Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Best Beer We’ve Ever Brewed

On August 28, 2008

Fermentation Friday – August 2008 is upon us. Bunz at The Panhandle Beer Snob and Redneck Brewery is hosting and here is the theme:

What, in the opinion of others, is the best beer you have ever made and why?

Here is Mike’s contribution:

I am a firm believer in brewing only a couple style repeatedly until you get it right. The problem for many homebrewers (myself included) is that the vast variety of malts, hops, and yeast available to us makes it hard to just pick one or two styles and spend an entire year only brewing those two beers. However, sacrifice has it rewards and this brings me to my best beer ever.

After brewing several different styles of English and American ales a few times, I was finally got tired of feeling like the beer was GOOD but not GREAT. So I decided to focus on one style only and keep it real simple. The style I chose was Ordinary Bitter. I love English Malt characters and I like the mild fruitiness of a good English yeast. Not being a hop head, this beer style seemed well balance for my tastes. Also with a low starting gravity 1.032-1.040 that keeps the ingredient list relative cheap for brewing multiple times.

Long story short, I learned a lot about hitting mash temp consistently, collecting the same wort volume, and extract potential each time. I also fine tuned the timing of primary fermentation, secondary fermentation, and keg conditioning. I had a real well-oiled machine going to Ordinary Bitter. After about 6 batches of good beer, it finally happened. I went the kegerator to draw off a pint of a new keg…batch 7. It was bready, biscuity with a mild sweetness. The color was perfect. The clarity was crystal. The EKG hops I had used were perfectly balanced between flavor and bitterness. I had finally brew the perfect Ordinary Bitter and it was far from ordinary.

My Ordinary Bitter recipe is one of my “go to” recipes. When I don’t know what to brew, that’s what I make. It’s my preferred everyday beer for sure. Consistency and sacrifice of variety truly has paid off. Now when ever I want to brew my best, I just dust off that one recipe and I know, like magic, the techniques and the art of brewing just come together to always make that Perfect Brew.

Here is John’s contribution:

I have to say my best beer in the opinion of others was my most recently brewed beer, an APA. Although judged as ‘not to style’ in competition, I did get a nice note of “this is a wonderful beer” from one of the more seasoned judges.

Mike, my homebrewing mentor and my partner in blogging, also wrote me an email after tasting the APA – stating it was my best in his opinion.

I agreed. I took my time in preparing this brew. I think you can make really great beer if you take your time. I didn’t feel rushed for the most part, which has been an issue in my brewing past.

Since it was my most recent beer, I had more brewing experience brewing this one than any other beer I have brewed. I hope that I continue to learn and improve with every beer I brew. I think that’s sorta the goal for me. Learn and do. Do and Do better.

Specific Gravity Differences

By Mike

On August 27, 2008

In General

There is a difference between specific gravity, original gravity, and final gravity.

Here is just a Specific Gravity notation pet-peeve of mine:

SG – Specific Gravity;
This abbreviation is used to refer to any time a gravity reading is taken but it does not denote a specific time or occasion that it was taken.
Example: “I took an SG reading during my boil.”

OG – Original Gravity/Stating Gravity;
This abbreviation refers to the gravity reading you took prior to the yeast getting started. Normally, this reading is taken at the fermentor before the yeast is pitched.

Example: “My wort was 1.045 OG before I pitched my yeast.”

FG – Final Gravity;
This abbreviation refers to the gravity reading taken once fermentation is completed. It is where the wort/beer finally came to rest after the fermentation was complete. Moreover, it’s the gravity of the beer as it is presented to the consumer.
Example: “This beer is fairly dry with an FG of 1.008.”

All these abbreviations are SG readings. We use OG and FG to designate specific times that they were taken as bench marks for calculating things like ABV and describing flavors like dryness or residual sweetness.

OK, pet-peeve closed.

Hitting Target Gravity

By Mike

On August 27, 2008

In All Grain, General

Many homebrewers just leave hitting out target starting gravity (OG) to chance. Essentially, we just add our ingredients and boil for 60 minutes and hope for the best. I like to be a little more in control, so here is what I do.

First off, I like to take my first gravity reading right after I collect my mash run off (Actually, as a batch sparger I like to check the gravity of both run-offs just to check the progress of the spraging steps). I read my gravity and I determine the total points of extract I have in the pot by multiplying by volume; i.e., 6 gallons of 1.040 SG is 240 points of extract. Determining the points at this stage also gives me the most accurate measurement of mash efficiency. I don’t care much for “brew-house efficiency” because it’s several steps downstream of the mash and the mash is where most of your starting gravity shortfalls potentiate from.

Anyhow….
Now that I know how many points I have total, I start my boil. I know in general, that I like to boil for 90 minutes for most beers (especially when pilsner malt is involved). After the first thirty minutes, I add my 60 minute hops. After another 30 minutes I check the gravity to see where the boil has taken me so far with concentrating the wort towards my desired OG. This is where the art of brewing comes in. Normally, it’s time to add the 30 minute hops, but if the current gravity indicated that I’ll need to boil off more than another 30 minutes worth of water (knowing your evaporation rate is critical here) then I’ll hold off for a bit before adding the flavoring hops. Using a refractometer is very handy here because you only need a few drops rather than a whole cylinder full for a hydrometer reading. The few drops cools very quickly too so there is no need for temperature compensation.

I then boil until I am almost right at my desired OG. Then I add aroma hops for on more minute (which doesn’t drastically result in more evaporation).

Sometimes my boils are longer than 90 minutes, sometimes they are less than 90 minutes. This has to do in part with how the evaporation rate is going and how much sugar I had in the wort to start with post mash (see above regarding mash efficiency).

Lastly, it’s not a sin to add a little water to a wort that boils off to fast for you, but does not give you enough time for your bittering hops. If your boil off goes too fast and you over-concentrate, the wort a little water in the brew kettle will get you back to the desired OG… Of course, you should calculate how much water that is.

In short, I like to monitor the gravity of my wort as it boils and I plan my hop additions and boil times around that evaporation rate and the desired OG. I find it a bit more comforting than boiling the wort for a set time and then waiting to see how close to what I wanted when I transfer to the fermentor.

Are there other strategies for hitting OG???

Apollo Hops

By John Krochune

On August 26, 2008

In Hops

Apollo hops are a variety that seem to be part of a newly cultivated group of high alpha acid hops. It is the common name of the hop plant known as 01051. The percentages I have seen on the web attributed to Apollo hops were in the double digits. Although I found some information about the hops, none of the big homebrewing supply stores had any Apollo hops available. Although it was cultivated in 2000, I find it weird that it is not readily available. It’s not that the big homebrewing shops don’t have it in stock, they don’t have a profile page for Apollo hops at all. Hope that changes. Maybe as the years go on, this variety will be more available to homebrewers.

Update!

As of 2011, this variety is more available in homebrew shops. It’s a monster of a bittering hop. Although related to Bravo hops, this variety is one bad mother.

Origin: Golden Gate Roza Hop Ranches in Prosser, Washington (USA). Released for sale by Hopsteiner in 2006.

Aroma: Citrus notes, emphasis on orange, resiny, spicey

Alpha Acid: Between 18 and 21%

Typical Usage: Bittering

Beer Styles: Big experimental beers, any variety where hops should be showcased. American Ales.

Chill Haze Removal

By John Krochune

On August 24, 2008

In Experiments

There’s all kind of clearing agents out there. I can happily report that a method worked for me. I have always read that if you leave your beer in the fridge for a month or so, the chill haze causing proteins would settle out.

I have had beer stored in the fridge, but my haze never went away. This time, for whatever reason, the time in the chill chest cleared the beer right up. I did have a good cold break when I brewed. Maybe that is part of my success.

I will take a picture soon and post it here. We are meeting up with one of the Brew Dudes’ friends this Friday night. He’s visiting from Iceland and I am bringing the last of the APAs. I want to save the bottles until then.