Clarity Ferm Experiment, by Chris Hamilton (Part I: Intro)

September 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment
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Figure 1: Simplified structures of two peptides. The top peptide is made from three alanines, and on the bottom is the peptide alanine-proline-alanine. The peptide bonds are shown in red.

This is the first part in a 3-part series, written by Chris Hamilton of Hillsdale College. The second and third parts will be posted tomorrow (Thursday) and the next day (Friday). Hear an interview and tasting of samples on Basic Brewing Radio – September 4, 2014.

 

Gluten is a popular topic lately when it comes to food and beer, both due to an increased awareness of Celiac disease and popular diets which eschew any gluten containing food or beverages. Chris Colby wrote the article, Gluten and Brewing, back in November of 2013 that summarizes many of the challenges in brewing a gluten-free beer. The part of gluten and hordein (the barley equivalent of gluten) that can cause problems for some people is the protein gliadin.

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Making the Best Yeast Starter (II: Practice)

August 15, 2014 by 14 Comments
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Likely outcomes for brewing an ale by pitching one 11.5 g sachet of dried yeast. (Click on chart to enlarge.)

Most of the time, making a yeast starter is going to improve your batch of homebrew. In some cases, you can get away with pitching one homebrew-sized package of yeast, presuming the yeast is fresh. Earlier, I posted a chart of likely outcomes when a single liquid yeast package — containing around 100 billion cells (i.e. White Labs tubes and Wyeast XL smack packs) — is pitched. Today, I’ve included a chart for dried yeast sachets, which have somewhat higher cell count. However, there is a difference between getting away with something, and having something work optimally. And running the best possible fermentation is necessary if your goal is to brew the best possible beer. In this article, I’ll explain what I believe to be the best way to make a yeast starter.

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Making the Best Yeast Starter (I: Theory)

August 12, 2014 by 5 Comments
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What happens if you pitch one package of liquid yeast (~100 billion cells) to ale worts of various volumes and “gravity points?” Gravity points are the last two digits in the three digits following the decimal point in specific gravity. For example, a wort of SG 1.048 is said to have 48 gravity points.

Brewing the best beer possible requires the brewer to pay attention to each step during wort production and fermentation, and to execute each well. There are no “silver bullets” when it comes to making beer. In other words, there are no “do this one thing and your beer will turn out great every time” tricks to brewing — you need to do everything well to brew the best beer.

There are, however, practices that consistently lead to better homebrew, when all other things are held constant. I would argue the most important of these is raising enough yeast for an adequate pitch. For most homebrewers, this means making a yeast starter. As with most techniques in homebrewing, there are acceptable ways to make a yeast starter and the best ways.

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Brewing Bitter Extract-Based Beers

July 31, 2014 by Leave a Comment
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Malt extract is convenient and great for many beers. To brew very hoppy beers, however, you may need toalter your usual brewing techniques a bit

IPAs are all the rage these days. And stovetop extract brewers, of course, want to brew them and other hoppy beers. Although you can brew a fine extract IPA, there are some challenges that you must first overcome.

The standard practice for brewing stovetop extract beers — in the US, at least — is too steep some specialty grains, then boil a thick wort of dissolved malt extract in a stovetop brew pot. After the wort is boiled, it is cooled and diluted to working strength in the fermenter. Often, for a 5.0-gallon (19-L) batch of homebrew, around 2–3 gallons (8–11 L) of wort is boiled. This practice works well for many types of beers, but can cause problems if you are trying to brew a very hoppy ale.

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Articles on Brewing Big Beers From Our First Year

July 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment

birthday-party-suppliesBeer and Wine Journal turned one year old about a month ago. During that time, I’ve posted a couple compilations of articles that ran in our first year, including brewing science stories and articles about all-grain brewing (and, of course, the requisite top 10 list).  Here’s a list of our best articles on brewing strong beers.

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Top All-Grain Articles From Our First Year

July 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment

IMG_1657We published a lot of all-grain articles in our first year, many hitting on some of the biggest questions in all-grain brewing. Here’s a list of our top all-grain brewing articles, running roughly from the beginning of a brew day to the end of one.

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Five Tips for Summer Brewing

July 7, 2014 by 1 Comment
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It’s hot out, but you can still brew.

Summer is here, and this can put a crimp in the plans of some homebrewers. For homebrewers without a fermentation chamber, or other form of active fermentation temperature control, summertime means a temporary cessation in brewing. If fermentation temperatures climb out of the recommended fermentation range, beers can be overly estery or even contain higher alcohols (also called fusel oils), that can cause health problems. However, armed with a little knowledge, you can beat the heat and brew happily throughout the summer.

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Open Fermentation and Top Cropping at Arcadia Brewing

June 24, 2014 by 1 Comment
Arcadia Brewing Manager Vaughn Stewart next to an open fermenter

Arcadia Brewing Manager Vaughn Stewart next to an open fermenter

Steve Wilkes, Andy Sparks, and I headed north to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to attend the National Homebrewers Conference. On the Wednesday before the conference, we took a side trip to Kalamazoo for a bit of beer exploration.

The Kalamazoo location of Arcadia Brewing has only been open since early May. The parent brewery is in Battle Creek and has been in operation for 18 years. In addition to the tasty English-style-based beers, the dining area features a meat counter, where the similarly intoxicating aromas of smoked meat filled the room.

As we were sampling a flight (or two) of ales, Brewing Manager Vaughn Stewart joined us and then treated us to a tour of his facility. [Read more…]

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Bottling Day

June 12, 2014 by 2 Comments

DSCN0936I was sidelined from brewing earlier this year, due to an injury. Now I’ve recovered, and it’s time to get back in the saddle again. I’ve got a couple brewing sessions planned in the coming days, but first I wanted to clear some fermenter space. And so I bottled my porter, a cherry mead, and a berry wine.

 

Porter

The porter was my usual Colby House Porter. It was a 3.0-gallon (11-L) batch, so I decided to put it in 22-ounce (650 mL) bottles rather than kegging it. From a preliminary sample, I wasn’t sure if it was as hoppy as I like it. I also wondered if it turned out too dry this time around. Then again, the sample was warm and flat and I’ve learned not to start dissecting a beer until it’s carbonated and conditioned. I’ll let it bottle condition for a couple weeks before cracking one open.

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Brew 15 Gallons (57 L), Fast

June 3, 2014 by 5 Comments
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A diagram of the method. (Click to enlarge.)

If you have a 5.0-gallon (19-L) brewery, but want to generate 15 gallons (57 L) of beer quickly — perhaps for a party — here’s one way to do it. Normally, this would require three separate brew days. However, with the method I described here, you can do it in two brew days — and only have to make one yeast starter.

The drawbacks are that the two brew days need to be back to back, all 15 gallons (57 L) will be of the same kind of beer, and the beer can’t be over 13 °Plato (OG 1.052). Also, you will want to consume the beer fairly quickly (within a couple months), as it will go stale faster than normal homebrew. This method is best for generating 15 gallons (57 L) of beer for a party.

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