Brew Dudes Homebrewing Blog

What The Eff Is An Adjunct?

On August 9, 2017

In this post, we try to answer the very hard hitting question of what the eff is an adjunct? Apparently, we are a family blog and so we censored ourselves. If we are to reach a mass audience, we should not work blue. Actually, the title this post and video came from a discussion we had in an earlier video. Mike asked the question and said, that’s the subject of a future video. Well, the future is now and ere’s a video of us rambling about the use adjuncts in homebrewing.

Definition of Adjunct in Brewing Beer

The real reason we discuss this topic is that there isn’t a true consensus across the board about what an adjunct is. Some viewers were looking for a true definition and we chatted about all the things it could be.

From an issue of BYO, they defined them this way:

The most common definition is any source of starch that is not malted…

Here’s the thing, in the article, they also discuss malted grains such as malted wheat and rye as adjuncts…so that definition doesn’t work.

The way the term is used by homebrewers I know (and I know a lot, like 5), is any source of sugar that isn’t malted barley. I think this definition helps to include stuff like honey and table sugar along with all the malted and unmalted grains you can think of that would work in your grain bill – not to mention root vegetables.

Our Take on Adjuncts

Once we got by what these adjuncts are, we talked about how they have gotten a bad rap over the years. Since they were closely associated with beers brewed by macrobreweries, adjuncts were seen as cheap and low quality.

I think that mentality has faded a bit since we have matured as a hobby. Now that craft beer is more regularly available and sales of the big brewery’s popular lagers are down, homebrewing is less about rebelling against the pale yellow fizzy lager. Now, adjuncts are another great tool in your arsenal to brew beer that is excellent. If you know how to use them and the effect they have on your finished beer, they can be a powerful asset.

Thanks for reading and watching. We appreciate your time and would like to see your thoughts below in the comments.

Brew on!

Brew Dudes Homebrew Swap – Exchange #19

By John Krochune

On August 2, 2017

In Homebrew Club, Videos

The exchanges are still happening and we are getting closer to the number 20. Take a look at this video and post as we taste and review this homebrew swap, which just happens to be the 19th that we have done since starting the program.

High Hat Brewing Review

This beer was the first that we have received that came from someone that not only had their own label but also their own pre-printed comment card for you to send back to them. High Hat Brewing is the moniker of a guy named Will who sent us beer from Columbia, Missouri. It was a pretty impressive look to the exchange.

From the information we got from the card:
Belgian Wit – brewed May 11 and bottled on June 6th, 2017

His description was: a crisp, refreshing wheat beer brewed with lemon peel, honey malt, and Medusa hops with an ABV of 5.1%.

When I took my first whiff, I got a major citrus aroma with maybe a little bit of yeast coming through. I thought the appearance was right on – it had a great white beer color with a big, billowy head. Even with the huge amount of foam, the beer wasn’t over carbonated.

Mike got some bubble gum in the flavor. He evoked the killer combination of orange, strawberry, and banana together as the combination for the bubble gum flavor.

He also got a peach and rose petal fragrance in the nose and flavor and thought that factor was quite elegant.

The beer has a low to medium mouthfeel and was quite an easy drinker.

Overall Impression

We thought was a nice summer beer with some really interesting and enjoyable flavor notes. I felt it lacked the yeast character that should be there for it to be a Belgian Wit. It was little more American wheat in its yeast profile. Mike thought the Medusa hops may have been affecting the flavor in wild and new ways.

Besides the beer, High Hat also makes what he calls “brewkies” and he sent these along with the beer. These are cookies that are made from the spent grains of the brew session and mixed with cookie ingredients, like white chocolate and coconuts. They were a nice surprise and Mike was happy that it didn’t have some kind of hallucinogen in it (he was able to go to work the next day without any issue).

As I said, this exchange was a memorable one. High Hat brought his own label, his own card, and his own cookies. That’s how it’s done, I guess.

Drop us a line if you would like to exchange with us.

Brew On!

2017 Community Brew Beer Exchange and Review

By John Krochune

On July 26, 2017

In Homebrew Club, Videos

Back in May, we put a recipe out there for viewers of our YouTube channel and readers of our blog to brew and exchange with each other. In this post and video, we discuss the two brews that were shared with us and what the whole experience meant.

Best Bitter Homebrew Sharing

So we did get a couple of beers sent to us from two different guys who brewed a Best Bitter. One was pretty close to the recipe we posted. The other one was slightly modified but still in style.

Both had appearances that matched the BJCP guidelines for best bitters.

Aroma for the beers were pretty spot on too. The beers had caramel toasty thing going along with some estery notes from the yeast.

The flavor should have an earthy hop bitterness to it. One of the beers had a great East Kent Goldings presence to it. The other one had a crisp finish that we attributed to the inclusion of flaked maize. Mike applauded the addition but wanted more biscuit malt flavor in the finished beer.

The carbonation and body for both beers were to style as well.

In the end, the beer that followed our recipe closer was more in what we had in mind for the beer. It matched our bias of the style.

What Did We Learn From All Of This?

I think we had two main goals for the community brew. The first thing we wanted to accomplish was to try to connect people who homebrew through one focused experience. I believe we did that.

The second thing we did was get two different best bitters in our hands from two different brewers and taste them side by side along with the guidelines. I think by doing that, we had a chance to learn more about the style and gain knowledge to be better homebrewers.

We have one more community brew post to do. There were a few feedback forms that we sent to us plus we got feedback from judges on our brews. We’ll try to get to that post before the end of the year.

Brew on!

Revisiting The Baltic Porter After Time In The Bottle

By John Krochune

On July 19, 2017

In Experiments, Style Profiles, Videos

I brewed a Baltic Porter earlier in the year and wanted to see if it tasted any better with some age on it. I served it to Mike without telling him what it was right away to get his notes and see if there was any improvement.

Baltic Porter Notes

The main piece of information I wanted to gather with this revisit is to see if some age on this beer would make it taste bigger than it was. The issue I had with this beer was missing my target starting gravity. I wasn’t able to produce a wort with a high enough OG and that fact came through in the finished beer when we tasted it right after it was ready. I had a hope that the more the beer aged, the more character it would have and it would provide cover for its lack of bigness. Wellup, here’s to hoping.

Here are some of the descriptors Mike said when he was tasting it.

The aroma has a biscuit, wet malt aroma. It has an interesting hazelnut and chocolate thing going on. It brings to mind Nutella.

In the flavor, there was a lot of dark crystal malt characteristics present. There were some subtle stonefruit aspects but mostly a big brown bread flavor.

The body was medium – not too full. The finish is clean and dry – not too sweet.

When I told Mike it was my Baltic Porter attempt, all the memories came flying back.

Final Thoughts

Not matter how old this beer is, it will never be a big and full as a Baltic Porter needs to be. Mike’s suggestion was to enter it into competition as a Dark Mild to see how it would perform. I plan to do that, but my first choice is to enter it as ths style I was aiming for and to see how it would do.

Update: This beer received a score of 33 out of 50 in the category of Baltic Porter with notes saying it wasn’t big enough. I will enter it as a Dark Mild and see what the notes are on that entry.

The more important goal is to brew a bigger beer next time.

Brew On!

Extech Pocket pH Meter for Homebrewing

By John Krochune

On July 12, 2017

In Equipment, Videos

Our friends at Extech not only sent us a refractometer, but also sent us a pH meter to test out and see how it works. We take it for a spin in this video:

pH Meter for Homebrewing Beer

I have read that measuring your wort’s pH is important in your homebrewing process. In my years of homebrewing beer, I never really worried about it much. Now that I have dabbled in wine and other fermentables, I am more interested in measuring pH since it seems to be crucial for these beverages.

When I asked Mike about it, he discussed the pH of your mash. When you are mashing grains, you want to keep the pH of your mash between 5.2 and 5.4….maybe even up to 5.6. That is the sweet spot for converting starches to sugars.

Having a pH is an incredible tool to do make sure that your mash is in the right range. Mike says that if you are adding brewing salts to your mash water to affect the pH, you really need a meter to make sure you making proper adjustments.

Beyond the mash, he talked about the benefits of adjusting pH in your finished beer to produce a better tasting beer. When you taste something that is more acidic, the brighter it tastes. Making your beer a little more acidic may make your summer ale a little more thirst quenching. On the other hand, if you wanted to make your stout taste fuller, you could add salts to make it more alkaline.

Also, a popular technique in homebrewing today is kettle souring. Knowing your pH for beers brewed using this method and the more traditional way (fermenting with bacteria) is important to put a number to what you are detection on your palate.

For you the homebrewer to play around with these additions with accuracy, you need a pH meter.

How Did it Work?

We did a little test with the meter without calibrating it. We had a cup of distilled water and one with distilled water with a few drops of lactic acid in it. The meter was able to pick up that the water with the acid in it was detected as having a lower pH than the plain distilled water, which was a good thing.

I think with some calibration, the pH meter would be a useful tool in brewing beers. If you want to mess around with beer’s pH or to learn even more about your process, purchase a pH meter and go for it.

Check out Extech for this device and others.

Brew On!