Differences between revisions 50 and 63 (spanning 13 versions)
Revision 50 as of 2011-04-11 16:50:46
Size: 11543
Editor: SteveKillen
Comment:
Revision 63 as of 2011-06-15 21:48:07
Size: 11918
Editor: SteveKillen
Comment: updated BJCP style guide link to the 2008 guide
Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
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 * Primary: ClintonEbadi's نوروز (''Nowruz'') IPA
 * Primary: SteveKillen's Mystery Brew #1
 * Secondary: ''nil''
 * On Deck: BtTempleton's [[/Recipes#FrenchRevolution|French Revolution Ale]]
== Recently Bottled ==

 * 2011-05-01: SteveKillen's Mystery Brews nos. 1 & 2 (9.5 gallons of beer, oh my)
 * 2011-05-17: JHitz's JWheatz & ClintonEbadi's Ginger Wheat Ale
 * 2011-06-09: SteveKillen's Mystery Brew #3
 * 2011-06-09: Really Not Edwort's Apfelwein (with cider)

== Fermenting ==

 * 7.5 gal carboy: ClintonEbadi's Nowruz (Batch 4B)
 * Better Bottle #1: nil
 * Better Bottle #2: nil
 * Better Bottle #3: nil
 * Small Better Bottle: SteveKillen's Stovetop Best Bitter (at Steve's place)
 * 5 gal carboy: nil
 * 1 gal jug: nil

== Planning ==

 * BtTempleton [[/Recipes#FrenchRevolution|French Revolution Ale]]
 * SteveKillen [[/Recipes#StovetopNorthernEnglandBrownAle|Northern England Brown Ale]]
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 * [[http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/|BJCP Style Guidelines]]  * [[http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.php|2008 BJCP Style Guide]]
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 * [[http://www.usermode.org/code.html|QBrew]] recipe formulation tool and batch log. Available in Debian, and indispensable for the Free Software loving brewer. Lacking a few features compared to proprietary offerings, but bpt and ClintonEbadi are programmers...  * [[http://www.usermode.org/code.html|QBrew]] recipe formulation tool and batch log. Available in Debian, and indispensable for the Free Software loving brewer. Lacking a few features compared to proprietary offerings, but bpt and ClintonEbadi are programmers... We don't use it anymore, but [[QBrew]] could be improved if one felt like it.
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=== QBrew Gripes ===

Let's bitch about the missing features so that ClintonEbadi might suffer some C++ and add them to QBrew...

 * No tool to replace hops in recipe with different AA% hops
   * Kind of a pain to manually recalculate hop amounts when actual AA% differs from recipe AA%. Equation is simple: ''weight'' × (''recipe aa'' / ''actual aa''), but why not have the computer do it?
 * Recipe html export and printed versions do not list hop AA%
 * Units for grains are limited to pounds or kilograms, the ability to switch to ounces or grams would be helpful for e.g. black patent additions
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 * '''[[http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_792_792|Northern Tool Submersible Pump]]''' For circulating ice water through the immersion chiller in an attempt to save water. Cost about the same as the pond pump that didn't work, but a quick test was promising--the flow rate through the wort chiller looked as high as with the garden faucet.  * '''[[http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_792_792|Northern Tool Submersible Pump]]''' For circulating ice water through the immersion chiller in an attempt to save water. Cost about the same as the pond pump that didn't work, but a quick test was promising--the flow rate through the wort chiller looked as high as with the garden faucet. As of 2011-06-09 we have successfully cooled around 7 brews with the pump and it has yet to break--we can cool a five gallon batch to 74F in ~15 minutes using only 20 gallons of water and eight frozen 2L soda bottles. If it doesn't break in six more months I think I can recommend it.
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 * '''Bottlecaps''' about 24oz (6-7 batches worth), brightly colored (5/1/11)

Making Beer

What's Brewing

Recently Bottled

  • 2011-05-01: SteveKillen's Mystery Brews nos. 1 & 2 (9.5 gallons of beer, oh my)

  • 2011-05-17: JHitz's JWheatz & ClintonEbadi's Ginger Wheat Ale

  • 2011-06-09: SteveKillen's Mystery Brew #3

  • 2011-06-09: Really Not Edwort's Apfelwein (with cider)

Fermenting

  • 7.5 gal carboy: ClintonEbadi's Nowruz (Batch 4B)

  • Better Bottle #1: nil
  • Better Bottle #2: nil
  • Better Bottle #3: nil
  • Small Better Bottle: SteveKillen's Stovetop Best Bitter (at Steve's place)

  • 5 gal carboy: nil
  • 1 gal jug: nil

Planning

Useful Information

General Brewing

Software

  • QBrew recipe formulation tool and batch log. Available in Debian, and indispensable for the Free Software loving brewer. Lacking a few features compared to proprietary offerings, but bpt and ClintonEbadi are programmers... We don't use it anymore, but QBrew could be improved if one felt like it.

  • Brewtarget A newer Free Software brewing tool. Looks similar to QBrew, but apparantly shares no code, and appears to be actively maintained.

Location Specific

Water

Cary uses chloramines rather than chlorine for water purification. The homebrew shop was helpful and warned that this does not evolve out as gas during boiling like chlorine does, and results in band-aid like flavors in the final beer. To counteract this a quarter of a campden tablet must be added for each five gallons of water used. This will react with the chloramines and cause them to evolve out as sulfur and chlorine gases within approximately fifteen minutes. The water may then be boiled as usual.

For extract brewing water adjustment is not essential, but water in the Raleigh region is soft enough that there will be issues with hop bitterness not being properly attenuated. The LHBS provided Water Crystals (8:1 CaSO4:MgSO4) with a recommended rate of one or two tsp per five gallons. A teaspoon has a mass of 4g (3.55...g:0.44...g).

Important Water Ion Levels for Cary NC Water (mg/L)2

Ca+2

Mg+2

SO4-2

Na+

Cl-

HCO3-

9.60

2.90

38

32.1

21.3

50.4 3

With 2g of Water Crystals

25

4

78

32

21

50

With 4g of Water Crystals

41

5

119

32

21

50

With 8g of Water Crystals

72

6

201

32

21

50

Sulfate:Chloride ratio of raw water = (approximately) 1.2:1.0 which is not particularly good for anything. This should be closer to 2:1 for bitter ales, 1:3 for stouts and porters, and 1:2 for milder ales (e.g. Justin's Brown Ale). Some minor adjustment with NaCl will be needed; since extract is being used and the NaCl content is unknown a conservative approach is best. ClintonEbadi suspects aiming for a ratio of 2:1 for bitter beers, 1:2 for more malt dominated beers, and leaving it alone for the others is the best approach for now.

According to BeerSmith our Magnesium levels are insufficient for yeast nutrition, and the sulfate levels are too low for bitter beers (like ClintonEbadi's Pale Ale recipe).

Based upon this information it appears that a good approach will be to add 2g of Water Crystals to all batches with an appropriate amount of NaCl to balance the additional Sulfate.

Another thing to be wary of is steeping roasted grains in soft water:

  • Water chemistry also plays a role in tannin extraction. Steeping the heavily roasted malts in very soft water will produce conditions that are too acidic and harsh flavors will result. Likewise, steeping the lightest crystal malts in hard water could produce conditions that are too alkaline and tannin extraction would be a problem again. In this case, the terms Hard and Soft Water are being used to indicate a high (>200 ppm) or low(<50 ppm) level of carbonates and the degree of alkalinity of the brewing water.4

Future Ideas

General Beer

Available Equipment

Most owned by ClintonEbadi; all available for shared use.

Wort Production

  • Bayou Classic KAB5 Low Pressure Propane Burner. 100,000 BTU/h super burner. MORE POWER.

  • 2 20lbs Propane Cylinders Just a basic propane cylinder

  • 2'x2' Paving Stone to provide a stable surface for the burner and protection for deck wood against drying out or scorching

  • Polarware 30 quart stainless steel brew kettle. Basic, but workable for full five gallon wort boils. LHBS recommended the low end kettle and reserving funds for a future purchase of a fancy ten gallon kettle.

  • Immersion Wort Chiller. Just a basic coiled copper tubing gadget.

  • Northern Tool Submersible Pump For circulating ice water through the immersion chiller in an attempt to save water. Cost about the same as the pond pump that didn't work, but a quick test was promising--the flow rate through the wort chiller looked as high as with the garden faucet. As of 2011-06-09 we have successfully cooled around 7 brews with the pump and it has yet to break--we can cool a five gallon batch to 74F in ~15 minutes using only 20 gallons of water and eight frozen 2L soda bottles. If it doesn't break in six more months I think I can recommend it.

  • 48" Stirring Spoon That's what she said

Fermentation

  • 3 6 Gallon Better Bottles (2 Steve's, 1 Clinton's)

  • 3.5 Gallon Better Bottle for experimental batches (Steve's)

  • 8 Gallon Glass Carboy

  • 5 Gallon Glass Carboy for secondary fermentation

  • 5 Gallon Mash Lautering Tun for masochism and all-grain batches Parts list, total cost ~$40. Make sure to check out a better guide to the actual construction.

  • 1.5 Gallon Glass Jug for minibatches or starters (volume not entirely certain--definitely larger than 1 gallon, but not 2 gallons)

  • 64oz Glass Jug (Rogue Dead Guy Ale Jug) for starters

  • Cooling system A pair of plant water drainage trays, tshirts, and a box fan... not as nice as a basement, but it actually works pretty well.

  • Airlock enough for all fermentors and one starter jug (with stoppers for the carboys)

Siphoning &c

  • Autosiphon Fancy and new with a smaller outer tube diameter

  • 10' 5/16" ID Siphon Hosing

    • Split with a venturi tube gadget for wort aeration
  • Faucet hose adapter. Because it's getting cold and outdoor faucets need to be turned off soon.

  • Bucket Filler. Homemade hose end with siphon tubing attached to make filling five gallons of water a lot less of a pain in the ass.

Bottling

  • 6 gallon bottling bucket with a spigot

  • Bottling Cane with an auto shutoff and whatnot

  • Bottle Capper basic wing capper

  • Bottlecaps about 24oz (6-7 batches worth), brightly colored (5/1/11)

  • Drying Rack Plywood board with removable legs and holes for drying bottles after sanitization

Science!

  • Hydrometer for taking gravity readings

  • Floating Thermometer

  • Cylinder not graduated, but with a 100mL (maybe--have to double check this) line marked. Used when taking gravity readings.

  • Wine Thief a small thief to take non-returnable samples for gravity readings

  • The Thief to take gravity readings in the fermenter!

Books

  • Beer Captured. A recipe book of 150 clone brews. Helpful as a basic guide for various styles.

  • Radical Brewing. A so far excellent source of ideas on weird (and not so weird) beer styles

&c

  • Sanitizer Bucket a.k.a five gallon plastic bucket from Home Despot

  • 6 Gallon Ale Pail retired as a collection bucket for wort runnings from the mash tun

Things That Don't Actually Work

  • Igloo Lunchbox Cooler The top being uninsulated turned out to be a serious problem: the cooler lost around 40⁰F within 30 minutes. It turns out, however, that a metal pot in the 170⁰F oven maintained around 160⁰F and did not get too hot after all.

  • Smartpond 155GPH Submersible Pump for circulating ice water through the wort chiller. Low flow rate (not surprising), and broke after two uses. Garbage.

NEEDED

More gadgets.

  1. From http://hopunion.com/hopeducation.html (1)

  2. Additions calculated using http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/ which rounds to the nearest number... not so scientific, but good enough for our uses (2)

  3. Extrapolated by multiplying CaCO3 level by 1.22 (3)

  4. http://howtobrew.com/section2/chapter13-2.html (4)

HomeBrewing (last edited 2014-04-11 13:56:20 by ClintonEbadi)