How to Brew An All-Grain Beer With Decoction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chD4nDnirsM

How Do I Know If My Beer Is Infected?

One of the most common questions we get at the shop is "How do I know if my beer is infected?"

Large viscous clear bubbles or large bubbles under a grey "baby powder like" film are a sure sign you may have an undesired bacteria or yeast inyour beer. Healthy beer should have no grey "skin" or film on top, and generally only small, compact bubbles or small "rafts" of small bubbles with some protein or hop matter on the surface.

Here are our two different brown ale batches from the same brew day: The darker beer is a sour brown ale, a beer intentionally inoculated with multiple "wild yeast" and bacteria strains. the lighter, brown creamy looking beer is a standard, healthy fermentation on the same wort with "regular yeast" only. both are the same age, and same base beer, just different yeasts, and in this case bacteria.

The sour brown ale will continue to form a large "pellicule" on the surface, which will become thicker and more prominent with time. Eventually, the pellicule may break apart and fall to the bottom.

A pellicule may form rapidly, or may take weeks or even months to show. not all infections will show such obvious signs. many infections go un-noticed until tasting or bottling. infected bottles may become over carbonated, or even explode! infected beer may have a number of odd flavors such as: tin, metallic, barn yard, green apples, sour cherries, wet leather, pineapple and horse sweat. There are many other flavors that may occur, as this is not an all-inclusive list.

Most brewers view wild yeast (such as brettanomyces) or ANY bacteria growth in their beer to be negative and unwanted. There are, however, many beers which are prized for their flavor profile which is driven by fermentation by organisims other than Sacchromyces yeast. Proper sanitation is the ONLY way to prevent an unwanted infection by competing organisms. ANYTHING that touches your un-fermented wort after the boil may carry unwanted "life" unless properly sanitized. Sanitation is the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of quality craft brewing!

Hope this answers some burning questions!

How to Bottle Your Homebrew

Here is our latest demonstration video addressing how to bottle your homebrewed beer. Also, check out how to transfer and how to make a yeast starter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4luWBe6W0MQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBP1zbSd7tw

I know I haven't posted to my blog in a while, but here is something new! This video covers a very basic extract brew with steeping grains. If you are new to brewing this is a good way to start. I'll post a new video as often as I can to cover every step of the brewing process, as well and steps to partial mashes, all-grains, and so on. So watch out for our new videos so you can learn how to brew a five gallon batch of beer (or wine, mead, soda, and so on).

Health Benefits of Hops (Humulus Lupulus)

We all like the taste of beer. Otherwise, you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog right now. But you might be surprised that beer has a lot more to offer than just flavor; A glass or two of beer every night might actually be good for you. More specifically, one of the key ingredients of beer provides an abundance of benefits. The hops that are used in your brew for flavor, aroma, and bittering are also high in vitamin B, antioxidants, and flavonoids. These superpowers provide cancer fighting benefits, cardiovascular support, as well as sedative effects, and even more beneficial “side effects”.

The most common health benefit that I have found of humulus lupulus (the Latin fancy-pants name for hops) is its cancer-fighting properties. Female hops contain xanthohumol, These prenylflavonoids may provide cancer preventing molecules. They also inhibit estrogen formation and regulate aromatase activity, which can prevent breast cancer.  (Stevens, Page) (Monteiro, Becker, Azevedo, & Calhau, 2006, p 2938-2943).

Hops also appear to be heart-healthy. According to Denke (2000, p320 to 326) moderate consumption of alcohol may lower your risk of cardiovascular disease. Wine and beer both have nutritional value, but beer contains more protein, vitamin B, and different antioxidants than wine does. Kondo agrees that beer is healthy for your heart, stating the “light-to-moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages [cause] significant reductions in all-cause and particularly cardiovascular mortality.” So drink up for your heart health, but not too much (for your liver’s health).

Have you ever wondered why a glass or two of beer makes you sleepy? Hops can be blamed for that as well, in addition to the alcohol, of course. Hops increase the activity of aminobutyric, a neurotransmitter, which in turn inhibits the central nervous system. To demonstrate this, quail, which have similar sleep rhythms to humans, were given hop extract capsules. Two groups of quail were given a minimal dosage (1 and 2 mgs), one was given a dose of 11 mg, a control group was given capsules with methylcellulose excipient, and another group was not given anything. The two mg group had less nocturnal activity than the one, eleven, and zero hop capsule groups. So a moderate amount of hops before bed will reduce nighttime activity, however, non-alcoholic beer is recommended (many of you just thought “screw that”) (Franco, Sanchez, Bravo, Rodriguez, Barriga, and Juanez, 2012, p 133-139).

Most researchers support that hops are healthy, and a limited amount of beer will provide the benefits hops provide. Like any alcohol, though, it is best enjoyed in moderation. Hops may be healthy, but too much alcohol can still have a negative effect on your organs. 

Denke, Margo A. "Nutritional and Health Benefits of Beer." The American Journal of the Medical Sciences 320.5 (2000): 320-26. Print.

Stevens, Jan F., and Jonathan E. Page. "Xanthohumol and Related Prenylflavonoids from Hops and Beer: To Your Good Health!" ScienceDirect.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

Monteiro, Rosario, Hans Becker, Isabel Azevedo, and Conceicau Calhau. "CAT.INIST."CAT.INIST. N.p., 22 Mar. 2006. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

Kondo, Keiji. "Beer and Health: Preventive Effects of Beer Components on Lifestyle-related Diseases." BioFactors 22.1-4 (2004): 303-10. Print.

Franco, L., C. Sanchez, R. Bravo, A. Rodriquez, C. Barriga, and JC Juanez. "The Sedative Effects of Hops (humulus Lupulus), a Component of Beer, on the Activity/rest Rhythm." Acta Physiol Hung 99.2 (2012): 133-39. Print.

Amunichan Pale Ale

Recently I stumbled upon a recipe for American Pale Ale that uses munich 10L. I was curious what would happen if I used munich 10L exclusively for a base grain, and created this recipe using the  BeerSmith program. Unfortunately all of our fermentors are in use at the moment, so it will be a little while before we can test it out. If anyone else has the guts to try it, let me know how it turns out. Also, let me know your thoughts on the recipe. I call it Amunichan Pale Ale.


Amunichan Pale Ale

Type: All Grain
Date: 03/27/2013
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 3.67 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Equipment: Pot ( 4 Gal/15.1 L)
End of Boil Volume 3.38 gal
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 4.60 gal
Est Mash Efficiency 79.9 %
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage

Ingredients

9 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)
8.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)
8.0 oz Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Green Bullet [13.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 tsp lemongrass (Boil 15.0 mins)
0.25 oz Pacific Jade [13.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 ml]

Original gravity: 1.053
Final gravity: 1.010
ABV: 5.4%

Stephen's Milk Mead (spin on Koumiss) recipe

Koumiss is a fermented dairy beverage made in central Asia. Its origins go back thousands of years. Normally a low alcohol drink, I have found and modified a recipe to boost the alcohol content while adding a twist to tradition. Normally made with mare's milk, we are instead using what is commercially available. As we all know, cow's milk is largly unfermentable, therefore we start there. You have two basic options: 1. Convert the lactose in organic milk to galactose & glucose 2. Use lacose free milk that has already been converted For now we will be using the lactose free skim milk option. If anyone takes interest in this thread we will discuss the other in detail later. Skim milk is used for two reasons: it is closer to mare's milk in makeup and consistancy and it will reduce the ammount of fats and oils, thus reducing the size of the curd. 1 Gallon Recipe What you will need: 2 quarts lactose free skim milk 1 Lb honey 2 Qts water 1 pkt champagne or dry mead yeast 1 pinch Yeast nutrient Make a starter culture from your chosen yeast 24 hours in advance. You really only need 1/2 of what your dry yeast packet will produce, so I recommend brewing a small batch of grape or fruit wine the same day, so as to maximize the useage of your yeast. Set the milk out, covered with foil or a paper towel and rubber band. Allow to come up to room temperature. This takes about 4 hours, so plan ahead. So, we have available sugar alread in the lactose free milk. If we just fermented the milk by itself, we would end up with a very thin, fizzy yogurt-like drink with 2% alcohol or less. By adding the honey, we can boost our final alcohol percentage to five to seven percent ABV. Boil 2 Qts water then pour off 1 Qt into a sterilized vessel and cool for use later to top off the primary fermentation vessel. Dissolve 1 lb honey in the remaining quart of boiled water. (FYI, if you would like higher alcohol content, two lbs of honey can get near ten percent ABV.) If using unpasturized honey, boiling will kill any wild bugs you may have. However, don't worry if a few slip past, as this particular drink is quite forgiving and could possibly even benefit from many of them. Remove from heat and immersion chill down to 80 degrees F. Pour your room temperature milk into the chilled container you boiled your honey and water in. Aerate the mixture vigorously for 60 seconds. Pour your aerated must into the primary fermenter, pour in half of your 24 hour starter, then fill to the gallon mark with the boiled and chilled water that you set aside prior to making the honey must. Due to the nature of our product it can handle some oddly high temperatures, as the galactose and remaining lactose prevents the formation of fusel alcohols. 7 day primary fermentation at 70-80 degrees F Cap with foil for first 24 hours before fitting with an airlock and stopper. The forming of the curd (which is the first stage of fermentation) could plug up an airlock if it rises up on day one. Agitate the vessel on day one and two. Days 3-7 you will see the formation of the curd on top, your standard yeast sediment on the bottom, and a layer of golden "Milkmead" in the middle. On the final day, carefully insert your racking device through the curd and siphon off the mead into a secondary vessel, leaving behind the curd cap and yeast sediment. You can chill and eat the curd if you like. It is quite sweet and, as a bonus, is still loaded with alcohol! Let set in secondary 5-7 more days, or until hydrometer readings are stable. Despite what you started out with, you will now have a completely clear liquid! You can bottle and degass as a normal mead, or you can carbonate it by adding 3 tablespoons of honey. The end product is a semi-sweet to sweet mead that is quite different and very enjoyable. It will have the floral character and alcohol content of your standard mead, an extremely smooth sweetness from the unconverted lactose in the milk, and a distant nut character or whisp of fine cheese. Serve it cold or warm, but be advised, it does need to be consumed within two years (I reccomend 6-18 months) and should likely be refrigerated after opening. --recipe and information adapted from Lars D. H. Hedbor--