35th Annual NHC 2013 - Brewing up a Revolution

Wow...Sold out in 20 hours with nearly twice as many tickets available!  I am glad I was able to secure my tickets for myself and my friend.  This will be my first year attending the National Homebrewers Conference.  You can check out the full info here.

Brewery News

I finally kicked my 5lb CO2 tank..lasted me abut 15 months! Got it refilled and my porter is carbing up.  Should have a review of that soon.  IPA in the fermentation chamber soon to be dry-hopped this weekend.

Brewing Water

DISCLAIMER: I am not a chemist, and most of what I have gathered may have been interpreted incorrectly.  So don't blame me if your beer tastes worse after using any info I provide in this post.

Generally, water can be ignored until you have somewhat mastered the other hot and especially the cold-side of brewing.  Adjusting your water can turn a good beer, into a great beer.  This is geared to All Grain brewing, generally extract brewers will not need to worry too much about water.

Water Source

The first thing a brewer needs to figure out is where their water is coming from.  Talk to the person who pays your water bill and navigate to that water companies website.  A lot of water treatment companies will post a water analysis which details the low, median, and high ranges of different minerals in the water.  I live in Montgomery County, MD and my water company Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) posts yearly tap water analysis.  If you get your water from a well, or your water company does not provide you with the details (if its not online try to call), you may need to send a sample away for testing with a company like Ward Labs (W5).

Additional note: If your water company treats your water with chlorine, I recommend using campden tables to treat your water at 1 tablet per 20 gallons of water.

(My water originates from the Potomac River, which looks like this as it gets close to D.C.)

What to Look for:

I recommend you read John Palmer's Chapter 15 from How To Brew on Water for more information.  Below are the minerals and my water sources average values which I use to plan my water adjustments.
Calcium (Ca) - 38ppm
Magnesium (Mg) - 9ppm
Sodium (Na) - 21ppm
Chloride (Cl) - 41ppm
Sulfate (SO₄) - 40ppm
Hardness/Alkalinity - Alkalinity (CaCO₃) 82ppm

Why Care About It?

Having the correct chemical makeup in your water will determine your mash pH.  Having an ideal mash pH will help insure full conversion in your mash.  Additionally, higher/lower levels of the different minerals will have an impact on the flavor of your beer, especially if you are trying to replicate a classic style.  I wouldn't be able to make a light lager, which needs to be low in minerals, with my water without the bitterness coming out to harsh.

How to Make Adjustments

Since, I don't have a firm chemical grasp on how all these minerals work with each other in the mash, I choose to use the EZ Brew Water Caclulator.  The Calculator takes my mineral concentrations above and allows me to input other salt additions to raise/lower my mash pH while also telling me my total mineral concentrations for my water.  To lower the mash pH you use Gypsum - CaSO₄, Calcium Chloride - CaCL₂, Epsom Salt - MgSO₄, or lactic acid in the form of acidulated malt, or liquid lactic acid.  To raise the mash pH you can use Slaked Lime - Ca(OH)₂, Baking Soda - NaHCO₃, or Chalk - CaCO₃ (note chalk will not dissolve in water and will need to be added to the mash)

Most of the time, with my water, I am trying to lower the pH to get it into the desired range based on the EZ Brew Water Calculator.  If I am brewing a pale ale or IPA I am going to use some gypsum to bring down the pH and accentuate the bitterness in the beers.  If I am brewing something lighter, like a blonde I may use some Calcuim Chloride.  If I think too much of a salt addition is necessary, I will then turn to acid malt to get me where I need to be.  I plan to brew a Czech Pilsner here soon, and I think I am going to need to cut my tap water with some RO water to get it soft enough.

So for any water guru's out there...let me know if I am doing something glaringly wrong with my water adjustments in my recipes!  I am currently just going by taste and taking good notes, and unfortunately I do not have any pH testing equipment, so I am really trusting that spreadhseet - for better or worse.

For More Understanding...

John Palmer's How to Brew - Chapter 15 - explains each mineral, their recommend ranges
AJ DeLange - Local (DC Area) brewing water legend has a ton of good info hosted here
Brewing Networks Brewstrong - Water Shows - about 5 hours of audio on the subject (may contain some language)
Water - New book by Brewer's Publications coming out soon
The Mad Fermentationist's Blog Post on Water - Does a good job regarding recommend ppm mineral values
Brukaiser - Especially some of his documents like pH Targets

Bad Bear - Northern English Style Brown Ale

The Bad Bear brown ale is a beer I brewed back in October, but just now am getting around to documenting the beer.  As you can see, I am enjoying creating these labels for the beers.  Hopefully, I don't offend anyone, but I figure if you are old enough to drink beer you are old enough to handle some humor in the labels.

Bad Bear - English Brown Ale

Brewed On: October 6, 2012
Kegged On: October 27, 2012
Style: 11C - Northern English Brown
Batch Size: 6 gallons
Efficiency: 75%
OG: 1.049
FG: 1.012
IBU: 27 calculated (Rager) 
ABV: 4.9%
Yeast: Safale S-04 English Ale Yeast (Re-hydrated) Fermented at 64°

Grist Mashed at 150.5 for an hour

80% - Maris Otter (Muntons) - 9 lb
4%  - Biscuit (Dingemans)- 8 oz
4%  - Special Roast (Briess) - 8 oz
4%  - Crystal 40L (Briess) - 8 oz
4%  - Victory (Briess) - 8 oz
2%  - Chocolate (Briess 350L) - 4 oz


Hop Additions 
1.35 oz - Willamette 4.8% AAU - 60 minutes - 25 IBUs
0.5 oz   - Willamette 4.8% AAU - 10 minutes - 2 IBUs

Water Adjustments
Montgomery County, MD Water - 1/2 Campden Tablet for all brewing water
4 grams gypsum to mash water
4 grams CaCl to mash water

(Bad Bear Brown Ale - in New Pint Glass from Xmas)

Tasting Notes: The beer pours an auburn red to brown color which is fairly clear, but not crystal.  The beer has a sweet and grainy malt aroma, but also has a dominate aroma of musty-fruity esters from the English yeast.  The beer is very balanced, but leans slightly more towards the malty side than bitter and the overall taste profile is somewhat muddled from the tangy/tart yeast character.  The beer has a creamy mouthfeel and finishes with just enough dryness to invite you back for another sip.

Overall, I will definitely be making some changes the next time I make this beer.  I have read in the online forums some dislike for the Safale S-04 dry yeast, and I unfortunately agree. This yeast was said to be very funky when fermented in the upper 60s and even result in a tangy very estery beer in the lower 60s.  I find this to be the case as the ester character really overshadows any of the discerning malt tastes I was hoping to achieve with this beer.  I fermented this beer at 63° and after initial fermentation (4 days) allowed it to creep up to 66° or so.  I have followed a similar fermentation regimen with WLP002 (English strain of liquid yeast) in my English Mild where I felt the malt character really shined.  After my own personal experience and of the online community, I think I will be leaving the S-04 dry yeast out of my yeast library in the future.  So next time - different yeast, same grain bill.

2012 Brew Year in Review

Well, today is the last day of 2012 and I would like to take a few minutes to step back and look at all which was accomplished this year.  First, and maybe most important to anyone reading, is I started this blog back in February.  It has provided me an outlet to spout my knowledge and opinions on craft and homebrewing beer, as well as, alleviate my wife's ears to my constant rambling of beer...well maybe not completely (She has picked up quite a bit of beer related knowledge and I am very impressed with her for that).  2012 marked my 3rd full year of being a homebrewer and I was able to accomplish the following:

The Brewery

I began kegging at the end of 2011, but didn't start to truly understand the difficulties surrounding draft beer until I let a couple of gallons of beer pour out onto the garage floor!  For Christmas I received 3 perlick stainless steel faucets and all the additional equipment to connect those faucets to my kegs.  Hopefully, this will prevent the beer spillage from happening again (although my velcrow solution for the picnic taps worked well).  I created a hopper extension out of some cardboard and duck tape for my Barley Crusher - now if I could just remember to keep my drill battery charged so I don't have to hand crank 12 lbs of grain every brew day!  Additionally, I am slowly creating a more organized brew area in the garage and getting my process down - I purchased some saw horses to hold my mash tun so I don't dump a mash tun full of grains and hot liquor on the floor.

(Trashcan-stand which is no longer being utilized due to being a brewery hazard)

The Beer

After reading Ray Daniels book, Designing Great Beers, I came up with one of my own recipes for an English Mild ale.  This beer was my first personal recipe to place in competition.  I also received a lot of great feedback on other beers and much gratitude from some friends who enjoyed Shegogue Brew at their housewarming party.  I began working on my house Pale Ale recipe and will continue to adjust the hops until I get the flavor profile I am looking for.  I even created a brew calendar, which it saddens me to admit I am already off pace and possibly going to change it up!

(Plastered Pilgrim - Spiced Pumpkin Ale)

Also, as you have seen in some recent recipe posts, I have been creating labels for my homebrew.  Just another way to enjoy the hobby and showcase my beer for friends and family.

Lastly, I want to say thank you to all who read this blog.  I occasionally check the site traffic statistics provided by Google and it is nice to see other people are frequenting the site.  Don't be scared to leave comments, criticism or other feedback.

So for a 2012 Happy Brew Year, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year for 2013!  Be safe out there tonight!

The Wall - Russian Imperial Stout

You can check out a little synopsis of the brew day on this post: Double Brew for Shegogue.

The Wall Recipe
Brewed On: July 14, 2012
Style: 13F - Russian Imperial Stout
Batch Size: 6 gallons
Efficiency: 63%
OG: 1.095
FG: 1.021
IBU: 166 calculated (Rager) More like in the 80-90 range, but we will say a nice 100
ABV: 9.7%
Yeast: Safale S-05 American Ale Yeast (2 Re-hydrated packs)

Grist Mashed at 150 for an hour
82% - Pale Ale Malt (Great Western) - 19.5 lbs
6% - Roasted Barley (Briess 300L)  - 1.5 lbs
4% - Caramunich (Weyermann) - 1 lb
4% - Special B (Dingemans 300L) - 1 lb
4% - Chocolate Malt (Briess 350L) - 1 lb

Hop Additions 
3oz of Warrior 15.8%AA - 60 minutes - 100 IBUs?

Tasting Notes:  The Wall pours almost pitch black in the glass, but held up to the light you can get a glimpse of a very dark brown (like the stain of a dark walnut wood) color.  The head on the beer is a dark tan and provides lacing while drinking.

(The Wall - Waxed and Labeled for Christmas Gifts!)

The beer has a bunch of different smells that I picked up on - coffee, chocolate, a dark fruitiness (grapes?) and a sweet malt aroma.  The Wall has a firm bitterness upfront, which is accompanied by moderate carbonation, and leads to the complex chewy flavors already perceived in the aroma.  The bitter from the hops and roasted malts packs a punch on the taste buds and invites the drinker back for another sip!

This beer should continue to age and improve.  If you received one of these as a gift I look forward to hearing your tasting notes in the comment section below!

Brewery Update - Early December 2012

So far the Plastered Pilgrim has been received well by family and friends.  Everyone really seems to enjoy the labels, which I plan to continue.  I did not get time to brew in November, which according to the Brew Calendar was supposed to be a Pale Ale.  At this point I am undecided on when the next brew day will be and what I will be brewing.  The ingredients I purchased for my porter, had some partial cracked grains (chocolate malt) so I made need to buy some new malt for freshness.  Additionally, I have some hops in the freezer I may just attempt a pale ale...Glad I gave myself some leniency when I constructed the Brew Calendar!

In other news, black friday was a big success for some brewery equipment purchases.  Expect to see a post and pictures to come of my new tap system.

Cheers!

Labeling your Homebrew

I have had to work 2 of the past 3 weekends, so I have had very little time to spending on brewing related items.  I missed my scheduled porter brewday and will need to reschedule to sometime in December.  I was able to carve out some time to bottle a case off of my Plastered Pilgrim keg and label them!

I thought I would post about some of the methods of creating and applying Labels for your homebrewed beer or wine.  Hopefully this post will alleviate you readers from some of the leg work.

Label Design

The key to a good label is being able to express your thoughts or theme which will attract and inform your consumers (friends).  Think about what draws your attention when looking for new beers at the bottle shop.  Maybe its a creative logo or cool font (DA Fonts).  Maybe its a picture or a beer name.  Homebrewer's tend to do labels in 1 of 2 ways:  (1) Labels which have consistency (Logo, font, layout etc.) or (2) each label is its own creation.  I like to side with the first option.  I like to think of my homebrew as if it was real brewery.  I want my labels to all have a feel which evokes brand recognition.  I think Samuel Adams and Sierra Nevada are two breweries that effectively do this.

Now that you have some ideas, you need to decide how you will be creating the labels.  Some artistic folks decide to do it by hand.  These can be really awesome!  Unfortunately, I was not blessed with an artistic hand and tend to go the digital route.  I use GIMP, a program similar to photoshop, to create my labels.

Dimensions

Are you making labels for 12 oz or 22 oz bottles?  When I was looking online it seemed like a lot of labels for 12 ounce bottles were 3 inches high by 4 inches wide.  I went with this and, it produces a nice label, but I think I will increase the dimensions as it just didn't cover as much space as I as hoping for.  Additionally, the text which looked rather large on my computer monitor, was almost illegible when printed.  The "Surgeon General" warning I created was in 14px, and other text about the beer was 16px.  I had to increase this and recommend 20px or greater for any text.  In GIMP I set the pixels to match inches.  3x4 correlates to 900px by 1200px.  So keep that in mind with font sizes.  I think my next set of labels will be 4 inches high by 5.25 inches wide

Printing and Applying

Unfortunately, if you have an inkjet printer, you won't easily be able to label with my suggested adhesive (see below).  You can purchase specific adhesive papers from places online such as onlinelabels.com which will allow you to use inkjet.  If you have a laser printer, you're set!  If not just print out one color sheet from your inkjet printer and take it to a local copy center like Kinkos or Staples etc.  I used Staples and was able to use their straight-edge cutter, which was a real time saver!

Applying - Most homebrewers hate de-labeling commercial bottles.  It is a painstaking and time intensive process.  So why would you want to put labels on your beer that is hard to take off?  I browsed the forums, and although skeptical, found that milk was the best adhesive!  Sure enough, I poured an ounce of milk onto a plate and lightly dipped the back of the labels in the milk and applied them to the bottles.  Held strong!  Came off with a little water and scratching with my fingernail.  And they didn't smell :)