Batch #90 – German Pilsners – First Ferment In My Ss Brewtech BrewBucket

Posted on February 4, 2018 by mikehoover

I brewed a German Pilsner on January 27, 2018 and used my new Ss Brewtech BrewBucket. It was nice to be able to take samples during the ferment so see how it progresses. I pulled a few samples during the first week and when it got to around 18% remaining I decided to go ahead and keg the beer.

So, on Sunday, February 4, 2018, I used the closed system keg procedure similar to what I found on LowOxygenBrewing.com I sat the BrewBucket on a table and ran a line from the valve to the “OUT” post of the keg. Then ran a tube from the “IN” post on the keg to the air lock hole in the lid of the BrewBucket. This set up allowed me to run the beer into the keg without exposure to outside air. As the beer flows into the keg, CO2 is pulled from the keg into the air lock hole. This went fairly smoothly for the first time. I will need to tweak a few things to make it easier next time.

After kegging, I added about 3 PSI of tank CO2 to the keg to seal the poppets and valve. I put the spunding valve on the keg and sat it back into the fermenter fridge to continue fermenting. The pressure started at about 0.2625 bar and by 2:30 PM the pressure had risen to 0.4625.

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New Equipment in the Brewhouse: Ss BrewTech BrewBucket

Posted on January 31, 2018 by mikehoover

I purchased a Ss Brewtech 7 gallon BrewBucket this past week after a long time pondering stainless steel fermenters. There are so many choices out there for fermenters. After considering a conical fermenter for years, I finally decided to give the Ss Brewtech BrewBucket a try. I drooled over the many conical choices but decided in the end that, on small scale, the conicals might be more trouble than they are worth. Not from a fermenting stand point, but the cleaning and upkeep afterwards. I watched a YouTube video that I thought would sealed the conical deal for me but afterwards, I was turned off. The BrewBucket seemed to be a good compromise to get rid of the plastic bucket and having to syphon from it.

With the BrewBucket, I can take samples for checking SG. I never did that with buckets as the introduction of oxygen is too much of a threat. On my first attempt at taking a sample, I almost sucked the Star San from the air lock. I couldn’t simply remove the air lock as that would allow oxygen to be sucked into the fermenter. So, my new fermenter has created a new issue to deal with. I had to devise a way to prevent sucking Star San or oxygen back into the fermenter when drawing samples.

I measured the amount of liquid required to float the hydrometer by filling my cylinder with water and inserting the hydrometer. This would be the worst case scenario since water should come up as SG=1.000. All of my beers will float the hydrometer higher than that. My graduated cylinder holds a total of 130 ml of liquid without the hydrometer, so I used that volume as a guide for designing a CO2 exchange system.
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Batch #91 – Pfriem Pilsner Recipe

Posted on January 29, 2018 by mikehoover

On Sunday, January 28, 2018, I brewed a Pfriem Pilsner recipe from the book ‘Lager: The Definitive Guide to Tasting and Brewing the World’s Most Popular Beer Styles’ by Dave Carpenter. I ran a little high on my mash strike temperature at 144.3°F instead of the recommended 142. Also, I ran a bit low on the ramp up temp at 153.6 versus the recommended 156°F. I was please that, end the end, I hit my expected gravity at SG=1.049.

I used half of the Saflager 34/70 yeast from Batch #86 after two minutes of oxygen. Also, during the boil, I used 1/8 tsp of diammonium phosphate and 3 tsp of Fermax yeast nutrient.

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Brews For 2017

Posted on January 25, 2018 by mikehoover

Nineteen brews for 2017.

Batch #71 – German Pils
Batch #72 – Nooner Attempt
Batch #73 – Black Ale
Batch #74 – Nooner 2nd Attempt
Batch #75 – Black Ale
Batch #76 – Black Ale
Batch #77 – Stout
Batch #78 – Guinness Draft Stout Clone
Batch #79 – NEIPA
Batch #80 – Galaxy Pale Ale
Batch #81 – Haus Weisse
Batch #82 – Haus Weisse
Batch #83 – Commander Of The Galaxy Pale Ale
Batch #84 – NEIPA
Batch #85 – Haus Weisse
Batch #86 – Nooner Attempt #3
Batch #87 – Pale Ale
Batch #88 – Stout
Batch #89 – Kolsch

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Batch #89: Kolsch on December 24, 2017

Posted on December 25, 2017 by mikehoover

On Sunday, December 24, 2017, I brewed a Kolsch-style ale. After reading about the style, I put together a recipe. I made an attempt to reduce oxygen pick up in the mash tun by running the mash water into the mash tun through a silicone tube to bottom fill instead of running it in from the HLT spout. I also used the tube with a SS float ball on the end to run the sparge water into the MT versus my normal copper drip ring. Not sure how effective these oxygen-limiting practices will help since there are so many other opportunities for oxygen to enter the hot side system.

RECIPE

Batch Size: 5.25 gal
SRM: 3.3
IBU: 23.6
OG: 1.053 (Overshot!)
FG: 1.011
ABV: 5.5%
Final pH: x.xx (PREDICTED)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 62% (PREDICTED)
Boil Time: 90 Mins

Fermentables:
——-
8 lbs Dingemanns Pilsner malt, 2.0 SRM
1 lb Avengard Wheat malt, 2.5 SRM
4 oz Acid malt, 3.0 SRM

Mash
——-
Mash-in at 147.0°F with 164°F water (target was 145°F) for 30 mins, 1.51 qts/gal.
After 30 mins. added 1.3 gallons of boiling water to raise mash temp to 157.1°F (target was 158°F) for 45 mins.
pH=5.27 after 1 hour mins.
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Kolsch Notes

Posted on December 23, 2017 by mikehoover

Kolsch Notes:

BJCP Category 5B.
IBUs: 18 – 30
SRM: 3.5 – 5
OG: 1.044 – 1.050
FG: 1.007 – 1.011
ABV: 4.4 – 5.2%

Mash:
Water: Calcium=50, high Chloride ratio to Sulfate ratio.
Mash pH~5.4-5, wort pH~5.2.
Single infusion mash at 145°F.
Mash with as high as 4:1 ratio water to grain by weight (1.92 qts/lb).
Sparge at 170 to 175°F.
Stop sparking when less than 2° Plato.

Hops:
7 to 14 grams AA per hectoliter.

Boil length: 75 to 90 mins.
Hop with 2/3 AA at 60 mins (90 min. boil); Perle or Hallertau hops.
Last 1/3 for aroma 10-20 mins. before end of boil; Tettnang or Hersbrucker hops.

Minimize hot break/trub. Upon chilling, minimize cold break/trub in fermenter.

Found this info on the GermanBrewing.net forum: (this was discussing Pils)
6 g/hl of AA at 60 minutes using group A (perle) or half and half hops from group A and either B or C.
3 g/hl of AA at 30 minutes using hops from group B
3 g/hl of AA at 10 minutes using hops from group C

Aerate wort 7 to 10 mg/l oxygen at pitching.
Pitch between 10 and 20 million cells per ml wort.
Ferment at 59°F (15°C).
Raise to 65°F for diacetyl rest.
Drop to 34°F over several days.
At 15% fermentable remaining, start aging/natural carbonation process.
2.2 to 2.4 volumes of carbonation.

See “Kölsch” article by Dave Clark in May/June 2017 issue of Zymurgy.

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Batch #86: Another Shot At A Nooner-like Pilsner

Posted on December 7, 2017 by mikehoover

On Wednesday, December 6, 2017, after a long period of doing ales of sorts, I decided to take another shot at brewing a Nooner-like Pilsner. I used the same ingredients mentioned on Sierra Nevada’s website. It is up to me to figure out the proportions of each of the ingredients.

Mashed in at 150.4°F (150 was target) for 90 minutes. Sparged at around 12 minutes per gallon and collected 7.2 gallons of wort. Boiled for 75 minutes. Held at between 166°F-174°F for a 15 minute whirlpool for that hop addition. Cooled to around 42°F using my chiller rig with hose water and then ice bath water once the wort chilled to 80°F.

I let the kettle sit for a couple of hours to settle out. Added two minutes of oxygen, then sprinkled two packets of Saflager 34/70 yeast on the surface, mixed well and put into the fermenter fridge at 49°F.

Continue reading →

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Batch #85: Berliner-style Weisse Brew Session

Posted on December 5, 2017 by mikehoover

On Sunday, December 3, 2017, I brewed up another Berliner-style Weisse. I changed the recipe some just to see what a difference it would make. I used more wheat malt than Pilsner malt. Usually I used the same amount of each.

I mashed for 90 minutes and once I had the wort in the kettle, I boiled it for 20 minutes, put the lid on and turned the heat off. It sat for several hours before the temperature got down to 110°F before pitching the two GoodBelly Straight Shots at 5:25 pm. I mixed up the wort good and replaced the cover and weighted it with bricks. I let that sit overnight. The next morning, the kettle temperature was 72°F at 10:25 am. After seeing that my two prior Weisse brew were mildly sour, I decided to heat the wort back up slowly in hopes that the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) would produce more souring.
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Hops Notes

Posted on November 28, 2017 by mikehoover

Some notes on hops:

Hop oils:
1. Hydrocarbons (50-80%)
Myrcene
2. Oxygenated hydrocarbons (20-50%)
Linalool (floral, orange)
Geraniol (floral: roses, geraniums)
Citronellol (green, floral, citrusy)
3. Sulfur compounds (thiols)
4MMP – 4-mercapto-4-methylpentan-2-one (catty)
3MH – 3-mercaptohexan-1-ol (yeast->3MH->3MHA) Reference
3MHA – 3-mercaptohexyl acetate

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Batch #82 – Berliner Weisse November 12, 2017

Posted on November 14, 2017 by mikehoover

Brewed up another batch of Berliner Weisse on Sunday, November 12, 2017. I used pretty much the same recipe and water profile as my first attempt, batch #81, except this time I used some acidulated malt to lower the mash pH.

I mashed in at 1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain. I used 188°F for my strike water temperature, calculated with Beersmith using 0.6 as the tun specific heat. I usually use 0.3 but that tends to come in low. This time it came in 3.5 degrees to high at 158.5. A tun specific heat of 0.5 would have be better. I had to stirred the mash for several minutes to get the temperature down to 155°F. After 10 minutes into the mash I pulled a sample to check the pH. pH=4.88. That is lower than typical but I decided to let it ride and see how it turns out. A pH in that range for sour mashing would be okay, I think, to help preserve the proteins needed for good foam.
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