gwill034
02-09-2014, 14:13
At Divemaster's suggestion, thought I'd share some of my brewing methods. There's certainly people out there that know more about brewing than me, but I can at least rightfully claim my methods have always worked. I've made several dozen batches without a failure.
My style of brewing has Partial-Mash. All-Grain Brewing would be entirely from-scratch, but requires more equipment, time, and knowledge. Later in life I'd like to begin All-Graining, but I'm likely done brewing for the foreseeable future.
In Partial-Mash you combine time spent steeping grains with a malt concentrate available from suppliers to create the base of the beer. When starting off you can find kits which will contain everything you need for a brew. Start simple: pick an ale with low to moderate hops. Should cost between $30-50. For that money you'll get between 4 and 5 gallons of beer which equates to around 2-2.5 cases of beer. You'll need some additional equipment though, including a large pot, fermenters, bottling/kegging materials, etc. Really you're looking at about $200 total for your first brew if you elect to get worthwhile equipment.
The general order of Partial-Mash (Extract) Brewing is:
-Sanitize Equipment
-Steep Grains
-Add Extracts
-Start Boil
-Add Hops during Hop Cycle
-End Boil
-Transfer to Fermenter
-Pitch (Add) Yeast
-Primary Fermentation
-Secondary Fermentation (Optional but I recommend)
-Transfer to Bottles/Keg
-Carbonate (Via sugar or direct air)
-Share and Enjoy
Tips here:
-Get at least a 5 gallon stainless steel pot with stainless steel spoon.
-Only settle for Glass Carboys between 5 and 7 gallons in size. Mine are all 6 gallons. Plastic will eventually get scratches that can be difficult to sanitize. Besides, watching the brewing through glass is half the fun.
-NEVER get carboy carriers that carry from the neck. They'll eventually break the neck of the bottle which will cause a massive mess. Fabric-strap carriers are better, but may eventually fail too.
-DO get a plastic tote from a hardware store. This will help keep all your equipment stored together and help with sanitation.
-Go by a store in grab 5 One Gallon water jugs of a good water. The recipes follow a strict amount of fluid, this helps ensure you stick with the program.
-Throw a good movie or 2 on in the background. It'll smell incredible, might be good to keep a ready beer local too.
SANITATION: This is the most critical part of brewing. If unwanted yeasts, naturally existing in nature, make it into your brew it can ruin your efforts. This can result in bursting bottles, foul flavors, big messes, and wasted time/money. I've got some tips for safeguarding against the messes I'll get to later.
I've never lost a brew to unwanted yeasts, which I believe is primarily due to my use of the plastic tote container. Your first step in preparing to brew will be to sanitize your carboy. The material you use is basically Oxi-clean; a powder substance which will rise the oxygen level of the water to such a level that it kills off the yeasts, bacteria, etc. I suggest covering your carboy's top with saran wrap, etc, after cleaning as this carboy will have to sit sterile for awhile. After the carboy is cleaned, pour the sanitized fluid into the plastic tote. You now have +5 gallons of cleaning material in an open container to work with. Keep this center in your operation and make sure ALL materials touching your brew, including your hands, run through it. Better to sanitize excessively than lose a brew...
BREWING: Past this, making a beer is kind of like making a huge pot of Tea or a Stew. It's an art and science. By science we know that when steeping your grains (step 1) if you exceed ~175F your grains will release tannins which will hurt your flavor. It's an art in exploring how, when, and what to add or take away to make flavor. I believe Hop Heads like myself exist since hops are the fastest way to alter flavor, and the curiosity of it eventually takes hold.
When steeping, closely watch your temperature. You need to be beyond 155F but below 175F typically. A gas-powered stove is far better for maintaining consistent heat, but you can succeed if you're careful on electric. When using liquid concentrates in Partial-Mash kit brewing (also known as extracts) it's good to begin warming your extract early on. Placing the containers within warm water is a good method for this. This will help the material pour out far faster after steeping. After steeping is done keep a bowl handy and place the grain in it to drain. Add this fluid back to the brew -that's flavor wasted otherwise. The grains are great for compost.
When adding the extract/concentrate be sure to stir constantly to avoid the syrup-like material from burning on the bottom of the pot. This can cause a lot of harm to the brew's flavor.
When you begin your boil, you begin one of the first potentially messy parts of the process. Boil overs can and will happen. Expect to monitor the pot for a good while with your spoon. You're looking to use the spoon to prevent the foam from gathering across the entire top. Once across the top, this creates a thermal layer than causes the boil over.
I can't really explain how you should do a Hop-Cycle as this is different for every recipe. But in the shortest terms: the longer hops are in the boil the more bitterness and less flavor that will be gained. And of course the opposite is true of hops added towards the end of the boil in which the bittering acids will lack time to enter the brew but the scent/flavor remain more intact.
Even for non-hoppy beers the vast majority of brews still have at least some hops. And not all hops are super-bitter. When you begin shopping for Hops you'll find there's rating systems based on the Alpha and Beta Acids per the flower. Typically the higher the Alpha, the more bitter the flavor. My advice, until you feel comfortable do not go past ~8%. There's some super-aggressive hops out there in the mid-teens such as Warrior Hops which will really smack you around. But there's also some very low-Alpha hops out there that can add incredible flavors. This includes notes that might be woody, candy-like, citrusy, and even nut-like. This is partly how European beers can be so incredible: the local hops are only grown in that region.
After boiling, you need to cool the brew. (Technically called Wort. I've been keeping terms simple.) A kitchen sink full of ice and water can make this go much faster. Ensure you have a lid for the pot. Be very careful, you do not want to infect your hard work. Keep that thing covered. If necessary you can cool the wort overnight. The key is, the next step is to add the brew to the fermenter and add (pitch) the yeast. If the fluid is too hot, it will kill the yeast... No yeast, no beer... Wrong yeast from the outside environment= bad beer.
Fermenting: This is the second messy risk. After you've moved the fluid into the fermenter (hopefully a glass carboy), added the yeast, and topped it with an airlock things can still go wrong. A highly aggressive beer can pop the top; and this can be messy. Most novice recipes will never do this, but it's good to play it safe. Empty that Plastic Tote out, and store your Carboy in it. So if there's overflow, it overflows into the Tote and not your floor. Then I suggest a cardboard box slid over the top, so if the carboy pops off the top it doesn't go far. Store the carboy some place dark with constant temperature. For an Ale room-temperature is perfect. Lagers require cooler temperatures which is far harder.
I've only ever had one brew pop its top. But it was a mess. Take safety steps, and you'll avoid this. It shouldn't ever be dangerous, just messy if you aren't careful.
The excitement should begin within 12-36 hours. You'll see the inside of that carboy come alive with movement. It'll be like a really muddy looking lava lamp, kinda sorta. If the fermenting doesn't start, your yeast failed so try again.
Bottling/Kegging: Kegging is faster, safer, but will cost you more. Bottling involves the final risk. If you have an infected brew, the bottles can burst within a week or two of bottling. Solution: store your newly bottled brew in coolers. They need to sit upright, do not let them rest horizontally. But by keeping them within coolers you prevent a mess. I've never had this happen to me, but its happened to a friend. If you're going to have 40-60 bottles of homebrew floating around you might as well have coolers anyhow; run them by a party or something.
It may take awhile for the carbonation to set in with bottles. Almost every time I'll think my beer failed to carbonate with the first few. Weeks later I'll have crazy head.
Anyhow that's the secrets of my methods. Following this pattern I've had only one real mess and never messed up a brew. It's a blast, and would be happy to help anyone into the hobby.
My style of brewing has Partial-Mash. All-Grain Brewing would be entirely from-scratch, but requires more equipment, time, and knowledge. Later in life I'd like to begin All-Graining, but I'm likely done brewing for the foreseeable future.
In Partial-Mash you combine time spent steeping grains with a malt concentrate available from suppliers to create the base of the beer. When starting off you can find kits which will contain everything you need for a brew. Start simple: pick an ale with low to moderate hops. Should cost between $30-50. For that money you'll get between 4 and 5 gallons of beer which equates to around 2-2.5 cases of beer. You'll need some additional equipment though, including a large pot, fermenters, bottling/kegging materials, etc. Really you're looking at about $200 total for your first brew if you elect to get worthwhile equipment.
The general order of Partial-Mash (Extract) Brewing is:
-Sanitize Equipment
-Steep Grains
-Add Extracts
-Start Boil
-Add Hops during Hop Cycle
-End Boil
-Transfer to Fermenter
-Pitch (Add) Yeast
-Primary Fermentation
-Secondary Fermentation (Optional but I recommend)
-Transfer to Bottles/Keg
-Carbonate (Via sugar or direct air)
-Share and Enjoy
Tips here:
-Get at least a 5 gallon stainless steel pot with stainless steel spoon.
-Only settle for Glass Carboys between 5 and 7 gallons in size. Mine are all 6 gallons. Plastic will eventually get scratches that can be difficult to sanitize. Besides, watching the brewing through glass is half the fun.
-NEVER get carboy carriers that carry from the neck. They'll eventually break the neck of the bottle which will cause a massive mess. Fabric-strap carriers are better, but may eventually fail too.
-DO get a plastic tote from a hardware store. This will help keep all your equipment stored together and help with sanitation.
-Go by a store in grab 5 One Gallon water jugs of a good water. The recipes follow a strict amount of fluid, this helps ensure you stick with the program.
-Throw a good movie or 2 on in the background. It'll smell incredible, might be good to keep a ready beer local too.
SANITATION: This is the most critical part of brewing. If unwanted yeasts, naturally existing in nature, make it into your brew it can ruin your efforts. This can result in bursting bottles, foul flavors, big messes, and wasted time/money. I've got some tips for safeguarding against the messes I'll get to later.
I've never lost a brew to unwanted yeasts, which I believe is primarily due to my use of the plastic tote container. Your first step in preparing to brew will be to sanitize your carboy. The material you use is basically Oxi-clean; a powder substance which will rise the oxygen level of the water to such a level that it kills off the yeasts, bacteria, etc. I suggest covering your carboy's top with saran wrap, etc, after cleaning as this carboy will have to sit sterile for awhile. After the carboy is cleaned, pour the sanitized fluid into the plastic tote. You now have +5 gallons of cleaning material in an open container to work with. Keep this center in your operation and make sure ALL materials touching your brew, including your hands, run through it. Better to sanitize excessively than lose a brew...
BREWING: Past this, making a beer is kind of like making a huge pot of Tea or a Stew. It's an art and science. By science we know that when steeping your grains (step 1) if you exceed ~175F your grains will release tannins which will hurt your flavor. It's an art in exploring how, when, and what to add or take away to make flavor. I believe Hop Heads like myself exist since hops are the fastest way to alter flavor, and the curiosity of it eventually takes hold.
When steeping, closely watch your temperature. You need to be beyond 155F but below 175F typically. A gas-powered stove is far better for maintaining consistent heat, but you can succeed if you're careful on electric. When using liquid concentrates in Partial-Mash kit brewing (also known as extracts) it's good to begin warming your extract early on. Placing the containers within warm water is a good method for this. This will help the material pour out far faster after steeping. After steeping is done keep a bowl handy and place the grain in it to drain. Add this fluid back to the brew -that's flavor wasted otherwise. The grains are great for compost.
When adding the extract/concentrate be sure to stir constantly to avoid the syrup-like material from burning on the bottom of the pot. This can cause a lot of harm to the brew's flavor.
When you begin your boil, you begin one of the first potentially messy parts of the process. Boil overs can and will happen. Expect to monitor the pot for a good while with your spoon. You're looking to use the spoon to prevent the foam from gathering across the entire top. Once across the top, this creates a thermal layer than causes the boil over.
I can't really explain how you should do a Hop-Cycle as this is different for every recipe. But in the shortest terms: the longer hops are in the boil the more bitterness and less flavor that will be gained. And of course the opposite is true of hops added towards the end of the boil in which the bittering acids will lack time to enter the brew but the scent/flavor remain more intact.
Even for non-hoppy beers the vast majority of brews still have at least some hops. And not all hops are super-bitter. When you begin shopping for Hops you'll find there's rating systems based on the Alpha and Beta Acids per the flower. Typically the higher the Alpha, the more bitter the flavor. My advice, until you feel comfortable do not go past ~8%. There's some super-aggressive hops out there in the mid-teens such as Warrior Hops which will really smack you around. But there's also some very low-Alpha hops out there that can add incredible flavors. This includes notes that might be woody, candy-like, citrusy, and even nut-like. This is partly how European beers can be so incredible: the local hops are only grown in that region.
After boiling, you need to cool the brew. (Technically called Wort. I've been keeping terms simple.) A kitchen sink full of ice and water can make this go much faster. Ensure you have a lid for the pot. Be very careful, you do not want to infect your hard work. Keep that thing covered. If necessary you can cool the wort overnight. The key is, the next step is to add the brew to the fermenter and add (pitch) the yeast. If the fluid is too hot, it will kill the yeast... No yeast, no beer... Wrong yeast from the outside environment= bad beer.
Fermenting: This is the second messy risk. After you've moved the fluid into the fermenter (hopefully a glass carboy), added the yeast, and topped it with an airlock things can still go wrong. A highly aggressive beer can pop the top; and this can be messy. Most novice recipes will never do this, but it's good to play it safe. Empty that Plastic Tote out, and store your Carboy in it. So if there's overflow, it overflows into the Tote and not your floor. Then I suggest a cardboard box slid over the top, so if the carboy pops off the top it doesn't go far. Store the carboy some place dark with constant temperature. For an Ale room-temperature is perfect. Lagers require cooler temperatures which is far harder.
I've only ever had one brew pop its top. But it was a mess. Take safety steps, and you'll avoid this. It shouldn't ever be dangerous, just messy if you aren't careful.
The excitement should begin within 12-36 hours. You'll see the inside of that carboy come alive with movement. It'll be like a really muddy looking lava lamp, kinda sorta. If the fermenting doesn't start, your yeast failed so try again.
Bottling/Kegging: Kegging is faster, safer, but will cost you more. Bottling involves the final risk. If you have an infected brew, the bottles can burst within a week or two of bottling. Solution: store your newly bottled brew in coolers. They need to sit upright, do not let them rest horizontally. But by keeping them within coolers you prevent a mess. I've never had this happen to me, but its happened to a friend. If you're going to have 40-60 bottles of homebrew floating around you might as well have coolers anyhow; run them by a party or something.
It may take awhile for the carbonation to set in with bottles. Almost every time I'll think my beer failed to carbonate with the first few. Weeks later I'll have crazy head.
Anyhow that's the secrets of my methods. Following this pattern I've had only one real mess and never messed up a brew. It's a blast, and would be happy to help anyone into the hobby.