Lets Talk Brewing

[freeztar]

If you lived around here i'd invite you over for some double chocolate coffee stout, as it stands, perhaps we can hang out sometime at some conference or a museum trip or something, in which case i'll bring some home made stuff ;)

 

Where do you live, freezy? (you can pm me)

 

I live just outside of Atlanta. If you ever make it down here, please look me up. I will do the same if I ever head to New England. :)

 

What is the caffeine level of your stouts?

[alexander]

4 table spoons of kona for every gallon of beer, i really had to compete with 2 oz of cocoa/gal here though, generally you would use probably a cup of grounds for 5 galons for a regular coffee stout, remember most of the time, less is more

 

I have figured out the recipe this morning, and i'm planning to make it on the 25th, here's the final content for the next recipe:

 

4 galons of water to start

 

Preboil tea (from cold water to 155-160F for 20 min to steep and then take out around 170F):

1/2lb Cara Aroma or Cara Munich II malt

1/2lb Special B malt

 

Boil:

13.2lb of light liquid malt extract

2oz Tomahawk hops @ 60 min

1oz Chinook hops @ 20 min

1oz Chinook hops @ 10 min

1/2 lb Lyle's golden syrup (probably the whole small tin) @ 20 min

1/2 lb demerara sugar @ 10 min

2tsp of Irish moss @ 10 min

1/2tsp gypsum after done (lowering this should make the water a bit safer, just in case)

5tsp of yeast nutrient

 

augment with water to 5 gallon mark

 

Primary Fermentation (about 2 weeks):

Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale yeast slap pack

1oz of cane sugar @ 9 days

1oz of demerara sugar @ 10 days

1oz of cane sugar @ 11 days

1oz of demerara sugar @ 12 days

1qt of White muscat juice concentrate @ 13 days

 

Secondary Fermentation (about 2 more weeks):

1oz of Amarillo hops @ racking

1/2 oz of Semicoe hops @ racking

1oz of Belgian candy @ racking

distillers yeast @ racking (subject to change)

1oz of demerara sugar @ 1 day after

1oz of Belgian candy @ 2 days

1oz of demerara sugar @ 3 days

1 oz of Belgian Candy @ 4 days

 

Bottling (3 weeks):

probably 3/4 of a cup of priming sugar

Lavin EC-1118 Champagne yeast

 

this will age really well, and probably be best after a year...

 

expected starting gravity ~ 1.1

Final gravity - who knows

alcohol by volume - 14-16%

bitterness ~ 80 IBU

[alexander]

so i bottled that double chocolate coffee stout, i added about .45 cup of corn sugar and a 1/8 cup of unsweetened cocoa, here are some shots:

 

 

here's the consistency and color:

[alexander]

here are a couple of more changes to this recipe

 

4 galons of water to start

 

Preboil tea (from cold water to 155-160F for 20 min to steep and then take out around 170F):

1/2lb Cara Aroma malt

1/2lb Special B malt

 

Boil:

13.2lb of light liquid malt extract

2oz Tomahawk hops @ 60 min

1oz Chinook hops @ 20 min

1oz Chinook hops @ 10 min

1/2 lb Lyle's golden syrup (probably the whole small tin) @ 20 min

1/2 lb demerara sugar @ 10 min

2tsp of Irish moss @ 10 min

1/2tsp gypsum after done

5tsp of yeast nutrient

 

fill to 5 gallon mark, looking for gravity around 1.1

 

Primary Fermentation (about 2 weeks):

Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale yeast slap pack

1oz of cane sugar @ 9 days

1oz of demerara sugar @ 10 days

1oz of cane sugar @ 11 days

1oz of demerara sugar @ 12 days

1qt of White muscat juice concentrate @ 13 days

 

Secondary Fermentation (about 2 more weeks):

1oz of Amarillo hops @ racking

1/2 oz of Semicoe hops @ racking

1oz of Belgian candy @ racking

White Labs WLP 099 Super High Gravity Yeast

1oz of demerara sugar @ 1 day after

1oz of Belgian candy @ 2 days

1oz of demerara sugar @ 3 days

1 oz of Belgian Candy @ 4 days

 

Bottling (3 weeks):

probably 3/4 of a cup of priming sugar

Lavin EC-1118 Champagne yeast

[alexander]

Ok, so upon picking up my supplies yesterday for this beer, a couple of things occurred to me, that i will blog about.

 

if your local brewing supply shop does not have Tomahawk hops and if the teller really doesnt quite know what they are doing, look for Columbus, its the same hop, just goes by a different name

 

If Columbus is available in two alphas (normal and high alpha), you can mix the two alphas the 11 and 13, its fine, or go with lower or go with higher, for this beer, it wont make much of a difference.

 

If your store does not have Chinook hops, there are some substitutes, though Chinook is a hard one to replace... I had to go with Nugget for this beer, based on the flavors i was looking for, you will still want about 2 oz of it though same addition times too.

 

You could make this beer without the specialty grains, but the Cara Aroma and Special B are so wonderfully carmel-smelling grains, its well worth getting them to add more complexity to your beer, and also to make it nearly indistinguishable from an all grain batch. And considering that you wont really even try the beer until about a month or two after bottling, and all the work you put into it, it is well worth the couple of bucks

 

I also opted out of using gypsum, my water is pretty good as it is, so while i thought i might add just a little bit, i decided against doing that all together.

 

Also i am using a 6.5 gallon bucket for this, to have enough head room

 

last thing i need to do today is pick up is an aquarium air pump with a filter and an aerating stone, this way i can properly aerate the wart, and i will need to run that for about an hour before primary and another hour before secondary fermentation/yeast pitching, because i am using 2 different strains of yeast, well 3 i am starting with an ESB ale yeast which takes the beer to about 9-10% but give it good fruity flavors before high gravity ale yeast which has ale yeast that goes to about 14% and some distillers yeast that goes up to 24-25% mixed so that's 3 different yeast for fermentation. I have to aerate the already alcohol-rich wart again for secondary (which is generally something you try to avoid because generally with air, yeast will produce vinegar) because high gravity yeast also need air to reproduce before they continue processing sugars and turning them into alcohol

[Nitack]

Great topic!

 

I love beer, but started thinking about brewing after trying my first mead at a wine festival here in Virginia last year. So I started with mead. I actually will recommend against starting with mead as honey is a hell of a lot more expensive than other fermenting products, especially with Colony Collapse Disorder messing with the supply.

 

I actually started out with a simple mead but tried to take a shortcut on the equipment side to keep the costs down and almost created a mead grenade! I used a growler that I had from my local micro-brewery/restaurant and tried to brew in there. Being conscious about contamination I clamped the thing down and did not even think about the CO2 produced by the fermenting. Thankfully the rubber gasket got popped out by the pressure about a week later and I heard it, otherwise the presure could have kept building and cause the whole damn thing to explode. It erupted when i took the lid off anyway, but better that than flying shards of glass.

 

I have done about three one-gallon batches of mead so far and drank them. I don't have a carboy so my batches are a bit on the small side, but I am going to save some cash to get a full brewing setup. Right now I use some more improv methods that I have read other mead makers use. Just a plastic purified water container (can use the water in the brewing too which is good) add the ingredients and top with a balloon with a hole poked in it to vent gas. It is not the best setup, but it works while I am still getting the hang of things. I have three meads brewing at the moment and decided to try making some apple-jack, so I have two of those brewing at the moment. Two of the meads are just straight mead, wildflower honey, one is dry, the other is sweet. The third mead is an apple cinnamon cyzer. I have high hopes for that one, it smells frickin' awesome, but time will tell.

 

Finally, I decided to try brewing up some apple-jack because the components are cheap and it might be interesting. I grabbed a couple of those jugs of apple juice from the store, dropped some yeast in and set them to ferminting. Already racked once on those (the primary fermenting went ape **** fast) and fortified with some added organic cane sugar because the yeast consumed everything in the juice in about a week. Secondary fermentation was still running strong after two weeks when i checked two days ago, but I should be able to freeze distill soon for some nice apple spirits (which is not legal so SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!)

[alexander]

hehe,

 

well, i would recommend getting some real equipment, its not too cheap, its not too expensive, and it weilds a better comfort feeling with the final product. I just got a 6.5 gallon twist lid bucket (for 5 gallon batches) for primary, with an air lock for under 20 bucks... i also have a 5 gallon one (for 3 respectively) that i drilled a hole in the top set a gromet into it and now its a primary also. the 5 gallon i got for free, just asked at the bakery counter of the local grocery store, seriously, they throw them out, and what a better way to recycle them, eh, eeh, giving you some ideas, i hope :)

 

So here is my howto (with pictures) for this dema goddess ale derivative... I have used 2 totally new techniques for me, and i have no clue if it all worked, the wart was done aerating a little less then an hour ago, and it hasnt yet had the time to go very active, considering just how high the gravity is, it does not surprise me, i hope it did right though, it would be a lot of money thrown away, like 50 bucks of malt, specialty grain and yeast...

 

Look at the recipe above, and make sure you have all the ingredients, i ended up not using gypsum, but most of the other ones are kind of necessary :eek:

 

firstly for the aerating pump, went to a local pet shop and picked up an aerating pump (a very quiet one), also grabbed a length of tubing for it and an aerating stone. Stopped by at an automotive store and picked up a fuel filter that seemed to fit the line, ended up being a bit think, but i made it work (the filter is for a lawn mower). Why filter the air? last thing you want is bacteria or fungus to get into the wart, so a fine mesh or a fuel filter should hopefully filter out anything bad that would go into the wart with the pumped air. connect a longer length of the hose to the outlet of the filter, connect a short hose to the inlet and the outlet of the filter. Dont put on the aerating stone till you are about to aerate the mix. To clean the stone, i put it in a dish of water and threw it in the microwave for about 3-4 minutes.

 

Before you start, activate the yeast slap pack (follow instructions on the pack)

 

So anyways here we go, first of all, clean everything, you need to wash everything you are planning to interact with the wart with, funnel, spoons, measuring cup, gravity meter, thermometer, teaspoon, what have you...

 

Now then, set the 4 gal. of water on high heat, put the specialty grains in the grain bag or cheese cloth, and put the grains in the water... attempt to resist the delicious carmel smell that will undoubtedly fill the entire kitchen. Every 5-10 minutes swirl the specialty grains around to release some flavors and mix the water.

 

when the temp reaches 155-160 turn the heat off or on very very low, and steep the grains at 155-165 for about 20 minutes. take the grains out, let them drip, dont shake the bag, just let it drip off and set the bag on a plate or something for the moment. Turn the heat on high again, and bring the temp to about 170F. Turn the heat off, and pour in the liquid malt, stirr very well, and set it on heat again, this time till boil. Just when the wart starts boiling, throw in 5-6 hop pellets, this will prevent a boil over when you add 2 oz at the beginning of the boil. Let the wart boil for 5 minutes, add the 2oz of Tomahawk (columbus) hops to it and start the 60 min timer.

 

after that, stir the wart every 5-7 minutes

 

at 20 min before the end, add the first oz of chinook hops (in my case i had to sub in Nuggets)

 

also here you would lower in the immersion chiller (this type of a wart cooler lowers the cooling down time from 2-3-4 hours to 15-20 min)

 

at 15 minutes before the end add Lyle's Golden syrup 1 462g can, as you will have to mix it for a while to dissolve it, this should take you nearly to 10 min mark, at 10 minutes add in the last oz of Chinook hops (once again i had to sub in), 1/2 lb of demerara sugar and irish moss. Finish the boil take off heat and let stand for about 10 minutes.

 

after 10 minutes cool down the wart to pitching temp (72-74F)

 

transfter the wart into the primary (i use a 6.5 gallon bucket) try to take out most of the solids at this point, i use a screen filter in a funnel, you can get those at any brewing supply store...

 

once you have transfered into the bucket, you can measure the gravity, mine was rediculous, like 1.15, so i had to add nearly 20 cups of water to get it down to about 1.103 or so, you are aiming for 1.1, so 1.103 is close enough.

 

add in 5 tsp of yeast nutrient, mix well. Now its time to pitch in that packet of yeast, mix in a clockwise fashion, and now to the aerating pump, attach all the pieces together, turn on the pump and lower the stone into the wart. This will form surface foam, i had to stand there with the spoon and stir the foam so it would not go over the edges.... for 45 minutes... because i could not wait any longer, ideally an hour is about what you are looking for in 5 gallons at 1.1, maybe a 1/2 hour for lower gravities, like stouts (1.047-1.059) etc. Air allows the yeast to multiply, and its really good in the beginning stages of fermentation.

 

Anyways, at this point you can close the lid, airlock that thing and go clean up the mess you have created in your kitchen... lol :lol:

 

Here are some pictures from the process

[alexander]

oh WARNING:

 

Do not try this if you are faint-hearted, if you dont know exactly what you are doing, or trying to achieve. Do not try this if you dont have at least 6 hours of time. This is NOT and easy beer in any way, try the passion fruit belgian wheat or something, this is something that only someone who is crazy should attempt if they feel like a challenge :) This beer if all goes well, wont be opened till my birthday in september, thats nearly 3 and a half months from now... This is not a beer that will be good before it mellows out for a few months at least, in bottles...

[alexander]

So day three of fermentation, it is very active, which is a good thing, means both of my newly learned brewing tricks have not introduced anything bad into the wart, and fermentation seems to be strong and on queue, if all continues well, it should start slowing down by this saturday/sunday which means i first sugar addition is probably sunday or monday (i have everything measured out and packed in little bags, last thing i am missing is the muscat juice concentrate, which is surprisingly hard to find)

[Nitack]

Well the fermentation has come to a relative stop on one of my apple-jacks. I racked and added sugar to the second one. In both of them the sugar was completely gone. The one I that I let stop on the firmentation I have started the distilling process. I am using the freeze distilling method. I know it is not the best method, but my wife is not going to let me invest any money even into makeshift distilling equipment.

 

So far I am really digging the stuff that was produced. There is no sugar left in the stuff, so it is giving this tart apple flavor with that wonderful hint of alcohol. Hoping to take some of that useless water out of the mix and get a little more kick from the juice .

[alexander]

what sugar are you using, and also what yeast?

 

Ice distillation is really not a good method, and is extremely illegal, like any distillation without a license, its also very dangerous, you can and will significantly increase the concentrations of fusel alcohols (like C3H7 and C4H9) in your mixture, which is dangerous, thus if you will do it, don't distill at a very low temperature, or by a large volume, trust me, it won't be cool when you are in the hospital...

[Nitack]

what sugar are you using, and also what yeast?

 

Ice distillation is really not a good method, and is extremely illegal, like any distillation without a license, its also very dangerous, you can and will significantly increase the concentrations of fusel alcohols in your mixture, which is dangerous, thus if you will do it, don't distill at a very low temperature, or by a large volume, trust me, it won't be cool when you are in the hospital...

 

Organic cane sugar and regular baking yeast. I know, not the optimal ingredients, but my wife will kill me if I tell her I want to spend $2 per packet for Red Start brewing yeast.

 

Yes, I am aware of the shortcomings of freeze distalation. However I will point out that it is the same method that was used to make apple-jack in colonial times.Perhaps there is a suggestion for a better method that will not require significant investment? I actually just through of something I could try. Actual distillation with some components I already have. It might work.

 

Unfortunately I have quite a lot of interests and hobbies and a relatively limited budget for use in experimenting. Most of my fun stuff (fresnel lens, charcoal barrel, computer) were acquired when I was still a bachelor and could play a little more fast and loose with the wallet.

[alexander]

well, baker's yeast, or Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a strain derived from yeast that grow on grapes and other fruit's skin that ferment those fruit, and is the strain that has been used for making bread and alcoholic beverages since, at least, ancient egypt, it's a top fermenting yeast, and you can, absolutely, use it in brewing.

 

How much distillation are we talking about here, by the way, what level of alcohol are you looking for, that is.

[Nitack]

well, baker's yeast, or Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a strain derived from yeast that grow on grapes and other fruit's skin that ferment those fruit, and is the strain that has been used for making bread and alcoholic beverages since, at least, ancient egypt, it's a top fermenting yeast, and you can, absolutely, use it in brewing.

 

How much distillation are we talking about here, by the way, what level of alcohol are you looking for, that is.

 

Well the brand is fleishman's, but I am pretty sure it is a bottom fermenting yeast. I know there are more specialized strains out there specifically for brewing.

 

For the apple-jack I am not looking to make anything above 80 proof. The idea is just to get something with a wee bit more kick as a sipping drink. I don't have a hydrometer so I can't say what the proof of my mead or apple juice is. I know, I am working with archaic methods here. Although some quick research reveals that I could distill out the methanol with out losing the ethanol if I keep a pretty tight control on the temperature. Methanol boils at 148.4 F and Ethanol at 173.

 

Perhaps this is not worth the trouble considering that it really is illegal and an judge having a bad day might throw the book at me for it. Or worse, the ATF gets pissy with me.

[alexander]

It is not a bottom fermenting yeast, those are a lot more complex and unnecessarily harder to manage, they require a lower temperature to ferment and they really dont stand up to higher temperatures very well at all. No, from what i can see, these are all top-fermenting yeast, if you are talking about the stuff on the bottom of your fermentation vessel, those are mostly dead or inactive cells and cell residue.

 

methanol is something to worry about, yes, but fusel alcohols are even worse, and those run at the end of distillation.

 

I mean if you want to get a bit more kick, then freeze distill it a bit, you can also use distiller's yeast that will go as high as 25%, granted it will make your drinks dry as hell, but you can freeze distill a little, maybe by an 1/8, to get 20 or so to 22.5 or 44 proof and a bit more body... I dunno, i find moderately alcoholic drinks enjoyable in a different category then highly alcoholic ones, i make beer and other crazy fermentable things (like i am planning a raspberry honey wine), and sometimes drink wine, but if i am at a party and its a choice of mediocre beer (like Heineken) and a decent 20 year old single malt scotch, well, i'd rather have the scotch

[alexander]

its nearing the end of week two of fermentation. Firstly my air lock blew off sometime over sunday (or someone accidentally dislodged it from it's position), but i think i am ok, beer seems to be fine anyways, it smells very well, it seems to be a little active again, forming pressure, so yeah, i think it should be fine.

 

I have the last sugar addition to do today, hopefully the muscat concentrate is in, if not i will have to improvise... This ofcourse means that i will be racking the beer twice, reaerating for another hour, dry hopping and pitching in high gravity yeast this weekend also starting another 5 days of sugar addition, that's fun times by the way, this also means another 2 weeks or so and this beer is ready to bottle (more or less).

 

the beer smells amazing already, but we'll knock it up a notch and bring it to a completely different level :(

 

But i am working on coming up with a recipe for the next batch, it seems like it will be as crazy of an idea as this current beer is, maybe even crazier, something on the virge of "You are going to do what!!!?", its a secret for now, but i will reveal it in due time :)

[Nitack]

OK, so the apple jack was not so good. I was really digging the taste, but after having a small glass of the not so distilled stuff I got a headache and figured there was bad juju at work, down the drain the rest went.

 

On a better note I just bottled a batch of mead. A little sweeter than I had hoped, but it was damn good stuff. A slight slight edge to it that I am sure will mellow out with a few months of aging.

 

Hoping for my birthday to get some proper brewing and bottling equipment.