Batch #7 - India Pale Ale (Extract, Full-Boil, Non-kit)

Batch #7 ingredients

Batch #7 is an extract, full-boil IPA.  To develop the recipe I used BeerSmith 2.0.

Ingredients:

• 6.5 pounds Light Dry Malt Extract (DME)
• 1 pound Amber Dry Malt Extract (DME)
• 1 pound Crystal/Caramel Malt 40L grain for steeping (color + fermentable)
• .5 pound of Victory Malt
• 1 oz. Chinook Hops for bittering (boil for 60 minutes)
• 1 oz. Falconer's Flight Hops for bittering (boil for 15 minutes)
• 1 oz.  Falconer's Flight Hops for aroma (boil for 5 minutes)
• 1 Whirlfloc tablet (an Irish Moss product)
• Yeast - American Ale from Wyeast #1056
• 5 oz. Corn Sugar (Dextrose) for priming (bottle conditioning)
• 6 gallons of drinking water

Krausen!

Process:

1. Two days before brewing session make a yeast starter.
2. Bring 6 gallons of water up to a temperature of approximately 158 degrees.
3. Pour all of the Crystal/Caramel Malt and Victory Malt into a grain sock and submerge in water for 20 minutes to steep. Maintain a temperature between 150-165 degrees for steeping.  Be careful not to let temperature rise to 170 or above to prevent off flavors from being introduced.
4. Remove grain sock and allow excess water to drip back into pot.  (Do not squeeze)
5. Bring wort to a gentle rolling boil, remove from heat and add ALL of the Light Dry Malt Extract and 1 pound Amber Dry Malt Extract (DME) and stir vigorously to dissolve.  Return to heat and resume boil.
6. Add 1 oz. Chinook Hops for bittering.
7. Boil for 60 minutes.
8. Add 1 Whirlfloc tablet (an Irish Moss product) during final 15 minutes of boil.
9. Add  1 oz. Falconer's Flight Hops during last 15 minutes of boil.
10. Add  1 oz. Falconer's Flight Hops during last 5 minutes of boil.
11. Chill wort to 70 degrees or less.
12. Take OG reading with hydrometer.
13. Optional - add water to get OG to target range.
14. Transfer to primary fermentation (strain).
15. Pitch yeast.
16. Ferment in primary for 4-7 days.
17. Take second specific gravity reading and record.
18. Move to secondary fermentation for an additional 10 days or more.
19. Take final specific gravity reading.
20. Prepare priming sugar and add to bottling bucket.
21. Transfer wort to bottling bucket and bottle.
22. Bottle condition for approximately 30 days.

Stats and brew notes:

• Target Original Gravity - 1.070
• Actual Original Gravity - Forgot to measure.... :-(
• Estimated Final Gravity - 1.015
• Actual Final Gravity - 1.020
• Estimated ABV - 7.2%
• Actual ABV - 
• Brew Day - December 29, 2011
• Transfer to secondary fermentation - January 4, 2012 (6 days)
• Bottling Day - January 21, 2012 (17 days)
• Fermentation temperature (range) - 57 - 64
• Notes:

• After a couple of hours I checked on Primary fermentation and the airlock wasn't working.  For some reason the water level was too low.  I added more water and it was soon bubbling away.  Does not appear to be affected.
• With this batch, unlike #6, I am going to strain it before it goes to Primary fermentation.
• Did NOT strain as I did not buy a funnel and strainer in time.  Everything I have read so far said it will not affect taste.
• I am going to use an ice bath plus my chiller with this batch to try and cool the wort as quickly as possible.
• Actual cooling time - about 15 minutes.  This method worked GREAT.
• I'm a little worried about fermentation temperatures.  I'm fermenting in the basement and the temperature has dropped lower than I wanted.  The yeast I am using prefers temps between 60-72 degrees.
• Airlock in secondary fermentation dried up but I think I caught it in time.

The Verdict:
Popped the first bottle open on February 4th (2 weeks of bottle conditioning) and there was very little carbonation.  I agitated the bottles by turning them upside down and slightly shaking them.  After another week they were perfect in terms of carbonation.  So this beer ended up much like my last batch.  Definitely a better tasting brew minus the homebrew "twang" but a little on the sweet side.  My guess is this is due to an incomplete fermentation.  I plan to purchase a wort aeration system for my next batch.  Another issue is bitterness and aroma.  For an IPA I would have expected this one to be more hoppy both in aroma and bitterness.  Perhaps more time in the bottle will change the character of this one.

All-in-all I would say this one is a success.  Not perfect but steadily getting better.

Related articles

• Homebrew Batch #6 Notes - American Pale Ale (Full-boil, non-kit) (andyslusher.blogspot.com)

How (and why) to Make a Yeast Starter

Making a yeast starter for your homebrew is a fast and easy way to gain more control over your final product and ensure the results you are after.

Let's start with the "Why" of making a yeast starter for your homebrew.  First, it should be acknowledged that making a yeast starter is by no means required.  Most beginners, including myself, have pitched the dry yeast packets that come with a basic kit and achieved acceptable results.  Some opt for the liquid yeast varieties from either White Labs or Wyeast and the results are sometimes even better.  So why ever bother with the extra steps of creating a starter?  Below are a few reasons that I think make the exercise worthwhile:

1. Build up the cell count.  The more active yeast cells you have the more they can get to work and do their job of converting sugar to alcohol.
2. Full fermentation.  With more active yeast cells you have a better chance of achieving your desired finishing gravity.  Let's say you start off with an original gravity (OG) of 1.051 and want to end up at 1.012.  If you under pitch the yeast and the rising alcohol content overwhelms the active yeast you could stall it out before reaching your final gravity and not reach the desired alcohol content.
3. Reduce risk of contamination.  The faster your yeast is able to do it's job the less time your beer has to be exposed to contaminants.  The less lag time you have the less chance of contamination.
4. Better tasting beer!  Yeast does more than just convert sugar to alcohol.  It contributes to the overall taste of your beer and when it is pitched in the proper ratios it can help reduce off flavors.

Let's move on to the the "How" of making a yeast starter beginning with the equipment and supplies you will need to get started:

1. 1 gallon glass growler or a 2 liter glass pyrex flask
2. Rubber stopper and airlock
3. Approximately 1/2 cup light dry malt extract (DME)
4. 1 quart of water
5. Aluminum foil
6. Medium-sized sauce pan
7. Yeast appropriate for your homebrew recipe

Making a yeast starter is actually very simple.  In fact, if you've made even one batch or beer you have already done most of the basic steps.  While there are variations galore on how to do this task, I find the steps below are easy to follow and yield consistently good results.  Begin your yeast starter at least 2 days before you intend to brew.

1. Start by removing your liquid yeast pack or vial from the refrigerator.  If it is a "smack-pack" go ahead and activate as per instructions.  Your yeast should have several hours to warm to room temperature before moving to step 2.
2. Bring 1 quart of water to a boil.
3. Add 1/2 cup of light dry malt extract (DME) and stir until dissolved.
4. Boil for approximately 15 minutes.
5. Cool the DME and water mixture (wort) by placing the saucepan in sink and surround with ice water and stir gently until liquid is room temperature or below 80 degrees.
6. Transfer cooled wort to carboy or flask.
7. Add (pitch) yeast to wort.
8. Cover with aluminum foil and shake vigorously to aerate.  You can also choose to oxygenate the mixture.  Instructions can be found HERE.  Note: reduce time to 10-15 seconds.
9. Add rubber stopper with airlock and allow to begin fermentation at room temperature.
10. You should see fermentation activity within 24 hours if not much sooner.
11. You now have your yeast starter!
12. When it comes time to pitch your yeast in you homebrew recipe you can simply pour the entire mixture into the fermentation vessel or use this optional method:

• Optional - 24 hours prior to brew day you can transfer your wort to the refrigerator.  This will cause the yeast to separate or sink to the bottom of the container.  Remove from refrigeration and pour off most of the top liquid.  Let the remaining yeast warm to room temperature and pitch the resulting yeast slurry into your wort at the appropriate time.  Removing the extraneous liquid may reduce off flavors.  

Well, that's it.  I hope you find this a useful process in your homebrewing adventures.  Happy brewing!

See these links for more information on creating a yeast starter:

• Making a Yeast Starter by Beer Geek Nation
• Making a Yeast Starter by Brew Your Own Magazine
• How to Make a Yeast Starter by Joe Polvino

Related articles

• Homebrewing: Fine-Tuning Fermentation (suburbanmen.com)
• Homebrew Batch #6 Notes - American Pale Ale (Full-boil, non-kit) (andyslusher.blogspot.com)

Batch #6 - American Pale Ale (Extract, Full-Boil, Non-kit)

For batch #6 I'm taking a baby step toward all-grain. For this batch I'm going to do a full-boil extract brew using DME only.  I'm going to also move away from the kits I've been using and make up my own simple Pale Ale recipe.

Equipment:
First task at hand is upgrading my brew kettle.  I wish I had sprung for an 8 or 10 gallon pot initially over the 6 gallon model but lesson learned.  Next is to get a chiller.  Cooling 2-3 gallons in an ice bath is pretty easy but I don't think there is an efficient way to rapidly cool 5 gallons of wort without a chiller.

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds Light Dry Malt Extract (DME) - Munton's Light
• 1 pound Amber Dry Malt Extract (DME) - Munton's Amber
• 1 pound Crystal/Caramel Malt 40L grain for steeping (color + fermentable)
• 1.5 oz. Cascade Hops for bittering
• 1.5 oz. Cascade Hops for aroma
• 1 Whirlfloc tablet (an Irish Moss product)
• Yeast - American Ale from Wyeast #1056
• 5 oz. Corn Sugar (Dextrose) for priming (bottle conditioning)
• 6 gallons of drinking water

Process:

1. Two days before brewing session make a yeast starter.
2. Bring 5.5 gallons of water up to a temperature of approximately 158 degrees.
3. Pour all of the Crystal/Caramel Malt into a grain sock and submerge in water for 20 minutes to steep. Maintain a temperature between 150-165 degrees for steeping.  Be careful not to let temperature rise to 170 or above to prevent off flavors from being introduced.
4. Remove grain sock and allow excess water to drip back into pot.  (Do not squeeze)
5. Bring wort to a gentle rolling boil, remove from heat and add 3 pounds of the Light Dry Malt Extract and 1 pound Amber Dry Malt Extract (DME) and stir vigorously to dissolve.  Return to heat and resume boil.
6. Add 1.5 oz. Cascade Hops for bittering.
7. Boil for 40 minutes.
8. Add remaining 2 pounds Light Dry Malt Extract (DME).
9. Add 1 Whirlfloc tablet (an Irish Moss product).
10. Boil for 15 minutes.
11. Add 1.5 oz. Cascade Hops for aroma.
12. Boil for 5 minutes and terminate boil.
13. Chill wort to 70 degrees or less and transfer to primary fermentation (strain).
14. Take OG reading with hydrometer - target is 1.056.
15. Optional - add water to get OG to target range.
16. Pitch yeast.
17. Ferment in primary for 4-7 days.
18. Take second specific gravity reading.
19. Move to secondary fermentation for an additional 10 days or more.
20. Take final specific gravity reading.
21. Prepare priming sugar and add to bottling bucket.
22. Transfer wort to bottling bucket and bottle.
23. Bottle condition for 30 days.

Notes, Results and Lessons Learned:

• Brew Day - December 5, 2011
• Stop watch quit working for initial 40 minute boil so had to estimate.  Not too concerned.
• Yeast starter seemed to work well.  Lots of activity within a couple of hours.  I was a little concerned that the activity in the yeast starter had ceased before I pitched it but it didn't seem to matter.  Pitched the whole starter - did not drain off wort beforehand.
• Transfer to secondary fermentation - December 12, 2011 (7 days in Primary)
• Forgot to add the airlock floater for about an hour.  Hopefully no contaminants reached the beer.
• Bottling Day - December 24, 2011 (12 days in Secondary, 2 days longer than planned)
• Fermentation temperature (range) - 61-66 degrees.  Would have preferred a constant 68 degrees but since fermentation was done in the basement I could not control it.
• Estimated Original Gravity - 1.056
• Actual Original Gravity 1.068!  Did not add water at end of boil to adjust.  Consider doing a 6 gallon full boil next time.
• Estimated Final Gravity - 1.012
• Actual Final Gravity - 1.020
• Took a specific gravity reading when transferring to secondary fermentation and got a reading of 1.020.  The sample contained a fair amount of trub so I don't know how accurate it was.  This would translate to an ABV of 6.3% or .5% higher than expected.
• Estimated ABV - 5.8%
• Actual ABV - 6.3
• Priming sugar may have carmelized.  I dumped all 5 ounces in the boiling water and it clung to the bottom a bit.  It broke up and seemed fine but wonder if it will affect the taste.
• Next time I need to remove from heat and slowly stir in to water and then return to heat.
• Remember to aerate the wort well when pitching the yeast.  Full boils will lessen the oxygen in the wort which is needed to fuel the yeast.
• Pitched yeast, covered carboy with sanitized aluminum foil and shook vigorously.  This seemed to have worked fine.
• I'm going to try and perfect this recipe before moving on to a different recipe/style.  Main objectives for Batch #8:
• Start with a pre-boil water level of 5.7 gallons as prescribed by BeerSmith.
• STRAIN this batch!
• Consider using a blow-off tube.
• Use the hydrometer and keep your results for reference.
• Aerate well.
• Pay close attention to fermentation temperatures - keep them constant.  Shoot for 67-68 degrees.
• This style probably does not require a yeast starter as the specifications on the Wyeast site indicate it can handle a full batch based on my style stats.  Follow these instructions carefully.
• Don't be so anxious to transfer to secondary.  Let the yeast do it's job.  Use a hydrometer to assess when/if it is time to go to secondary.

The Verdict:

• Opened a bottle at 13 days and was disappointed that it was not more carbonated.  It also had a sweet taste which probably indicates the yeast did not fully do it's job.  It may still come around with more time.  Additionally, the area where it was bottles conditioned dipped into the 50's which may have made the yeast go dormant.  I brought 4 bottles upstairs where the temperature is more stable and agitated them on a daily basis for several days to try and get the yeast going again.  Time will tell...

Batch #5 - India Pale Ale (Extract)

Batch number 5 is an India Pale Pale.  It is based on the Brewer's Best IPA kit but with a twist.  Because I like my beer hoppy, I'm going to dry hop this batch.  If this one turns out OK I plan to try going all-grain next batch after I accumulate all the necessary equipment.

Ingredient List:

• 6.6 lbs. Muntons Light Liquid Malt Extract (LME) - Two 3.3 lb./1.5kg cans
• 1 lb. Brewer's Best Dry Malt Extract (Spray - Dried Malt) DME
• 1 lb. Brewer's Best Crushed Caramel Malt Specialty Grain
• 8 oz. Brewer's Best Crushed Victory Malt Specialty Grain
• 2 oz. Brewer's Best Cascade Bittering Hops, 6.4% Alpha Acid
• 1.5 oz. Brewer's Best Columbus Bittering Hops, 13.9% Alpha Acid
• 1 oz. Brewer's Best Cascade Aroma Hops
• 1 oz. Hopunion Amarillo Dry Hopping Hops (not included in Brewer's Best kit)
• Wyeast 1272 American II Yeast (replaced the Nottingham Ale dry yeast that came in kit)
• 5 oz. Brewer's Best Priming Sugar for bottle conditioning

Procedures:

• Heat approximately 2.5 gallons of drinking water to a steeping temperature of between 150 - 165 degrees.
• Pour the Crushed Caramel and Victory Malt Specialty Grains into a steep bag and loosely tie a knot to contain the grains and place in your heated water.
• Steep for approximately 20 minutes but ensure the temperature does not exceed 170 degrees.
• Remove the grain bag and allow the water to drain back into the brew kettle.  Do not squeeze excess water back into kettle.
• Bring your newly created wort to a gentle, rolling boil.  Remove from heat and add all of the fermentables (both the LME and DMW) and stir vigorously to ensure they to not caramelize on the bottom of the brew kettle.
• After the fermentables are added return to heat and gently stir until wort returns to a boil.
• Slowly sprinkle both bittering hops into boiling wort and boil for 55 minutes.
• Add aroma hops and boil for 5 more minutes and terminate boil.
• Place brew kettle in ice bath to chill as quickly as possible to a temperature of  70 degrees.
• Strain cooled wort into primary fermentation bucket.
• Start adding water to bring the Original Gravity to between 1.061 - 1.065.
• Pitch the yeast and stir well to aerate.
• Add airtight lid with airlock to begin primary fermentation.
• Ferment for 3-4 days in primary container.  Actual primary fermentation was 8 days.
• Take a specific gravity reading and record. OG reading - 1.061
• Transfer to secondary fermentation and add dry hops.  Omitted dry hops.  SG reading 1.020
• Allow beer to finish fermenting in secondary fermentation carboy for approximately 2 weeks.
• After about 2 weeks in secondary fermentation proceed to bottling.

Notes and/or lessons learned:

• For batch #6 consider upgrading brew kettle to larger model that will allow me to do a "full boil" instead of adding water to the concentrated wort.  For this batch I did an initial 3 gallon boil which is about as much as my present brew kettle can handle.
• My previous 4 batches have all been drinkable but they have all had that homebrew "twang" to them. In reading some threads on homebrewtalk.com I got the following recommendations:
• Do full boils whenever possible.
• If you can't do all-grain then use all DME in your extract brewing instead of LME.
• Stay away from aluminum brew kettles.
• Maintain appropriate fermentation temperatures.
• One suggestion was to use only distilled water.
• Consider making a yeast starter.
• The directions called for pitching the yeast AFTER adding the additional water to achieve the desired OG hydrometer reading.  I reversed the order.  Not sure if it matters.
• Desired Finishing Gravity was not achieved.  Fermentation conditions were acceptable.  My guess is that there simply wasn't enough active yeast cells to do the full job.  Hopefully a yeast starter will do the job next time.
• Popped open a bottle after 7 days of bottle conditioning and there was little carbonation present.  I thought the batch was a dud but at 14 days the beer was great.  This appears to be a style and/or batch that will do well with increased bottle conditioning.

The Verdict:

• Damn good - possibly the best batch yet.  No homebrew "twang" present.  Tasty.

Batch #4 - Rye Pale Ale (Extract)

Homebrew batch #4 is a Rye Pale Ale.  We decided to step it up a bit and take on a recipe that is a little more involved plus it is my favorite beer style - I'm hooked on Terrapin's Rye Pale Ale.

We're still stuck on the Brewer's Best kits since we have had success with them so far.  The Rye Pale Ale beer kit is from their "intermediate" line in terms of difficulty.  The only real difference with this kit as opposed to an "easy" kit is that you steep your grains differently (a partial mash process).  For this kit you employ a "steep-to-convert" process which is a simplified version of mashing.

Most of the grains in extract brewing are pre-converted meaning the starches inside the malted barley have already been converted into sugars through special heating processes.  Base malts (like Pale) are not pre-converted.  They contain starches inside the husk that need to be converted.  The process adds an additional 45 minutes to the overall brewing time.  The hardest part is maintaining a constant temperature of approximately 150 degrees.  It seemed impossible to keep our temperature constant so we would let the heat creep up to 155 and then turn the burner off.  After it decreased to 148 we would reignite and monitor until it was at 155 again and repeat the actions above.

After the "steep-to-convert" procedure it is pretty much business as usual (with one exception as noted below) and the directions are similar to the previous 3 kits we have completed.  With this recipe we used 5 gallons of bottled spring water.  For the past recipes I have used distilled water but read that the minerals in other types of water lend to the overall taste so we are switching things up.

Things got a little dicey when we went to pitch the yeast.  We used a liquid variety from White Labs over the dry yeast packet that comes inside the kit.  It was real close the expiration date so I was slightly concerned it about it still being fresh and active.  When I opened it it fizzed and spewed like a soft drink that had been shaken.  At this point, I didn't have much of an alternative except to pour it in and hope for the best.  Well, a quick Google search and my fears were alleviated.  This is apparently quite common and most brewers reported no problems.  Within 8 hours of pitching the yeast my airlock was bubbling furiously.

Secondary fermentation was started 7 days after primary.  The airlock was still bubbling about every 4 minutes so my goal of moving it to secondary before fermentation completed was achieved.

Another difference with this kit is the addition of "dry hopping".  Dry hopping is the process of adding hops to the beer after the boil and usually to secondary fermentation for the purpose of increasing aroma in the finished beer.  The directions called for a two week secondary fermentation process but something odd happened.  About one week into it the hops had mostly fallen to the bottom of the carboy and fermentation seemed to have ceased.  On about the ninth day it appeared fermentation had started again!  I didn't know if  perhaps the beer was contaminated or what was happening.  I was reminded by my brewing partner (and lovely girlfriend) that the AC in her house was off for a period of time and the temperature crept up to 81 degrees.  Could that have re-activated the yeast?  Even after many weeks the airlock was still bubbling.  A quick Google search indicated the only sure way to tell if fermentation had stopped was to test with a hydrometer.  I'm getting concerned about this batch but time will tell.

When it came time to bottle I wasn't sure what to expect.  We had left the wort in secondary fermentation for about 6 weeks and still noticed activity.  We decided that it was time to move forward and bottle.  A hydrometer reading indicated that the beer was, indeed, at its finishing gravity.  I question how long it had been there but the lesson learned is that visual activity in the wort (or lack there of) isn't the best indicator of what's truly going on with your beer.  Trust your tools, in this case a hydrometer, and use them.  My concern now is how the lengthy secondary fermentation will affect taste.

The moment of truth...

Despite some uncertainty, it looks like we're going to have a decent batch of Rye Pale Ale to drink.  Already thinking about what's next.  Dare were try an all grain recipe...?

Related articles

• Homebrew Batch #3 and Lessons Learned (andyslusher.blogspot.com)
• Homebrew Batch #2 and Lessons Learned (andyslusher.blogspot.com)
• Homebrew Batch #1 and Lessons Learned (andyslusher.blogspot.com)
• How to use a hydrometer in home brewing (andyslusher.blogspot.com)