Hello beer and brewing fans! 

 Let me wish everyone a most happy New Year!  From my mail I see Santa brought a lot of home brew kits this year.  Because of that let me suggest you not only read some of the classic beginners books but check out some of my earlier articles here on Beer Nexus.  They alone should be enough to get you on the way to a successful brew.

Here are a few additional things home brewers should consider.

1.Wort chillers are worth it.  One of the best ways to reduce the likelihood of your beer getting contaminated is to chill the wort as fast as possible, dropping the temperature from that dangerous range that evil bacteria just love. Many beginning homebrewers accomplish this by submerging the brew kettle in an ice bath in either a large tub or the bathtub. Depending on how many bags of ice you purchased (additional expense), this can take anywhere from 40 minutes to well over an hour. 

You can save a ton of time, eliminate hassle, and reduce the risk of contamination by purchasing a wort chiller. These come in many shapes and sizes, but the most common is a coiled immersion chiller. Immersion chillers usually cost $50–$70 and can typically chill 5 gallons of wort in 20 minutes or less. You simply hook a cold-water source up to the immersion chiller, add the chiller to your kettle for the last 10 minutes of your boil to sanitize it, and then turn on the water after you’ve removed your kettle from the heat source. The chiller does the rest, and is surprisingly easy to clean when you’re finished chilling your wort. 

2. Whether you are transferring from the kettle to the primary fermentor or racking to the keg, the auto-siphon is your primary tool. Most beginning brewing setups include a 5/16” auto-siphon. These usually cost about $10 when purchased on their own, but for just $4 more, you can get a ½” racking cane that will save you a ton of time getting that precious liquid moved from vessel to vessel. It wasn’t until my fortieth batch of homebrew that I moved to the larger size—something I wish I had done on batch one. 

3. After your hot phase is complete and your wort is chilled, there’s relatively little oxygen left, and yeast likes oxygen to get a vigorous fermentation started. There are a few ways to add oxygen to your wort. You can add water from the tap, but this dilutes your wort, reducing your ABV and overall flavor of your beer. My preferred method is to use either an aeration stone (just like those you may have seen in an aquarium) or an oxygenation kit. These will run you anywhere from $35 for the aeration stone to $50 for the oxygenation kit (without the oxygen tank). Trust me, your beer will thank you. 

4. Before I ever started brewing, I read a ton of literature that talked about using blow-off tubes instead of air locks for larger beers. I should have paid attention. Whether I was using a 6.5-gallon bucket or a 6.5-gallon carboy, my bigger beers were overwhelming the airlocks almost every single time. Using a blow-off tube in place of an airlock doesn’t mean your beer won’t go bonzo; it just means that you won’t have a mess on your hands. Put one end of a tube into the top of the bung with the other tube submerged in Star San (sanitizer) and you’re set. Some krausen might work its way through the tube into your bucket of solution, so checking on this a couple of times a day and replacing the Star San isn’t a bad idea. 

5. If you’ve ever done your boil on your stovetop and had a boil-over, you know what an absolute nightmare cleaning up that mess is. While stopping boil-overs altogether would be nice, it’s pretty unlikely. Instead, take 2 minutes of prep time to save yourself an hour of elbow pain later. Simply remove your burners from the stovetop and place a layer of aluminum foil all over your stove, letting your burners poke through the foil. If your kettle happens to boil over, simply remove the burners, collect and dispose of the foil, and voilà! Clean stove top! And you homebrewers who have propane burners and brew in your driveway, patio, or garage? This foil thing can work for you, too, preventing stains as well as unhappy spouses. 

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it. 

 Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Hello beer and brewing fans!  I  hope you stop by for outstanding  craft beer, delicious drinks, and fantastic food here at our pub in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our nearly 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  Now for my November article in which I answer some of the many email questions readers have sent me.  I pick the most asked ones to answer.  

How to Steep Specialty Grains

1. If your specialty grains haven’t been milled, use a dedicated malt mill or place them in a large zip-top plastic bag and lightly crush them using a rolling pin. All you need to do is crack the grain kernels open, so no need to go too crazy.

2. Heat a gallon (4 l) or so of water—the exact volume isn’t important—in your brew kettle on the stove. While the water is heating, place the milled specialty grains into a mesh nylon or muslin bag (see page 89 for the easiest way to get grains into a mesh bag).

3. When the water reaches 160°F (70°C), kill the heat and place your mesh bag of milled grain into the hot water. Make sure to close the bag’s drawstring if it has one or tie the open end of the bag onto one of the pot’s handles to keep grain from floating into your hot water. Set the timer for 30 minutes and cover the brew kettle with a lid.

4. After half an hour, remove the specialty grains from the hot water (now proto-wort) and discard the grains. Spent grains are a great addition to the compost bin (and a popular staple among discerning backyard squirrels worldwide).

If your recipe specifies a first hops addition at 60 minutes (and most do), that means you’ll need to boil for an hour. If that first hops addition is at 75 or 90 minutes, as may be the case for certain very bitter styles such as double IPA, then you’ll need to plan on a 75- or 90-minute boil. But if your first hops addition doesn’t enter the picture until the 45-minute mark, then by all means, truncate that boil down to 45 minutes. No need to boil any longer than necessary. So, let’s assume here that we’re boiling for an hour and the first hops addition is at 60 minutes. In that case, set your kitchen timer for 65 minutes.

And for our extract brewers let me address a common question –

How to Add Malt Extract

1. Bring your specialty grain–infused water to a boil, then shut off the heat.

2. Using a long-handled spoon or whisk, add the malt extract.

3. Stir completely to fully dissolve the malt extract in the grain water. Liquid malt extract is thick, so keep stirring until it no longer sticks to your spoon. Dry malt extract is powdery and clumpy, so consider using a whisk to help break it up and help it dissolve.

4. Congratulations, you now have wort! Turn the heat back on and bring your wort to a boil.

Another question in this month’s mailbag concerns the use of a hydrometer.

How to Use a Hydrometer

The hydrometer is your best friend when you want an answer to the question, “Is fermentation over yet or what?” While a happily bubbling airlock and a cap of foam on the fermenting beer are good signs, these are only visual cues, and it’s entirely possible for fermentation to proceed without them. A hydrometer, however, does not lie.

A hydrometer measures the density of a liquid relative to that of water. So, placing a hydrometer in pure distilled water will yield a reading of 1.000. Sugar-rich wort will be considerably denser, usually in the 1.040–1.100 range, the higher, the more sugary. That number falls as the beer ferments.

It’s possible to float a hydrometer in the fermentation bucket, but sometimes the scale can be hard to read. Carboys, with their narrow necks, are another story altogether: Don’t even think of trying to plunk a hydrometer into one. You won’t get it back out until you rack the beer, and you run the very real risk of breaking the hydrometer in the process!

The most popular alternative to measuring right in the bucket is the hydrometer test jar. These are cylinders, usually plastic, with a stable base. You just draw a sample of wort or beer, fill the jar, and then place the hydrometer inside.

I'll be answering more questions in the future so keep sending them in.  Also check out my recipes in earlier articles.  It's a perfect time to start brewing so what are you waiting for?  

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Hello beer and brewing fans!  I  hope you stop by for outstanding  craft beer, delicious drinks, and fantastic food here at our pub in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our nearly 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  Now for my September article.

As the world’s most popular craft-beer style—by a long shot—it’s no surprise that brewers view IPA through regional lenses.

The flagships of influential breweries become standard-bearers for a particular area, codifying their approach among a generation of brewers and drinkers like a mother hen imprints on her chicks. Slowly, successively, speciation occurs: A critical mass of these IPAs begins to look distinct enough from peers brewed in other areas and, ultimately, New England or West Coast or New Zealand IPAs are born.

But what of Midwest IPA? Some breweries use the phrase on packaging or even in their brand names, but its contours are far from clear. Is it a distinct substyle the way its coastal counterparts are? Should its recipe highlight Midwest-grown ingredients? Or is it simply any IPA brewed within the geographic confines of the Midwest?

Breweries from Minnesota to Ohio to Missouri to Texas proudly label certain beers as Midwest IPA; for many, it’s a core, year-round offering. Its precise boundaries are open to interpretation, but consensus appears to have formed around the idea that they should contain a portion of caramel or crystal malts, some classic C-hops—Cascade, Columbus, Centennial, or Chinook—and a relatively even malt-hops balance.

If you’re thinking that sounds an awful lot like good old American IPA, you’re not wrong. As the hazy New England and bright West Coast styles drift toward opposite poles, Midwest IPA—like the region from which it hails—has proudly held the middle.

Regional IPAs are largely defined in contrast with each other.

The hazy IPAs that came out of New England and still dominate that region are instantly recognizable because of how different they are—visually, texturally, and in their flavor balance—from the American IPAs that came before.

Contemporary West Coast–style IPAs are much lighter and leaner in their base malts than they were even a decade ago. (Green Flash West Coast IPA, a beer that debuted in 2005 and inspired others, exemplifies this time warp, with a reddish-amber hue still driven by a dose of British crystal.) If many West Coast IPAs today get 100 percent pilsner or two-row, it’s partially a reaction to the brawny excesses of the chewiest New England bruisers.

Meanwhile, as those two substyles became more divergent, the middle space for Midwest IPAs became wider and more inclusive. For the average drinker—who has no need to discern particular beer-recipe nuances—today’s Midwest IPAs are probably nearest to what they’d call “regular IPAs.

While some breweries use the term Midwest IPA as a marketing tool, there is a tangible difference in Chinook, Cascade, Centennial, and other varieties grown in the Midwest versus the Pacific Northwest. Generally, many Michigan-grown hops lean more fruit-forward than Northwest-grown versions of the same varieties. 

Now for a home brewing recipe for my Midwest USA IPA.

• Original Gravity (OG): 1.065

• Final Gravity (FG): 1.012

• ABV: ~7.0%

• IBU: ~45–55

• SRM: ~8–10 (Amber) 

Ingredients

Malts 

• 10 lb (4.5 kg) Two-Row Pale Malt

• 1 lb (0.45 kg) Vienna Malt

• 1 lb (0.45 kg) Crystal Malt (20L)

• 1 lb (0.45 kg) Munich Malt 

Hops 

• 1 oz Centennial (10% AA) at 60 minutes

• 1 oz Centennial (10% AA) at 15 minutes

• 1 oz Cascade (7% AA) at 5 minutes

• 1 oz Citra (12% AA) at 0 minutes (flameout)

• 1 oz Simcoe (13% AA) at 0 minutes (flameout)

• 2 oz Citra (12% AA) for dry hopping

• 2 oz Mosaic (12% AA) for dry hopping 

Yeast 

• WLP060 American Ale Yeast Blend or WLP001 California Ale Yeast

• Use a large, healthy yeast pitch to ensure a full fermentation. 

Water 

• Start with reverse osmosis (RO) or distilled water and build your profile.

• Target a sulfate-to-chloride ratio of about 1.5:1 to 2:1 for a balanced bitterness. Add gypsum (calcium sulfate) and calcium chloride as needed.

• For example: add ½ tsp each of gypsum and calcium chloride to your mash water. 

Brewing process

1. Mash 

• Heat 4.8 gallons (18.3 L) of strike water to 163°F (73°C).

• Add the crushed grains and stir to reach a mash temperature of 152°F (67°C).

• Rest at 152°F (67°C) for 60 minutes. 

2. Boil 

• Sparge the mash slowly with hot water to collect 6 gallons (23 L) of wort.

• Bring the wort to a rolling boil and begin your 60-minute hop schedule.

• Hop additions:

  • 60 minutes: Add 1 oz Centennial.

  • 15 minutes: Add 1 oz Centennial.

  • 5 minutes: Add 1 oz Cascade.

  • 0 minutes (Flameout): Turn off the heat and add 1 oz Citra and 1 oz Simcoe. Let steep for 15 minutes. 

3. Ferment 

• Chill the wort rapidly to 67°F (19°C) using an immersion chiller or an ice bath.

• Transfer the wort to a sanitized fermenter and aerate thoroughly by shaking or with pure oxygen.

• Pitch the yeast and ferment at 67°F (19°C) for 7–10 days. 

4. Dry Hop 

• Option 1: End of Fermentation

  • Once fermentation is nearly complete (typically when gravity is 2–4 points from the target final gravity), add 2 oz Citra and 2 oz Mosaic.

  • Continue fermentation and dry hop for 3–5 days.

• Option 2: Mid-Fermentation

  • You can also try a mid-fermentation dry hop. Add the dry hops 3–4 days after pitching the yeast. 

5. Package 

• Once dry hopping is complete, cold crash the beer to 35–40°F (2–4°C) to settle yeast and sediment.

• Transfer the beer to a keg or bottles.

• For bottles, prime with corn sugar and bottle condition. For kegs, force carbonate to your desired level.

• Serve fresh for the best hop flavor and aroma. 

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Hello August! That means hot weather and cold beer. And that's why I  hope you stop by for outstanding  craft beer, delicious drinks, and fantastic food here at our pub in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our nearly 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  

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First, let me remind you that The single biggest factor that can separate good homemade beer from mediocre or bad beer is fermentation temperature. Understanding what conditions your yeast thrives in will immediately take your homebrew to the next level.

Many homebrewers either purchase or build temperature controlled chambers for their beer. Some even retrofit a refrigerator or old chest freezer with heating elements and a thermostat, and others wrap heating pads around their carboy. There are also commercial examples – like the BrewJacket – that can regulate your fermentation temperature electronically. But as important as it is to control fermentation temperature, I rarely advocate for a beginner to invest in this equipment: it takes both space and capital, and there are enough initial startup costs (brew kettle, carboys, racking canes, bottle caps, bottle capper, etc.) that these extra toys can wait.

Instead, I encourage you to be a seasonal brewer, and take advantage of the natural environment in which you live. Does it regularly get to 90°F in the summer? Try brewing a Saison that thrives in really hot temperatures. Do you live in a place with a lot of snow and ice in the winter? Try a good winter lager like a Schwarzbier and lager it in a snowbank. After all, this is how most styles developed in the first place! Most importantly, see if you can find one location in your house that is consistently around 68-72°F: this is where you'll want to brew your American ales.

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Without question, APAs (American Pale Ales), IPAs (India Pale Ales), and DIPAs (Double India Pale Ales) are the most popular beer styles right now in the United States, and their popularity has spread to places as far and near as Canada, England, and New Zealand. Hops are used in beer for two purposes: as a preservative (to prevent the beer from going rancid) and a bittering agent (to counteract the natural sweetness of wort). Hops are used in every beer style (by definition, to be called beer it must have hops), but they take center stage in these hop forward styles.

Besides “Pale Ale” (basically lower gravity IPAs) and “Double IPA” (double the hops, double the alcohol, double the fun!), 

Now let's get down to brewing business with my Citra Pale Ale. It's soooooooo good! (Note: a separate  extract recipe follows)

The Citra hop, this particular recipe features flavors of grapefruit juice and orange zest, and is best brewed in Fall to take advantage of the hop harvest. 

Grain:

7.25 lbs - American 2-Row (75%)

1.25 lbs - Light Munich Malt (12.5%)

1.25 lbs Victory Malt (12.5%)

Hops:

1.75oz Citra @ 15 minutes (39 IBU)

1.5oz Citra @ 5 minutes (16 IBU)

3.3oz Citra @ Flameout – Hold 20 minutes (this is called a hop stand)

5oz Citra – Dry Hop into primary, roughly five days into fermentation (1 oz per gallon) – 7 days

Yeast:

Omega Yeast DIPA Ale (OYL-052)

OG: 1.054

FG: 1.014

Single infusion mash at 148°F for one hour. 

Raise to 170°F for 15 minutes.

Boil for 60 minutes. Add flameout hops and let sit for 20 minutes. Chill to 68°F and pitch yeast. Ferment 4-5 days, then add dry hops. (Optional: split the dry hops into two separate batches, one pitched 4 days into fermentation, the other 7 days). This beer will leave a lot of hop particulate in suspension, and it is recommended to cold crash and fine with gelatin when fermentation is complete before packaging. 

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Did I hear you say NIPA?  Here's a recipe for new brewers in step by step fashion.  It's my Half Time NEIPA

Volume: 5 gallons (18.9L)

Predicted SRM 6.33

Predicted IBU 60.63 

Original Gravity 1.073

Final Gravity 1.016

ABV- 7.39% 

Steeping Grain

2lb (907.2 grams) Flaked Wheat

1lb (453.6 grams) Flaked (Rolled) Oats

2lb (907.2 grams) 2-row

0.5lb (226.8 grams) Carapils

Steeped at 162F (72.2C) for 20 minutes 

Extract

6.6lb (3kg) Golden Light LME (60 min)

1lb (453.6 grams) Golden Light DME (15 min)

0.5lb (226.8 grams) Cane Sugar (15 min) 

Hops

0.25oz (7.1 grams) Mosaic – 60 minutes

0.75oz (21.3 grams) Mosaic- Whirlpool

1oz (28.3 grams) Amarillo- Whirlpool

1oz (28.3 grams) Citra- Whirlpool

1oz (28.3 grams) Mosaic- Dry Hop Day 4

1oz (28.3 grams)z Citra- Dry Hop Day 4

1oz (28.3 grams) Amarillo- Dry Hop Day 4

1oz (28.3 grams) Mosaic- Dry Hop Day 7

1oz (28.3 grams) Citra- Dry Hop Day 7 

Yeast

Imperial Yeast ‘Dry Hop’ A24 – 1 packet 

Directions:

Heat 8 quarts (7.6L) of water to 162°F (72.2C). Add brewing salts. Add specialty grain including flaked wheat and rolled oats to water. Steep for 20 minutes. Remove steeping grain. Add water to reach 2.5 gallons (9.5L). Boil for 60 minutes, following the hop and extract schedule.

After the boil, chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 64°F (17.8C). Top water off to 5 gallons (18.9L). Aerate the wort and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 68°F (20C) for 2 weeks, then cold crash the beer to 35°F (1.7C). Bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.25 volumes of CO2.

Make it a Milkshake IPA!

Milkshake IPAs are super popular. You could easily give this even more of that soft, creamy mouthfeel associated with the milkshake IPA by adding lactose to this recipe! I would recommend adding the lactose with 5-10 minutes left in your boil.

Lactose is a non-fermentable sugar. This means that your yeast will not be able to consume it to produce alcohol, thus, it will leave resulting thicker mouthfeel.

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Hello summer! That means hot weather and cold beer. it's going to be a really busy month for me as I'm brewing some very special beer for the season.  I hope you don't miss them so stop by for some great beers, outstanding drinks, and fantastic food here at our pub in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  

Let's take a look at the mail bag for this month.  I've received more than a few questions about sours, so let me take that topic on first (recipe at bottom). In the most basic sense a 'sour beer' is any beer where acidity forms the backbone of the beer's flavor structure.  For most beers that role is occupied by hop bitterness, which acts like tannins in red wine. Sour beers have a structure more like white wine, with acid in the center.

This is the organoleptic way to define the style, based upon whether or not we perceive sourness on the tongue. This is ultimately a relative reflection of the amount of hydrogen ions swimming around in your suds; the more of those free-roaming particles, the more acidic,or sour, a beer will taste.

Remember the term pH from high school chemistry class? It actually stands for "potential hydrogen," and is a logarithmic gauge of how much of those respective ions are in solution. Water is considered neutral with a pH of 7, while a liquid with a pH of 6 is ten times more acidic — that is, it contains ten times more hydrogen ions. A standard ale or lager is typically in the range of 4-5 in pH. Whereas a sour will be closer to three. It doesn't sound like much of a shift, but remember, this is 10,000 times more acidic than water!

There are multiple ways in which a beer can be sculpted to fit this general flavor profile. Sour beers are [most often] made acidic by lactic acid-producing bacterial strains. Wild yeasts can also produce some acids, but lactobacilli — the same critters that sour yogurt — are usually the main actors here.

These microorganisms can be added at different phases of the brewing process for varying effect. In a so-called "simple sour," they are inoculated into the wort (the grain-steeped liquid that provides sugars necessary for fermentation) over a period of one to two days before everything is boiled and fermented as it would in a traditional beer. This produces a lighter variety of tartness typically more perceptible through aroma rather than palate. In "mixed fermentation", those aforementioned bacteria are introduced along with the yeast, lowering the pH of the beer as it picks up alcohol.

Not all sours are created equal. And not all sours are actually even sour — regardless of what the Titratable Acidity (a measurement of acid concentration in food or drink) on the label may read. As with any style of beer, a skilled brewmaster is one who mines intended flavors by design, leaving little to chance.

Certain sours on shelves today share a flavor profile with another tart, trendy liquid: kombucha. The commonality has led some health-conscious imbibers to wonder if sour beers, like their piquant cousins, can also be considered "probiotic.

In the 'simple sour' — also known as 'kettle sour' — technique, the wort is boiled after the souring, and no probiotic bacteria survive. But both mixed fermentation beers and wild-fermented sour beers will usually contain live bacteria unless they've been pasteurized after fermentation.

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I've also gotten a lo of emails from beginning home brewers.  Let me say a few words to them that might be of benefit to experienced ones too. . 

I always recommend that new home brewers start with a simple ale. This can be a pale ale, amber, or even a porter. These styles are more forgiving of small mistakes and don't require precise temperature control like lagers do. It's always nice to have an entry-level option for a beginner in any hobby. Dark ales in particular are a solid choice because the roasted malt flavor has a way of making up for an otherwise shaky first batch. Plus, they taste pretty great, making them a good option for anyone who wants to actually enjoy the fruits of their labors.

So, you've made your first ale, whether that's an American pale ale or a hearty stout (a misunderstood beer if there ever was one). How can you tell if you made it right? It's simple. You'll know you brewed aIt’sd batch if the beer tastes clean, balanced, and close to the commercial version of that style. Just like how a novice baker will know they've made it once their chocolate chip cookies taste better than the Pillsbury cookie dough you buy from the supermarket, you can tell if your ale came out right if it tastes as good or better than the brews your local bar has on tap. If it doesn't taste the same as what you're used to, that's okay. Different recipes create different flavors. Try new recipes out until you find one you really enjoy.

Really, your criteria for evaluating your own beer shouldn't be too different from what you use to evaluate other beers. But you should give yourself a little leeway, given how much money it takes to make commercial beer. How does it look? How does it smell? Does it taste good? Do you want to drink more of it? If you get all the right answers to these questions, you can give yourself a pat on the back and enjoy your homebrewed ale.

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Since we started off talking about sours let me end with an extract recipe for one - Golden Eagle Sour

Ingredients

2.7 lbs. (1.2 kg) Muntons wheat dried malt extract
2.7 lbs. (1.2 kg) Briess Pilsen dried malt extract
0.33 lb. (150 g) maltodextrin
2.6 AAU aged Mt. Hood hops (first wort hop) (2.6 oz./74 g at 1% alpha acids)
1⁄2 tsp. yeast nutrient (15 min.)
The Yeast Bay (Mélange – Sour Blend), White Labs WLP655 (Belgian Sour Mix 1), or Wyeast 3278 (Belgian Lambic Blend)
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step

Mix dried malt extract and maltodextrin with 7 gallons (26.5 L) hot water, then boil for 120 minutes.
This recipe utilizes whole hops aged open for seven years. Some stores also sell “lambic” or “aged hops,” which would work well. If neither of these options are available, you can instead add a low-alpha-acid variety and reduce boil to 60 minutes.

At the end of the boil, leave lid off and chill naturally open to the air until below 75 °F (24 °C)
— ideally either outside during cool weather or where your beer ferments. Then rack to a fermenter and shake to aerate. Pitch yeast and ferment at 67 °F (19 °C) ambient temperature. Leave in primary fermenter until the gravity is stable month-over-month (9 to 24 months). Prime and bottle as is, or blend, rack onto fruit.

If you decide to rack onto fruit, my personal favorites are white nectarines or peaches, but sour cherries or raspberries would be more traditional and work out well. For whole fruit that has been frozen/thawed in an aged sour, 6-8 weeks is my standard. 

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Start smiling - summer is on he way.  Memorial Day has come and gone and that means it's going to be a really busy month for me as I'm brewing some very special beer for the season.  I hope you don't miss them so stop by for some great beers, outstanding drinks, and fantastic food here at our pub in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  

Let's start with one fof the most popular beers here at the pub - 

Pale Rider IPA

All Grain Recipe followed by Extract version

Style: American IPA

Original Gravity: 1.065

Final Gravity: 1.012

IBU: 64

Color: 7 SRM

Alcohol: 7% ABV

Boil: 60 minutes

Ingredients

12.75 lbs. American 2-Row Malt

.75 lb. Munich Malt

1 lb. Crystal Malt (15L)

0.25 lb. Crystal Malt (40L)

1 oz. Horizon Hops (13% AA) boiled 60 minutes

1 oz. Centennial Hops (9% AA) boiled 10 minutes

1 oz. Simcoe Hops (12% AA) boiled 5 minutes

1 oz. Amarillo Hops (9% AA)boiled 0 minutes

White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast, Wyeast 1056 American

Ale Yeast, or Fermentis Safale US-05

Directions

Mash all grains at 149F until fermentation is complete. This may take 90 minutes due to the low mash temperature. Once conversion is complete sparge with 170F until pre-boil volume is reached. Boil for 60 minutes adding hops according to the schedule above. Cool to 67F, pitch yeast and ferment at 67F until final gravity is reached.

Extract Version

Follow as about but replace the American 2 row malt with 9.75 lbs. of light liquid malt extract. Replace the Munich Malt with 0.5 lb. of Munich liquid malt extract. 

Steep all other grains at 155F.

Good luck with your brewing.

This beer is soooooooooo good.  Hope you enjoy it/

================================

Here's a good one for our extract brewers.  This is a good recipe that's easy to do. It, for an American Pale Ale, a style that everyone knows  and enjoys.  It’s not too hoppy or high in alcohol, but it’s got a great balance of sweetness and hoppiness that is typical from American-style hops. This is a great all-round beer to brew and to drink!

Everyday Pale Ale.

5 gallons, extract with specialty grains

OG = 1.053

FG = 1.011

ABV = 5.6%

IBU = 37

SRM = 11

Ingredients

0.25 lbs. (113 g) Briess Light dried malt extract

6.6 lbs. (3 kg) Briess Light liquid malt extract (late addition)

1 lb. (0.45 kg) crystal malt (60 °L)

6 AAU Magnum hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g of 12% alpha acids)

3.5 AAU Perle hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g of 7% alpha acids)

11 AAU Cascade hops (30 min.) (2 oz./57 g of 5.5% alpha acids)

2 oz. (57 g) Cascade hops (0 min.)

1 tsp Irish moss

Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Safale US-05 yeast (1.5 qt./1.5 L yeast starter)

7/8 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step Directions-

In a large soup pot, heat 5 gallons (19 L) of water to 166 °F (74 °C). 

Add crushed grains to grain bag. Submerge bag and let grains steep around 155 °F (68 °C) for 20 minutes. Remove grain bag and allow liquid to drip back into the pot. 

Heat liquid in brewpot to a boil, then stir in the malt extracts, add first charge of hops and begin the 60 minutes boil.

 With 30 minutes left in boil, add hops. At 15 minutes left in the boil, add Irish moss. At the end of the boil, add last charge of hops, cool wort and transfer to fermenter. 

Add water to make 5 gallons (19 L). Aerate wort and pitch yeast. Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C). 

If you prefer, rack to secondary when fermentation is complete. Bottle or keg when beer falls clear. 

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Congratulations to the many new extract brewers who have emailed me.  You're about to begin a great hobby!!

========================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

 It's the merry month of May which means it's a perfect time o stop by for some great beers, outstanding drinks, and fantastic food here at our pub in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  

Here's a beer that's perfect to quaff on warm spring days and hot summer nights.  It's my BALMY DAY MILD

All grain followed by extract recipe

If ever you buy specialty malts specifically for a batch, let it be for this one. Fresh crystal and chocolate malts really make it sing, and at such a light ABV, you’ll be able to enjoy all of that flavor by the dimpled mug full. (See below for the extract version.)

ALL-GRAIN

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.040
FG: 1.010
IBUs: 15
ABV: 3.9%

MALT/GRAIN BILL
6 lb (2.7 kg) Maris Otter
8 oz (227 g) amber malt
8 oz (227 g) brown malt
8 oz (227 g) chocolate rye malt

HOPS SCHEDULE
0.5 oz (14 g) Northern Brewer [8% AA] at 60 minutes

YEAST
Wyeast 1318 London Ale III

DIRECTIONS
Mash the grains at 152°F (67°C) for 60 minutes. Vorlauf until the runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge the grains and top up as necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 liters) of wort. Boil 60 minutes, following the hops schedule.

After the boil, chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 60°F (16°C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 60°F (16°C) for 4 days, then let the temperature rise to 68°F (20°C) and hold for an additional 7 days. Allow the beer to free rise from there until 2 days after airlock activity ceases, then crash the beer to 35°F (2°C), bottle or keg, and carbonate to about 2 volumes of CO2.

EXTRACT
Substitute 6.2 lb (2.8 kg) of pale liquid malt extract (LME) for the Maris Otter. Bring 6 gallons (23 liters) of water to about 162°F (72°C) and hold. Using a mesh grain bag, steep the remaining grains for 15 minutes, then remove the bag and allow it to drain into the wort. Add the LME while stirring and stir until completely dissolved. Boil for 60 minutes, following the hops schedule.

After the boil, chill, aerate, and ferment following the directions above.

================================

Lets talk a bit BASICS.

I like to break brewing down into eight essential steps. From Manhattan’s smallest kitchenettes to St. Louis’s largest production facilities, all brewers share a common link in these eight fundamental processes:

·   Sanitizing equipment

·   Preparing yeast

·   Preparing wort

·   Boiling wort with hops

·   Fermenting wort into beer

·   Maturing young beer

·   Packaging properly aged beer

·   Serving finished beer with care and dignity

The details of each step invariably differ from one brewer to the next, even among different employees of the same brewery. And each step, in turn, includes a number of important tasks. But the goal of every step remains the same whether you’re a brand-new brewer or an experienced brewmaster.

================================

I've received a few emails asking about saison, a beer often associated with May so let me explain a bit before we get to a cheery saison recipe (below)   While saison (the French word for “season”) is a delicious style of beer to enjoy year-round, its dryness, high carbonation, and balanced fruity flavors make it especially refreshing in warmer weather. As far back as the eighteenth century in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium, these beers were brewed in the winter and conditioned to be ready in time for rising temperatures in May, giving farm laborers something thirst-quenching and fortifying to drink. 

But a saison is a true treat that’s gained popularity in recent years, with an array of styles being produced across the globe. Here’s what to know about this light, sessionable style of beer. “Saison” refers to a small category of farmhouse ales that follow a generally dry, effervescent, fruity formula, with different interpretations. They often include rustic ingredients and fermentations that can include wild yeasts and varying levels of control. 

Fermentation plays a large role in defining saisons. Sobier explains that the traditional Wallonia saison is made with Belgian pale malt and French Belgian yeast, which yield a light grainy flavor offering some citrus, stone fruit, and pome fruit esters alongside white pepper phenols. Esters, which are typically fruity, and phenols, which are often spicy, refer to the flavor compound byproducts of the fermentation process. Saison flavors and aromatics tend to be largely driven by the type of yeast employed and the type of fermentation it undergoes.

In addition to a variety of grains and yeast strains, producers can add different herbs, spices, and botanicals to their brews. Saisons also offer brewers latitude to play with the amount of hops used.  The style’s boosted level of carbonation is due to many saisons being bottle-conditioned. This means in addition to carbonation being created during fermentation, more bubbles come from a secondary fermentation in which a little yeast and sugar are added to the beer upon bottling. 

Saisons can run a gamut in terms of flavor and aroma, but there are a few hallmark traits. 

In addition to dryness, fruitiness, effervescence, and hoppiness. A saison will have lower acidity relative to sour ales. “[This approaches levels that are similar to the natural acidity of some fruits, which does wonders for its drinkability and is something maybe wine drinkers can really get behind,

========================

Lets end most appropriately with my special RED CHERRY SAISON

Grains

• 8lbs. (3kg 628.7g) Pilsner Malt

• 2lbs. 8oz. (1kg 134g) Two Row

• 2lbs. (907.2g) White Wheat

• 8oz. (226.8g) Munich

• 1lb. (453.6g) Sugar

Hops

• .5oz (14.17g) Citra (14%aa)

• 1.25oz. (35.44g) Motueka (7%aa)

Extras

• 10g. Crushed Coriander

• 5g. Fresh Rosemary (Crushed)

• 96 fl.oz. (2.84 liters) Tart Cherry Juice

Yeast

• Wyeast 3711 French Saison Yeast

Procedure

Heat water, add grains, and mash at 160F (71.1C) for 90 minutes. Pull grains and drain into kettle. Bring to a boil (60 minutes) and add Citra hops immediately. With 15 minutes to go, add the Motueka hops. With 5 minutes to go, add the coriander, and rosemary. Cool to 170F (76.7C) and add cherry juice. Cool to 68F (20C), transfer to fermenter and add yeast.

Tasting Notes

This beer is awesome. Overall, it's very light and refreshing. The cherry, coriander, and rosemary and coriander provide a good punch at the beginning but it's layered over a smooth and creamy background provided by the saison yeast and malt. It's very delicious. Please do yourself a favor and brew this beer!

========================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Welcome to Spring!  It's really busy month for me as I'm brewing some very special beer for Easer and a few other surprises.   I hope you don't miss them so stop by for some great beers, outstanding drinks, and fantastic food here at our pub in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  

Let's start with one for the extract brewers out there.  It's my Who's On First Double IPA

EXTRACT

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
OG: 1.080
FG: 1.014
IBUs: 100+
ABV: 8.6–8.7%

MALT/GRAIN BILL

4 oz (113 g) Carapils
1 lb (454 g) Maris Otter
8.5 lb (3.85 kg) extra light malt extract (or sufficient to hit the original gravity)

HOPS SCHEDULE

2 oz (57 g) Equinox at FWH
2 oz (57 g) Columbus at 60 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Amarillo at 45 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Mosaic at 30 minutes
1 oz (28 g) Simcoe at 10 minutes
1 oz (28 g) Amarillo at 0 minutes
3 oz (85 g) Equinox dry hop in the fermentor
3 oz (85 g) Equinox dry hop in secondary

YEAST

American Ale

DIRECTIONS

Steep the Carapils and Maris Otter at 155°F (68°C) in 1 gallon (3.8 liters) of water for 30 minutes. Remove the grains, top up with the extract and hot water to hit your desired boil volume, and boil for 60 minutes following the hops schedule. Ferment at 68°F (20°C). 

=========================================

Here's one for our all-grain brewers.  

The extract version is at the end of the recipe.

 It's my Rainy Day IPA.

ALL-GRAIN

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
OG: 1.074
FG: 1.013
IBUs: 100+
ABV: 8%

MALT/GRAIN BILL

8.5 lb (3.85 kg) 2-row pale ale malt
12 oz (340 g) Carapilsen malt
2.5 lb (1.1 kg) Vienna-style malt
1 lb (454 g) flaked oats
6 oz (170 g) Caramunich-type malt

HOPS & ADDITIONS SCHEDULE

0.75 oz (21 g) Columbus [14% AAU] at 60 minutes
1 oz (28 g) Citra [12.5% AAU] at 20 minutes
1 lb (454 g) corn sugar at 10 minutes
3 oz (85 g) Citra [12.5% AAU] at 5 minutes
3 oz (85 g) Citra [12.5% AAU] at knockout
3 oz (85 g) Citra [12.5% AAU] at dry hop

YEAST

Fermentis Safale US-05, Lallemand BRY-097, Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale)

DIRECTIONS

Single infusion mash: Achieve a target mash of 152°F (67°C). Hold for 45 minutes, then raise to mash-out temperature and begin lauter phase.

Collect enough wort to boil 6.5 gallons (24.6 liters) and boil for 60 minutes, following the hops and additions schedule. After the boil is complete, begin a whirlpool in the kettle and let the knockout hops rest in the hot wort for at least 30 minutes before chilling.

Chill the wort rapidly to 68°F (20°C). Ferment at 68°F (20°C) for one week. Cool to 55°F (13°C) to settle the yeast. Dump the yeast from the bottom of the fermentor or rack to a clean, sanitized vessel. Add the dry hops and let the beer sit for an additional four to seven days at 55–57°F (13°C).

EXTRACT VERSION

Replace the 2-row and Carapilsen malts with 6 pounds (2.7 kg) of light liquid malt extract. Mix the crushed Vienna-style malt, flaked oats, and Caramunich-type malt into 2 gallons (7.6 liters) of water to achieve a temperature of 152°F (67°C). Hold at this temperature for 45 minutes.

Rinse the grains with 2.5 quarts (2.6 liters) of hot water, add the liquid extract, and bring to boil. Top off the kettle to 6.5 gallons (24.6 liters). Boil for 60 minutes, following the hops schedule and adding 1.5 lb (680 g) of corn sugar with 10 minutes left in the boil. Continue as directed above.

================================

Lets talk a bit about stouts.  This is for the more experienced home brewer. 

Some might say that dividing stouts into subcategories goes a bit too far, but despite their commonalities—yes, they’re all black and roasty—there are some prominent differences. In my Spring Forward Stout, we’re looking at mid-range ABV—more than dry stout, but much less than imperial. We should also be tasting more coffee and chocolate than we get in the dry stout—yet it isn't as sweet as milk stouts or as full-bodied as oatmeal stouts. We’ll also rely mainly on our malt flavors and not on our hops—let’s leave that to American stout—except for a balancing bitterness. Dark? Yes. Roasty? Sure. Yet those baseline similarities are far less important than the differences. A horse isn’t a zebra.

Ingredients

Let’s start with a big dose of Maris Otter for a nice bready background. (If you’re more of a “biscuit” fan, I wouldn’t see the harm in splitting this 50/50 with pilsner.) Atop the base, we’ll add modest layers of crystal, at 40° and 80°L, and (of course) roasted barley. If you have access to the British crystal malts, I wholeheartedly recommend them—don’t worry if the Lovibond numbers are a little different. Finally, instead of a pale or traditional chocolate malt, I use a bit of chocolate rye. It sits better on the palate—we want to avoid excessive roast, which this malt seems to avoid thanks to its lack of husk. It also adds some pleasant spicy notes with a nice cocoa flavor, adding interesting depth. Plus, we’re already getting plenty of coffee flavor from the roasted barley.

Hops are simple: any you like, at the top of the boil, starting around 30 IBUs. You can increase that in subsequent batches if the beer seems too sweet, but you want to avoid sharp bitterness—we want soft, refined roast with good balancing bitterness, not something that is teeth-rippingly bitter. Finally, I use the same German Ale yeast as I do in my lighter stout, and for the same reason: good attenuation, light esters in an otherwise clean fermentation, and a good background for the roast flavors.

Process

Despite the chocolate flavors, the process itself is pretty vanilla. You can go with a standard 152°F (67°C) mash—but it’s not a bad idea to watch your mash pH because roasted malts are acidic. (Know your water and aim for a mash pH of about 5.5–5.6 if possible; if you need to adjust upward, slaked lime can add alkalinity.) Boil, chill, aerate, and pitch as usual. Fermenting at 65°F (18°C) then an uptick to 68°F (20°C) or so will help clean up diacetyl precursors.

All told, fermentation should go quickly; I’ve had this beer in the keg in fewer than 10 days when I brew at home. 

========================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Welcome to March!  It's really busy month for me as I'm brewing some very special beer for St. Patrick's Day and a few other surprises.   I hope you don't miss them so stop by for some great beers, outstanding drinks, and fantastic food here at our pub in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  

Now let' get down to business!  Right now the fastest growing beer category is low-alcohol beer.  It has grown over 35% in each of the last three years.  When done right it's a tasty treat that has far fewer calories and carbs than regular beer but almost the same great taste.  Here's an easy extract to make a table beer that comes in at 3.3% but is loaded with flavor. It's my "Limbo - how low can you go- Table Beer."

Ingredients
3.9 lbs. (1.8 kg) Muntons extra light dried malt extract
6 oz. (170 g) US crystal malt (20 °L)
4 oz. (113 g) Belgian aromatic malt
4 oz. (113 g) flaked oats
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) maltodextrin powder
1.8 AAU Centennial hops (60 min.) (0.18 oz./5 g at 10% alpha acids)
4.9 AAU Simcoe® hops (10 min.) (0.375 oz./10.6 g at 13% alpha acids)
3.8 AAU Centennial hops (10 min.) (0.375 oz./10.6 g at 10% alpha acids)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Centennial hops (1 min.)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Centennial hops (dry hop)
White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or Safale US-05 yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by step

Bring 5 gallons (19 L) brewing water in your pot up to 150 °F (66 °C). Place the crystal malt, aromatic malt, and flaked oats in a muslin bag and add to the brewing water. Steep for 30 minutes and then remove the grain bag, allowing the liquid to drip back into the pot. Remove from heat and stir in the malt extract and maltodextrin, being careful not to scorch any on the bottom of the pot. Turn heat back on once all the extract is dissolved and bring wort to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops as indicated.

At the end of the boil, cool wort and ferment at 68–70 °F (20–21 °C). After one week in primary, transfer to a secondary fermenter (ideally a glass carboy) for two weeks, adding dry hops for the final 3 days. Bottle or keg as usual. 

=============================

I received more than a few requests to come up with a recipe for a clone of the great Focal Banger by the Alchemist.  If you're like most people you'll find it's almost impossible to get.  Not to worry you can make your own version.  I'll start with an all gran recipe and then the extract one.  Get busy - this one is worth the effort - Hocus - Focus IPA

Ingredients
12 lbs. (5.4 kg) Thomas Fawcett Pearl malt
1.2 lbs. (0.54 kg) corn sugar (15 min.)
4 mL HopShot™ (60 min.)
1.5 oz. (43 g) Citra® hops (0 min.)
2.5 oz. (71 g) Mosaic® hops (0 min.)
2.5 oz. (71 g) Citra® hops (dry hop)
1.5 oz. (43 g) Mosaic® hops (dry hop)
The Yeast Bay (Vermont Ale), East Coast Yeast ECY29 (North East Ale), Omega Yeast Labs (DIPA Ale), or LalBrew New England Ale yeast
3/4 cups (150 g) dextrose (if priming)

Step by Step
This recipe is designed for homebrewers to achieve 5.5 gallons (21 L) wort in their fermenter on brew day. This will help offset the loss of volume to the heavy hopping rate of this beer. Build your water profile, starting with either very soft water or RO water. Target a water profile of 250:100 PPM sulfate: chloride. Crush the malt and add to 4 gallons (15 L) strike water to achieve a stable mash temperature at 154 °F (68 °C). Hold at this temperature for 60 minutes. Raise to mash out at 168 °F (76 °C) and begin to vorlauf. Collect about 7 gallons (26.5 L) of wort in your kettle and bring to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes, adding the HopShot™ addition after the wort comes to a boil and the corn sugar with 15 minutes left in the boil. After you turn off the heat, add the final addition of hops, then stir the wort and let settle for 30 minutes with the lid on before cooling to yeast pitching temperature. Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C). As fermentation nears completion, transfer the beer to a keg and add the dry hops and attach a spunding valve. Let the beer sit on the hops for 3–4 days, then transfer to a serving keg or bottling bucket. Bottle with priming sugar or force carbonate the serving keg to 2.4 volumes CO2. 

Extract with grains option:

Substitute the Thomas Fawcett Pearl malt in the all-grain recipe with 6.6 lbs. (3 kg) Maris Otter liquid malt extract and 1.2 lbs. (0.54 kg) Pilsen dried malt extract. Heat 5 gallons (19 L) soft or reverse osmosis water up to boil. As soon as the water begins to boil, remove from heat and stir in the liquid and dried malt extracts. Stir until all the extract is dissolved then return the wort to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes. Follow the remaining portion of the all-grain recipe. 

========================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Welcome to February!  It's a great month if you like wind and cold.  Don't worry, enjoying quality beer can make things fine no matter what the weather.  And great beers plus outstanding drinks and fantastic food are al here at our pub in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  

Let me start off with a few words about the classic hops (dont worry,, a recipe will follow) .  Cascade, Citra, Saa, Hallertau Mittelfrüh, Tettnanger and East Kent Goldings.  

Cascade hops are the hops that revolutionized American craft beer. They bring a bold citrus flavor that is completely different from traditional European hops. This new flavor is the cornerstone of the American Pale Ale and IPA Styles. Cascade Hops were developed in the 1950s by the USDA and released in 1972.

After Cascade Hops inspired the craft beer community, Citra hops were born.  Released in 2008, Citra quickly became known for its even more intense, juicy, and fruity profile. While Cascade offered bold grapefruit and citrus notes, Citra takes it a step further with tropical fruit flavors like lime, passionfruit, and pineapple, creating an explosion of aroma and taste that has never been before. Citra is the American hop evolution of Cascade. It took the citrus aroma and flavor laid by Cascade then amplified it, appealing to the growing demand for fruit-forward beers like New England IPAs.

Saaz hops are named after the Czech town of Žatec (Saaz in German). By the 11th century, hop cultivation in this area was thriving, and Saaz quickly became a cornerstone of European brewing traditions. These hops are part of the prestigious noble hop family (Saaz, Hallertau Mittelfrüh, Tettnanger, Spalt). Brewers have relied on Saaz hops for generations to create balanced, high-quality beers. When you think of Czech pilsners—the kind that set the global standard for light, crisp lagers—Saaz hops are the secret ingredient behind their magic.

Hallertau Mittelfrüh is one of the oldest hop varieties in the world? Its roots trace back centuries, originating in the Hallertau region of Bavaria, Germany. This variety has become a cornerstone of German brewing, cherished for its role in creating traditional beer styles that are enjoyed around the globe. Hallertau Mittelfrüh has a refined aroma and balanced flavor. Its profile is delicate yet memorable, with floral notes with a hint of spice and sweetness. Unlike hops that overwhelm the palate, this variety brings a soft bitterness that complements rather than competes with the other ingredients in a beer. For generations, German brewers have relied on Hallertau Mittelfrüh to craft some of their most iconic beer styles like bock, wheat beer, and lagers.

Tettnanger hops have a long history from the Tettnang region in Germany, where hop farming dates back to the 18th century; the region’s cool climate and rich soil have made Tettnanger hops known for their consistent, high quality.These hops are famous for their delicate floral, herbal, and slightly spicy notes, making them perfect for lighter beers like pilsners. Tettnanger is part of the noble hop family, which includes Saaz, Hallertau, Spalt, and Hersbrucker.

East Kent Goldings hops are one of the most classic hops in English brewing. Originating from the East Kent region, these hops have a long history and are known for their earthy aroma, with floral and honey-like notes. What makes them so special is their deep connection to England’s brewing traditions. Their smooth, balanced bitterness makes them perfect for traditional English ales, especially bitters and pale ales.  For years, brewers in England have relied on East Kent Goldings to create the flavors that define classic British beers.

So there is a quick look at the truly classic hops.  If however if you as me which is often considered the most versatile hop Id say Centennial. It combines the citrusy, floral qualities of Cascade with a touch of pine and herbal notes, making it suitable for a wide range of beer styles, from pale ales to IPAs and even stouts. 

=============================

Now for a new recipe.,  All I can say is if you Sierra Nevada Pale Ale this one is for you!  Here we go with my High Bluff Pale::

Ingredients

• Two-row pale malt | 1.8°L | 92%

• Caramel malt | 60°L | 8%

• Cascade hops (all whole cone) | 0.5 oz. @ 90 min

• Cascade | 0.75 oz. @ 60 min

• Cascade | 2 oz. @ 30 min

• Cascade | 2 oz. @ 0 min (flame out)

----------------

Step 1. Mash grains at 155°F for 60 minutes. 

2. Raise mash temperature to 170°F, hold for 5 minutes, then recirculate. 

3. Run off wort and sparge with water hot enough to keep the grain bed around 170°F. 

4. Boil time is 90 minutes. Follow hopping schedule above. 

5. Cool wort to 68°F and pitch with California ale yeast, AKA Chico ale yeast. 

6. Bottle or keg and enjoy! 

=

========================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Merry Christmas and happy holicays to all,  Celebrate the season by enjoying the great beers, drinks, and food here at our pub here in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  

Several readers stopped by the brewery recently and asked why draft beer here at the Northside Lounge seems so much fresher and cleaner than many other pubs.  It's our top of the line draft system and I personally clean all the lines on a regular basis. .For those interested in draft systems you like to know that arguably one of the most significant additions to draft systems in the late 1070s was the FOB detector. FOB stands for "foam on beer" and it's a wastage nightmare for venues that serve draft beer. The fact is that beer foam is still beer, so if the lines are spitting out froth, that's money down the drain. Before FOB detectors, when a keg ran dry, air and gas would keep getting pulled through the beer lines. When the bartender changed the keg, the new beer would come out as foam unless they detached and purged the beer lines — a wasteful and time-consuming process.

FOB detectors are essentially a small, transparent chamber that's fixed onto the beer line for each keg. They contain a plastic ball that floats when beer is running through the line. When the beer runs out, the ball drops, blocking the line so air won't pass through it. Once a new keg is hooked up, a manual venting mechanism purges the gas from the chamber and pulls the new beer through. A second button or lever resets the floating ball, and you're ready to continue pouring.

----------------------------------------

Now let me answer some emails asking about hops. Hops may look like buds, but they are actually small flowers that grow vertically on bines. A perennial plant, they thrive between the 50th and 40th parallels, but can grow as low as the 30th parallel. In the United States, most hops are grown in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Other states like Michigan, New York, and Vermont also grow hops and have dedicated farms. In the Southern Hemisphere, countries that grow hops include Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. 

There are more than 200 varieties of hops. Brewers will use single varieties or a combination to achieve desired flavors and aromas. Some breweries list the varieties used on taproom menus, cans, or bottles.  Here are a few notable hops I use here at the brewery and their common attributes. I use many other varieties but these are basic ones for the home brewer.

Anchovy: Named by the brewers of Fast Fashion, this variety is growing in popularity. They claim it has aromas and flavors of “watermelon hard candy, raspberry, and pine.”

Amarillo: A classic American hop that the growers describe as having “sweet citrus flavor [and] a strong citrus aroma of oranges.” 

Cascade: Floral, pine, and spicy, this is a well-used hop that helped bring American pale ales into fashion. 

Citra: Big citrus aromas. Widely popular in hazy IPAs.

Chinook: Aromas and flavors of pine and spice. 

El Dorado: Spice, pine, and grapefruit flavors. 

Fuggles: A traditional English hop that imparts aromas of wood and earth to beers. 

Hallertau Mittelfrüh: A German hop often used in lagers that offers herbal, woody, and floral notes.

Mosaic: One of the most popular modern hops, this has aromas of pineapple and blueberry. It can sometimes take on feline-like aromas as well, a trait common to certain Sauvignon Blancs in the wine world.

Saaz: A famed Czech variety of hops, known to add a spicy note to pilsners. 

Simcoe: A popular hop prized for its aromas of pine, stone fruit, and citrus pith. 

         -------------------------------------/

First for my readers who are extract breweries.  I guarantee you'll love drinking this one when the winter chill hits.

North Pole Warmer

3.3 lbs. Plain Amber Malt Extract

2 lbs. Plain Amber Dry Malt Extract

2# honey @ 30 minutes

8 oz. Crushed Crystal Malt

1 oz. Willamette Hops (Bittering @60)

1oz Cascade at 30 minutes

1 oz. Willamette Hops (Finishing@ Flame Out)

2 whole cloves @ 60 minutes

4 cinnamon sticks at 60 minutes

1 whole nutmeg, smashed at 60 minutes

1 large nub fresh ginger roughly chopped at 60 minutes

5 # chopped tart apples sanitized and added to primary

64 oz unpast apple cider added to secondary

Nottingham ale yeast 

1 week in primary

1 months in secondary

bottle and carb

-------------------------------------------

Here's a fun recipe for experienced all-grain brewers for a spiced ale, perfect for the serious winter months.

Reindeer Spiced Ale - it's low ABV so you can enjoy a bunch of it.

Grain Bill:
5.5 lbs Pale Malt (adjust to suit your efficiency factor)
1 lb Belgian Aromatic
1 lb Honey Malt

Adjuncts:
1 lb Honey
1/8th pound Molasses

Hops:
Bittering Hops: 1.5 oz Fuggle (60 minutes)
Flavor Hops: .5 oz Fuggle (10 minutes)

Yeast: Wyeast 1028 London Ale

Extras: 2 tablespoons ground Allspice, added to the last 10 minutes of the boil.

========================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Happy November to all,  Get ready for wintter's chill by enjoying the great beers, drinks, and food here at our pub here in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   And it's still not too late weather wise to enjoy it all on our beautiful patio.. Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  

I've been getting more than the usual number of emails lately - keep em' coming! I always respond either in my column or personally. Let's start off again with a couple.

Q - What is mead?  I'm hearing a lot about it lately.

 Mead "was believed to be the drink of the gods and was thought to descend from the heavens as dew before being gathered in by bees,".  Many European cultures also thought bees were messengers of the gods and preferred mead over wine in rites and grand ceremonies. In northern China, pottery dating from 9000 BC was found to have traces of mead, the BBC reported, meaning that mead is thousands of years older than the wheel. The beverage was first brewed in Europe between 2800 and 1800 BC.  Itt may taste like a sort of honey wine but it is "literally living liquid history in a glass.

Q- Read something about a new grain for beer.  What's the story?

The grain getting thte most buzz now is Kernza, a perennial grain that can produce an annual crop, even as it stays in the ground for up to four years. Its deep root system make it a sustainable crop, but the grain doesn't have many markets, except maybe beer.  Many agricultural staples today, like corn, soy, wheat, barley and others, are planted into the ground each growing season. After harvest, the soil is left bare or farmers plant cover crops in those fields over the winter. Kernza, by contrast, stays in the ground for several years, and can produce multiple harvests in that time.

Kernza comes from Intermediate wheatgrass, a perennial grass native to Central Asia that was first introduced in the United States in the 1930s. It was primarily used as a forage grass and crop researchers only began breeding it as a food source for people in the 1980s.

Q- A friend recommended trying a Flanders Red.  Can you tell me anytthing about it?

Flanders Red is not too common a style and can be difficult to make well. The base of rich roast malts and aged hops along with ambient yeast helps give the beer its distinctive taste. The final product is a blend of 18-month old and 8-month old double, and spontaneously fermented ales that is aged in oak casks. There is also a cherry adjunct version of the beer available, as well as a low ABV “petit” offering in some markets, but I suggest sticking with the original.

Poured into a chalice, this complex tart ale has aromas and flavors of black cherry, toffee and balsamic vinegar. It is medium bodied and smooth, with a neat little dry finish that tickles the salvatory glands. It is artful and filled with so many layers that working through a four pack will reveal new flavors or suggestions with each one. 

 =================/

Now for all our homebrews here's my recipe of the month.  First up is my recipe for Red Skies, a delightful Flanders RED.  This is an all grain recipe best suited to more experienced home brewers  I'll have an extract recipe just below this one).

ALL-GRAIN

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.059
FG: 1.008
IBUs: 15
ABV: 6.2%

MALT/GRAIN BILL

5 lb (2.3 kg) each Maris Otter and Munich
8 oz (227 g) Aromatic malt
8 oz (227 g) Briess Special Roast
8 oz (227 g) flaked oats
4 oz (113 g) Special B

HOPS And Additions SCHEDULE

1 oz (28 g) Hallertau 4% AA at 60 minutes
1 oz (28 g) Medium-plus French oak cubes

YEAST

Wyeast 1007 (German Ale) Yeast
Wyeast 3763 (Roeselare Blend)

DIRECTIONS

Mill the grains and mix them with 3.7 gallons (13.9 l) of 163°F (73°C) strike water to reach a mash temperature of 152°F (67°C). Hold for 60 minutes. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge the grains with 3.6 gallons (13.5 l) and top up as necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 l) of wort. Boil for 60 minutes, following the hops schedule.

After the boil, chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 65°F (18°C). Aerate the wort and pitch the yeast.

Ferment at 65°F (18°C) for the first week, then allow to free rise. Upon reaching terminal gravity, rack into a second vessel and add the Roeselare blend and oak cubes. Age in a cool, dark place for 6–12 months. Then bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to 1.75–2 volumes of CO2 (though if you prefer, you can go higher).

---------------------------------/

I've received many requests for a juicy IPA thats easy to make.  This recipe should do it for sure.  It's my JUICE BOMBS AWAY IPA.

 Enjoy!

EXTRACT

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
OG: 1.066
FG: 1.018
IBUs: 46
ABV: 6.4%

MALT/GRAIN BILL
9 lb (4.1 kg) wheat liquid malt extract (LME)
1 lb (454 g) dextrin malt
12 oz (340 g) Simpsons Golden Naked Oats

HOPS SCHEDULE
0.5 oz (14 g) Magnum [15% AA] at 30 minutes
1 oz (28 g) each Citra [11% AA] and Galaxy [14.25% AA] at whirlpool for 40 minutes
1 oz (28 g) each Citra [11% AA] and Galaxy [14.25% AA] at whirlpool for 20 minutes
1 oz (28 g) each Citra and Galaxy at dry hop, Day 2
1 oz (28 g) each Citra and Galaxy, dry hop in secondary

YEAST
Wyeast WY1318 London Ale III or White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale

DIRECTIONS
Crush the dextrin malt and Golden Naked Oats and place them in a nylon grain bag. Start heating 4.5 gallons (17 liters) of water. While the water is heating, dip the grain bag in, swirling it to thoroughly soak the grain. Heat for 20 minutes without exceeding 155°F (68°C)—turning down the heat as necessary. Remove the bag and rinse the grain with 2 quarts (1.9 l) of 165°F (74°C) water. Take the pot off the heat and add the malt extract. Stir the wort until the extract is fully dissolved, then place the pot back on the burner. Bring to a boil, and boil for 30 minutes, adding the Magnum at the start of the boil. Then whirlpool for 40 minutes, adding hops according to the schedule.

Chill the wort to about 65°F (18°C), aerate well, and pitch the yeast. Ferment between 65–70°F (18-20°C). On the second day of active fermentation, add the first dry-hop addition. After 4 days, rack the beer to secondary and add the second dry-hop addition. After 4 or 5 days more, the beer is ready for packaging.

By the way, you can substitute other tropical and citrus-forward varieties, especially if you can get some of the more interesting varieties from New Zealand or Australia.

Milkshake variation: If you are a fan of milkshake IPAs, substitute 1 pound (454 g) of lactose for 1 pound of the extract and add the lactose for the last 10 minutes of the boi

========================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Happy Halloween!   Fall is here so and it's the perfect season to enjoy the great beers, drinks, and food here  at our pub here in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   And the fall weather is perfect to enjoy it all on our beautiful patio..  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  

First, let me answer a couple of questions sent in by my readers.  I always respond either in my column or personally.

Q - Why don’t small local breweries make fresh hopped IPA?

 The fresh-hopped IPA must be sipped to be understood. Done right, there is arguably no better way to showcase hop flavor and aroma. When picked at their peak—and used before the slow but inevitable entropy of organic decay—hop flowers dazzle. They draw a straight line between agriculture and industry—staking beer in the land. Yet fresh hops are tricky to work with, inefficient, and—above all—fading by the hour. Hops are like wilting petunias. A pile of hops, becomes a “brown composting mess” in a matter of days—or less. You have to dry them or they rot. Small breweries simply can't move quickly enough to get the maximum potential from fresh hops so you don't often find it on their menu..

Q- what is a hop extract?

The most-used method for creating hop extract—that is, separating the oils and various aromatic compounds from the cellulose, tannins, and water that comprise most of the hop cone—is supercritical CO2 extraction. It’s efficient, the liquid carbon dioxide makes for a superlative beer-friendly solvent, and there’s no thermal degradation of the hops. However, it really works only with hop pellets. The hop material must have less than about 12 percent moisture content for the extraction to work—and freshly picked wet hops are 75 to 80 percent water.

Now let's get down to some brewing!  First up is the recipe for my Moonlight  Serenade IPA.

It is packed with juicy tropical fruit flavors and bright herbal aromas thanks to the abundance of U.S. grown hops. It’s an all-time delicious beer.  Give it a try.

ALL-GRAIN

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
OG: 1.074
FG: 1.013
IBUs: 100+
ABV: 8%

MALT/GRAIN BILL

8.5 lb (3.85 kg) 2-row pale ale malt
12 oz (340 g) Carapilsen malt
2.5 lb (1.1 kg) Vienna-style malt
1 lb (454 g) flaked oats
6 oz (170 g) Caramunich-type malt

HOPS & ADDITIONS SCHEDULE

0.75 oz (21 g) Columbus [14% AAU] at 60 minutes
1 oz (28 g) Citra [12.5% AAU] at 20 minutes
1 lb (454 g) corn sugar at 10 minutes
3 oz (85 g) Citra [12.5% AAU] at 5 minutes
3 oz (85 g) Citra [12.5% AAU] at knockout
3 oz (85 g) Citra [12.5% AAU] at dry hop

YEAST

Fermentis Safale US-05, Lallemand BRY-097, Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale)

DIRECTIONS

Single infusion mash: Achieve a target mash of 152°F (67°C). Hold for 45 minutes, then raise to mash-out temperature and begin lauter phase.

Collect enough wort to boil 6.5 gallons (24.6 liters) and boil for 60 minutes, following the hops and additions schedule. After the boil is complete, begin a whirlpool in the kettle and let the knockout hops rest in the hot wort for at least 30 minutes before chilling.

EXTRACT VERSION

Replace the 2-row and Carapilsen malts with 6 pounds (2.7 kg) of light liquid malt extract. Mix the crushed Vienna-style malt, flaked oats, and Caramunich-type malt into 2 gallons (7.6 liters) of water to achieve a temperature of 152°F (67°C). Hold at this temperature for 45 minutes.

Rinse the grains with 2.5 quarts (2.6 liters) of hot water, add the liquid extract, and bring to boil. Top off the kettle to 6.5 gallons (24.6 liters). Boil for 60 minutes, following the hops schedule and adding 1.5 lb (680 g) of corn sugar with 10 minutes left in the boil. Continue as directed above.

---------------------------------/

Let’s double down on Double IPAs.  Here’s an extract recipe for my  Do The Double – a super tasty double IPA.  Enjoy!

EXTRACT

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
OG: 1.080
FG: 1.014
IBUs: 100+
ABV: 8.6–8.7%

MALT/GRAIN BILL

4 oz (113 g) Carapils
1 lb (454 g) Maris Otter
8.5 lb (3.85 kg) extra light malt extract (or sufficient to hit the original gravity)

HOPS SCHEDULE

2 oz (57 g) Equinox at FWH
2 oz (57 g) Columbus at 60 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Amarillo at 45 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Mosaic at 30 minutes
1 oz (28 g) Simcoe at 10 minutes
1 oz (28 g) Amarillo at 0 minutes
3 oz (85 g) Equinox dry hop in the fermentor
3 oz (85 g) Equinox dry hop in secondary

YEAST

American Ale

DIRECTIONS

Steep the Carapils and Maris Otter at 155°F (68°C) in 1 gallon (3.8 liters) of water for 30 minutes. Remove the grains, top up with the extract and hot water to hit your desired boil volume, and boil for 60 minutes following the hops schedule. Ferment at 68°F (20°C).

========================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Here we are in September.  Fall may be approaching but there's penty of warm weather remaining  But don't worry, it's the perfect time to cool off with a beer so let me invite you to stop by to  enjoy some great beers and food at our pub here in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   And you can enjoy it all on our beautiful patio perfect for a lovely summer / fall  day..  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  

Non-alcohol beers are quite the rage with younger drinkers.  I'm personally not a fan but in answer to several emails from readers let me explain a but about them.  Nonalcoholic beer is produced in three primary ways, although the success of the category is spurring additional innovation in methodology. First, brewers can skip the fermentation step altogether, which amounts to making “beer” without yeast. But they end up with a sweet beverage that’s difficult to stabilize, so many brewers instead take the second route, termed “limited or arrested fermentation.” To achieve that state, brewers use yeast strains or wort chosen for their inability to ferment fully. Still, they have to control temperatures closely throughout the production process to discourage fermentation from occurring.

Another option is dealcoholization, which is just what it sounds like. Beer is brewed normally, and then the alcohol is extracted. That can be accomplished by taking advantage of the different boiling points of water and ethanol, so the booze burns off without the liquid disappearing. The drawback of boiling is it can create nasty flavors by expelling aromatic compounds along with ethanol. As a result, some brewers conduct the process under a vacuum, which lowers the temperature required to bring ethanol to a boil.

Alternately, brewers can dealcoholize through reverse osmosis, the most popular application of physical filtration. As the beer flows back and forth over a membrane, both water and ethanol compounds are removed from the liquid; the beer is replenished with fresh water when the treatment is complete.

NA products are harder to shelf stabilize than regular beer due to the lack of ethanol, and there is no agreed-upon industry standard regarding the best way to prevent spoilage. It’s a symptom of a larger cultural issue for the burgeoning industry—while craft beer built itself on collaboration and the open sharing of trade secrets, competitive NA producers are much cagier about their methods.

Tunnel pasteurization, a common alternative to the flash pasteurization of alcoholic beers that involves gradual heating, is the most effective route to a safe and shelf-stable product. But with equipment costs of nearly $1 million, it’s a big swing for the little guys. 

Since there is no alcohol, there are pathogens in it that are very deadly if you don’t do it right. You  just have to be very clean about things.

How to Make Non-Alcoholic Beer

You can use this process for any beer you brew. However, in order for this to qualify as non-alcoholic, we recommend that the ABV of your original beer be 5% or less.

1. Make a normal beer mash.

2. Transfer the spent grains to another kettle (or bucket) and rinse (sparge) them with 5.5 gallons of fresh water.

3. Boil for 60 minutes. At the beginning of the boil, add 1 oz of your favorite hops

4. Chill to 70F and pitch your favorite yeast.

5. Ferment completely under pressure in a keg (no airlock!) for at least 2 weeks

6. Cold crash, and put on tap.

There are some caveats. First, this will result in beer that has a half percent of alcohol or less, which meets the definition of an NA beer. To stay under this benchmark, the starting gravity of the initial beer mash should be for a 5% ABV beer (or less). Anything more will result in final alcohol of the NA beer that exceeds a half a percent. 

==========================/

The single biggest factor that can separate good beer from mediocre or bad beer is fermentation temperature. Understanding what conditions your yeast thrives in will immediately take your homebrew to the next level. I encourage you to be a seasonal brewer, and take advantage of the natural environment in which you live. Does it regularly get to 90°F in the summer? Try brewing a Saison that thrives in really hot temperatures. Do you live in a place with a lot of snow and ice in the winter? Try a good winter lager like a Schwarzbier and lager it in a snowbank. After all, this is how most styles developed in the first place! Most importantly, see if you can find one location in your house that is consistently around 68-72°F: this is where you'll want to brew your American ales. 

===============/

Let's end this month's column with a recipe that pulls out all the stops - IMPERIAL OKTOBERFEST.  Yes, an Imperia Oktoberfest.  Hold on to you hats, folks! Note- I've given you three levels depending on your experience/preferences.

This can be fermented as a lager (50-55°F/10-13°C) or an ale (55-65°F/13-18°C).

OG (est): ~1.076
FG (est): ~1.020
IBU (est): 38
ABV (est): 7.5%

ALL-GRAIN

MALT/GRAIN BILL

13.3 lb (6.03 kg) Dark Munich
1 lb (454 g) Caramunich III
1 lb (454 g) Melanoiden Malt

HOPS SCHEDULE

2 oz (57 g) Hallertau Mittelfruh at 60 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Hallertau Mittelfruh at 10 minutes

YEAST

Bavarian Lager (Wy 2206/2308) (WLP 833/838)

DIRECTIONS

Mash grains at 148°F (64°C) for 1 hour. Substitute German Ale yeast if fermenting above 55°F (13°C).

=========

Partial Mash

EXTRACT

7 lb (3.2 kg) Munich Liquid Malt Extract

GRAIN

2 lb (907 g) Dark Munich
1 lb (454 g) Caramunich III
1 lb (454 g) Melanoiden Malt

HOPS SCHEDULE

2 oz (57 g) Hallertau Mittelfruh at 60 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Hallertau Mittelfruh at 10 minutes

YEAST

Bavarian Lager (Wy 2206/2308) (WLP 833/838

DIRECTIONS

Mash grains at 148°F (64°C) for 1 hour. Substitute German Ale yeast if fermenting above 55°F (13°C).

===================

EXTRACT

EXTRACT

10 lb (4.5 kg) Munich Liquid Malt Extract

GRAIN

1 lb (454 g) Caramunich III
1 lb (454 g) Melanoiden Malt

HOPS SCHEDULE

2 oz (57 g) Hallertau Mittelfruh at 60 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Hallertau Mittelfruh at 10 minutes

YEAST

Bavarian Lager (Wy 2206/2308) (WLP 833/838)

DIRECTIONS

Steep grains for 30 minutes at 160°F (71 °C). Substitute German Ale yeast if fermenting above 55°F (13°C).

========================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Here we are in the heat of August.  But don't worry, it's the perfect time to cool off with a beer so let me invite you to stop by to  enjoy some great beers and food at our pub here in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   And you can enjoy it all on our beautiful patio perfect for a lovely summer's day..  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  

While I prefer beer to beat the heat (and any other kind of weather) it seems that this summer beer cocktails ("beertails") are becoming popular.  The real benefit of a beer cocktail is that it's light and refreshing—as good for Americans just waking up in the morning as it is Europeans enjoying a relaxing Sunday afternoon—as well as easy to make without a drive to the specialty food market.  Give these a try!!  And no need to thank me.  Even better order one when you visit here at the Northside.

Here's the recipe for three that seem to be the most popular.  It's also a fun way to see how you're homebrew works in a beertail.. After that you'll find a new recipe and some brewing tips.

The Michelada

This spicy, savory beer-based riff on the Bloody Mary originated in northern Mexico. The phrase “mi chela helada,” translates to “my cold beer,” and the backbone of the beverage is a lager, hot sauce, and lime. Dial up the spice level with a chili powder, Tajín seasoning (a Mexican staple you can find in almost any North American grocery store or on Amazon), or extra hot sauce. Here’s how to make a Michelada.

Ingredients:

·       1 ounce fresh lime juice

·       ½ ounce of hot sauce

·       ¼ ounce Worcestershire sauce

·       ½ teaspoon Tajín seasoning (Chili powder is a solid substitute)

·       12 ounces Mexican pale lager

·       Kosher salt

1.      Mix the tomato juice, lime juice, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and Tajín seasoning into your pint glass or Solo cup. Toss in a small pinch of salt, too.

2.      Fill the glass halfway with ice, then pour in the beer. Add a lime wedge on the rim for garnish if you’re inclined.

The Beer-mosa

The name explains it all: beer and orange juice. We understand if that's a brow-furrowing combo—but have some trust. So long as you’re using a bright and crisp light lager (in other words, a beer version of a Prosecco), you’ll be happy. Which is to say: this isn't the right place for an intense IPA, a sour, or an ale, because they won’t play nicely with the orange juice. Here’s how to make a Beermosa.

Ingredients:

·       12 ounces of light lager

·       4 ounces of orange juice (fresh squeezed tastes better, but any type works)

Instructions:

1.      Pour the beer into a large, chilled glass, then top with the orange juice. Float a slice of orange, if you wish.

--------------------

The Spaghett

Maybe you’ve seen this brightly-colored beverage while scrolling on social media. It’s having a moment, and for good reason: the Spaghett is a brain-dead and delicious twist on an Aperol Spritz. Besides the basic ingredient list, there's only one other requirement: you'll want your beer in a bottle. Here’s how to make a Spaghett.

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces of any light beer in a bottle

• 1.5 ounces of Aperol (sweeter) or Campari (more tart)

• ½ ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice (optional)

Instructions:

1.      Take a strong swig from the freshly-opened bottle to make room for the Aperol (or Campari)

2.      Pour in the Aperol or Campari

3.      If you want it tart and tangy, add in the lemon juice

===================================

I've had quite a few requests from new brewers to simplify the basic steps of brewing.  I'll give it a try.  Just follow these steps for most of the many recopies available here on my page at Beer Nexus.

Many beginner brewing kits use malt extract due to the ease of brewing and lack of extra equipment needed.  Essentially, you need a pot capable of holding at least 4 -5 gallons of liquid and a food-grade bucket in which to ferment.  There are many techniques and processes to brew beer but here are the essentials. 

To keep it simple, just bring 3 gallons of water to boil in your pot, add your malt extract, add your hops at the designated times and boil for 60 minutes.  After 60 minutes, cool down your wort to yeast pitching temperature, an ice bath in the sink or tub works great. Now transfer your cooled wort to your fermenter and add some pre-boiled water to the fermenter to bring the volume up to 5.5 gallons.

For recipes with Steeping Grains, place the crushed grains in a muslin bag and raise the temperature of the water to between 150-160 degrees F. Add the grains and kill the heat. Let the grains steep for 20 minutes. Remove the grains then continue heating the wort to a boil. The hop additions listed in relation to how long they should be in your boiling wort (ie. 60 minute hops should be boiled for 60 minutes and 5 minute hops won’t be added until it’s been boiling for 55 of the 60 minutes).

Now for all those folks looking for an easy extract beer to brew here's my : Lazy Hazy IPA

EXTRACT

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
OG: 1.066
FG: 1.018
IBUs: 46
ABV: 6.4%

MALT/GRAIN BILL
9 lb (4.1 kg) wheat liquid malt extract (LME)
1 lb (454 g) dextrin malt
12 oz (340 g) Simpsons Golden Naked Oats

HOPS SCHEDULE
0.5 oz (14 g) Magnum [15% AA] at 30 minutes
1 oz (28 g) each Citra [11% AA] and Galaxy [14.25% AA] at whirlpool for 40 minutes
1 oz (28 g) each Citra [11% AA] and Galaxy [14.25% AA] at whirlpool for 20 minutes
1 oz (28 g) each Citra and Galaxy at dry hop, Day 2
1 oz (28 g) each Citra and Galaxy, dry hop in secondary

YEAST
Wyeast WY1318 London Ale III or White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale

DIRECTIONS
Crush the dextrin malt and Golden Naked Oats and place them in a nylon grain bag. Start heating 4.5 gallons (17 liters) of water. While the water is heating, dip the grain bag in, swirling it to thoroughly soak the grain. Heat for 20 minutes without exceeding 155°F (68°C)—turning down the heat as necessary. Remove the bag and rinse the grain with 2 quarts (1.9 l) of 165°F (74°C) water. Take the pot off the heat and add the malt extract. Stir the wort until the extract is fully dissolved, then place the pot back on the burner. Bring to a boil, and boil for 30 minutes, adding the Magnum at the start of the boil. Then whirlpool for 40 minutes, adding hops according to the schedule.

Chill the wort to about 65°F (18°C), aerate well, and pitch the yeast. Ferment between 65–70°F (18-20°C). On the second day of active fermentation, add the first dry-hop addition. After 4 days, rack the beer to secondary and add the second dry-hop addition. After 4 or 5 days more, the beer is ready for packaging.

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Here we are in the warm weather of July  when it's the perfect time for a beer so let me invite you to stop by to  enjoy some great beers and food at our pub here in Manville, NJ - the Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   And you can enjoy it all on our beautiful patio perfect for a lovely summer's day..  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  

=======================

Thanks in large part to Belgian lambic brewers, their styles have enjoyed something of a modern resurgence as a method to foster spontaneous fermentation. “Coolships”, often fashioned from copper or stainless steel, are large, shallow vessels that use the increased surface area as a way to capture whatever ambient yeasts and bacteria happen to be floating by.

Temperatures between minus 10°C and 10°C are generally regarded as the right range for coolshipping. This range ensures it’s cold enough to cool the wort quickly, but not so cold that the yeasts won’t be able to start doing their thing. 

These temperatures also help ensure the yeast and bacteria floating on the breeze are not generally going to be the species that thrive in warmer climates. Yeasts and bacteria that proliferate in summer are far more likely to produce unwanted and sometimes truly gruesome flavour and aroma compounds.

Yeasts are everywhere, they’re floating around you right now, and they’re settling on your phone, your table, your skin, your clothes, your food. If it has a surface, there’s probably yeast falling onto it right now.

What strains are currently trying to ferment that lone tomato sitting in your fruit bowl will depend on what's around you. Are there flowering eucalypts outside? Have you just picked up some mandarins? How warm do you keep your house? The ambient yeasts and bacteria are going to depend on what carbohydrates are available and what temperature they need to survive and thrive. 

------------------------------------

Many homebrewers are firm believers that most beer styles are always “in season,” but when the mercury starts to live above 80°F  we tend to gravitate towards refreshing, low-alcohol homebrew.

Here are two recipes that you can brew today and have ready in just a few weeks for the peak of the summer heat!

First let's go with an extract version of my Summer Pale Ale.  At a tidy 5.5% you can enjoy a few of this refesher.

Ingredients for 5 gallons (18.93 L)

• 6.6 lb (3.0 kg) | Light liquid malt extract

• 8.0 oz (227 g) | 20° L Crystal malt

• 4.0 oz (113 g) | 80° L Crystal malt

• 4.0 oz (113 g) | CaraVienne malt

• 5.0 oz (198 g) | Wheat malt

• 0.4 oz (11 g) | Nugget pellet hops, 13% a.a. (60 min)

• 1.0 oz (28 g) | Cascade pellet hops, 5.5% a.a. (5 min)

• 0.5 oz (14 g) | Nelson Sauvin pellet hops, 12.5% a.a. (5 min)

• 1.0 oz (28 g) | Cascade pellet hops, 5.5% a.a. (dry)

• 1.0 oz (28 g) | Nelson Sauvin pellet hops, 12.5% a.a. (dry)

• White Labs WLP001 California Ale, Wyeast 1056 American Ale, Safale US-05 Ale, or Danstar BRY-97

Directions
Put 2 gallons (7.6 L) of water in the boil pot and heat to 160°F (71°C). While the water is heating, put the specialty grains (20° L crystal, 80° L crystal, wheat, and CaraVienne malts) into a grain bag and tie off the ends so the grains can't escape.

Once the water has reached 150-170°F (65.6-76.7°C, immerse the grain bag in the water for 30 minutes. For more information on steeping specialty grains, visit the Intermediate section of Let's Brew on the AHA website.

After 30 minutes, remove the grain bag and let it drip until it stops. Add malt extract to the water and stir until totally dissolved.

Bring to a rolling boil for 60 minutes, add hops at specified intervals from end of boil.

Strain wort into sanitized fermentation vessel with 2-3 gallons (7.6-11.4 L) of pre-boiled & chilled water for a total volume of 5 gallons (18.9 L).

Pitch yeast when temperature reaches 67°F (19°C).

Secure air lock or blow-off tube.

After nine days, rack to secondary fermenter and dry hop.

Let rest another nine days at 68°F (20°C).

Keg at 2.5 volumes of CO2 or bottle condition with 4 oz (113 g) corn sugar

=============

Here's one of my all time favorite summer brews - Klingon's Kolsch

First I'll give you the all grain version (13 gallons; 4.7% ABV)and then the extract one.

All Grain Version  / Ingredients:

• 17.0 lb (7.71 kg) Pilsner malt

• 3.0 lb (1.36 kg) Wheat malt

• 1.0 lb (0.45 kg) Crystal malt

• 1.5 oz (43 g) German Tradition whole hops, 5% a.a. (45 min)

• 1.5 oz (43 g) German Select whole hops, 4% a.a. (45 min)

• 1.5 oz (43 g) German Tettnanger whole hops, 3% a.a. (30 min)

• WLP001 California Ale yeast

Directions: Mash grains at 104°F (40°C) for 90 minutes. Raise temperature to 140°F (60°C) and hold for 90 minutes. Raise to 158°F (70°C) and hold for 60 minutes. Ferment in primary for seven days at 68°F (20°C). Rack to secondary and hold at 50°F (10°C) for four weeks.

--------------------------

Extract Version - 5 gallons; 4.7% ABV

Ingredients

• 5.0 lb (2.26 kg) | Extra Light dry malt extract

• 0.33 lb (0.15 kg) | Crystal 10 L malt

• 0.75 oz (21 g) | German Tradition whole hops, 5% a.a. (45 min)

• 0.75 oz (21 g) | German Select whole hops, 4% a.a. (45 min)

• 0.6 oz (17 g) | German Tettnanger whole hops, 3% a.a. (30 min)

• WLP001 California Ale yeast 

Directions:

Steep crystal malt in 2.5 gallons (9.5 L) of 160°F (71°C) water for 30 minutes, then remove grains and bring to a boil. Add 45 minute hops and boil 15 minutes. Add 30 minute hops. After a 45 minute boil, strain into fermenter with enough cold water to make 5 gallons (19 L). When temperature drops below 68°F (20°C), aerate and pitch yeast. Follow the directions for the all-grain recipe for fermentation.

========================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Here we are in June and I thought I'd do something different but first let me invite you to stop by to  enjoy some great beers and food at our pub here in Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   And you can enjoy it all on our beautiful patio.  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  

Now let's get to it - no recopies  this month but something even more important to the professional and home brewer. 

Boil overs. Hop explosions. Leaky barrels. Yeast “poops.” Brewing, my friends, ain't for the squeaky clean—it's a gritty affair. We're not talking about playing house with some everyday cleaning supplies. No, sir. This is showdown for brewers, where every “janitor” is armed with a squeegee and hose to remove brewing grime. They're not playing around with your everyday household cleaners. This is taking down microbial institutions, and if the right chemical isn't used, well, let's just say there's a laundry list of calamities waiting to unfold:

• Microbial Contamination: Inadequate cleaning can lead to the growth of unwanted microorganisms such as bacteria, wild yeast, or mold, which can spoil beer flavors or cause off-flavors

• Cross-Contamination: Insufficient cleaning of equipment and surfaces can result in cross-contamination between different beer batches or between different areas of the brewery, leading to inconsistent beer quality.

• Off-Flavors: Residual cleaning agents or sanitizers left on equipment can impart undesirable off-flavors to the beer, affecting its taste and aroma.

• Infection of Wooden Barrels: If barrels are not thoroughly cleaned and sanitized, they can harbor microbes that may infect subsequent batches of beer, leading to unpredictable flavors.

• Poor Fermentation: Contaminants in fermentation vessels or inadequate cleaning of yeast harvesting equipment can lead to poor fermentation, affecting the flavor, aroma, and alcohol content of the beer.

• Equipment Corrosion: Improper cleaning and maintenance may lead to the buildup of mineral deposits or chemicals on brewery equipment, causing corrosion over time.

• Inconsistent Carbonation: Residual debris in kegs or beer lines can lead to inconsistent carbonation levels, resulting in variations in mouthfeel and effervescence.

• Quality Control Issues: Inadequate cleaning can compromise the accuracy of quality control tests and measurements, leading to unreliable data and potential product defects.

• Health and Safety Concerns: Poor cleaning habits can create an environment conducive to the growth of harmful bacteria or mold, posing health risks for brewery staff and consumers.

• Waste of Resources: Inefficient cleaning practices can lead to higher water and chemical usage, increasing operational costs and environmental impact.

• Extended Downtime: Incomplete or ineffective cleaning processes may require more frequent and extended downtime for equipment maintenance and sanitation, impacting overall production efficiency.

• Regulatory Compliance Issues: Inconsistent or inadequate cleaning practices can lead to non-compliance with health and safety regulations, resulting in legal and regulatory issues for the brewery.

It's a bare-knuckle brawl with chaos if the right cleaning chemical isn’t used. Nobody gets a free pass here. EVERYBODY, from the puny to the powerhouse, has danced with these troubles. You don't just sip your way through one, you slug it out with SEVERAL.

In this ring of brewing anarchy, the key to survival isn't wishful thinking. It's knowing your cleaner like the back of your bruised hand. We're not talking about crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. No, we're talking about being in the know, armed with the knowledge of what works and why it works. Because in this fight, ignorance is the first round knockout.

Work Hard
Modern detergents have evolved significantly from their early forms, simple soaps rendered from fat may have done the trick in the abbey back in the 1600's, but modern solvents are rendering all kinds of enemies, old and new, irrelevant in big league brewing today. The mid-20th century moved beyond the conventional bar of soap and saw the development of synthetic detergents with improved cleaning properties. These detergents, including anionic, nonionic, and cationic surfactants, offered better solubility, emulsification, and overall cleaning efficiency are more than soap opera stars.

As technology progressed, enzyme-based detergents became prevalent, making stains feel like a figment of the imagination. Enzymes can break down complex organic materials, making them highly effective in removing proteinaceous residues common in brewing.

In the context of breweries, the evolution of detergents has played a crucial role in maintaining sanitation standards. Modern brewery cleaning involves the use of specialized detergents designed to eliminate beer spoilers, biofilms, and other contaminants like that sore on the inside of your mouth that would go away if you could just stop tongueing it.

Alkaline and acidic detergents are tailored for specific brewery equipment and surfaces. Moreover, the development of no-rinse sanitizers has streamlined the cleaning process, ensuring that residues from detergents do not impact beer flavor.

Alkalines Tagging In
These bad boys in the brewing brawl understand that carbon molecules are the unruly troublemakers, leaving their mark like a graffiti tag on a brick wall. They revel in the filth left behind—proteins, fats, and their buddies. Armed with a sky-high pH that can square up to the most acidic troublemakers, the heavy hitters we encounter in the ring are:

Sodium carbonate: Reacting with fatty acids, sodium carbonate is able to break down the fats into soap and glycerol in a process called saponification. Sodium carbonate acts as a surfactant, reducing the surface tension of water to allow greasy substances to be broken off into smaller droplets by a detergent, yet is versatile on several surfaces in a brewery like stainless and glass. It also has less of an environmental impact, making it ideal for eco-conscious cleaning practices.

Sodium metasilicate: Now let’s take what sodium carbonate can do and amp it up with some dissolving of minerals.

Sodium lauryl sulfate: Helping water penetrate and wet surfaces more effectively as well as disrupts bonds that hold soil together, this compound is excellent for solubilizing substances, removing stains, and addressing microbial issues. Sodium lauryl sulfate is used in combination with other cleaning agents to boost effectiveness!

Sodium hydroxide: Hard-core hydroxide is over here dissolving proteins and other organic matter! It can act as a catalyst in some reactions, enhancing the breakdown of contaminants on a variety of surfaces including metals, ceramics, and some plastics.

Despite all of the fun of also having a sanitizing effect, it can be corrosive to some sensitive materials.

Potassium hydroxide: Strongly alkaline at a pH above 13, this cleaner is important in saponification, breaking down organic matter, dissolving assorted mineral residues (through hydrolysis), sanitizing, but is corrosive to some metals. Questioning what metal those tanks are made of? This is a great one to use to really find out!

Acidic Avengers
Acidic cleaners are street fighters that address mineral deposits, scale, and beerstone head- on from surfaces. These are especially important for anything that participates in temperature control because this build-up impedes heat transfer. These are all about stripping away the grime so the real action can unfold:

• Nitric acid: This strong acid can suck the rust off… well, it doesn’t have to. It dissolves metal oxides like rust and then induces passivation of metals like stainless steel. It is selective in which metals it interacts with to remove tarnish, stains, and other discolorations cause by oxidation.

• Phosphoric acid: Also effective at removing rust although considered a weak acid, it also acts as a chelant, forming stable complexes with metal ions that prevent them from redepositing. It is also a milder acid than nitric acid, making it ideal for more sensitive surfaces.

Chlorine’s Atomic Beatdown
Chlorinated cleaners contain chlorine compounds that are effective at eliminating bacteria and molds, making them a great sanitizing agent to throwdown on a chemical level. Chlorine, the atom of highlight here, is released upon interaction with water to clean house:

• Sodium dichloroiscyanurate dihydrate (NaDCC): Highly water soluble, this makes it quick and easy to use for addressing bacteria, viruses and fungi in a variety of settings including water treatment, food service, and healthcare.

• Trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCCA): Excellent for slow-release applications because it is less soluble in water, it is commonly seen in water treatments. Biofilms and algae can both be addressed well with this acid.

Enzymatically Breaking Bad
Enzymatic cleaners contain, no surprise here, enzymes that are biochemical brawlers breaking down organic residues. These are probably going to be used on more stubborn deposits and have the added benefit of being eco-friendly fighters in their smackdown without leaving behind chemical residues:

• Protease: Enzymes that break down proteins into smaller bits like the building blocks, amino acids.

• Amylase: These enzymes should be familiar because of their role in the brewing process. They break down complex carbohydrates like starches into simpler sugars.

• Lipase: Ever brew a beer with nuts or meat? These are the enzymes that are necessary to break down fats into fatty acids and glycerol.

• Cellulase: Cellulose is a common polysaccharide that is found in plant cell walls which may accumulate as a result of using adjunct grains.

• Pectinase: Another polysaccharide that is found in plant cell walls, pectins are especially present in places where fruit and plant materials are processed. Using this enzyme helps break them down.

• Multiple enzymes: Some cleaners may use multiple enzymes so they are applicable in a broad range of functions.

Surfactants in their Sudsy Rebellion
Surfactant cleaners, better known as detergents, emulsify oils and lift away dirt like they are taking down this capitalistic hellscape. In this showdown, they reduce the surface tension of liquids and enhance wetting, spreading, and emulsifying properties. Some compounds that have surfactant qualities that were already mentioned include sodium lauryl sulfate and some enzymes.

Benzene sulfonic acid: The sulfonic acid is polar, while the benzene ring is nonpolar, allowing this acid to interact with multiple different molecules, making it an effective surfactant. However it can leave residues, is quite toxic, and can be corrosive.
Ethoxylated alcohol: Created between ethylene oxide and a fatty alcohol, this creates a carbon-rich alcohol that is hydrophobic and a hydrophilic polyoxyethylene chain, making it an effective surfactant. It is great at emulsifying residues and can penetrate oils and greases, loosening them from the surface.

Oxidizing Agents of Chaos
Oxidizing cleaners are oxygen-based compounds that can be brutal to stains, organic matter, and microbes. They readily throw punches with oxygen or other oxidizing agents that facilitate the breakdown of undesirable compounds, making them effective in sanitizing, tearing apart organic residues, removing scale and similar deposits, and passivating equipment.

• Peracetic acid: A potent oxidizing and santizing agent, it is quick and leaves low residue so it is ideal for no-rinse applications.

• Hydrogen peroxide: Proper dilution and rinsing is necessary with this oxidizing agent that is effective against a broad spectrum of contaminants.

• Chlorine dioxide: Powerful at oxidizing and disinfecting, this is another one that requires proper dosage awareness and thorough rinsing.

• Sodium hypochlorite: Better known as bleach, is effective in the brewery but its application is limited due to potential off-flavors and residues.

• Nitric acid: Used more for cleaning rather than a sanitizer, it requires proper handling and rinsing to prevent and adverse effects on beer flavor.

Caustic Bruisers
Caustics are not just used to describe someone’s wit! They are also highly alkaline and commonly used for cleaning stainless steel equipment. They are used for ‘cleaning in place’ procedures and far more because they break down organic residues like Angel Face.

Previously discussed chemicals that are heavy hitters are sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide.

Sanitization Destruction
Sanitizers can require rinsing or not, but they help sanitize surfaces, providing an extra layer of protection against contamination without compromise. Some that have already been mentioned include sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide, chlorine dioxide, as well as our friends NaDCC and TCCA.

• Iodine compounds: Often in the form of iodophors, they release iodine, a well-known sanitizer. They are versatile, easy to use, and have a low impact on beer flavor so they are common no-rinse sanitizers. They are convenient and efficient!

• Quarternary ammonia compounds: “Quats” are effective against a range of microorganisms and are known for their residual sanitizing properties. They have longer-lasting effects and are therefore great for prolonged sanitation, but as a result do require rinsing.

• Sulfur dioxide: Released from other compounds like potassium metabisulfite upon interaction with water, is a great sanitizer, antioxidant, and antimicrobial. However, it can impact flavor and aroma, so proper rinsing is necessary to remove residue.

• Sodium chlorite: It is often used with an acid activator like chlorine dioxide to be versatile and sanitize a variety of surfaces, but also requires rinsing to avoid adverse effects on products.

It’s Sport Defoaming
Defoaming agents, also known as antifoaming or foam control, are essential to reign in that foaming fury during various stages of brewing. These are used to strike a balance since foam can be a friend or foe in the brewing ring. Defoamers are applicable during boiling and fermentation because they reduce the surface tension and emulsify the bubbles, causing them to collapse. Dosage needs to be carefully considered with at what point in the process is it being used and that excessive amounts impact product quality.

Don’t Lye
Many cleaners can be corrosive to brewing equipment if improperly used, mixed, or diluted, essentially a Molotov cocktail to cleaning efforts. Sodium metasilicate is a common anti- corrosive that is used to passivate stainless steel. It is alkaline in nature and can help maintain a basic environment, which is preferable for passivation, encouraging the formation of a stable and protective chromium oxide layer on the stainless steel surface. It can also react and sequester cations like iron because no one wants to be literally rusty when brewing.

Near Life Experience
There is always a story floating around whether through a friend or social media about a boil over, wrong chemicals being used, or existential doubt about stainless steel because of rust (probably right, but that is a different problem for equipment sourcing). Knowing how to handle these chemicals when it comes to equipment is important, but no one wants a chemical burn, either. The best janitors are ubiquitously equipped with gloves of the nitrile or latex variety, not the boxing kind. Eye protection via goggles or safety glasses are important because tears only do so much for ocular safety. Depending on the size of the cleaning regimen, having body protection may be necessary.

Finding Your Power Cleaner
If guided meditation to find your power cleaner isn’t ideal, hopefully this article has thrown you into the underground fight to figure it out on the cardboard basement floor what is the best attack for cleaning the facility. Consider the nature of the contaminants, the type of brewing equipment, and the desired cleaning outcome (and the brewery definition of “clean”. Alkaline cleaners are excellent for organic residues, acidic ones are better for mineral deposits. Choosing what to use, and in what order, will successfully eliminate contaminants without leaving detrimental residues that could compromise beer quality.

Another day of cleaning can bite the dust with the right choices!

The Rules to remember -
1.  No secrets about cleaners. Knowing what one is using and how it is effective is important.
2.  One cleaning solution at a time. It may seem efficient to mix some chemicals together, but always follow manufacturer instructions in this to avoid explosive or deadly situations.
3.  Know your enemy. What is being cleaned and what is the most effective way to clean it. Strategy is key.
4.  Respect the equipment. Using the appropriate chemicals on the right surfaces can make all the right or wrong differences.
5.  Fight dirty, clean fair. Training matters because it is all about fighting issues that impact the product, not coworkers.
6.  Alchemy, not magic. It is a scientific process to clean, so keep theories and anecdotes out of the SOPs.
7.  No harm to the brew. Cleaners should eliminate contaminants but not have a negative impact on the product.
8.  Glove and shield up! Personal protective equipment is non-negotiable when dealing with any chemical.
9.  No rinse, no glory. It is great that there are no-rinse options, but others can leave residues and should be properly addressed before moving forward with the brewing process.
10. Talk about cleaning Knowledge is key and everyone shares similar struggles. 

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

=====================

Welcome to my May column.   Enjoy the nice weather by stopping in tp enjoy some great beers and food at our pub here in Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   And you can enjoy it on our beautiful patio.  Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of Beeer Nexus.  Now let's get to myr May column. 

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Altbier is to Düsseldorf as kölsch is to Cologne. In fact, the cities are about forty kilometers (twenty-five miles) apart, a quick train ride. The style gets its name from its old and traditional way of production before refrigeration.  Back in the day the  region had no ice cellars or anything else to store ice for the beer production in the summer, so they produced a beer with a warm and top-fermenting yeast, which needed no cooling during the [brewing] process.  Much like brewers in California who created steam beer because of a lack of consistent ice, brewers in Düsseldorf came up with their own solution for brewing in their conditions.  The style is about as narrow as saison, Altbier is all over the place. Some might taste like English brown ales; some like Baltic porters, some like a mild, and some even like an American red.

An Altbier is fermented at a moderate temperature using a top-fermenting yeast—which gives its flavor some fruitiness. Because Altbier is then matured at a cooler temperature, its flavor is more akin to lager beer styles than is the norm for top-fermented beers (such as British pale ale). 

Give this one a try - it's my Attitude Alt

2 cans (6.6 lb, or 3.0 kg) Light Malt Extract

1.25 lb (0.57 kg) Light Liquid Munich Malt Extract

0.5 lb (0.23 kg) Special b Malt (120° L)

0.5 lb (0.23 kg) CaraMunich Malt (60° L)

0.25 lb (0.11 kg) Carafa Malt (400° L)

1.5 oz (43 g) *Perle hops, 8.75% alpha acid (60 min)

1.0 oz (28 g) *Tettnang Hops, 4.5% alpha acid (15 min)

0.75 tsp (3 g) Irish moss (15 min)

2 packages Wyeast 1007 German Ale Yeast, or White Labs WLP036 Dusseldorf Alt Yeast, or white Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kölsch yeast, or a sufficient yeast starter

*Use similar hops, if Perle or Tettnag hops are unavailable.

Directions:

Steep the grains in 2 gallons (7.6 L) of cool water. Heat the water to 170°F (77°C), then strain the grains. Stir in malt extract and add enough water to bring the volume up to 3 gallons (11.4 L), and bring to a boil. Add bittering hops and boil for 45 minutes, then add aroma hops and re-hydrated Irish moss and continue boiling for 15 minutes. Cool the wort, and then pour into fermenter with enough cold water to make 5.5 gallons (21 L). Aerate and pitch yeast when temperature drops to 65°F (18°C). Ferment at 65°-68° F (18°-20° C) for one week or until fermentation is complete. Age the beer in a secondary fermenter for one week at 65°F (18°C). Carbonate to 1.5-2.5 volumes of CO

=========================

Now for a great recipe that anyone can have great success with.  I'll include some simple step by step directions so beginners can confidently make this extract gem  -  Rowdy Roddy's Pale Ale /2 pounds dry light malt extract

5 1/2 pound Crystal 20L malt, crushed

1/2 pound Am rican 6-row malt, crushed

12 ounce Centennial hops—60 minutes

1 ounce Cascade hops—15 minutes

1 ounce Centennial hops—15 minutes

1 ounce Cascade hops at flame out

1/2 ounce Centennial hops at flame out

6 gallons of tap water, split. If possible, place 3 gallons in the refrigerator to cool in a sanitized container

1 .5 gram package Safale US-05

Tie the American 6-row malt and Crystal 20L malt in a mesh hop-bag. Heat 1 gallon of water in a large pot to 160°F and remove from heat. Add malt and let steep for 20 minutes. 

Raise temperature slowly to 170°F. Make sure mesh bag isn’t sitting directly on the bottom of the pot. Remove the grain bag and add water to make 3 gallons total.
Bring the wort to a vigorous boil. As water is heating, slowly add malt extract, stirring constantly until completely dissolved. When boil begins, add 1/2 ounce Centennial hops in mesh bag.

After 45 minutes of boiling has passed, add 1 ounce Cascade and 1 ounce Centennial in mesh bag. 

After total of 60 minutes of boil remove from heat, add 1 ounce Cascade and 1/2 ounce Centennial in mesh bag and cover. 

Warning: After wort cools below 180°F everything that touches it should be sanitary, and exposure to open air should be limited as much as possible.
Cool wort by placing pot in ice bath until it is below 85°F. Transfer to sanitized fermentor (either a carboy or a fermentation bucket). Top off to 5 gallons using refrigerated water.

Sanitize outside of yeast package, fermentation stopper and airlock. Carefully pour yeast into cooled wort (it should be below 70°F), and agitate vigorously. Ferment in dark place, keeping ambient temperature consistent, preferably between 62-66°F.

Bottle after two to three weeks.

================================ 

In answer to several emails let me end by explaining the difference between Original gravity and final gravity.

Original Gravity

You measure the O.G. of your homebrew with your hydrometer after the wort has cooled, but before fermentation begins. This measurement gives the relative density of the sugar dissolved in the wort. Extract brewers should be able to come very close to matching the O.G. on a recipe, since the amount of sugar in malt extract is a fixed value. Sugar doesn't boil off, so the amount of extract you add to the wort determines exactly how much sugar you'll end up with. If you find that you're not getting the O.G. specified by the recipe, the most likely culprit is that you somehow didn't end up with the right amount of liquid. If you ended up with more than 5 gallons of wort, then the relative sugar density, and thus the O.G., will be lower. The opposite is true if you end up with less than 5 gallons of wort.

It's also possible that your O.G. measurement is off is because of the temperature of the wort. Hydrometers are calibrated to read the correct value at 60°F. My rule of thumb is that for every 8°F above 60°F, add 0.001 to your reading. Wort temperatures above 85°F produce inaccurate readings when using any adjustment formula.

All-grain brewers quickly learn that there is a lot of experimentation that goes into getting the correct O.G. of a recipe. For an all-grain brewer, the amount of sugar extracted from the grain is a product of the the way the grain is crushed, the mash temperature, sparge temperature and even the type of mash tun used. An all-grain brewer usually has to brew several batches and take careful notes before they can accurately predict the O.G. of a homebrew.

Final Gravity

The final gravity, or F.G., of a recipe is the same type of measurement as the O.G., but the measurement is taken at the end of fermentation. The difference between the O.G. and the F.G. tells you how much sugar was consumed by the yeast. As yeast eat sugar they produce carbon dioxide and alcohol, which are both less dense than sugar or water, so the density of the wort decreases.

The actual F.G. of a beer depends on yeast health, the type of yeast used, and the fermentation temperature. If your fermentation conditions are perfect then you may come close to the F.G. listed on a recipe, but predicting the F.G. is almost more of an art form than a science. There are a lot of variables that go into fermentation, so a beginning brewer shouldn't be surprised if the measured F.G. is off by about 0.005. Even advanced brewers will find that predicting the F.G. within 0.002 takes a lot of experimentation.

Since the actual O.G. and F.G. of a homebrew can be slightly different than what's on the recipe, I interpret the ABV listed on a recipe as a guideline. Your can calculate your actual ABV by taking the O.G. minus the F.G. and multiplying that value by 131.

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

=====================

Happy April which means happy spring.   I for one am glad winter is officially over. As the nice weather begins its the perfect time to stop by to enjoy some great beers and food in our pub here in Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of BeeerNexus.

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Recently I've gotten several emails from readers who say they are getting into a home brewing rut. Let me remind everyone to remember that homebrewing beer is a hobby that should be fun and enjoyable. It's not supposed to feel like a chore and or work,. For those that don’t or are just beginning to homebrew you might not realize that It’s really easy to get tired and burnt out from cleaning lots of equipment and pouring countless hours into a product that may or may not turn out the way you envisioned.

It’s very easy to overcomplicate the brewing process in hopes to optimize every ounce for ease and efficiency. Over time, some folks will have amassed so much extra equipment and brewing gadgets that their precious hobby starts to feel like an obligation. They likely feel they've invested so much time and money into homebrewing at this point that they can’t afford to quit! 

I’ve seen a lot of brewing hobbyists embark on a similar arc. They start with extract, move to all grain, and then continue to build until it eventually becomes bigger than what they originally bargained for. The hobby lust becomes less about the beer we’re brewing and more about those big shiny kettles, and in some cases, the pride one has about being a brewer.

.

I’ve noticed that with ever incremental step some take toward getting more entrenched in the hobby comes with a time tradeoff and more commitment. Sometimes people don’t realize it until they’ve gone too far.  It can be very difficult to find 6 hours to dedicate to brewing beer while balancing family, friends, careers, kids, etc. 

Here are a few things you can do to get my brewing energy and enthusiasm back. Try using a recipe kit.  Its a nice change for those  who might be feeling lazy about crushing, designing, and prepping recipes. Maybe switch back to extract brewing for a batch, try overnight mashing, so to split the  brew day into two shorter days or brew with friends and made it a social event.  You might be surprised how much fun a non-brewer would have at a brewing party..

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As the spring weather is settling in a good Czech pils will be a perfect compliment.  So here's one for extract brewer's - Pithy Philly Pils.  This is a new take on one of the first beers I ever brewed when growing up near Philadelphia .

PARTIAL-MASH

Batch size: 4.75 gallons (18 liters)
OG: 1.056
FG: 1.015
IBUs: 40
ABV: 5.2%

MALT/GRAIN BILL
9 lb (4.1 kg) pilsner liquid malt extract (LME)
1 lb (454 g) Carapils

HOPS & ADDITIONS SCHEDULE
2 oz (57 g) Saaz at 60 minutes [19 IBUs]
2 oz (57 g) Saaz at 30 minutes [14 IBUs]
½ tsp (2.5 ml) Irish moss or ½ Whirlfloc tablet at 15 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Saaz at 10 minutes [7 IBUs]
1 oz (28 g) Saaz at flameout

YEAST
Fermentis SafLager W-34/70, White Labs WLP833 German Bock Lager, or other lager strain of choice

DIRECTIONS
Mix your usual brewing water 50/50 with distilled water to make 5 gallons (19 liters) and heat it to 154°F (68°C). Mill the Carapils and steep at 154°F (68°C) for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the LME, and stir thoroughly. Boil for 70 minutes, adding hops and Irish moss or Whirlfloc according to the schedule. Chill to about 65°F (18°C) and transfer to a clean, sanitized corny keg. Fill to about 4.75 gallons (18 liters), aerate well, and pitch the yeast. Seal the keg, connect a spunding valve, and set it to 6 PSI. On Day 5 of fermentation, set the valve to 12 PSI. Transfer the finished beer to bottles or a clean keg and lager (i.e., chill) for at least 2 weeks before consuming.

BREWER’S NOTES
Filling the keg not quite full (i.e., about 4.75 gallons/18 liters) allows some head space for the fermentation and spunding to work under pressure.

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How about one more for the road?  I developed this recipe  for my Fast Draw Pale when I I needed a quick drinking hoppy pale ale! It’s made from easily accessible ingredients and can be made in under an hour. Enjoy!

1.7kg Coopers Pale Ale (pre-hopped extract)

1kg Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 (500g Dextrose, 250g Maltodextrine, 250g LDME)

500g Light Dry Malt Extract

45g Amarillo Hops

30g Cascade Hops

Safale US-05 Yeast

Split up the hops evenly into three additions.

15g Amarillo and 10g Cascade. (15min, 1min, Dry Hop)

Bring 5L of water to the boil, turn off the heat and add 500g Light Dry Malt Extract, mix thoroughly.

Return to the boil for 5mins, add 15min addition of hops, boil for a further 14mins

Add the 1min addition of hops boil for a further 1min and then turn off the heat.

Pour through a sieve into your fermenter, add Coopers Pale Ale can and Coopers BE2, mix thoroughly.

Top up with cold water to 21L

When temp is 18-20c add yeast.

When fermentation settles down, usually after 5 days add the dry hops.

Leave for another 5-7 days until fermentation is finished.

Bottle or keg as usual.  

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

=====================

Happy March to all!  It's a fun month featuring St. Patrick's Day.  It's the perfect time to stop by to enjoy some great beers and food in our pub here in Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of BeeerNexus.

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Most home brewers will tell you that New England style beers are extremely easy to make; a can’t-miss recipe of flaked oats, two row malt, a low to mid-flocculating yeast that maintains that milky look we all pine after, and a combination of two or three hops out of a short list [Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy, etc.] that are added late in the boil, whirlpool, or in the dry hop at high krausen. TBut anyone who tells you that is wrong. New England Pale Ales and IPA’s are actually incredibly difficult. After nearly three years of study and test batches I finally got it the way I wanted it.  Over that time I obviously learned a lot; here are three of the most important tips for home brewers making NEIPAs

Tip #1 Don’t dry hop at high krausen, dry hop at the end of fermentation.

Every single time I added hops within the first 48-72 hours of fermentation, I’d always get an overtly bitter, taste-lacking finished beer. I’d go as small as 1oz or as high as 8oz. It wasn’t until I started dry hopping when the beer was done or close to being fully fermented out that I realized the difference it made in the finished product. 

Tip #2 Hot side hopping is a must; DO IT!

I began doing this early on in my experimenting but quickly ditched it in favor of no boil additions but picked it back up some years later when I started adding a mid-boil kiss of noble hops. I adopted this method but experimented with different low alpha hops in order to get a smoother bitterness with less bitterness bite. For example I found that Warrior hops provide a harshness to the beer that’s unbecoming of this amazing style but Cascade, when added at the right time during the boil not only provides the beer with the backbone it needs to help round out the flavor but it also adds an interesting citrus peel character that gives the beer that extra UMPH! If you will.

Tip #3 Cool Pooling! My go-to whirlpool temperature is 170 degrees.

Many articles will tell you that 180-185 is the sweet spot but I’ve found that temperature brings out more bitterness in a style where I’m already adding hot side hops. Even in the versions where I didn’t add anything during the boil, it came across similar to how it did when I dry hopped at high krausen.

At the end of the day, do what works for you and don’t stop experimenting in order to find what combination of ingredients & brewing methods work for you because at the end of the day, that’s what home brewing is all about.

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Let's try a recipe for a pale ale that's very popular at our brewery. I've adjusted for homebrewing so here we go.

Prince's Pale

PARTIAL-MASH

Batch size: 5.5 gallons (21 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.054
FG: 1.013
IBUs: 30
ABV: 5.4%

MALT/GRAIN BILL
5.8 lb (2.6 kg) extra-light dried malt extract (DME)
13 oz (369 g) biscuit
13 oz (369 g) crystal 60°L

HOPS SCHEDULE
1 oz (28 g) Magnum at 60 minutes [30 IBUs]
0.5 oz (14 g) Citra at first dry hop (American)
0.5 oz (14 g) Mosaic at second dry hop (American)
0.5 oz (14 g) East Kent Goldings at second dry hop (Belgian)
0.5 oz (14 g) East Kent Goldings at second dry hop (British)

YEAST
Fermentis SafAle US-05 or similar (American), Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale (Belgian), and White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale (British)

DIRECTIONS
Mill the specialty grains and, in a mesh steeping bag, steep in 1 gallon (3.8 liters) of water at 152°F (67°C) for 45 minutes, then raise to 168°F (76°C). Rinse the steeping bag, add 5 more gallons (19 liters) of water, and bring just to a boil. Switch off the heat and add the extract in batches, being careful not to scorch. Bring back to a boil, and boil for 75 minutes, adding hops according to the schedule. After the boil, chill the wort to 66°F (19°C), split evenly into three fermentors, and pitch a different yeast into each portion. Aerate well. Ferment at 66–68°F (19–20°C) for 5 days, then add the first dry hop to the American pale ale. Ferment for 5 more days, or until fermentation is complete, then add the second dry hops. After a few more days or once gravity is stable, remove the hops or rack, crash, package, and carbonate to about 2.5 volumes (American), 3 volumes (Belgian), and 2 volumes (British).

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Guinness! The quintessential Irish beverage: can one even think of Dublin and not think of Guinness? Dry Irish Stouts are pitch black beers (that, despite Guinness' claim that they are, in actuality, “a very dark shad of ruby”) with a distinct roasted flavor akin to coffee. Roasted barley is the key ingredient here; this is what lends the beer that unique coffee and bittersweet chocolate character. Irish Stouts tend be to served on nitrogen, something that homebrewers cannot accommodate without special equipment, but even when on CO2 or bottle conditioned, a long lasting, tan, frothy head is expected.

These beers are easy to consistently brew. If you want a softer roast character, try cold-steeping the dark grains: immerse them in water in a covered glass jar, let steep for 24 hours, strain, and then add it to the last few minutes of the boil.

Grain:

5.25 lbs - Maris Otter Pale Malt (67%)

1.75 lbs - Flaked Barley (22%)

1 lb - Roasted Barley (11%)

Hops:

2.25pz East Kent Goldings @ 60 minutes (40 IBU) 

Yeast:

Wyeast Irish Ale 1084

OG: 1.042

FG: 1.011

Single Infusion Mash: 156°F – 60 minutes

Raise to 170°F – 15 minutes

Boil 60 minutes. Chill, pitch yeast at 68°F. Ferment at 70°F for ten days, or until FG is reached. 

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Here we are in February.  It's a fun month with holidays like Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day, and Have A Beer Day (I made the uP) so why not  stop by to enjoy some great beers and food in our pub here in Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of BeeerNexus.

First let me talk about something I've received uite a few about emails about - Cryo hops. If you break open a fresh, whole-cone hop, you’ll find a bunch of yellow, pollen-like powder within. That stuff is lupulin, and it contains the majority of the plant’s hop oils, which ultimately impart flavor and aroma in the beer it’s used in. Back  2014, global hop supplier Yakima Chief Hops invented a patented process of freezing fresh hops with liquid nitrogen, shattering them, separating the lupulin and the hops’ external green matter (a.k.a. brack), and pressing that lupulin into pellets with some excess plant material. The end result: Cryo Hops®.

Named for the Greek word kryos meaning “frost,” Cryo hops are essentially ultra-concentrated hop pellets. Most commercially available hop pellets used to make beer are billed as T-90 or Type 90 hops — meaning one pound of hops yields 0.9 pounds of pellets — but Cryo-style hops are T-45s, meaning only 0.45 pounds of Cryo can be pulled from a pound of hops. But due to the high lupulin content of Cryo hops, they contain double the alpha acid content of regular hop pellets, making them an overall more potent and efficient alternative. While there are a few different brands of lupulin-enriched hop pellets,  Cryo Hops and Cryo are also both trademarks owned by Yakima Chief Hops — Cryo has become a broader industry term. There are myriad benefits to using Cryo hops in beer, but where they really shine is in IPAs.

The most common style in which one will encounter Cryo hops is undoubtedly in New England IPAs. Since the dawn of the category, brewers have taken on the challenge of cramming in as many hops into their IPAs as possible with maximum dry-hopping. But with an absurd amount of hops going in, a lot of plant matter can end up in the beer itself. This generally causes more grassy, piney notes turning up in the final product. While that may actually be a desirable characteristic for some brewers, many find it to be a harsh or distracting quality against the lupulin’s alpha acids — the real bread and butter of the hop’s expression.

Cryo solves a problem that many brewers face when dry-hopping their beers to high heaven. With lupulin-enriched hops, brewers can harness a cleaner expression of concentrated hop flavor without any disruption from the presence of excess vegetal brack.

Also notable: due to the high level of brack in T-90 hops, more insoluble plant matter will be floating about in the fermentation tank, absorbing beer along the way. With Cryo hops, brewers get a bigger yield of finished beer. Plus, while Cryo hops tend to be a bit more expensive than T-90s, they deliver double the flavor without being double the price.

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 It seems we have a lot of extract brewers who read my column so let me start with something for them.  Here's my recipe for a great beer _ Easy Suqeezy New England IPA

The goal for a good NEIPA should be hazy appearance, lots of fruity aromas and flavors, with a soft mouthfeel.When looking at grain, flaked wheat and rolled oats will help you to achieve this soft and almost creamy mouthfeel. These can be added along with your steeping grains or mash if you are doing an all-grain brew. There is very little fermentable sugar that you will get from the oats, but they will add the mouthfeel you’re desiring in a NEIPA. Another benefit is that while these grains are soaking, it’ll smell like a delicious oatmeal breakfast.

A water profile with high amounts of Calcium Chloride can also help to provide a super soft mouthfeel. Hop choice and hop schedule make a huge difference between an okay NEIPA and an amazing

Volume: 5 gallons (18.9L)

Predicted SRM 6.33

Predicted IBU 60.63 

Original Gravity 1.073

Final Gravity 1.016

ABV- 7.39% 

Steeping Grain:

2lb (907.2 grams) Flaked Wheat
1lb (453.6 grams) Flaked (Rolled) Oats
2lb (907.2 grams) 2-row
0.5lb (226.8 grams) Carapils

Steeped at 162F (72.2C) for 20 minutes

Extract:

6.6lb (3kg) Golden Light LME (60 min)
1lb (453.6 grams) Golden Light DME (15 min)
0.5lb (226.8 grams) Cane Sugar (15 min)

Hops:

0.25oz (7.1 grams) Mosaic – 60 minutes
0.75oz (21.3 grams) Mosaic- Whirlpool
1oz (28.3 grams) Amarillo- Whirlpool
1oz (28.3 grams) Citra- Whirlpool
1oz (28.3 grams) Mosaic- Dry Hop Day 4
1oz (28.3 grams)z Citra- Dry Hop Day 4

1oz (28.3 grams) Amarillo- Dry Hop Day 4
1oz (28.3 grams) Mosaic- Dry Hop Day 7
1oz (28.3 grams) Citra- Dry Hop Day 7

Water:

1/4 tsp (0.85 grams) CaCl
1/8 tsp (0.5 grams) Gypsum

Imperial Yeast ‘Dry Hop’ A24 – 1 packet 

Heat 8 quarts (7.6L) of water to 162°F (72.2C). Add brewing salts. Add specialty grain including flaked wheat and rolled oats to water. Steep for 20 minutes. Remove steeping grain. Add water to reach 2.5 gallons (9.5L). Boil for 60 minutes, following the hop and extract schedule.

After the boil, chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 64°F (17.8C). Top water off to 5 gallons (18.9L). Aerate the wort and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 68°F (20C) for 2 weeks, then cold crash the beer to 35°F (1.7C). Bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.25 volumes of CO2.

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Make it a Milkshake IPA!

Milkshake IPAs are super popular. You could easily give this even more of that soft, creamy mouthfeel associated with the milkshake IPA by adding lactose to this recipe!

I would recommend adding the lactose with 5-10 minutes left in your boil.

Lactose is a non-fermentable sugar. This means that your yeast will not be able to consume it to produce alcohol, thus, it will leave resulting thicker mouthfeel.

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Finally for more experience brewers here's a recipe fo my  King Kolsch.

• 10.3 lbs. (4.67kg) continental Pilsener malt

• 0.5 lb. (227g) Vienna malt

• 1.5 oz. (r3g) Hallertau 4% AA for 60

• Mash at 149. Boil 60 min (90 min if you believe the DMS thing).

• Ferment at 60 deg F with WLP029 or WY2565
  
  

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Happy New Year!  If you didn't get brewing equipment go treat yourself right now. If you did, let's start brewing! I'm always ready to help so just send me a question.  I personally answer all my emails.  Now as the new year begins why not  stop by to enjoy some great beers and food in our pub here in Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of BeeerNexus!  

If you regularly have leftover bread at home why not brew your own Toast Ale. Alternatively, pop into your local bakery, cafe or market and see if they’re happy to give you their surplus at the end of the day. Most will be glad for you to take it off their hands or simply get out to the supermarket and buy some.  It will be worth it as you make my Toast In The New Year Ale!

Ingredients

For the mash:

·   3.5kg pale malt

·   1.5kg dried crumbed bread (approx 2.5kg fresh bread)

·   150g cara malt

·   150g Munich malt

·   500g oat husks

·   15.7 litres of water

During the boil:

·   5g German Hallertau Tradition hops

·   37g Cascade hops

·   20g Centennial hops

·   25g Bramling Cross hops

·   1 tsp Protofloc (also called Irish Moss)

For the ferment

·   11.5g Safale US-05 rehydrated yeast

·   60g Cascade hops

·   35g Bramling Cross

How To Make It…

1. SLICE, DRY AND CRUSH THE BREAD

Dry the bread in an oven at 90°C for about 1h. Time and temperature will vary depending on your oven, but generally the lower the temperature the better. Slicing the bread will speed up drying.

Once the bread is dry, coarsely crush to the size of large croutons (not to powder otherwise you will get a stuck mash).

2. MASH

Steep your grains in 15.7L of water at 67°C and mix. Cover and leave for 60 minutes.

he naturally occurring enzymes in the malt convert the starches in the grain into simple sugars. Toast ale is special because we’ve replaced some of the barley malt with bread, but malt is still required for the enzymes.

3. SPARGE AND LAUTER

Drain the liquid from the bottom of the mash tun (lautering) whilst rinsing the grains with 78°C water from the top to extract additional sugars (sparging). Sparge until you’ve reached 25L – you’ll use about 20L of water.

Ideally, you should sparge using a watering can or colander so that the water is distributed in a spray rather than the continuous gush of a hose. The back of a spoon also works. While sparging, don’t be tempted to push the wort through the wet grains. Grains in the wort may create unwanted tanin tastes.

4. BOIL AND ADD HOPS

Bring the wort to a boil. Add 5g of German Hallertau Tradition hops immediately at 90 minutes. These are the ‘bittering’ hops that give Toast its lip-smacking bitter taste. They balance out the caramel notes from the bread and the papaya and mango notes from the aroma hops that you’ll add later.

At 15 minutes (i.e. 75 minutes of boiling), add 1 tsp Protofloc, also called Irish Moss, which makes a brighter tasting wort.

At 5 minutes (i.e. after 85 minutes), add 12g Cascade hops and 10g Centennial hops. As you take the wort off the boil (i.e. after 90 minutes), add the final hops – 25g Cascade, 10g Centennial and 25g Bramling Cross. These are the aromatic hops that add a fruity, refreshing punch to Toast.

5. COOL, FERMENT AND CONDITION

Cool the wort to 20°C. You can use an ice bucket, but don’t mix unboiled water with your wort, which has been sterilised by the boiling. Add a 11.5g sachet of Safale US-05 rehydrated yeast to the cooled wort.

Let the yeast get to work fermenting. Try to keep your wort at around 18°C for 7 days. After five days, add another 60g Cascade hops and 35g Bramling Cross hops. This reinforces the fresh mango, passion fruit, and kiwi flavours.

Siphon the beer into sterile bottles, primed for carbonation. You should never pour the beer as this adds oxygen that will spoil the beer. Seal the bottles and leave in a cool, dark place (at around 12°C) for two weeks. This is a secondary fermentation stage that allows the beer to get some fizz and condition nicely.

Finally, drink and enjoy while raising a toast to the new year end of bread waste!

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I’m betting there are more than a few people out there who just got their first home brewing kit from Santa so I thought I’d kick start your experience with a basic brewing basic.  Always remember this:  Know your raw materials, and you’ll forever have the upper hand when you brew!

The most important part of making good beer is to fully clean and sanitize all of your equipment. The second most important part of making good beer is to understand, and always use, fresh high-quality ingredients. Know your raw materials, and you’ll forever have the upper hand when you brew.

Beer is traditionally brewed from just four ingredients: Keep in mind that these are merely the building blocks. Beer can also include spices, fruits, juices, chiles, coffee, purees, a variety of sugars, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. In the past year, I’ve tried—and, for the most part, enjoyed—beers that have included basil, cucumbers, peanut butter, and even cinnamon rolls. If it’s out there, there’s a good chance someone has tried to ferment it (some attempts, of course, turn out better than others).

It’s fun to play with exotic ingredients, but for now, let’s focus on understanding the four fundamental ingredients that comprise, at least in part, every beer you’re likely to ever brew.

Malt is to beer as grapes are to wine, as honey is to mead, and as apples are to cider. It supplies the sugars that yeast cells convert into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Without malt, beer as we know it would not be. It is as fundamental to ale and lager as rice and maize are to the great cuisines of Asia and Mesoamerica. 

Here are a few basics about malt that you should be aware of.  In coming months I’ll do the same for hops and yeast.

Malt is always made from a cereal grain (such as barley, wheat, rye, or oats) that has been modified to make its internal starches readily available for brewing. The degree to which a malt is modified from raw grain is called—wait for it—modification.

 Malt is always kilned (heated) to some degree. The degree of kilning may be so light as to be virtually unnoticeable or so aggressive that the kernels turn completely black. But it’s always there. The degree to which malt is kilned is called kilning (maltsters are an imaginative lot).

Malt generally falls into two broad categories: base malt and everything else. That everything else, usually called specialty malt, is further categorized into caramel/crystal and roasted malts, so a good taxonomy for the types of malts you’re likely to encounter is as follows:

Base malts, which are modified and then very lightly kilned
Caramel and crystal malts, which are modified and then moderately kilned
Roasted malts, which are modified and then heavily kilned

There are a few exceptions, of course, but this organizational scheme captures the vast majority of the malt you’ll come across. In the following sections, you’ll learn a little more about what each of these malt families is good for.

Common base malts include

Pilsner malt, which is sometimes called Pils malt. This is the lightest malt available. Pils malt forms the base for the vast majority of lager styles.

Pale malt, which is often called, simply, “2-row.” It’s usually a shade darker than Pils malt, though not by much. Pale malt forms the base of the majority of ale styles.

Pale-ale malt, sometimes referred to by its specific cultivar, such as Maris Otter or Golden Promise. These tend to lend a slight nuttiness or more rounded malt flavor to beer.

Munich malt, which comes in varying degrees of color. These are more highly kilned than Pils and pale malts, but they still act more like base malts than caramel or crystal malts. Munich malt is traditionally found in dark German lagers such as Bock and Oktoberfest/Märzen, but it has become popular for a wide range of styles.

Vienna malt, which is very similar to Munich malt. It forms the basis for traditional Vienna lager.

Wheat malt, which contains no husk and is almost always used in conjunction with barley malt. German wheat beer traditionally includes more than 50 percent wheat malt, with Pils malt supplying the balance.

Rye malt, which has similar properties to wheat malt and delivers a signature spiciness not unlike rye bread. Rye malt is typically used in small quantities, up to about 20 percent.

Further complicating base malts is the fact that they come from North America, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and elsewhere. Each growing region contributes its own unique terroir, which means that Pilsner malts from Germany and the United States are likely to have a rather different taste and brewhouse performance.

Malt Extract

Malt extract is a convenient malt product that lets homebrewers brew beer without having to mash grain (many professional brewers admit to sneaking a bit of it in from time to time as well). Mashing is neither difficult nor complicated, but it does introduce opportunities for things to go wrong, and it takes time. A typical brew day that starts with a mash might last 5 to 7 hours, but you can easily brew beer from malt extract in just a couple of hours.

So what is malt extract? It’s what you get when you mash a bunch of malt and then remove most of the water. Malting companies mash grain just as one would when preparing to make beer, but instead of adding hops and fermenting the resulting wort, they process the wort to remove water. The result is a concentrated wort that brewers can reconstitute at their own convenience to make beer, just as you’d add water to a can of condensed soup. Malt extract is available in two forms: liquid and dry.

Liquid malt extract (LME) is more meaningfully—but less commonly—described as malt extract syrup. It has a honey-like consistency and could easily fill in for the titular character starring opposite Steve McQueen in 1958’s The Blob. Your local homebrew store is likely to have big plastic barrels of the stuff: All you have to do is tell them how much you need, and they’ll fill a pail for you to take home and brew with. Mail-order retailers usually sell liquid extract in plastic jugs or vacuum-sealed bags.

Dry malt extract (DME), sometimes called spray malt, is made by spraying wort into a warm vacuum chamber. As each little droplet of wort flies through the chamber, the water is almost instantly sucked out of it, and the resulting pile of dry malt compounds is bagged and shipped to homebrewers worldwide. Homebrew stores are likely to sell dry malt extract in plastic bags, usually by the pound or kilogram.

Liquid and dry malt extracts are effectively interchangeable, but because the dry product contains less moisture, you need less of it by weight than an equivalent amount of liquid extract. Dry extract has a much longer shelf life, but it comes with a slightly higher price tag. Both can make equally good beer, and the choice of one over the other is likely to come down to what your supplier carries and how you plan to use it.

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Oh, my it's December already.  Definitely time to start brewing or asking Santa for a home brewing kit.  Let's make a resolution that in 2024 you'll be brewing!   Get ready the holidays by stopping by to enjoy some great beers and food in our pub and outdoor beer garden here in Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of BeeerNexus!  

As the year ends it might be time for me to tackle many of the home brewing problems I’ve received from readers over the past 12 months.  Most fit into 4 categories.  Here’s suggestions to fix the issues and make for better brewing.  Even if you are and experienced brewer it’s worthwhile to be reminded of these crucial items.

Improper cleaning

The first step in brewing delicious beer is to clean the equipment. Brewing is a very complicated process. Keeping the brewery’s equipment clean can not only keep things tidy but also help protect the quality and flavor of the beer.
Important note: Please note the important difference between cleaning and disinfection. Proper cleaning of your equipment can remove dirt, dust, and scum, as well as fat, protein, and various viscous substances that may spoil the flavor of the beer. Disinfection will not have any effect on anything mentioned above, but it will kill unwanted bacteria, which cannot be done by cleaning alone.

Not disinfected properly

Brewing equipment that is not properly sanitized may be able to brew a beer with a weird taste, or it may stop fermentation. These conditions are caused by harmful microorganisms in the brewery equipment. During the brewing process, anything that comes into contact with beer needs to be thoroughly disinfected.

Use of poor quality water

The tap water taken directly from the tap in your local area may be very delicious, but when you add this water to the brewing, it may hurt the beer. Unfiltered chlorinated water will give the beer a metallic and plastic taste. The pH value and ion distribution of water in different regions are different, which may change the final specific gravity, pH value, and flavor of the beer.
With the development of craft beer around the world, many of these beer styles are made around the type of water available in their area. For example, Bohemia, the birthplace of Pilsner beer, has soft water and very few minerals.
Your local tap water may not have the minerals or pH balance required to produce the formula you are using. You can use the water treatment device to adjust the local water quality to ensure the flavor of your beer. Of course, you can also fine-tune your recipe and ensure that the mineral content in the beer is balanced.

Fermentation is slow or even not fermented

This question is one I’ve received most. When you put the wort into the fermentation vessel with yeast, it may take 6-8 hours to show signs of the start of fermentation. If there are no signs of fermentation, please don’t panic, this is very normal. But there is no response after 72 hours. Be sure to worry, this means that there must be a problem.

Check for signs of fermentation start: If you see bubbles in your air lock it means that the beer is fermenting or has begun to ferment.

Reasons for slow or no fermentation:

• The amount of yeast is insufficient. An insufficient amount of yeast may lead to slow fermentation, you only need to put some yeast into the fermenter to solve it.

• The wort is too hot. All yeast strains will have an appropriate temperature range. When the temperature is too high, the yeast may become unconscious or even die. The wort needs to be cooled before it can be introduced into the fermenter.

• The wort is too cold. As mentioned above, all yeast strains have an appropriate temperature range. When the temperature is too low, yeast strains can stop life activities, resulting in a slow fermentation.

• The disinfectant in the fermenter is not rinsed. Disinfectant residues can also kill the yeast. After disinfection, the inside of the fermenter needs to be rinsed to clean the residue of the disinfectant

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Let's end the year with Diana's Winter Warmer recipe.  Diana is an intern here after many years as a home brewer.

The recipe below is for extract brewing a 5.5-gallon batch. For an all-grain alternative, substitute 16 pounds of pale 2-row malt (such as Golden Promise or Maris Otter) for the pale ale LME. You can add the specialty grains to the mash, or steep them as you would for the extract version. Mash at 152°F. Sparge and lauter the mash into the kettle and bring to a boil, then proceed to step 4 below. 

Yeast

Wyeast 1028 London Ale

Steeping Grains

12 ounces Crystal 120°L

8 ounces Crystal 40°L

4 ounces chocolate malt

4 ounces black patent malt

Fermentables

12.5 pounds pale ale liquid malt extract (LME)

1/2 cup molasses (optional), not blackstrap

Hops

1 ounce Magnum 15% AA for 60 minutes

Spices

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon for 1 minute

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger for 1 minute

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom for 1 minute

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg for 1 minute

Directions

One day before brew day, make a starter with your yeast.

Heat 1 gallon of water to 170°F. Remove from heat and add steeping grains to the water, contained in a mesh bag. Cover and let steep for 1 hour, then discard the malt.

Bring 3 gallons water to a boil. Add steeping tea from Step 2. Slowly add extract and molasses, if using, stirring. Add enough water to reach a total of 7 gallons. Bring to a boil on high heat.

When you reach a boil, start a countdown timer for 90 minutes. Add hops quantities at 60 minutes left and spices at 1 minute left.

At the end of 90 minutes, remove from heat. Cool the wort to below 70°F with an ice bath or a wort chiller. Remember to keep things sanitary for every stage after the boil.

Transfer the wort to a sanitized fermentation bucket or carboy. Add an airlock and cool to 62°F. Also cool the yeast starter to 62°F.

Once the wort reaches 62°F, aerate the wort and pitch the yeast.

Let the beer temperature rise to 68°F, hold there at least three days, then let it rise as high as 74°F until fermentation is complete.

Bottle or keg the beer.

Hello November- that means it's time to say happy Thanksgiving to everyone!.  The winter holidays are a great time to enjoy some outstanding beers and food in our pub  here in nearby Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of BeeerNexus!  

Before I get to this month's recopies let me answer a question I often hear, especially from extract brewers who are considering moving to all grain.   The all-grain process does require additional equipment (see below) and will take about 6 hours of time on brew day. This time can be shortened with experience. The basic practices involved in All-Grain brewing are:
Mashing — Convert starch to sugar Mashing is the process of mixing a measured amount of 165˚– 175˚F hot water and milled grain to a temperature around 150°F to create a mash. Let this oatmeal-like mixture sit for 30-60 minutes.During the mash Enzymes naturally within the grain become active from the heat and convert starch into sugar.
Sparging — Rinse out sugar Sparging is the act of rinsing the sugar out of the grains and into the boil kettle. Hot water is sprinkled onto the top of the mash and allowed to slowly seep through. Sugar dissolves into solution and is carried down through the outlet valve and into the boil kettle. Sparging takes about 45-60 minutes to complete. Once in the boil kettle this sugar solution is called wort.
Boiling — Boiling is the same as it is in the Malt-Extract process. After the correct amount of wort has been collected (usually 1-2 gallons more than the volume you are making), the procedures are the same as if you were doing a full-wort boil in the Malt Extract process of brewing. You would add your hops, boil for one hour, cool and add yeast. 

All grain brewing isn't going to instantly make you beer good.  Extract can produce some outstanding brews and that's what it's all about.  However if you want to increase your control over the process and add a bit more creativity then give all grain a try.

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Let's start with an extract recipe for a wonderful oatmeal stout 0 it is a warming winter classic.  Oats add a distinctly smooth mouthfeel to any beer, but lend itself to the rich and dry stout style.

This Holiday Oatmeal Stout is built to reflect the complexity an oatmeal stout can have when emphasis is put on the coffee and chocolate flavors already present. Four different dark grains are used, with Special Roast to add counterpoint and nuance to the rich, dark flavors and aromas of the roasted grains. Here we go!

Ingredients

• 6 lbs—CBW® Traditional Dark Dry Malt Extract (DME)

• 1 lb—Pregelatinized Oat Flakes

• 0.5 lb—Special Roast

• 0.25 lb—Chocolate Malt

• 0.25 lb—Black Malt

• 0.25 lb—Roasted Barley

• 0.25 lb—Black Barley

• 1—Whirlfloc Tablet, Last 15 minutes of boil

• 1 oz—Kent Goldings Hops (5% AAU)—60 minutes, full boil

• 1 oz—Kent Goldings Hops (5% AAU)—last 15 minutes

• 2 pouches— Wyeasts 1318 London Ale III Yeast

Brewing Procedures

• Bring 2.5 gallons of water to 154ºF.

• Place all grains in steeping bag, and steep at 154ºF for 30 minutes.

• Remove grains, and add 3lbs CBW® Traditional Dark Dry Malt Extract (DME.)  Stir in until dissolved.

• Bring water to a boil and add 1oz of Kent Goldings hops.

• After 45 minutes of boiling, add 1oz of Kent Goldings hops.

• Continue to boil for 15 more minutes.

• Turn heat off and stir and dissolve 3lbs Briess CBW® Traditional Dark Dry Malt Extract (DME.)

• Cool beer to 70ºF.

• Transfer to primary fermentor and fill to 5 gallons with cool water.

• Pitch two packs of Wyeast 1318 London Ale III yeast.

Fermentation

• Primary Fermentation: 1 week at 68ºF-72ºF

• Secondary Fermentation: 2 weeks at 62ºF-70ºF

• Fermentation Notes: Force carbonate at 1.8-2.2 volumes, or bottle condition with ¾ cup priming sugar for 3-4 weeks.

Stats

• Original Gravity: 1.060

• Final Gravity: 1.015

• ABV: 5.88%

• IBU: 30

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Here's an all - grain recipe for a lovely beer. It features  a subdued roastiness which makes this Baltic Porter a balanced strong beer that will be calling your name pint after pint.

MALT/GRAIN BILL
10 lb (4.5 kg) Munich
5 lb (2.3 kg) Pilsner
8 oz (227 g) Carafa Special II
8 oz (227 g) British Crystal (65L)
8 oz (227 g) Briess Extra Special Roast
4 oz (113 g) Pale chocolate

HOPS SCHEDULE
0.5 oz (14 g) Columbus [16% AA] at 60 minutes
1 oz (28 g) Styrian Goldings at whirlpool

YEAST
White Labs WLP830 (German Lager)

DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mix with 5.2 gallons (19.8 l) of 163°F (73°C) strike water to reach mash temperature of 152°F (67°C). Hold the temperature for 60 minutes. Vorlauf until runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge the grains with 2 gallons (7.6 l), topping up as necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 l) of wort. Boil for 60 minutes and whirlpool, following the hops schedule.

After the boil, chill the wort to about 48°F (9°C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 48°F (9°C) until activity shows in the airlock, then allow the temperature to rise to 60°F (16°C) over the next ten days. Hold at 60°F (16°C) for an additional two weeks. After fermentation, crash the beer to 35°F (2°C), then bottle or keg and carbonate to about 2.25 volumes of CO2. Age for about eight weeks before drinking to allow additional flavors to develop.

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Hello autumn- a great time to do some brewing.  Get ready for yourself brew day by stopping by to enjoy some great beers and food in our pub and outdoor beer garden here in Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of BeeerNexus!  

My Warm The Fall Chill beer a classic English barleywine that gains most of its character from rich Maris Otter base malt. Feel free to substitute your favorite bittering hops for the Magnum: If you want to play around with the yeast strain, be sure to choose one that has good attenuation properties and pitch lots of it.

My Warm The Fall Chill beer a classic English barleywine that gains most of its character from rich Maris Otter base malt. Feel free to substitute your favorite bittering hops for the Magnum: If you want to play around with the yeast strain, be sure to choose one that has good attenuation properties and pitch lots of it.

All Grain-  extract version at end of recipe.

OG (est): 1.109
FG (est): 1.025
IBUs (est): 62
ABV (est): 11.2%

MALT/GRAIN BILL

20 lb (9.1 kg) Maris Otter
8 oz (236 g) Simpsons Caramalt
8 oz (236 g) Simpsons Extra Dark Crystal

HOPS SCHEDULE

1.5 oz (43 g) Magnum [12.50 %] at 60 minutes
2 oz (57 g) East Kent Golding [4.00 %] at 30 minutes
2 oz (57 g) East Kent Golding [4.00 %] at 5 minutes

YEAST

Primary yeast: Wyeast 1028 London Ale Yeast (see Brewer’s Notes below) or 2 sachets of Danstar Nottingham
Bottling yeast: Danstar CBC-1

DIRECTIONS

Mash for 60 minutes at 149°F (65°C), then lauter and sparge to a pre-boil volume of 6.5 gallons (19.9 liters). Boil for 60 minutes, following the hops schedule, then chill the wort and pitch a huge population of healthy, well-oxygenated yeast cells. Pitch at 66°F (19°C) and hold for two days, then ramp the temperature to 70°F (21°C) and ferment until the specific gravity stabilizes. Rack to secondary and bulk age for at least 6 months, then bottle or keg. If bottling, add the hydrated sachet of CBC-1 along with priming sugar to assist with carbonation.

EXTRACT

Replace the Maris Otter malt with 15 pounds (6.8 kg) of Maris Otter liquid malt extract. Steep the Caramalt and Extra Dark Crystal for 30 minutes at 155°F (68°C), then add 7 pounds (3.17 kg) of Maris Otter liquid malt extract. Bring to a boil and continue as directed above, adding the remaining 8 pounds (3.63 kg) of malt with 10 to 15 minutes left in the boil.

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It's that time - here's an extract recipe for If You Must Pumpkin Ale

f you plan to serve this beer right away, the pumpkin will deliver a light but noticeable and pleasant tang, which your favorite saison yeast will accentuate. If you’d rather age it a little while, that tang will mellow, in which case White Labs WLP011 European Ale is a good choice 

MALTS

7.5 lb. (3.40 kg) pale 2-row malt

1.5 lb. (680 g) mild malt

12 oz. (340 g) amber malt

12 oz. (340 g) crystal 40°L malt

12 oz. (340 g) Briess Victory malt

8 oz. (227 g) soft white wheat malt

4 oz. (113 g) Briess Special Roast malt

HOPS

1 oz. (28 g) Fuggles @ 60 min

0.75 oz. (21 g) East Kent Goldings @ 20 min

0.5 oz. (14 g) East Kent Goldings @ 5 min

YEAST

Saison yeast or White Labs WLP011 European Ale

ADDITIONAL ITEMS

2 generous handfuls rice hulls, as lautering aid

5–6 lb. (2.27–2.72 kg) pumpkin, halved, innards removed, rind left on

8 oz. (227 g) parsnips, peeled and chopped

4–8 oz. (113–227 g) lightly toasted English or black walnuts @ 30 min

• 1 tablet Whirlfloc @ 15 min

Directions:

Place pumpkin halves cut side down in a large roasting pan with the chopped parsnips nestled in the hollows where the pumpkin innards had been. Add about 1/4″ (6 mm) water to the roasting pan. Bake at 300°F (150°C) for about one hour. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature. Scrape pulp from pumpkin rind, mash parsnip pieces, and set aside.

Heat strike water to achieve a mash rest temperature of 152°F (67°C) and add to mash tun. Add pumpkin, parsnips, and rice hulls. Stir well. Mash in grains. Rest at 152°F (67°C) for 90 minutes.

While the mash rests, lightly toast the walnuts at 325°F (163°C) for about 12 minutes. Let nuts come to room temperature and crush in a paper bag (this will help remove some of the oils). Set aside.

Lauter and sparge to collect 6.5 gal. (24.6 L) of wort. Boil 90 minutes, adding hops, walnuts, and Whirlfloc as indicated above. Chill to desired fermentation temperature, pitch yeast, and ferment until specific gravity stabilizes at or near 1.009 (2.3°P). Bottle or keg.

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Let's end with some basic brewing terms and two in the above recipe. Extracting wort sugars from the grain bed involves two processes: lautering and sparging. These two terms are collectively referred to simply as runoff.

Lautering is the physical separation of liquid from the solids. Sparging involves rinsing the solids that remain with hot water so as to leave behind as little sugar as possible. The combination of lautering the grain and sparging it with additional water results in a kettle full of wort that is ready to be boiled with hops, just as you would if you were using extract.

Lautering and sparging aren’t mysterious, despite the esoteric names. They’re simply methods to get as much wort as possible out of your mash.

And with an end to lautering and sparging comes the end of the all-grain process. All-grain is just another way to satisfy the third of the essential steps, wort preparation. Once you have a kettle full of fresh wort, you can continue on to the boil, just as you did when brewing from extract.

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Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Where did the summer go?  Now that the kids are back to school and most folks are back to work make some time for yourself and stop by to enjoy some great beers and food in our pub and outdoor beer garden here in Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   Come on in and support your local brewery and bar!  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of BeeerNexus!  

If I judge by the emails from readers it seems everyone is dry hopping their beer.  As such, let me give you eight excellent tips on how to successfully do it.

Dry Hopping Tips

Tip 1: Choose hops based on the aromatic qualities you’re interested in achieving. This sounds obvious but it’s not always easy to know what aromas a hop might add to your beer.  Most hops are loosely categorized into “bittering” and “aroma” types, which tells us nothing about what they might smell like in a finished beer. A hop’s oil content and type can also be considered, but also may not have a direct correlation to how the hop expresses itself aromatically. 

Tip 2: Save yourself the trouble and dry hop with pellets. Some brewers swear that whole cones produce better aroma intensity than pellets. But many experiments have shown that tasters can’t distinguish the difference between the two forms. Pellets are far more accessible to the average homebrewer, can be easily added to most homebrew fermenters, and they generally suck up less beer than whole cones, leaving you with more beer. That said, it’s also worth noting a third hop format has recently gained popularity.  Known as lupulin powder or cryo-hops, these products provide a concentrated dose of essential oils and resins in the form of a pellet.

Tip 3: Add your dry hops during secondary fermentation, once the yeast is finished with fermentation and removed from the beer.  At this stage, the concentration of alcohol and the pH in the beer should limit the potential for infection during the dry hopping process. You will also be giving the hops the opportunity to release their oils without yeast around to transform them.  Experiments have shown that yeast in solution can bind to certain hop particles and transform them into different flavor and aroma compounds in a process known as biotransformation. Many brewers are experimenting with biotransformation by adding hops during primary fermentation. While there may be some merit in this process, the primary counterargument is it’s easy to lose a lot of aroma through the blow-off tube as the fermenter is relieved of CO2 pressure buildup during fermentation.

Tip 4: Dry hop on the warmer side. And by warm you should think at or above temperatures used for common ale fermentations (65-75F). One reason for this is at warm temperatures, any small amount of yeast still present is more likely to be active. The active yeast will scour any oxygen introduced during the dry hopping process and clean up any “hop creep”.  Hop creep describes a set of potential problems in dry hopped beer.  It goes something like this: hops are added during secondary, enzymes in those hops turn some previously unfermentable sugars into fermentable sugars, and then the yeast ferment those new fermentable sugars.  That extra bit of fermentation leads to two outcomes.  First, you get a little more attenuation from your yeast.  This means a slightly drier, higher alcohol beer.  Second, and more troublesome, you may end up with diacetyl in your beer.  During fermentation, all yeast release a diacetyl precursor.  With a healthy culture, the yeast takes care of that precursor in the later stages of fermentation.  But when dry hopping, we no longer have an active and healthy fermentation. This may leave the diacetyl precursor to hang around and convert to actual diacetyl at some point down the road.  

Tip 5: Know that more hops doesn’t linearly equate to more hop aroma. The most well known scientific research on dry hop quantity was done by Oregon State University’s Dr. Tom Shellhamer in 2018. dry hopping at rates greater than 1.1oz/gal (8g/L) was an inefficient use of raw materials.  In other words, hop aroma intensifies as more hops are used, but the impact on aroma diminishes as you approach this threshold, and doesn’t add much beyond it.  Shellhammer’s second conclusion may be more interesting to some brewers.  He found the quantity of hops can also change the aroma type in the finished beer. The oils responsible for citrus aromas were more present at hopping rates closer to 0.5oz/gal (4 g/L), than the oils responsible for herbal/tea aromas, which were more present at 1.1oz/gal (8g/L).

Tip 6: Leave your beer on the hops for three days.  Is this a strict rule?  Not really.  Studies have shown that most hop oils are extracted from dry hop additions in the first 24 hours.  But a greater percentage can be drawn out over the course of a few days.  That said, dry hopping for an excessively long period (more than seven days) may lead to certain undesirable aromas and flavors including vegetal and grassy notes.

Tip 7: Dry hop your beer once.  This is just practical for most homebrewers.  Sure, double-dry-hopped (“DDH”) sounds cooler than a single dry hop, but your homebrew is not competing against others on bottle shop shelves.  The thesis here is pretty simple.  First, see the research on hop quantities mentioned above.  Next, factor in that every time you open the fermenter, you introduce oxygen and potential contaminants. Oxygen is a problem for shelf-life and flavor.  Contaminants can be a problem for not just your beer, but for your equipment as well.  Why expose yourself to these risks

Tip 8: Just dump in the hops. Blasphemy!  That’s not what the pros do. Correct. The pros spend a lot of money on specialized equipment that solve the problems of getting dry hops into five-story tall fermenters and turning tanks around as quickly as possible.  But in fact many still simply pour the hops in, straight from the bag.  If you are a more adventurous homebrewer, experiment.  Creating a hop slurry with de-oxidized water will result in a faster and more even dispersion of the hops in solution. Rumbling is an option for homebrewers with conical fermenters. This is the process of pushing CO2 into the fermenter’s cone in order to ‘rumble’ the solution, stirring everything up to get more contact between beer and hops. You can probably think of a hundred ways to put hops into a fermenter.  But why?  Just get them in there!

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Let's take a minute to salute all the readers who are new home brewers!  Here's a recipe I designed especially for you though ven the most experienced brewer would enjoy making and (of course) drinking it. In this extract recipe I give you  the basic building blocks of a tasty American Pale Ale. The 6-row pale malt provides a nice grainy character and the crystal provides some caramel sweetness and smooths out the mouthfeel. The hop schedule consists of two of the American classics and is designed to balance bitterness, flavor and aroma. This recipe can be made with the most basic equipment setup. 

Ingredients

• 5 1/2 pounds dry light malt extract

• 1/2 pound Crstal 20L malt, crushed

• 1/2 pound American 6-row malt, crushed

• 1/2 ounce Centennial hops—60 minutes

• 1 ounce Cascade hops—15 minutes

• 1 ounce Centennial hops—15 minutes

• 1 ounce Cascade hops at flame out

• 1/2 ounce Centennial hops at flame out

• 6 gallons of tap water, split. If possible, place 3 gallons in the refrigerator to cool in a sanitized container

• 11.5 gram package Safale US-05

• 
  Directions

Tie the American 6-row malt and Crystal 20L malt in a mesh hop-bag. Heat 1 gallon of water in a large pot to 160°F and remove from heat. Add malt and let steep for 20 minutes.

• Raise temperature slowly to 170°F. Make sure mesh bag isn’t sitting directly on the bottom of the pot. Remove the grain bag and add water to make 3 gallons total.

• Bring the wort to a vigorous boil. As water is heating, slowly add malt extract, stirring constantly until completely dissolved. When boil begins, add 1/2 ounce Centennial hops in mesh bag.

• After 45 minutes of boiling has passed, add 1 ounce Cascade and 1 ounce Centennial in mesh bag. 

• After total of 60 minutes of boil remove from heat, add 1 ounce Cascade and 1/2 ounce Centennial in mesh bag and cover. Warning: After wort cools below 180°F everything that touches it should be sanitary, and exposure to open air should be limited as much as possible.

• Cool wort by placing pot in ice bath until it is below 85°F. Transfer to sanitized fermentor (either a carboy or a fermentation bucket). Top off to 5 gallons using refrigerated water.

• Sanitize outside of yeast package, fermentation stopper and airlock. Carefully pour yeast into cooled wort (it should be below 70°F), and agitate vigorously. Ferment in dark place, keeping ambient temperature consistent, preferably between 62-66°F.
  Bottle after two to three weeks.

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Last month there was a very large positive feedback about the "beertail" recipes in my column.  So here's one more I'm sure you're going to like. It's called "Brooks Breezy Blend"

Makes 2 Servings)

Ingredients

1 cup frozen pineapple chunks (can be found in most grocery stores)

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 Tbsp. sugar

16 oz. Sour ale (if you don't like sours it works great with most IPAs)

1.   Carefully fill a clean ice cube tray with the beer, pouring slowly to prevent foam. Let freeze overnight. Because beer has a lower freezing temperature than water, it will gain a more slush-like consistency (but if you prefer more hardened cubes, you can dilute it with water prior to freezing).

2.   Feel free to enjoy whatever beer is left over in the can! Or, to get as much beer as possible in your slushies, cover the can loosely with saran wrap and refrigerate overnight as well.

3.   When ready to make your slushies, simply add the beer-ice to a blender, along with the other ingredients.

4.   Blend until fruit and ice are broken up and everything is well mixed. Add any leftover beer, which should no longer be as carbonated, and blend for a few seconds more, or until desired consistency.

5.   Split the mixture into two glasses. Garnish with raspberries or other fruit as desired

=================================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Can you believe it's August already?  It's hot outside but you can beat the heat by stopping by enjoying some great beers and food in our pub and outdoor beer garden here in Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my award winning Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   Come on in and support your local brewery and bar.  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our multi-award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of BeeerNexus!  

I know this is a bit different for my column but I thought I'd give you recopies for three of my favorite "beertails" before we get to something for you to brew this month -a great summer ale.  

Here's a great beertail I know you'll enjoy

 -Arny's Super Summer Sour.

(Makes 2 Servings)

Ingredients

1 cup frozen pineapple chunks (can be found in most grocery stores)

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 Tbsp. sugar

16 oz. Sour IPA

1.   Carefully fill a clean ice cube tray with the beer, pouring slowly to prevent foam. Let freeze overnight. Because beer has a lower freezing temperature than water, it will gain a more slush-like consistency (but if you prefer more hardened cubes, you can dilute it with water prior to freezing).

2.   Feel free to enjoy whatever beer is left over in the can! Or, to get as much beer as possible in your slushies, cover the can loosely with saran wrap and refrigerate overnight as well.

3.   When ready to make your slushies, simply add the beer-ice to a blender, along with the other ingredients.

4.   Blend until fruit and ice are broken up and everything is well mixed. Add any leftover beer, which should no longer be as carbonated, and blend for a few seconds more, or until desired consistency.

5.   Split the mixture into two glasses. Garnish with raspberries or other fruit as desired

======================

Knockout Blackberry Beertail

(makes 10 servings)

Ingredients

4 bottles (12 ounces each) pale ale or lager beer, chilled

1 can (12 ounces) frozen raspberry lemonade concentrate, thawed

3/4 cup fresh or frozen blackberries, thawed

1/2 cup vodka

Ice cubes

Lemon slices

Directions

1. n a large pitcher, combine the beer, lemonade concentrate, blackberries and vodka. Serve over ice and garnish with lemon slices.

=======================

Ginger Rodgers Beertail

Ingredients

16oz pale ale 

2 Cups ginger ale

Chopped ginger to taste

Ice

Directions

Mix the beer and ginger ale in a pitcher.

Add the ginger and let it infuse the drink for 1-3 minutes.

Serve into glasses filled with ice.

Garnish with some ginger and enjoy.

===============================

Wheat beers are a great thirst quencher during the hot summer months. Throw in some passion fruit and mangos, and you will be sure to have a nice, refreshing summer treat!  Give this a try - at 5.2% it's a crushable refresher.

Hogan's Summer Wheat

Ingredients:

4.5 lb (2 kg) Wheat malt

3.5 lb (1.6 kg) Two-Row malt

1.0 lb (450 g) Flaked wheat or unmalted wheat

0.5 lb (225 g) Munich malt

0.5 lb (225 g) Rice hulls

0.5 oz (14 g) Northern Brewer whole hops, 8% a.a. (60 min)

0.5 oz (14 g) Mt. Hood whole hops, 3.2% a.a. (40 min)

0.5 oz (14 g) Cascade whole hops, 6% a.a. (5 min)

American Ale yeast

1 pint (475 ml) Passionfruit puree

3/4 quart (714 ml) Mango puree

Directions:

Mash for 60 minutes at 151 °F (66 °C). Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) for two weeks, then cool and remove from yeast. Add puree of passionfruit and mango to the beer and age two weeks. Shake occasionally, then let it settle cold. Remove the beer from above the settled puree and carbonate to serve.

EXTRACT VERSION

Substitute 7.3 lb (3.3 kg) Weizen light malt extract or 5.9 lb (2.7 kg) Weizen dried malt extract for all grains. Use a Weizen extract containing at least 50 percent wheat with the remainder pale or Pils malt.

=================================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Beat the heat this summer by stopping by enjoying some great beers and food in our outdoor beer garden here in Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   Come on in and support your local brewery and bar.  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of BeeerNexus!  Now let's get down to business!

First a few words about the most popular beer style in the country - hazy IPA.o execute a perfect hazy, brewers are looking for the following three characteristics. 1. The most obvious is the haze, which comes from protein interactions with hops and flavonoids, and is accentuated by yeast. This combination is responsible for the opaqueness of the beer.  2. A fruity, hoppy aroma. The aroma is more tropical than the stone fruits used in West Coast IPAs. The tropical hops contribute to the low bitterness of the brews.  3.A fluffy texture and mouthfeel. Most are looking for a smoothie-esque texture in hazies.

Experimenting with different yeast strains can help brewers produce these characteristics. But what makes a yeast strain suitable for hazy IPAs? First, low to medium flocculation. Flocculation contributes to the mouthfeel and murkiness by keeping the yeast suspended.   

Now lets get to work.  First a great recipe for our extract brewers then one for all-grain brewers.

My HAZE IS THE RAGE IPA is quick and tasty.  It uses malted oats for a luscious body to support a ton of hop oils. 

EXTRACT
Batch size: 5.5 gallons (20.8 liters)
OG: 1.057
FG: 1.012
IBUs: 77
ABV: 5.9%

MALT/GRAIN BILL
9 lb (4.1 kg) Pilsner liquid malt extract
1.5 lb (680 g) oat malt
1 lb (454 g) pale malt
8 oz (227 g) Golden Naked Oats

HOPS SCHEDULE
0.50 oz (14 g) Warrior [16% AA] at 30 minutes
2 oz (57 g) each Citra [11% AA] and Mosaic [12.5% AA] at whirlpool at 170°F for 20 minutes

Dry-Hop Schedule
2 oz each Citra [11% AA] and Mosaic [12.5% AA] on day 3 of fermentation for 7 days

EAST
Wyeast 1318 London III, Imperial A38 Juice, White Labs WLP066 London Fog

DIRECTIONS
Steep the grains at 150–165°F (66–74°C) for 20 minutes in 5 quarts (4.7 l) of water. Rinse the grains with an additional 5 quarts (4.7 l) of 170°F (77°C) water. Add 4 quarts (3.8 l) of water to the kettle and bring to a boil. If you’re doing a full boil, add 12 quarts (11.4 l) of water.

Remove the kettle from the heat and dissolve 1/3 of the malt extract (3 lb/1.4 kg) in the wort. Bring the kettle back to a boil and add the Warrior hops. After 20 minutes, remove the kettle from the heat and add the remaining extract. Return to the boil for a final 10 minutes. Cool the wort to 170°F (77°C) and stir to form a whirlpool. Add the Citra and Mosaic hops. Steep the hops for 20 minutes before chilling the wort to 66°F (19°C).

Aerate the wort, pitch your yeast, and ferment at 66°F (19°C) for 3 days. Add the dry hops and continue to ferment for 7 more days. Package, carbonate, and serve the beer. Consume within a month.

===================//

Now for a great recipe for our all-grain brewers.  I call the beer The Hazy Haze.

ALL-GRAIN
Batch size:  5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 85%
OG: 1.059
FG: 1.014
IBUs: 35
ABV: 6%

MALT/GRAIN BILL
6.9 lb (3.1 kg) Pilsen malt
1.8 lb (817 g) flaked oats
1.3 lb (590 g) malted oats
1 lb (454 g) DextraPils
1.4 oz (40 g) acidulated malt
4.16 g calcium chloride in the mash

HOPS AND ADDITIONS SCHEDULE
.5 oz (14 g) Bravo [15% AA] at FWH
4.16 g calcium chloride, 2 g calcium sulfate, and 1 g of yeast nutrient at 10 minutes
1 oz (28 g) Mosaic [12% AA] at late whirlpool
4.2 oz (119 g) Amarillo [8% AA] dry hop
3.2 oz (91 g) Mosaic [12% AA] dry hop
2.1 oz (60 g) Centennial [11% AA] dry hop 

YEAST
Imperial Organic Yeast A38 Juice

DIRECTIONS
Mash the grains at 154°F (68°C) for 45 minutes. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. (Remember to add the FWH hops.) Sparge the grains and top up as necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 l) of wort—or more, depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 30 minutes, adding the salts and yeast nutrient with 10 minutes left in the boil.

After the boil, spin the wort, add the whirlpool hops, and cover. Let rest for 10 minutes. Chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 64°F (18°C). Aerate the wort and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 64°F (18°C). When the yeast gets going, add the dry hops. Let the beer sit on the hops for 5 days. Crash the beer and package.

==========================/

Now for a few quick answers to questions sent (webmaster@beenexus.com) in by my readers.

Q. How should I sterilize y copper immersion wort chiller?

A.  Using the wort boil to sanitize your wort cooler is the easiest and most effective method.  If you want to use a sanitizer be sure it has a low pH.

--------------

Q. Can Oatmeal be steeped for partial grain stout batches?

A.  Oatmeal must be mashed to convert the starch into fermentable sugars.  When using oatmeal do it sparingly so that wort separation is not an absolute nightmare.  

------------

Q.  How can I best dry my homegrown hops?

A.  The best way is to spread the cones a few layers deep on a cookie sheet and place the sheet in a 130 Degree F oven.  Move those on the bottom to the top a few times and allow about 10 hours for drying.  Note that homegrown hops tend to have a lower alpha content than commercially gorwn hops.

=================================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Happy June to everyone!  Summer is coming and I invite you to stop in and enjoy some great beers and food in our outdoor beer garden!  Hope to see you here in Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of my Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   Come on in and support your local brewery and bar.  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of BeeerNexus!  Now let's get down to business!

It’s never too hot for hops! Maybe your favorite imperial hop-bomb isn’t the best beach sipper (don’t let me stop you!), but hops are a great thirst quencher that balances out malt sweetness that might otherwise be too much under the summer sun. Here's my take on a wonderful summer Pale Ale.  Here are both all grain and extract recipes.

.

Summer Beachgoer Pale Ale

(all grain)

Ingredients:

8.5 lb (3.9 kg) Pale 2-Row malt

10.0 oz (283 g) 20° L Crystal malt

5.0 oz (142 g) 80° L Crystal malt

5.0 oz (142 g) CaraVienne malt

7.0 oz (142 g) Wheat malt

0.4 oz (11 g) Nugget pellet hops, 13% a.a. (60 min)

1.0 oz (28 g) Cascade pellet hops, 5.5% a.a. (5 min)

0.4 oz (11 g) Nelson Sauvin pellet hops, 12.5% a.a. (5 min)

1.0 oz (28 g) Cascade pellet hops, 5.5% a.a. (dry)

1.0 oz (28 g) Nelson Sauvin pellet hops, 12.5% a.a. (dry)

White Labs WLP001 California Ale, Wyeast 1056 American Ale, Safale US-05 Ale, or Danstar BRY-97

Directions:

Mash grains at 154°F (68°C) for 60 minutes. Batch sparge at 168°F (76°C). Bring to a rolling boil for 60 minutes, add hops at specified intervals from end of boil. Chill wort to 67°F (19°C) and pitch yeast. After nine days, rack to secondary fermenter and dry hop. Let rest another nine days at 68°F (20°C). Keg at 2.5 volumes of CO2 or bottle condition with 4 oz (113 g) corn sugar.

-------------------

Extract Version

Ingredients for 5 gallons (18.93 L)

• 6.6 lb (3.0 kg) | Light liquid malt extract

• 8.0 oz (227 g) | 20° L Crystal malt

• 4.0 oz (113 g) | 80° L Crystal malt

• 4.0 oz (113 g) | CaraVienne malt

• 5.0 oz (198 g) | Wheat malt

0.4 oz (11 g) | Nugget pellet hops, 13% a.a. (60 min)

1.0 oz (28 g) | Cascade pellet hops, 5.5% a.a. (5 min)

0.5 oz (14 g) | Nelson Sauvin pellet hops, 12.5% a.a. (5 min)

1.0 oz (28 g) | Cascade pellet hops, 5.5% a.a. (dry)

1.0 oz (28 g) | Nelson Sauvin pellet hops, 12.5% a.a. (dry)

White Labs WLP001 California Ale, Wyeast 1056 American Ale, Safale US-05 Ale, or Danstar BRY-97

Directions
Put 2 gallons (7.6 L) of water in the boil pot and heat to 160°F (71°C). While the water is heating, put the specialty grains (20° L crystal, 80° L crystal, wheat, and CaraVienne malts) into a grain bag and tie off the ends so the grains can't escape.

Once the water has reached 150-170°F (65.6-76.7°C, immerse the grain bag in the water for 30 minutes. For more information on steeping specialty grains, visit the Intermediate section of Let's Brew on the AHA website.

After 30 minutes, remove the grain bag and let it drip until it stops. Add malt extract to the water and stir until totally dissolved.

Bring to a rolling boil for 60 minutes, add hops at specified intervals from end of boil.

Strain wort into sanitized fermentation vessel with 2-3 gallons (7.6-11.4 L) of pre-boiled & chilled water for a total volume of 5 gallons (18.9 l)

Pitch yeast when temperature reaches 67°F (19°C).

Secure air lock or blow-off tube.

After nine days, rack to secondary fermenter and dry hop.

Let rest another nine days at 68°F (20°C).

Keg at 2.5 volumes of CO2 or bottle condition with 4 oz (113 g) corn sugar

----------------------------------------/

 Now for a tasty, refreshing IPA that you can drink pint and pint of since it's only 4.1%.  First will be the all grain version then the extract.

The Refresher Session IPA

Estimated O.G. = 1.042
Estimated F.G. = 1.011
Estimated ABV = 4.1%
Estimated Bitterness = 50 IBU

Grain Bill:
6 lbs. Maris Otter
2 lbs. Dark Munich (Munich II)
0.5 lb. Crystal 60L

Hops (60 minute boil):
0.5 oz Warrior (15.7% AA) added as a first wort hop when draining into the brew kettle
0.5 oz Amarillo added at 15 minutes left in the boil
0.5 oz Columbus added at 10 minutes left in the boil
0.5 oz Amarillo added at 5 minutes left in the boil
1 oz each Amarillo and Chinook added at the end of the boil, during knockout
1 oz each Amarillo, Chinook and Columbus, added as dry hops after primary fermentation is complete, leaving in contact for 4-7 days

Yeast:

1 pack Wyeast 1056 American Ale, White Labs WLP001 California Ale, or Safale S-05 American Ale

Brewing Process:

• Mash at 154F for 60 minutes, proceed with boil as normal.

• Chill to 66F and pitch yeast.

• Ferment between 66F and 68F for 2 weeks.

• Add dry hops after primary fermentation is complete, either in the primary or a secondary vessel. For best clarity, rack to secondary before dry hopping.

Extract Version: Replace Maris Otter base malt with 3.3 lbs (1 can) of Maris Otter liquid malt extract and 1 lb. of light dry malt extract. Steep the Dark Munich and Crystal 60 malts at 150-155F for 30 minutes. Remove steeping grains, turn off flame and add extracts, mixing until dissolved. Add in first wort hop addition, turn the flame back on and boil as normal, following hopping schedule. Follow chilling and fermentation schedule as above, dry hopping after primary fermentation is complete.

=================================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

 Glad to see you again!  Help spread the word about my column and about the great beers I have on tap  here in Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   Come on in and support your local brewery and bar.  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of BeeerNexus!

More than 40 years ago, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. set out to create a new American style, the American pale ale. Once considered crazy hoppy, it fortunately wasn’t too far ahead of its time. Ken Grossman, founder of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., states that “after 42 years Sierra Nevada Pale Ale still resonates as a favorite with brewers and drinkers at all levels. Pale Ale started out in 1980 as an anomaly in a world dominated by light lagers with a hop-forward yet balanced style. After all these years it still holds its own in a world now accustomed to a nearly limitless range of hop-forward styles, many that can trace their roots back to the original Sierra Pale Ale.

Here's my extract and grains recipe for that great beer that even beginning home brewers should be able to easily do 

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.053 FG = 1.011
IBU = 37 SRM = 11 ABV = 5.6%

Ingredients
0.25 lbs. (113 g) Briess Light dried malt extract
6.6 lbs. (3 kg) Briess Light liquid malt extract (late addition)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) crystal malt (60 °L)
6 AAU Magnum hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g of 12% alpha acids)
3.5 AAU Perle hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g of 7% alpha acids)
11 AAU Cascade hops (30 min.) (2 oz./57 g of 5.5% alpha acids)
2 oz. (57 g) Cascade hops (0 min.)
1 tsp Irish moss
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Safale US-05 yeast (1.5 qt./1.5 L yeast starter)
7/8 cup corn sugar (for priming)

=======================

I get more than a few emails with brewing questions.  Here are a few -

Q. What is the big deal about chilling wort so quickly?

A.Getting the wort cooled quickly is important because it preserves flavor and produces a good cold break.  Hot wart can pick up bacteria.  If you cool the wort quickly the chance of spoilage is decreased because of the yeast you are pitching.

Q.  When measuring specific gravity, is the original gravity taken during the mash, durin boil, or after the wort has cooled?

A. Check the specific gravity of the wort after the boil to determine original gravity. Because original gravity is defined as the specific gravity of the wort before fermentation this is the only point in the process to determine it.

Q.  Does a conical fermenter help create better tasting beer?

A.  My opinion is that conical fermenters alone do not necessarily make better beer.  However they are the ideal shape for multipurpose vessel.  Their real advantage is that yeast will settle in the cone and can be removed from the fermenter with minimal beer loss.

Q.  I'm fairly new to brewing and use plastic buckets.  What is the best way to clean and sanitize a plastic fermenter?

A.   Be careful cleaning your plastic.  Extremely stiff bristles, while safe for glass carboys can scratch plastic if applied with force.  Any scratches can provide future safe havens for all kinds of microscopic contamination.  Use a sponge with a plastic handle and you won't have to worry.

Q.  What temperature should the wort be before I add yeast?

A.  I suggest cooling your wort to my target fermentation temp or a degree or two less and aerating it before adding yeast.

=================================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!

Arny

Happy Spring to everyone!.  As the weather warms it's a  perfect time to stop in to enjoy one of my beers  here in Manville, NJ at Brooks Brewery at the Northside Lounge.  Our 20 taps feature a wide selection of Brooks beer in addition to guest brews, wine, spirits, and cocktails. We also have an outstanding  menu of great pub style food that is served all day and night.   Come on in and support your local brewery and bar.  When you visit  be sure you ask for me, and say hello to our award winning head brewer Artie Hanneman.  We both really enjoy meeting the readers of BeeerNexus!

Since April 1 is April Fool's Day let's start with a whacy, oddball project for you: brew a sour beer in your Instant Pot.  Yes, I really did say Instant Pot.  Not only is it fun and different you'll also have a few stories to tell your drinking buddies.  This method uses the Instant Pot's yogurt function to promote bacteria growth (the good kind) to create refreshingly tart flavors in unfermented beer (wort). That procedure typically takes months, even years, but with the help of my Instant Pot and a few workarounds, I can make it happen in just 24 hours. Here's what I did, and how you can try it too.  I expect a lot of folks relatively new to home brewing to give it a try so I'll simplify it and give you a few more details.

In addition to the Instant Pot you need these:

1 pound of pale ale dry malt extract

1 gallon of water

Good Belly Plus Shot probiotic juice drink

1 ounce Cascade hops

Beer yeast

1 gallon glass fermenting jar and airlock

Digital kitchen scale

Spoon

Sanitizing agent and solution

Sanitizing tub

Unless you want your brew to harbor foul bugs or germs, take sanitizing seriously. Mix sanitizing solution inside a large tub or bucket. In my case I used an old plastic fermenter along with StarSan. Now place everything that will come into contact with your beer inside. These would be the glass jar, its lid and plastic airlock. They only need to be submerged in the solution for 3 to 4 seconds. Remove these items from the tub and allow them to air dry.  

The first step of brewing beer is called "the boil." Essentially you'll be making "wort," the raw ingredients of unfermented beer. Begin by adding 1 gallon (3.8 liters) of water to either a stovetop stockpot or your Instant Pot's inner pot.

Stir in 1 pound of dry malt extract, or DME, while you bring the water to a boil. Boil this mixture for 5 minutes. This sanitizes the liquid. Next, cool the wort down to 110 Fahrenheit. Do that by using a wort chiller or placing the pot in a sink filled with ice.

Now pour the probiotic juice shot into the sanitized glass jar. Next add the warm wort (at 110 F) to the jar and cover it. Place the glass jar inside your Instant Pot's inner pot, then fill the pot with water. This is a good time to attach the airlock to the lid too. 

With that done, activate the Instant Pot's yogurt mode. Also select the "less" adjust toggle. This sets the heat level lower. What you should have now is a temperature self-regulating water bath perfect for your probiotic bacteria. Let the Instant Pot run for 24 hours. During that period, the bugs should start eating the sugars in your wort, and produce souring compounds as a byproduct.  

Pour out your soured wort into a pot. Next add 1 packet of cascade hops (1 ounce) and heat the liquid up to 180 degrees. Hold this temperature for 10 minutes. What you're doing here is sanitizing the wort of bacteria (and anything else). You're also developing flavors from the hops you just added. While you do that, preheat your oven for 180 F.

After that, place the pot in the oven and keep it there for another 10 minutes. This step should further encourage the infusion of hop essence. Next remove the pot from the oven and quickly chill it down to 65 F. The idea here is to cool your wort down to an optimal temperature for your yeast. The faster you do this, the less chance another opportunistic organism will set up shop before your yeast does.

Now that your wort has cooled down, add it to your clean and sanitized fermenter. Sprinkle in the beer yeast -- I used Safale US-05 -- over the wort and button up the fermenter. Do that by closing the sanitized lid. Lastly, attach the airlock (also sanitized) and seal it with a few ounces of water. Store the jar in a room temperature location away from direct sunlight. 

With the wort fermenting, you should notice some airlock activity within a day or so. I did after 24 hours. Water inside the airlock's water trap began a steady, rapid bubbling. This is caused by the yeast eating the sugars in the solution then producing alcohol and CO2 gas as byproducts. I plan to let my beer ferment for at least 10 days, then transfer it over to a secondary fermentation vessel. 

From there I'll bottle my brew and condition it for another two weeks, or longer. Will I have some fruity, crisp and refreshing sour NEIPA on my hands? I sure will. 

=============================

I was going to give you another beer recipe but why not continue in the fun vain and go all the way with making a seltzer?  It's something different and easy for any level home brewer.  Hard seltzer is a great low-cal, low-carb alternative to beer. It is light, refreshing, and in some cases viewed as being healthier. Hard seltzer is usually 5% ABV and comes in multiple flavorings: citrus, stone fruit, berry, melons, etc… I will admit; I am not one to order or seek out a hard seltzer unless being asked to bring some to a social gathering or have on hand for friends. 

Here's what you'll need:

• 5 lbs Corn Sugar

• Water Modifier Salt Packet (added at the same time as the sugar)

• Yeast

• Yeast Rehydration Nutrient

• Yeast Fermentation Nutrient

• Fining Agent like Irish Moss

Step-by-step instructions to making Hard Seltzer:

1. Heat 5 gallons of distilled water to 180F

Depending on your heat source, this can take about 25 minutes or longer. Use a thermometer to check temperature.

2. Add the 5 lbs of Corn Sugar and the two Salt Packets and stir to dissolve both completely. Use a brewing spoon to mix vigorously.

3. Make sure to sanitize your fermentation vessel and rehydrate your yeast while you are waiting for your water to come to temperature. 

4. Rehydrate your yeast: boil 2 oz of drinking water and then allow the water to cool to 85-95 degrees.

a. Mix in the 2g of Fermstart and then sprinkle in the 5g of EC1118 yeast

b. Let it sit for at least 2 minutes

5. Begin chilling the sugar water via immersion chiller or ice bath etc

a. I used a plate chiller to cool my solution as it entered into the carboy. You can also use an immersion chiller and then transfer the water to your carboy/fermentation vessel.

7. Transfer the chilled water to the fermenter and pitch the yeast at 70 degrees.

8. Ferment at 70-74 degrees

9. Find an area of your house where the temp is consistent.

10. At the 24 hour mark: add 6g of FermFed DAP Free

11, 48 hours afterwards: Add the remaining 6g of FermFed DAP Free . AKrousen wiil form on top of the seltzer! 

12. After 10 days of fermentation, check your gravity reading and add Super Kleer (allow 24 to 48 hours for the seltzer to clear.) Fermentation is complete when the gravity reaches 1.000. If you do not reach 1.000 after 14 days, then you could have a stuck fermentation.   If your fermentation is stuck: you can add more FermFed DAP Free per kit instructions.

13. Sanitize your kegging instruments (if bottling: bottles, caps, bucket, tubing, siphon, etc…). Then you can add the fruit flavoring directly to your bottling bucket or if kegging directly to the keg.

14.  Enjoy your new hard selzter!

=================================

Hope you all enjoyed my column this month.  I had fun writing it.  Be sure to try all my recipes on BeerNexus and follow my brewing tips.  Hope to see you at the Northside Lounge for some great Brooks beer!

See you next month!  Cheers!