entire process I’ve just outlined can be skipped if you use malt extract. In extract brewing you need only take a prescribed amount of water, between 3 to 5 gallons, bring it to a boil, add your syrupy extract, and bring it back to a boil. There is a smaller version of all-grain called mini mashing. Mini mashing might use 1 or 2 lbs of grain, do an abbreviated process of what I’ve outlined above, then use extract for the rest of the sugars. Mini mashing will add the subtle flavors and mouth feel of an all-grain batch without all the work and mess. Right now my wife is begging me to go back to extract brewing, as she’s always consigned to assistance with my laborious hobby. For better or worse baby…

Equipment for Brewing

A friend of mine told me a story recently. He had some bigwig executive from one of California’s large nation-wide brew houses visiting his branch. Together they went to a local hardware store and they were shocked to see all you needed to homebrew for cheap, advertised as “crawfish equipment.” It’s true, I told him, our culture breed home brewers. Since a child I’ve been around propane tanks and burners and large pots of dangerously hot liquids. It’s a wonder more of us here in south Louisiana don’t brew. For my 21st birthday my parents got me a 15-gallon stainless steel crawfish pot. That, and a rusty propane burner was all I needed to start brewing 5 gallons of beer at a time.

It is possible to do a small boil, that’s how I got started. Boil 3 gallons of water, add your ingredients, dilute the liquid with normal water to 5 gallons, pitch your yeast, and done. As I brewed more and read more I realized it would be just as easy to brew all 5-gallons at once and it produces more even, less syrupy wort. So using my 15-gallon pot I brew this way.

Since I now do all-grain I can skip this step, but extract brewers need to full dissolve their sugars into the brew water. Bring the water to a boil, remove from heat and add your sugars. Stir vigorously, when you return to heat you don’t want to scorch the sugars. Note: I’ve read that in any extract brewing there is some degree of sugar scorching. That some of the malt is inevitable caramelized, which can make your brew darker than you perhaps intended. Bring the water back to a boil; you will need to keep it boiling for 1-hour minimum. The next part differs with recipes. There are three possible times to add hops and different quantities affect taste. The first addition occurs for all beers. Add a prescribed amount at the very beginning of the boil and allow it to boil the full 60 minutes. This is called the bittering hops. Allowing it to boil the full 60 minutes will extract all of the oils from the plant. These bitter tasting oils will counter the sweetness of the malt and preserve the beer with an oil coating. You may add hops 40 minutes into the boil, 20 minutes from the end. This is the flavoring hops, and its short boil time won’t kill the tastes. The last addition occurs 5 minutes from the end. This is the aroma hops and it produces the strong hops taste that hits you in your sinus cavity. You are more making hops tea at this point with its very short boil time. Further hops can be added once boiling concludes, or even when fermentation is over. This is called dry-hopping. Some people have voiced that too much hops can destroy a beer’s credibility, but I disagree with these folks as I am an ardent hop-head.

Literally anything can be added to the boil. Often extras are added at the 20-min mark or at the very end. A very common addition is Irish moss 15 minutes from end of boil. This is an herb that will attach itself to unwanted protein in the beer and drag it to the bottom, clarifying to beer in the process. Yeast nutrients are often added 10 min from end of boil. These are just dead yeast cells, which the live yeast will recognize and cannibalize for extra strength. It is evidently very easy for yeast to digest its dead brethren. Wit beer uses orange peel at the 20-min mark and coriander or ginger shavings at the very end to add that subtle spicy flavor. Chocolate stouts, which hops are not a vital flavor, skip the flavoring hops altogether and instead of aroma hops use baker’s chocolate at the end of boil. I’ve made many beers with adjunct sugars, sugars that aren’t malt, which is a forbidden practice by Reinheitsgebot, the German Beer Purity laws. I have added honey at the 20-min mark for wheat or Irish beers, sometimes brown sugar for Amber or Brown Ales. The most egregious of my sugar addition was a sugarcane stout I made. I added an extra pound of cane sugar at the 20-min mark and then 12oz of cane syrup during secondary fermentation.

Fermentation Equipment

The brewer’s best friend is a carboy. A carboy can be glass, plastic, stainless steel, or even wooden barrels, basically any material that won’t impart unwanted flavors to the beer it houses. It is a vessel that allows the CO2 produced by yeast out, but doesn’t allow tainting oxygen in. I have a 6-gallon glass carboy and a 5-gallon. They look like big water bottles. It is a large body with a small opening at the top. The opening is called a bunghole. It is called this because you put the bung there. The bung is usually a plastic or rubber plug. Most bungs have small hole in them for an airlock. I use three-piece airlocks. They consist of a large chamber with a tube in the center, a small cylindrical lid to place over the tube, and a cap to place over the chamber. When you fill the camber with water the tube sticks out and the cylinder over the tube gets partially submerged. The cap keeps the cylinder in place and as the CO2 is expelled, the cylinder burps it up from under the water. This allows the CO2 to flow out but no oxygen gets in to take its place. In the case of rapid volatile fermentation the air lock could explode off and expose the beer. For this the tube can be attached to a hose and the hose placed in a small bucket of water to bubble away.

Primary fermentation, the fermentation of the malt sugars, can take 4-14 days depending on the type of yeast used. When the bubbling in the air lock slow or ceases, primary fermentation is over. I use my 6-gallon keg to ferment 5-gallons of wort, because a thick yeast head is created which can clog the air lock. It is not necessary, but I transfer my beer with a siphon system from the 6 to the 5-gallon carboy for aging or secondary fermentation. Sometimes I’ll let the beer sit another week before I prep it for consumption and sometime, as in the case of the sugarcane stout, I’ll boil some type of sugar, for purity, cool it and add it as I transfer the beer. This will kick up the fermentation once again and impart some flavors into the brew. When doing secondary fermentation you might need to wait a bit longer as the siphoning left behind a large quantity of yeast. You must allow the remaining yeast to do its job.

The Four Ingredients

2009-09-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

The Four Ingredients

You’ve probably heard this one before. It’s a very common widespread topic at any brewery or sometimes television commercials. There are four ingredients to beer: Water, Malt, Yeast, and Hops. When I first heard this – I cannot remember when – I felt like something had gone over my head. What? How could these four ingredients produce the endless variety and complexity of beer? I found out that this simple statement of fact is both true and misleading. One at a time lets look closer at the four ingredients.

Water

I am willing to admit that this is the ingredient that gives the most distinction between brews. So it could be called the most important. There’s a lot of debate of what water “should” be. I account this to personal taste and any advise I get on water I take with a grain of salt.

In all honesty I know nothing about this ingredient. I used to buy purified water for $.75 a gallon outside Albertsons. With a little experience and some reassurance from others I now used Baton Rouge tap water and boil all 5-6 gallons of it. It’s really good water, so I’m told. Some have complained about the fluoride or chlorine taste of the water (only me) and worry about its effects on my brew (again, only me). Again, I know very little about the chemistry behind water. I’ve heard and read that pH has a lot to do with the water. Some brewers recommend lowering pH with Gypsum, or some basic carbonate. I cannot say what level is optimal.

I can tell you from taste though. For example: have you ever had New Orleans tap water? New Orleans tap water comes from treated Mississippi water. New Orleans is the last stop before the mighty Miss hits the Gulf of Mexico, and eventually the ocean. So when you drink New Orleans tap water your drinking everything that sluttish river has ever been with. Admittedly, Baton Rouge is one of the worst when it comes to polluting the Mississippi, sorry NOLA. Our water here in BR comes from an underground source, much like the water in Abita Springs, LA.

Here’s the comparison, I’m thinking back to a past time so you’ll have to imagine a time before Katrina. Remember Dixie beer? Remember Abita? Both are still around but have made some major changes since 2005. Dixie is now brewed in Wisconsin or something and Abita has become more automated and consistent, at the cost of their craft status. Both of those beers were and still are excellent. Made in the same geographical region with the same other three ingredients, but the water changed the tastes dramatically - a spring vs. a river, when you get down to it.

I believe that most brewers try to adjust their water to most closely match the water in the motherland – Europe. Imagine pure spring in Belgium or babbling brooks in Germany. Imagine this hundreds of years ago. Imagine even before the Industrial Revolution. Before, even, the dark ages. Fermenting sugars to alcohol has been around since before recorded history. Its origins are clouded by antiquity and impossible to pinpoint, much like agriculture. Beer however narrows the playing field by what type of sugar is fermented into alcohol, which brings us to ingredient number 2 – Malt.

Malt

The word Malt itself is very ambiguous. Is it singular? Is it plural? It is both a noun and a verb. Basically Malt = sugar. By fermenting that sugar you make beer, the name of the alcohol produced by fermenting malt. Further distillation can lead to whiskey or other grain alcohols, but it all starts with beer or a beer-like substance.

The malting process is the performed by a maltster on barley, wheat, rye, or any type of cereal grain. We can all picture a barley stalk hanging out of a cowboy’s mouth, a long seedy looking grass. Malting is the process of making that seedy grain into sugar. What happens to that grain is it is set in a moist dark environment and, thinking it is in environment conducive to life, it begins to germinate. With germination, the barley life cycle is continued. New life springs from old seeds as the grain converts its stored tough starches into consumable sugar for the sprout to grow. Malt, the substance, is produced when these seed of new life is extinguished and its sugars are stolen for our consumption.

The maltster takes this lush, green new life and roasts it. Using a oven-like Kiln and vents of hot air these sugars are solidified into crystals of sugar. This sugar is used for more than just beer. It is used in Malted Milk Balls like Whoppers, Malted Milk Shakes, and most cereals, such as Malt-O-Meal (on the bottom shelf).

For brewing purposes this Malt substance can be bought in a thick, syrup substance called Malt Extract, or still attached to the grain to be brewed like a tea and extracted from the grain itself. In either case the malt is added to water, brewed and boiled. The sweetness of the Malt in the brew, even after fermentation, is overwhelming. Like a thick maple syrup unfit for mass consumption. Throughout the centuries different herbs and spices were added to abet the sugary taste of the malt. These spices added local color and flavor and are still used for these purposes today, but Beer found its perfect companion in the hops plant.

Hops

Hops add the right amount of bitterness to counteract the sugary malt and simultaneously acts as a preservative. Its tastes have been described as warmth, tea qualities, and in some cases “it tastes like I’m drinking flowers.” The incredible plant looks like a climbing vine and, like its cousin the cannabis plant, only the female cones produce the oil that is desired. By boiling the cones, leaves, or crushed pellets vigorously, you release the oil that is bitter in flavor and also coat the beer to act as protective armor.

Hops and hop flavoring, hopping, came out of necessity, and necessity also drove the evolution of what hops could add to a beer. In England, the popular Pale Ale underwent a hops metamorphosis as it journeyed on the trade routes to India. Such a long voyage could spoil beer, and so thirsty merchant added excessive amounts of hops for preservation. Out of necessity the style India Pale Ale came about and is prized for its bouquet of hops and hops aroma, and not for its perseverance.

Hops and its oil also provide a defensive barrier against foreign substances so that fermentation does not become tainted. It aids the Yeast.

Yeast

There are more types of yeast than there are types of beer and with its every changing, duplicating cells mutations are quite common. Brewers yeast has been cultivated over the centuries to be the perfect organism to digest malted barley. The way all yeast works is it eats sugar, poos out alcohol and farts CO₂. This combination is ideal for brewers. From a natural process our wort (unfermented beer) becomes alcoholic and carbonated, yay nature!

In truth I know little about Yeast cultures. I’m not a microbiologist, and even they don’t fully understand it. What we do know is that it is a single celled organism, that when presented into a sterile environment at the right temperature with a high concentration of sugar, i.e. food, it will start having sex with itself and duplicate. The yeast will only stop, or “fall asleep,” if it runs out of food or the temperature of the environment becomes intolerable. Another way to stop yeast is to make your beer too alcoholic. Brewer’s yeast can survive at most about 7-8% alcohol by volume (ABV). So if your beer has enough sugar to produce that quantity of ABV then the yeast will die in their own excrement. What we can do at that point is to use another type of yeast. Wine yeast, champagne yeast, or mead yeast have all been cultivated to survive at higher ABV, but they are far more caustic than brewer’s yeast.

Brewer’s yeast is digestible and good for you. If you’ve ever had an unfiltered beer you can see specs of dead yeast floating in the liquid. Do not be alarmed; they are digestible and even good for you. Dead yeast is a great source of vitamin B, and if you’ve ever taken vitamin B pills you will see that brewer’s yeast is one of the ingredient. It has been said that vitamin B fights a hangover, I can tell you from personal experience it does. So if you drink unfiltered beer all night, like a Hefe-Weizen, you will not have a hangover the next day.

Imagine again the annals of antiquity and the gradual realization of yeast cultures. Imagine a primitive man boiling fruit or some other sugar source and leaving it out for a time. Imagine him returning and seeing the beer surge and move. If you’ve ever seen yeast in action you know what I mean. He must have thought it was voodoo, or a gift from the gods, when in fact it was wild yeast doing its thing. Perhaps it came from a fruit fly landing for a drink. Only after centuries of observation did anyone suspect it was a natural process. In fact some more traditional breweries, such as those in the Cologne region of Germany will only use wild yeast. They literally fill an attic with a brew and open the windows. Then let nature do its thing. If you’ve ever had a Kolsh beer, it’s probably just Kolsh style. Like Bourbon, real Kolsh beers are only made in the Cologne area of Germany with wild yeast, in a barn, with the windows open, facing the Cologne Cathedral. Those crazy Germans…

The Herrmann Brew Company Blog

Oops, I forgot about 2010

Rouge Wheat

Rye Pale Ale

Everything Else IPA

Punkin' Porter

Amber Clone

Holiday Stout 2010

Brown holiday

Istrouma Pale Ale

Rye Pale Ale

Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues

Craft Beer Week Celebration

Amber Clone (10 gal)

Istrouma Pale Ale

India Brown Ale

Stepping It Up

Istrouma Pale Ale 3

Rouge Huit

Andrea's Almond Amber Ale

Fifty Pounds of Grain and a Pound of Hops

First Batches

Trey Wheat #38

Rouge Huit

Birthdays

2009; a Tasting in Remeberance

A Conversation We All Need to Be Having

Favorites: Mass Productions and Variance

Pretty Soon We'll All Be In Cider

Chirstmas is Ruined

Hargrave's Holiday Hangover

Punkin' Porter

Almond Brown

Stepping into All-Grain Brewing

The Four Ingredients