Quick Tip: Adjust Mash pH not Water pH

I was listening to the second Brew Strong episode on water, for the Brewing Network, and they mentioned something interesting. Water pH is simply a balance of the chemicals in water. John Palmer, in the episode, said the following:

You can look at [water pH] as a balance, like on a seesaw, of your positive ions to negative ions. You can have two kindergarteners on that seesaw, or you can have two gorillas, and you can have the same pH.

In other words, you can have a lot of minerals and a little bit of minerals and have the same pH. The pH of the water will not directly affect the pH of the mash. When you make adjustments, you should read a water report for your area and look at the ions rather than the pH of the water.

Mash pH should be between 5.2 and 5.6. When you add minerals or acid, that is what you are aiming for. In fact, those additions should be made to the mash, not the water.

A Short History of Porter and Stout

I brew a kick ass oatmeal stout. Early on, it has been one of my favorite styles. That is when I also became interested in the history of porter and stout.

As is turns out, porters predate stouts. Porters began their existence in London in the 1730s. The term porter was used to describe a dark beer that became popular with street and river porters of London. The beer got its color and flavor from the roasted malts used in its making. By today's standards, the early porters of London were quite strong, around 6 or 7 percent ABV.

The term, stout, came into usage to describe stronger versions of the popular porter beer. They were described as "stout porters." Eventually, porter got dropped from the name, and the beer was simply called stout, becoming its own style.

Popularity continued. However, during WWI in Britain, shortages of grain caused the strength of the beer to drop. It also caused countries like Ireland to take over the production of stouts, as they did not have the same grain restrictions of Britain.

After WWII, the two styles fell out of favor, until the 1970s, when the beer writer, Michael Jackson, began writing about the style. That caused a resurgence of the beer, becoming what it is today.

As I mentioned above, it is one of my favorite styles to brew. Here is my recipe:

5.0 lbs Munich Malt
2.0 lbs Pale Malt, 6-row
1.25 lbs Flaked Oats
1.0 lbs Roasted Barley
0.25 lbs Black Patent Malt
1.0 lbs Crystal Malt, 90 L
0.5 lbs Chocolate Malt
1.7 oz Fuggle Hops, 5.0 AA, 60 min, 37.1 IBU
White Labs, English Ale (WLP002)

1.055 OG, 11 lbs, 37.1 IBUs, 55.9SRM, 83% Extract Efficiency, 5.5 gallons

References:

http://hop-talk.com/2007/02/28/the-history-of-stout/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stout
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_(beer)

Happy Halloween!

What I Thought Lagering Was, and What It Actually Is

I have professed my love for the brewing Network for a long time. Really, it is unmatched when it comes to beer related podcasts and live shows.

I was listening to The Brewing Network's Brew Strong show on lagering/aging, and it blew my mind. For years, I was taught that the whole purpose of lagering was to clean up a beer, that the yeast remained active as the temperature was dropped and it cleaned up byproducts of fermentation, like diacetyl and acetaldehyde. During the process, the temperature is dropped slowly, to insure the yeast is not shocked into submission, not doing its job of cleanup, even as the the temp drops to just above freezing.

Apparently, I was wrong. Diacetyl and acetaldehyde are cleaned up at the end of fermentation, before lagering. In fact, lagering is simply used for clarification of the beer, dropping the yeast out of suspension. I was surprised when both Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer, the hosts of the show, said that they crash cool their lager beers, rather than the gradual temperature drops that I've done.

That is not to say that there is not cleanup going on, though it is not by the yeast. Not only does lagering drop the yeast out of suspension, but polyphenols do as well, which can give a beer a cleaner flavor.

You learn something new every day.

Progression of Sanitizers

Sanitization is important to homebrewing. You have to use something to kill all the bugs and critters in your fermentation vessels, siphon hoses, anything really that comes in contact with the cold side of brewing. Over time I have used a whole host of sanitizers.

When I started out in brewing, I used to use bleach. What I would do is soak everything, and then rinse it off. This was bad for two reasons. First, rinsing introduced more bugs and critters to the things I had just sanitized. Second, there was the risk of chlorophenols. In fact, I did get a nasty medicine/band-aid flavor in my beers.

I then moved two One Step. The brew shop I went to recommended it. It worked pretty well. My band-aid flavors when away and all was well and good. I liked the fact that I could use the same product for cleaning and sanitization, hence the name, One Step. However, I read on the Homebrew Digest (HBD) that One Step was not rated as a sanitizer. I also read some anecdotal evidence of infections using One Step.

Even though I never did get an infection from Open Step myself, I switched again. This time I used Star San, and still use it today. I liked Star San, because it was rated as a sanitizer. I use two products now, one for cleaning, and one for sanitization. (By the way, the one I use for cleaning is PBW). It has treated me well. I have had only one infection, and I believe that that one was a from a ball valve that was not cleaned properly.

So, there you go. Things change over time, and it has with me as well. As things progress, your brewing process just gets better and better.

Quick Tip: Calculate Mineral Additions Pre-boil

I was listening to The Brewing Network's Brew Strong show, their episode on water, part IV, and they dropped a good tidbit. When calculating the mineral additions to add to your beer, do this for pre-boil volumes, especially when trying to mimic water from a classic brewing area. The reason for this is that even when looking at the numbers for a classic brewing area, you are looking at them pre-boil. These will get concentrated post-boil and the numbers will be quite different. Things happen during the boil that change the numbers.

Lagering in a Corny Keg

I've only done one lager: a Marzen. Even so, it turned out quite nice. When I did it, I only had one refrigerator that I had temperature control on. That was my kegerator.

My kegerator was big enough to hold two corny kegs, and I had an ale going already. My only choice was to lager in a corny keg, next to the ale.

Now, I had read in Noonan that you can't lager under too much pressure*, so I decided to attach an airlock to my corny keg. That way, there would not be pressure in the keg, especially in the beginning as I was making the transition from fermentation to lagering, when fermentation was still a little active.

That left me with a dilemma: How do I attach it? I considered many options, but what I settled on was this: I would use a ball lock connector hooked up to a hose -- the same hose I used to dispense beer, just with the picnic faucet removed. That hose would then lead to the airlock. The stem of the airlock would be pushed into the hose. I would then only have to keep the airlock upright to hold water, which I did by scotch taping it to the side of the keg. Bingo! I had attached my airlock to my keg.


Lagering went well. I dropped the temperature from 60°F (my diacetyl rest temp) to 32°F at 2 degrees a day, and kept it there for 6 weeks.

It was funny. During that time, the ale froze that I had in the keg next to it, but my Marzen did not.

In the end, I brought the beer to Estrella, and it was a big hit. I have not done it since, but plan to again.

* Noonan actually says two conflicting things about lagering under pressure. In Brewing Lager Beer, on page 202 he says, "Do not lager over five pound per square inch." On the other hand, New Brewing Lager Beer, his revised edition, on page 194, he says, "Where tank construction permits pressurization, and the tank is fitted with a pressure relief valve, it is common to lager the beer under .2 to 2 atmospheres (3 to 28 psi) of pressure...." At the time I lagered my beer, I only had the earlier edition. If I had the later edition, I do not know if I would have used the airlock.