Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

Fermentation Friday July 2008

On July 11, 2008

Hi there,

Adam at BeerBits2 started an event to build up the community of homebrewing bloggers. It’s called “Fermentation Friday” and it is held on the last Friday of the month. The details of this web event are simple:

The host site defines a theme
Fellow homebrewin’ bloggers write about the theme
Fellow homebrewin’ bloggers send it to the host site for publishing on the event date

To see examples of the event, follow these links:

May 2008 (hosted by Adam) – I remember when I started homebrewing…

June 2008 (hosted by CNYBrew’s Travis!) – What is the craziest concoction you ever came up with, on the fly or prepped, to brew with?

We are hosting the July 2008 event. Yes, I am denoting the year…this event’s gonna go on for decades!

Date: Friday July 25th, 2008
July’s Theme: What one tip would you give a beginner homebrewer before they brew their first batch and why?
Who’s Invited: All bloggers who have ever homebrewed.
Rules: Please keep it to just one tip. I think it will be interesting to see what you come up with as the ultimate suggestion for success. I better not get a lot of ‘Relax, have a homebrew’ tips!!

Post your tip on your blog before the event date. Send the link to our email address, which you can find on our contact page, or you can leave your link as a comment on this post.

Here are the submissions for Fermentation Friday – July 2008!

Fixing a Stuck Sparge

By Mike

On July 11, 2008

In All Grain

Here is a quick tip to help get a stuck sparge flowing again.

On my most recent wheat beer brew session, I flipped open the valve at the end of the mash and all I got was a drip drip drip. But I did not panic. A very quick simple blow in the tubing off of my mash valve until I had a good couple bubbles up out of the mash got things flowing again. I must have had a clump of malt or something blocking up the inlet of my SS braid. Or maybe the braid had just crushed or twisted in some weird way right at the inlet. Regardless, after I blew it out everything was running good. I did a gallon recirculation to get things running clear.

If the blowing in the valve end didn’t work, then a gentle stir of the malt would have been my next step. Just get your spoon or mash paddle down near the manifold to try and loosen the malt a bit. Sometimes you can get some unhydrated malt or malt flour making a sort of gummy plug the prevents things from flowing right.

I have found that a good infusion of hot water to get close to mashout temps (168F) really helps to reduce the viscosity of the mash too.

The worst case scenario is that you popped off your manifold. The only solution you have is to get a small sauce pan and start scooping out malt into a couple buckets. Correct and clear the manifold. Then reintroduce the mash to the tun. It seems pretty pain staking, but it works.

Brewer Proximity Survey

By Mike

On July 10, 2008

In General

I have lived in the same neighborhood for 4 summers now. I brew out of my garage with the door wide open. I brew right at the entry to the garage for all the world to see me. Only once in my brewing career at this location has some passer by yelled up to me: “You brewing beer?!?!”

Each night I walk the dog through the ‘hood with many single and two car garages. But never do I see anyone brewing beer. Never have I walked down the streets and smelled the sweet allure of malt and hops wafting in the night air.

So my question is; where are all the homebrewers? Either there are none in my area or they ALL brew on the EXACT SAME nights that I brew. Where are my brewing comrades at arms????

It surely is a lonely brew kettle in my town I guess.

How about yours?

Rye Malt

By John Krochune

On July 9, 2008

In Malts

Summertime brings ideas of brewing with rye. When I conducted some research into the subject, I found lots of information about rye malt. We all know rye bread and I have had a few rye beers in my time, but I have never brewed with it. I put this post together to share information about this brewing ingredient.

I was suprised to see that the rye is actually malted. I guess I thought it would be used like a steeping grain. I was wrong. It’s fully modified and converts well in a single infusion mash.

Flavor: Spicy, smoked. All the characteristics you get from rye bread. It lends a crisp, dry taste to a beer.

Color: I found that most sources had the Lovibond rating falling in the 3 -4.5°L range.

Use: Rye beers (Roggenbier), smoked beers, and wheat beers. Suggestions ranged from 5% to 20% of the grist for the desired flavor. A few sources said that a stuck or slow sparging might occur with large amounts (over 20% of the grist) because of the high glucan levels in the rye malt. Rice hulls may be needed to keep the flow a-going after the mash.

For a dominant rye flavor, 50% of the grist was suggested.

For more malt profiles, check out the malt profiles category.

Mulberry Beer

By John Krochune

On July 7, 2008

In Recipes

A question for the readers: Has anyone brewed with Mulberries? Ok, let me back up…(beep, beep, beep, beep–Sorry about the George Costanza joke)

I have this tree that bears fruit that look like blackberries every summer. I didn’t think blackberries grew on trees so after a quick search I found that this tree was in fact a fruiting mulberry tree.

Over the past 3 years, I have ignored this tree and its messy berries as much as I could (if you step on the berries, you can make an ugly, spotted purple trail in your house…and don’t get me started what happens after the birds eat these things). I never checked to see if these berries were edible. Apparently they are…since I am still alive and typing this post 4 hours after eating one.

This summer, the tree’s berries are busting out all over…so of course I thought I could brew a beer using these berries.

So, has anyone ever brewed a beer using Mulberries? Anybody encounter a commercial beer brewed with Mulberries?

Just wondering. The berry I tasted was mildly sweet, but not as tasty as a blackberry.

Mulberry Tree