Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Cask Conditioned Home Brew

On April 19, 2010

BYO Magazine has an article in their May/June 2010 issue about enjoying cask conditioned beers at home. The author, Terry Foster, discusses a few ways that you can have a cask setup to serve ‘real ale’.

Mike and I discussed brewing a beer to be served in a cask for a party or some other special occasion. From the article, the first option is buying a stainless steel cask with all the accessories like a faucet, bungs, and shives.

I was happy to read that you could modify a Corny keg to serve beer as if it were a cask. With a few add-ons like some plastic tubing and a female ball or pin-lock fitting.

I was surprised to read that a little bit of priming sugar is used in the cask to carbonate it for serving. I guess I thought it carbonated off of the end of the primary fermentation.

It would be interesting to give this kind of setup a try. Brew up an ESB, let it start a secondary fermentation in the Corny keg, and serve it at cellar temps (50 – 55°F).

I have had cask conditioned ale at pubs and fests, but never at home. Anyone tried this with their own brews?

American Brown Ale Brew Log

By Mike

On April 16, 2010

In Brew Log

This post will serve as my jumping off point for my first brew session of 2010. The new baby in the house has certainly slowed down my brewing. So for this batch I am going to be brewing up an extract batch of American Brown Ale.

I modified my favorite all-grain brown ale recipe to this extract one in an attempt to brew some fresh beer in hopefully half the time of my normal all grain sessions. I hope to get it started and wrapped up in 3 hours! We’ll see though.I am excited to do an extract brew again. Its been a while since I did one. I started my WLP001 yeast two nights ago and I put the flask in the fridge this morning to encourage it to ‘floc’ out. I’ll decant the spent wort and pitch just slurry tonight. (I usually pitch the entire starter, but I wanted to try something different).The yeast looked nice and light tan this morning, so I am in good shape. The extract attempt will also be part of my efforts to shorten my brew day as part of the series I started in a previous post.

We’ll see if I can hit that three hour mark.The biggest challenge will be getting my kettles set up in the garage. I was hoping to brew on the front stoop just outside my garage; but its raining here today in The Commonwealth of MA. My garage is a nightmare as usual post the winter season. We just keep letting things pile up in there all winter long and I haven’t done a good spring cleaning yet.

And if you are really paying attention, yes I said kettles. I am brewing the brown ale, but if things go well I may stagger a second extract session 40 minutes later to make an Amber Ale. I had some extra hops around that I wanted to use up, so I purchased some Munich extract and more base extract. If the set up and space issues work out I will hopefully come out of the session with two beers not one.I always tend to bite off more than I can chew though, so I hope to play it conservatively and brew the second beer only if its all going well….

BREW ON!

Kräusen

By John Krochune

On April 14, 2010

In Glossary

Here’s another addition to the glossary of terms. This time around, it is the definition of Krausen.

Krausen is a term that describes two things: one is a noun and one is a verb.

Krausen (the noun) is the foam that the yeast produce on top of the wort during fermentation. I see it all the time when I make yeast starters. You’ll see the term “high krausen” a lot in different text. This is the point during fermentation where that foam is at its peak.

Krausen (the verb) is a term for carbonating beer by introducing wort to newly finished fermenting beer. It’s a German tradition where they add it to a conditioning tank. I guess homebrewer could do the same thing if they had some dry malt extract to prime with instead of corn sugar.

Cold Conditioning

By John Krochune

On April 12, 2010

In All Grain, Beginner, General

I hate being the over-excited homebrewer with a new toy, but I’m an over-excited homebrewer with a new toy. Now that I have this beer fridge, I want to use it for other purposes that just storing beer.

With one week down in the Irish Red Ale‘s primary fermentation period, I am planning to rack it to a glass carboy and cold condition it for 2 weeks in the fridge.

I have been reading that taking this step will help with the clarity and also will help with the “smoothing” out of the beer.

I would love split the batch and run an A/B test on the cold conditioning effect on the beer, but I will wait for another time. I want to get the process down without complicating it further.

I will probably set the fridge temp up to 40°F and let it hang out for 14 days before bottling. I think the Irish Red will benefit from the additional step.

With the two week stay in the fridge, I don’t think I will crash the yeast so much that bottle carbonation should be affected.

Beer and Food Pairings

By John Krochune

On April 9, 2010

In General

The Brew Dudes attended a brewer’s dinner at the Cambridge Brewing Company last Saturday night. It was tremendous feast of upscale food and tasty beers that explored the spectrum of styles. Some beers they presented were off of their main list, but some were ones they have hiding in their cellar below the bar.

It brings up an interesting thought. Are there homebrewers that regularly pair their beers with food? Do you make dishes that will work well with the brew you just cracked open?

Maybe this is a subject for another blog.

By the By: If you live in the Boston area and love food and beer, check out one of the brewer’s dinners at CBC. They have them every 3 or 4 months and if the one they had on April 3rd is any indication, then they are a “must attend” for homebrewer and beer lover alike.