Ladies of Craft Beer

Posted By: Michelle

The goddess at work...

RELAX, IT’S A HOME BREW.

I have been brewing for just over two years. I was all excited when I got the idea to start making my own beer. I make a lot of my own food-stuff and am proud to be able to feed myself with very few processed items. I also live in the country and must be ready to be self-contained at any given moment, be it weather related limitations or laziness or lack of transportation or whatever.

Over time, I though about it and decided to take my love of beer to the next level. I mean, the other things I make at home are better than the store, so why not beer? But, then I got really scared! I started looking at books and web sites and home brew magazines. I started reading all about the gravity and the measuring and the science and the complexities of yeast and the equipment. I got pretty frightened and intimidated; so much so that I nearly gave up. Nearly….

RELAX, IT’S A HOME BREW.

Then I got a pretty decent home brew kit for Christmas from my husband. The kit had everything I needed to get started, even the ingredients and first recipe. To the credit of my local home brew store, this was no “Mr. Beer” set up; this was glass carboys and shiny tubes and fermentation locks and explicit directions. All I needed to take the plunge and make that first beer.

Onward I marched. I made my first batch a few weeks later. To this day, I am not sure what sort of beer it was. Just a regular beer, I suppose. Anyway, that first batch went pretty well overall and was most palatable. But, I did have to call the home brew store a couple of times for a quick consultation. The red bottom of the wine thief fell off into the carboy during fermentation. Crisis!!! AHHHH! If only for a 24 hour help line!! I was so worried after all I had read about contamination that I was sure this was the end of the batch and the only thing I would feed is my septic tank.

RELAX, IT’S A HOME BREW.

Then, the temperatures started to fall in the basement where I had planned to ferment. Again, I was on the phone with my home brew store. Did I kill the yeast? Will my beer survive? Oh, help, beer Goddesses! What was I to do now that the beer was not following the recipe on print? I continued on and muddled through that first batch.

RELAX, IT’S A HOME BREW.

I never really knew what that phrase meant until, oh, about 18 months into brewing. I have brewed nearly two dozen batches so far and, knock on wood and pray to all that is beer related, I have not thrown a batch yet. I understand that, though we start out with the best of intentions and meaning to stay true to the directions, there are times when it does not matter. I have learned to relax a bit.

I have also met and talked to lots of other home brewers. They, too, have had their mishaps and mess ups and not-true-to-form experiences. Their beer, most of the time, has been just fine. Just like the diverse nature of humans, the home brew community brews in diverse ways. This includes a lack of good record keeping, or no notes at all, varied fermentation temperatures, hops that were just on hand and not those recommended, sugar additions and grain modifications. And guess what? The beer LIVED! Much of the time, the brew was drinkable and acceptable. Perhaps not award worthy, or spectacular, or marketable on a grand scale, but just fine for the home brew crowd and even better for the “average” Joe who knows no better.

RELAX, IT’S A HOME BREW.

Boiling a brew!

It took me over a year of strict adherence to the directions to be brave enough to experiment. I was not interested in throwing away the time, money or effort in a bad batch of beer. I wanted to make sure whatever creation I came up with was not only drinkable, but noteworthy and perhaps a topic of discussion at home brew club night. I began to experiment, even if only slightly. So far, so good!

To date, I have brewed with herbal tea, real fresh fruit, various spices, dried fruit, and lavender. I have added these items to the boil, first, and second fermentation. Additionally, my fermentation temperatures have been all over the map, with up to 10 degree variations. I have boiled perhaps a bit too long, or perhaps a bit too hot, and have taken anywhere from minutes to hours to cool the precious wort. I have kicked my spouse completely out of the process, unless I need some requested help or muscle. That way, I figure that if a batch goes bad I will leave no room for blame on anyone but me.

Mind you, I never, ever, never, ever, never skimp on sanitation and cleaning and have a routine I stick to religiously. But, I have learned to relax a little when it comes to the recipe, directions or outline of the beer itself. I have not yet acquired the equipment or wherewithal to transition to all grain and I continue to be a partial mash brewer. I still use hop pellets and yeast packets, which leaves me plenty of room yet to grow and learn and expand.

RELAX, IT’S A HOME BREW.

There are times I get a bit of flack from my home brew brethren because I still use the packets and pellets, but they, too, are forgiving and realize they can be my mentors and guides into the next phase of my brewing life. I brew in my kitchen and ferment in the basement, most of the time. There are occasions when the basement gets a bit too cold and I turn the office into the fermentation room with it’s own heater. It sure helps that there are no kids at my house and the cat does not mind too much when one room becomes closed off.

Overall, I am having a blast and am told that I make good beer. I also have really enjoyed the new community I am a part of. I find a lot of support and much to learn. I find my fellow brewers more than willing to lend an ear or guidance and, hopefully soon, I will observe and learn more about all grain brewing first hand.

I also find that women approach brewing differently than men, which in and of itself, only adds to the diversity of the hobby. My brew set up has not grown, but my bravery and knowledge and support community has. Fortunately, too, my beer continues to disappear and nothing but positive comments follow.

I still think of myself as a new brewer and have nothing by high regard for those who have blazed the trail of knowledge and experimentation and creativity before me. I strive to be a welcome addition to the field as I continue to learn and experiment in my own right.

Hooray for those who dare brew and kudos to the others who take the time to help the rest of us along.

RELAX, IT’S A HOME BREW.

Words I understand and can now live by.

Cheers!

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• Vicki Stowe – Brewmaster (The College Years, Part 5)
• Vicki Stowe – Brewmaster (The College Years, Part 4)
• Vicki Stowe – Brewmaster (The College Years, Part 3)
• Vicki Stowe – Brewmaster (The College Years, Part 2)

Posted By: Melissa Ward

For beginning homebrewers, a beer ingredient kit is often a nice way to start. You know you’re brewing a trusted recipe, and it let’s you focus on other things at hand—like actually brewing the beer. But if you feel like you’re in limbo between brewing only kits and brewing your own recipes, don’t fear, there is a middle step you can take as you flex your fledgling homebrewing muscles. I call that step “Tweaking the Kit.”

When we began homebrewing in 2008, my husband and I purchased a Nut Brown Ale kit from Morebeer.com; we followed the recipe in the kit for the main brew, but to add our own twist, we added 8 oz of strongly brewed hazelnut coffee to the secondary fermenter and let it age for at least a week before bottling.

Pre-coffee, the wort from the primary had a toasty, nutty flavor from the Victory malt, as well as a hint of cocoa from the chocolate malt. It was off to a good start, but needed a little more complexity—enter the hazelnut coffee. The coffee was brewed hot with a French press for a more concentrated flavor and then allowed to cool to room temperature before adding to the fermenter.

After patiently waiting for the beer to finish bottle conditioning, we were met by a homebrew with a bold hazelnut coffee taste that smacked you about a bit and then settled into a sweet, nutty finish. Christened Nuts About Coffee Nut Brown Ale, the beer was a crowd pleaser, and proved to us that we had the creativity and the skill to move beyond homebrew kits and into the thick of recipe writing.

Just one thing to note: After a number of months the coffee in the beer began to go stale, because the coffee was brewed hot. If working with coffee in beers, it would be best to cold brew instead to maintain the java’s flavor integrity. The same goes for brewing with tea, which is what I did when I brewed our Boris the Spider Chai Oatmeal Stout. The brewing of the coffee or tea takes a little longer when cold brewed, but it is totally worth the time spent.

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Originally posted 2010-12-08 09:05:32.

Posted By: Julia Taylor

Photo courtesy of CraftBeer.com and Randy Mosher

The kickoff to the holiday season has begun and, for many, this represents stress and spending copious amounts of money. For me, however, it is about spending time with family and friends enjoying good food: especially good drink.  As the homebrewer and craft beer aficionado in the family, one of my responsibilities includes pairing the perfect beer with our Thanksgiving feast. Since beer is best paired with a single course like an artisan cheese or rich dessert, the hodge podge of flavors, textures, and sensations of this holiday dinner offers a challenge of what to brew. There’s not enough time to brew a Märzen, so maybe a Belgian Pale Ale or Dunkelweizen?  After serious pondering on the subject, I decided to follow the great beer and food pairings advice of Randy Mosher, author of Tasting Beer: An Insiders Guide to the World’s Greatest Drink, to help guide my decision.

Match strength with strength. Basically, delicate dishes work best with delicate beers and strongly flavored foods demand assertive beers.  In beer, the intensity of flavor involves alcoholic strength, malt character, hop bitterness, sweetness, richness, roastiness, and more.  In food, the richness (or fat), sweetness, cooking methods (such as roasting, grilling, or frying), and spicing all play a role.

Roasted turkey, gravy, and stuffing, oh my!  I’m going to need a beer with a high alcohol percentage and strong malt backbone to cut through the fats and starches of this massive spread. This feast, while rich, is more herbal than spicy (unless you’ve injected your bird with a Cajun marinade before tossing in the fryer), so I’ll want to avoid over-hopped beers, and aim for a touch of sweetness instead, to boost the diverse and complex flavors of the meal.

Find Harmonies. Combinations often work best when they share common flavor elements. The nutty flavors of an English-style brown ale and handmade cheddar cheese; the deep roasted flavors of an imperial stout and chocolate truffles; and the clean, rich, caramel flavors of an Oktoberfest lager and roasted pork are all examples.

Savory, sweet, rich, earthy/herbaceous, and nutty are flavors that I relate to Thanksgiving dinner.  The soft malt and higher alcohol of Belgian Tripel with roasted turkey, caramel sweetness of a Biére de Garde with sweet potatoes, or smoky earthiness of a Scottish Ale and stuffing.

Consider the Contrast Elements. Certain qualities of food and beer interact with each other in specific, predictable ways, and taking advantage of these interactions ensures that food and beer will balance each other.

• Sweet and fatty-rich foods are balanced by hop bitterness, sweetness, roasted/toasted malt, carbonation, or alcohol
• Spicy and acidic foods are balanced by sweetness and maltiness, and spicy foods are emphasized with hop bitterness

 I have turned my brothers into hopheads, but do not think the chef du jour would appreciate us drinking a tongue numbing IPA, so better stick with alcohol and malt sweetness to counteract the rich cuisine.

Look to classic cuisines. The cuisines of beer-drinking countries offer many traditional beer and food combinations, like bratwurst with pale lager, and unusual pairing like stout and oysters. These classic matches are a great starting point for further exploration.

My favorite traditional beer and food combination? A bowl full of steamed moules, overflowing plate of frites with assortment of aïolis, and a Belgian ale… The spicy light-bodied beer is a great complement to the mild texture and brininess of the mussels.  Hmmm… spicy and briny, I may be on to something.

 Make use of familiar patterns. Re-create or evoke recognizable flavor pairs in the form of beer for broad acceptance.

 Aside from turkey, there is nothing more Thanksgiving than pumpkin pie, so a pumpkin beer does seem fitting.

Practice makes perfect. Not every pairing will work as expected, and that is part of the fun.  If it is not great, make a note and move on, and build on the things that work.

 RDWHAHB-Relax, Don’t, Worry, Have a Homebrew

Picture courtesy of Foodista.com

 Consider seasonality. Lighter fare and beers for the warmer months and heavier for the winter. The beers and foods of a given season pair naturally and suit the mood.

 A Märzen is the perfect fall beer, but with only six weeks until Thanksgiving, an 8-week lagering period is out of the question.

Contrast and complement. All beer and food combinations should involve both of these principles. Some pairings will be more dependent on the contrast, others on the complementary flavors, but all should strive for some kind of balance.

 My goal is to balance the briny with spicy, richness with alcohol, and earthy with malt.

When in doubt, go Belgian. A Belgian-style abbey Dubbel or Tripel have enough substance to stand up to just about anything but do not have an overly aggressive malt or hop flavors that will overwhelm most foods. Plus, the big bottles make a nice presentation.

 And I did. After much deliberation, I decided my Thanksgiving brew would be a Belgian Tripel, a spicy beer that is high in alcohol, has a touch of malt sweetness, and hopefully a crowd pleaser.

Tripel Trouble

OG: 1.081

FG: 1.012

IBU: 34

Color: 4.5 SRM

Alcohol: 9.2% ABV

Boil: 90 minute

Batch Size: 5 gallons

Grains-Mash at 149º for 90 minutes

Pilsner Malt-14 lbs.

Belgian Aromatic-0.25lbs

Cane Sugar-2.5 lbs

Hops

Tetnang-2.3 oz @ 60 minutes

Saaz-.5 oz @ 10 minutes

Yeast

Wyeast-3787-Trappist High Gravity

 Ferment

Pitch yeast at 64º F and slowly raise temperature to 70º over the course of a week. Lager the beer for one month at 45 to 50º.

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Posted By: Melissa Ward

When it comes to homebrewing, a lot of people gripe about bottling: about how it’s messy or annoying or frustrating or how it totally ruins your day and leaves you yelling at your partner. Luckily for my husband Ray and me, we’ve never had a major issue with bottling. We have a set procedure that we don’t stray from, and that helps a lot.

To give any of you fed-up homebrewers a hand, or for the newbies that are curious about how to get beer into a bottle effectively, here are 5 tips on how to keep bottling from driving you mad and ending your marriage.

1. Schedule your bottling day. While bottling when the whim hits isn’t necessarily a bad thing, actually putting it on your brewing calendar not only keeps you accountable (hello…we put off bottling a beer for nearly 3 months!), but it ensures that you make time for it and that you have the necessary supplies: bottles, caps and priming sugar.

2. Make sure you have enough bottles for the size of your batch. I know offhand that a 5 gallon batch of beer yields approximately 2 cases of 12 oz bottles, give or take. I also like to include a few 22 oz bottles in the mix, which means I often don’t need the full 48 bottles. Nonetheless, it never hurts to have extra bottles on hand. You can purchase cases of bottles at your LHBS (we’ve gotten them for $13/case) or recycle the craft beer bottles you consume (more on that in a later post).

3. Sanitize your bottles — the easy way! We take unlabeled, non-twist top bottles and place them on all the spokes in our dishwasher’s bottom level. The bottom can usually hold the full 48, but if necessary, you can poke some through the top rack, depending on your dishwasher.

We run a heavy load cycle without soap and turn on the heated dry. This is great because it’s pretty much hands-off, giving us time to transfer the beer from the fermenter to the bottling bucket, boil our priming sugar and sanitize our other equipment. Once the bottles are done, I repackage them into 6-pack cartons to make them easier to handle. (I realize not everyone has a dishwasher, but if you do, try this!)

4. Use a bottling checklist. This will keep you organized and less likely to forget something. We use the following list:

Bottling Check List
1. Calculate the number of bottles needed; remember, a 5 gallon batches yields approximately 2 cases of 12 oz bottles.

2. Sanitize all of the following:
• Bottles
• Bottling bucket
• Siphon
• Tubing
• Brew Spoon
• Sample-taker
• Bottling wand

3. Line up the following:
• Priming sugar (or DME if you prefer)
• Refractometer or hydrometer (for final gravity reading)
• Caps
• Capper
• Sharpie (to label caps)
• Empty beer cartons

4. Dissolve 4 oz priming sugar in 1 cup of water, bring to a boil for 5 minutes,
then let cool to room temperature.

5. Pour boiled sugar into the bottling bucket.

6. Carefully siphon beer into bottling bucket without splashing and introducing oxygen.

7. Gently stir the beer with the sanitized spoon to distribute sugar.

8. Take a sample for the specific gravity reading. Record reading from refractometer or hydrometer.
9. Attach tubing and bottling wand to the spigot.
10. Fill the bottles and place a cap on top.
11. Cap the bottles, placing them back into the cartons
12. Label the caps and store in a cool, dry place. Try a bottle 2 weeks after conditioning. If not ready yet, try again in about a week or two.

5. Assign roles. For Bathtub Brewery homebrewing, I handle the bottle sanitation in the dishwasher, priming sugar prep, filling the bottles, labeling the caps, stowing the cases and washing smaller items. Ray transfers the beer to the bottling bucket, sanitizes all the other equipment we use, caps the bottles, and does the bottle and fermenter cleanup. Once again, it helps to know who is doing what and stick to it!

Using these tips, Ray and I attack bottling with an assembly-line precision, all the while talking and singing along to our favorite tunes. Bottling day is never a tense, unpleasant experience for us, and it doesn’t need to be for anyone else!

Originally posted 2010-11-08 13:56:46.

Posted By: Nellie Sanchis Wagoner

Via Joy Dowe on Ladies of Craft Beer Facebook:

I have been a craft beer drinker for years and I am now venturing into ‘home brewing.’ As with most of my undertakings, this one started with lots of research and reading. I am thrilled to see a page directed by ladies for Beer….it is, after all the nectar of the Goddess! Any suggestions for a novice brewmistress would be appreciated.

Steeping Grains for Homebrew

Hi Joy! Congratulations on joining the ranks of women who brew. This is really just a high-level explanation of the steps necessary to begin brewing. As with any craft, brewing can become a very personal process, and so I tried to avoid editorializing too much. I do mention some tried-and-true brands that have worked for me in the past. I’m sure that other Ladies of Craft Beer have suggestions of their own. Ladies, please feel free to add any and all tips in the comments below!

1. My brewing partner and I always begin brew day by cracking open a delicious craft beer or homebrew. It always helps to inspire and get the day going, and reminds you to not take the process too seriously.

2. Enlist a brewing partner. I’ve found that people who enjoy cooking and baking have a natural ability for brewing, as many of the same principles apply. Or, just find a friend who loves beer, or science, or both, and embark on this undertaking together. Either way, agree to split the spoils of your labor with your beer buddy, and they’ll be hooked!

Homebrewer Nellie Sanchis

3. You say you’re reading up and researching. Well, then you’re off to a great start. Homebrewing requires a substantial amount of precision, care and attention to detail especially when starting out, but the best way to learn is to jump right in. I recommend finding a homebrew supplier in your area. Shop around! Check out the stores, get a vibe on the staff, and tell them that you’re new to homebrewing. Are they friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, patient? Will the store be able to meet your needs as you become a more advanced homebrewer? Once you choose your store, they should set you up with a starter kit similar to this one.

In addition to this kit, I would also strongly recommend investing in an immersion wort chiller, which will bring down the temp of your beer to an acceptable temperature for pitching your yeast and will decrease the lag time between the boil and active yeast fermentation. The alternative is to make an ice bath for your brew kettle, but this can be a hassle to prep and often you don’t reach pitching yeast temperature within the ideal 12-15 minute window. Am I going too fast? Don’t get stressed! Just follow the directions in your recipe kit TO A TEE. Some might disagree with this tactic, but I’m a “learn the rules, then break them” and “bake sugar cookies before a cheese soufflé” kind of gal. Trust me: if you learn good habits now, there will be plenty of time later on for all the fun experimentation!

4. If your hometown is lacking in homebrew supply stores, there are many, many online stores from which to procure your wares. Austin Homebrew Supply and Midwest Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies both provide anything and everything you would need, from ingredients and equipment to awesome customer service and speedy delivery. I have used both of these companies with very favorable results- aka: tasty beers! [Editor’s Note: LadiesOCB sponsor Northern Brewer offers 10% off a brewing starter kit with checkout code LOCB11.]

Bottled Homebrew IPA

5. Start off with an extract kit. This means that the malt will come in a bag or a can, either in liquid or dry powder form, already extracted for you. Once you feel comfortable with extract kits, move on to partial mash and then finally to all grain. Starting with extract allows you to focus on the other more important principles of brewing without getting too bogged down.

Pick a beer style that you know well. Maybe that’s an amber or IPA or pilsner. Just keep it simple! We’re aiming for satisfaction, not frustration! Then choose a yeast. I am a big fan of White Labs liquid yeast. Your brew store clerk should hook you up with the correct type of yeast for the kit you choose. If you order online, the yeast will be chosen for you. I’ve used dry yeast in the past, but the liquid yeast is worth an extra few bucks. Just make sure it stays cool (refrigerator temperature) until 2-6 hours before you intend on pitching it.

Next, you’ll need a priming sugar. The sugar is added to the beer just before bottling and will provide natural carbonation within the bottle.

Oh, right, bottles! You’re gonna need bottles. One batch of 5 gallons for me typically yields about 48 bottles of beer. My brewing partner and I try reuse bottles as much as possible, but you can buy them as well. Along with the bottles obviously goes caps, which are cheap and come in a rainbow of colors. How do you affix the caps to the bottles? With a bottle capper, naturally. If you’ve made it this far without a partner, you’re a natural born brewer, but attempting to fill bottles and also cap them is absolutely torturous and a major time suck without some help.

6. Whether it’s online or in an old fashioned notebook, record keeping is a must. Eventually you’ll want to branch out from kits and start freestyling your own recipes; why not get into the habit of taking notes now? How and where is less important than keeping clear and consistent notes. There are a host of samples online, or check with your local homebrewer for samples.

Homebrew IPA in a Glass

7. I’ve left out the most crucial step in the brewing process until now because the quality of your beer hinges upon it: CLEANING and SANITATION. Keeping a bacteria-free zone is so important in brewing that I want to rent a stunt plane and write it in the sky, I want to scrawl it in marker all over bathroom stalls everywhere, I want to tattoo it across my– okay, well you get the idea. In fact, I feel that cleanliness is so critical to crafting a good beer that an explanation is best left to the experts. How To Brew by John Palmer, does an excellent job of highlighting best practices for sanitizing. I have run into issues in the past, but as I emphasize here, you can turn a disappointing batch into a fun and valuable learning experience.

8. When your beers are conditioned and ready to enjoy, share them with everyone (including me)! If you’re really hooked, you can join your local homebrewer’s guild and pick up tips from more experienced homebrewers.

9. Remember: this hobby is really as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. As long as you’re having fun, you’re doing the right thing.

10. Go forth and brew great beer!

For more information, check out The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian, Designing Great Beers: The Ultimate Guide to Brewing Classic Beer Styles by Ray Daniels, and Ultimate Beer by Michael Jackson.

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• Beers Made By Walking
• Are you a Shellfish Brewer?
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• Vicki Stowe – Brewmaster (The College Years, Part 5)

Posted By: Julia Taylor

My husband likes to report that when looking at a beer menu, my attention immediately goes to the wood-aged section. While I have always been a beer drinker, I’ve never claimed to be a cheap date, and since homebrewing is about brewing what you like to drink, that’s what I do.

One of our first major homebrewing purchases was a used 5-gallon whisky barrel, which we quickly filled with 1.75 liters of Virginia Gentleman (we were going for quantity, not quality) and brewed a Russian Imperial Stout for aging. We aged it for six weeks and it came out a bit boozy at first, but mellowed into a fine beer, easily holding its own against commercial examples.

So what’s the obsession with barrel-aged beers? The idea isn’t new and dates back to the mid-1400s, but back then brewers lined the barrels with brewer’s pitch so that that wood would not “contaminate” the beer. Like wine and whisky, wood-aging gives a complexity to beer styles that include woody or oaky flavor, vanilla, caramel, butterscotch, toasted bread or almonds, coffee, chocolate, cocoa (from charred wood or bourbon casks), and alcohol flavors (depending on what was in the barrel). Depending on the original use of the barrel, the beer will also take on some of the character of the wine or spirit, as well as any wild yeasts like Brettanomyces , Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus that are residing in the wood.

So how do you do this at home? Since the standard size for wine and spirits barrels in the US is 53-gallons, they are too large for a homebrewer to fill, but some homebrew clubs have held barrel collaborations where each member contributes five gallons to the barrel. Another option is to purchase a smaller barrel (5-10 gallons), but the cheapest and simplest method is to use wood chips or cubes .

Barrel-Aging

Barrels can contribute to micro-oxidation which will give you plum/sherry notes. During the barrel aging process a portion of the beer will evaporate a.k.a the “Angel’s Share”, so you’ll want to avoid a large oxygen area by filling it to the top and have extra beer to “top off” if needed. The smaller the barrel equals more surface area in contact with the beer so it will gain flavor fasters, resulting in a shorter aging period and more oxidation. An oak barrel needs to stay moist, so it’s important to keep it filled with liquid (distilled water or spirit of choice) so that it does not dry out. To clean the barrel, wash it with hot water until all the deposits have dissolved and run clear, then rinse it with cold water to counteract any stave swelling that may have occurred as well as to prevent spoilage organisms from taking advantage of a warm, moist environment. The barrel can be sanitized by using a solution of sodium carbonate (or sodium percarbonate) and then  neutralized with a citric acid wash. And lastly, and most importantly, never use fire near a whisky barrel! For further information, review More Beer’s Oak Barrel Care Guide .

Wood Chips/Cubes

For the home brewer, oak vessels can be expensive and hard to work with, plus they take up extra space that isn’t conducive to small quarters.  The simplest wood-aging method is  wood cubes or chips, which are available at most homebrew shops, and some home brewers have even used wooden chair legs to add a wood character (please remove the polyurethane first).

Cubes or chips? Chips are toasted on both sides, generally giving a one-dimensional overall flavor, where the cubes are from already toasted barrels, so they’re only toasted on one side creating a multiple flavor profiles. Oak chips last about two weeks before tannins start to leach into the beer, giving it an overly astringent finish, making them a good option for IPAs and other hoppy beers. Oak cubes are better for long aging beers.

How much of a good thing?  Chips impart flavor much faster than cubes so a ½ ounce for a week in the secondary is recommended for a five-gallon batch. Cubes, on the other hand, contribute flavor at a much slower rate, so use 1-2 ounces after primary for 5 months to a year, per five-gallon batch. The flavors imparted by the oak cubes become more defined with age, and it takes about three to four weeks to notice the flavors. Sample the beer throughout the aging process, and rack it off of the chips when it has the degree of wood flavor you’re looking for.

Just remember, wood only makes a good beer better, so the first step is starting with a solid base beer, and have a vision of what you want the final beer to taste like. Cheers!

Special thanks to the Brewing Network’s Brew Strong-Wood Aging podcast , Brew Your Own , and HomeBrewTalk , for helping me to get wood.

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• Vicki Stowe – Brewmaster (Part 35)

Posted By: Guest

I’ve been thinking a great deal lately about maintaining the right attitude throughout the brewing process and how easy it is to become frustrated with your beer when it tastes different than you expected, or not good at all. The key is to not get down on your beer, or on yourself, but to see this as part of the learning process.

Hot Wort

Although it might not be the tastiest beer ever, an “off” beer has a flavor profile all its own that can tell you a huge amount about where you might have gone wrong in your process. Did you have a boil over? Perhaps you added your aromatic hops too soon or too late in the process? Maybe you forgot to sanitize a piece of equipment or a wild yeast sneaked its way into your brew?

A few months back my brewing partner Seth and I embarked on a double IPA. We had high hopes of creating a hoppy, full-bodied beer with a crisp, round finish. We envisioned ourselves proudly carting our delicious brew to summer BBQs and rooftop parties and receiving rave reviews from our friends, modestly accepting compliments and hi-fiving each other when no one was looking. Sadly, the actual results more closely resembled the following scene:

TASTING DAY
INT. SETH’S KITCHEN – SATURDAY AFTERNOON
Two chilled bottles of double IPA sit on the kitchen counter sweating beads of condensation.

SETH
You ready?

NELLIE
Oh, I’m ready

SETH
Ok, let’s grip it and rip it then, I guess!

NELLIE and SETH simultaneously crack open their beers, pour them into pint glasses, and observe their color and aroma, clarity and head. Everything looks and smells fine.

NELLIE
So far so good…

SETH
Okay, down the hatch

NELLIE and SETH both pull in healthy mouthfuls of beer, look at each other and swallow slowly, licking their lips.

NELLIE
Well, that’s just downright terrible. Tastes like…I wanna say…cardboard? Wet cardboard.

SETH
Ugh. Or grass. Like dirty grass.

NELLIE
(sighs)
Where did we go wrong?

SETH
I dunno. There was no boil over, and we sanitized everything super carefully.

NELLIE
(hopefully)
And it tasted promising when we sampled from the carboy in secondary fermentation. Well, maybe it will get better with time?

The beer did NOT get better with time. In fact, it really just seemed to gradually take on the same properties of dank water in a swamp bog of some dark, forgotten forest. We consulted John Palmer’s How to Brew and Charlie Papazian’s The Complete Joy of Homebrewing for answers. I consulted my bartending pal, the walking beer almanac Chris Elford who had asked us such questions as:

• Did you use malt extract? (Yes.)
• Did you use pellet hops? (Yes.)
• How fast do you chill your wort after boiling? (Cooled it to 72 in less than 15 minutes, which is quite fast.)

Wort Chilling

We went to the good people at CityBrewshop and took a homebrewing class and spoke to them afterwards about what could have gone wrong. It was there that we realized what had happened. John LaPolla, cofounder of CityBrewshop asked if we had sanitized our bottles. We said that we had run them through the dishwasher with no soap (steam acts as a sanitizer, killing any bacteria). Well that was it; we didn’t take into account that the steam would not come into contact with the entire surface area inside of the bottle, and therefore there were most likely some living microorganisms still present in the bottle. This would also explain why the beer tasted fine in secondary containment; because the wort had not yet come into contact with the contaminated bottles!

EUREKA!

Although this particular batch was not a success in the conventional sense, discovering the chink in the armor of our brewing process proved to be one of the more enlightening lessons of our journey with homebrewing. With dogged persistence, and great help from some more experienced folks, we were able to find satisfaction in solving the mystery. This episode encouraged us to put our pride aside and seek help from people who have more experience. For me, the most heartening aspects of homebrewing lie not only in the science, method and craft, but in the amazing people I meet and the connections that can be forged within our community.

At the risk of sounding overly philosophical, brewing really is a lot like life: the joy lies in the journey, not the destination. Each batch- whether it be good, great, or downright awful- provides the brewer with a host of knowledge and experience that otherwise would have gone undiscovered. So don’t fear the bad batch; tackle that beast and move on to your next great beer!

Nellie Sanchis Wagoner is a homebrewer and resides in the East Village. She was first exposed to the ambrosial wonders of craft brew at Bukowski Tavern in Boston, MA way back in ’99. When she’s not brewing, trying new beers, running, biking and yoga-ing, she works to keep the lights on in NYC as a buyer at the Astoria Generating Station in Queens. Her writing can also be found on her blog BeerBroad.

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Posted By: Julia Taylor

As the clock hit midnight and ushered in 2011, I resolved to reduce my carbon footprint in the new year and figured I start by applying the three Rs to brewing. Our weekend brew schedule included a Big Red Ale with an estimated ABV of 7.5-8%, so thought this was the perfect time to introduce a parti-gyle into the brew day. Parti-gyle is the English name of the traditional procedure of mashing grains with two (or even three) infusions of water, resulting in successively weaker beers. Each beer is run off to its own pot, or gyle, so is a great way to get different beers from one mash. Because the first runnings are strong with high sugar concentration, this method is particularly useful where one beer is strong and the other is weaker. Parti-gyle brewing is no more difficult than regular all-grain brewing, but does require a bit of figuring and calculating beforehand or on the fly if you want to hit gravities perfectly, but don’t let that stop your creativity.

This process requires that both beers have similar malt characteristics, so I planned an amber, similar to New Belgium’s Fat Tire, to complement the Big Red. After you run off the strong beer, you can also “cap” the mash. This is adding crystal, roasted, and toasted grains to the mash before putting in the strike water for the 2nd beer. There isn’t a standard calculation to determine how capping will affect the OG so focus on the taste characteristics and color. Since each beer goes into its own pot, you still have the freedom to vary the hop profile and yeast since boiling and fermentation are done separately. Here are some ideas for different mashes to yield strong / mild beers:

• Weizenbock / Dunkelweizen
• Dopplebock / Dunkel
• Imperial Pilsner / Classic American Pilsner
• Tripel / Belgian Pale
• Old Ale / Dark Mild
• Bock / Munich Dunkel
• IPA/ Ordinary Bitter
• Scotch Ale/ Scottish Ale
• Barley Wine/ Pale Ale
• Belgian Strong Dark / Belgian Abby Ale
• Maibock/ Belgian Pale
• Imperial Stout / Dry Stout

The first step in building your parti-gyle recipe is to determine your estimated original gravities. We determined that we wanted our big beer to come in around 7.5% and the second between 4.5-5% so we were looking for an approximate 1.075/1.045 split. Using Tom-O’s Parti-Gyle Cipherin’ Sheet we decided to go with an average (batch) original gravity of 1.065 (1.0780/1.0520 split).The average preboil OG was 1.0553 @14 gallons and this is the information that is plugged into Beer Smith or desired brewing software to determine the grainbill. Once you finalize your recipe enter the SRM into the parti-gyle spreadsheet and it will give you the color split for each beer. At this point you can determine if you want to cap the mash for additional color or flavor.

We know that our total grain bill is 28.75 lbs., water-to-grain ratio is 1.25 qt./lb., preboil volume is 14 gallons (from spreadsheet), and absorption amount is .2 so we can figure out the amount of water we will need for the initial strike and sparge.

To determine the strike water, multiply the grain bill by the water-to-grist ratio and divide by four to get the amount in gallons.

(28.75 * 1.25)/4=9 gallons of strike water

For the sparge water, add the total preboil volume and absorption amount minus strike amount.

(14+(28.75*.2)-9=10.75 gallons

Mash at the desired temperature and time, then completely drain the wort from the mash tun into the first boilpot (first runnings). Refill the mash tun with sparge water, and stir. Recirculate the mash and drain into the second pot (second runnings). You now have two boil kettles with two distinct beers so have fun with your hop and yeast selections.

Recipe

Grain Bill

Mash @ 154 F

22.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US

1.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt – 40L

1.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt – 60L

1.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt – 80L

1.25 lb Caramunich Malt

1.25 lb Munich Malt

0.20 lb Chocolate Malt

Big Red (First Runnings)

OG-1.077 FG-1.019 IBU-25.4 ABV-7.6%

Boil-60 minutes Pre-Boil Volume-7 gallons

0.50 oz Warrior @ 60 min

0.50 oz Warrior @ 10 min

0.50 oz Warrior @ 0 min

1.00 oz Warrior-Dry Hop 14 days

American Ale Yeast II (Wyeast Labs #1272)

Red Light (Second Runnings)

OG-1.052 FG-1.013 IBU-23.3 ABV-5%

8 oz. Cara Amber Malt

2 oz. Chocolate Malt

Boil-60 minutes Pre-Boil Volume-7 gallons

1.00 oz Cascade @ 60 min

1.00 oz East Kent Goldings @ 20 min

1.00 oz East Kent Goldings @ 0 min

Safale-US-05-I packet

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Posted By: Leah

After nearly 2 years of enjoying my boyfriend’s homebrews and learning as much as I could fit into my brain about beer, the time had come for me to create my very own beer. The week of November 7^th, we began discussing what style of beer I would like to make. With it nearing the holiday season, and that I have an affinity for spiced holiday ales, I told him that was my choice. He has very strongly adhered to the German Purity Law of Brewing, Reinheitsgebot, in his brews, but he was not opposed to try using spices for this batch. We had also talked about making a high ABV beer to age, so this seemed like a good match.

We selected a Stong American Ale style because we felt like that would be good for aging. I wanted my beer to be dark amber in color, and to be spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Because of his familiarity with building recipes, Aaron took the lead on selecting which Grains, Hops, and Yeast we would use. Being a control freak, I made him go over every selection with me and explain why he chose that instead of another option. This was a great way for me to learn about the various grains, without being overwhelmed by the extensive choices.

I’ve learned a decent amount about brewing over the past few years, but I really hadn’t been studying all the details that one should know when embarking on a journey like this. So I quickly referred to my own personal encyclopedia of brewing and asked Aaron (aforementioned boyfriend) to give me the quick and dirty lessons for the process we were about to use to brew an all-grain 5 gallon batch. It is a three part process, and I’ve listed the steps below. This guide is in no way meant to be a professional guide for brewing, so please consult others before embarking on your own brewday.

1) Heat water to approximately 180°F on stove and add to Mash Ton (in this case, a cooler) then add milled barley, creating Mash at ideal temperature of 152°F

2) After about an hour, drain the liquid, called Wort, from the Mash into a boil kettle (we use an old Keg that the top has been cut off of)

3) Rinse the barley with additional hot water, now at about 190°F to heat mash to goal of 170°F, through a process called Sparging until you’ve reached a netted volume of approximately 6.5 gallons of Wort

4) Boil Wort for a pre-determined amount of time, minimum 60 minutes, adding Hops and spices when called for (early addition gives flavor, late addition provides aroma)

5) Cool Wort to the desired temperature (typically below 70°F, but since we live in Houston, not likely to happen for our brew)

6) Transfer Wort from kettle to fermenting carboy while filtering out Hops and residue

7) Add Live Yeast and aerate the carboy, the Yeast will eat the sugars created from the Barley during the Mash and convert them to alcohol and CO₂

Attach airlock and bubbler and leave to rest for about 1 week (the bubbler will indicate that the yeasts are doing their job)

——–End of Part 1——-

9) Transfer BEER (fermented Wort) to a new carboy, leaving the sediment and Trub (full and happy yeasts) in the fermenter

10) Add additional Hops (Dry-Hopping) for aroma if desired, and let rest for approximately 1 more week in new carboy (secondary fermentation)

——–End of Part 2——-

11a) If Bottling, transfer beer to carboy containing dextrose (more sugar for carbonaton this time, not alcohol), then siphon to bottles and cap, wait approximately 2 weeks and then enjoy

11b) If Kegging, transfer the Beer and attach to CO₂ to force carbonation and wait until it’s ready to enjoy (approx 1 more week)

On November 12, we went to our LHBS (DeFalco’s) to get our ingredients and then let the brew-day commence! (unfortunately, we didn’t take as many pictures as I’d like to include in this post)

Our recipe is below:

82.4% 2-Row Brewers Malt (commonly used for its high sugar content)

14.7% 2-Row Caramel Malt 120L (to add color and roasted flavor)

2.9% British Crystal 55°L (for head retention and body)

1.5 oz Northern Brewer Hops 8.0% added at 60 mins to add evergreen/mint flavor

0.5 oz Northern Brewer Hops 8.0% in secondary fermentor for aroma

1 Vial White Labs California Ale V (WLP051) Yeast

We began our set up and my excitement continued to build. My new hobby was proving to be as exciting as I had anticipated. I did encounter some minor issues throughout the day, but overall it went well. As I was pouring the barley into the mash, the bag shifted and I nearly lost grain to the ground, but I was able to save it and only lost a few ounces. Also, we realized during the Mash that we needed an additional airlock and bubbler for this fermentor because we had not previously had 3 batches fermenting at once. I was lucky to run off to the store to get this while Aaron did the “fun part of brewing,” cleaning. I’m told this is a big part of the process, but I did not witness it. (oops) When adding the spices, the immediate aroma overwhelmed us and I was concerned because there was so little time left in the boil, but I accepted the process as I had been instructed and we began to cool the Wort. We cooled it to about 90° and then began to filter it to the fermentor. We netted about 4.5 gallons for fermentation following a 90 minute boil.

After one week, Aaron’s wonderful parents transferred the beer to a secondary fermentor and did the final hop addition. This occurred while we were in Arizona. (Acquiring bottle upon bottle of amazing craft beer) When we returned to Texas, we bottled my brew and then anxiously awaited the completion of the carbonation.

After 1 week, we opened our first bottle of the XXmas NoAle. It was not yet complete, but we wanted to see how it was progressing. Already, the grolsch bottle gave a fervent pop as it was opened. The aroma was amazing, exactly what I had hoped for, and it had a significant light tan and creamy head. The flavor was roasty and slightly nutty with a hint of pumpkin pie from the spices. This only added to my anticipation of tasting the finished brew.

The finished beer was just as impressive as our first tastes. Initially I was disappointed because I had been hoping for more body, but after I got over my expectations I realized this was a beer that I would order more than once if at a bar. That is a feeling I cannot describe in words, but I will try: proud, fulfilled, pleased, and overall impressed that I was able to produce this lovely beer at home with my own two hands and a lot of help from the amazing man in my life. We shared the bottles with family and friends over the holiday season and I was overjoyed to receive favorable reviews from others. I will definitely be brewing again and I can’t wait to make our XXmas NoAle again next year. I am hoping to brew a Rye or Belgian IPA soon and I promise to take more pictures this time, so be on the lookout.

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Posted By: Julia Taylor

Homebrewing is a craft that requires an attention to detail, but it is also an art that should encourage your imagination to wander without boundaries. For me the right brain side of brewing comes naturally, I return home from vacation and want to brew an Ode to Ol’Virginny, an oak-aged smoked porter with peanuts, and bourbon, or watch a weekend soccer match and begin to craft my Dempsey Delight (Clint Dempsey (for you non soccer hooligans), US International and Texas native), an imperial stout with chili peppers-dark and strong, with a roasty bite but smoothed with a touch of sweetness, and some kicka** heat at the end. The technical side is taking a little extra study time, so curling up with a copy of How to Brew or Designing Great Beers , and listening to Brew Strong podcasts on my way to work or on a long run, have quickly replaced NY Times bestsellers and Top 40 tunes, but that is a good thing.

I’ve recently challenged my husband to brew me a special birthday beer, with me as his muse. While my husband has been all over the technical side of brewing like “white on rice” (sorry, just heard this saying and can’t stop using it), his creative side could use a bit of nurturing. I have to admit, I’m a bit nervous about the results. Will he brew something dark, dry and bitter, or something light, funky, and wild? He did mention that he may use Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II) which is fruitier and more flocculant than 1056, with a slightly nutty, soft, clean, slightly tart finish, so he may be on the right track.

So you found your inspiration, what’s next? The first step in developing your recipe is to decide what type of beer to make and the BJCP guidelines is a good place to start. While, the guidelines are not always the best at describing commercial beers, they are great for outlining the base specifications of beer styles (OG, FG, IBU, SRM, ABV and ingredients). Now that you know the guidelines, you can either use them to help craft the recipe or as a springboard to your own amplified version.

The three main pillars of recipe building is gravity, bitterness, and color and includes choosing the appropriate malt (gravity, color, & flavor), hops (bitterness, flavor, and aroma), and yeast (attenuation and flavor) to reach the desired levels. Each malt offer its own gravity potential and flavor/characteristics as shown in this grain chart , and there are mathematical formulas to determine the gravity, but I prefer to use a brewing software like BeerSmith , mobile app BrewPal , or online calculator . Once you determine your actual gravity, the bitterness of the beer can be calculated. The previously mentioned applications will also calculate hop utilization, but feel free to work out the formula by hand. Hops are also very important in the flavor and aroma of the beer so it’s important to become familiar with the characteristics of the various hops . The color of beer is based on the color of the malt used and is measured in Lovibonds or with the equivalent Standard Reference Method (SRM). Both of these are usually provided by the maltster and by inputting the type and amount of malt into a brewing software or online calculator will give you the final beer color.

“Give a woman a beer, she’ll drink for the day. Teach a woman to brew, she’ll be drunk the rest of her life.” Brewing inspirations are all around from our favorite desserts, geographic locations, and celebrity crushes, so next time something peaks your interest, think Special B or Black Patent, Hallertau or Warrior, American Ale or a Belgian Wit. Cheers!

Ode to Ol’Virginny

OG- 1.065 FG-1.016 IBU-35 ABV-6.5%

Boil-60 minutes Pre-Boil Volume- 7 gallons Pre-Boil Gravity -1.055

Grains-Mash @ 154 F

British Pale Ale Malt-8.5 lbs

Munich Malt-1 lb

German Beechwood-Smoked Rauch Malt-3 lbs

Specialty/Steeping Grains

Crystal (40 L)-1 lb

Crystal (80 L)-1 lb.

Chocolate Malt-.75 lb

Black Patent Malt-.5 lb

Extract (plus steeping grains)

English Pale Ale LME-5.75 lbs

Rauch LME-2.25 lbs

Munich LME-.75lbs

Hops

Kent Golding (5%)-1.25 oz @ 60 minutes

Willamette (5%)-.75 oz @ 30 minutes

Willamette (5%)-.75 oz. @ 15 minutes

Kent Golding (5%)-.4 oz @ 0 minutes

Willamette (5%)-.4 oz @ 0 minutes

Boil Additions

Natural Peanut Butter(de-oiled)-8 ozs

Yeast

Wyeast 1056-American Ale (3 liter starter). Ferment at 67 F.

Secondary Additions

American Oak Cubes-3 oz

Bourbon (something good)-3/4 cup

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