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Jon’s Blog

7/20/2024

This blog entry is going to be a little different from the instructional “how to” style posts that I usually write. But it might also be the most important thing I have had to say. Let me explain. Most businesses these days are leaning ever more heavily into online sales and shipping boxes of stuff in large quantities as their main business model. Which makes a lot of sense, this is how people want to buy products in this modern world, and if a business’s priority is maximizing profits, you’ve got to ship boxes of stuff. I have always shied away from this model. Partly because I am an old guy and set in my ways, but more importantly it is because I deeply value the personal relationships of helping people face to face. For me it is these face to face interactions that make this job enjoyable. Many of my best friends in life were met when they first walked through the front door of my store. And that is what is most important to me.

But life is short. It doesn’t last forever. And when one of these friends leaves us, it leaves a space that is never really filled. Recently we lost a friend of the store and a friend of mine. “Bob from Enumclaw” is how he always introduced himself on the phone, and he was one of our first customers in the early days of the store. He would always call ahead to be sure that I was working before making the drive down off the plateau. I loved seeing him pull up in front of the store with a big smile and a small ice chest containing a flip top bottle of his latest creation. Together we had been working on a recipe that I called “Bob’s Wheat Beer”. I say together, but this was Bob’s beer. He had an idea in his mind of exactly what he wanted it to be, and I was just helping figure out how to make it a reality.

Bob’s mind was sharp. We could all hope to be this sharp when we reach our late 80s and early 90s. And you just knew that he had spent much of his life thinking deeply and figuring things out. How many people do you know who have had 3 US patents awarded to them? Bob took an analytical approach to designing his beer, and took excellent notes on each batch. For the first few batches we would try them while looking at his notes comparing final gravities, bitterness levels, yeast character, and overall impression. He wanted a light flavored beer, that drew on tradition and drinkability. By about batch 6 we were starting to get in the ball park, and by batch 10 or 11 it was smooth sailing. He would still show up with his small ice chest, but now we would try a sample, smile at each other, and just say “yup, that’s it!” Bob would do a yeast starter each time he brewed and split it, saving half, and pitching half into his batch. By doing this he was on his 23^rd batch from the same pack of yeast! Unfortunately, during the brew day of batch 38 Bob had a stroke while brewing with his son. Sadly, he didn’t recover. When it is our time to go, we could all hope to be doing something we love with people we love. In the words of his son John, “Bob went out brewing beer.” We think he would have liked it that way.

The big take away here is that it isn’t just about beer. It’s really about the journey the beer takes us on. Sharing the beer, and sharing the journey is the important thing. It’s the people you meet along the way that make life worth living. I’m glad that my journey, and Bob’s journey intersected for a little while. I’m glad that he was my friend.

Bob’s Wheat Beer Recipe

5/16/2024

Designing a clone recipe.

One of my favorite things about running a homebrew shop is when a customer comes in wanting to try to brew something similar to a commercial beer they had recently tried and loved. The process is called recipe cloning, and it has gotten easier to do as time has gone along. In some cases it relies on a significant amount of educated guesswork. In other cases the brewery in question may have already done all of the work for you and posted a 5 gallon homebrew recipe on their website! Usually, it is somewhere in between.

The first part of the process involves some detective work. There are two places I usually start collecting the information that is going to aid us in putting our recipe together. The label on the bottle or can, and the brewery’s website. At worst, the packaging will give us the ABV of the beer which is a starting point in itself. In addition to the ABV, often they will list hops used, and sometimes the grain as well. A brewery’s website can also give us a good start on the ingredients used. Maybe not the exact amounts, but it is quite common to find a list of the grains and hops used. A photograph of the beer is also a huge help in getting our color and clarity right. From there we will have to rely on some of that “educated guesswork” to dial in the balance of the beer. Sometimes, they will give us starting and finishing gravities along with IBUs. These are a huge help in formulating the grain bill, mash temperature, and hop load that will give us the best results. I’ll also try to find podcasts, YouTube interviews, and magazine articles with the actual brewers or brewery owners. This is a great source for learning how they think about recipe design, and often will have great clues for filling in any missing information.

Once I have as much information as I can get direct from the source, I will move on to secondary sources. See how everybody else is solving the problem of cloning this beer! A quick internet search will often yield clone recipes that other people have put together. However….always consider the source! A clone recipe put out by a reputable source like Brew Your Own magazine, or Zymurgy will usually have dependable information. They are sometimes even able to get inside information direct from the brewers. Recipes from Brewfather, Brewers Friend, Beersmith, BrewGR and other software sites should always be taken with a grain of salt. At this point you should know some basic facts about your recipe, and you can ask yourself “does this person know what the hell they are talking about?”. It’s not unusual for these recipes to have inappropriate ingredients, or be way out of scale with regards to ABV or other pertinent info. If they are, throw them out! If I can collect 3 or 4 reliable recipes and see how other knowledgeable brewers have solved this cloning investigation it will help me get off to a really good start.

Brewing software of some sort is pretty important to have when you start trying to calculate all of the variables that will go into your recipe. I use Beersmith, but most of the others out there should have the capabilities you will need. Most important is to know what your brewhouse efficiency is (or mash efficiency depending on your software). Then you can calculate the rest of the numbers around this. If you don’t know what that number is, I’d start with 65% brewhouse efficiency. This is what most of the BYO and Zymurgy recipies use as a baseline.

What style of beer are we looking at? Is it an ale, or a lager? Blonde ale or IPA? Bavarian Hefeweizen, or American Wheat beer? These style parameters will help set up the framework for the recipe.  Another consideration is the age of the recipe. Recipe formulations have changed over time. Are we cloning a current beer? Or a beer from 20 years ago? 100 years ago? Some recipes haven’t changed much, some have changed a ton!

The grain bill is where I start when selecting ingredients. How much base malt is going to be required to reach the ABV (or OG) for this beer? In most recipes, this base malt will make up 80%-90% or more of the overall grain bill. Any of the grain that has diastatic conversion potential will be included in this portion. This could include pilsner, pale, 2-row, 6-row, wheat malt, Vienna and even Munich malt. Set this base amount and then start building the specialty grains on top of this. Hopefully we will know what these specialty malts are from our previous research. Sometimes these will add a few gravity points as well. From my experience most commercial recipes lean toward the simpler side. Once all of your grains are added, start fine tuning the amounts until you have the color, OG, and estimated malt character correct. If you have a final gravity from the brewer, you might want to adjust your mash temperature so the beer will finish closer to the target. If you don’t have a target FG you’ll have to make another educated guess. Assume 152° as a mid-point. If it is a lighter drier beer you could mash 2° or 4° lower. For a heavier, sweeter beer set your mash temp 2° or 4° higher. Then go back and fine tune your quantities again!

Hop additions often require a little more educated guesswork. Ideally, you’ll have a target IBU and a list of hops used. Some of these varieties may lean more towards bittering hops (Magnum, Warrior, Columbus, Apollo, etc) and some may be more appropriate for flavor and aroma additions. In most cases start with your bittering hop as a 60 minute addition and adjust the amount to come in a little under your target IBU. Then add your flavor and aroma hops near the end of the boil and look at where this leaves your finished IBU level. It may require some fine tuning. This is where some knowledge of the age of the recipe, and maybe even the recipe design philosophy of the brewer can come into play. Older recipes often have mid boil hop additions. It was not unusual to see hop additions at any or all of 60, 45, 30, 15, 5, and 0 minutes of boil time. It is rare for an older recipe to have any post-boil additions. Modern recipes are more likely to have a 60 minute addition to establish the IBU, and the rest of the hops added late or even post boil. Some recipes may have no boil hops at all, with all of the bittering achieved from post boil contact time. Every minute the hops are in contact with hot wort will contribute some level of IBU and your software should help you calculate this level. Additionally, any boil time over 15 minutes will boil away most of the oils that will contribute to flavor and aroma. Brewers have different philosophies regarding how they apply late hop additions. This is why I like to find interviews with a brewer so I can learn how they think. Some are very mathematical, using equal amounts of hops, and ratios like 50% late hops in the whirlpool and 50% dry hop. Some are more artistic using one hop as a featured element and others to support it. Some may have varieties they like to use pre-fermentation, and others for post fermentation. Hopefully your detective work will dig up some clues you can put to work. If not, you’ll have to guess! …and it will probably be fine.

Yeast is the final element (aside from fermentation profile) of the recipe. Often this is a pretty easy choice based on the style of the beer. Though there are subtle variations in yeast varieties that can really help dial in the character of your beer. Most breweries have a narrow list of yeast varieties that they re-use in their beers. If you can find a specific yeast variety they used in another similar beer, it is a safe bet they use the same yeast in this one. This is one aspect of cloning that is tough to get exactly right however. When a brewery is re-pitching yeast it will tend to mutate to it’s surroundings. Elements like number of generations, size of pitch, fermenter geometry, temperature, and oxygen rates all come into play and are hard, or even impossible to duplicate on the homebrew scale.  Some breweries also may have access to unique yeast strains unavailable to us normal people, and we will just have to do our best to get as close as possible.

There is a reason that breweries often spend hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars on their equipment. Additionally, sheer scale of production adds a number of other variables that we can’t recreate as homebrewers. You won’t be able to brew the exact same beer they did on all the big toys. But, if you follow these steps, you’ll be able to brew something darn close, and that is pretty cool to be able to do at home!

1/19/2024

Efficiency (…in a nutshell)

Hey, here’s a controversial statement for you: Your efficiency DOES NOT MATTER! Now…that’s not completely true. What I mean is, whatever that number is…it’s fine. All that really matters is that you know what that number is! Then you will have an important tool in brewing the beer you intended. I talk with people all the time who are very concerned about low efficiency numbers, and are looking for ways to improve them. These people are justifiably concerned that they always fall short of their predicted gravities. I also hear the other side of the coin from people who are very proud of hitting really high efficiency numbers, though often it means that they are overshooting their predicted and intended gravity. Both of these realities are bad. The only way to consistently brew a beer with the balance the designer intended is to hit your numbers every time. And, the only way to do that is to know the efficiency number that YOU produce, on YOUR system, in YOUR environment. Then, do the best job you can to produce consistent, repeatable results.

The intended balance of a beer is critical. Usually we are talking about the balance between Bittering Units and Original Gravity Units, but base grain to specialty grain balance is also important. The BU/GU ratio is what predicts the perceived bitterness or maltiness of a beer. Our bittering level is fixed by the amount of hops and their boil time (or contact time with hot wort). If we are under our predicted gravity, the beer will be perceived as more bitter than intended because the malt character will be lower. If we exceed our predicted gravity, the beer will be less bitter than intended and can be perceived as sweet, soft, or flabby. Achieving our predicted mash efficiency also helps get the intended balance from our grain itself. Specialty malts in most cases only need to be steeped 30-40 minutes to get everything out of them that is intended. Mash efficiency is primarily focused on how well we extract the sugars from our base grain. The fixed component is the specialty grain and the variable component is the mash of the base grain. If our mash efficiency is low, the specialty grains will be more prominent in the flavor. Conversely if our mash efficiency is high the specialty grains will be less prominent, and may require slightly more in order to reach the desired balance.

It is probably worth looking at how to calculate these numbers to have a full understanding of what is going on. However, this can get pretty nerdy and it is really easy to just let your brewing software do all the hard work for you. Feel free to jump over this paragraph if you want.  There are 2 different aspects we will be looking at: Mash efficiency and overall Brew House efficiency (which actually includes mash efficiency). Mash efficiency is just that – how efficiently are we extracting the sugars from the grains in the mash? Run off speed, sparging technique, grain bed channeling and water chemistry all play a role in this. Brew House efficiency takes the mash, the boil, and knock out into the fermenter all into consideration. Mash efficiency is calculated by taking the pre-boil gravity of your wort after mashing and sparging, and comparing it to the maximum potential yield from that specific grain bill. We will need to know the %FGDB (Fine Grind, Dry Basis) for each grain, which is a measurement of the best extract we could expect to achieve under laboratory conditions. This can be found on the Malt analysis sheet. We will also need to know the weight of each grain in the recipe, and the pre-boil volume after mashing and sparging. With this info we will calculate the expected gravity Points per Pound per Gallon (PPG) for each grain. Briess Brewers malt has a %FGDB of 81%. When compared to a max PPG of 46 (achieved with 100% soluble sucrose) this would make our max potential PPG 37.3 (81% of 46). This is then multiplied by the weight of grain per gallon of pre-boil volume. In my Pale Ale recipe I have 9# of base malt, and I normally use a pre-boil volume of 7 gallons, so this factor would be 9/7=1.29. Here is a table of what these calculations would look like for my Pale Ale Recipe:

Jon’s Pale Ale – Mash Efficiency Table
Recipe	Grain	%FGDB	PPG	Weight÷Boil Vol	Yield	Gravity
9#	Briess Brewers Malt	81%	37.3	9÷7=1.29	48.12
1#	Crisp Light Crystal 45L	72%	33.1	1÷7=0.14	4.63
0.5#	Briess Carapils	75%	34.5	0.5÷7=0.07	2.42
	Predicted Pre-Boil Gravity at 100% Mash Efficiency				55.17	1.055
	Predicted Pre-Boil Gravity at 75% Mash Efficiency				41.38	1.041

Brew house efficiency is the overall process efficiency. In addition to the mash efficiency, it takes into consideration what happens during the boil to predict our final post boil gravity. There are many variables (boil time, evaporation, kettle trub losses, kettle dead space, etc) that go into this calculation. I find it easier to just let my software calculate this. Honestly, I find it easier to let my software do ALL of this for me. But sometimes it is good to know what is going on behind the scenes!

Using some sort of brewing software can really simplify the process of knowing what your efficiency number is. As I said in the beginning, for homebrewers it really doesn’t matter how high or low this number is. It is just important to know what it is and then consistently hit it. We have to assume that you are already consistently doing the best job you can with the process. Changing things like water to grist ratio, wort run off/sparging speed, boil time, or boil volume will affect your consistent results. Once you know what your efficiency is you can use the software to input and adjust every recipe for YOUR efficiency, rather than the efficiency of the person who designed the recipe. All of our in-store recipes (along with most of those in BYO or Zymurgy) are designed at 65% Brewhouse efficiency, which correlates to a Mash efficiency of about 74-75%.  My software of choice is Beersmith, but others I commonly see are Brewers Friend, Brewfather, and Brew GR. Many of these have free or introductory options. The easiest way to dial in this function is to first make sure you know how to adjust the efficiency number in your software, then input every recipe you brew into it. In Beersmith, the Brew House Efficiency is the only factor you can manually adjust. If you come in a little under your gravity on one batch, set your BH efficiency number a little lower on your next. Conversely, if your gravity comes in a little high, set your efficiency number a little higher the next time you brew. Within a few batches, you will have it all dialed in! Once you have that, the goal will be to adjust each recipe to the amounts of base grain and hops needed to hit the OG and IBU specifications the recipe was designed with.  

There it is! Efficiency in a nutshell! Honestly, you don’t need to know any of this to brew beer. But, the longer you brew, the more you may want to know about controlling the variables. And efficiency is a big one. The most important thing is to keep on brewing, and have fun! Enjoy the process. If all else fails…relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew! (thanks Charlie P.)  Cheers!

6/17/2023

ABV….or, how to say I am getting old without saying “I’m getting old”

Aw heck, I’ll just say it…as I have gotten older I find myself preferring beer with lower and lower ABV. Consequently, the beer recipes I have been adding to my collection in the store have reflected this trend. These recipes usually start out as something I want to brew for myself, and then if it is an outstanding beer, I feel the need to share it. Lately these beers have been in the 5-6% ABV range and often lower! 10 or 15 years ago everything I brewed was in the 7-8% ABV range and often higher! It recently occurred to me that many folks might still want beers with a little more kick! One of the great things about homebrewing is that you can brew the beer that YOU want to drink! If that beer is an 11 or 12% Barleywine or Triple IPA that’s awesome! If it is a 3% Bitter, that’s also awesome! You have the control. ABV adjustments are quite easy to make, and are a great place to start as you begin to learn about modifying recipes to fit your specific tastes.

Alcohol By Volume is a product of the fermentable sugars in your wort. More sugars, more alcohol! It’s that easy! Well, almost that easy. The grain bill in a recipe is a blend of Base Malt or Malt Extract (which is where the fermentable sugars come from) combined with specialty grains (this is where most of our flavor and color come from). If you want to raise or lower the ABV in a recipe the easiest way is to increase or decrease the amount of base malt or malt extract, while leaving the specialty grains as they were. Adding an extra pound of base malt in a typical 5 gallon batch will increase the ABV by about 0.5%. For extract brewers this correlates to about 0.75 pounds of liquid extract for a 0.5% increase. This increase in ABV will also be accompanied by a slight increase in the body, mouthfeel, and general maltiness of the beer.

Corn Sugar is often used in Double IPAs, Belgian beers, and many others as a way to increase ABV without increasing the malt character of the beer. Consisting of dextrose, it is more fermentable than barley wort which contains primarily maltose. Adding more malt to a grain bill will increase the body, whereas adding corn sugar will keep the body of the beer more consistent with the original if that is desired. However, there is a limit before it starts to affect the flavor and overall fermentability. I would usually recommend not going over a pound of added sugar. Adding ½ pound of corn sugar will give you about .75% increase in ABV, and a full pound will increase by about 1.5%. This is normally added at the end of the boil. I often find myself doing the reverse and removing the corn sugar additions from my old double IPA recipes in order to lower the ABV into my comfort range.

Subtle changes in ABV can also be made by adjusting mash temperature. Increasing or decreasing the temperature of the mash will affect the fermentability of the wort which will change the final gravity of the beer. Lower final gravity equals increased ABV, and higher FG means lower ABV. This gives you one more tool in your arsenal.

One last thing to take into consideration is that any increase or decrease in the original gravity (and ultimately the ABV) will affect the hop balance of the finished beer. That may be perfectly acceptable in many cases, but if you want to keep this balance consistent it may require an adjustment in the bittering addition of your recipe. If you want to dig a little deeper into this topic, I covered it in a blog post from 2/3/2022 regarding Balance.

Cheers! …happy brewing  …and get off my lawn!

4/5/2023

Fermentation

We all strive to create the best possible recipe, and use the best, most appropriate ingredients with hopes that they will create the best possible beer down the road. One aspect of homebrewing that often comes as an after thought is Fermentation. A beer made with a poorly designed recipe, with mediocre ingredients, but well fermented will always be better than a beer made with the best recipe and ingredients, but then poorly fermented. So, what goes into a good fermentation? It all revolves around yeast health. Our choices regarding quality grains and hop selection are important, but the yeast is doing all the heavy lifting.

Let’s start out by talking about the Fermentation cycle. There are 3 primary phases of fermentation. These are the adaptive phase, attenuative phase, and maturation. During the adaptive phase the yeast cells are basically getting used to their new environment. Sometimes called the “lag” phase this usually lasts about 12-24 hours. During this period the yeast cells utilize their own glycogen reserves along with lipids and dissolved oxygen in the wort to prepare their cell membranes to metabolize sugar molecules during fermentation. The yeast cells are essentially increasing their viability. This is the phase that benefits most from proper nutrient additions, and introduction of oxygen. The attenuative phase of fermentation begins with the yeast going into its high-growth stage. It has adapted to the new environment and can begin metabolizing sugars and reproducing. We’ll start to see a krausen layer on top of the beer at this point. This phase usually lasts 1-3 days for ales, and 2-5 days for lagers. The yeast are consuming the sugars (attenuating the beer), converting them to alcohol, and releasing CO2 along with a few other byproducts. As the yeast run out of sugars to eat we will move into the maturation phase of fermentation.  Many people think that fermentation is over at this point because we’ll stop seeing bubbles in the airlock as the yeast stop releasing CO2. The maturation phase however, is one of the most important parts of the fermentation cycle and can last from 4-8 days. Even longer for lagers! During this phase our “green” beer will have many off flavors which the yeast will go to work on eliminating. The key to a good maturation period is keeping the yeast active through a slight increase in temperature, or agitating the fermenter to rouse any yeast that has settled.

Many of the flavors and aromas retained in our finished beer come from yeast esters. These esters (both positive and negative) are primarily created during the High growth phase of fermentation. Esters created in optimum fermentation environments are usually pleasing, and important aspects of any beer. Whereas low cell counts, excessively warm fermentation, and low oxygen/nutrient environments will produce esters that are usually less pleasing. In addition, fermentations that are too warm will be more energetic and can produce fusel alcohols resembling nail polish remover or paint thinner. Definitely not something we want in our beer! Early in fermentation other compounds are created as well which we do not want in our finished beer. These include Diacetyl, Acetaldehyde, and a few others which can be cleaned up by yeast during the maturation phase. By this point in the fermentation cycle our yeast is tired and just about ready to be finished. We want to keep it going just a little bit longer. Starting out with a proper sized healthy pitch of yeast is one way to make sure they still have some energy left. Increasing the temperature by a few degrees will also keep the yeast active and consuming these undesirable byproducts. Compounds like esters, and fusel alcohols cannot be cleaned up during the maturation phase and will be retained in the finished beer.

Temperature at the various stages of fermentation has a significant effect on esters, attenuation, and maturation. Most yeasts have a range that they are comfortable fermenting in. What this really means is that this is the range that they will produce positive esters in. If we start getting out of this range, the yeast can go dormant or stressed on the colder side which may affect attenuation, and the yeast can produce negative esters on the hotter side. However, the esters created within this range can also vary significantly. Typically, beers fermented cooler will be cleaner with lower levels of esters, and those fermented warmer will have more dominant esters. Best practice is to pitch your yeast into wort which is a couple of degrees cooler than your target fermentation temperature. As the yeast moves into the high growth/attenuative phase it will create it’s own heat which will bring it up to the temp you are looking for (or possibly beyond!). It is during these few days that most of the esters and other by products are created. Maintaining the proper fermentation temperature at this time is critical. As the yeast finishes consuming sugars in the wort, fermentation will slow. It is normal because of this for the wort (actually beer at this point) to cool a little. Ideally, we would like it to stay where it is or even warm a little in order to keep the yeast active and make sure it consumes all of the appropriate sugars (attenuation) and then goes to work on the other by products. Since most of the esters have already been created by this point we don’t have to worry as much about the effect of a slight increase in temperature. Many lager yeasts produce higher levels of diacetyl than ale yeasts and require a more significant increase in temperature to be sure that diacetyl gets consumed. But even ale fermentations can benefit from a bit of a rise. I usually increase by 3 or 4 degrees for ales, and 8-10 degrees for lagers.

Flocculation is the last thing that happens in fermentation. The yeast either runs out of food to eat, or simply gets tired and calls it quits. When this happens the majority will drop out of suspension and form a yeast cake at the bottom of your fermenter. Interestingly, yeast that is higher attenuating likes to stay in suspension and continue it’s work, therefore it will usually be a lower flocculating yeast. Conversely, lower attenuating yeast is usually higher on the flocculation scale and the beer will clear faster. If we are really sure that the maturation phase of fermentation is finished we can use temperature to speed up flocculation if desired. Beer stored cooler, or even cold crashed will encourage faster flocculation. If cold crashing, be careful that the change in pressure doesn’t suck back all of the liquid in your airlock!

Efficient fermentation really comes down to being aware of your yeast’s needs during the various stages of fermentation. Optimum cell counts and viability of yeast will get things off to the best start initially. Nutrients, and dissolved oxygen in our wort will help support it through the adaptive stage. Temperature is most important during the attenuative phase. Keeping our yeast active through a slight temperature increase or simply rousing it can keep it going strong through the maturation phase.  If we can give the yeast everything it needs at each stage, it is going to work really hard to produce the best beer it can for us! In my eyes this truly makes it Man’s (or Woman’s) Best Friend on a level that rivals our canine companions! It’s no wonder that my dogs seem so jealous when I am brewing!

12/22/2022

Garage Lagers

Brewing Lager beer is something that many homebrewers avoid because of the extra temperature control required. Lager yeast is a bottom fermenting yeast that likes to ferment cold, and can throw off some less than pleasing esters if that fermentation gets too warm. Add to that an extended cold storage period post fermentation, and brewing lagers is just out of reach of many homebrewers. But there are so many great lager beers and recipes out there, wouldn’t it be great to be able to brew them with the equipment we already have? Enter what I call “Garage Lagering”. It’s not as precise as having a temperature controlled chamber, or a chilling coil in your fermenter. But in these colder winter months around here it is possible to get the job done! This is exactly how I did my first experiments with lager fermentations.

We can think of a lager fermentation as having 3 basic stages: Primary Fermentation, Diacetyl rest, and Lagering. During primary fermentation most lager yeasts like to be in the 50-55° range. When I realized that my garage was holding a pretty steady 50ish degree temperature during the winter I started thinking that brewing a lager was something I might actually be able to try! It’s also where my ultra catchy, creative name of “Garage Lagering” came from. Most garages are subject to some temperature swings, so wrapping your fermenter in a blanket or something can be beneficial. Not in order to keep it warm, but to slow the transitions between higher and lower ambient temps in the garage. Because we are fermenting colder than we do with ales, primary fermentation will take a little longer and require more yeast. A good rule of thumb is to use twice as much yeast for a lager fermentation as you would for an ale of the same gravity. It’s also best to pitch your yeast at close to the temperature you are planning to ferment at. This may mean letting your fermenter sit for a few hours or even overnight to give it time to get down that low. I like to give a lager about 2 weeks of primary fermentation. As we get towards the end of that 2 weeks and you notice fermentation slowing it will be time for our diacetyl rest. This basically means warming up the beer a little bit so the yeast can remain active. We want to encourage it to finish consuming the sugars that are available, and then go back and clean up some of the other compounds that were created during the initial stages of fermentation. Most of the yeast esters were formed early in fermentation, so warming up the beer at this stage of the process will have very little effect on these. In a well controlled fermentation this means warming it into the 60° range. In a garage lager this means bringing your fermenter into the house! We’ll give it a few days inside to warm up and finish our diacetyl rest.

Next begins the cool down stage, and how we do this will depend on the equipment at your disposal. The beer is going to be sitting for anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, so my preference is to move it away from the sediment and into a secondary fermenter. No matter how far we cool it, our goal is to cool it slowly. Ideally, we will eventually get it down to refrigerator temperature, but if we do it too fast it will crash the beer and drop all of the yeast out of suspension. Once the beer is into the secondary the next step will be to move it back into the garage and start the cooling process. For some people this might be as far as it goes, and we will just stay at this temp for another couple of weeks before moving to bottles. My keezer gave me the option to get the beer a little colder. I rearranged the kegs to make room for my secondary fermenter and allowed the keezer to warm to the temperature of the garage. After placing the fermenter inside I start reducing the temperature by about 4 degrees a day until I am back down it’s normal 38°. Granted, I had a couple of days of pouring beers closer to cask temperature, but that was a fair trade! One important thing to be aware of is the dreaded suck back! The pressure in your fermenter changes as the beer cools, and can cause the liquid in your airlock to get sucked back into your fermenter! The ideal way to combat this is to route some sort of CO2 source to your fermenter to fill the headspace, but if you are doing garage lagering there is a good chance that this would be more complex than most people have the options to do. My solution was to put a dry airlock on it and let it suck in air. Not ideal, but better than sanitizer! If you have the ability to disconnect a keg and blow a little CO2 into the headspace, it’s not a bad idea. Once it stabilizes at the final temperature I would return to a filled airlock.

After a few weeks sitting at whatever cooling temperature you can achieve, the next step is to bottle or keg as you normally would! There are definitely some corners being cut in my “Garage Lagering” method, but I have always been pleasantly surprised by the results! Often times homebrewing means looking at the tools and options you have available, and then simply doing what you can with what you’ve got! At the very least you will learn more about the process, and become a better brewer. At the very best….soon you will be sipping on some fine lager beer!

5/15/2022

As the weather is warming up (ever so slowly) I am seeing more people looking to brew IPAs. I thought this might be a good time to re-share a paper I wrote a few years ago with some tips for brewing IPA. A few things have changed in the years since I wrote this, but most of the primary points still stand true!

~Cheers!

AMERICAN IPA
IPA is the most popular craft beer style in America. Love it or hate it, IPA is the beer style that keeps the
cash registers of most brew pubs turning. Additionally, it’s popularity has been the guiding force
behind much of the hop research and development over the past few years. The history of IPA goes
back over a hundred years, however our focus here will be on American IPA styles which have only been
around for a few decades. These can be divided into two primary categories: West Coast IPA and East
Coast or New England IPA. Each of these, of course, has numerous variations some of which we will
discuss as well.
West Coast IPA
West Coast style IPA is a clear, somewhat bitter, very aromatic style of beer. Most commonly it is dry
hopped post fermentation with fruity or piney Northwest style hops. Cascade hops were the original,
used in Anchor Liberty Ale in the mid 70s and many other early IPAs. Malt character is usually slightly
sweet, but balanced by the hop bitterness. The finish is usually somewhat on the drier side allowing the
hop flavor and aroma to take center stage.
Grain
The grain bill for a West Coast style IPA is usually pretty simple. A common grain bill might be 85-90%
American 2-row for the base with the remainder split between Caramel malt and Cara-pils. It is not
unusual to see Corn sugar added, especially in Double and Imperial IPAs. Caramel malt is very
appropriate, in 5-10% quantities. We want to avoid grains such as wheat, or flaked grains which would
have a tendency to encourage haziness. The grain bill for Stone IPA, released in 1997, is 93.5% Pale malt,
and 6.5% C-15L. Pliny the Elder is a classic example of a Double IPA and one of the examples that sets
the standard. It consists of 87.3% 2-Row, 3.9% C-45L, 3.9% CaraPils, and 4.9% Corn Sugar. I like to use a
90/5/5 mix of base malt/caramel malt/and CaraPils as a starting point, with the color of the caramel
malt varying dependent on the desired final color. I also like to use a small amount (usually 4 oz.) of
Acidulated malt in all of my hoppier beers. For a Double or Imperial IPA adding ½-1 pound of sugar
helps to increase the ABV without overdoing the malt character of the beer. Since the sugar ferments
more fully than grain, we are able achieve lower final gravity than if we had just used more grain. The
important thought here is that while we do want some malt character, the hops are the star of the
show. I like to mash on the cooler side (148/150 degrees) to encourage a final gravity around 1.010 give
or take a couple of points. This will allow the hop character to be most dominant.
Hops
West Coast IPAs are typically a fairly bitter beer, with GU/BU (Gravity Unit/Bittering Units) ratios close to
1.0 or higher. For example, a beer with Original Gravity of 1.060, a common IBU level would be at least
60. Obviously, this varies widely, but it is a good starting point. High alpha, fairly neutral bittering hops
are preferred allowing you to get maximum bittering from smaller quantities of hops. Common choices
for a 60 minute addition are Columbus, Warrior, Galena, and Chinook. Modern recipes will often have
only a bittering hop addition, and late kettle hop additions (5 min, 0 min, or whirlpool). However, many
West Coast IPA recipes are a little older. It is not unusual to see mid-boil additions as was common at
the time. Late additions and Dry Hopping post fermentation are what give IPAs their characteristic
flavors and intense aromas. Dry hopping rates can vary significantly, but a good rule of thumb would be
to balance the rate of dry hopping to the ABV and IBU. Lower ABV and corresponding lower IBU would
lend themselves to lower dry hopping rates. For a single IPA I might use 2 ounces of total dry hops,
bigger IPAs might be appropriate with 4 or 5 ounces of total dry-hopping or more. Sometimes these very
large doses of dry hops can be split into two additions a couple of days apart. When choosing hops I
prefer to limit myself to 2 or 3 varieties of flavor/aroma hops, often with the same varieties used for
both late kettle additions and dry hopping. There are many good examples of IPAs using only a single
hop variety, however this results in a beer with little hop complexity. In most cases I prefer to feature
one hop variety, and use half the amount of 1 or 2 other varieties to support the featured hop. If we
start using too many different varieties for these late additions, we will likely get a muddy undefined
flavor. The palate of flavor and aroma hops is ever growing, but is normally on the fruity/citrus side with
occasional pine notes. Hops with more earthy, floral notes are normally avoided. I find that flameout,
and whirlpool additions lend a nice resinous quality to the flavor and aroma. Dry-hopping brings out all
of the intense aromas we are looking for in an IPA. It is most common to either move the beer to a
secondary fermenter, or pull the yeast from the beer (if using a conical fermenter) before adding the dry
hops. In this style we want to minimize any interaction between the yeast and the hops which might
result in haziness. Hops are added to the fermenter for a few days before kegging or bottling. If these
hops remain in contact with the beer for too long, or if the hops are old you will get unpleasing leafy or
vegetal flavors. I prefer to use the freshest pellet hops I can, and aim for about 3 days of contact time.
Many double or imperial IPAs use 2 stages of dry-hopping for even more aroma intensity. In this case I
would put the first addition with 5 or 6 days remaining, and the second at 3 days before packaging.
Some recent studies have found that many of the aromatic oils go into solution in as little as 24 hours.
Water
As with most brewing water, if it smells good and tastes good it is probably suitable for brewing West
Coast IPA. That said, there are things that you can do to tailor it more specifically for this style. If you are
using a city water source that has chlorine or chloramine added, removing it is foremost on the list. This
can be done by aerating and allowing brewing water to sit overnight, adding a campden tablet (1 tablet
will neutralize chlorine in up to 20 Gallons), or slowly passing through a charcoal filter. Water that is on
the harder side is usually preferred. The two most common additives for hardening water are Calcium
Sulfate (Gypsum) and Calcium Chloride. I like to use a blend of the two, but for this style I blend heavier
on the gypsum side of things. Gypsum will have a tendency to brighten up the hops and allow them to
shine in the overall mix. Calcium Chloride tends to accentuate the malt character in beer. The ideal way
to apply this is to have your water tested so you know what your starting point is, and then add the
necessary salts to reach a target profile. I use a less exact “seasoning” method, in which I am just
making small adjustments to my water much like putting salt and pepper on my food. I use 1 tsp. total
salts per 5 gallon batch dissolved into my strike water. In the case of West Coast IPA, I would use ¾ tsp
Gypsum and ¼ tsp Calcium Chloride. This is not very much. I am just trying to push my water a little bit in
a harder direction. I don’t want to overdo it.
Yeast
Clean American Ale yeast is most commonly used in West Coast style IPAs, though there are some great
examples that use a clean high flocculating British Strain (Stone IPA). Examples of the most common
American strains would be Imperial A07 Flagship, White Labs WLP001 California Ale, and Wyeast 1056
American Ale. These all source their origin back to the Chico strain of yeast originally used at Sierra
Nevada. The dry yeast US-05 is also a commonly used version of this strain. Imperial A01 House, White
Labs WLP007 Dry English, and Wyeast 1098 British are examples of the commonly used British strain. As
with all beer, pitching rates, nutrients and oxygen levels are extremely important. A single pack of
Wyeast or White Labs yeast normally contains 100 Billion yeast cells. This is appropriate for beers with
OG up to 1.045 or 1.050. If my OG is between 1.050 and 1.075 I will need more yeast. One pack of
Imperial yeast with 200 billion cells, or 2 packs of Wyeast or White labs gives you a good pitching rate.
Another option is to use a single 100 billion cell pack and use a yeast starter to increase the cell count.
For really big beers, I am going to use 2 packs of Imperial, or a really big starter. I would always prefer to
overpitch a little bit rather than take a chance on underpitching.
Process – Boil and Fermentation
Since pilsner malt is not commonly used in West Coast IPA, a 60 minute boil is normally all that is
necessary. This is the length of time needed to fully isomerize the Alpha Acids in your bittering hops.
However, I prefer to boil for 90 minutes for everything I brew. This allows me to be consistent with my
pre-boil volume for every batch, and I like giving the boil 30 minutes to settle in before I start adding
hops. I always use whirlfloc and yeast nutrient towards the end of the boil. Once my wort is in the
fermenter, I oxygenate at a moderate level for 1 minute prior to pitching my yeast. If you don’t have a
method for adding pure oxygen, just try to do what you can to increase the oxygen level in your wort.
This could be using an aquarium pump, stirring with a whisk, or even pouring back and forth between
vessels. Your yeast will appreciate it! I prefer to keep my fermentation a little on the cool side (64-66
degrees) in order to keep yeast esters low. This allows the hops to be the star of the show without other
flavors interfering. Towards the end of primary fermentation, I will allow the temperature to rise to
around 70 degrees for a few days. This encourages the yeast to remain active, thoroughly fermenting
through all of the sugars available, and cleaning up any compounds created in the early stages of
fermentation.
It may seem like these form a very narrow set of guidelines, but a wide range of beers have been
created that fit into this style! The most important elements are clarity, bitterness, and aromatics from
dry hopping. These are what set West Coast IPA apart from other styles. Start with those fundamentals
and let your creativity craft something special!
East Coast IPA/NEIPA
Rebellion is often the guiding force behind innovation. In my opinion there are 2 acts of rebellion that
spawned the beginning of what is now known as East Coast IPA, New England Style IPA, or simply a
Hazy. As West Coast IPA gained in popularity, brewers pushed the limits of bittering IBUs. This was not
to everyone’s liking, and the natural reaction was to push back the other way. The pendulum had swung
as far as it could go in the bitterness direction, and it began to swing back towards the other extreme.
The second act of blatant rebellion was to question the common (at the time) wisdom of separating hop
additions from active yeast action. It was found that active yeast would bio-transform elements in hops
creating new flavors and aromas that had not been seen previously in IPAs. This also created an
unavoidable haze, that once embraced became a hallmark of the East Coast Style IPA. Once the haze
became an accepted and even targeted element in these beers, grains that would have previously been
avoided because of their haze inducing properties started gaining popularity.
Grain
The grain bill for an East Coast style IPA is also usually fairly simple, but significantly different from a
West Coast IPA. Base malt can be either 2-row pale, or lighter colored Pilsner malt. If using pilsner malt
however, I’d recommend a 90 minute boil to reduce potential DMS off flavor. It is not unusual to blend
10% or 20% of a darker base malt such as Maris Otter, Vienna, or even Munich to add a little complexity
to the base. Flaked Oats and Flaked Wheat are often used in smaller amounts. They will lend a softness
to the mouthfeel, and also add haze forming proteins that the hop compounds can bind to. Malted
Wheat is commonly used as well. All of these combine to make a beer that is usually light in color, with a
thick soft mouthfeel. Sometimes described as pillowy, this creates a nice soft hazy bed for those hop oils
to rest in. As with West Coast IPA, I like to use a small amount of Acidulated malt as well. Other grains
that occasionally make an appearance in this style of beer are: honey malt, malted oats, spelt malt, and
cara-pils. It is uncommon to see any sort of crystal or caramel malt in a NEIPA recipe. Because of the
amount of husk-less grain in this sort of recipe, adding some rice hulls is a good idea to help prevent a
stuck mash.
Hops
As with all styles of IPA, hops are the dominant factor in East Coast IPA. Bittering is typically very low in
comparison to other styles of IPA, usually ranging from about 10-40 IBUs. A 60-minute hop addition is
unusual. If a recipe has one, it is usually very small. Most of these IBUs are usually achieved from late
boil or even post boil additions. Any time the hops are in contact with wort above about 180 degrees,
alpha acids will isomerize forming iso-alpha acids which create bittering. This is why hops added even
after flame-out will still create IBUs, just in lower quantities. The benefit of these late additions is that
very little of the hop oils that give us all of the wonderful aromas are volatized away in the steam from
boiling. Often times hops are added in a whirlpool or hop stand after the wort has been cooled to below
170 degrees. This allows the hop oils and other compounds to go into solution while creating almost no
additional bittering. This is one area where homebrewers have it a lot easier than large scale brewers.
We can simply put an immersion chiller in our kettle, chill it to where we want and then finish the hop
additions. This is very difficult to do if you have a 200-300 gallon batch! The thing that really sets New
England style IPA apart is adding a dry hop addition at high krausen, when the yeast is actively
fermenting. Compounds in the hop oils are transformed by the active yeast creating the sweet fruit
characteristics NEIPA is known for. These new compounds then bind themselves to proteins and other
compounds in the wort, which causes the haze that we usually see in these beers. I have had the best
luck with Citra hops for this high krausen addition, but there are others that will work. This is usually
followed up with 1 or 2 more dry hop additions shortly before packaging in the same manner as West
Coast IPA. The variety of hop options for this style of IPA is growing all the time. Most of the recently
developed, and currently in development varieties are targeting the flavors brewers are looking to
achieve in hazy NEIPAs. Citra is most common and appears in almost all recipes I have seen. Other
commonly used hops include Amarillo®, Azacca, Centennial, El Dorado, Galaxy, Ekuanot, and Mosaic. We
are targeting hops with more fruity and citrus qualities. Varieties with more piney, grassy and earthy
flavors are usually avoided in this style of beer.
Yeast
Yeast choice for this style of beer is critical. It has to be a yeast that has the ability to create the bio-transformation with the hops during fermentation. There are several strains of British origin that are
most commonly used. Initially the Conan strain from The Alchemist in Vermont (makers of Heady
Topper) was the strain most used by Homebrewers. Imperial yeast carries this as A04 Barbarian. More
recently the Boddington’s strain has gained popularity. This would be the Imperial A38 Juice, White Labs
WLP066, or Wyeast WY1318. Other options, if you are looking for something a little different would be
Imperial A24 Dry Hop (a blend of A04 Barbarian and A20 Citrus) or White Labs WLP067 Coastal Haze
Blend. As with all beers, having a proper sized, healthy pitch of yeast is extremely important. Oxygen
and Nutrients will help ensure that you have a good healthy fermentation. All of these yeast strains are
fairly active. Be sure you have plenty of headspace and/or a blow off tube to account for this. Also,
anticipate additional activity for a short time after adding the high krausen dry hop. Kveik yeasts are the
newest thing people have been using in hazy IPAs with good results. These varieties also have the
benefit of being able to ferment at fairly warm temperatures with out any negative off flavors.
Water
Water for NEIPA is similar in some ways as to West Coast IPA, with the exception being that the balance
of Calcium Chloride to Gypsum is usually skewed more towards the Calcium Chloride. This tends to
complement the softer mouthfeel found in many East Coast IPAs. Many people use a ratio of 2:1 or even
3:1 (Calcium Chloride:Gypsum), but I prefer a ratio of 1:1. I feel like a beer can get flabby and indistinct if
the balance is too much on the Calcium Chloride side. The gypsum helps to maintain the brightness of
the hops. Notice however that this ratio is still balanced more to the side of Calcium Chloride than I
would use with a West Coast style IPA. As with most brewing water, if it smells good and tastes good it is
probably suitable for brewing. The most important thing you can do, even if you do nothing else is to
take steps to remove the chlorine and/or chloramine from your water. A campden tablet, charcoal filter,
or just a long sit uncovered overnight can usually accomplish this.
Process – Boil and Fermentation
For an East Coast IPA, I like to mash in the area of 152-154 degrees. Sometimes even 156. This
encourages a higher finishing gravity. The end result is a slightly sweeter beer, which both increases the
mouthfeel, and also pushes the balance away from hop bitterness. If using pilsner malt, I’d recommend
a 90-minute boil. Personally, I do this with every brew. It helps reduce the possibility of DMS in the final
beer, and gives me consistency from batch to batch no matter what I am brewing. Most of the rest of
my brew-day process is the same as I would do for a West Coast IPA. Whirlfloc, yeast nutrient, and
oxygenating wort prior to pitching yeast are all important steps in the process. I like to ferment NEIPA in
the range of 66-68 degrees. Some people will ferment a few degrees warmer than that to encourage
more yeast esters. As primary fermentation slows down I usually allow the temperature to rise a few
degrees to encourage the yeast to fully clean up after itself. Because of the very low IBU levels, and high
protein levels, this style of beer is more prone to damage from oxygen contact during the later stages of
the process. If this happens, the nice bright hazy appearance of your beer can start to turn to a less
attractive tan or brown, and eventually the flavor can deteriorate as well. Any steps that you can take to
reduce the amount of oxygen contacting the beer during dry hopping, and packaging are more
important than with other beer styles. This is not to say that I think you must run out and purchase a
purgeable dry hop vessel right now! Just take care, and think about how what you are doing affects the
oxygen contact of the beer. When dry hopping I usually just pull the stopper on the fermentation vessel,
use a funnel if it is a small opening, add the hops, and get it closed back up as quickly as I can. If cold
crashing your beer, it’s wise to try to set up a system that will allow CO2 to pull back into the vessel
rather than oxygen as the pressure changes. At the end of fermentation, if it is possible to do a closed
transfer into a purged keg, this is a good place to do it. If bottle conditioning, the yeast should scrub any
oxygen from the headspace of the bottle during the carbonating process. If bottling from kegs, this is
one style that you will definitely want to be able to purge your bottles with CO2 prior to filling. The
important thing here is to do what you can, and don’t stress about what you can’t.
Relax, Don’t Worry, Have a HomeBrew is always the best mantra for all things HomeBrew (thanks
Charlie Papazian!). Enjoy the process, and enjoy the results. Share with your friends. Try to get a little
better and learn a little more with each batch. You are making the world a better place, one homebrew
at a time!

3/16/2022

Are we having fun yet?

I LOVE brewing beer. I love the social aspects of brewing beer as well. Sharing my beers, trying other people’s beers, talking about brewing adventures, exploring new recipes, and improving old ones. All of these are part of the fun. But what I really love is brewing. In fact, I may love brewing beer more than I actually like drinking beer….and I LOVE drinking beer, so this is really saying something! It is important as we grow as brewers not to lose this important aspect of why we do this. It is fun! If it wasn’t, there are lots of options at the local grocery store or at the neighborhood brewery who is working so hard at their craft. I think some people lose the enjoyment somewhere along the way and that is why people drift in and out of the homebrewing community.

The science of brewing is something that is growing all of the time. The last 10 or 15 years has seen an explosion in the options, and details available to the homebrewer. For many people this has added to the enjoyment, and in many cases to the quality of the beer we can brew at home. There are now calculators to help with water adjustments, all in one brewing systems that will perform complicated step mash regimes, and Bluetooth hydrometers that will send information directly to your phone so you can monitor your fermentation on an hourly basis. Are all of these details necessary for this to be fun? For some people the answer is a resounding YES! Are all of these details necessary to enjoy brewing, and make beer that you enjoy drinking? My answer is no. The important thing is to look at the options available, and decide what is right for you.

Working in a homebrew shop you see brewers of all levels and abilities. Some brew with malt extract, specialty grains, and ferment in glass carboys and have no interest in doing anything more complex. And that is just fine! For others, the fun in this hobby comes from exploring every new gadget, and examining the smallest details of everything that goes into their recipes. And that is just fine too! The place where this can begin to go sideways is when people get the idea that they have to make it complex in order to make good beer. I spoke with somebody recently who had been researching homebrewing.  He hadn’t started yet because he was so intimidated by what he had read about water treatment, pH adjustments, temperature control, and oxygen free dry-hop and transfer methods. My advice was “Dude, you need to throw all of that out the window and just make beer. You don’t NEED any of it!” He has the rest of his life to make it difficult. This is not to say that those things are not important in their own right, just not “necessary”. If malted barley is soaked in hot water for a little while and then exposed to some sort of yeast it IS going to turn into beer. It wants really badly to become the beer that we so heartily enjoy!

It is hard to imagine having more fun brewing than I did in those early days of brewing with malt extract, and fermenting in a glass carboy in the corner with a T-shirt wrapped around it. I have also spent a fair amount of time with a pH meter in my hand and monitoring close additions of gypsum, calcium chloride and lactic acid. My current set up falls somewhere between these two. While my brewing system is complex in some people’s book, it pales in comparison to the science labs that some people have. I have found the place where this stays fun for me. And I make pretty good beer with it! The important part of what I am trying to say here, is to find the point where you truly enjoy the process. And whatever that point is, you are winning! …and that is awesome!

2/3/2022

Balance. It’s something we are often striving for in life, but more importantly (?) it’s also something we are striving for in our beer! Balance is a somewhat subjective term. It can mean different things to different people. My preferred balance might be different from yours. And that’s ok. However, being able to assign a number to the balance of a recipe can be a huge tool in helping you make the beer that you are hoping to taste! Balance can apply to the ratio of base malt to specialty grains which is important, however the number I am most concerned with here is the Bittering Units to Gravity Units ratio in a recipe.

We’ll call this the BU/GU ratio, and it varies from one style to another. It is important to understand that the bitterness that your hops impart is balancing the sweet maltiness that we have gained from the grains. We also gain aroma and flavor contributions from late boil additions of hops, but for now let’s focus on the bittering element that we are targeting. Bittering Units (BU) are the number of IBUs (International Bittering Units) derived from the hops in your recipe. Pretty simple. While there are ways to figure this out with pencil and paper (see “How to Brew” by John Palmer) I’d recommend using a brewing calculator like Beersmith, Brewers Friend, or one of the many others out there. This makes it easier to make quick adjustments to your hop schedule as you dial in the number you are shooting for. Gravity Units (GU) come from the predicted Original Gravity of your recipe. If your recipe has a predicted OG of 1.060, that translates to 60 gravity units. A predicted original gravity of 1.045 would be 45 gravity units, and so on. If we have a recipe that calls for 30 IBUs, and a predicted OG of 1.060, our BU/GU ratio would be 30/60, or 0.5. Using this formula, if we have a recipe that will have an OG 1.048 for example, and we want to have this same ratio of 0.5, our targeted number of IBUs would be 24. This would give us a BU/GU ration of 24/48, or 0.5. If we had kept our initial amount of hops (30 IBU), but had reduced our OG to 1.048, we would have a BU/GU ratio of 30/48 or 0.63. This would produce a beer that would be perceived as more bitter, even though the IBUs haven’t changed at all.

This BU/GU ratio varies from one style to another and is a huge part of brewing a beer accurate to any specific style. This is not to say that this ratio is a hard fast rule. There’s nothing wrong with pushing the boundaries on any style, the goal here is just to be in control of what you are creating. The BJCP style guidelines are a great reference when looking for a starting point for our BU/GU ratio. The “Vital Statistics” for each style has a recommended IBU range, and OG range. By combing these we can get an idea of an average starting point. Here are some examples that show some of the variations:

Cat.     Name                                         BU/GU             Cat.     Name                                      BU/GU

1A        American Light Lager           0.29                 1C        Cream Ale                               0.27    

3A        Czech Pale Lager                    0.75                 4A        Munich Helles                      0.40

5B        Kolsch                                         0.50                 6A        Marzen                                   0.36

9A        Doppelbock                              0.22                 11B      Best Bitter                               0.73

13C      English Porter                         0.56                 15A      Irish Red                                  0.55

15C      Irish Extra Stout                    0.74                 16D      Foreign Extra Stout             0.91

17C      Wee Heavy                                0.25                 18A      American Blonde Ale           0.45

18B      American Pale Ale                 0.75                 20A      American Porter                   0.60

20B      American Stout                     0.85                 21A      American IPA                          0.60

21C      Hazy IPA                                   0.55                 22A      American Double IPA           1.16

22C      American Barleywine         0.71                  26B      Belgian Dubbel                        0.29

26C      Belgian Tripel                       0.36                  26D      Belgian Dark Strong             0.28

In some cases the ratio varies by as much as a few points on either side, but at least this gives you an idea of a good starting point. Once you have a good understanding of your preferences with regards to the BU/GU ratio of a certain style, you can start to adjust your beers to suit your own pallet.

The biggest variable in hops that affects IBUs is the Alpha Acid percentage. However, boil time has a large contribution that needs to be accounted for when designing a recipe. Boiling for 60 minutes fully isomerizes (or at least mostly) the Alpha Acids that will create the bulk of your Bittering Units. However, any additions you make to wort above about 180°F will still add IBUs and should be accounted for. It might seem logical to increase the amount of hops if you are looking to increase IBUs, or reduce the quantity to lower them, but small adjustments in boil time can also have an effect. If I need a few more IBUs from a recipe I’ll often move a 10 minute addition back to 15 minutes, or if I need to shave off a few IBUs I might move that 10 minute addition to 5 minutes, flameout, or even whirlpool. The important consideration with these late additions is how much hop aroma and flavor you want to retain. The hop oils that create aroma and flavor boil away pretty quickly, so the longer you boil, the less you will be left with. The last step in designing any recipe should be balancing all of these elements.

Understanding the BU/GU ratio gives your brewing toolbox one more element that will help you brew awesome beers! The Dalai Lama once said “If humanity is to survive, happiness and inner balance are crucial” and I’m pretty sure he was talking about beer. Once you have balance mastered, your path to happiness is assured! …and of course, the survival of humanity along with it.

~Cheers!

4/26/2021

Always Keep Learning!

This is one that falls into the “old dogs can still learn new tricks” department. Except, what want I want to talk about today isn’t actually a new trick. It’s a really old trick, just new to this old dog!

I have never been a homebrewer who brewed for competition. And as such, appearance and cosmetics have never made much difference to me. How does the beer taste? That is really all that I have cared about. Maybe the color in reference to whatever style I was brewing, but clarity has been pretty low on my list of concerns. I have been happy. My friends who get free beer have been happy.  If I was brewing for commercial purposes, or competitions, it might be different. But I am not! Until recently Irish moss and whirlfloc have been as much effort I have wanted to put into the clarity of my beer. But that extra step of using gelatin? Too much work!

Surprise, surprise! …turns out I LOVE clear beer!

Don’t get me wrong, I also love a good hazy IPA. In fact, some of this has come from brewing hazy IPAs. I love the unique flavors that you can only find in a hazy IPA. When I see that wonderful cloudy haze in the glass, I know what is coming! But when I went back to brewing an old school west coast IPA I wanted it to look like something different. Any haziness was no longer appropriate. Vienna Lager? American Blonde Ale? Some beers are just supposed to be clear! Around this time I also had a discussion with a customer in the store about using gelatin. I have known it to be a tool that homebrewers and pro brewers alike have used for a long time to improve the appearance of their beers. Maybe it was time for me to see what all the fuss was about. Thus began my experiments with gelatin. I had no idea the pride I would soon take in looking through a crystal clear glass of homebrew! …in the joy I would take in just looking at my beer! The first beer I tried it in was a Red Ale. It was kind of an experimental beer and the beautiful clear, rich, red hues ended up being the best part. It was so pretty! So nice to just look at it in the glass! I now use gelatin in almost every beer that I want clear. I have been converted! The words “Would you look at that?” have now become part of the drinking experience! Could it be possible that it even tastes better too? Maybe!

So, what is the point of this rambling? Never take things for granted. Always keep learning. Something you have ruled out for years might just be a new discovery that re-fuels your passion! …and Have a Great Brew!

11/18/2020

If you’ve been in my store anytime since April, you are probably aware of how seriously I take precautions regarding spreading the COVID-19 virus. I’m pretty lucky in that I am able to operate with a system that allows me to maintain most store functions, while ensuring almost complete safety for my customers, employees, and myself.

Many of my friends who own breweries and taprooms are not as lucky.  As we enter another period where they have to restrict their services, they’ll need our support more than ever. Some of them have full tanks that were being brewed for anticipated capacities that no longer exist. It’s all of our jobs to make sure that doesn’t go to waste! Also remember that crowlers, grunts, and growlers don’t allow nearly the margins that pints over the counter do. Adding a couple of extra bucks to the tip jar will help too!

This virus doesn’t spread itself. We spread it! It should be all of our jobs to be certain that we don’t. The best thing we can do to help our fellow businesses get back to normal is to take every precaution in every part of our lives to not catch it in the first place, and not spread it if we do.

Like everybody I am looking forward to a time when all of this is behind us, we’ll get there eventually….one growler and dinner to go at a time.

10/20/2020

Today I’d like to talk a little bit about the most glamorous part of brewing! Which is of course cleaning and sanitizing. I’ll bet that if you ask your non-brewing friends to describe what it’s like to brew beer, some might bring up the science aspects of the art while others might think it’s a 6 or 7 hour beerfest party on a brew day. Some may see the parallels with cooking or barbecue. Most likely none will see you for the glorified dishwasher that you actually are! If you are a first-rate dishwasher, and a nurturing yeast babysitter, you are probably a good brewer.

I recently read a statement in “Principles of Brewing Science” by George Fix that sums up the brewing process in one sentence as well as any I have ever seen:  “Since Pasteur’s time, it has become clear that the most important part of a brewers art is the proper control of adverse microorganisms like bacteria and wild yeasts, and the proper care of the good ones like brewing yeasts.” That’s all of it in a nutshell!

We can control these “adverse microorganisms” by proper cleaning and sanitizing. It is important to think of cleaning and sanitizing as 2 separate steps. Cleaning is done immediately after you finish using a piece of equipment. Sanitizing is done immediately before you use a piece of equipment. Most preferred brewing cleaners (such as PBW, One Step, Straight A, and B Brite) are percarbonate based and clean with an oxygenating action. This reduces the amount of elbow grease needed, and can also clean into hard to reach areas. A good warm half hour soak will normally clean things right up, or at the very least make surfaces easy to wipe clean with a soft sponge. We’ve got to make sure there is no residue or organic film that will give bacteria a place to hide. Once those hiding places are eliminated, sanitizer can get to all the needed surfaces and reduce the bacteria to acceptable levels. That’s actually what we are doing when we sanitize. Sterilizing would be complete elimination of any bacteria. We can’t do that, and don’t need to. 2 minutes of contact time with a no-rinse iodine, or acid-based sanitizer will knock any bacteria down to levels below anything we need to be concerned with. Then we can get on to the fun stuff! Babysitting yeast!

Happy, healthy yeast that is treated right is the single difference between most great beers and those that are…um…not so great. So, what does “treated right” actually mean? Yeast cell count, and viability are the first things to be concerned with. The Mr. Malty yeast calculator (my favorite) tells us that a 5 gallon batch of ale with an OG of 1.065 would be best off with 225 billion yeast cells. It’s always important to look at how many cells are in that pack of yeast you are buying. The age of the yeast is also important. Yeast cells lose their viability over time, and older yeast will have less viable cells than a fresh pack. Making a yeast starter can help with both problems and is a great way to ensure you are pitching plenty of healthy viable yeast cells. My preference is to pitch plenty of healthy cells straight from a fresh pack or two, but if I am ever concerned with cell count or viability, I will always do a starter. The second part of “treated right” has to do with how happy the yeast is in the fermenter. Yeast need oxygen and nutrients in order to achieve their potential. As proper guardians of the yeast it is our job to be sure they have enough of both! Fermentation temperature is the next area of focus. During the fermentation process yeast produce many by-products other than alcohol and CO2. Esters are one of these that will survive into the finished beer and are very much temperature dependent. Most esters are created during the first few days of fermentation. If we let our wort get too warm during this period, these esters will usually be less pleasing than those created at slightly lower temps. Other by-products are actually consumed by the yeast once active fermentation slows down. Give that beer plenty of time with the yeast for it to complete this job! I actually like to increase my wort temperature by a couple of degrees as fermentation slows (we are no longer worried about ester formation at this point) to encourage the yeast to stay active. Like most things in life, if you treat your yeast well, it will treat you well in return.

40 years ago, while washing dishes in the back room of the pizza parlor, or the seafood restaurant I worked at, I would dream about being in a better place. Being a dishwasher was the worst! Little did I know that I would find my better place later in life, in my own basement, still washing dishes, dreaming about the next beer in the kettle. Being a Homebrewer is the best!

10/3/2020

I must be getting old.

There was a time when I would be thrilled to find that special 13% or 14% ABV Barleywine or Imperial stout! 10.5% Triple IPA? Absolutely! Dogfish Head 120 minute? I’ll take a 4 pack! My, how things have changed. I still really enjoy these styles of beer, it’s just that my appropriate serving size is probably a 4oz glass.

These days when I go into a taproom I find myself doing something I almost never used to do…look at the ABV first, and see at which beers fit into my “abv comfort zone”. Some of this comes from concern about driving home afterwards, but some comes from the fact that it just seems to affect me differently than it did when I was younger. This is quite the conundrum, because I find that I really like that sweetness the alcohol brings to a nice 7.5% or 8% beer. I’d just like to be able to have more than one, and not wake up with a headache in the morning! Luckily there are enough quality lower ABV beers out there to take care of me quite nicely.

As a homebrewer this presents some challenges as well. For a long time, I have enjoyed brewing beers up in the 7%-8% range. When you put in enough grain to get the ABV up there, it’s easy for the beer to be full bodied and full of flavor. Try getting that same body and flavor in a 4% or 5% beer! It’s hard to do! The great thing about Homebrewing is that we are really only brewing for ourselves. If I want my beer to be a certain way, the challenge is on me to brew it.  I love a good session beer, but I don’t want it to taste like a watered down version of a good beer. I want it to BE a good beer! One of the best beers I have ever had was Four Generals ESB, which came in at around 3.8% ABV. I would drink that beer every day if I could!

Most recently I have been working on a recipe for a session Hazy IPA. There is some challenge to this, because this style really needs decent body and a good soft mouthfeel. It doesn’t want to feel light or watery. This is hard to do with a small malt bill. I was a little bit inspired by the recipe for Founders All Day IPA and the work they put into figuring out a grain bill that was low in ABV (4.7%) but still flavorful. I have been going heavy on the specialty malts and mashing high to increase the body and encourage a slightly higher finishing gravity. The most recent version came in at 3.3% with an OG of 1.038, and is just about right where I want it. I used approximately 36% Pilsner, 13% Munich, 15% CaraFoam, with the remaining 36% split between Flaked oats, Flaked Wheat, Golden Naked Oats, a little bit of Rye Malt, and a little bit of Acid Malt. Mashed at 158 degrees. I fermented with Imperial POG (Kveik) yeast at 93 degrees (!!!), and hopped in a similar fashion to my other bigger hazy’s. So far, it’s tasting awesome! If I decide no more tweaks are necessary, you’ll see a recipe soon for what I’m calling Cirrus IPA.

Not quite sure where I was going with all of this. It’s just what has been on my mind lately. We are pretty lucky as Homebrewers to be able to target and brew what ever kind of beer we want to drink! Commercial brewers don’t get to have that kind of freedom. They always have to be concerned to some extent with how a beer is going to sell. But if you want to brew an imperial cinnamon chocolate pumpkin porter, and age it in a whiskey barrel…you can do it! We have the freedom to brew what ever strikes our imagination. The worst that could happen is 5 gallons have to go down the drain (which admittedly does suck). The best that could happen though, could be the greatest thing ever!

9/4/2020

I often get asked how I learned the things that I know about brewing. Did I go to a school? Have I been through the Beer Judge Certification Program? No, neither. Though I believe that both are great resources for serious brewers. My standard answer is “Well…I have just screwed up a lot of batches over the years!” Now, that’s not completely true (although, it kind of is), it’s really a combination of things. Brewing a lot over the years is a big part of it. I learn from every batch, good or bad, and I take good notes on what I do. But I have also studied informally a ton. I love this stuff! I can’t get enough. I am always taking advantage of resources that fit my available time and available budget. Primary among these are books and podcasts. So, I thought I’d talk a little bit about some of my favorites that have inspired me along the way.

Relax. Don’t Worry. Have a Homebrew.  Charlie Papazian coined that phrase in the “Complete Joy of Homebrewing” almost 40 years ago. It was the first book in my homebrewing library, and is now on it’s 4^th Edition. Lot’s of great information and inspiring stories. Though some of the information is starting to become a little bit dated, it’s still a great read! The modern equivalent is “How to Brew” by John Palmer. Though not quite as entertaining as Charlie’s book, this is basically a textbook of all things brewing related and I refer to it all the time. “Brewing Classic Styles” by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer is another important book. While it is primarily a recipe book, there is great information about the processes that Jamil uses, and background on all of the recipes and styles. Any time I am brewing a style that is new to me, this is my first stop. For the serious brewer “New Brewing Lager Beer” by Greg Noonan is a must read.  It covers much more than just lager beer, and gets really deep into what is going on in all parts of the brewing process. The Brewing Elements Series from Brewers Publications is another great resource. With individual books on Water, Malt, Hops, and Yeast each volume digs deep into the specifics of each of our main ingredients! Obviously, this is a list that could almost go on forever. There are great books on IPA, Belgian beer, Sour beers, and even other homebrewers! I have been both entertained and inspired by every one.

Another place that I have found a lot of great information is podcasts. You’ve gotta have something playing in the background when you brew, right? I have learned a ton from the various brewing podcasts. These are a great free resource! The Brewing Network hosts many of my favorites. “Brew Strong” tops that list. Hosted by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer (these names keep coming up, don’t they?) they tackle everything that is important to homebrewers. Another great one that Jamil hosted along with Tasty McDole (RIP) was called “Can You Brew It”. They are not doing new episodes any longer, but all of the old ones are archived. Anytime I am working on a clone recipe for a customer, I check the CYBI archives and see if they have worked through it. Denny Conn and Drew Beechum host the “Experimental Brewing” podcast. The name makes it sound like it should be full of obscure stuff, but they cover lots of normal, necessary knowledge type of stuff too! Sure, there’s a little bit of ukulele, but at least it’s not banjo! The “BeerSmith Homebrewing” podcast by Brad Smith is another that is on my regular listening list. He consistently has some of the top brewing minds in the business as his guests.

For the serious brewer thinking about making a career of brewing, a brewing school might be the answer. For the serious homebrewer, going through the BJCP training will help you learn all of the specifics for various styles, along with common off flavors and flaws. These will all make you a better brewer. The most important thing is to keep brewing, keep learning, and keep having fun! I have been brewing for 23 years, done nearly 400 batches, and I am still learning with every batch. If this old dog can keep learning new tricks, so can you!

8/28/2020

Someone once said “it takes a village…”

Well, when it comes to homebrewing it doesn’t necessarily take a village. But it can be a whole lot more fun when you are part of one!

For a lot of my early years brewing I brewed in what I call a bubble. I didn’t have much contact with the outside brewing world. I brewed beers that I thought were good. My friends thought they were good. I had developed ways of doing things that worked for me, but I had no idea if they were “right” or not. I liked the social aspect of sharing my beers, and seeing the enjoyment on someone’s face when I gave them a bottle. I enjoyed talking with co-workers or customers who brewed, but I really had no interest in joining any sort of a larger group. What if I found out I was doing it all wrong? What if my beers actually sucked? That all changed when I started working at Larry’s Brewing Supply and became a member of the Impaling Alers Homebrew Club. It took a meeting or two to get over the intimidation of being around all of these serious homebrewers. But you know what? They were great people! They were encouraging, accepting, and inspiring. I have now had the opportunity to be involved with several other clubs and they all share these same aspects.  COVID has made it difficult for most clubs to operate like they had, but they are adapting and trying to stay in touch with their members. This will all be behind us eventually. There is a list of all of the local homebrew clubs on the Washington Homebrewers Association website if you are interested. It’s possible that joining an actual club might not be the right thing for you, but if you ever have the opportunity to share your hobby with someone, take advantage of it! You’ll be glad you did.

Another aspect of our brewing community that I love are the Brick and Mortar stores around us. My competition! I love how even though we are all technically “competitors” there is so much support for each other among us. We all share a common passion for homebrewing, and supporting our local community of brewers. We all want you to love this like we do, not to just sell you stuff. It’s easy to click a button on a website, but the only way to be part of that passion is to stop in and see one of us! I know I’m preaching to the choir here. You get it. You wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t. I’d love to see you in my store sometime, but if you can’t make it here please visit one of the other stores on this list. We are all in this together!

Olympia – Rocky Top Homebrew                            Lakewood – The Beer Essentials

Tacoma – Fermentation Initiative                         Georgetown – Sound Homebrew Supply   

Seattle – Cellar Homebrew                                         Bremerton – Olympic Brewing Supplies

Port Angeles – Angeles Homebrew                        Snoqualmie – Mt Si Homebrew

Redmond – Brewhouse Provisions                         Kenmore – Micro Homebrew

Burlington – Northwest Homebrew Supply       Bellingham – North Corner Brewing Supply

Cheers everybody! Thanks for being part of this village!

jon

8/21/2020

So, you want to start designing your own recipes? What are the important things to know, and where should you start? Prepare to be blinded by Science!   ….or not.

The first piece of advice I would give is to just brew. A lot! Start out brewing recipes from trusted sources (ie: not something you just found randomly on the internet). Brew many different styles and see if you can identify what the different elements are bringing to the flavor. The majority of the grain bill for any beer is base malt. Small amounts of specialty malts can have a large impact on the flavor and color. Keep the recipe close at hand when you are tasting and try to identify the specialty grain varieties and their impact. Hops can affect the bitterness, aroma, or both in a beer depending on how they are used. Hop bitterness is used to balance the malty sweetness from the grain. This balance will vary from one style to another. Boiling hops longer (up to 60 minutes) increases the percentage of Alpha Acids that are isomerized creating higher levels of bittering. However, this boils away much of the aromatic oils that we may want for aroma and flavor. Any hop aromas you can identify usually come from hops added late in the boil or even during fermentation. Again, look at the recipe while you are tasting and see if you can identify the elements that come from the hops. In any beer Yeast really does all of the heavy lifting. Learning the flavor differences between strains is a huge part of designing a beer that will turn out the way you picture it in your mind. An easy step to take in the beginning is to change just one element of a beer you have brewed and really look at the difference. Always take notes and refer to them when you are tasting so you can learn the things that will affect the final product when you start designing your own recipes.

The second piece of advice I would give is to actually study and break down respected recipes, even if you are not brewing them. Get some sort of brewing software, and start entering recipes into it. Brewer’s Friend and Brew Toad are free ones that a lot of people use, I really like BeerSmith which has a small cost. Look at how quality recipes are put together. What is the percentage of base grain to specialty grain? I usually target 90% base malt as a starting point when designing, and then go up or down from there depending on the beer style. What is the level of hop bittering in relation to the gravity of the beer? This Bittering Units/Gravity Units ratio makes a huge difference in the final product.

When I first looked at the recipe for Pliny the Elder it was a real eye-opening experience. Here was a beer full of flavor, with only 3 grains and some sugar! It uses 87.2% base malt, 3.9% C-45L, 3.9% CaraPils, and 4.9% Corn Sugar. For me this was a lesson in simplicity. Many of the best beers in the world have the simplest recipes.  Identify the flavors that you want to target and choose only the grains that will create that beer.

Any time I am brewing a beer that I am not real familiar with I pull out my copy of Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff. One of the best ways to learn how to design recipes is to plug his into your software. Look at the grain choices and percentages of each that he uses. Learn how he uses his mash temperatures to pull different elements from these grains. Look at the BU/GU ratio, and see how that changes from style to style. Read about the reasons for his yeast choices, and how he uses fermentation temperature to control what he is getting from them.

When I design a recipe, the first thing I look at is how much base grain it will take to get my desired ABV. Next will be the more subtle things like variety of base grain for style, and specialty grains to get my desired color and flavor. Next, I’ll decide my hop combination and targeted IBU in relation my predicted original gravity. As I lay out my hop schedule, I’m thinking about how much aroma and flavor I want to retain vs. how much bittering I’m gaining by additional boil time. My yeast choice is usually significantly narrowed down by the style of beer I am brewing, but this choice is usually the final piece of the puzzle. Once this is all in the software, I’ll look at it as a whole and make some final tweaks. I’ll look at how my mash temp will affect my final gravity. If I adjust that, it may require an adjustment of my base grain to maintain my desired ABV. These changes may also affect my BU/GU ratio so a slight adjustment to my hop boil times might be needed.

Once you are armed with all of this new knowledge its time to brew! A lot! Thinking and planning is great but there is no substitute for doing.

Cheers!

Jon

8/14/2020

Why Shabby?

A frequent question I am asked is “why do so many of your recipes have Shabby in the name?” As you might guess, there is a story behind the answer…

I am a homebrewer. Like many homebrewers, when we are deep in a brew day the fantasy of doing this for real, as a commercial brewery can’t help but cross our mind. We love having friends over and proudly serving them a beer that we crafted. We love hearing their thoughts, and answering the question that always comes up… “you made this?” This always leads to the thought on my end of “wouldn’t it be the greatest thing in the world to make a living doing this thing that I love so much? I could just brew beer, and sell it to my friends, and then brew beer again, and live happily ever after!” Any commercial brewer will tell you that this fantasy is pretty far from real life. But that doesn’t have to stop us from having the dream, right? Why spoil a perfectly good fantasy with things like facts and reality? And if we are going to dream about having a pretend brewery, the first thing we need is a name.

I am also a musician. For much of my life I have had a small recording studio in my home for my personal projects and those of my friends. Turns out that private home recording studio owners and home brewers have something in common! We both dream about doing it like the big boys. And if we are going to dream, the first thing we need is a name. My home studio is called Shabby Road Studios. It’s kind of an obvious joke pulled from the famous Abbey Road Studios where the Beatles recorded all of their music, as well as a humorous poke at the quality of the streets in some of the places I have lived! It’s all in good fun, and has served me well over the years.

Eventually my brewing ego got to the point where I decided I needed a name for my pretend home brewery too. I started coming up with all kinds of ideas but nothing seemed to stick. One day while running names past my wife and kids for approval, somebody said “why don’t you just call it Shabby Road Brewing?” The answer had been right there in front of me the whole time! Shabby Road Brewing was born. After that, as I designed recipes to brew at home it just seemed like a natural and unique name to incorporate into my recipes. If it has Shabby in the name you know it is mine! …and hopefully you’ll know that it’s actually not too shabby! From time to time I have pondered taking the next step towards being a commercial brewer, but I am pretty happy with where things stand right now at Shabby Road Brewing. Would I really want to change that? Isn’t it the greatest thing in the world to get to do this thing that I love so much? I can just brew beer, and share it with my friends, and then brew beer again, and live happily ever after.