Differences between revisions 59 and 204 (spanning 145 versions)
Revision 59 as of 2011-06-09 05:41:18
Size: 11792
Editor: ClintonEbadi
Comment: update fermenting things status and tenatively recommend the pump
Revision 204 as of 2012-09-27 01:33:15
Size: 19259
Editor: SteveKillen
Comment: bottled last of Persephone to be ready in time for solstice
Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
Line 4: Line 4:

* [[/Recipes]] Our Recipes 
  * [[/Bread|Bonus bread recipes!]]
 * [[/Recipes]] Our Recipes
  * [[HomeBrewing/Bread|Bonus bread recipes!]]
Line 13: Line 12:
Line 15: Line 13:

 * 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)
 * 2012-07-07: SebastianFG's [Strawberry] Blonde Ale x2
 * 2012-07-12: SteveKillen's Persephone RIS
 * 2012-07-27: SteveKillen's Peachy Keen Pale Ale
 * 2012-08-05: SteveKillen's Bubonic Porter x2
 * 2012-09-09: JoeySawyer's Oo-Hefner x2
 * 2012-09-25: SteveKillen's Persephone RIS (1 gal w/bourbon-soaked oak cubes)
Line 22: Line 21:

 * 7.5 gal carboy: ClintonEbadi's Nowruz (Batch 4B)
 * Better Bottle #1: nil
 * Better Bottle #2: nil
 * Better Bottle #3: nil
 * Small Better Bottle: nil
 * 5 gal carboy: nil
 * 1 gal jug: nil
 * 7.5 gal carboy: nil
 * Better Bottle BT,,0,,: ClintonEbadi's Mo' Hitz, Mo' Ale (2012-6-25) [estimated]
 * Better Bottle SK,,0,,: ClintonEbadi's Mo' Hitz, Mo' Ale (2012-6-25) [estimated]
 * Better Bottle SK,,1,,: nil
 * Better Bottle UL,,0,,: nil
 * Better Bottle UL,,1,,: nil
 * Better Bottle SF,,0,,: nil
 * Small Better Bottle: SteveKillen's Smokey Amber (2012-08-15)
 * 5 gal carboy: ClintonEbadi's Blackberry-Hibiscus Cyser (2012-03-18)
 * 1 gal jug UL,,0,,: RachelBrown's Ancient Orange Mead (??-??-??)
 * 1 gal jug UL,,1,,: KristenPeavler's Lavender Rose mead (2012-03-17)
 * 1 gal jug UL,,2,,: nil
 * 1 gal jug UL,,3,,: nil
 * 1 gal jug UL,,4,,: nil
 * 1 gal jug SK,,0,,: nil
 * 1 gal jug SK,,1,,: nil
 * Extraction Jar: Fenugreek/Vodka extraction (2011-12-15)
Line 32: Line 40:

 * BtTempleton [[/Recipes#FrenchRevolution|French Revolution Ale]]
 * ClintonEbadi Nowruz
Add your name to the bottom to secure a spot in the brew queue. If you need to insert a priority batch, post to the mailing list & we'll hash it out.

 1. ClintonEbadi Pumpkin Brown Ale
 1. SteveKillen President's Honey Ale 10 gallons
 1. RachelBrown Maple Nut Brown Ale
 1. Luke's Ghost Pepper Porter

== Competing ==
[[http://piedmontbrewerscup.brewcompetition.com/index.php|Piedmont Brewer's Cup]], 2011-10-22

 * SteveKillen's Bubonic Porter #1 [[attachment:PBC-Bubonic.pdf]] Score: 30 (Scoresheets: [[attachment:PBC-porter-1.png]] [[attachment:PBC-porter-2.png]])
 * SteveKillen's Luna Moth #2 [[attachment:PBC-LunaMoth.pdf]] Score: 32 (Scoresheets: [[attachment:PBC-saison-1.png]] [[attachment:PBC-saison-2.png]])

[[http://www.nattygreenes.com/events/super-two-tuesday-homebrew-competition|Natty Greene's Monthly Homebrew Contest]], 2012-6-26

 * ClintonEbadi's Nowruz [w/Belgian yeast]
 * BtTempleton's Biere de Garde
 * SteveKillen's Irish Red [w/Scottish yeast] '''3rd place''' (tied) in the popular vote!
 * SteveKillen's Stovetop Saison

[[http://www.ncbrewerscup.org|NC State Fair]], Oct 2012

 * SteveKillen Persephone RIS
 * RachelBrown Luna Moth Saison

[[http://piedmontbrewerscup.brewcompetition.com/index.php|Piedmont Brewer's Cup]], 2012-10-20

 * SteveKillen's Bubonic Porter (Wyeast 1028)
 * SteveKillen's Peach Pale Ale
Line 37: Line 71:
== Required Reading ==
Read [[http://howtobrew.com|How to Brew]]. Do not continue, do not pass Go until you've at least made it through [[http://howtobrew.com/section1/chapter1.html|Chapter One]].

== Styles/Ingredients ==
 * [[http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.php|2008 BJCP Style Guide]]
 * [[attachment:hopunion-variety-databook.pdf|Hopunion Variety Databook]] has tons of useful info on different hop varieties<<FootNote(From http://hopunion.com/hopeducation.html)>>
 * [[http://www.realbeer.com/hops/FAQ.html|The Hop FAQ]], revised by Glenn Tinseth himself. Hop wizardry inside!
 * [[http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/ingredient-guides-redux-107308/|Homebrewtalk Ingredient Guide]]
Line 39: Line 81:

 * [[http://howtobrew.com|How to Brew]]. Sections one and two should be read before attempting to brew as we are skipping straight to using specialty grains (the extra effort is trivial).
 * [[http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/|BJCP Style Guidelines]]
Line 43: Line 82:
  * A useful guide to [[http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.htm|late-hopping/hopbursting]]
 * [[attachment:hopunion-variety-databook.pdf|Hopunion Variety Databook]] has tons of useful info on different hop varieties<<FootNote(From http://hopunion.com/hopeducation.html)>>
Line 46: Line 83:
 * [[http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/ingredient-guides-redux-107308/|Homebrewtalk Ingredient Guide]]  * A guide to [[http://www.homebrewzone.com/off-flavors.htm|off flavors in beer]]

== Technique ==
 * A useful guide to [[http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.php|late-hopping/hopbursting]]
 * A thread on HomebrewTalk about [[http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/|Stovetop All-grain batches]]
 * A [[http://www.brewsupplies.com/hop_characteristics.htm|handy chart]] to help you determine your Hop Schedule courtesy of http://www.brewsupplies.com/

== Software ==
 * [[http://brewtarget.sourceforge.net/|Brewtarget]] A newer Free Software brewing tool. Looks similar to QBrew, but apparently has no shared codebase with it and is actively maintained.
 * [[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.

=== Online Calculators ===
Line 48: Line 96:
 * A [[http://www.brewsupplies.com/hop_characteristics.htm|handy chart]] to help you determine your Hop Schedule courtesy of http://www.brewsupplies.com/

== Software ==

 * [[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.
 * [[http://sourceforge.net/projects/brewtarget/|Brewtarget]] A newer Free Software brewing tool. Looks similar to QBrew, but apparantly shares no code, and appears to be actively maintained.
 * [[http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html|TastyBrew Bottle Priming Calculator]]
 * [[http://www.brewersfriend.com/bottling-calculator/|Bottle Count Calculator]]
 * [[http://www.brewersfriend.com/quick-infusion/|Quick Infusion Calculator]] for temp adjustments with boiling water
 * [[http://www.rooftopbrew.net/abv.php|ABV Calculator]]

== Wine/Mead/Cider ==
 * [[http://web2.airmail.net/sgross/fermcalc/fermcalc_links.html|Wine Links]] (has a lot of good stuff!)
 * [[http://hbd.org/brewery/library/beeslees.html|The Bee's Lees]], a Collection of Mead Recipes
 * [[http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/|Jack Keller's Wine Page]]
 * [[http://www.winebook.webs.com/|The Home Winemaker's Manual]]. Not sure how popular, but looks to be the closest to How to Brew in terms of presentation of the process.
Line 57: Line 108:
Line 62: Line 112:

 * [[http://www.townofcary.org/Departments/Public_Works_and_Utilities/Water/Water_Treatment/finishedwater.htm|Town of Cary Water Quality Report]].
Line 66: Line 114:

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.
 * [[https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/water-knowledge|Bru'N Water Knowledge]] Spreadsheet water calculator (it works with Libreoffice), but more importantly a much more thorough explanation of water chemistry than provided elsewhere or in howtobrew.

Cary and Raleigh use 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.
Line 71: Line 120:
||<-6>'''Important Water Ion Levels for Cary NC Water (mg/L)'''<<FootNote(Additions calculated using http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/ which rounds to the nearest number... not so scientific, but good enough for our uses)>> || 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.<<FootNote(http://howtobrew.com/section2/chapter13-2.html)>>

=== Raleigh ===
 * [[attachment:EMJ Finished Water Quality 2010 (1).pdf|Raleigh water report 2010]]

||||||||||||||'''Important Water Ion Levels for Raleigh NC Water (mg/L)'''<<FootNote(Additions calculated using http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/ which rounds to the nearest number... not so scientific, but good enough for our uses)>> ||
|| Date || '''Ca^+2^''' || '''Mg^+2^''' || '''SO,,4,,^-2^''' || '''Na^+^''' || '''Cl^-^''' || '''HCO,,3,,^-^''' ||
|| 2010 || 6.49 || 1.90 || 52 || 30.5 || 12.9 || 34.28 <<FootNote(Extrapolated by multiplying CaCO,,3,, level by 1.22)>> ||
|| Jan 2012 || 8.5 || 4.0 || 47 || 34 || 15.9 || 43.55 <<FootNote(Extrapolated by multiplying CaCO,,3,, level by 1.22)>> ||


{{attachment:palmerwaterionchart-raleigh2010.png}}

The water ion nomograph is pulled from Palmer's [[http://howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-3.html|How To Brew]]. Looks like our water profile in Raleigh is good for pale, bitter beers; it's got a sulfate:chloride ratio of 3:1 (maybe -- it also has very little of either). To make darker, maltier beers, some additions will be required. SteveKillen estimates that for our 8ish-gallon water volume, a total of 3.6g chalk, 3.6g baking soda, and 4g of non-iodized salt will provide a better water profile for malty beers like the Bubonic Porter.<<FootNote(Additions calculated using http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/ which rounds to the nearest number... not so scientific, but good enough for our uses)>> Further tweaking may be required, but a good goal is to test several styles of beer and come up with a handful of good generic numbers.

=== Cary ===
 * [[http://www.townofcary.org/Departments/Public_Works_and_Utilities/Water/Water_Treatment/finishedwater.htm|Town of Cary Water Quality Report]].

||||||||||||'''Important Water Ion Levels for Cary NC Water (mg/L)'''<<FootNote(Additions calculated using http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/ which rounds to the nearest number... not so scientific, but good enough for our uses)>> ||
Line 74: Line 143:
||<-6>''With 2g of Water Crystals''|| ||||||||||||''With 2g of Water Crystals'' ||
Line 76: Line 145:
||<-6>''With 4g of Water Crystals''|| ||||||||||||''With 4g of Water Crystals'' ||
Line 78: Line 147:
||<-6>''With 8g of Water Crystals''|| ||||||||||||''With 8g of Water Crystals'' ||
Line 81: Line 150:
Line 87: Line 157:
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.<<FootNote(http://howtobrew.com/section2/chapter13-2.html)>>
Line 92: Line 158:

 * [[http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/|Cheap and Easy Batch Sparging]] Much simpler Mash tun design than one designed for fly sparging (and it can be converted to a fancier tun later if needed)
Line 97: Line 161:
Line 102: Line 165:
Line 106: Line 168:

* '''Bayou Classic KAB5 Low Pressure Propane Burner'''. 100,000 BTU/h super burner. MORE POWER.
 * '''Bayou Classic KAB5 Low Pressure Propane Burner'''. 100,000 BTU/h super burner. MOAR POWER
Line 109: Line 170:
  * places to get propane refill: UHaul on Capital (north of 440), BJs on Old Wake Forest off Capital (south of 540)
Line 110: Line 172:
 * '''15 gallon Mash Lautering Tun''' with fancy copper manifold for high-gravity brewing (OG > 1.060) & 10-gallon batches.
  * Total materials cost ~$95
  * 60qt cooler = $50
  * Initial parts bill $56
  * 1 unused 10' copper tube -$12
  * misc. fenders from Ace
 * '''5 Gallon Mash Lautering Tun''' with stainless steel braid for masochism and all-grain batches (OG <= 1.060)
  * Still useful for lower-gravity batches; better overall efficiency and less head space = great heat retention!
  * [[http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Converting_a_cooler_to_a_mash_tun#Cylindrical|Parts list]], total cost ~$40.
  * Make sure to check out [[http://www.thescrewybrewer.com/2010/12/screwys-5-gallon-mash-tun.html|a better guide to the actual construction]].
 * '''Stainless steel 15.5 gallon keggle''' courtesy of Aviator Brewing and Steve's dremel!
Line 112: Line 185:
 * '''[[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.  * '''[[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)--it's 2012-03-20 and the pump has survived a '''lot''' of batches so I think I can recommend it.
Line 114: Line 187:
   * '''[[http://www.bayareamashers.org/gadgets/Hop%20bag%20holder.pdf|Kettle Hop Bag Holder]]''' For containing the massive amount of hops in a ten gallon batch. Worked pretty well for [[/Recipes#Nowruz]], but the hops themselves still absorb quite a bit of water on their own.
Line 116: Line 190:

 * 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'''
 * '''Ranco Digital Temperature Controller''' for the fridge at Evergreen (Steve's)
 * 6 '''6 Gallon Better Bottles''' (2 Steve's, 2 Clinton's, 1 BPT's, 1 Sebastian's)
 * '''3 Gallon Better Bottle''' for experimental batches (Steve's)
 * '''7 Gallon Glass Carboy'''
Line 121: Line 195:
 * '''5 Gallon Mash Lautering Tun''' for masochism and all-grain batches [[http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Converting_a_cooler_to_a_mash_tun#Cylindrical|Parts list]], total cost ~$40. Make sure to check out [[http://www.thescrewybrewer.com/2010/12/screwys-5-gallon-mash-tun.html|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.
 * 5 '''1 Gallon Glass Jug''' for minibatches or starters
 * 2 '''64oz Glass Jug''' (Rogue Dead Guy Ale Jug) for starters
Line 128: Line 200:
Line 130: Line 201:
 * '''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.
 * '''Tee''' for splitting batches between fermenters (PROTIP: put the venturi tube ''above'' the tee)
 * '''VenturiTube''' gadget for wort aeration (2)
 * '''Faucet hose adapter'''. Easily acquired and infinitely useful -- the one we found has hose threads and a second set of smaller threads for an internally-threaded aerator. Really useful for filling buckets, using a jet bottle washer, getting a faster water flow for filling things (pasta pots, watering cans, ...).
Line 136: Line 207:
Line 140: Line 210:
 * '''Bottlecaps''' about 24oz (6-7 batches worth), brightly colored (5/1/11)  * '''[[http://www.midwestsupplies.com/catalog/product/view/id/5594/s/colonna-bottle-capper-and-corker/category/407/|Colonna]] Capper/Corker''' Courtesy of BtTempleton
Line 144: Line 214:
Line 146: Line 215:
 * '''Floating Thermometer'''  * '''Floating Thermometer''' Warning: slow to read, not particularly accurate... mostly used to stir rehydrated yeast slurry now
 * '''12" SS Dial Thermometer''' Reasonably accurate, reads fast, can get deep into the mash
 * '''Pocket Kitchen Therometer''' Reasonable accurate, reads fast, handy for checking gravity sample temperatures
Line 149: Line 220:
 * '''The Thief''' to take gravity readings in the fermenter!   * '''The Thief''' to take gravity readings in the fermenter!
Line 152: Line 223:
Line 157: Line 227:
Line 162: Line 231:
Line 166: Line 234:
== Obsoleted By the Ever-Forward March of Progress ==
 * '''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. (New place had a fridge so we grabbed a controller instead. This is still a great low-tech solution though--still in use by SteveKillen).

== Expendables ==
That you can't [[HomeBrewing/Ingredients|eat]] at least.

 * '''5/16" ID Siphon Hosing'''
 * '''Bottlecaps''' about 24oz (6-7 batches worth), brightly colored (5/1/11)
Line 167: Line 244:
Line 169: Line 245:

 * Like this one: [[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000U5NZ4I/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=|Victoria Hand Mill]], $30 after shipping. (out of stock)
 * Or this one: [[http://www.amazon.com/grinder-HEAVY-DUTY-adjustable-soybeans-CAPACITY/dp/B004Q7JQI0/ref=pd_sim_sbs_k_1|Another hand mill]], $23.77 after shipping.
 * And this one: [[http://www.byo.com/stories/article/indices/20-build-it-yourself/361-build-a-continuous-wort-hopper|DIY Continuous Wort Hopper]]

Making Beer

What's Brewing

Recently Bottled

  • 2012-07-07: SebastianFG's [Strawberry] Blonde Ale x2
  • 2012-07-12: SteveKillen's Persephone RIS

  • 2012-07-27: SteveKillen's Peachy Keen Pale Ale

  • 2012-08-05: SteveKillen's Bubonic Porter x2

  • 2012-09-09: JoeySawyer's Oo-Hefner x2

  • 2012-09-25: SteveKillen's Persephone RIS (1 gal w/bourbon-soaked oak cubes)

Fermenting

  • 7.5 gal carboy: nil
  • Better Bottle BT0: ClintonEbadi's Mo' Hitz, Mo' Ale (2012-6-25) [estimated]

  • Better Bottle SK0: ClintonEbadi's Mo' Hitz, Mo' Ale (2012-6-25) [estimated]

  • Better Bottle SK1: nil

  • Better Bottle UL0: nil

  • Better Bottle UL1: nil

  • Better Bottle SF0: nil

  • Small Better Bottle: SteveKillen's Smokey Amber (2012-08-15)

  • 5 gal carboy: ClintonEbadi's Blackberry-Hibiscus Cyser (2012-03-18)

  • 1 gal jug UL0: RachelBrown's Ancient Orange Mead (??-??-??)

  • 1 gal jug UL1: KristenPeavler's Lavender Rose mead (2012-03-17)

  • 1 gal jug UL2: nil

  • 1 gal jug UL3: nil

  • 1 gal jug UL4: nil

  • 1 gal jug SK0: nil

  • 1 gal jug SK1: nil

  • Extraction Jar: Fenugreek/Vodka extraction (2011-12-15)

Planning

Add your name to the bottom to secure a spot in the brew queue. If you need to insert a priority batch, post to the mailing list & we'll hash it out.

  1. ClintonEbadi Pumpkin Brown Ale

  2. SteveKillen President's Honey Ale 10 gallons

  3. RachelBrown Maple Nut Brown Ale

  4. Luke's Ghost Pepper Porter

Competing

Piedmont Brewer's Cup, 2011-10-22

Natty Greene's Monthly Homebrew Contest, 2012-6-26

NC State Fair, Oct 2012

Piedmont Brewer's Cup, 2012-10-20

Useful Information

Required Reading

Read How to Brew. Do not continue, do not pass Go until you've at least made it through Chapter One.

Styles/Ingredients

General Brewing

Technique

Software

  • Brewtarget A newer Free Software brewing tool. Looks similar to QBrew, but apparently has no shared codebase with it and is actively maintained.

  • 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.

Online Calculators

Wine/Mead/Cider

Location Specific

Water

Cary and Raleigh use 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).

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.2

Raleigh

Important Water Ion Levels for Raleigh NC Water (mg/L)3

Date

Ca+2

Mg+2

SO4-2

Na+

Cl-

HCO3-

2010

6.49

1.90

52

30.5

12.9

34.28 4

Jan 2012

8.5

4.0

47

34

15.9

43.55 4

palmerwaterionchart-raleigh2010.png

The water ion nomograph is pulled from Palmer's How To Brew. Looks like our water profile in Raleigh is good for pale, bitter beers; it's got a sulfate:chloride ratio of 3:1 (maybe -- it also has very little of either). To make darker, maltier beers, some additions will be required. SteveKillen estimates that for our 8ish-gallon water volume, a total of 3.6g chalk, 3.6g baking soda, and 4g of non-iodized salt will provide a better water profile for malty beers like the Bubonic Porter.3 Further tweaking may be required, but a good goal is to test several styles of beer and come up with a handful of good generic numbers.

Cary

Important Water Ion Levels for Cary NC Water (mg/L)3

Ca+2

Mg+2

SO4-2

Na+

Cl-

HCO3-

9.60

2.90

38

32.1

21.3

50.4 4

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.

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. MOAR POWER

  • 2 20lbs Propane Cylinders Just a basic propane cylinder

    • places to get propane refill: UHaul on Capital (north of 440), BJs on Old Wake Forest off Capital (south of 540)
  • 2'x2' Paving Stone to provide a stable surface for the burner and protection for deck wood against drying out or scorching

  • 15 gallon Mash Lautering Tun with fancy copper manifold for high-gravity brewing (OG > 1.060) & 10-gallon batches.

    • Total materials cost ~$95
    • 60qt cooler = $50
    • Initial parts bill $56
    • 1 unused 10' copper tube -$12
    • misc. fenders from Ace
  • 5 Gallon Mash Lautering Tun with stainless steel braid for masochism and all-grain batches (OG <= 1.060)

  • Stainless steel 15.5 gallon keggle courtesy of Aviator Brewing and Steve's dremel!

  • 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 monthsit's 2012-03-20 and the pump has survived a lot of batches so I think I can recommend it.

  • 48" Stirring Spoon That's what she said

  • Kettle Hop Bag Holder For containing the massive amount of hops in a ten gallon batch. Worked pretty well for /Recipes#Nowruz, but the hops themselves still absorb quite a bit of water on their own.

Fermentation

  • Ranco Digital Temperature Controller for the fridge at Evergreen (Steve's)

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

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

  • 7 Gallon Glass Carboy

  • 5 Gallon Glass Carboy for secondary fermentation

  • 5 1 Gallon Glass Jug for minibatches or starters

  • 2 64oz Glass Jug (Rogue Dead Guy Ale Jug) for starters

  • 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

  • Tee for splitting batches between fermenters (PROTIP: put the venturi tube above the tee)

  • VenturiTube gadget for wort aeration (2)

  • Faucet hose adapter. Easily acquired and infinitely useful -- the one we found has hose threads and a second set of smaller threads for an internally-threaded aerator. Really useful for filling buckets, using a jet bottle washer, getting a faster water flow for filling things (pasta pots, watering cans, ...).

  • 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

  • Colonna Capper/Corker Courtesy of BtTempleton

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

Science!

  • Hydrometer for taking gravity readings

  • Floating Thermometer Warning: slow to read, not particularly accurate... mostly used to stir rehydrated yeast slurry now

  • 12" SS Dial Thermometer Reasonably accurate, reads fast, can get deep into the mash

  • Pocket Kitchen Therometer Reasonable accurate, reads fast, handy for checking gravity sample temperatures

  • 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.

Obsoleted By the Ever-Forward March of Progress

  • 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. (New place had a fridge so we grabbed a controller instead. This is still a great low-tech solution though--still in use by SteveKillen).

Expendables

That you can't eat at least.

  • 5/16" ID Siphon Hosing

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

NEEDED

More gadgets.

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

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

  3. Additions calculated using http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/ which rounds to the nearest number... not so scientific, but good enough for our uses (3 4 5)

  4. Extrapolated by multiplying CaCO3 level by 1.22 (6 7 8)

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