Out Of Key Brewing

After over 40 days of fermentation the sticke bock nuts (thanks again for the name Nate N) seems to finally be approaching it’s terminal gravity.  When I checked the gravity last night it had hit 1.022, down from the original 1.092.   The 40 day fermentation was probably a result of underpitching the yeast.  Even though I stepped up the smack pack 2 times I was still short probably by a factor of 2.  Add the fact that it only got the shake treatment for oxygen (+ a touch of EVOO) and it most likely did not have adequate aeration as well.  The new oxygen system will help with that in the future.

The hydro sample was quite nice.  Very malty with a solid hint of hop bitterness.  Similar to a barleywine without any of the fruitiness.  I think its going to be a nice beer.  Perfect for cold winter evenings.

I bumped up the fermentation temps to 60 for a couple days and will probably pull it out of temperature control this weekend.  It will find itself into a keg next week.

Now what do I do with this massive Bavarian Lager yeast cake?

I don’t normally write endorsements of Online Homebrew stores, not sure why, I suppose I just never had any reason to.  Normally I order my supplies from one of two homebrew shops.  They both are large and do a fine job.   What I find lacking is their customer service.   It has just never impressed me.  While listening to an archive show of BrewStrong I heard an ad for the fine people at Brewmaster’s Warehouse.  Their hook?  10% off if you use the coupon mention BNArmy at checkout.  That was enough to get me to check them out.

The site is well designed and easy to navigate.   The search functionality works well.  Grain is organized into logical groups.  They support the ability to build custom recipes online, order the grains, and then share them with the interwebs.  But lets be honest here, while all the above may have drawn me in, what kept me there were the prices.  Their specialty grains are the best priced on the internet (even before the coupon).  I have been in the market for an oxygen system for a couple months.  I would have liked to buy it a couple months back but they have been out of stock at one large retailer for over 2 months.  BMW had them in stock and at prices that were extremely competitive.  I ended up placing a large order for all my non base malt grains for the next several months, my oxygen system, and some flasks for yeast starters.  This was on a Friday after close time for them.

Monday morning I got a call from them.  My first thought was that something was out of stock and would need to be removed from my order.  Fine.  It happens.  My concern was that when this happens at other stores it moves your orders to the bottom of the list and it typically takes a couple extra days to ship.  Imagine my surprise when they told me that instead of removing the items they were going to swap them out with better items at no extra cost.  Check this out.  I had ordered a pound of Calcium Chloride.  It was out of stock.   What they did for me was,  send me 2 oz (solving my immediate shortage), and once the pound is in stock they are going to ship it to me.   At another homebrew shop, my only option was drop it form the order or wait.  This was way above and beyond.  Add this to the fact that that I received my shipping notice that afternoon and the order was delivered two days later.  I was impressed.

The order was well packed,  The yeast was sent with a gel ice pack,  All the flasks were intact, and all the grains computer labeled with maltster and grain type in heat sealed heavy plastic bags.  Perfect execution.

The only thing I found lacking was the ability to save your cart.  Personally I find it nice to be able to be build a shopping cart over the course of a month or two.  Think of something I need to brew my Imperial Wit next spring, log in, add it to my cart, and log out.  Then when its time to place my order, it is already full of stuff that I would otherwise have forgotten.  Minor and something that can be rectified with alittle technical work.

So in summary Brewmaster’s Warehouse:

Great Prices.         Check.
Flat Rate Shipping.   Check
Customer Service.     Check.
Above and Beyond.     Check.
My new brew shop.     Check.

TLDR:  Brewmasters warehouse has great prices and great service.  Use BNARMY coupon for 10% off your order.  Its my new brewshop of choice.

This Post article is another example of making beer that is neither good not refreshing.

While I like hops as much as the next guy, it’s not suprising to me that the new cutting edge is making session beers or bring back older styles.

Ron over at Shut up about Barclay Perkins says today what I think is on the minds of many people.

Just brew good refreshing beer

Whats the point of brewing of going extreme if it tastes like shit.

In the defense of extreme beers I think one source of these styles may be the need to break from the yellow fizzy beers the most American beers drink.   Really I think its not too different from a teenager dying their hair purple do be “different”.  Perhaps to break the mold of their parents.  Of course, in time ,when everyone is “different” we cease being different at all.

Lite Lager anyone?

Stan made an interesting post today about an old book that he came across on google books.  In it the author makes the case and gives direction for using potatoes in brewing beer.  Anyone ever done it?  I think I may see a small batch of potato porter in the future.

The entire family came down with Swine Flu this past weekend.  My daughter was the first to go on Friday afternoon spiking a fever of over 103.  My wife was next Friday night at 1 am.  Her fever also hit over 103.  And last but not least my son succumbed to it at 3 am.  His fever was just shy of 103.  I spent the weekend taking care of them because I had swine flu this summer while they were all out of town.  All in all I would say that while the H1N1 sucks for for about 36 hours, it really is quite Mild.  Lots of fluids and asprin to manage the fever and you will make it though fine.  By Sunday everyone was feeling much better and I was able to brew what I am going to call my Swine Flu Mild:

4.00 lb        Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)       Grain        65.6 %
1.00 lb        Caramel/Crystal Malt – 60L (60.0 SRM)  Grain        16.4 %
0.50 lb        Chocolate Malt (400.0 SRM)             Grain        6.6 %
0.25 lb        Brown Malt (65.0 SRM)                  Grain        4.1 %
0.20 lb        Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain        3.3 %
0.20 lb        Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)             Grain        3.3 %
0.40 oz        Simcoe [12.20%]  (60 min)              Hops         19.9 IBU
Wyeast 1318 London Ale III 2000ml starter

Again hops are a touch non traditional, but Simcoe provide such a smooth bitterness I dont think its going to be an issue.  My starting gravity was 1036, the above recipe should yield 1032 with 75% efficiency.   A touch darker than typical but the roastiness should play nicely off all the crystal in the grist.  I used a couple grams of Chalk, as well as a 3 to 1 ratio of Calcium Chloride to Gypsum to bring the ratio over to the malty side.  Fermenting now at 66 degrees.

The plan is to fine with gelatin this weekend and cold crash and carbonate.  I hope to be able to serve it Thanksgiving weekend.

I was listening to some of the archives from the brewing network recently, specifically the show with Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River and found this interesting.

This is their normal Fermentation Schedule:

Yeast:

White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast

Fermentation Schedule:

6-7 Days @ 68 degrees F.

2 Days @ 52

Remove Yeast

Dry Hop @ ambient Temps 52-70 12 days

Finings (Gelatin) 1 day

Carb and Bottle.

Great information, I’m sure there is more in the talk but I am still listening to it.

The Problem
Chicago has moderately alkaline water with approximately 100 part per million (ppm) Calcium Carbonate (CaC03)(Also known as Chalk).  Given my Calcium (CA) levels of 35pmm my water’s Residual Alkalinity (RA) is computed at 55.    This water is perfect for brewing beers in the amber range (10-15 srm) however it is tough to brew beers lighter in color due to issues with Mash PH.  The general rule of thumb is the higher the water alkalinity (roughly correlated to RA) the more appropriate the water is for darker beers.  The affects of alkalinity on mash PH can be counteracted by boosting CA levels via the additions of either Calcium Chloride (CaCl2), Gypsum (CaSO4).  These Calcium additions however are limited primarily because it is best to keep CA levels in a finished product below 150 ppm.  While it may be possible to drive down RA far enough to brew a light lager (3 SRMish) the resulting water will most likely not yield a great tasting beer.

The Solution
One option would be to brew using all distilled or reverse osmosis water.  This water is entirely devoid of any minerals and the brewer would then build the water that is appropriate to the style being brewed.  This approach works perfectly however it does not work in my brewhouse because I am cheap and don’t have the time to make a water run every time I am going to brew.  If you have the luxury of extra time and money you can stop reading now.   However what I present costs virtually nothing and takes no additional time, only a touch of planning ahead.

The Solution my brew house is currently using Calcium hydroxide to remove Alkalinity from the brewing water. The process is described in great detail by AJ DeLange and Hubert Hangofer in a set of Home Brew Digest posts about the process.  Both of these gentlemen are quite knowledgeable regarding chemistry and do a great job of filling in the details of what is going on in the process.  If you are interested in all the details I suggest that you review their posts in detail.   However I would like to point out that Hangofer adds:

The method is widespread among Austrian / Bavarian brewers
(geology is based on limestone, water high in temporary hardness).
It’s allowed according to Bavarian Reinheitsgebot…

The point to emphasize here it this is not a new process and has been used for many years to combat high RA water.

Enough background lets get into the details of the process.

The quick summary of the chemistry for the non-chemist
Based upon your Alkalinity and Calcium levels in your water we can calculate an amount of Calcium hydroxide to add to your water that will remove your water’s alkalinity.  Where does it go?  It will settle onto into the bottom of your vessel as chalk (CaC03).  The remaining water will have ~ 0 alkalinity and will have a reduced amount of Calcium.

Warnings
Calcium hydroxide is a chemical and should be kept out of the hands of children and away from pets.  Care should used when working with it.  It can and will burn you if you handle it with bare hands.  This being said it is a common addition to pickles and other food products to preserve freshness when storing.  You should not attempt this process if you do not have a good gram scale with precision to .1 grams.  These can be purchased for less than $20 shipped on Ebay and are perfect for measuring hops and other salt additions in your brew house.

Where to buy
Any grocery store should have Pickling Lime in the canning section near the Glass Jars.  This is a great source of Calcium hydroxide because it is food grade.  It should probably cost about 3 or 4 dollars for a pound.  This will last you a long, long time.  My treatment of 15 gallons called for the addition of 4.2 grams for 15 gallons of water.  Roughly calculated I can treat 1600 gallons of water for 4 dollars.

The procedure (Simplified Version)
1.  The night before.  Add all your brewing water (Mash + Sparge) to a vessel.
2.  Using the spreadsheet determine the amount of Calcium Hydroxide to add.
For my numbers 15 gallons of water, 100 Alkalinity, 35 calcium I needed to add 4.2 grams
2.5. Seed the water with approx 3 grams Calcium Chloride per 5 gallons of water.   This will assist in precipitating out the chalk.
3.  Add the Calcium Hydroxide to the water and stir.
4.  Walk the hell away.
5.  The following day, rack the water off your vessel into your HLT.  You will notice a thin layer of white chalk on the bottom of your vessel.  Be careful not to disturb this back up into solution.  I was able to use my pump to clear the vessel after I had pointed my pickup up higher from the bottom.  A racking cane would work as well.
6.  Brew amazing beer.

The only complicated part in calculating the amount Calcium Hydroxide to add is that as part of the reaction Ca precipitates out of the solution.  If you do not have enough calcium in your water not all of the Alkalinity will be removed.  The spreadsheet in the tools section below will tell you on line 11 if there is a Ca deficit.  I would advise that if you are planning on adding additional Ca to the mash, you should do it now.  If you have a positive number on this line you should add the amount of Gypsum and/or Calcium Chloride specified at the bottom of the sheet.  This will allow all the Alkalinity to be removed.

TLDR
You can use Calcium Hydroxide (aka Slaked Lime, Picking Lime) to remove alkalinity from your brewing water.  Use the spreadsheets below to figure out how much to use.  It works great.

Tools:

Mash Water Excel Sheet:  (Downloaded from this site)
Slaked Lime Calculator Excel:  (Thanks to BeirSlayer for developing the spreadsheet.  Found here.)

Addtional Reading:

AJ DeLange’s Water Tretise Part 1

I came across another brewing water spreadsheet today, and I have to say that it is probably the easiest water calculator I have found.  It has standard profiles that can be loaded into the sheet automatically as well as the ability to add custom profiles (and save them).  Very easy to use and well done!

You can download it here:  http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/

The sticke bock nuts has been brewed and looks promising. I collected 9.5 gallons of 1092 wort and pitched the 2206 this morning. Deep ruby in color. Sample exhibits strong maltiness with very mild bittereness. The final recipe:

28.00 lb Munich Malt, Dark (12.0 SRM) Grain
2.00 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain
1.00 lb Carstan (37.0 SRM)

3 oz Willamette FWH
2 oz Hallertauer 60 minutes

I am going to ferment in the garage using the temp controller, a water bath, and an aquarium heater. The target temp is 50 degrees.

The grain bill may be a bit non-traditional, as wheat is not typical in the style. Ive added it in this case to try an aid in some head retention. Id love to see this beer finish in the around 1020, however that will probably take some real coaxing. I will be adding Fermaid K towards the end of the week (pitch + 5days). This beer is more of a Doppel Sticke rather than a dopelbock, however given that I am fermenting as a lager it will probably exibit more lager characteristics.