9/16/13: Water Prep

Beer is 95% water, so I think a big part of making beer good has to do with the right water.  Sure, getting sugar out of the grain, and letting the yeast actually make the beer under the right conditions is important.  The yeast may be the most important of all.  However, some thought and preparation of the water is very important and often overlooked.  Water chemistry is a voluminous subject.  I certainly am not an authority on the subject.  However, there are a few things that you can learn that will help you and I get by.  I am going to describe my water preparation for brewing.

I usually try to plan when I am going to brew, and I have some things I try to prepare ahead of brew day. The main two items I try to prepare ahead are: the yeast and the water.  The chloride-sweet, sulfate-bitter ratio is beyond what I am trying to discuss here.  For this posting, I simply want to discuss a couple of steps I take to prepare my water.  These steps seem to have improved my beers taste quite a bit, and I think they may help you.  If you really want to explore the complexities of water chemistry and chloride:sulphate ratio, I would suggest starting with Palmer's How To Brew.

To me it just makes sense that the reason certain beers taste the way they do (and have for hundreds of years) is because the water in that location lent itself to producing that flavor.  Therefore, without getting heavy into the chemistry of the water... I usually simply try to match the water from a particular location which is known for that style beer.

I begin preparing the water the day before I am going to brew.  First of all, I live in Austin, Texas where the tap water is guarenteed to be three things 1) warmer than desireable 2) extremely alkaline and 3) pretty high levels of chlorine / chloramine. The pH is generally in the 9-9.5 range.  To try and remove the chlorine and chloramine, the first thing I do is crush a Campden tablet, add it to my HLT and boil the water for about 20 minutes.  One tablet is supposed to be able to treat roughly 20 gallons of water, and I generally start off with around 18-19 gallons of water in the HLT.

The next thing I do after boiling the water is try to match the water of a region / place that my be known for a particular beer style.  If I am doing an English brown ale or ESB, I may try to match London or Burton upon Trent water.  If I am doing a dunkel or German lager, I may try to match Munich.  You get the picture.  I happen to have a water distiller for my house that has a 10 gallon holding tank, so sometimes I cut the tap water with distilled, sometimes I start with distilled instead of tap water.  In general, darker beers can start with harder water with slightly more alkalinity.  Lighter beers need less hardness and alkalinity.  Other than the pH and chlorine levels, Austin has decent levels of chloride, sulfate, & hardness.

Often, you can go online and get a water quality / chemistry evaluation from your utility company.  If you have well water, I guess you'd have to get it analyzed.  After you have the chemistry of your water supply, you can use various spread sheets, software applications, web-site brewing tools, etc. to determine what is necessary to try and get close to your target water. I happen to use BeerSmith software to calculate my water profile additions, etc. Some of the adjuncts used to adjust the water chemistry are:

• Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)
• Calcium Chloride
• Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate)
• Salt
• Epsom's salt (Magnesium Sulfate)
• Chalk (Calcium Carbonate)

These are easy to get / find items. Generally speaking, these items are used in small amounts and will go a long ways.

The last thing I do at times is adjust the pH.  In general, to aid in the enzymatic processes in the mash, the pH needs to be less than 6, and many famous brewing authors state that the pH needs to be in the 5.2-5.4 range.  I find that darker beers can reach this zone easily if the pH is around 7 to begin.  Lighter beers may need a slightly more acidic starting point - somewhere closer to 6.  Usually I will add a small amount of food grade phosphoric acid (from LHBS) to lower the pH.  

So, it takes a little time to prepare the water the day/night before a brew day.  There are a couple of advantages of this process other than the obvious - making the beer better.  One advantage is that after boiling 18 gallons for 20 minutes, the mass/volume of water will retain quite a bit of heat overnight. The next day when I am going to brew, I can heat the strike water very quickly as the HLT is still quite warm. Another advantage is that while the water is boiling, I can run it through my plate chiller, tubing, etc.  I typically flush the whole system with hot cleaner right after brewing, so this hits it again the night before brewing.

That's it in a nutshell.

Cool Stuff at the end of August...... just not cool in TX!

8/30/13 ...

So it's the end of August.  Cool weather must be around the corner, right?  Maybe if you live in Alaska like my brother.  I see it's in the 50's there this week.  No wonder he's not down here visiting.  It's 103 in Austin, but it only feels like..... well, 103.  I hope to have a brew day this 3-day weekend, and I'll post it if I do.  For today, I cleared my camera memory card and thought I'd share a few cool things I came across.

It's amazing sometimes the amount of stale beer stuff that's out there.

I mean REALLY?...... ash trays, mirrors, lighted mirrors, neon signs, lighted signs... I don't know... any number of things (crap) I wouldn't have in my house from the beer companies.  And, if I would have some of it, my wife would definitely NOT have it in the house.  I am OK with that because 1) I grew up, and 2) my wife's opinion is usually better than mine when it comes to what goes in the house.  If her opinion is really way off..... it's not..... it's still is the best idea, and "really what I was thinking, too" (I've also been married a while).

Anywho, this item may fall into the ugly lamp that has horses and spins and throws light across the room..... category with some people.  I dig it, and definitely don't feel that way.  I even sprung it on my wife!  (and she was ok).  

I came across this lamp.... coolest thing ever.  Here's their website

It's a bottle from a turn of the century brewery set up with a bunch of piping and a big red valve (on/off switch)..... most of these breweries went under at some point after prohibition.  This one is from 1899.  They have several form factors with the lamps.  Everything from hanging lamps to floor lamps, etc.

It's got a 40watt bulb inside.  The bottle is clear, but they've sandblasted the lower portion of the bottle to diffuse the light.  They also have vintage brown bottles, and I may purchase one to see if I like the brown light better.

Another cool thing...

my Amber Ale!

This guy started out 2-1/2 months ago (brewed on 6/16/13).  It tasted green / raw for a while, but has matured into a wonderful amber ale.  It's very malty, but like a sweet old friend with whom you like to sit and chat.  I may play a little with the recipe, but this one is a solid, every-time / everyday kinda beer. Always waiting in the wings as the go-to....

Brew: 6/16/13
OG: 1.055
FG:  1.012
ABV: 5.6%
SRM: You tell me.   ?12
IBU: 27
Batch: 12ga

Recipe:

• 87%  2-Row Brewers Malt
• 5%    C60  
• 4%    Munich (9SRM)
• 3%    C120
• 1oz     Magnum (14.7%AA)      60min
• 0.5oz  Centennial (8.7%AA)     10min
• 0.5oz  Tettnang (6.1%AA)        10min
• US-05 (2 pkg)

I did use some gelatin finings to clarify in secondary (keg).  My usual process / equipment is: conical, rack to secondary keg (cut dip tube), crash with gelatin finings, may serve from secondary or rack to serving keg.  If I rack to serving keg, I will usually run through filter (0.5um).

So that's all for now, I will go through my equipment one of these days, and will hopefully post a new brew day event after this needed 3day weekend.

Big DIPA

It's been a while since I brewed anything.  Summer is winding down, and have been spending a lot of time with my girls.  Have tried some good beer recently, and it got me inspired to brew something up.

Usually I am not one for overly hopped beers, however, a friend gave me a bottle of Pliny the Elder which you cannot get here in Texas.  I was very impressed with how good PTE was, and also recently tried Firestone's Double Jack.  Another good over the top hopped beer, or perhaps I could use their actual Double IPA nomenclature.  Perhaps my taste buds are changing, or perhaps these are simply two REALLY good DIPA beers that have better flavor and balance than most.

Custom Mash Paddle

Anyway, I set out to brew something along the lines of these beers.  Since the last brew, I've added a few pieces of equipment.  I got a Monster Mill 3, and have it rigged with my 1/2" drill with variable speed control.  Works FANTASTIC.  Other new additions are a Hop Spider for the boil kettle, an inline filter / trub strainer between boil kettle and pump, and a dry hopper - which I will definitely use on this batch of beer.

I am still working on the best repeatable workflow for the brewery.  The Blichmann Tower of Power / RIMS results in very clear wort going to the boil kettle, The Hop Spider and trub strainer will hopefully result in very, VERY clear wort into the fermenter.

For this batch, I took a look around the web for big double IPA recipes, and checked this blog as well for ideas.  I settled on a recipe that would result in around 8% ABV, 100-IBUs, and taste - well - good.

Here's what I came up with...

Grist:
88%   (26#)    2Row
4%     (1.5#)   Carapils
2%     (10oz)  C40
5%     (1.5#)   Dextrose - in boil kettle


Mash was basically Single infusion / 151F for 70min

Hops:
50ml Hop Extract @ 90 min (10-IBU/5ml/5ga batch = 100-IBU / 2 (10ga batch) ~ 50-IBU)
10ml Hop Extract @ 45 min
2oz Simcoe - 30 minutes left,
5oz Simcoe and 2oz Centennial (7.9%AA) - @flame out.

Hop Extract (HopShot from NorthernB)

Hop Spider @ work

Brew day was pretty easy / uneventful.  I used the trub filter, and the wort was pretty clear going into the conical. I was impressed with how easy the hop spider and trub filter were to clean after brewing.

7oz flame out hops

The taste of the wort was hoppy (shocker), but damned if it wasn't some malty/hoppy goodness.

OG 1.076-1.077

I recorded 076 as OG, but looking at this photo - it may have been 077, oh well.  I hydrated 3 packages of US-05; not sure why I hydrated them except the manufacturer has hydration instructions, so I guess I picked that method based on manufacturer recommendations.  The fermentation took off within 8-10 hours, likely due to the high sugar content; this will be in the 8-9% EtOH range.

BBQ time

Have had a couple of weeks off from brewing beer, trying to figure out clarity issues with current beers and making new recipes.  Currently have an Amber Ale, Pilsner, and Oktoberfest bier in various stages of aging and fermentation.  Here's the Oktoberfest bier just forming a nice Krausen.

Lazy weekend this weekend, decided to fire up the Egg and have some spatch chicken. Will share the process I go through.  Although I don't have a picture of splaying the chicken, I basically take some poultry shears and cut out the back bone.  Once done, you can lay the bird out flat similar to a book layed out with the cover side up.

Spatch (basically cut out back bone and spread flat) chicken in vacuum marinade

Next, I got the Egg to a steady 375 and put some dry rub on the bird.  For this, I used 5-spice on one side and Peruvian BBQ rub on the other side.

After spraying the bird with olive oil cooking spray, or Pam, or greasing with butter - just sprinkle the bird on both sides and rub the spices in.  I also create a pocket under the skin on the breast side and sprinkle the rub under the skin in the pouch this creates.

Once dressed, the chicken goes on the grill for 45-60 minutes, and I check it with my Thermapen - 180 in the thigh, 160 in the breast. A Hatch Green Chili, some baked potatoes & sweet potatoes, and it's all set.

That's about it, the spices were fantastic.  Will get back to brewing in a week or two.

Clarksville, TX

The town of Clarksville, TX was the first established "freed man" (former slave) community west of the Mississippi.  It originally was just outside the city of Austin, TX.  

The area was originally part of a 365-acre (148 ha) tract of land belonging to Texas Governor Elisha Pease, and in 1871 was sold to Charles Clark, a freedman who would start the community that now bears his name. Clark built a house on what is now West Tenth Street and subdivided the remainder of the land to other freedman. Just a mile west of Austin, Clarksville soon became a de facto part of the city, especially when the International-Great Northern Railroad laid tracks nearby in the 1870s. The Sweet Home Baptist Church, a cornerstone of the community to this day, was founded prior to 1882, and a school existed as early as the 1890s.  At least six communities of emancipated slaves existed around Austin including Wheatville (founded by celebrated Austin black leaderReverend Jacob Fontaine), Pleasant Hill, and Clarksville.^[3]

However, early in the twentieth century developers began to realize the land value of Clarksville, which lay near growing downtown Austin. Austin city policy aimed to concentrate the local black population in the east, and pressured black communities in west Austin, such as Clarksville and Wheatville, to move. In 1918 the Austin school board closed the Clarksville school. Clarksville residents were later forced to use city services in east Austin or none at all. The 1928 master plan of the city of Austin embraced Jim Crow and recommended "that all the facilities and conveniences be provided the Negroes in this district, as an incentive to draw the Negro population to this area." Most Clarksville residents endured the lack of services, however, and refused to move.^[4] In 1968 Clarksville residents unsuccessfully protested a state and local plan to build a highway along the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which extended along the western boundary of Clarksville. The completed Mopac Expressway sliced through the community, forcing 33 families to leave.