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Copyright © 1992-1998, Kurt Swanson. All rights reserved. Permission is
hereby granted to disseminate copies free of charge (inclusive of media
costs), provided this message is contained throughout.
The humble author's home page is http://www.dna.lth.se/home/kurt/.
Beer is made from extracting sugar from the starch in malted grain.
This is boiled with sufficient water & hops to make a "wort." When
this has cooled, brewing yeast is added to ferment the wort to create this
finished product, which is suitable for bottling or kegging, and
maturation. Some people mash their own grain, while others buy canned malt
extract. Either method is suitable for creating an award-winning brew,
though mashing does allow greater control over the finished product, and
"mash'ers" claim better beer is made.
There are specialty shops all over the country that sell ingredients
and equipment for making beer and wine at home. Check your yellow pages
under "Beer" or "Wine" for homebrewing or home winemaking shops. If you
can't find a shop locally, many shops do mail order (more on mail order
later). Basic equipment includes a kettle for boiling the wort, a
fermentation vessel of some kind -- glass carboys (5 gallon bottled water
bottles) and food-grade plastic buckets are popular -- siphon hose for
bottling, bottles, and a bottle capper and caps. Most shops sell "starter
kits", which include essential equipment (and sometimes some
not-so-essential equipment), ingredients for your first batch, and a book.
Prices vary, $60-70 U.S. is common.
It is generally agreed that "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing," by
Charlie Papazian is an excellent beginners text. Other find David Miller's
"The Complete Handbook of Homebrewing" just as good for the beginner, as
well as containing more information suited for intermediate/advanced
brewers. I use both. Other texts include "The Big Book of Brewing," by
Dave Line, which is a British text (with British & metric
measurements), and "Brewing Lager Beer" by Greg Noonan. Mr. Line has also
written a recipe book which does contain basic instructions, called
"Brewing Beer Like Those You Buy." A more modern recipe book is ""Brewing
the World's Great Beers" also by Dave Miller. Also you might try "Brewing
Quality Beers," by Byron Burch, which has been described as "short enough
to read for the extremely impatient, yet has lots of good information."
Lastly, CAMRA (see below), publishes "Home Brewing: The CAMRA Guide," by
Graham Wheeler, 1990.
Zymurgy is a bi-monthly publication, plus one special topics issue, put
out by the American Homebrewers Association (AHA). Zymurgy contains many
article on brewing as well as information & ads regarding clubs and
supplies. Contact the AHA by phone or US mail to:
American Homebrewers Association, Inc.
Worry? No. There are several possibilities. First, depending on your
recipe, an acceptable terminal gravity may be high. For example, a Barley
Wine with an initial gravity of 1.120, might completely ferment out at
1.040. On the other hand, a lite lager, with an initial gravity of 1.025
might ferment all the way down to 1.002. Thus you should check with your
recipe, or a similar recipe of that style, to determine what might be
proper. If you still believe it is high, and this is a frequent
occurrence, you may have a "stuck fermentation." This occurs for a variety
of reasons. The wort might not have been sufficiently aerated to start
with, you might slosh it around in the fermenter. Or, fermentation
temperature might have dropped to the point where the yeast may go
dormant. Also, the yeast might not have enough nutrients in the wort to
work with. This often occurs in extract brewing. In these latter two
cases, you might try adding a yeast nutrient, according to the instruction
that come with it. Lastly, give it time, as fermentation may slow, then
suddenly accelerate at a later date.
Some yeasts take longer to start than others. Make sure your
fermentation temperature is in the right range (lower temps slow yeast
activity). Also, high temperatures are bad for yeast. Besides problems of
mutation, yeast may be killed if pitched before the wort has sufficiently
cooled. You might try aerating the wort by sloshing it around in the
fermenter. Lastly, the pitching rate affects startup time. If you pitch
too little yeast, not only will the lag time be greater, but you also risk
infection. Many people either use 2 packets of dry yeast (Whitbread
excepted), or make a starter culture from one packet, or from liquid
yeast.
The following was graciously submitted by Paul Chisholm regarding a
recent discussion on bottle fillers in this newsgroup... Thanks, Paul...
Some people Worry (for shame!-) that a bottle filler causes more
oxidation (because of spraying through the smaller opening, rather than
through the whole opening at the end of the siphon tube, I guess). The
solution is to tilt the bottle at the beginning, and stick the end of the
bottling wand into the bottom "corner" of the bottle. The wand's end is
soon covered with beer, and no amount of spraying will cause any extra air
to be mixed in with the beer. Also, if the end of the wand (or siphon
tube, or whatever) isn't much lower than the end of the siphon tube in the
priming carboy (or whatever), the beer will be siphoned slowly, at low
pressure, reducing spraying. (This works for any bottle filling
procedure.)
Another problem is the bottle filler has beer in it. When you lift the
filler from the bottle, that beer doesn't go into the bottle, and the
headspace is greatly increased. Even if you fill the bottle almost full,
the resulting headspace is larger than some people consider optimal. You
can fill the bottle, move the filler to the top of the bottle, and press
the tip of the filler to drizzle enough beer down the side of the bottle
to reduce the head space.
There are two kinds of fillers. One kind has a spring. The other has a
stopper that's held down by the weight of the beer. The latter is slower.
Does that mean oxidation is less of a problem? I expect it's easier to
finish filling (using the side-of-the-bottle trick) with a springless
filler.
(There's also something called Phil's Philler, which has a hole at the
top as well as at the bottom. You can remove the filler without removing
the beer in it, thus eliminating the headspace problem.)
My take on all this is that there are ways to use a bottle filler to
reduce problems (and reduce Worry). I didn't find enough evidence of
problems to bottle my beer without a bottle filler.
CAMRA stands for "the CAMpaign for Real Ale," a British consumers'
group that is concerned with changes, primarily in the quality of British
beers. For membership details write:
Campaign for Real Ale, Ltd
A hydrometer measures the weight of a liquid relative to the same
volume of water (i.e., relative densities). In brewing, much of this
excess weight is expected to be from fermentable and unfermentable malt
sugars. Most hydrometers measure Specific Gravity (SG), which tells how
many times heavier than water the liquid of interest is; for example, a
1.050 SG wort is 1.05 times heavier than an equal volume of water at 60 °F.
SG measurements are temperature dependent, and SG should be measured at 60
°F., as water is SG 1.0 at 60 °F.
Hydrometers often come with a temperature conversion chart, but
hydrometers often are not accurately calibrated, so that water at 60F will
not read 1.0. An easy way to take SG readings with a hydrometer is to
measure at room temperature, and then measure water at room temperature
and take the difference.
Some abbreviations commonly used in homebrewing relating to specific
gravity: OG, Original (wort specific) Gravity; FG or TG, Final or Terminal
Gravity (when the beer is finished fermenting).
A wort chiller is a device used to quickly cool boiling wort to yeast
pitching temperatures. Two common constructions are the immersion chiller
and the counterflow chiller. The immersion chiller consists of a coil of
copper tubing that is immersed in the wort, and cold water is run through
the tubing. Counterflow designs usually consist of copper tubing inside of
a larger diameter plastic tubing; cold water runs through the plastic
tubing in one direction, cooling wort runs through the copper tubing in
the other direction.
Using a chiller to quickly cool wort has several advantages over slow
air cooling. You get your yeast pitched quickly, reducing the risk of
infection; the time the wort spends at DMS producing temperatures
is reduced; and a quick chill promotes good cold break.
DMS is Dimethyl Sulfide, a malt by-product with an aroma
described as similar to cooked corn.
Hot and cold break are terms used by homebrewers to describe the
flocculation of proteins and other materials during the boil (the hot
break) and cooling (the cold break). This material tends to settle to the
bottom of your kettle or fermenter, where it becomes part of the "trub".
Sometimes the terms "hot break" and "cold break" will be used to refer to
the activity ("I had a great cold break when I pumped ice water through my
wort chiller"), while at other times the brewer may be referring to the
actual matter ("The cold break settled to the bottom of my carboy"); if
you're worried that you may not be understood, you can always specify
whether you're talking about the occurrence or the stuff. Usually it is
understood from context.
All fermentables (malt extract syrup, dry malt extract, grain malt,
sugar, honey, etc.) cause an increase in the specific gravity of the
solution when added to water. A common way to measure how much the
specific gravity increases is the number of SG points of increase when a
pound of the ingredient is added to one gallon of water. Most fermentables
used for beer are in the range of 25-45 points per pound per gallon.
Values for many of these ingredients may be found in the references
mentioned in the Bibliography section. When substituting one fermentable
for another, use the ratio of the specific gravity contributions of each
ingredient to scale the one you will use to the amount that will provide
the desired SG contribution.
Example: You have an all-grain recipe that calls for 8# of Malted
Barley, and you want to replace it with extract syrup. One of my
references lists the SG contributions of these ingredients as
approximately 30 points for the grain and 36 points for the syrup per
pound of ingredient per gallon of water. You multiply the 8# of grain in
the recipe by 30/36 to get 6 2/3 pounds of malt extract syrup.
Alpha acids are bittering compounds found in hops that are extracted
when hops are boiled with wort. The alpha acid "rating" on hops describes
how much of the weight of the hop is made up of alpha acids. Hops with a
higher alpha acid content will contribute more bitterness than a low alpha
hop when using the same amount of hop.
HBU stands for "Homebrew Bitterness Unit", which is a recipe unit for
hops. It takes into account the alpha acid content of the hop, so that a
recipe will call for a certain amount of HBU's rather than an amount
specified in ounces. HBU is computed by multiplying the weight of hops in
oz. by the alpha acid percentage of the hops; sum for all hop additions.
For example, 1 oz of 7% alpha hops will have a HBU of 7. Note that volume
is ignored in the HBU, therefore it is important to include the volume of
the recipe, or express the hop additions in HBU per gallon (or HBU per 5
gallons) rather than just strictly HBU.
IBU stands for "International Bittering Unit", and is a measure of the
amount of bittering compounds in a particular volume of beer, rather than
a recipe unit. However, the "Hops and Beer" special issue of Zymurgy (see
Bibliography) presents a formula for estimating IBU, considering several
variables -- alpha acid content, wort volume, wort gravity, and time in
the boil.
Another way to think of this is that HBU represents the "potential" for
bittering beer (the bittering strength of the hops), while IBU represents
"actual" bittering, and is a measure of the beer, not the hops.
Dry hopping is the practice of adding dry hops to beer at some time
after the boil. The technique is used to increase hop aroma in the
finished beer, as aromatic hop compounds are quickly lost when hops are
boiled. Common practice is to add the hops to a secondary fermenter, or if
kegging, to the keg from which the beer will be served. Dry hops added to
a fermenter should be left in contact with the beer for at least a week or
two. The consensus seems to be that the amount of alcohol present by the
time fermenting beer is in secondary fermentation is sufficient to prevent
bacteria and/or wild yeasts from "riding in" on the hops and contaminating
the beer, so sanitizing of the dry hops is not deemed necessary. Either
whole hops, plugs, or pellets may be used for dry hopping.
For brewers, the Lovibond degree is a unit used to measure the color of
malted barley and beer. Darker grains have a higher Lovibond measure, and
contribute more color to brewed beer. Darker crystal malts (such as 60°L,
80°L, 120°L, etc.) will provide more sweet flavor and more color than
similar amounts of lighter (20°L, 40°L) crystal malt. Dave Miller's book
(see Bibliography) provides a formula for very roughly predicting the
color of finished beer in degrees L based on the grain that goes into
making the beer.
"Wyeast" is a nickname for the Brewer's Choice line of liquid brewing
yeasts from Logsdon's Wyeast Laboratories. There are more than a dozen
varieties of ale and lager yeasts available from Wyeast. Many brewers that
use Wyeast consider it to be of high quality, uncontaminated by bacteria.
For a report on contaminants in liquid and dry yeasts available to
homebrewers, see the "Yeast" special issue of Zymurgy. Good results can be
obtained from either dry or liquid yeasts, especially for brewers that are
willing to carefully home culture yeasts that they know to be pure and
provide good results.
The name Wyeast is pronounced like "Why-yeast", not "double-u yeast",
and is the name that the local Native Americans had given to Mt. Hood in
Oregon, which stands near the site of the Wyeast lab.
The Wyeast package recommends making a 1.020 SG wort and pitching the
active contents of the package into a sanitized bottle with an airlock to
allow the quantity of active yeast cells to build up before pitching into
a typical 5 gallon batch of wort. This "starter" wort is usually made from
dry malt extract boiled with water at the rate of 2 tablespoons per 8 oz.
cup of water. Some brewers like to throw in a couple of hop cones or
pellets for their antiseptic qualities. When the starter is at high
krauesen (the term is used loosely here, you often won't get a foamy head
on your starter, look for visible, strong fermentation) it's ready to
pitch. Typical time for a starter is 24 hours. This technique is
recommended for both dry and liquid yeasts.
You multiply (or divide) by 1. PPM (parts per million) is defined as
mg/l (milligrams per liter).
There has been a good deal of "discussion" as to whether or not the use
of aluminum in brewing contributes to Alzheimer's disease. Thanks to
Oliver Weatherbee for providing to following:
Aluminum has NOT been linked to Alzheimer's disease. The following is
taken from "Frequently Asked Questions About Neurological Problems" at The
Department of Neurological Surgery of The Cleveland Clinic Foundation (http://www.neus.ccf.org/patients/faq.aspl):
"There is little support for the theory that aluminum causes
Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia in the United
States. The exact cause of this disease is unknown, although the risk of
Alzheimer's is higher when there is a family history of this disease.
[two paragraphs removed]
Workers exposed to high levels of aluminum in industrial environments
have no increased incidence of Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, careful
studies to date have not shown an increased aluminum concentration in the
brains of Alzheimer's disease patients.
Since there is no convincing evidence linking aluminum toxicity with
Alzheimer's disease, you need not worry about exposure to aluminum in
cooking utensils."
Furthermore, Brewing Techniques (Jan/Feb '95) had an article on a
parallel brew experiment using an aluminum brewpot and a stainless.
Laboratory analysis showed that there was no significant difference in
trace aluminum levels between batches. They also pointed out that most of
the Al you digest is from your food and water. And for that matter, many
medical people consider copper a bigger health risk.
As for off flavors, IF this happens (hearsay IMO), it is probably the
result of the brewer scrubbing the oxidation layer of the pot during
cleaning. Don't scrub, use a soft cloth or sponge and non-abrasive
cleaner. This is one of the reasons Al is not used much commercially, its
not caustic cleaner friendly.
Brewer's yeast has been selected for its ability to grow well in
malt-based wort and produce pleasant by-products. In particular, yeast
prefer to ferment maltose because it is the largest fermentable
constituent in wort. Growing your yeast up in a non-malt environment can
affect the health and you can get a disordered fermentation and possible
off flavors in your beer. Growing up in a high glucose environment, for
example, can result in selection in favor of respiratory mutants that
cannot properly ferment maltose. As an analogy, consider how unhealthy you
and your decendents would be if you were asked to live (and reproduce!) on
a diet of nothing but soda pop.
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