Brewing Gadgets: Bazooka Screen v. False Bottom

I've made mention of my poor mash efficiency/conversion rates.  This refers to the amount of fermentable sugar that is extracted during the mash process.  The percentage is in comparison to the theoretical amount stored in grain.  My conversion rate has been as low as 50% over my last several brewing sessions.

To date, I've simply dealt with this by increasing my grain bill by about 10-15%, which costs me about $1.50 per 5 gallon batch overall.  If I were a big brewery, this would be a problem.  However, as a casual brewer its just a matter of pride.  I constantly hear of fellow homebrewers achieving efficiencies over 90%.  I'm skeptical since 100% is theoretical in strict laboratory conditions with small amounts of grain, but that could just be sour grapes.  Anyways, 80% seems achievable so I still have a long way to go.

Two things I've speculated would make a significant difference in my brewery's eficiency are changing from a batch to a fly sparge, and upgrading my mash tun with a new false bottom.  I'm addicted to the simplicity and time savings of a batch sparge so I am saving that for another day. However, this weekend I was greeted at my local homebrew shop that a new false bottom had arrived that would fit the 10gal Rubbermaid cooler I use as a mash tun!

When I first started all-grain brewing I installed a stainless steel ball valve and bulkhead to replace the standard valve in my cooler to control the outflow of wort.  I then needed to find something to allow the wort to flow out while leaving the grains behind. 

Popular options include a braided metal hose (like those used for washer hookups with the liner removed)  or a false bottom.  I couldn't find a false bottom at the time and was concerned about how to keep hose braid material clean, so I turned to the "bazooka screen" which amounts to a copper T connected to tubes of stainless screen material crimped at the ends.  This worked great except I could not get the last inch plus of sticky goodness out of my mash tun since it sits up off of the bottom of the cooler.  I figure this amounted to the loss of at least a couple quarts of high octane wort.

This week I tried a stainless false bottom which is concave and sit flat on the bottom of my cooler at the edges with an outlet for the wort in the center.  The grain bed sits on top of this and liquid is forced via gravity and pressure from the grain into the valve assembly.  Works like a champ!

I'm happy to report that after removing the spent grains, there was no measurable liquid left in the bottom of my mash tun and my overall efficiency has improved 8% while recycling the wort through the grain bed only once (compared to twice or more in the recent past).  This will also reduce my opportunity of extracting bitter tannins from the grain hulls.  Looking forward to more batches to see if this trend improves.  I will plan to use the bazooka screen in a future brew kettle conversion to help filter out hop leaves.

Any other ideas on how to improve mash efficiency?

Cheers,
-D

Brewing for Necessity

Today I found myself brewing for necessity after coming to the end of my Pil-Ale keg sooner than planned. What a travesty, I was out of beer! After the initial shock, I collected myself, headed to my local homebrew shop and threw together a grain bill. Here's what I came up with:

Pretty standard Brown Ale, nice and simple!
11lbs of British Two-Row malted Barley
.5lbs American Crystal Malt 40L (for color and caramel goodness)
.5lbs American Crystal Malt 120L (more color and flavor)
Long mash
30min @ 130-135
60min @ 154
30min @ 158
Mash out @ 160-168 30min
75min boil
2oz Fuggles Hops (pellets)
1.25 oz for 60 min
.50 oz for 30 min
.25 oz for 10 min
SafAle S-05 dry ale yeast (no time for propagation)

Surprisingly this turns out to be my 15th batch over the last 2 years. So far it looks, smells, and tastes great! Original gravity is 1.048. Even got a little better brewing efficiency thanks to a new false bottom I picked up while at the shop. More on that next post..

I'll keep you posted as this beer develops. Could use some help naming it...

Cheers,
-D

Making Wine @ Home (Part 2)

This is the second post following the progress of my winemaking adventure from fermenter to glass. Please check out the other posts in the series.

First off you need to gather your equipment and sanitize everything that will come in contact with the wine (I use Star San). The only equipment you will need to kick off fermentation will be a primary fermenter that holds at least 8 US gallons, long handled spoon or paddle, airlock, wine thief (turkey baster works fine) to take a sample to measure specific gravity and a hydrometer or refractometer.

I have removed most all plastic from my home brewery, but I find that an 8-10 gallon food grade bucket, (non food grade plastic can leech harmful toxins) is still the best primary fermenter for wine. While I prefer glass for wine for secondary fermentation, primary fermentation is just too violent due to the high gravity of wine and carboys easily channel that energy into a high pressure fountain! Unless you don't mind repainting your walls and ceiling, a nice big plastic bucket will do nicely.

Open up your wine kit and you will typically find a large bag of grape juice (about 4 gal), Bentonite, Potassium Metabisulphite, Potassium Sorbate, Chitosan, Yeast, Oak Chips, and possibly a small bag of juice to add sweetness before bottling.First step is to dissolve the Bentonite in hot water in the bottom of the fermenter. I heat up about 2 liters of filtered water in an electric tea kettle, dump it into the fermenter and stir the heck out of it. It will look like muddy water...that's because it is.  Bentonite is a special type of clay that is used for its ability to help draw out protein particles from the wine and allow them to settle out and filter the wine right there in the fermenter.

Next, carefully open up your bag of juice.  The box should have a punch out that supports the neck of the spout to make pouring easier.  A bottle opener comes in handy for removing the lid. Its a lot of sticky liquid so pour carefully.  Next, poor a gallon of hot filtered water into the juice bag to rinse out any remaining juice.  I use the electric tea kettle again to heat up filtered water.  There's a lot of nasty stuff in your water heater's tank, so please resist the temptation to use hot tap water.  It won't kill you (unless its been stagnant for months), but it won't do your wine much good.

 Top off your fermenter to the 6 gallon mark (or the total volume your instructions call for) with filtered water and stir the heck out of it for at least a full minute.  This is an important step because it aerates the must dissolving oxygen into it.  This is very important to giving the yeast a healthy start.  Now is a good time to take a sample and measure gravity (I used my handy refractometer, so I only needed a drop).  Your specific gravity should measure between 1.080 and 1.100 depending on style.  If it is lower you have added too much water, higher and you probably didn't add enough (see your kits instructions for details).

If there are packets of oak chips or elderflowers, add them now and stir them below the surface.  Check your temperature to make sure your must is between 65 and 75°F.  (Temperatures outside this range are not healthy for the yeast).  Temps higher than 80°F will likely kill them (that's a bad thing).

Sprinkle the yeast over the must and put the lid and airlock on the fermenter.  You should begin to notice bubbles in the airlock within a few hours or the next day at the latest.  Now just let it sit for about a week and the the yeast do its magic...

In part 3 we'll check the gravity to monitor progress of fermentation and, if ready, rack to a secondary fermenter.

Cheers,

-D

other posts in the series

Making Wine @ Home (Part 1)

I made my first attempt at winemaking last year on SuperBowl Sunday and decided this year to make it a tradition. It also provides a memorable reference point as the wine ages. This will be the first of a series of posts following this batch of wine from fermentation to the glass.

To me, wine is a more complex topic than beer due to the wide variety of fruits and varietals used.  However, I find the process of making wine to be much simpler than brewing.  Most of the variables that influence the end result are up to mother nature herself rather than in the brewer or malt house or recipe combination.  The primary influences on any wine is the quality and attributes of the fruit it is based on.  The basic concepts of wine and beer making are the same. The most striking difference is that the sugars are extracted from fruit much more easily than grain.   Carbohydrates and starches in grain are broken down using heat to stimulate enzymes which break them down into simple sugars.  Most sugars found in fruit are naturally ready for fermentation.  Introducing heat would modify their structure in a way that would make them more difficult to ferment, so there is no "cooking" when making wine. Bottom line: making wine is far less time consuming but the raw ingredients are more expensive!

The process is quite simple:

1. Sanitize your equipment (fermenter/lid, spoon, hydrometer)
2. Fill fermenter with fruit juice, here forward called "must"
3. Add yeast to kick off fermentation
4. Rack to secondary fermenter (after 1 week)
5. Allow fermentation to complete (another 2-4 weeks)
6. Stabilize (stop fermentation)
7. Degass (remove CO2 from fermentation)
8. Clarify and Filter
9. Bulk age (optional)
10. Bottle

The wine I am starting today is a Chilean Pinot Noir using a Wine Expert’s Selection International kit from my local homebrew shop.  The varietals in this kit come from Chile from the same vinyards as the award winning wines in that region.  I splurged a bit on this kit but my homebrew shop has been recommending it to me since I first showed an interest.  Most wine kits range from $60-$170 and produce up to 30 bottles.  The more expensive kits often include award winning veritals which may require special order months in advance of production.

Next post, we'll open up the kit an complete steps 1-3 (day 1) for making wine at home...

Be sure to check out the other posts in the series

Cheers,

-D

Homebrew Recipe: Pil-Ale Ice

Here's a happy accident.  I recently brewed a batch of beer and only had access to pilsner base malt.  I cobbled together an all-grain batch using the following:

12lbs Pilsner malt
1lb Crystal malt (20L)
1oz Kent Gouldings hops (pellets) -60min
1oz Fuggles hops (whole) - 30min
1/2 oz leftover homegrown Chinook hops (whole) -15min
SafAle American Ale yeast (dry)

I mashed for 90min at 154° and original gravity hit 1.050 despite sub 60% efficiency.

It fermented in the Ferminator for two weeks at 66-68°  to a final gravity of 1.014 leaving about 4.7%abv.   I kegged it, force carbonated it and served it for the first time just before Christmas.  Its quite a tasty brew.   Even one of my my bud light drinking friends asked for a second glass.  Very pronounced pilsner type aroma with a little wheat-like fruitiness up front.  The beer finishes surprisingly dry with a nice hop finish.  The beer turned out great, but the appearance was cloudy (which makes it look like a wheat beer too).  The head retention just plain sucked.

Then, I accidently froze the beer keg while converting my mini fridge to a kegerator!  I was pissed and figured the batch was doomed.  After thawing the keg and re-carbonating it I found that the head retention vastly improved and the beer cleared up considerably after the first few pours.  My assumption is that some of the particulate matter and yeast that didn't flocculate was shocked to the bottom by the freezing process and was removed in the first few pours.  I can't explain the difference in head retention but it is dramatic.  Any ideas?

The beer is quite tasty with a more subtle fruitiness.  Significantly improved by chance!

Cheers,
D

Brewing Gadgets: Meet the Ferminator

Say Hello to my little friend, The Ferminator!  Its an all stainless steel 14.5 Gallon conical fermenter made by Blichmann Engineering.  This baby is basically a miniature version of what the commercial breweries use.

Advantages I've found using a conical:

• The ability to remove beer bottom of the vessel rather than siphoning
• Ability to remove trub (sediment) without moving beer to a secondary
• Less opportunity for oxidation/contamination
• Much easier to clean and sanitize than carboys

Downsides:

• Very Expensive (this model rang in at $500)
• Everything is easy to clean, but there are many connections to keep sealed tight
• Important to keep Teflon tape and o-rings on hand for leaks
• Its heavy (handles are built in for carrying)

This was a significant investment for me, however it has helped streamline my brewing process in many ways.  Particularly, the elimination of siphoning.

This model has a domed lid, airlock, and corny keg style latch with a pressure valve in the top that allows for mild pressurization.  This allow me to defy gravity and push the beer out of the valves and into a keg sitting next to it.   This also comes in handy for pushing the thick yeast cake and trub from the bottom.  All of the valves are stainless steel and easily disassembled to allow for thorough sanitation.

Adding a conical to your home brewery is an awesome way to take your brewing to a higher level.  I am also certain it will last for decades with proper care, plus it just plain looks like you mean business!

Buy one if your serious about brewing and plan to stick with it.

Cheers,

-D

Keeping my cool...

When I started kegging I had to get a little more creative about how to keep my beer cool.  I had a mini fridge under my basement bar for storing bottles and cans, but it just wasn't big enough to hold a homebrew keg.  At the time I also found a couple of 3 gallon kegs that would fit in a standard mini fridge but I knew I had to find another solution for keeping multiple brews on tap.

Early this year, while contemplating an investment in a kegerator, I stumbled upon this Sanyo SR-4912M minifridge at my local BestBuy.  Since it does not have a freezer compartment, there is enough headroom for a full 5 gallon corny keg!  To sweeten the deal even further, this gem was on sale for $150.

I couldn't recommend this fridge enough for homebrewers.  Things just got better when I got it home.  I found that this fridge has capacity for two 5 gal corny kegs and a 5lb CO2 tank.  It will also hold a 5gal carboy for lagering.  It also has the ability to keep beer much colder that most refrigerators.   I accidentally froze two kegs solid (luckily one was only root beer) dialing the temp down just before our Christmas Eve party.

This fridge also has the potential to be converted to a kegerator since there are no coils in the top of the fridge.  I found some DIY instructions online, so while on break for the holidays I decided to finally give it a shot.  Follow my progress in my next blog posting...wish me luck!

-D

Roll Out The Barrel...

I have a habit of buying myself a little something special for Christmas each year.  Even though our economy seems to be on the brink of doom, I stuck to my tradition but certainly didn't break the bank.

Like many other homebrewers, I've dabbled with aging both wine and beer along with oak chips and even bourbon soaked oak chips to simulate aging in wooden casks.  For some reason I always thought of oak barrels as 30-60 gallon monsters that soaked up and evaporated out more than a homebrew sized batch on a monthly basis.  A few weeks ago I was watching a special on one of the Discovery networks about micro-distillers that were using small oak barrels to age their spirits much more rapidly than conventional 30Gal casks.

A quick trip to the Interwebs highlighted many affordable options for the home brewer ranging from 1 liter to full sized 30gal barrels.  In just a few clicks I was the proud winner of a buy-it-now auction on eBay for a 5liter pre-chared american oak barrel.  The following email exchange offered to custom engrave a name or logo on the front of the barrel at no additional cost.   I then emailed the seller a rough picture of a carved "oak man" from a door knocker.   Two days later I recieved tracking information that the barrel had already shipped! Express shipping included, I have less than $60 invested.

The barrel arrived Christmas Eve from Tequila, Mexico.  I promptly filled and soaked the barrel in water and it has proven to be water tight.  I've popped in a couple of camden tablets to sanitize it in preparation of my first real cask aging experiment.   Stay tuned!

Cheers,

-D

Homebrew Recipe: Chocolate Stout

I just tapped into my first attempt at a Chocolate Stout. Many of my favorite beers are stouts, yet my track record from brewing stouts is not very good. My stouts have not had as full of a body as they should and tend to have more of a roasted or coffee-like character than what I was shooting for. I brewed this beer at the end of August. The result is one of my better attempts, but my goals still seem elusive.

This beer has excellent head retention, is nearly black in color with tan foam. The highlight is nice chocolate and malt aroma with a background of hops. The flavor profile may need more aging to balance out better and it finishes too bitter for me.

I over-carbonated this beer which makes it seem thin. As I allowed the beer to sit, warm, and release carbonation it began to take on a nice velvety texture in the mouth. I've released mush of the pressure in the keg to reduce the level of carbonation. I am hopeful that this beer will balance out its bitterness a little better by spring. If not, I may use it for a blending experiment with a lightly hopped full bodied dark brown ale.

On a positive note, I had a piece of sweet chocolate while sampling the beer and the combination of flavors was very nice. This would pair very nicely with a sweet dessert as-is!  It just has too much of a lingering bitterness to enjoy on its own for my tastes.

Here's the recipe (all-grain 154° mash):

12lb two-row malted barley
2lb Dingemans Chocolate Malt
1lb Dingemans "Special B"
1lb Flaked Barley (for body and head retention)
1/2lb Malto-Dextrin (for body)
Hops: East Kent Gouldings 1oz 75min, .5oz 60min, .5oz 30min; 1oz. whole Chinook (homegrown) 20min; .1oz Whole Willamette (homegrown) for 15min approx 51 IBUs overall (and I wonder why its bitter)
8oz Cocoa powder

Yeast: SafAle English Ale (dry)

So far here are my ratings:

• Appearance: B • Aroma: B • Taste: C- •

Overall: C-

I'll be sure to keep you up to date on its progress,

-D

Fermentation Friday - a new tradition?

Damn the door-busters, "Black Friday" just became "Fermentation Friday" for me!

After sharing my latest homebrews with friends visiting for the holiday we decided to break out the brew pots while the women folk were out for the day.

This batch was brewed in the spirit of Thanksgiving leftovers.  The recipe was dictated by supplies I had on hand to avoid dragging the kiddies out to the homebrew shop (special thanks to Tim for helping with both the beer and kids Friday).  As beers go, its a mutt, so I'm not sure what style category it fits in. Starting gravity settled in at 1.050 so the alcohol content to be about 5%.

Here's the recipe (5 Gallon batch):
12lbs Pilsner malt
1lb Crystal malt (20L)
1oz Kent Gouldings hops (pellets) -60min
1oz Fuggles hops (whole) - 30min
1/2 oz leftover homegrown Chinook hops (whole) -15min
SafAle American Ale yeast (dry)

However it turns out you can follow its progress all the way to the tapper right here!
Cheers,
-D

From Teetotaler to Total Beer Geek

My introduction to beer was typical for any Midwestern teenager.  Friends heading out to a nearby field lane, reservoir, or creek with a case of pull tops; picking fights, diving too fast on gravel roads and racing back home in time for curfew.  My aversion to risk and the fresh memory of older kids in a tragic accident kept me from abiding.

College brought better opportunities to indulge, but typically the beer available was tough to enjoy.  To this day the sight of a "Beast" can is enough to give me a headache.

Then I discovered Ales and microbrew...  Once I found gainful employment and local beer cases began to expand beyond twelve packs, I awakened to a much broader world.

I was hooked and particularly drawn to the process of brewing.  In 1992 my wife and I bought a starter homebrew kit, Charlie Papazian's book, and we were off to create our own.  Thanks to the simplicity of extract kits even our beers were quite good.  We soon began to try more complex recipes, experiment with adjuncts, and after a close call with a bottle bomb even started using mini-kegs.

In the mid-nineties our focus turned to raising a family and brew days took a back seat to a busy schedule.  Fortunately, a couple of years ago my wife rekindled the flame by buying me a brand new kit for my birthday.  The combination of the opening of a local homebrew supplier, beer loving neighbors and a little more disposable income have propelled this hobby to new heights.

These day's our beer starts with a big bag grain instead of a can of extract.  All of our beer is on tap and the plastic buckets have been replaced with a stainless steel conical ("The Ferminator").  This year I even grew my own hops!  Fall is perfect for brewing, so stick around to see where the home brewery takes us next!  -D

Basics of Homebrewing

For those of you who are new to the world of homebrewing I would like to offer some primers that will have you brewing in no time.  There are excellent resources on the interwebs today for learning how to homebrew.  If you are new to the world of homebrew and craft brewing I would like to offer you this link to the free online version of John Palmer's excellent book "How to Brew".

Before John's book was available I got my start from the father of homebrewing, Charlie Parpazian's book The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. This is an easy and fun book to read and I highly recommend it to everyone who has an interest in beer.

As Charlie would say, "Relax, and have a homebrew"

Cheers,

D