Popularity: 24% [?]

Popularity: 11% [?]

Extract brewing is easy, quick, and convenient; sometimes I miss the good old three hour brew-day. But I dont miss the increase in freshness that all-grain has over extract.

A recent discussion I had with a couple other brewers yielded these ideas which help extract brewers bring more freshness to their brews:

1. Dry malt extract is generally more shelf stable and gives a fresher flavor than canned liquid extract. I tended to use DME exclusively over LME before I switched completely to all-grain. A possible exception to this would be if your local shop carried bulk LME in a drum, that is routinely purged with nitrogen instead of air, and has a high turnover rate. I have a local shop that used to have the drums but their turnover wasnt so good because more and more folks started doing all grain batches, so then canned the barrels (no pun intended). Not to mention that the barrelled LME can get pretty messy with all those people trying to fill a 1 gallon container with 1.2 gallons of extract for that little extra value!
2. While it is a common practice for some, I think the use of steeping specialty grains is under-valued for its freshness contribution. For the most part all your caramel/crystal grains, your toasted and roasted grains, and some of your other wacky grains (acid malt and melanoidin malt) do not need to be mashed. Using them for your color and flavor will bring a much fresher taste and value to your wort than using amber extract alone. Not mentioned in part 1 but praised quite a bit by us here at Brew-Dudes, we always recommend the lightest extract you can get.
3. Dont be afraid to ask your local shop folks how long any product has been on the shelf. Dont just go to the store and grab a 6oz bag of any old thing. Its tough to tell from sight how fresh a little bag of black patent is, so you have to ask. Its like purchasing beef at the market with a blindfold on, only to get it home and see that its all gray and nasty. With brewing ingredients, you may not realize freshness issues until the beer is brewed. You can taste a few kernels on any malt and they should have a clear crunch in your teeth. If not, they are likely a little stale and you should find another source.

Ingredients are expensive and so is your time. If you want to make beer that you can drink and pass out on, then I encourage you to go get the discounted extract cans at your LHBS. However, if you are interested in making a beer that rivals your favorite commercial beer for flavor and freshness follow those practices above!

Popularity: 8% [?]

The four most important areas for proper use and care of your kegerator are cleanliness, maintaining proper temperature, using appropriate CO2 pressure, and safe operation of your unit. If you take care in the first three areas, you should be able to enjoy problem free beer. However, if any of these three are neglected, your beer could easily be ruined. If you ignore safety concerns, damage to your unit, and injuries to yourself, could be the result.

Proper Cleaning

You need to thoroughly clean every part of your kegerator that touches beer. This includes the coupler, pressure regulator, beer lines, and spigots. These parts should be cleaned every time you change kegs, or every three weeks, if your kegs last longer than that (and shame on you, if they do). When you disassemble and clean each component, make sure you use a cleaning solution designed specifically for the use. Most household detergents will leave a residue that will ruin your beer. In addition to using a beer line cleaning solution, you should scrub each component with a brush.

Failure to maintain a proper cleaning regimen will allow yeast, calcium, mold, and bacteria to build up in your lines and on other components. Any of those four items will ruin your beer upon contact. Each time you re-assemble after cleaning, its also a good idea to put appropriate lubrication on the o-rings and check all of the parts for wear or cracks. If you want to be very diligent about cleaning, there are pump style cleaning systems available that circulate the cleaning solution through your system. This type of system is much more efficient than hand cleaning.

Maintaining Appropriate Temperature

The correct temperature for storing or serving draught beer is 38 F. A consistent temperature range of 34-38F is required for optimal beer. Temperature variances outside of 34-38 range will have a negative effect on your beer.

When draft beer gets warm, it’ll become foamy. Foam is created when the CO2 “breaks out” of the beer or is released. An increase in temperature of just 1 is enough to create foamy beer. A keg that is too warm can also create a cloudy pour with a sour taste. Worse yet, if the temperature goes over 50F, bacteria could breed, and ruin the keg.

If the beer is kept too cold, the carbonation will not be released, and your beer will be flat and taste stale. Beer will freeze if the temperature falls to 28F. Once beer has been frozen, it’s ruined.

There are steps you can take to help maintain proper temperature. First of all, locate your kegerator away from any source of heat or direct sunlight. Secondly, locate your unit in a location with proper air circulation and at least an inch of clearance on all sides. Don’t place your unit in a built-in or recessed area, unless your kegerator was specifically designed as a built-in unit. Make sure that you monitor your temperatures. A popular method is simply keeping a kitchen thermometer, or meat probe in your kegerator. It’s also a good idea to periodically check the temperature of a freshly drawn beer.

Using Correct CO2 Pressure

The pressure regulator is the key part to make sure you have correct pressure. There are two basic types of regulators, single gauge and double gauge regulators. Single gauge regulators measure the pressure in the keg, which is the most important reading. The double gauge regulators have an additional gauge for measuring the CO2 tank pressure. The dual gauge regulator is preferable, because it will alert you to a CO2 bottle getting empty, but it isn’t necessary.

The correct pressure is critical, and improper settings will noticeably change the quality and appearance of each pour. The average pressure setting is 12-14 PSI, and will vary slightly by type of beer, and even keg to keg of the same beer. We like to start our pressure off at 13 PSI, and fine tune from there. If the pressure is too low, the CO2 will “break out” in the form of small bubbles in the beer that will make it go flat. If the pressure is too high, you will experience an extremely foamy pour with more head than beer. It’s also a good idea to let a new keg sit for 24 hours, so both the temperature and pressure can stabilize, before making your first pour.

Safe Use of Your Kegerator

The most critical safety issue with kegerators is the proper handling and use of the CO2 tank. Many of these items are common sense, but failure to heed common sense with CO2 cylinders could result in serious injury, and being a finalist for the annual Darwin Awards.

First of all, never attempt to refill a CO2 bottle yourself. Finding a local refill source is typically easy to do, and not very expensive. Secondly, the cylinder must always be connected to a regulator or not connected at all. Be sure to connect a regulator to your bottle before opening the cylinder valve. Never connect the cylinder directly to the keg. Never throw or drop a CO2 bottle, or place it near sources of heat. Extra cylinders should be stored in a dry, cool location that is well ventilated. If you suspect or detect a leak, ventilate to best of your ability and leave the area.

Additional safety issues include not using an indoor rated unit outdoors, making sure your unit has adequate ventilation so it doesn’t over heat, and whenever possible, do not hook unit into an extension cord. If the desired location of your kegerator does require an extension cord, make sure the cord is a 3 wire, grounded cord, and has a UL rating higher than your unit.

Kegerator Use and Care

Deluxe Beer Line Cleaning Kit

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/home-brewing-articles/how-to-properly-use-and-maintain-a-kegerator-773097.html

Popularity: 19% [?]

Malts
10.0 lb American 2-row
1.0lb Crystal 15L
0.25lb Crystal 125L
(Mash temp 155F)

Hops
1.5oz Cascade pellet 60min
1.5oz Cascade pellet 10min
1.5oz Cascade pellet 1min

Yeast
I hope to pitch the cake from the American Brown ale which is a blend of US-05 and S-04 dried yeasts.

Stay wired in for when this brew gets done and we do a side by side tasting.
I am very excited about these two beers. Maybe well call them the twins if all works out (one Blonde and one Brunette) Ill post my actual OG and IBU data when i brew it up.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Malts
10.0 lbs American 2-row
1.0 lbs Crystal 15L
0.25 lbs Crystal 125L
0.5 lbs Special Roast
0.75 lbs Chocolate Malt
2.0 oz Roasted Barely
(Mash temp 155 F)

Hops
1.5 oz Cascade pellet 60min
1.5 oz Cascade pellet 10min
1.5 oz Cascade pellet 1min

Yeast
1 packet US-05 (Fermentis)
1 packet Safale-04 (Fermentis)

I made this as a 6 gallon batch and my OG was riding a little higher than I wanted at 1.055, so I diluted it out to 1.048 with some cold water in the fermentor. (Total fermentor volume was 5.5 gallons) I anticipate the IBUs at ~43, a little high for my tastes but it think it will work well with the crystal and special roasts in the grain bill and the other hop heads in my life.

I hope to use the cake from this brew to ferment the next!

Popularity: 21% [?]

How soon is too soon to make the jump from extract to all-grain brewing?
This is my checklist for this you should be comfortable with before making the big move.

• Full wort boils
• Capability to chill that wort using a chiller of some sort
• Handle some basic math for calculating mash-in volumes, wort dilution, and concentration to hit final gravities and mash efficiency
• Confidence in your sanitation practices
• You can afford the addictive nature of adding more toys to your brewhouse as you get more and more involved in the all-grain process (like larger kettle and propane burners)
• Youve readsome of the popular textsand websites about sparging and mashing and have a good mental picture of how the process is going to go.

Moving up to a few mini/partial mash batches is a helpful way to get a good idea of what the issues are with trying to mash-in, hit strike temps, and sparge. If youve mastered those things and feel pretty confident in your skills, then moving to all-grain should be an easy transition. Always remember that brewing all-grain is just making really fresh diluted wort extract, but you have much more control over the final product.

BREW ON!

Popularity: 27% [?]

Another piece of equipment to convert my cooler into an efficientmash tun is a ball valve spigot. I need to replace the spigot that the cooler came with, which isnt made for long pours. My thumb knows too well.

There are many spigots that are made specifically for cooler conversions on NorthernBrewer.com. They are all under the heading of weldless so I should be able just to remove the factory-installed spigot and install the ball valve spigot.

The one I have my eye on has a half inch barb at the end of it so that I can attach tubing to the end of it. When transferring wort to my kettle, I would like to avoid as much hot side aeration as possible.

I think with the screen and the spigot (the screen attaches nicely to the spigot), I think my mash tun would be ready to go.

Popularity: 18% [?]

I read an article last night written by the late George Fix about hot side aeration (HSA). HSA is the introduction of oxygen (in the form of air) into your hot wort. The presence of excess O2 in your hot wort leads to the oxidation of melanoidins in your wort. These oxidized molecules contribute to staling in your beer post packaging. The more of these there are the sooner your beer will become stale.

I have never worried too much about HSA because: 1. I dont stir my wort much post boil. 2. I chill with an immersion wort chiller prior to racking the wort to my fermentor.

I always thought the biggest chance of HSA was during these later stages of wort handling, and when the wort is super hot still, i.e. above mash temps. However, Fix states that he believes that HSA happens at temperatures starting at around 86F!

86F!!!!!

His article warns about over-stirring your mash, splashing the runoff too much, and over- stirring the wort during boiling (at least I already knew that was bad). I know there is a lot of debate about HSA and whether it really happens with much ease or if you really need to work to get it to be a problem. Personal experience tells me that my process is not harmed much by HSA because I dont really have much staling in my beers. At least I dont think I do

On the other hand, I will tell you something about my process that has me concerned now that I have read this HSA article. I am a batch sparger as I have said in previous posts. I collect my wort in white buckets as I run off from the mash tun. I have my kettle sitting up on my propane burner when I start. I transfer the wort from the bucket to the kettle by simply pouring it into the kettle. It splashes a lot when I pour it, and this wort is at 168F. Then I start heating that wort while I collect my next running of wort from the tun. I dump that wort right into the kettle (wort from the bucket is at 168F, the wort in the kettle by now is near 200F) and I have more splashing.

Now like I said, I dont think I have much in the way of stale flavors in my beers, but Fix was a smart guy and well respected. I do sometimes have a flavor component in my beer that I cant identify, maybe it is a mild oxidation leading to HSA products in the wort prior to boiling.

What to do

Well, Fix recommends making the same wort twice. He recommends that you really abuse the first one (stir the mash excessively, pour in the sparge water aggressively, perform a messy vourlaf, stir the wort several times during the boil, splash the wort around prior to cooling). He then recommends taking as much care as you can with the second wort to not introduce any HSA (this may just be doing your regular process), but with a little more care. I like this approach. Using two test batches one that is as close to your normal process as possible, the second work hard at making the system fail.

Fix says that after you ferment those beers out and bottle them you may then realize how HSA effects your final product. This seems like a strange thing to do, and who wants to potentially ruin 5 gallons of brew? But this is something to consider. I certainly will have to rethink my transfer method. Next time I may actually collect my running in my bottling bucket and use a hose from the spigot to the base of the kettle to transfer the wort.

Popularity: 5% [?]

The first step you need to take before becoming a homebrewer is to buy a beginners homebrewing kit. The photo below depicts what said kit looks like:

If you want toget a head start, visit these sites where you can purchase a kit right away.

You can get the kit pictured above by visiting the Northern Brewer Starter Kits page.

When I got started, I bought my kit by ordering from selecting this kit from
Beer-Wine.com page.

Theres a new brewing supply store in MA and you can buy a kit by visiting DIY Brewing.

Sanitizer and Bottle Brush

These items, highlighted in the picture below, are used to keep your other equipment clean.

The white packet is sanitizer. Any piece of equipment that will come into contact with your brew should be sanitized* before brewing. The sanitizer in the packet is most likely in a powder form. To prepare and use the sanitizer, follow the directions on the packet.

*Sanitized is different than clean

The bottle brush is used, you guessed it, to clean the inside of your bottles. You will want to clean your bottles well to avoid contaminating your beer.

Bottle Capper

I am sure you have seen bottle caps before, but the black device with the two handles is a bottle capper. Although it looks like a medieval era implement of torture, its a very kind and gentle tool that allows you to top your bottles with caps.

When I first got my kit, I thought it was going to be difficult to usebut I found it to be very easy. There is a magnet in the middle of the capper that holds the cap in place. Once you line up the capper with the top of the bottle, you pull down on the two handles and voila your bottle is capped.

Hydrometer

A hydrometer is used to measure the specific gravity or density of a liquid as compared to water.

If you look at the photo, there are two things highlighted. The plastic cylinder on the right is used to pull a sample of your brew. The other item, the glass tube with the black tip, is placed inside the plastic cylinder and allowed to float in the sample.

The glass tube has a weight at the bottom of it and scale visible near the top. When the tube comes to a stop after floating in the liquid for a few seconds, you can line up the top of the liquid with the scale on the tube. The reading on the hydrometer tube can be recorded as your worts specific gravity before fermentation.

For your reference: Water has a mark of 1.000. My maple porter had a measurement of 1.080which means my wort was denser than water due to the addition of a lot of malt and maple syrup. Note: We actually didnt use a hydrometer to get this reading. We used Mike refractometer to get this reading. These are more expensive devices but make measuring specific gravity a whole lot easier.

Taking a reading before and after fermentation can give you an idea of how much alcohol is in your beer. Even though a hydrometer doesnt help you to make beer, it can help you to better understand your beer.

Bottling Bucket

The item highlighted above is a bottling bucket. You can tell its a bottling bucket by the spigot that is visible near the bottom.

After the beer is done fermenting, you can transfer the beer (also known as racking)to this bucket so that it can easily be transferred to bottles for future consumption.

The bottling bucket allows you to get the beer off of the yeast and allows you to add some priming sugar to the beer before you put it into bottles. Plus the spigot makes it easier to get your beer into bottles if you let gravity help you out.

In the photo, you can see more plastic tubing. This tubing has a special valve at the end of it that only allows liquid to flow through it when the valve is pressed against somethinglike the bottom of a bottle.

It makes bottle filling easy and less messy.

Racking Cane

The item that is enclosed with the red rectangle is a racking cane. Its a tool that allows you to transfer your beer from one vessel to another. Mostly likely as a beginner, you will use the racking cane to transfer your beer from the fermenting bucket to the bottling bucket. As you get more experienced and you buy more equipment, you may use it to move your beer to a secondary fermentation vessel or into a keg.

The cane part (the cylinder) generally hooks on the top of your bucket. The end of the cane has a rubber tip that allows beer in enter the cane indirectly. Here is my really crude drawing of how beer flows up the ranking cane tip.

With this tip, the possibility that the yeast sludge that has settled on the bottom of the bucket wont get sucked through the cane and into wherever you are sending the beer.

This kits racking cane actually has an auto siphon on it. It allows you to start a siphon without having to start on withyour mouthwhich isnt really optimal. To work the auto siphon, you would push on the plunger on top of the cane to force air out of the bottom. When you pull up on the plunger, beer gets pulled in and your siphon should start. Pretty sweet!

Fermentation Bucket

The white bucket thats highlighted with the red rectangle is the fermentation bucket. Once you are done boiling your wort in your brew pot, it gets poured into this bucket for the fermentation process.hence the name.

These buckets are made of food grade plastic, which means its plastic that has nothing in it like dyes that are harmful to people. A beginning brewer should keep in mind that if he or she uses the bucket to store things like chemicals or other nasty things that are harmful to people, then the bucket is no longer food grade. So, to be safe, only use your fermentation bucket to ferment beer, and not to mix oil-based paint.

Buckets you get in a kit can hold at least 6 gallons of liquid, so you will have plenty of room to brew a 5 gallon batch of beer.

It comes with a cover that seals tight on top with a hole to insert an airlock (Thats the funny squiggly plastic thing on top of the bucket with the red cap in the picture). The airlock is an important piece of the fermentation bucket, since it allows carbon dioxide to escape but keeps the outside air out.

If you didnt have an airlock, then you would run the risk of air getting into the fermenting beer through the little hole in the coverwhich can bring in wild, weird yeast into the mix and result in off flavors.

If you didnt have an airlock and the cover didnt have a hole in it, all the carbon dioxide the yeast produce during fermentation would build up and you would haveyeaha beer bomb. BOOM!

There are a few different styles of airlocks. There are other types of fermentation vessels, but for the beginner the bucket works just fine.

Beginner Brew Pot

There isa very important piece of equipment all beginning homebrewersneed tohave: A brew pot.

Every brewer, not matter the experience level, needs a brew pot. You need a pot to boil your malts and hops to make your beer.

You could buy a brew pot from a homebrewing supply store right off the bat, but its not a requirementlike the kit is. Most people havea large stock pot in their kitchens that can be used for homebrewing. If you are just starting out,my opinion is that you shouldnt have to invest any more than is absolutely necessary. Believe me, it can get expensive.

Most beginnerhomebrewrecipes only require you to boilan amount of 1 to 2 gallons at the most.When I started,I was only brewing a gallon and a half of wortso I only needed an 8 quart pot. If you have a larger one, thats fine. The picture below depicts a 22 quart pot.

I would stick with stainless steel and one with handles that makes it easy to move.

Popularity: 19% [?]