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Instrument Calibration for Maximum Brewing Awesomeness

I am about to brew several batches of beer – whoot! In the spirit of science, and the interests of quality, I decided to recalibrate my equipment since it had been awhile. Besides, I broke my hydrometer and had to buy a new one, so I have no idea where I’m at with it. Beyond this basic checkup the brew kit doesn’t need much of a tune up this year besides tightening screws, checking seals on taps, and replacing old hoses. Here we come 2011 brewing season.

Brewing has aspects of chemistry involved. Scientific method is part of the process if you really want to master it. In order to replicate a batch accurate numbers must be measured and recorded. Please check out our brewday sheets for ready made record keeping.

Thermometer Calibration:

If you are an all grain brewer, it is essential to have at least one accurate thermometer and preferably a backup for use during the mash. I have a digital thermometer, and I keep an old school glass thermometer as a backup.

It turned out my digital thermometer was off by about ten degrees! This would have caused some very off mashes had I not addressed this.

My procedure was to check the temperature reading at freezing (32F / 0C), and at boiling (212F / 100C). I also compared the reading of my digital thermometer to my standard mercury thermometer. The procedure was simple, take some crushed ice and mix it in a glass of water. Let the ice start to melt. The solution will be at freezing temperature and should read within a tenth of a degree of 32F / 0C. Then I boiled a small pot of water and made sure it read 212F / 100C. I noticed some screwy readings, so I dug into the instructions on my digital unit and recalibrated it. This brought the numbers back to where they should be.

Hydrometer Calibration:

I would expect hydrometers to be factory calibrated, but of the two new ones I bought, one was +0.002. The other one was spot on and I’m using that now, but I have a mental note that my backup hydrometer needs an adjustment.

Keep in mind a hydrometer reading needs to be temperature corrected to 59F / 15C, or 68F / 20C depending on your hydrometer.
We have a calculator to handle that for you here.

The first thing to do is measure the hydrometer reading in plain water. Mine is calibrated to 59F. That means it should be 1.000 @59F. Also make sure to read the hydrometer correctly. The meniscus is the curve that forms due to surface tension from the suspended hydrometer. Usually the water line is what you want to read and not the meniscus, but it varies by model. The instructions will say how to read the hydrometer. The image below illustrates a 1.001 reading @ 68F and points out the meniscus which should be ignored in my case. After temperature correction, this hydrometer would read 1.002 in water. +0.002 is quite a bit (4% off for an average batch).

The second thing to do is prepare a sugar solution that will give you a reading of 1.046. One pound of table sugar in one gallon of water has a specific gravity of 1.046. My graduated cylinder (the tube the sample goes in) holds about 6 ounces, and 5 ounces is a good amount for taking a reading. Here’s where the math comes in. Figure out how many ounces you want to use for you reading, then use the equation below to figure out how much sugar to add in ounces.

Formula for 1.046 solution:
{ounces of water for hydrometer sample} * 0.125 = {ounces of table sugar needed}

I needed 5 ounces of water, and 5 * 0.125 = 0.625. I measured out 0.625 ounces of sugar and dissolved that into solution.

Derivation:
1 pound of sugar in 1 gallon of water has a specific gravity of 1.046, thus:
16 ounces of sugar in 128 ounces of water has a specific gravity of 1.046.
16 / 128 = 0.125, so we need 0.125 ounces of sugar per ounce of water for a 1.046 solution.

My good hydrometer read 1.045, and the screwy one read 1.047, but after temperature correction (68F to 59F), the numbers came out to 1.046 and 1.048. Now I’m ready to brew like a scientist!

Posted in Equipment | 7 Comments »

Moldy Wet Keezer Solution

Here’s quick tip for your keezer if you are having moisture or mold problems. Purchase a moisture absorbing product like DampRid or DryRid and drop it in your keezer (clean your keezer first if it is moldy). You can find DampRid or a similar product at your local hardware store next to the cleaning products. I spent about $10 on this and I’m very pleased. My keezer is now bone dry and the mold has not returned.

Freezers are designed to operate below freezing. They naturally collect condensation on the interior walls. Normally the condensation freezes and builds up a thin layer of ice. When a freezer is hooked up to a temperature controller set between 34-50F, the moisture is kept inside the keezer. The higher temperature and humidity creates a breeding ground for bacteria and mold. When beer is spilled it gets even worse. Every drop of spilled beer can turn into a mini breeding colony in a matter of days. Do not try keeping a towel in the bottom, it will just trap moisture and make it worse.

My moisture problem eventually led me to completely clean out my keezer. I let it dry out for about a week after cleaning it. I caulked the interior joints where water would seep into. When the caulk was dry I used an exterior primer paint to coat the surfaces to hide scrapes and rust spots that had developed. Two coats did the trick. It looks brand new inside. With the damp rid bucket in the keezer, it is now completely dry when in operation. I’m not sure how long the bucket will last me. It cost about $10. I set the Damp Rid on the hump so it is not taking up valuable storage space for kegs.

There are other products out there besides DampRid. I looked into buying reusable crystals that you microwave when they change color. There are also electronic devices that you can plug-in every so often to purge moisture. After reading reviews I decided I didn’t want to spend the money for a large unit, and choose to ignore the cheapo units. The cheapo units would require plugging in every one or two weeks, and that would be a hassle. The smaller products are designed for gun safes or closets. An environment like a kezzer where moisture is constantly collecting requires a stronger solution. I also wanted a hands off solution, so the bucket did the trick.

For my setup, I am using a picnic tap to dispense beer from my corny kegs. It takes extra care to keep beer from spilling. I keep a rag inside the keezer to set the picnic tap on so it absorbs any beer left in the spout of the tap. The rag is also handy to wipe up spills.

It might be possible to purchase moisture absorbing crystals in bulk. I believe it is just Calcium Chloride. Maybe one of our readers knows more about this?

Posted in Kegging and CO2 | 13 Comments »

Deschutes Brewery Tour

I visited Deschutes brewery in Bend, Oregon recently. The tour was fun and the free beer was great. They let visitors enjoy four complimentary 4oz samples from any of their main styles (Stout, Porter, Mirror Pond, IPA, and Cascade Lakes Organic). That works out to a free pint! They will also have small number of seasonals or special brews on tap to choose from. Do not expect the same selection available at their brew pubs (one in Bend, one in Portland). I hit up the brewery both days I was in Bend. It just happened to be ‘on the way’ to where we were going on our trip through central Oregon.

I highly recommend the tour, it was hands down the best I’ve ever been on. They are used to having home brewers visit and are open about their processes. It was a great learning experience. Here are some of the highlights:

Deschutes Brewing Process:

• They centrifuge their beer (as opposed to pasteurize or filter).
• They use 4 carbon filters on the local city water, then add brewing salts to style.
• Brewing kettles come from Germany, Huppmann brand. They are seamless construction. The kettles are so big they had to shut down a highway to truck them into Bend Oregon.
• They re-pitch yeast up to 4 times.
• Use an advanced laboratory for analyzing ingredients, wort, and beer to ensure highest quality and consistency. If they get an off batch they will make another batch to offset the problem and then blend the two.

About The Business:

• Founded in 1988, still privately owned and independently operated by its founder Gary Fish.
• Deschutes is currently the top independent brewer in Oregon, and has a goal of becoming the top microbrew in the US.
• Deschutes is looking to buy or build a brewery on the east coast to expand operations in that part of the country.

The Culture:

• The ‘restroom’ adjacent to the lunch room is actually a tap room.
• Everyday each employee gets a free pint of whatever they would like.
• They have a gourmet chef on site to prepare food for the staff.
• They have a strict quality control process and use lean practices.
• All employees can participate in tasting the beer for quality control. This includes being slipped off flavors and learning to distinguish between defects. Very cool way to learn about tasting!

For Home Brewers:

• They will give you hints about their recipes, but it is not a lot to go on. They give a rough outline of the ingredients only. The times, temperatures, and amounts are up to you. Turns out that is essential to getting it right, I’m still trying to perfect my Mirror Pond clone…
• Here’s a hint I saw written on a whiteboard in the brewery: boil the ESB and Green Lakes for 75 minutes.

The main Deschutes hub is in Bend, OR (brewery on west side of river, brew pub downtown). If you are ever in Portland, check out their brewpub in the Pearl District. They have a wide selection of locally made brews, and great food.

For more information:
https://www.deschutesbrewery.com

Deschutes was kind enough to hook me up with a t-shirt for writing this post.

Posted in Fun | 4 Comments »

Wax Sealed Home Brew Tested

For centuries the seal of choice on spirits and wines was melted wax. Lately special release craft beers are being sold with a wax seal. Home brewers can wax seal bottled beer without too much trouble. All it takes is melting the wax, dipping the top of the bottle, and letting it dry. The wax adds a touch of old world feel to the bottle. A wax sealed bottle screams: “I contain some serious brew!”.

I tired this to see what it is like. I’m glad I did it once, but I probably won’t do it very often.

The wax can be bought in a variety of colors. Search for ‘bottle seal wax’ or ‘bottle wax’ online or at your local home brew store (LHBS). It might be in the wine section. A one pound bag is available for under $10.

Process:

Bottle your beer as normal and cap. I recommend oxy-caps. Clean out a tin can you don’t care about and gently melt the wax. Prepare a landing zone for the dipped bottles. The wax gets really hot and in my case, started to pop and shoot everywhere. It took a lot of time to get the wax completely melted, a puck formed on the inside of the can. I recommend a mild heat setting to melt the wax and a long stick to stir with. Make sure to turn off the burner when you go to dip the bottles.

Safety Disclaimer: The wax is hot and you should wear eye and hand protection. Do not over heat the wax, and do not leave the flame unattended. Shut off the flame when you are working above it. My package of wax recommended a temp between 160F and 170F, and to never pour water on a wax fire, instead use an extinguisher or cover with a metal lid.

After dipping the top I rotated the bottle to help cover the crimps in the cap. The cap is the hardest part to cover completely. Multiple coats will be needed depending on how thick you want the wax to be.

The wax can also be spooned out on top of the beer cap but this can create runs. Some people add floss or some kind of fabric around the cap so it makes the tear off easier.

Do It Yourself Wax:

Some people have used Gulf Wax (parrafin) and crayons for tint. This approach is a little cheaper than buying the already made wax beads. Using your own wax may require mixing in Vaseline or other additives to get the desired texture. I think buying the bag of wax pellets made for this purpose is worth the extra couple of dollars.

An excellent thread on a do it yourself approach using glue sticks is here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/hot-glue-bottle-wax-experiment-127485/

Some Critiques On Wax Sealed Beer:

Yes, the wax seal makes it harder to open the bottle and creates a mess, sealing the bottles is time consuming, and the need for an additional seal beyond the cap is questionable. The benefits are mainly aesthetic. Home brewing is all about fun, and pride in your brew, so go for it if you want to! I would not put much faith in the extra sealing power the wax affords. I use oxycaps on all of my bottled beer, and I’ve opened bottled 2 years later that tasted awesome.

One clear drawback I noticed is the extra time it takes to clean the bottle if you want to reuse it. Of course that is not a concern when the bottle is given away.

In commercial news on this issue, Maker’s Mark bourbon has legal protection for their wax sealing practice as it was ruled to be part of their trademark: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/business/03bourbon.html

Big dark beers like Barely Wines, Belgian Strongs, Russian Imperial Stout, Double Imperial Porters, etc… are all great candidates for wax sealing!

Posted in Brewing | 6 Comments »

Scottish Light BJCP 9A

A friend of Brewer’s Friend, Niall, wrote in from Edinburgh Scotland about what a real Scottish Light (style BJCP 9A) should look like:

Niall: “Hi, I noticed you feature Scottish Light (60/-) on your colour chart (https://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/02/28/beer-styles-srm-color-chart/), but that it’s shown in the same colour range as 70/- and 80/-. Light is in fact extremely dark coloured, like stout or a really black Dunkel.  I hope this helps!”

Larry: “Check out this page for info from the BJCP:  https://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style09.php Note the SRM (color) is the same for the three you mentioned. … We yanks don’t get around to brewing the Scottish Light style much, and that’s probably part of the misconception to begin with.”

Niall: “I can well imagine the problem – light is left over from the last century, when British brewers were asked to brew weaker beer to conserve ingredients in the post war period, as well as to stop the workforce turning up drunk. Light is getting harder to find here now,  it’s only available in a small minority of pubs.”

Analysis:

In this case the term ‘light’ applies to the gravity (alcohol content) of the beer but not the color. In the US we commonly associate light colored beers with a low gravity, and darker beers with a higher gravity.  We would also associate a session beer with a light colored beer. A session beer being one you can drink 4-5 of in an evening and not get bloated or tired of the flavor.  Scottish Light is dark colored, low alcohol, and easy drinking. Sounds like a summer stout or porter to me.   It would be an interesting challenge to get the flavor balance right, and still have a dark color.

Interestingly enough, some commercial breweries are trying similar things out, like Full Sail’s Black Session Lager (which happens to be a Czech style dark lager). Deschutes even made a Black IPA this year.

There is definitely a lot of room in the US for experimentation with the Scottish Light style.   Thank you Niall for writing in!

Posted in Beer Styles | No Comments »

Ninkasi Tasting Room Tour

Something has been stirring, or brewing rather, in the Whiteaker neighborhood in Eugene, Oregon (go Ducks! – ranked No. 1 in Football, AP). No, not football, even though we did just STOMP UCLA yesterday, it is Ninkasi Brewing Co an aggressive craft brewer, which is quickly rising to the top of the north west beer scene. The latest Ninkasi expansion is their new brew house and attached tap room. I dropped by for a taste and took some pictures.

Very cool craftsmanship on this metal gate.

When I first heard the name Ninkasi a few years ago, it sounded Japanese to me. It turns out the name comes from a Sumerian goddess of beer. Apparently she brewed daily! There’s also an asteroid named 4947 Ninkasi somewhere in outer space.

Anyhow, back to present day, the tasting room is the best place to try fresh Ninkasi beer. The first thing I noticed on both my visits was the sanitary smell (ammonia?). Hey, sanitation is a good habit to be in for a brewery. I’ve been in much danker smelling brew houses, which I won’t name, but you know what I mean (nudge nudge).

The fire pit is pretty cool to look at. The more I drank the more I thought about waving my hands over the flames, NOT A GOOD IDEA!!!!

The tap room is open 7 days a week. They offer a sampler set of their main beers, pints, and seasonals. I have to say the Tricerahops Double IPA is my favorite. They also have a basic food menu, so bring your appetite and make an evening of it.

Ninkasi is cool in that it bottles to 22 oz craft bottles and sells them by the case. Costco has good deals on them. I have a friend who recently started brewing. He was saving up the Ninkasi bottles for his inventory. He says the labels peeled right off after soaking in warm soapy water. Not all brands are that easy to get the labels off. If you are doing this, save the cardboard case too, it comes in very handy for storing the bottles.

For more information check out this link:
https://www.ninkasibrewing.com/tasting_room/

Ninkasi was kind enough to hook me up with a t-shirt for writing this post.

Posted in Fun | 3 Comments »

A Beer Brewer Tries Making Wine

I’m going to take a shot at making wine this year. The books I have been reading say to pick good grapes, at the right time, and let nature take its course. I’m not planning on adjusting with sugar or acid, but I will takes notes on the original brix, fermentation length etc.

Getting Grapes:

September-October is grape harvest time. This year is late in Oregon.

Unfortunately for the home wine maker, getting access to good grapes can be a challenge. A local club was ordering grapes from California. I’ve been getting decent results searching craigslist and have a few options lined up. The local home brew stores also have bulletin boards with postings.

If the local grapes don’t come through the other option is to buy a kit. They yield more consistent results, but it is sort of like using malt extract in beer. I have read the aroma is flat from the kit because of the pasteurization process. There can also be a ‘kit flavor’ that some people detect as a flaw. I have grape starts out back and they will be bearing fruit in a few years. I want to get good at the whole process end to end.

Cost Breakdown:

A 6 gallon batch of wine requires approximately 100 pounds of grapes (the range varies pretty widely and that is a conservative estimate).

In the end I hope to get 30 bottles of wine (2.5 cases).

Pinot Noir grapes from a reputable grower off mature vines are running $1.00/pound. With yeast (Assmannshausen), Malolatic yeast (Wyeast), corks, and campden tables, the total for the batch is ~$120. That means I’m looking at $4.00 per bottle – not that economical compared to 2 buck chuck. However, a bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir goes for at least $10 and usually more. It will be 18 months before I know how this panned out.

Extra Equipment Needed:

If you are already brewing beer, there is not much extra equipment to deal with. The grapes will be crushed and de-stemmed at the vineyard. I’m using a 7.5 gallon bucket I already have for the primary fermentor. A fruit/wine press is on the way (I’ll be talking more about this in an upcoming article). The only additional item I needed was a warming device (FermWarp, $40) which wraps around the fermentor and keeps the temperature around 85F where the wine yeast perform optimally.

I already had a corker from a batch of mead I packaged in wine bottles.

More on the subject of wine to come (new category added). Brewer’s Friend has beer at heart and is mostly about beer and will stay that way! Wine is like a cousin, not a muse.

Posted in Fun, Wine | 2 Comments »

Pacman Yeast – Eureka!

Pacman is the name of the yeast used by Rogue Brewery of Oregon. Rogue makes Pacman available in limited quantities to home brewers from time to time.

Originally, I didn’t get the name. Were they being cute? Does it ‘pack’ a punch? No, I was not thinking literally enough. While on vacation it dawned on me. The name was inspired from the old arcade game! It helped that weeks before my vacation I had played the Pacman game on Google (https://www.google.com/pacman/). What Pacman does in the game, and what brewer’s yeast does in the wort are pretty similar.

To help us all remember, I created a somewhat crude and juvenile drawing. This makes for a basic lesson in ‘God Is Good’, aka yeast, and how they turn sugar into alcohol:

Our big hungry yellow hero ‘Pacman’ is a yeast cell (technically a fungus). Him, and thousands of his brothers and sisters eat their way through sugar molecules in sweet wort. As they consume the sugar they produce alcohol, carbon dioxide, and some sulfur dioxide. Yes, alcohol is fungus crap. Poetic. The SO2 is why if you take a sniff from the airlock it can smell a little funny. This varies by yeast strain. Normally I smell hop aroma from my airlock, but I have smelled ripe odors from Hefe and Kolsch strains in particular.

There are some oversimplifications here. Yeast need oxygen to do well. That’s why it is important to aerate! Yeast also utilize minerals and other compounds present in the wort. As the yeast eat, they reproduce faster than rabbits. Healthy fermentation is like a wild orgy on a microscopic level.

When the party is over there will still be some sugars remaining. Some brews, like dry mead, use a yeast strain that goes all the way to a final gravity near 1.000 (no sugar left). Each yeast strain has a different alcohol tolerance and capacity for digesting complex sugars. The yeast eat themselves into an environment they cannot survive in. That’s okay though, they can be harvested off the bottom and saved for another batch or immediately repitched if all was well with the fermentation.

Posted in Yeast Cultures | 1 Comment »

Hops Harvest 2010

Anybody who grows their own hops should be watching the cones carefully and preparing for harvest. I pulled the trigger on the first part of my hops harvest today, September 13th 2010. I’ll do the rest of the vines this week.

If your cones are papery, spring back when squeezed, and showing brown on the tips then pick ’em!

What I use to dry my hops:

• Window screen
• Spare room to dry hops for a couple days, omg it smells great in there!
• Fan (optional)
• Vacuum sealer
• Space in freezer

For more details on hops harvest, please see:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/09/29/fall-hop-harvest-guidelines/

This year wasn’t a great growing season in Oregon, only half the tomatoes are ripe. Bah… On the upside, I’ve still got plenty of hops!

Posted in Hops Growing | 2 Comments »

German Lager Recipe All Grain

This has to be one of my favorite beers for all time. I have brewed it about 5 times, and it’s just awesome. Talk about a ‘session beer’, that is something most people can drink all evening without a problem. My uncle, who is a German Protestant Minister, smelled the beer, took one sip, smiled, and told me in his thick German accent that it reminded him of beer at home. “Now… that is a good beer!” he said. He proceeded to drink the beer over the course of dinner, and then and ask for seconds. I was completely honored. Being a German, and in the US for the first time, he was honest about his opinion of things, some not so favorable. For example, he said the beer at Rogue was ‘very British’, and he did not order seconds there. My uncle is no stranger to beer. He explained during an annual festival, the Minsters ride tandem bikes through town and people hand them beer. Must be pretty cool.

This German lager, technically a Munich Helles (translates to Munich Light), leaves no heavy flavors on the tongue, but I argue it is robust and complex. The aftertaste has an elusive bread like, smoky quality I love in German beers. I believe this attribute is imparted by the yeast and the lagering process. The aroma and initial flavor has many light, sweet, fruity qualities, which come from the Hallertau hops. The finish is clean and crisp, as it should be in a larger.

All the ingredients in this beer are German (yeast, hops, grain), and they are easy to get at your local home brew store. My Hallertau hops were grown in Oregon, but it was close enough for my uncle, definitely close enough for me.

The style is BJCP 1D – Munich Helles:

Grains:

8 lb German Pilsner
1 lb Vienna
0.5 lb CaraPils
(@ 75% brewhouse efficiency)

You can substitute towards Vienna malt to give it more honey sweetness and malt character.

Hops:

Hallertau, 2 ounces, 60 minutes

I have tried substituting to Mt. Hood instead of Hallertau – it was still a good beer, more spicy, less aromatic, I would say a lot more boring (more like Coors). Tettnanger is another option, or a mix, but I usually put Tettnanger in my Oktoberfest because it is more spicy and less fruity than Hallertau. Saaz is another popular choice but I have not tried it.

First wort hopping may be of interest.

Yeast:

German Lager Yeast
I have used only White Labs WLP830, with great success, but I want to try some of the following:

White Labs:
WLP820 Oktoberfest Lager Yeast
WLP830 German Lager Yeast
WLP833 German Bock Yeast
WLP838 Southern German Lager Yeast

Wyeast:
2007 Pilsen Lager Yeast
2124 Bohemian Lager Yeast
2206 Bavarian Lager Yeast
2308 Munich Lager Yeast

Make sure to do a yeast starter for a lager!

Style 1D stats:

OG: 1.045 – 1.051
IBUs: 16 – 22
FG: 1.008 – 1.012
SRM: 3 – 5
ABV: 4.7 – 5.4%

This Recipe:

OG: 1.050
IBUs: 24 (this is just above the guidelines, but meh..)
FG: 1.010
SRM: 3.6
ABV: 5.1%

Procedure

Mash at 150F (65.5C) for 60 minutes, then 158F (70C) for 30 minutes.

90 minute boil.

Ferment for 3 weeks in the primary, before racking, pull it out of the fridge and let it warm to room temperature for 2 days (dialectal rest). Rack it, and leave it around 36F for 4-6 weeks.

I then keg it, force carbonate, and after about 3 months it is ready to drink. The beer tastes strange when it is green. It really needs the extra time to settle down. Be patient with it!

Posted in Recipes | 13 Comments »