Hop Shortage: Substitution for Saaz and Hallertau Hops

This is the second time I've had to make a substitution because of the hop crisis. This time, I'm making a Belgian Wit. My Belgian Wit recipe calls for Saaz and Hallertau hops, and my local homebrew shop is out of both. Guess what, though? There is a new hop variety available called Sterling, which I think I might try. This hop variety is abundantly available at my homebrew shop.

This month's Brew Your Own Magazine, the March/April 2008 issue, had several articles on the hop crisis, including an article on new hop varieties, entitled "Meet the New Hops," by Chris Colby. One of the varieties they covered is Sterling. This is what they had to say about it:

Sterling is regarded as a Saaz substitute, sometimes compared to a blend of Saaz and Mt. Hood (a Hallertau-derived variety). However, I found its aroma to be very similar to Santiam.

Santiam was another new hop they reviewed in the same issue, which they regarded as a Tettnanger substitute.

So Sterling, for better or for worse, is what it is. That is what is going in my Belgian Wit. I'll post the results.

Calibrating a Bimetal Thermometer

There are a couple of ways to calibrate a bimetal thermometer. The best way is simply to use an accurate thermometer, like a mercury filled lab thermometer. Simply put both thermometers in water, stir the water, and compare temperatures. Since I do not have a lab thermometer, the way I do it is using boiling and freezing water.

First, boiling water: You can put the thermometer in boiling water and read the temperature. At sea level, it will be 212° F. Of course, I do not live at sea level. Since, the boiling point of water will vary with barometric pressure, and barometric pressure changes with altitude, the boiling point of water is different where I live. In fact, because I live at about 2,600 feet above sea level, subtracting 0.9° F for every 500 feet puts the boiling point of water at about 207° F, where I live.

Freezing water is a different matter. The freezing point of water does not vary with with altitude. You can calibrate a thermometer by sticking it in a glass filled ice and water. I use crushed ice and water, making a slushy solution. The liquid in the glass will be very close to freezing. It should read about 32° F.

I try and calibrate at both positions, freezing and boiling, if possible. The reason is that a bimetal thermometer can be off differently at high and low positions. For instance, I have a thermometer that is dead on at freezing, but is off by a degree at boiling. Of course, it is not always possible to do so. For instance, my Blichmann BrewMometer goes from 60° F to 220° F, so I cannot calibrate at freezing.

My thermometers have a screw on the back that will adjust the temperature reading. By turning the screw, the needle will change position. Some bimetal thermometers have a nut that, when loosened, will allow you to turn the housing with all the marks and numbers, to a new position. Once at the new position, it can be tightened down again. Other bimetal thermometers are not adjustable; you simply have to add or subtract from the reading to be accurate.

That is about it when it comes to calibrating a bimetal thermometer. Good luck.

This is my BrewMometer. It has a screw on the back that adjusts the temperature.

This is my Fermentap thermometer. It has a small hex key on the side to adjust temperature.

This another hand-held bimetal thermometer with a long stem. It cannot be adjusted.

More New Equipment: The Blichmann BrewMometer

My wife put her back out. In doing this she has been pretty laid up. I had to drive her to and from work, and to and from the doctor, and so on. This has been going on for almost two weeks.

My wife felt so bad about this that she decided to buy me a little gift for helping her out so much. She bought me a Blichmann BrewMometer for my new mash tun. It came today, and I calibrated it in boiling water. After that, I installed it. Thank you, wife.

The Blichmann BrewMometer is nice because it not only shows temperature, but it also has marks for doughing-in, protein rest, saccharification, mash out, lautering, boiling, and cooling. These are directly printed on the face, so there is no question as to what you are doing. It is the Cadillac of bimetal brewing thermometers.

New Equipment, New Numbers

One of the things about acquiring new equipment, such as the MiniBrew Mash/Lauter Tun, which I mentioned in a post last week, is that means new numbers when doing a batch. By new numbers, I mean strike temperature and extract efficiency.

Typically on my old system, I would heat my mash liquor to 177° F, before doughing in, to settle in at about 153° F strike temperature, a difference of 24° F. Also, I could expect about 83% extract efficiency, which affects the amount of grain I put in a recipe.

With the new mash tun, this will all change. I did some research on the web about these things, to see what I could expect. The first thing I found is something on mash liquor temperature to reach a desired strike temperature. According to this blog, this gentleman can expect a 13° F drop in temperature when doughing in. If my math is right, to reach 153° F strike temperature, I need to heat the liquor up to only 166° F, rather than my old number of 177° F, a whole 11° F cooler than my last system.

Had I not found this, I would be stuck doing test batches. For instance, just experimenting, I would have tried 170° F for my mash liquor temperature, which would have put me at 157° F strike. That would have been a very dextrinous beer. I would then have to drop it for the next batch, and the next batch, until I dialed it in.

Efficiency is a whole other ballgame. I found a discussion post at Northern Brewer about getting 80% efficiency on the MiniBrew Mash/Lauter Tun. I will start there for my first recipe. However, because sparge liquor temperatures and other variables can have a big influence on this, I'll have to do a few batches to dial it in for sure. I've got an amber recipe that should do the trick. If is comes out too strong or too weak, it should not matter too much. It will still be a drinkable beer.

That is it for now. I'll definitely follow up when I use it for the first time.

New Sight Glass on my Mash Tun

As I mentioned a few days ago, I bought a brand new MiniBrew Mash/Lauter Tun. On getting it home and giving it a test run without any grain, I discovered that the sight glass was damaged, causing it to leak. I called up the manufacturer, Hobby Beverage Equipment, to tell them of my problem, and they promised to send me a new sight glass. Well, that sight glass arrived in the mail today. I installed it, filled it up with water, and no leaks. Hooray.

The Internet is full of complaints about bad service. I wanted to rave about good service. Hobby Beverage Equipment could not have treated me better. I had a problem, and they had the fix out to me the next day. That is the way customer service should be.

Damaged sight glass.

New sight glass, installed.

Three Months of not Smoking

It has been over three months since I quit smoking. Now that some time has passed, I have a few observations.

First, though I still get cravings, they are not as bad as they have been, and they seem to change from week to week. For instance, last month, I was getting pretty strong cravings. This month, they are not too bad. It all seems linked to whatever stress I'm under. If things are crazy at work, when I get home, I want to smoke.

Second observation: I go for a walk every day at work. In fact, that is what I do instead of smoking. Every time I walk by the smoker's area, I look at all of them outside sucking on their poison sticks, and you know what? THEY LOOK LIKE SMOKERS. They look pale. They look wrinkled. They look old. They smell. They do not look healthy. Did I look like that? Do I look like that? I mean, I've only been quit for three months. When does that smoker look go away?

Another observation: I used to sing in the car. Granted, I did not sing well, but I could at least hold a tune, until I started smoking again three years ago. Then my singing voice turned into a toad voice. Scratchy and gross, I stopped sing in the car because it even offended me. Well now being quit for three months, I caught myself singing in the car again. I could actually hold the tune. Oh, it was not 100%, but it was better than it had been for three years. My singing voice is returning. Oh, the little joys in life.

Another thing that I noticed is that riding my bike has gotten easier. I can ride further, and handle the hills much better. In fact, I went for a 20 mile ride the other day. Now, it used to be 10 miles was about my limit. However, 20 miles, with hills even, was not that hard. I could have even kept going. Granted, this is not as far as many bicyclists ride -- I am not ready to buy bike shorts and a jersey -- but I am improving.

Even with the last thing said about bike riding, I still have that smokers cough. Every morning when I get up, I have a coughing ritual. Sometimes I cough so bad that I almost throw up. I don't think that it is as bad as before I quit, but it is still there. I am looking forward to the day that that goes away.

That is all I have to say about that for now. Perhaps on my six month anniversary I'll post something. Until then, it is back to brewing posts for me.

My New MiniBrew Mash/Lauter Tun

As I mentioned in my last post, my mash tun is in need of retirement. It is almost eight years old and warped to the point that my sparge arm does not turn too well anymore. As a result of this, I began my search for a new mash tun.

I considered getting another Gott style water cooler, but expected similar problems over time. I wanted something a little bigger than five gallons, so I was considering a 10 gallon cooler.

One of the things in the back of my mind, however, was that I'd seen a mash tun made as a mash tun from the ground up. I'd first heard about it before I'd even done my first all-grain batch. In fact, at the all-grain class that I took at the local brew shop eight years ago, they used one, and I was impressed. They carried them at the shop and were called the MiniBrew Mash/Lauter Tun, by Hobby Beverage Equipment Company. Unfortunately, they were a little pricey, at $250 retail, though the brew shop had them for about $185.

Well this month, I happen to get a $500 bonus at work. Since I needed a new mash tun anyway, this seemed perfect way to spend that, so I took the plunge and bought one.

Upon getting it home, and hooking it up for a test run without grain, I discovered a terrible leak where the sight glass hooked up to the mash tun. This was not good. I took it apart to see what was wrong, to find that the end of the sight glass was damaged. Unfortunately, this was the last one my local brew shop had in stock, so I did not want to return it. So, what to do; what to do?

I looked at Hobby Beverage Equipment Company website, and noticed a contact number, so I called them up. After telling them my plight, they said that they would send me a new sight glass, right away. Problem solved. I love good customer service. Don't you?

I've taken some pictures of the thing, bad sight glass and all. The pictures follow:

Here it is in all its glory. It is 15 gallons and holds up to 35 lbs of grain, which is overkill for five gallon batches, but it is damn cool.

This is the inside, looking at the false bottom. The false bottom is held down with a wing nut, so it will not float up, or have grain get underneath it. I calculated how much space there was below the false bottom and it came to about 0.8 gallons.

For sparging, rather than a rotation sparge arm, it has a spray nozzle. Unfortunately, it takes about a foot drop from hot liquor tank and spray nozzle for it to function, which I do not have from stove top to mash tun.

Since I cannot use the spray nozzle for sparging, I have to use my old Listermann rotating sparge arm, which is okay by me.

This picture shows how it fits into my three tier setup in the kitchen.

As I mentioned above, the sight glass was damaged. This shows the damage. The end was all crumpled up and the silicone seal was busted, so it leaked like a sieve. Fortunately, they are sending me a new one.

Next post: Running the numbers on my new mash tun.

Group Brew

When I was at Estrella, there were a number of people in our encampment who showed an interest in brewing. As a result, I invited them to my next brew session. That day was last Sunday.

Because the Oatmeal Stout that I brought to Estrella was so popular, we decided to brew another one of those on Sunday. The recipe was exactly the same, except that I found actual British hops at the brew shop. Because of this, instead of the Styrian Golding hops, I used Kent Golding hops. The recipe follows:

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, 80 L
0.5 lbs Chocolate Malt
1.8 oz Kent Goldings Hops, 4.8 AA, 60 min, 37.9 IBU
White Labs, English Ale (WLP002)

1.054 OG, 11 lbs, 37.9 IBUs, 49.0 SRM, 83% Extract Efficiency, 5.5 gallons

The brew day went very smoothly, other than me forgetting to turn on the heat to the sparge liquor before doughing in, to heat up while the mash was in progress. Because of my absentmindedness, the mash took about two hours, waiting to hit the right temperature in the hot liquor tank. In the end, though, all was well. In fact, we hit our original gravity (OG) dead on.

There is one other thing to note. My mash tun, a K-mart brand water cooler, was so warped that the sparge arm had trouble spinning. As a result, I think it is time to retire it. I'm a little sentimental about that, as that is the mash tun I started with.

Below are some pictures of brew day:

All the brewers pictured next to the equipment. From left to right: moi, Ron, Dawn, and Ryan.

Me, stirring the mash. Ryan, next to me. "This is how it's done."

Ryan, stirring the mash.

Dawn, stirring the mash.

My warped mash tun (dirty, of course).