Brewer's Friend Home Brewing Software

Using your Refractometer Correctly for Maximum Accuracy in Home Brewing

A refractometer is a nifty brewing instrument that allows a gravity reading to be taken with just a single drop of wort. It beats wasting 6-8 ounces for a hydrometer sample. The drop of wort is spread across a flat lens with a clear plate that snaps down over it and uniformly spreads the fluid. The refractometer is then held up to a light source and you look through it, sort of like a telescope.

Update 6/14/2013 – the unit pictured here is cheap made in China version off Amazon for $40. With refractometers, you get what you pay for. Check out our evaluation of the PAL-1 digital refractometer if you want to see what a top of the line model looks like.

There are some caveats for proper refractometer use – otherwise they can be frustrating to work with:

• Refractometers need to be calibrated with water to read zero. Calibration may be necessary before each use.

• IGNORE the SG scale if your model has it – only pay attention to the Brix scale. The relationship between Brix and SG is not linear!

• Like hydrometers, refractometer readings are temperature dependent. Some models support ATC – automatic temperature correction, and have varying degrees of success at this. I let my samples cool to below 100F / 37C before using them so I don’t burn myself.

• Cheap refractometers are not very consistent measurement to measurement from the same wort. I take 5+ measurements then average the value before recording. The variance is +/- 10% either way! What a joke. You get what you pay for and this unit was a gift.

Refractometers and wort:

The convenience of refractometers comes with a price as refractometers are not as straightforward has hydrometers when it comes to measuring wort gravity.

Refractometers measure the angle of refraction as light shines through the solution. They are typically calibrated for sugar water. Wort however has a different density and contains more complex sugars.  This throws off the refraction index. Any wort gravity reading from a refractometer needs to be adjusted by a ‘wort correction factor’.  For the home brewer, a wort correction factor, specific to the instrument, needs to be determined to accurately measure wort samples.

We have complete guide, including spreadsheet for recording measurements, that will help determine your Wort Correction Factor.

To help clear up confusion with terminology, at Brewer’s Friend we have decided to call a Brix measurement of wort: Brix WRI (wort refraction index).  Brix WRI makes it clear the measurement pertains to wort and is unadjusted. Only after dividing Brix WRI by the wort correction factor do we arrive at the actual Brix / Plato reading. It is helpful to know that Brix and Plato are nominally the same to 3 decimal places, so the corrected reading can be treated as Plato (°P).

Refractometers and Alcohol:

In the presence of alcohol, refractometer measurements get even more complicated. Alcohol throws off the refraction even more. The good news is, it can be corrected for if the OG is known. Sean Terrill posted research on the subject and arrived at the following equation which we have taken to be the most accurate:

FG = 1.0000 – 0.0044993*RI_i + 0.011774*RI_f + 0.00027581*RI_i² – 0.0012717*RI_f² – 0.0000072800*RI_i³ + 0.000063293*RI_f³

https://seanterrill.com/2011/04/07/refractometer-fg-results/

Using Refractometer measurements at Brewer’s Friend:

Using a software package like Brewer’s Friend will mitigate the complexities of using a refractometer to a large extent.

• See our stand alone Refractometer Calculator.

• Inside a brew session, the brew log entry screen fully supports refractometer input, including wort correction factor and alcohol correction (if applicable).

  

• The wort correction factor is a profile option, and the default is 1.0 (no correction).

• We have a complete guide with spreadsheet for finding your refractometer’s wort correction factor.

Posted in Equipment | 5 Comments »

April 2013 Release is Live, Refractometer Support, Calories, iPhone 1.2 sync, Lifetime Memberships

More cool new features at your disposal. Our mission is to help you brew better beer! Enjoy!

Refractometer Support:

• When used with wort, refractometers readings require adjustment by a wort correction factor, and an additional correction in the presence of alcohol. Our calculators cover all that for you! See our FAQ about the types of gravity scales we support.
• New Stand Alone Refractometer Calculator
• How to determine your Refractometer’s Wort Correction Factor.  A new equipment profile setting has been introduced to store this parameter.
• Screen shot of brew log entry screen:

  

Calories per 12oz / 355 mL:

• The recipe editor, under the More… section will now show the calorie count.
• In the brew session section, there is a new line for calories which appears after the fermentation completely log entry is made.

Lifetime Memberships Available:

• We have re-enabled Lifetime Memberships!

  

• If you already have a Premium Membership that has a lot of time left you are in a good spot. Down the road we plan to setup a discount program for members who want to convert from a Premium Membership to a Lifetime Membership.

iPhone 1.2 Release, which supports sync (premium account required):

• Our iPhone app is catching up to the cloud solution fast. Next we will support brew session and brew log sync!
• Brewer’s Friend iPhone App Information Page
  

Other Updates:

• Our Stand Alone ABV Calculator has been updated to calculate calories, attenuation, and support Plato!
• Usual minor bug fixes, platform updates, etc.

Don’t forget about The Big Brew Day, coming up May 4th at your Local Home Brew Store!  At the stores here in Portland there will be lots of brewing going on, food, discounts, and of course home brew! Have a blast!

Happy brewing!

Posted in Announcements | 6 Comments »

Brewing Water Treatment in 600 Words

It seems that over the last few years many more home brewers have taken an interest in understanding and modifying their brewing water. And there are good reasons to do so. Depending on the beer that is brewed and the water quality, modifying the brewing water can take a beer from great to excellent. The intent of this post is not to go into the details of water and mash chemistry but to provide an overview of what’s important and paint a high level picture of water treatment for brewing. For those counting, the first paragraph doesn’t count towards the 600 words.

When it comes to brewing water treatment there are 3 goals we brewers are trying to achieve:

• eliminate off-flavor causing water compounds: this is largely the removal of chlorine
• provide a water ion profile that supports the desired flavor of the beer
• provide a water and grist composition that settles at a desirable mash pH

What’s daunting for many brewers is not so much the underlying chemistry, which is easily handled by a brewing water calculator, but the many parameters that can be adjusted.

Chlorine, found in water as free chlorine or chloramine, needs to be removed from brewing water since it forms nasty chlorophenols in beer. Most brewers accomplish this through carbon filtration or Campden tablets (sodium or potassium metabisulfite). Another undesirable water compound is iron. The water’s iron level should be below 0.3 ppm to avoid a metallic taste.

Brewers care about 6 primary water ions that are able to affect the flavor of the beer. The electric charge of the cations (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺) needs to match the electric charge from the anions (Cl^–, SO₄^2-, HCO₃^–) which is why one cannot be added without the other. Here is a quick summary of what these ions do for the flavor or brewing process:

Calcium (Ca²⁺) is beneficial for the brewing process as it helps with yeast flocculation. It’s also fairly flavor neutral and a recommended minimum is 40 mg/l. The most common means of increasing calcium in water are gypsum and calcium chloride which also adds sulfate and chloride, respectively.

Magnesium (Mg²⁺) from water is not needed since malt provides lots of magnesium to the wort. Excess magnesium can cause a bitter taste. Should be kept below 50 mg/l.

Sodium (Na+) can lead to a salty taste and should be kept below 100 mg/l. Brewers don’t usually add sodium except when baking soda is used to add bicarbonate.

Chloride (Cl^–) creates a softer beer flavor and is desired in malt forward beers.

Sulfate (SO₄^2-) enhances hop bitterness and dries out the beer’s finish. It is desirable in hoppy ales and some brewers even go as high as 700 mg/l. Most hoppy ales should be fine with sulfate levels between 100 and 300 mg/l

Bicarbonate (HCO₃^–) does not affect the taste directly but can have an indirect effect through its ability to raise mash pH out of its desired range.

Mash pH is the result of the balance between pH active water ions, grist and any acid or salt additions that are made. In most cases we are looking for a mash pH in the 5.3 – 5.6 range. These numbers are for a cooled (25 C/ 77 F ) mash sample. Dark malts and acids are the primary drivers of lower mash pH while water alkalinity raises mash pH. Calcium and to a lesser extent Magnesium also lower mash pH but not enough that mash pH control should be done through adjusting calcium or Magnesium levels. In most cases mash pH adjustment requires the addition of acids (lactic or phosphoric are popular choices) to neutralize water alkalinity. Lighter beers may even need more acid to go beyond neutralizing the water alkalinity in order to get mash pH into the desirable range of 5.3-5.6.

To get started you need to find or get a water report for your brewing water, enter the water ion levels and grist information into the Brewing Water and Mash Chemistry calculator and see where you land. From there you can play with salt and acid additions. Target water profiles designed for various beer styles can guide you in your water adjustments.

Image of common brewing salts:

Notably, canning salt, and chalk are not pictured here.

Post by Kaiser

Posted in Brewing | 1 Comment »

Beer on the Go in PET Bottles

Check out this nifty method of packaging beer from the keg into light weight plastic bottles.

I started kegging after almost 2 years of bottling. I fell in love with the fact that I now had one big “bottle” to clean and sanitize rather than about 50.

One of the challenges that emerged after I started kegging was taking homebrew with me when we’re away from home. Often I didn’t want to bother taking a keg with me.

I began looking for solutions. I frequent HBT (Home Brew Talk), and was soon acquainted with the now-famous Biermuncher Bottle Filler. This method of filling bottles is often referred to as the BMBF, for short.

It detailed how to fill 12 oz or 22 oz bombers without an expensive counter pressure bottle filler. Hundreds of posts on dozens of pages show how effective it is. I quickly made one, followed his process, and began enjoying convenience of beer on the go even though I keg.

Here’s a summary of Bier Muncher’s method:

1. You fill from a picnic tap hooked up to your keg.
2. You use a plastic racking cane. At the end of the long end, you cut a 45 degree angle.
3. You use a #2 drilled stopper – best to get food grade.
4. Put drilled stopper on racking cane, attach short end cane into the picnic tap – it fits snugly.
5. Shut off CO2 to keg. Bleed the keg of pressure. Turn regulator down to 5-6 psi. Refill keg with CO2 at that pressure and leave regulator at that 5-6 lbs pressure.
6. Put cane into beer bottle, adjust the stopper so it seals the bottle opening. Begin to fill the bottle.
7. When beer filling slows/stops, burp the bottle…that means the CO2 pressure has filled the headspace and the beer won’t flow. Keep burping on occasion until bottle is full. Let it go all the way to the top. You’ll burp about 2x for a 12 oz bottle.
8. Remove cane from bottle. Place cap on bottle, but don’t seal. Hold it down, invert bottle, right the bottle, let the foam spill out (this fills the headspace), then replace cap while the foam spills out and seal it.

Here’s a photo of my BMBF – notice that 45 degree cut at the bottom of the racking cane:

If you decided not to read the post, here’s a summary: you use this item – a plastic racking cane with a 45 degree angle cut at the bottom, plus a #2 drilled stopper – by inserting it into a picnic tap attached to the keg. You use it to fill the bottle. It’s easy, but there are some important details to his process that make it effective. If you want to try it you need to read the post! Later on I explain my process, and you won’t understand some of it unless you’ve read the post.

While this method worked great for events around town, once camping season rolled around a problem surfaced – I wanted to take my beer along in non-glass bottles. Part of that was due to no glass at campsites, and the other part was simply weight…camping for a week and taking a bunch of homebrew is heavy! I didn’t want to take a keg and regulator…I wanted the simplicity of bottled beer but not in beer bottles.

I started thinking about alternatives, and quickly settled on PET soda bottles. They come in lots of sizes, are durable, super light, reusable or disposable as circumstances dictate, and they’re made to handle even higher PSI beer – soda is has a much higher carbonation level. I decided I’d adapt the BMBF for PET and see how it worked.

“The Carbonator” cap is another alternative, but they’re expensive and can only be used on one bottle…multiple bottles get expensive at around 15 dollars each! The BMBF process adapted for PET has most/all of the benefits at a much lower cost!

Here’s what “The Carbonator” looks like:

The #2 stopper for glass bottles wasn’t sized for PET bottles. It took some research but I figured out what size stopper will work with PET bottles – a #4. It was not easy to find a food grade #4 stopper…my LHBS didn’t have them and many online brewing supply sites didn’t. I finally found them and ordered a few.

Take a look – #2 on the left, #4 on the right:

Once the #4 drilled stoppers arrived, I went to work trying the process out on the PETs. It worked great! I now don’t even bother with glass bottles. PET is my beer on the go solution. Part of the benefit is that you can even get to a growler size with PET – a 2 liter bottle!

Check out all the possible sizes – Left to Right: 12oz, .5 Liter (about a pint), 1 liter, 1.25 liter, 2 liter:

If you follow the BMBF process to the letter, the PET bottles kept a cold temperatures (so the CO2 will stay in solution better) will hold appropriate pressure for 1 week, and is often still acceptable for 2 weeks. Eventually the seals on the caps begin to wear out with reuse, so I recycle the bottle when I get a beer that’s flatter than I’d expect. Letting your beer-filled PET bottles get warm can also affect the CO2 retention in the bottles.

When you fill a PET bottle using the BMBF process, it should end up very firm…approaching but not equaling the firmness of a new, unopened bottle of soda.  What typically happens is that it’s pretty firm right after filling. I place the bottle in the fridge and check it again in 10 minutes. If by then the bottle isn’t very hard, I invert the bottle and cap on the foam once more. That usually takes care of any storage issues. If it still isn’t firm after a second try, I know the PET bottle cap is likely worn out. I switch out for a newer cap, and throw away/recycle the old cap.

Here’s a photo of an never opened 64 oz soda bottle. Almost no indentation with a firm squeeze:

Here’s a filled 1 liter right after filling and capping on foam. It’s pretty firm…see how there is some give?

Here’s how it looked 20 minutes later and still chilled – much more firm, and of a firmness that will allow extended storage that maintains adequate carbonation. If it wasn’t as firm as shown, and it wasn’t going to be consumed that evening, I’d have topped off the bottle with more beer, inverted, and capped on foam again. That normally does the trick.

This is how I take small/medium volumes of homebrew around locally. It’s my exclusive method for camping now. I fill some small singles for that afternoon quenchers – low volume times when we wouldn’t drink a whole growler. I also fill some 2 liters (growlers) for the evenings around the fire telling fish stories, etc. when we’ll be drinking at a pace that the beer from growlers will still be appropriately carbonated.

In earlier blogs I talked about taking Summer Shandy and also Honey Chamomile Wheat to parties. In both those cases I filled 2 liter PET bottles – 6 of them – with these brews. I put the 6 growlers in a big freezer bag (the ones you can buy at Costco) with some cold packs. It works great and you can leave the growlers behind after you leave without losing anything valuable. Also, they aren’t breakable if the party gets rowdy.

The great part is that between you and friends you can get a ton of PET bottles for free! Many families drink soda , sparkling water, etc. Just ask them to save you the empties. A bit of Ivory dish soap cleans them out and rinses well for no aftertaste.

If you’re looking for a durable, convenient, almost free, and effective way for beer on the go, give the BMBF process a try with PET bottles. You might find it suits your beer on the go needs as well as it does for me.

Post by Brewer kcpup

Posted in Equipment, Kegging and CO2 | 3 Comments »

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!

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