Brew Tips

Here is a list of things I've learned from immersing myself in all things beer. You might find them interesting.

• Hot Schotchies - a delight for those bitterly cold outdoor brew days
  • Thick vs. Thin mash - tweaking all-grain brewing
  • Crystal Malts - adding sweetness and caramel taste.
  • Yeast Washing - care and propagation of a brewer's best friend
  • Bottling from a keg - a simple process with a picnic tap
  • Cleaning kegs - cleanliness is next to godliness
  • Cleaning beer lines - without CO2 pressure!
  • Miscellaneous equipment - stuff you need only when you need it
• Sparging. - elegantlty recover from stuck sparges.

Hot Schotchies.

This is a wonderful addition on cold outdoor brewing days. It is a bit of a ritual and I can imagine brewers hundreds of years ago finding this technique to bring more brightness to the brew day. I quote from Ray Daniels and Jim Parker Brown Ale, Classic Beer Style Series, p. 109

"The origins of the following ritual are rather sketchy, but the late Russell Scherer is often credited with introducing it to the craft-brewing scene. Jim learned about hot scotchies from Artie Tafoya on a very cold, snowy day when he was brewing at the Hubcap Brewery in Vail, Colorado. The process is very simple. once you have recirculated and clarified your wort, draw off about a pint of first runnings, leaving enough room in the glass for an ounce of good single malt whisky. Add the scotch, mix well, and drink. The rich malt sugar of the wort combines wonderfully with the whisky - particularly a peatier Islay or lowland scotch - to make a delicious warm drink that gives you a nice energy boost during your brew day. A hot scotchie at the beginning of the lauter can help prevent stuck mashes - or at least make them easier to cope with when they occur."

Thick vs. Thin Mash.

John Palmer gives the following analysis...

The grist/water ratio influences the performance of the mash. A thinner mash of >2 quarts of water per pound of grain dilutes the relative concentration of the enzymes, slowing the conversion, but ultimately leads to a more fermentable mash because the enzymes are not inhibited by a high concentration of sugars.

A stiff mash of <1.25 quarts of water per pound is better for protein breakdown, and results in a faster overall starch conversion, but the resultant sugars are less fermentable and will result in a sweeter, maltier beer. A thicker mash is more gentle to the enzymes because of the lower heat capacity of grain compared to water. A thick mash is better for multirest mashes because the enzymes are not denatured as quickly by a rise in temperature.

Craig's view: In general, mash thickness doesn't have great impact on the final beer. I prefer using 5 gallons of mash water for most beers that have around 10 pounds of grain and often add 0.5 lb carapils/carafoam (dextrin) for a bit of sweetness and head retention. This yields a thin-ish mash which helps maximize efficiency. For larger grain bills, more mash water can be used.

If you seek a maltier and/or sweeter tasting beer, you can usually achieve that with greater precision through grain selection (e.g. adding Munich or Vienna malts for malty flavor, or adding Carapils/Carafoam or other crystal malts for sweetness), wort additives (e.g. adding nonfermentable lactose sugar as in some stouts), post-fermentation sugar additives (e.g. back sweetening cider, though be mindful of restarting fermentation), and by mashing at higher temperatures (>154 ^o F, activating alpha amylase enzymes that create nonfermentable sugars (dextrin) in addition to fermentables, instead of lower temperatures that activate beta amylase enzymes that create only fermentable maltose sugar).

Crystal Malts.

Brad Smith indicates...

Caramel and Crystal malts are produced separate from pale malts. They are typically made from high nitrogen barley that is first soaked in water and then germinated. Where regular pale malt is next dried and kilned at low temperature, caramel malts are instead left wet and heated to typical mash temperatures of 150-170 F for a few hours at high humidity. [Just like with mashing, the wet heating temperature affects wort fermentability, the higher temp, the more unfermentables]. This effectively “mashes” or converts the sugars while they are still in the grain. Next the caramel malt is roasted at a higher temperature of around 250F until the desired color is reached – caramelizing the sugars. This also removes the remaining moisture.

Many of the sugars in crystal malt caramelize during roasting, and become unfermentable which is why caramel malt adds sweetness and body to the finished beer. Carmel/Crystal malts also improve the head retention of a finished beer. Those kilned at higher temperature generally have a stronger caramel flavor. Generally caramel makes up 2-15% of the grist, but in some cases may be slightly higher.

Craig's view: Crystal malts are used to add color, flavor and sweetness to beer. Since they are already "mashed" they require no enzymatic power to convert them to sugar during the mash. Cara malts (e.g. Carapils from Breiss and carafoam from Weyermann) are one type of Crystal malt, often called dextrins since the starch in them is already converted to a combination of fermentable and unfermentable sugars called dextrins. Dextrins are light so add no color and do not impart a caramel-like taste, so are less intrusive than their darker crystal cousins.

Dextrins, however, will increase fullness, increase the final gravity [because some of its sugar is not fermentable] and enhance foam. They are therefore desired when you want the flavors of the base malts to shine through without adding the taste complexity of darker crystal malts. Darker crystal malts (e.g. C-40) can be used with Dextrins, but be mindful that their combination does not to exceed 15% of the grain bill, else you may create a cloying sweetness.

Yeast Washing.

<in process>. Harvesting and re-pitching yeast is a common practice in most breweries. Brewers should be able to re-use yeast for at least 7 generations and often as many as 10 generations if good harvesting and storage practices are followed.

Yeast to be harvested should be selected from the middle portion of the yeast bed when harvesting from the bottom of a tank, or from the middle skim when harvesting from the top of a tank.

What yeast should be harvested?

• Yeast Generation: Always select the youngest generation of yeast available for harvest. Using fewer generations will minimize opportunities for mutation or contamination.
• Previous Fermentation: Always harvest from a low gravity and low hopped beer. High gravity and/or highly hopped beers can stress the yeast and have detrimental affects on future fermentations. Do not harvest yeast from beers with alcohol contents greater than 6.5% ABV.
• Yeast Evaluation: Only harvest yeast from fermentations that have exhibited normal fermentation characteristics. Always evaluate the yeast slurry as it is harvested. The slurry should appear thick and creamy with very little trub and no “off” flavors and aromas. Strong sulfur or phenolic aromas indicate possible problems with either sanitation or stress. Yeast should be tested for purity if possible and checked for viability and cell density. If there are any concerns over the health or purity of a culture, DO NOT USE IT!

When to harvest yeast?

• Cylindroconical and Dish Bottom Vessels (Bottom Cropping): Yeast should be harvested once the temperature has dropped below 40°F (4°C) and trub has been discharged. This will insure a large yield of clean, homogenous slurry.
• Open Vessels (Top Cropping): Yeast can be harvested once the gravity has dropped below 50% of original gravity. First head will rise approximately 24-36 hours into fermentation. Discard 1st skim (“dirt skim”).

Cleaning kegs.

See this video for a simple process and it is basically what I do. PBW (Pro Brewer Wash) is a great product that he mentions. PBW is a bit pricey and Oxyclean does a great job as an alternative. He doesn't show it in the video, but after you dump out the yeast sediment, roughly rinse the keg to get the major gunk out of it. One fantastic way to do that is to use one of these gizmos. Just put it on your laundry sink. In the video, he recommends sanitizing the keg at the end of the process, but I simply store them cleaned and closed. Then I sanitize the keg just prior to use. I think it is important to always sanitize right before use, so doing it at the end of cleaning is a bit redundant.

Understand that the "in" (gas) and "out" (beer) posts of your keg are different. You won't notice this unless you look closely. The out post has a larger flare at the lower edge of the section that goes into your keg connector. Be sure you reinstall your posts back on the same keg nozzle. I remember the correct placement by thinking of bell-bottom pants (they have a large flare out, so the large flared post goes on the out side of the keg).

Cleaning beer lines.

Beer line sanitzation in kegging systems is key. One way to clean beer lines is to dismantle everything and soak the lines in a bucket or sink. This isn't bad, but it doesn't succeed in flowing cleaning liquid through the line to any large degree which can help loosen any crud that may be in it. So, I think it best to devise a way to flow cleaner through your lines.

Most people agree and clean beer lines by putting line cleaner in a keg, pressurizing the keg with CO2 and simply "pouring" the solution out the tap. However, this can use a lot of CO2 which means you need to run out to your CO2 refiller more often and spend more on CO2.

Here is video that shows how you can use a syphon instead of CO2 pressure for beer line cleaning. This is my preferred way of cleaning beer lines. Just be sure the water level in your keg is above your draining bucket or the syphon won't work. Clean your lines with beer line cleaner and rinse with clean water. Also, if you can afford it, having a keg (a small 2-3 gallon one is fine) dedicated to cleaner and always filled with it can speed line cleaning.

Variable pressure kegs with one CO2 gauge.

Miscellaneous equipment.

There are a variety of odds and ends that come in handy when brewing. Having them available can help you easily recover from issues. Things to consider.

• Plastic tool box for brewing odds-and-ends. You can pick one up at Home Depot for under $10. This organizes all of the small little things in one place so that you don't lose them and don't forget them if you brew remotely at a friend's house.
• Small "unclogging" brush. Get a small brush that will fit into the spigot of your mash tun and boil kettle. At times the spigot can become clogged and this is handy.
• Extra grain hop/bags. They wear out and friends might want to borrow one. Plus it is nice to have one to recover from a stuck sparge. Have a few available.
• Non-electric thermometer. In case your battery powered one fails.
• Extra LP tank. Yout don't want to run out of LP in the middle of your brew day.
• Iodine and 2 eye droppers. Good when you need to determine if your mash is complete.
• Small metal clips. These are good for attaching hop/grain bags to the side of your kettle. Be sure you remove any rubber/plastic coverings since they could end up in your brew and melt.
• Extra air lock. They are cheap and it is good to have spares.
• Small absorbent towels/rags. They can be used as pot holders for hot kettles and cleaning up.
• Butane gas lighter. For lighting your stove without matches. They have a little trigger on them and can reach into your stove to light the LP when a kettle is on the stove. Have one as a spare too.
• Extra transfer hoses. I have two - one for between my HLT and mash tun, the other off of my mash tun.
• Dry yeast packets. Have you ever forgotten to get yeast or left it behind when you were remote brewing? Having a couple of yeast packet in your toolbox might be helpful. Ones to consider are: Fermentis Safelager S-23 (for lagers), Safebrew S-33 (for high alcohol ales), Safeale S-04 (for American ales) and Safeale S-05 (for English ales).
• Wrenches. Probably one small crescent wrench for spigots and whatever you might need for your stove.
• Brew salts. If you have "normal" water, you don't really need to worry about this. However, if you have very hard water like I do, you always want to have them on hand and know how to use calculators to determine exactly what you need to add to your mash water.

Sparging.

A stuck fly sparge occurs when you you are attempting to drain your mash tun of the sweet wort and the compressed grain bed halts the flow of liquid. If you punch a hole in your grain bed to allow liquid to flow you will likely greatly compromise (lower) your efficiency - the amount of sugar you will get out of your mash, thereby lowering the ABV of your resulting beer.

Two types of techniques are listed below: 1) techniques to help avoid stuck sparges, 2) techniques to recover from a stuck sparge once it occurs. Both are aimed at helping you separate the wort from your grains and maximize the amount of sugar you extract from the grains. The bottom line here is to have a big grain bag on hand that you either use starting at the beginning of your mash or as a tool once your sparge becomes stuck.

Always mashout. The mash out is raising your mash tun temperature to 168 F at the end of your mash. Mashing out makes the liquid in your mash tun less viscous and promotes an easier flow of wort during the sparge. It also helps ensure the highest amount of sugars extracted during the sparge. This is a technique to avoid a stuck sparge.

Ensure your sparge water is at 170 degrees. This is similar in intent to mashing out - it keeps the mash at around 168 degrees when sparging, which in turn keeps the mixture less viscous and prone to flow more easily. This is a technique to avoid a stuck sparge.

Use rice hulls for difficult sparges. For brews that tend toward getting stuck (e.g. those with large components of wheat or very large grain bills), add 1-1.5 pounds of rice hulls. These provide bulk that mixes thoroughly with your barley and keeps the grain bed from contracting. Rice hulls add no taste, sugar or anything else. It effectively acts as a structure to keep the barley from compressing too much in on itself. This is a technique to avoid a stuck sparge.

Use a grain bag. This technique allows you to easily recover from a stuck fly sparge and leverages a key