Q&A: Homebrewing

[Matty]

Looking nice Elie. The same colour as mine and further consumption has confirmed the uneven priming. A really fizzy bottle last night - so fizzy it lifted large lumps of yeast from the bottom and hazed up. And a flattish clear one tonight. Hic.

I like the taste though. I don't know if you chaps across the pond have tasted Marmite, but i love that stuff and the taste of my brew has a quite Marmitey aftertaste.

ps. Is that a special hovering beer glass

Admirable patience there Rombot.

Best,

Matt

Edited May 24, 2006 by Matty (log)

[cdh]

Well... you know that marmite is derived from adding salt to leftover brewing yeast sludge... but I always associate Marmite with the salt... any others flavors in there are kind of obscured.

[FoodMan]

ps. Is that a special hovering beer glass 

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Yeap, hovering glass..only the best for my brew.

[Rombot]

Got home a day early and success!!!!!!

I went straight to the beer put one in the freezer and 20 minutes later popped it open. I was lovely, full bodied with a touch of creaminess, better than expected. I may just be use to over carbonated Australian lagers but my only complaint could be it was a little less carbonated than I would of liked, but then again there could be bottle variation.

Will post picture soon

Rom

[cdh]

The next lesson is up now! Don't hesitate to ask any questions that come to mind.

[Matty]

Hi Chris,

I can't find the Caravienne. Will this Cara Red be the correct substitute?

http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/item1836.htm

Thanks

Matt

[cdh]

Hi Chris,

I can't find the Caravienne. Will this Cara Red be the correct substitute?

http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/item1836.htm

Thanks

Matt

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Looks like the right substitution to me. I'd say it would be fine.

[Matty]

Great. Thanks Chris.

[FoodMan]

I brewed my double batch (about 4.5 gallons) on Friday. I am a little worried though, because I did not see as much activity or as thick a foam as I did the first time around. The smell of the wort is pretty good and fragrant but the bubbles covering the surface for the first two days were small and by today I noticed they are starting to dissipate.

Should I be worried? I made sure everything is santitized and pitched the yeast at the right temp and all.

[cdh]

Which yeast did you use? They all behave differently. I don't think Windsor is a particularly showy yeast as far as foaming up goes. I'd not worry too much about it. Give it a tilt and a swirl to roust anything that fallen to the bottom and let it keep on doing its thing.

After a week, get out a ladel or a turkey baster, sanitize it, pull a sample, and if it is still really sweet and sugary, then you know you've got a problem that can be solved by putting in more yeast.

Edited May 30, 2006 by cdh (log)

[FoodMan]

Which yeast did you use?  They all behave differently.  I don't think Windsor is a particularly showy yeast as far as foaming up goes. I'd not worry too much about it.  Give it a tilt and a swirl to roust anything that fallen to the bottom and let it keep on doing its thing. 

After a week, get out a ladel or a turkey baster, sanitize it, pull a sample, and if it is still really sweet and sugary, then you know you've got a problem that can be solved by putting in more yeast.

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Thanks Chris, I will try that. I used the yeast recommended in the recipe, Danstar Windsor.

The only deviation from the recipe I did was using extra light extract rather than light. The guy at the shop picked it out and I did not notice till I got home that it was extra light.

[cdh]

So, everybody out there who has been quietly brewing along (yes, I'm talking to *you*): Check in and let us know how it is going. Questions, comments, suggestions, mysteries, and just a general hello are all welcome.

Let us hear about how the course has worked out for you so far.

[FoodMan]

Chris-

I am going to dry-hop my wort this weekend. What is the proper way to do this? My thought is to:

- place the hops in a sanitized hop bag

- Soak the hop bag in the wort

- Remove the hop bag right before the beer is bottled

Does that sound right?

[cdh]

Bingo. Right on. I just dry hopped an english bitter that is in the works with exactly that method today. Those nylon drawstring bags are great for that sort of use.

Edited June 1, 2006 by cdh (log)

[TongoRad]

It also helps if you could put something heavy into the bag to keep it from floating near the surface of the beer. I like to use either marbles (if it is in a glass carboy) or a shotglass (if it in a container with a larger opening). Since either one is glass it can be boiled to sanitize, but I also dip it in sanitizing solution just to be safe.

[cdh]

I should add that these bagging and weighting antics are really only required if you're dry hopping with pellets. If you're using plugs or whole hops, they'll strain right out when you siphon to the bottling bucket. Pellets are pulverized small enough to make their way through the sipon tubing. Whole and plug hops won't do that.

[FoodMan]

Dry hopped this past weekend using 1/2oz cascade and 1/4oz Kent Goldings. I also took a small taste using a scrupulously sanitized spoon and made sure that there is no sugary taste and there certainly were none. So, fermentation was fine.

I just noticed that I only have half the amount, 2 oz, of priming sugar (Dextrose) necessary for bottling. Can I make up the other 2oz using regular granulated sugar or corn syrup? Or should I head back to the brew shop and just buy more Dextrose?

[cdh]

I just noticed that I only have half the amount, 2 oz,  of priming sugar (Dextrose) necessary for bottling. Can I make up the other 2oz using regular granulated sugar or corn syrup? Or should I head back to the brew shop and just buy more Dextrose?

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You can use cane sugar, but you should dissolve it. The good thing about corn sugar is that it is so fine that you can just stir it in and it will dissolve. Table sugar crystals have a tough time getting fully dissolved in cool solutions.

[FoodMan]

I just noticed that I only have half the amount, 2 oz,  of priming sugar (Dextrose) necessary for bottling. Can I make up the other 2oz using regular granulated sugar or corn syrup? Or should I head back to the brew shop and just buy more Dextrose?

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You can use cane sugar, but you should dissolve it. The good thing about corn sugar is that it is so fine that you can just stir it in and it will dissolve. Table sugar crystals have a tough time getting fully dissolved in cool solutions.

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Actually last time I also dissolved the Dextrose in a little water to incorporate it better. So, 2 oz of cane sugar should sub ok for 2 oz of Dextrose?

[cdh]

Oz for oz substitution should be fine for 2 oz. Cane sugar packs a tiny little bit more carbonation kick than dextrose, but it should be insignificant in 2 oz.

[Rombot]

hey Chris

I havnt run away..... Unfortunatly this is a really busy time at uni. Ihave all the ingrediants ready but not I have no time to brew . My last piece of work for the semester is due in on Friday so expect to see a report early next week...... Then I am on 7 weeks of Holidays

All the best

Rom

[cdh]

Anxiously awaiting.

[cdh]

Now that folks have gotten brewing a couple of times and know that it is something you'll continue to do, now seems a good time to recommend some equipment upgrades from the bare-bones setup we've been teaching with here. Your local homebrew shop would be happy to sell you any or all of the following, or you could order online from any of the web shops I recommended back in lesson 1.

First in importance- a plastic fermentation bucket with a lid and an airlock. A 6-gallon bucket should be fine for most homebrew purposes, and shouldn't set you back more than about $10. Improvement in process: bigger size, sealed environment, airlock is a good meter of fermentation activity.

Second in importance- a plastic bottling bucket with a valve at the bottom, so that gravity powers the beer's final trip into the bottles. Usually just a fermentation bucket with a hole drilled in the bottom and a valve stuck into the hole. You hook your siphon tubing to the valve and your beer goes just where you want it without any crazy straw antics. Again, shouldn't run more than about $10. Improvement in process: easier bottling, you only have to siphon the beer once, you can buy an airlock lid and use it as a secondary fermentor if you want to brew two beers at a time.

Third in importance- a big pot with a thick heat dispersing base, as has been discussed above. Process improvement: eliminates excess caramelization of wort during the boil, allowing you to make lighter colored beers.

Fourth in importance- something more stylish than used seltzer bottles to store and age your beer in. You will need some glass bottles. You might also want a kegging setup. The two solutions are remarkably similar in price if you know where to look. I've just decided to get myself a kegging setup, and all of the equipment has come in at less than $100 for a 2 5-gallon keg setup. I know I've spent more than that on my four cases of flip-top grolsch-style bottles. I do, however, very highly recommend the flip top bottles... they're all thick and sturdy, and they don't need a bottle capper. And they come filled with some nice beers. Don't buy empty bottles for $30/case, when you can buy full ones for near the same price. Breweries that offer nice flip tops I've run across- Grolsch, Fischer d'Alsace, Leikeim, Hirsch... Let me know if you run into others.

That's it for now... those are the things that will make brewing a simpler process for you, and allow you to make bigger batches.

Edited June 7, 2006 by cdh (log)

[Matty]

Hiya Chris,

Can I ask re a couple of things I've been wondering about …

Can you give a steer on bottling. I'm amassing numerous empty beer bottles - brown, green and clear glass, but I wonder if all colours are suitable for home brewing as i've read 'brown bottles only' on some brewing websites.

I'm also thinking about purchasing one of those plastic boiling/mashing bins that will allow for boiling bigger batches and eventually allow me to progress to mashing. They seem like a good bit of kit - do you have any comments on these?

Cheers,

Matt

[cdh]

As to bottling- Bottle color only really matters if you store the beer someplace it regularly meets sunlight. Some frequency in sunlight reacts with hop chemicals and causes a reaction that changes the hop aroma into a skunky aroma. Brown bottles repel more of that frequency of light, so they're safer to leave out in well lighted areas. The more important thing to consider with bottles, however, is the thickness of the glass. The standard mass-market beer today does not carbonate the beer in its bottle. Consequently modern bottles are not manufactured to certainly withstand the pressure generated by old fashioned yeast-in-the-bottle carbonation. You should use the thick bottles that commercial bottle contitioned beers come in, or the old fashioned returnable bottles that were designed for years of reuse, or the flip-top Grolsch style bottles that are thick because they have the extra glass to attach the wire bale to. The thin glass of most modern bottles may not stand up to the pressure it will encounter.

As to the plastic boiling and mashing wotzit- I'd not recommend it if it costs more than an average picnic cooler. Boiling anything in plastic is unwise, as who knows what might leach out of the plastic when it is exposed to high temperatures for long periods of time. Petrochemicals do funny things when they're outside of their thermal comfort zone. Mashing only requires rough temperature stability for an hour, and that is within the capabilities of just about any picnic cooler. The third brew will introduce mashing small quantities of grain and how to go about it, so keep an eye on this space.

BTW, how did the second shot at brew #1 go for you? You could play around with that recipe by changing up the hops to experiment with the big variety of flavors out there. Just keep in mind that the %AA is directly proportionate to the bitterness you'll extract from the hops during the long boil, so adjust quantities of bittering hops down if the %AA goes up, unless you want to make a more bitter beer.