Messages

31

General Homebrew Discussion / Oxidation Story and Question

« on: March 09, 2013, 11:30:15 AM »

So a quick story to (hopefully) benefit all.

I submitted a few beers to a comp in NYC (Homebrew Alley), one of them being an IPA I made in mid-Dec that I thought was great (judging was mid february). This beer actually came in 2nd @ a local non-sanctioned hedonistic comp in late january.

17.5 from the judges @ homebrew alley. The main thing they cited was acetaldehyde.

WTF? Then I had the last bottle I had at a club meeting in late february. Lifeless. No hops. Awful. One guy said acetaldehyde. ACETALDEHYDE!!? Green apples? How could that be possible? I pitch a ton of yeast, manage it well, etc. PLUS the beer WAS great at one point.

So I was going through my process (typing it out actually) and realized the following. Since I have been kegging, I will typically keg, then bottle with the blich beer gun, so I can free up my serving fridge which also doubles as my ferm chamber. It hit me. I love to 'quick carb'. I don't always CO2-purge when I rack to my keg. So I am shaking up my keg like a polaroid picture with oxygen in there, and diffusing both CO2 and O2 into my beer. As a long-term storer in bottles, this is a major problem.

But wait, why green apples? Why acetaldehyde? One thing I have been very diligent about in my last 20 or so brews is yeast. For the last few years. proper management, starters, pitch rate, manipulate temps well. Acetaldehyde is usually a result of improper yeast management.

Oh wait. Or oxidation....oxidation REVERSES a lot of the reactions that happen during fermentation. "intermediate" compounds that are formed during fermentation AND TYPICALLY REABSORBED rear their ugly heads as a result of oxidation (like acetaldehyde).

Lesson learned (hopefully). I need to drink the $#@!T out of my beers now so they don't have the chance to age and get worse. I have noticed this in most of the beers come to think of it.

I just carbed my 80/- and its excellent. But I didn't CO2-purge. I have heard that you can precipitate out oxygen by adding either additional campden tabs or vitamin C to the keg. I might try this, as I was planning on submitting this AWSEOME 80/- to NHC. Anyone have experience with adding a campden tab (or five) to a kegged beer to reduce oxidation? Or I might just rebrew it.

<slaps forehead>

32

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: wlp001 for Scottish 60/ or 70/

« on: March 07, 2013, 05:32:51 PM »

I'm drinking the first one I ever made, first pint.  This is a great beer, and I used s-05, mashed @ 158, single decoction to mash out, kettle camelized 1 gallon of1st runnings down to .5 gallons, fermented at 64*.  This might be a quarterly brew.

A: slight caramel, toasted malt, low toffee, no hops
A: brilliant deep amber, moussy off white head, lots of lacing
F: rich high caramel malt upfront with a hint of toast/melanoidin.  Soft/mild bitterness.  Bit of toffee from the kettle carmelization, which I could see as the "peaty" note.
M:almost nitro-Guinness like.  Silky. 

yes please.

33

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: Kolsch Fermentation Schedule - WLP029

« on: March 07, 2013, 05:17:42 PM »

Egggggsellent thanks all!  The weird thing is, in his podcast, jamil says that he uses some wheat in his kolsch.  Then in the BCS I have, his recipe is just 95% pils, 5% Vienna/Munich....must be a revision in a later addition.

34

Yeast and Fermentation / Kolsch Fermentation Schedule - WLP029

« on: March 05, 2013, 05:26:39 PM »

Okay, I know you can't put beer on a schedule, the yeast work on their own timetable, 'its done when its done', etc. etc. etc. 

That being said, the majority of my ales are done in 7-10 days.  I ferment the majority of my ales pitched in the low-mid 60's, and let them rise up to the mid-high 60's, in some cases (belgians and saisons) continue to raise up to the low-mid 70's to finish.  Now I have to say, on 90% of my beers, I am using Chico, Notty, or a Belgian yeast. 

So this is my first kolsch, Jamil's recipe (10.3# pils, 0.5 vienna, mashed at 149, 75 min, 15g magnum @ 60)

I chilled to and pitched at 58, let rise up to 60, and it is cranking away 36 hours later with a minimal lag. 

My question is, could I raise the temp up to 65 after 5-6 days, let it finish up at that temp, and if it is @ terminal gravity by day 13 or, stick it in the ferm chamber to lager?

I have two objectives:

1.)  free up my ferm/lagering fridge (I have a couple other beers I'd like to crash/cold condition)
2.)  Make an awesome kolsch

Hopefully the two aren't mutually exclusive.  I know with the majority of yeasts, the most critical time to control temp is the first 48-72 hours, though longer is preferred.  I have had great success in the past (for instance with a steam beer I made) pitching and conducting fermentation at 60/61, then raising up to ambient temp 65-68 after 5-6 days. 

Thanks in advance!

35

Going Pro / Re: Starting a brewery

« on: March 05, 2013, 05:23:59 AM »

Bottling Success at The Brooklyn Brewery is another great account.  Alluded to it in my earlier 4 page post.  Combo of legendary marketing/branding, luck and hard work.

36

Going Pro / Re: Starting a brewery

« on: March 03, 2013, 09:44:51 PM »

Really, really really really happy I came upon this thread.  I have read through each and every post a few times.  Sorry in advance for the long post, but this has been plaguing my mind for a long time.  Maybe I should have made this a separate post. 

<inhale>

Re: me - I am in a strange place with beer.  I have brewed just shy of 50 5-gallon batches.  I have become decent at it.  Haven't won a comp yet, haven't even placed other than hedonistic comps.  But I make good beer.  I know how to control cold-side and fermentation.  I know how to pitch the right amounts of yeast.  I like to think I can tweak a recipe.  I make good beer and I spend ALL my free time reading about, talking about, thinking about, and (oh yeah) writing about beer on forums like this.  I just took my BJCP tasting exam, I have brewed 10 batches so far in 2013.  I have had an appointment cancel multiple times and have brewed a batch with the 'found' time.  I've actually left work on a slow day to brew.  I have a few friends (free spirited types) who tell me I should quit being such a pragmatist and 'work in beer'.  I spend the majority of my spare energy (the most VALUABLE of commodities in my mind) on it. 

I have an undergrad degree in finance, training from a top 5 commercial bank, a masters degree in real estate finance, 10 years experience in banking, a year and a half of law school (one of the biggest, if not the biggest scam out there), and a good, steady job that pays well above the median salary and allows me and my wife some nice luxuries.  I know I can do just about anything, its just a question of where I want to deploy my energy and if I have the balls to do it.  I have seen plenty of startups fail, have liquidated plenty of them, and I know selling beer is a hell of a lot different than brewing beer for and enjoying it with one's family and friends.  Yet it still haunts me that I should be spending my life doing something surrounding this.  I have an opportunity to move back into a business development role at my employer and get my company to pay for my wife and I to move back to our home town.  It would/will be a great life for us.  Yet beer still haunts me.  I can write a business plan, build a cash flow, a DCF, figure out an IRR, glad-hand/chin-wag with investors, and could go to a release party and get everyone just as psyched about beer as I am.   

Yes, there would be A/P and A/R.  Yes, there still would be licensing.  Yes, there would be keg leases, disputes with landlords, a $#!tload of grain to clean up, payrolls almost missed, sleepless nights worrying about the loan I took against my 401(k), shelf space, a $#load of competition, shelf space, capacity issues, spoilage, breakage, oh yeah, shelf space, etc etc etc.  But its beer.  And its awesome.  And we all know it. 
 
When I throw out the 'yeah, you know I really love it BECAUSE its recreation and NOT work' to my friends (one of whom is in the wine industry), the response is "that sounds like someone who has never really done what they loved for a living".  I suppose there is something to the notion that as soon as your 'love' becomes 'the way you put food on the table', it changes.  Maybe not for the better.  But I don't know that for sure.  And I won't know until I try to make it my life.  Maybe I'll never know. 

Re:  Financing Options (this is actually where I might add some value and not just vent my frustrations - People have said it well on this thread prior to my chime in.  As Steve Hindy from Brooklyn said (paraphrase), "don't let lack of money stop you from pursuing your dream.   There is money out there, but you need to be able to tell your story.  You can find the money.  But you need to be willing to work.  Work harder than you have ever imagined, but you will have to give some things up". 

Debt is cheaper on paper than equity.  However debt has its dangers too.  In my job, I live this everyday.  I manage 'distressed' commercial relationships for a super-regional bank (its been a 'growth industry' since 2008).  Before that, I was a small business lender.   Standard 'shelf' Laser-pro bank documents (note, guarantees, security agreements) essentially allow the bank (ie someone like me now) to come in and nuke your business if we want to and/or are the least bit uncomfortable.  Its not because banks are heartless, banks (like breweries) just operate on razor-thin margins and are in the business of managing risk, as opposed to selling suds.  Now, typically,  MY BANK does not operate that way (though every bank is different and could give far different top-down directives based on their need to maintain capital levels and NOT charge-off/write off bad loans).  1. it gives us a bad reputation in the community, 2. It usually makes sense to work with a business before you liquidate it.  That being said, banks don't have enough people in my role these days.  I am managing way more relationships than I should.  Which MEANS that it is more efficient for me to just EXIT a relationship (ie have a UCC Article IX creditor sale of my collateral, which could be fermenters, kegs, brite tanks, mash tuns, etc. and sue the principals for whatever is left) than let them limp along on forbearance agreement after modification agreement after loan extension.  Banks essentially need to be 'right' on 99.5% of their loans to make money.  Banks (despite their ad campaigns) are NOT your business partner.  They are banks and they need to protect their depositors' dollars. 

Re: All the people on here who are DOING WHAT THEY LOVE  Thanks!  You guys are what give the rest of us spineless working stiffs hope.  Don't get me wrong, I like what I do and love the people I work with.  But I have to believe that if I actually summoned the stones to sacrifice a bit of lifestyle to do what I really love, it would be a different life I would lead.  I am not sure if I could live with the 'entrepreneur's night-sweats', but part of me would sure love to find out. 

Re: The BUSINESS of beer  My wife's 2nd cousin is a sensory analyst/QC guy/Doemens-academy-certified brewer who now works for a top 5 craft in QC.  I had an hour conversation with him a few months ago about how it might not be the worst idea to 'keep brewing right where it is' in my life.  Beer is 'heavy and cheap' as he said.  Its competitive as hell.  Maybe I'm better off hanging out and ENJOYING beer at a beer release party instead of pushing it to vendors. 

I understand that every fly fisherman can't become a guide on the big blackfoot, and everybody who loves to get drunk and play golf with his buddies can't become David Feherty.  But I've had a lot of hobbies, and none of them have infected me like this one. 

re: the OP:  Do it :-)

Sorry for the rant and thanks for reading if you haven't fallen asleep.

<exhale>

37

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: 87% efficiency brew in a bag...possible?

« on: March 03, 2013, 05:12:00 PM »

You know, its interesting, I had originally heard when I first started extract brewing that squeezing the grain/muslin bag is a terrible idea...you should just let it drain.

Then I started BIAB'ing, and have been squeezing the bag like crazy (typically I will spin it around like I'm going to tie it, which extracts more liquid, then I also put it onto a canning rack above my kettle and apply pressure with the kettle lid).  I honestly can't perceive tannins.  I've recently heard that they are more of a result of low mash pH than applying pressure to the husk of the grain to extract liquid.  Makes sense I guess. 

Anyway, looking like I have a little more Kolsch than I planned for with a touch higher gravity.  One of those good problems I guess!

Cheers!

38

General Homebrew Discussion / 87% efficiency brew in a bag...possible?

« on: March 03, 2013, 02:48:15 PM »

Am starting the boil on a BIAB "5 gallon" kolsch. 

10.3 LB Weyermann Pils
.5 LB Wey Vienna

-doughed with 5.4 gal to reach mash temp of 149, 75 minute mash
-raised to mash out of 170 for 10 min
-2 gal of 168* water for a single batch "sparge" (I remove the bag from my kettle and place in an empty fermenter with the sparge water for 10 min, and teabag it a bit :-)....took a brix measurement, got about 1.75 gallons @ 1.018/6 brix from this step)
-I squeeze my brew bag like it owes me money after the sparge, collected 7.25 gallons at 12 brix/1.048 pre-boil, so 348 total gravity points

by my calc, this is somewhere between 87 and 89% efficiency (10.8lb total grist, times maximum yield of 36-37 points per gallon per pound, or 399 gravity points....divide 348/399 = 87%). 

I am considering adding some water volume, but is this possible?  Help!

39

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Re: First Lager

« on: March 02, 2013, 07:15:30 AM »

kolsch kolsch kolsch kolsch kolsch kolsch :-)

40

Ingredients / Re: Adding Gypsum to Beer

« on: March 02, 2013, 07:05:31 AM »

I've added it to the keg before after dissolving a smaller amount in a 4oz sample.  Worked great.

41

Ingredients / Re: Commercial examples of hops

« on: March 02, 2013, 07:04:27 AM »

I'm not sure such an index exists, but Mikkeller does a single hop series if you can get it in your area. 

I honestly found one of the best ways to learn about individual hops was to collect 6-7 gallons of simple wort (90% 2R, 5% Munich, 5% C40), and do 5-6 separate boils, each with a single hop.  Usually makes a decent beer too!

Plus, you now have an idea for a blog!

Honestly though, its probably brewery to brewery.  For instance, a newer brewery in Baltimore (Union - very limited distribution) uses all Galaxy hops in the APA.  Not sure if that is on the website, the owner told me at the launch party, so you may have to do some hand-to-hand research.

42

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: dry yeast for biere de mars

« on: February 26, 2013, 05:33:20 PM »

whoops.  I have a batch going right now w/ WY 3711 french saison (lowish - 64 degrees).  waste of saison yeast?  Farmhouse Ales says that you can use a wide range of yeasts for this style. 

43

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: wlp001 for Scottish 60/ or 70/

« on: February 26, 2013, 05:23:38 PM »

My opinion is if you mash at 158 or so, and kettle carmelize 1 gallon of 1st runnings down to .5 gallons, Chico makes a great 60, 70, or 80/-.  You want a very attenuative yeast to balance out a somewhat UNFERMENTABLE wort. 

My understanding is that historical/traditional scottish ales didn't have a peat/smoked flavor, and that it was only recently added to the style guidelines because so many people were ADDING peat malt to their beers.  The scottish ales I've had are malty, flavorful, and well attenuated without any peat flavor.  IMHO that belongs in the smoked beer category. 

44

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Last minute BJCP

« on: February 24, 2013, 02:17:44 PM »

Dang.  Missed diacetyl on a schwartzbier.  Otherwise I think I gave very full, complete answers and picked out what I should have. 

As tom petty says, the waiting is the hardest part.

Thanks to all for the advice!

45

General Homebrew Discussion / Last minute BJCP

« on: February 22, 2013, 09:10:23 AM »

So I am taking my tasting exam on Sunday for BJCP.  6 beers, 1.5 hours.  I have been filling out no less than 5 scoresheets per week, sometimes under test conditions, sometimes not.  My exam coordinator was kind enough to look at a few of my scoresheets and gave me some of the following feedback:
 
-one thing he mentioned was to never give a ‘range’ in the comments, which makes sense for flavor/aroma/mouthfeel, but I think it can be appropriate for color.  Ie “dark hay to medium gold”??  Not having an SRM guide next to me during the test, is it worth taking a shot and being more vague with a range?  Or should I just take a stand and say the beer is ‘light copper’ or ‘medium amber with ruby highlights’.
-On the overall section, I rarely offered suggestions for improvement.  I can definitely do this, but I’ve scored a few beers, such as Muncher Edelstoff Helles, where I literally have no suggestions on how to make it better (I scored @ a 45).  I feel like this is also risky business, as “consider increasing the amount of roast malt” (for a American Stout, FX stout, or RIS, eg) or “consider a yeast or higher fermentation temp that will yield more esters” (for a too-clean ESB or premium bitter) are presumptuous.
-Finally, where is a good place to mention the ‘balance’ of the beer (ie toward hops, malt, or ‘even’ in the case of a well-made premium bitter or something)?  I’m guessing in “overall impression”?  I didn’t always mention the balance, and it was something he mentioned in his feedback. 
 
Any last-minute advice would be appreciated!  Another potential gap I saw was in some of the nuance of styles and my scores not matching up.  For instance, I mentioned a “rich noble hop flavor with carmelized malt” in an Oktoberfest I judged, but didn’t take off points for high hop flavor.  I am at a point with all the styles where I could describe them in a few words to someone with no knowledge, and tell if a beer is miscategorized, but I can definitely miss some of the finer nuances. 
 
Wish me luck!  My goal is to get above 80 so I can take the written exam later this year…which sounds like a beast of a beast.