Brewer's Friend Home Brewing Software

March 2013 Release Live

We just deployed some new features that are focused on accuracy and ease of use surrounding water volumes:

• Volume increases from sugars and extracts are accounted for in the Water Requirements calculation.
  • Did you know that 1 pound of LME adds about 10.6oz of volume and 1 pound of DME adds about 9.4oz of volume?
  • The system breaks it up into early and late additions so the starting boil volume is easy to hit.
  • This goes for any brew method, but is most helpful for extract and partial mash.
  • Especially helpful for extract brewers doing a full wort boil.
• Strike and sparge volumes are now displayed in the Water Requirements calculation for All Grain recipes.
• Warnings are displayed in the Water Requirements calculation if mash tun capacity is exceeded.
• Brew Steps now show starting kettle volume (all brew types) and strike volume (all grain only).

• Basic sound effect plays when a timer goes off in the Brew Session Brew Steps section. (Known issue – iPad does not play the sound effect.)
• Recipe View page gets parameterized link to Yeast Pitch calculator.
• Added Danstar’s Belle Saison Yeast, and corrected two other yeasts – thanks to those who wrote in about that.
• Brew button added to Recipe Tools menu. Now the brew feature is accessible without rotating to portrait mode or zooming out when on a phone or tablet.
• Major progress on iPhone backend API for syncing recipes.

Screen Shots:

 
Example Extract batch Water Requirements with early and late extract additions:

Example All Grain batch Water Requirements showing strike and sparge volumes:

Example All Grain batch Water Requirements showing warnings:
This was a 5 gallon batch with 44 pounds of grain, that won’t fit!

New/clarified brew steps:

Posted in Announcements | No Comments »

Precision Hydrometer, Cool a New Toy!

A precision hydrometer is a fun upgrade and only runs about $15. Yeah, taking measurements, entering brew logs, and doing brewing science – this is fun!

I’ve broken a few hydrometers on accident over the years and normally bought the cheap ones that read from 1.00 to 1.16. These are all purpose models meant for beer and wine makers. An SG of 1.16 is approximately 36 Brix, which would be 24.9% ABV!  The recipe calculator can handle a beer that strong, but I don’t think I’d enjoy 5 gallons of 50 proof beer.

With a scale that reads up to 1.070 (~17 Plato) this precision hydrometer is fine for most beers. The reduced range makes it is easier to read and provides a higher level of accuracy. I checked my records, and out of all the batches I’ve brewed, only a handful are above an OG of 1.070. I still have the old one as a backup for the next time I brew a barely wine or an IIPA. Even so, this would be my go to hydrometer for measuring FG. The flute is narrow and the glass is delicate, so instead of banging this one around, I hand dry it and put it back in the plastic case it came in each time I use it.

Here they are floating in water for comparison.

There are four important factors to be aware of in order to take an accurate hydrometer measurement:

1. The temperature the hydrometer is calibrated to (usually ~60F / 68F, ~15.5C / 20C). Only at the calibration temperature does the hydrometer read true.
2. The temperature of the sample. The hotter the sample, the lower the instrument will read. For example, a reading of 1.040 at 100F would really be 1.044 on a hydrometer calibrated to 68F, and 1.046 for one calibrated to 60F. Always let the sample cool down before handling it or letting it touch the delicate glass. I prefer to wait until it is around 80F.
3. The offset for the hydrometer. In theory it should be zero, but with a cheap one you never know. We have a post on how to check if your hydrometer is correctly calibrated.
4. Also, make sure your thermometer is calibrated correctly.

The Brewer’s Friend Hydrometer Temperature Correction Calculator adjusts for the temperature of the sample and the hydrometer calibration. This is also built into the brew log entry screen under the brew feature. The hydrometer calibration, and its offset (#1 and #3) can be stored in your Brewer’s Friend account profile. These values automatically slot into the brew log entry screen when you record gravity measurements.

Taking this a step further:

There are precision hydrometers kits out there that contain multiple instruments – one for measuring the OG and another for the FG.

This model is a good intermediate upgrade, and may be my last – if I don’t break it on accident!

Post by Larry

Posted in Equipment, Fun | 5 Comments »

February Release is Live – iPhone App 1.0, Label Generator, QR Codes, Share Recipe by Link

Lots of goodies in the February release:

The Brewer’s Friend iPhone app is now available on the App Store!

Version 1.0 is out. This initial version supports recipe creation and a basic brew feature with logs. The plan is to build towards feature equivalency with the cloud application (inventory, shopping list, etc) and support data sync between the two. We are working on 1.1 which will include a custom brew timer designed for iPhone. The groundwork for the data sync has also been built into the backend.

The price is currently $5.99.  As it is, we feel it is competitive with other apps out there, and it will only get better!  Eventually we will raise the price after data sync and a few other features are built in. If you buy now, you will be locked in at the low price!

A new ‘recipe tools’ menu has been introduced to hold all the new features of this release, and it is designed to be expandable.

The new menu appears on the Recipe Edit and Recipe View pages:

Add Recipe to Shopping List:

In the tools menu, there is a button for ‘Add Recipe to Shopping List’. This lets you load the recipe into your shopping list, but you can adjust things before proceeding:

Basic Label Generator Launched and QR Codes:

Accessible from the Recipe Tools menu, a label generator is now built into the system with 6 different templates. They are pretty generic to start with but we see this getting more attention in a future release. Labels look best with your profile picture on them.

Here is a live example.

Shared recipes automatically get a QR code on the recipe view page and the label generator. For those of you who are new to QR codes, they are similar to a barcode. Smart phones have a way of scanning the QR code and following the link to the recipe page.  Pretty neat way to share the recipe at club meetings!

Advanced Mash Chemistry and Brewing Water Calculator, version 1.3 posted:

Kaiser from Braukaiser.com developed the state of the art backend engine the water calculator uses. It now supports saving, reloading, and sharing by URL. We are working on integrating the water calculator with the recipe editor and your account’s water profile!

Quick Water Requirements available from Recipe Tools:

Another new feature accessed from the Recipe Tools menu is a quick dialog that computes water volume requirements for the recipe.  It uses a combination of the recipe’s grain bill, the brew method, and your profile settings to compute the numbers.

Recipes can be shared by URL, independently of being added to searchable recipe database:

This is handy if you want to share a recipe, but not add it to the search results.

Other updates:

• BU/GU ratio appears under the More… section on the recipe editor.
• Other Ingredients get a sort button on the recipe editor.
• Additional BeerXML import pattern matches for yeast and style names.
• Brew Session Updates:
  • Fast Ferment Test results displays potential ABV.
  • Ability to edit brew date under ‘Edit’ tab.
  • Displays “days since brew date” at top of brew session page.
  • Links to priming sugar, keg pressure, and label generator added.
• Fixed rotation on jpegs taken from tablets/phones that have the EXIF rotation set.
• Minor platform specific bug fixes.

The feature request forum is a great place to track our progress. Thanks for reading and Happy Brewing!

Posted in Announcements | 2 Comments »

Broken Carboy Alert

To everyone who is using glass carboys, you may find this of interest.  This is a re-post from a wine maker we know in the area who had some serious trouble with glass carboys breaking lately!

————————————————-

This morning I discovered a small pool of wine underneath a 5 gallon glass carboy I was using to put some Merlot through malo. I immediately racked off (without moving the carboy) into a PET 5 gallon and discovered a small crack running halfway around near the base. This is the THIRD time this has happened to me. The first was last year when I was carrying a carboy to the kitchen, I heard a small click and the bottom suddenly came loose in my hand, I managed to get to the sink before the bottom dislocated and wine ran EVERYWHERE. I got cut but was lucky to avoid anything serious. A couple days later I noticed a carboy with a small pool of wine at the base, foolishly tried to slide it to see if the pool was just a spill and the base separated once again, with the subsequent loss of the entire 5 gallons, fortunately into the bathtub. I realized that these 2 carboys were part of a batch of 3 that I bought from someone used, though they appeared to be in good condition, and I destroyed the third one.

Since then I’ve worn welder’s gloves when lifting and have otherwise BABIED all of my carboys, setting them down very carefully and avoiding subjecting them to temperature extremes, except for cold stabilizing when I put them outside on the patio, each on wood platforms in order to avoid getting the bottoms too cold. All of these 3 failed carboys have been 5 gallon CRISA’s, which are manufactured in Mexico and are commonly sold at wine/beer supply houses. I’ve looked them over and notice that they generally have an uneven nature to the thickness of the glass at the base, probably a sign of poor manufacturing technique, and that may cause them to have uneven structural integrity or could cause differing amounts of expansion/contraction with temperature change, eventually resulting in failure under load.

Below are some pictures, I’ve got a number of these but will destroy them all now. I have had good success with the 5 gallon Vintner’s Harvest models sold at Main Street and also the 6 and 6.5 gallon versions made in Italy. At this point however I’m moving to PET (plastic) carboys, since I’ve now heard of a number of very serious injuries people have sustained carrying glass carboys, and since now PET is a proven, safe material to make wine containers out of.

So, not saying all glass is a problem, but please be extra careful if you lift them when they are full. Buy some heavy gloves!

Post and images by Phil

Posted in Equipment | 7 Comments »

January 2013 release is live – Shopping List, Inventory Update, Yeast Updates

The January 2013 release is live. The My Brewing section got a lot of attention – Shopping List, Inventory Sorting, and My Brewing notes. The Recipe Editor has three new fields: target fermentation temperature, yeast pitch rate, and award winning. The Yeast Pitch Rate and Starter Calculator is more tightly integrated with the Recipe Editor, and gets a correction to the dry yeast count.

The majority of this release addresses items from the feature request forum. Fellow brewers, thank you for your input, and happy brewing!

My Brewing section updates:

• The My Inventory listing is now sortable.
• A shopping list section has been introduced that works similar to the My Inventory section. Shopping List items can be propogated to invetory using the ‘Convert To Inventory’ button at the top of the My Shopping page.
• In a future release, we will allow a recipe to be added to the shopping list (optionally accounting for what is already in inventory). That will complete the circle of ingredient tracking – from planning all the way to brew day.
• A simple My Notes section has been added that allows free form tracking of brewing ideas.

Recipe Editor updates:

• Yeast section now has target fermentation temperature, and taret yeast pitch rate. While this may seem like too much for beginning brewers, we want to put it front and center how important these concepts are to brewing excellence. The fields are not required, and all existing recipes will simply show a blank.
• A link has been added directly to the Yeast Pitch Rate and Starter Calculator. When clicking this link, details about your recipe automatically flow through so you have less info to fill out. Big time saver.
• An Awards Won field has been added to the Recipe Editor and the Search Recipes page. This way you can filter for proven recipes. The use of the checkbox is based on the honor system. We expect brewers who check this box to provide evidence of the award (normally a link to the results). To those of you who have shared award winning brews, do us a favor and check that box so something shows up in the results!!!
• Maltodextrin has been added to the fermentables drop down, and Lactose (Milk Sugar) had its name clarified. Both of these ingredients do not contribute to ABV, since they are non-fermentable sugars. They do increase FG (sweetness, mouth feel, body). The logic in the recipe editor now correctly accounts for this.

The Yeast Pitch Calculator updates:

• In doing more reading, and comparing to manufacturer’s numbers, we feel the idea that dry yeast contains 20 billion cells per gram is over stated (or at least needs a study to back it up).
• The default value is now 10, however the value can be overriden manually.
• The new default is backed up by a study Kaiser linked to us.
• Manufacturers claim only 5 or 6!
• There is more information in the dry yeast notes section of the yeast calculator.
• This release adds additional pitch rates for fine tuning.

Other notes:

• Custom Attenuation can be set up to 150% – which is well past the theoretical max.
• Logins, signups, password changes, and any account related site access is now protected by SSL for your added protection.
• Improved rendering in certain cases in Chrome when zoom level was not 100%.
• When a brew session gets deleted it will now decrement the brew count for the related recipe.
• Brew logs tied to a deleted brew session no longer appear in the dashboard.
• BeerXML logic updated to handle non-standard names of certain yeasts, out dated styles, and corner cases in the water section.
• Fixed bug in Chrome, when searching for beer recipes and hitting back, most recent search will now appear.

Posted in Announcements | 3 Comments »

Jockey Box Setup For Parties

When I first started kegging, I soon realized how much simpler taking beers to parties would be. I’d take ONE big container of beer, and dispense it. No more super heavy coolers of glass beer bottles to lug over and bring the empties back for cleaning and reuse.

Until this fall I’ve been using a picnic tap to dispense my kegged beer when I’m away from the keezer. I have used a big metal trash can lined with a contractor-grade extra thick trash bag to hold the keg(s). I pour ice ½ the way up the kegs to keep it at dispensing temperature. If I’m only using one keg, that’s a lot of ice (30 or more lbs) to get the keg properly surrounded with ice.

We have a big party at our house to celebrate Fall. Typically we have 60-70 people show up. We kick 2 corny kegs of beer and most of a keg of root beer. I had wanted a better way to dispense the beer, and had been using a Craigslist trawler for months to see if I could find an appropriately priced jockey box.

After about 8 months of waiting, I scored a major Craigslist deal on a 2 tap jockey box that was set up for commercial Sanke kegs. It was a plate chiller type, and happened to be a 3 beverage chiller with only two taps being used. It included a 20lb C02 tank (almost full!), regulator, jockey box, blue tub, an empty pony keg shell, and extra fittings.

If you don’t already know what a jockey box is, I’ll bet you’ve seen them at brew fests, music festivals or fairs, etc. Here’s a picture:

Basically it is an Igloo cooler that has either a cold plate or a stainless steel coil inside. The plate/coil is surrounded by ice and as beer passes through the plate/coil, it is chilled to serving temperature. The keg of beer need only be kept at about 50-60 degrees – the jockey box will take care of the last 10-20 degrees. On a hot day, that is a big savings of ice! It is also convenient because you can provide taps to make serving easy. It’s a great way to serve a lot of beer with less ice, and elevate the taps a bit to make serving more convenient and potentially less messy..

Two corny kegs are on the left sitting in the blue plastic tub. Right behind the tub you can see the regulator and C02 tank peeking out. There was a simple ‘T’ in the C02 tubing coming out of the regulator:

With a small investment in plugs for the 3rd beverage openings and replacement fittings for corny kegs I’d be ready for our big open house, Thanksgiving, New Years…well, you get it. Any party in the future. I got the fittings from my LHBS.

Heres a shot of the inside of the box:

On the outside corners of the plate you can see the unused 3rd tap. The plate is aluminium on the outside, and it encases stainless steel tubing on the inside. It’s surprisingly heavy. Warm beer goes in the clear tubing, passes through a lot of stainless steel tubes inside the plate, cools off, and comes out the black tubing to the tap.

Before using, I needed to cut off the Sanke fittings:

I also needed to plug up the 3rd beverage pass so that it would stay unspoiled in case I wanted to install a 3rd tap someday.

Here’s what the plug and washers look like:

Once installed:

In the picture above, the two tubes are the warm beer input tubes, the outside the the 3rd beverage plug.

When using a plate type jockey box, you want ice to cover the cold plate, but you DO NOT want the plate submerged in water. A coil jockey box can be submerged in water, but not a plate. Always keep your Igloo cooler drain open if you have a plate. You can see the grey bucket to the right of the box on the floor to catch water draining out of the cooler.

After replacing the fittings to accommodate corny kegs, I thoroughly cleaned all inputs using Beverage Line Cleaner (BLC). I did a quick test the week before the party to see what pressure delivered a good pour. It was different than my picnic tap.

The jockey box worked great at our fall open house and Thanksgiving. We’ll use it late this year for another gathering.

Pros:

1. Less ice – like ½ as much needed. Instead of 30-40 lbs to get the kegs cold before, I was able to get by with 20 lbs or so. It was cool enough that I didn’t need to fill the Igloo much. I just stacked ice on top of the plate and put a drain bucket below the cooler drain hole. The rest of the ice went in the blue tub to keep the two corny kegs cool. My serving temperature was about 39-40 degrees. It poured beautifully all afternoon and evening. I added some ice on the plate halfway through the party when the Hefe started foaming too much. (If you’re curious, the other beer was Jamil’s Evil Twin.) During the winter months I wonder if I’ll need ice at all…
2. Better serving arrangement. We had almost 70 people at our fall party. Having taps made it quicker for people to serve themselves. It also made for a consistent and beautiful pour – since the taps were stationary and weren’t being moved around like a picnic tap, I could truly set it and forget it. Less wasted beer from foamy pours due to people moving the picnic tap or being tempted to mess with the pressure, etc.
3. It looks more neat and finished, and I think it generated less mess.

Cons:

1. The box is surprisingly heavy. Not awful, but it isn’t super light.
2. You still need to bring CO2 with you to dispense.
3. If it is hot, you still need to chill the kegs some.
4. You need to use BLC to clean the lines after use and before storage.

Next I’m going to experiment with a paintball can adapter fitting to see if a canister can push a keg or two. That would make it so much easier – no big CO2 tank to lug around, and the paintball can and the regulator can sit in the cooler for transport.

Also, it’s important to run beer though the lines and out the tap BEFORE putting ice on the plate. If you used water to clean the lines or water with BLC or similar in it, you might freeze up the BLC in the plates and you wouldn’t be able to serve until the iced BLC melted back to liquid. The order is: drain cleaning fluid/water from you lines and out the tap until you see beer, add ice to plate/coil, and serve.

It was a great buy and it made our fall gatherings easier to host. If you have a lot of parties or attend parties and need to serve a lot of people, a jockey box might be a good alternative. Who knows – you might score one on Craigslist like I did – good luck!

Post by Brewer kcpup

Posted in Equipment, Fun | 5 Comments »

Uinta Wyld Clone – An Excellent Pale Ale With Simcoe and Amarillo

When I first started brewing, I was NOT a fan of hoppy beers. The first year or so I brewed mainly English Southern Browns, Porters, Black Ales, some Belgians, and malty Amber Ales.

Like many homebrewers, my tastes in beer began to broaden. Looking at the BJCP styles inspired me to try as many styles as I could…even an occasional hoppy beer when we ate out (I didn’t want a whole six pack of hoppy beers in my home fridge…no way).

Then I got a job that required a lot of travel to Salt Lake City. During my first year with the company I was there at least every other week. One of the pleasant surprises in getting to know Salt Lake City – and there are a lot of wonderful things about SLC – was the vibrancy of the craft beer scene. They have four – FOUR! – craft breweries in the metro area: Epic, Squatters, Wasatch, and Uinta. There are others that are in other areas of Utah as well. For a city of their size, that’s impressive. What’s more impressive is the quality of the beers produced. Delicious. So, as a responsible homebrewer, I naturally started tasting all the SLC beers I could. Many were pleasing, but one captured my imagination: Uinta Brewing’s Wyld Extra Pale Ale.

Here’s what it looks like:

Here’s the brewery’s website:
https://www.uintabrewing.com/

Utah has some interesting beer and liquor laws:

• One is that beer served on tap cannot be over 4% alcohol. Bottled beer can, but not draft. Go figure.
• There are also limits on the ABV of beer that can be sold in a grocery store, etc. –  those have to be on the low side, too. Higher ABV beers are purchased at the State Liquor Stores.

It is common for limitations to spur creativity. The draft ABV limit sure did in Salt Lake City. It has a diverse selection of delicious lower alcohol beers, session strength beers. Wyld was hoppier than I preferred, but the aroma. The AROMA! It filled my senses. Even though Wyld was hoppier than I typically liked, I remained entranced. I kept coming back to it. Little by little, I learned to like hoppy beers – all because of Wyld.

Unfortunately Uinta doesn’t distribute where I live. I wanted Wyld when I was home! So, I devoted myself to clone this beer. There weren’t recipes online. I went to the local homebrew supply stores in Salt Lake City, and got some good guidance. The recipe features Simcoe as the primary hop. The grain bill is relatively simple – 2 Row with some Carapils and something else for the color.

I won’t bore you with all my iterations – there were 5. I was about 80% there when… Jamil featured this beer on “Can You Brew It.”  I was thrilled!

Here’s a link to the CYBI recipe in Brewer’s Friend.

I had been using Simcoe 100%, Simcoe with Cascade, Simcoe with Centennial. After listening to the episode, I found out that Uinta uses mostly Simcoe, but the bittering charge is Amarillo. When I first brewed the CYBI recipe, the Amarillo made so much difference!

There are other distinctive characteristics: organic grains (specifically Great Western Organic 2 Row), and their proprietary yeast. They said they got their yeast in Europe back in 1991. Their head brewer suggested WLP029 German Kolsch as a good substitute. On the show, McDole was the one who brewed the clone. He said he was pretty sure he used WLP001.

Uinta Wyld Clone Results:

This beer clone stays on tap in my keezer most of the time. Oddly, I haven’t brewed it with 001 or 029 since getting the clone recipe from CYBI. Every time the keg is getting low, I’ve never had those on hand. Most of my batches, including the iterations before CYBI, were made with Pacman. This picture is a batch brewed with WLP002/Wyeast 1968 – I had brewed an English Bitter and had that ready to repitch.

Wyld is on the left, mine on the right. As you can see, my beer is not filtered, theirs is. Head retention is very similar.

My thoughts on these yeast substitutions: Pacman is very good, even close, but attenuates a higher than I’d like for this beer. WLP002/Wyeast 1968 was not at all similar and although I fermented cool (64-66) there was still the expected English yeast fruitiness (though muted by low ferment temps). It’s just not at all Wyld-like. There was also less hop presence than I’d like with the 002 batch. It’s kinda like an English Bitter with an American attitude. Good, but not what the source material dictates. I’d avoid English strains because it took it too far away from the clean American profile this beer displays.

Color is close, and as my beer warms up it is very very close considering mine isn’t filtered. I’ve been battling chill haze on this recipe due to the dry hopping. I’ve got to work on that!  Update – a week later it dropped clear!

After my Wyld quest, here’s some thoughts on my efforts. First, none of the iterations I’ve done (including CYBI clone batches) have ever approached the lovely malty backbone Wyld has. That delicate but firm malt shines through. When the beer is very fresh, you get a blast of hop aroma that is fragrant and pleasing. When a bit older, the hop nose fades, but the malt and balanced bitterness is still present.

On my next try, I’m going to try 001/1056 – I finally have some around now! Following that, I will try 029, the Kolsch yeast.

If you can get your hands on some Uinta Wyld, do it! The beer will show you how satisfying and full flavored a session strength beer can be. If you can’t, and you want a lower alcohol APA with a lot of hop nose, give this recipe a try. It’s been close to two years since I started trying to clone Wyld. I’m still on the journey. Thanks to CYBI I’ve made some close clones and I will persist until I nail it!

Post by Brewer kcpup

Posted in Recipes | 2 Comments »

Infographic: How Far Will Home Brewing Take You?

Brewing is a truly awesome hobby that hooks people for many reasons. First off, a side effect of pursuing this hobby is having lots of delicious beer on hand!  But that is just the beginning.  The wide range of beer styles, yeasts, and brewing processes means there is always something new to explore.  Brewing can be a way to challenge oneself. Highest quality beers take balance, experience, and attention to detail.  There is also a powerful do it yourself (DIY) geek factor to brewing. Equipment and gadgets start with simple plastic buckets and grow to fully automated brew rigs with lights, switches, pumps and burners.  Brewing your own beer is practical, in that the price per bottle can be much lower than store bought beer and avoids tax! Competition in brew club events, state fairs, brew fests keep brewers coming back for more.  Brewing can even turn into a career, either as a pro brewer or in academics.  And let’s not forget hops – the spice of beer that provides bitterness, aroma, and flavor like none other. Home brewers can knock their palates silly with extremely hoppy brews!

To capture our passion for home brewing and share it with the world we created the following infographic.

How far will home brewing take you?

Posted in Fun | 4 Comments »

December 2012 Release is Live!

We now support BeerXML import and export! An inventory deduction option is now available when you go to Brew a recipe. We also addressed several items in the Feature Request Forum from fellow brewers.

BeerXML:

BeerXML is an interchange format for moving recipes between brewing software packages. We support the version 1.0 spec. The 2.0 spec appears to be in limbo.

To Import BeerXML:

Look for the Import BeerXML link under the ‘New Beer Recipe’ navigation menu at the top.

It gives you the option of bringing in unrecognized fermentables as inventory custom fermentables. You may upload a file with multiple recipes in it. Trial users – recipes imported from BeerXML count towards your 5 recipe trial limit.

To Export to BeerXML:

On the view recipe page, there is an option under the export tab.

BeerXML results:

Expect to see minor differences in recipe stats when moving between programs. This is caused by different brewing equations, rounding, etc. Make sure to double check every field, especially batch size, efficiency, and grain ppgs. For example, Brew Target wants to set its own batch size based on equipment, which can really throw off a recipe’s stats.

If you are getting confused by the results of an import or export, we are happy to look into differences with you. Please use the Contact Us page.

Inventory Deductions:

When you go to create a brew session, if the system detects any matches between your inventory and the recipe, a new table will appear.

The screen gives you the opportunity to override the final inventory balances that will result. It covers grains, hops, yeast, and other ingredients. The only thing it doesn’t cover is priming sugar (unless you add it as an other ingredient).

The logic is extensive in terms of converting between all the possible unit types. For example, a grain in your inventory could be in pounds, but the recipe calls for ounces – the inventory deduction logic will handle that. It can even do corner cases like converting from teaspoons to liters.

For more information, see the Inventory Deduction FAQ.

Other features launched:

• Hop IBUs appear as column on view recipe page.
• Linked snapshot recipes and related brew sessions appear on recipe view page.
• Ability to print inventory. Look for the print button next to the add button on the inventory page.
• Ability to add a comment to the mash calculator log in the brew session feature.
• Updated notes on the mash calculator section in the brew session feature. This is in regards to strike temperature calculation accuracy. It was about 10F low for me last brew session, but it was pretty cold in the shed (50F). I do not think the current equation captures ambient temperature very well. Being that far off is not acceptable to us, and a number of you have also noticed this. We are looking into improving that feature!
• Batch code appears next to brew sessions on dash board.

Posted in Announcements | 1 Comment »

Unibroue Yeast – Available as Wyeast 3864 Belgian/Canadian Yeast

Currently on special release in Q4 of 2012, Wyeast 3864 Belgian/Canadian Yeast comes from a brewery called Unibroue in Canada, and has some distinctive Belgian like properties you might be interested in.

Discovering Unibroue:

Years before I began to homebrew, we took a trip to Canada. It was a wonderful experience, and a memorable trip. Part of the fun was trying Canadian beers we hadn’t seen before.

A few years after this trip, we were having lunch with friends. It was a relaxing early summer day, and we were eating outside. A beer sounded like a perfect idea (when isn’t it?) . I was looking at the beer menu, noticed a Canadian beer on the menu, and ordered it. Our trip to Canada had been in the summer and the weather was conjuring up those fond memories. That was when I tried a Unibroue beer for the first time – a glass of Blanche de Chambly.

One of the key moments in my craft brew early days was having that glass of Blanche de Chambly. It is a Witbier brewed by Unibroue, a Canadian brewery located near Montreal in Chambly, Quebec.

They specialize in Belgian brews exclusively. I began to seek out all the Unibroue beers I could find. All were full of character and delicious. I still adore their beers.

Brewing With The Unibroue Yeast:

Fast forward a few years and I began homebrewing. I find out that Wyeast is offering the Unibroue strain in their 4th quarter Private Collection. I snatch up a few smack packs and was off to the races. That was 3 years ago. It’s back this quarter. If you like Belgians and you like Unibroue beers, I’d encourage you to try the strain before it’s gone again!

Here’s a link the yeast strain information for Wyeast 3864.

I’ve brewed three beer styles with it: witbier, tripel, and a Maudite clone (the oft circulated Ky’s Maudite recipe). It ferments in a rather civilized fashion, and wasn’t a climber – even on the wheat beer. I will comment that the Maudite clone is NOT a “nailed” clone. It is a delicious Belgian Dark Strong beer, however.

Jamil Z’s Tripel recipe is a fine foil for this yeast. Fermented in the mid of the temperature range, it produced a lot of character but did take awhile to smooth out. This time I’m going to try the lower end this time and see if it will take less aging to round out.

Recipes that work well with the Unibroue Yeast (Wyeast 3864 Belgian/Canadian Yeast):

• Ky’s Maudite clone
• Jamil’s Tripel
• The witbier recipe I use – it is an adaption of an Austin Homebrew Supply recipe. I prefer adding oats in addition to wheat and pilsner.

Here’s a long cellared Ky’s Maudite in a glass. I had a few left in the back of my beer fridge. It is past its prime – the yeast strain character is fading – but it still tastes pretty good:

Unibroue Yeast Character:

I was thrilled to find that much of the “Unibroue character” is their proprietary yeast strain, and I was able to capture some of that essence in my batches. I’d describe the Unibroue strain as having a balanced and not overwhelming presentation of the typical hallmarks of Belgian yeasts: fruity character, spice, esters, and phenolics. At the high end of the fermentation range all these are amplified, especially the phenolics. I have found that if you overshoot the temperature range, aging can tame the flavors. This strain cellars well and retains it’s yeast character for 2 years or more if bottle conditioned and kept at cellar or refrigerator temperatures.

What I like best about the Unibroue strain is that it doesn’t hit you over the head with one particular note: it isn’t lots o’ spice, or lots ‘o fruit. It has these qualities present, but the flavor profile is not a “one trick pony” so to speak. There is also some acidity, which adds some focus and clarity to the Belgian character. Unibroue yeast is not as fruity as the Chimay strain (WLP500), not as spicy as the Achouffe strain (WLP550), and less civilized in character than the Westmalle strain (WLP530). In fact, some have speculated that Unibroue introduced some wild yeast from their Canadian region into a strain the founder brought over from Belgium.

To me the reason the strain is so delicious and also flexible is that it carries so many aspects of Belgian character – a complex flavor profile – but it does it in a refined and balanced manner. If you taste Blanche de Chambly (witbier), La Maudite (dark strong), and La Fin du Monde (tripel) side by side, you will easily detect the “Unibroue character” in each. However different each of these styles are, you will also find that yeast character appropriate and “at home” within that style’s profile.

This strain is very alcohol tolerant, and tastes good kegged or bottle conditioned. The highest gravity beer I’ve brewed with this strain thus far is about 9% – the Maudite clone, and I had no problems getting full carbonation in bottles with the original pitch.

I’ll add that Unibroue tends to carbonate their Tripels, Dark Strongs, etc. at the high end of the Belgian carbonation range. If you bottle condition, make sure you’re using strong bottles – most American bottles are suspect at holding those high carb levels and not becoming a bottle bomb.

I just purchased the equipment necessary for a frozen yeast bank so I won’t have to suffer the absence of this strain in off years. This is my favorite Belgian yeast, and I want to have it available!

If you like Belgians and you like Unibroue beers, I’d encourage you to try the strain. It is a very versatile Belgian strain and confers a strong but pleasant Belgian character in the beers I’ve brewed.

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