Home Brew Blog - Brewer's Friend - Part 7
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Have Your Way with Brewer’s Friend

Thursday, March 12th, 2015

We’ve been working as fast as we can lately to build and fix all the great features that you, the Brewer’s Friend community, have sent our way. We’d like to take a moment to really open things up and see what you all are thinking and what would make your brewing experience even better. We want to know what you like, don’t like, want to see more of, loath entirely, want created, and so on. If you have something to say, please head over to our survey here:

https://goo.gl/forms/S9tKbgI4Nv

Thank you all very much for the feedback, and more importantly for being the best homebrewing community out there!

Cheers!

Congrats to all the Winners!

Monday, February 9th, 2015

It’s February 9th, and if you’ve been following our blog or social media accounts you know today marks the end of the first Brewer’s Friend giveaway!

We asked everyone to go back and update an existing recipe, or create a new recipe using one of our newest features, the addition of images!

231 of you added images. That’s quite the turn out!

The winners for this giveaway were selected using a random number generator. From our database I collected the username and emails of everyone who added an image to recipes, then added those members to a spreadsheet. The row number is your entry number. Random.org selected

225 – bret america
20 – chrisvdp
134 – otrum
157 – Branko
84 – kryanx

These are usernames associated with the account. We will be personally contacting all five winners to let them know they have won. I will need your address to ship out the Critter Cutters, but I have gone ahead and applied a one year subscription to the winner’s accounts providing them full access to Brewer’s Friend over the next year.

We really appreciate everyone who took the time to get entered. The addition of photos to recipes is just one of the ways we’re living up to our motto “Brew with Total Confidence”.

From everyone behind the scenes at Brewer’s Friend we thank you for your support and keep an eye out. We will be releasing new giveaways as we release new features!

This Weeks Newest Features on Brewer’s Friend

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015

It’s been a very busy week behind the scenes of Brewer’s Friend. We’ve been busy working on a lot of the great ideas and features members have suggested, and some fixes you guys have been waiting on. We also brought on another programmer to help us make some headway. Thanks for helping us make Brewer’s Friend better!

First in the way of new features is our redesigned front page. It had been sometime since we updated it, so new to the front page is shared recipes, quicker access to the apps, and some general information to help new members get started.

We also implemented a new Slide Ruler search so you can find the beer you’re after preciesely based on OG, FG, IBUs, ABV and more. This will allow you the brewer greater control and access to the recipe database that so many have contributed to.

We also implemented some changes to the way search works. You can know search by a list of ingredients in order to find a beer based on what you have on hand, and the new ability to search by fermentables. We hope you enjoy the latest additions to the search ability!

While I have you, don’t forget to upload photos to your Brewer’s Friend recipes. The drawing for Critter Cutters and a one year membership takes place Februrary 9th, so make sure you get your recipes updated now to be considered for the drawing. Here’s a link with more information.

Brewer’s Friend Supporting Membership and more Giveaway!

From everyone at Brewer’s Friend we hope you enjoy the new features and good luck in the drawing!

Brewer’s Friend Supporting Membership and More Giveaway!

Tuesday, January 13th, 2015

We’re quite happy with the progress we’re making into new features, and to help celebrate our newest feature, the ability to add photos to recipes, we’re giving away five (5) one year supporting memberships, and 5 (five) Critter Cutter beer bottle openers to five lucky members!

Brewer’s Friend supporting membership provides you with Unlimited Recipes, Unlimited Brews, Recognition in the forum, and a totally ad free experience. Here’s a link with more information on all the great benefits of our supporting member program!

Rules and Entry:
Update one of your recipes with photos. Photos must be related to the beer recipe it is attached too.

On February the 9th I will do a search pulling in everyone who updated a recipe and enter them into a random number generator selecting five winners to receive one year of Brewer’s Friend Supporting Membership and a Critter Cutter. Winners will be contacted directly to let them know they’ve won.

***
No purchase necessary. To enter by mail send full name, address, phone number to Brewer’s Friend PO BOX 911 San Marcos, Texas 78667. Entries must be received by February 8th, 2015. Void where prohibited. International winners to pay shipping. Limit One (1) entry per household.

Add Photos to your Brewer’sFriend Recipes!

Friday, January 9th, 2015

“Brewing with Total Confidence” is at the heart of all we do and we just added a new feature that will add to that sense of confidence as we all brew better beer. You can now include photos to your Brewer’sFriend recipes!

Brewer’sFriend is already the greatest resource online when it comes to recipes, but with the implementation of this new feature we’ve taken it to a whole new level.

Being able to see the beer we’re brewing in all it’s phases can only help us improve our brewing, and the brewing of others. This also allows brewers of all levels to compare and contrast as they make their way to the next level of their brewing lending itself to our motto “Brewing with Total Confidence”.

This also works retroactively, so if you want to go back and update your recipes with photos of the brew you now have the ability.

If you have any questions or issues using this new feature please be sure to follow up in the forum.

Thanks for being a member of the greatest beer recipe site on the planet.

Brewer’s Friend Team

BrewPrint.com and BrewersFriend.com have Merged!

Thursday, December 4th, 2014

It is with great pride we announce the merging of BrewPrint.com and BrewersFriend.com.

What were once two great brewing resources can now be found under one domain, BrewersFriend.com, and this means a lot of great things for our two platforms.

First, we are combining the recipes databases to produce one of the largest collections of beer recipes online.

Second, BrewersFriend gets a full time technical administrator in the form of Josh Smith from Brew Print. He has spent the last few months now combing over the code and the features of BrewersFriend and I can say with absolute certainty that he will be on top of every issue, every fix, every suggestion that he decides to implement. Furthermore Josh will also be heading up server administration as we migrate to newer, faster servers meaning better response times and faster page loads.

BrewersFriend members will also see more comprehensive information pages on ingredients, techniques, and styles, along with the ability to purchase recipes in an easy to use format.

For Brewprint members this means a new larger community to be part of, which in turn means more brewing knowledge, which leads to better beers from better brewers. The goal from the beginning has been to “Brew Better Beer”, and that goal lives on in the merging of our two great platforms. Once the merge is complete, Brewprint members will be able to access their recipes and accounts on BrewersFriend.com using the e-mail addresses and passwords they previously used on Brewprint.

As we move into the future I know great things are in store. From both Josh and myself, it’s an honor and a privilege to serve our independent communities and to continue on in the spirit of brewing legacy and tradition makes our communities so great. Apart we are two great communities. Together we are a huge brewer’s resource, better than the sum of our parts.

So if you will, please join me in raising a glass to the merging of BrewPrint and BrewersFriend.

 

Salud!

Yeast Pitch Calculator for iOS 7 launched

Friday, November 8th, 2013

Our popular Yeast Pitch Calculator is now available in the App Store for iOS7!

Brewers Friend - Available on the App Store

This is a port of our popular web based Yeast Pitch Calculator, now available for iPhone iOS7.

Sierra Nevada Torpedo

Sierra Nevada Torpedo

Pitch your yeast like the pro’s do with this easy to use calculator that supports dry yeast, liquid yeast, slurry, and starters. Calculates liquid yeast viability based on manufactured date. You get to choose your desired pitch rate in million cells / milliliter of wort / degree plato. Also calculates how big of a starter to make and how much DME to add to that starter. Up to three step-ups are supported, so you can even start from a yeast slant! Two different growth curves are supported. The first comes from recently published research at Braukaiser, and the second from a study by Chris White.

Q&A session with brewing author Stan Hieronymus

Sunday, October 27th, 2013

After reading and reviewing For the Love of Hops, I had some follow up thoughts.  Stan Hieronymus was very nice in replying to all my questions promptly in this interview style blog post.

Stan has authored several books on beer and home brewing and runs an informative beer brewing blog. He can be found on twitter as @StanHieronymus.

Hops Varieties:

Q: Do you think the number of new hop varieties that come out each year will continue to grow? When will we reach a saturation point and why?
Stan: In the short term I would expect the number to rise, because there are so many unique varieties under development and there is such demand. However the logistics of production will cap the number at some point. What may add to choice is the realization there are differences between varieties grown in different location, so there’s every chance brewers will begin to talk about the difference between Cascade grown in Oregon from that in Washington, then on a smaller scale in Michigan. The breadth of what is available will surpass the number of new varieties.

Q: Do new hop varieties go through any FDA approval, given all the exotic complex oils they contain? Aren’t the new hops tested heavily in brewing trials before they would ever make it to market for home brewers?
Stan: There is no FDA approval process for hops, but they go through a long trialing process before they are released (see the next answer). Brewers who dry hop, particularly with whole hops, should be concerned how those hops are processed. That’s just one of the reasons the craft brewers who have banded together to form the Hop Quality Group are important. They want to make sure, for instance, that hop kilns have netting so that birds are not, pardon my French, crapping your hops.

Q: How long does it take for a new hop strain to be available?
Stan: At least 10 years, usually a few more, to make sure a) the variety can be grown economically, b) that it is relatively disease free, c) it has aroma and flavor characteristics brewers want, and d) it remains consistent from one growing season to the next.

Q: Given the recent BRCA gene Supreme Court ruling, I was wondering if the patent on Amarillo hops might be technically invalid because it was “naturally occurring”?

Stan: I’m not expert in the law, everybody I talked to in Washington (the state) is certain the patent remains intact.

 

Hops for Home Brewers:

Q: What is the most accurate way to calculate IBUs for first wort hops? Our calculator currently treats it as a 20 minute addition, but we are considering changing this.
Stan: Like a 75 minute addition.

Q: How can home brewers get the most bang for their buck in terms of making hoppy beers?  Hop stands, dry hopping, double dry hopping, hop bursting? Which techniques require extra equipment, and which techniques can be done on a budget?  Pellets vs whole leaf hops?
Stan: All of the above. Seriously, first it depends what you are gunning for. Dry hop a beer and serve it fresh, that’s pretty dang efficient. Want something you can put in a bottle and enter in competitions, then late additions may be more effective because they are more stable. I love beers made with whole hops added to a hop back, and your can build one of those at home pretty cheaply (much more cheaply than your local brewery), for some hard to pinpoint quality and their stability. But they are not as efficient, or consistent than pellets.

Q: In terms of yeast’s impact on hop flavor aroma and bitterness, which yeasts mute this and which yeasts accentuate it?  Does yeast pitch rate or fermentation temperature impact this to any extent?
Stan: You might be asking about the next hop frontier. Or at least one of them. These are all experiments that need to be done. It isn’t just a matter of a yeast muting or accenting hop aroma, but how they change the odor compounds. Same with pitching rate and what oils yeast may drag out of solution during floculation. It is great to get laboratory analysis, but there’s a lot than can be done through sensory evaluation- and that means it can be done at the homebrew club level. Use the same hop-forward recipe varying only the yeast strain, for instance.

 

How Pro Breweries Do It:

Q: Do you have pictures you can share of the Sierra Nevada Torpedo setup and a HOPNICK? They sound pretty cool!

Stan:  Here is a photo of the Sierra Nevada Torpedo setup:Sierra Nevada Torpedo

Here is also a link to the ROLEC DryHopnick brochure: https://www.rolec-gmbh.de/_engl/gfx/Info_ROLEC_DryHOPNIK_E.pdf

 

Interview text and photo used with permission of Stan.

Post by Larry

Controlling Fermentation Temperature with a Fermentation Chamber

Tuesday, October 8th, 2013

Controlling fermentation temperature is a key factor in making repeatable high quality beer. You’ll be amazed at how much your beer will improve by focusing on consistent fermentation temperature, and a related component the yeast pitching rate.

Yeast give off different flavor profiles depending on the temperature the fermentation takes place at. Consider US-05, a widely used dry yeast that is considered neutral in flavor. When fermented cool (around 62F), it leaves almost no flavor signature. When fermented high (above 68F) it can impart a peachy profile. Similarly many English ale strains will be somewhat neutral at the cooler end, but give off strong ester and fruit notes at the higher end. Belgian strains call for a higher temperature, because in those styles the fruitiness is desirable.

So, how can a home brewer guarantee temperature control during fermentation?

The answer is a fermentation chamber, which is made up of the following:

  • An insulated chamber.
  • A two stage temperature controller.
  • A cooling source – typically a freezer chest or mini fridge (which can double as #1).
  • A heat source – a lightbulb in a can works great.

Fermentation Temperature

Fermentation Chamber for Beer

Fermentation Chamber for Home Brew

Yeast Fermentation Temperature

Most temperature controllers come un-wired. If you know a little about electrical wiring, this makes a good DIY project. There are also a few models that come pre-wired, and some home brew stores provide this as a service.

Spending the extra $50 for a 2 stage controller with heating and cooling is well worth it. That way you can do lagers and ales, at whatever temperature you want, year round! It also gives a lot of flexibility. With a lager, the diacetyl rest is just a matter of turning up the set point to 65F for 48 hours. Want to cold crash that ale, no problem turn it down to 33F a few days before bottling. Just make sure to fit an airlock before cold crashing. If a blowoff tube is still set, the drop in pressure inside the fermentor will suck some of the fluid in the catch bucket back into the beer (yuck!).

My controller is a Control Products TC-9102D-HV Dual Stage High Voltage Digital Temperature Controllerproduct sheet and wiring diagrams can be found here. This model tends to change in price a lot. I got mine for $60 last year. There are cheaper options out there, but this one looked like the best compromise of build quality and price.

A note about the TC-9102D-HV and short cycling: make sure to set the differential on the cooling side to a value of 2. The thermometer tends to wobble between values (eg flip between 67 and 68 several times) before it will stay at the new value. Thank you to Foster82 for helping me out in the forum.

My heat source is an incandescent 40W light bulb in a paint can. The idea comes directly from brewstands.com. Incandescent light bulbs are being phased out, but lizard lamps or a low watt ceramic heater would work fine too.

Build Pictures:

TC-9102D-HV Build

TC-9102D-HV Build

TC-9102D-HV Build

TC-9102D-HV Build

TC-9102D-HV Build

TC-9102D-HV Build

TC-9102D-HV Build

Fermentation Chamber Heat Source

Fermentation Chamber Heat Source

Fermentation Chamber Heat Source

Fermentation Chamber Heat Source

Fermentation Chamber Heat Source

 

Other options:

  • Build an extended chamber around a mini-fridge. This has its advantages in terms of capacity and ease of loading.  The door can be setup very close to floor level, so there is no heavy lifting in and out like with my chest freezer. I wound up building a pulley system to save my back.
    • Building a fermentation chamber with a mini-fridge as the cooling source does take some skill. Parts include foam panels, 2×4’s, hinges, caulk, and all the little details to fit it all together.
    • The mini fridge is definitely cheaper than the freezer chest, but if you add in the cost of the materials, and the time it takes to build, it is about the same.
  • Build a pool of water and use aquarium heaters. Good for ales in the winter, but may not work for lagers very well.
  • Heating pads, heating wraps. Again these are okay for ales in the winter when the ambient temperature is below 50, but if you want to lager you need a dual stage controller with ability to heat and cool.
  • Canonical fermentors with built in heating / cooling.These are awesome but very spendy.

Make sure to size your fermentation chamber according to how much beer you want to be fermenting at once. My brew rig can do 11 gallon batches. My fermentation chamber can accommodate two 6 gallon fermentors. This is great for doing a split batch with different yeast! Also great if I want to fill up two corny kegs in a matter of a week or two!

TC-9102D-HV Temperature Controller Beer

Dialing in a specific temperature and pitching yeast at professional rates will take your home brewed beer to the next level. The recipe editor’s yeast section has fields for fermentation temp and yeast pitch rate, both key components to taking your beer to the next level!

Beer Recipe Software Yeast Pitch Rate and Fermentation Temp

September 2013 Release Live – Inventory and shopping list updates

Friday, September 27th, 2013

This month we tuned up the inventory and shopping list features so the data flows more smoothly and gives more flexibility at the same time. This was based on user feedback in the feature request forum – thank you for the input!

Recipe Tools -> Add To Shopping List improved:

The Add Recipe to Shopping List screen now shows inventory levels, and allows changing the actual amount to add to the shopping list. Lines can be unchecked, which means they will not carry into your shopping list. Please note that hops require an exact match between hop name, hop AA, and hop form to line up.

Brewing Software Add Recipe to Shopping List

 

Shopping List now groups related items and shows the total:

Shopping list lines for the same ingredient are now grouped together and the total is displayed. This works for brewers buying in bulk (for example a 50 pound sack used for several recipes), and brewers who plan to build up each recipe’s grain bill individually. I do it both ways. Sometimes at my LHBS I put the entire grain bill for a recipe into a paper bag, ready to mill on brew day. While other times I’ll buy a 50 pound sack of Pilsner or 2-row and use that over the course of several brews. Buying in bulk does save a little money though.

Brewing Software Shopping List

 

Shopping List -> Convert to Inventory screen improved:

The amount in your inventory is displayed and the amount purchased can be overridden.

For a given line on your shopping list, if you convert less than the full amount the line will be kept but the amount converted will be subtracted from the original amount. Eg – you wanted to buy 10 pounds of honey but they only had 4, so now your shopping list has 6 pounds of honey.

Ever been to the home brew store wanting 14.8% AA Magnum hops, only to come home with 16.4% AA? Everytime I buy hops the AA values are slightly different. The convert to inventory screen allows the actual AA value to be provided.

This screen is also a good place to compare what is in your shopping list vs your inventory.

Brewing Software Shopping List Convert to Inventory

 

Deduct from Inventory:
Deducting from inventory can now be done in a Brew Session after the Brew is created. Look for it on the Brew Session -> Edit tab. I often create my brew session when I make my yeast starter. For yeast starters I log the day I started it, the starter size, and the amount of DME (which the yeast pitch calculator tells me). However, at that point I’m not quite ready to deduct from inventory.

 

Other updates:

  • Add Gervin English Ale Yeast – GV12
  • Brew session page ‘back to …’ button improved so it understands where you came in from, instead of always pointing back to the dashboard.
  • In the recipe editor, snapshot recipes now show a large banner above them indicating they are a snapshot and not a regular recipe.Recipe Snapshot Notification