How many variations of homebrewing are there?

Well I guess its all the same general process, right?  If you want to see variations, somebody created a site to cull tons of videos together from Youtube and other places.  Kinda like America's Funniest Homebrew Videos.  I had no idea this many people were making their own homebrewing videos.

Groupon: Midwest Brewing kit equipment + recipe + opener + $25 gift cert

Midwest Supplies:  So for the price of an equipment kit (at some other stores) you get the following.

• basic equipment kit
• extract ingredients for one of three style beers
• DVD
• $25 gift certificate for future ingredients

$64 + $12 shipping = $76. Not a bad way to start or get a friend started.

You can find it at Groupon.com under Philadelphia.

.

Something new on the webpage...

Doing some Spring clean up.  Expect the following when you visit this webpage.

• decreased the size of the photos in the header
• added #homebrew twitter feed search to sidebar
• cleaned up the side bar

Oldie but a goodie. Our hops growing in a time-lapse video.

Here's a time-lapse video from a few years ago. You can see 8 hours of hops growing/moving in 30 seconds. Even added some blues music ;-)

A Duel. That's right Mr. Beer.

Warning this post is much too long and I enjoyed writing it way too much.

Just like Buddy's kindly owner, I too received a brown box in the mail...er UPS (pronounced ups not U..P..S).  I had been calmly expecting it actually.  A week ago I guess, a nice lady contacted me asking if I would be interested in reviewing one of these here Mr. Beer Premium Edition Home Microbrewery Systems.  While reading the email from her, I was very pleased that something had finally come of my blogging efforts, success at last.  I mean some bloggers make gobs of money, but, I got something that can make beer.  The story doesn't end here though.  I haven't explained the Duel.

As I do everyday, I visited The Interweb/The Facebook and noticed Mr Curtin's rss feed from his Liquid Diet blog manifested yet another news item via that Facebook Networked Blogs syndication app thingy.  It truly is a complicated world we live in.  Be that as it may, my daily routine rely's on it.  So I clicked on it and jumped to his site.  Long story short, I felt a little bummed.  I mean, he got one too.  Then he proceeded to write a witty post with color pictures.  Threatened as I was, I could only do one thing.  That's right.

So I did it.  I challenged him to a duel.  Not a duel with pistols, a duel with Mr. Beer Premium Edition Home Microbrewery Systems (MBPEHMS), a duel nonetheless.  At first my compatriots were not impressed.  This sort of thing happens around here all the time.

After mentioning Mr. Curtin, things changed at once.  I can only assume Buddy's been talking.  Anyway Jake and Ladybug were clearly enraged.  Ladybug went right to work and, well, Jake joined in a bit later.

After removing, sorting, relocating, arranging the contents of the package and picking up those crazy plastic bottles every time they fell heheh...they verified that yes we do indeed have a MBPEHMS.

(Real barrels not included.)

Took a picture for youns/yinz/youse. (its hard to write for a wide audience)  I'll be needing some moral support during the weeks leading up to what might ultimately be the demise of The NonconFERMist.  Sounds exciting don't it?!  Stay tuned er don't unsubscribe, don't unfriend, don't stop following my tweets.  Who am I kidding.  You were probably only here to find out what happens when beer freezes.

More to come :-)

Checking on Big Hop Field

Sorry no close up picture, but, they are all sprouting :-)

Photo of First Hops of the year Sprouting

Well it's Spring in my book!

BROUPON #3: Matthew - new all grain brewer and a question about his results

So, can anybody help Matthew and I?

Question:

Adam,

As you have so generously offered to answer homebrew questions, here is one that I've been looking to have answered. I've recently (within the last couple of batches) converted to all full-mash process. The results have thus far been quite acceptable with the following caveat- it seems that my final wort is always a little light in mouthfeel. Likewise, the finished product is always generally lighter in mouthfeel than the recipe / style would suggest- but the flavor and perceived alcohol content is on target. Other than temperature control (which I'm now able to keep between 152 and 157 for a full 90 minutes), what else can I do to increase efficiency? Additionally, will keeping the mash at the low-end of the temperature scale (152-153) for the first half of the mash greatly reduce it's body?
thanks,
-Matthew

Answer:

Hi Matthew,

(Again)I'm stepping out of my Extract Brewing world into your All Grain brewing world so bear with me.  I don't have a specific answer to your question so I'll defer to some resources related to body and mouthfeel.  So by light you mean what exactly?

I think there's more than enough info in the following articles to put you on the right course.

John Palmer on "body"...
http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter20-1.html

A BYO article...
http://www.byo.com/stories/article/indices/12-body/1140-maximizing-mouthfeel-tips-from-the-pros

Follow up...

Adam,
... I hope that some better brewers than me can point me in the right direction. By light, I mean that the result of the mashing process is a little too 'watery'. I use a generic formula of 1 qt. of water / pound of grain to mash and 2 qts of water / to sparge. The real question, I suppose, is how can I increase the efficiency of my mashes. Some heavy reading is probably in order (and probably a great way to spend a few evenings) but brewing is and should be a community affair.
-Matthew

Hi Matthew,

I started typing a paragraph of how I understand efficiency and how it relates to the body of a beer, but, to be honest that BYO article would do a better job.

So, if you want a beer that has more body you really have lots of ways to affect that; grain bill (specialty grains, etc), mash temp, yeast, etc. We might need to know more about your brew to zero in on things a bit. For example, what was your starting gravity (when you pitch yeast) and what was your final gravity (after fermentation).

Maybe, the difference in all grain vs. extract is what lies at the heart of this question.  You're just noticing the effects of having all that all grain mashing and extraction control ;-)

Also, you might be interested in posting your question to a forum.  I've been very impressed with the helpful nature of folks there.  Much like readers here actually.

• HomeBrewTalk
• RealBeer Communities 

-Adam

BROUPON #2: Raymond - Brewing 10 gal on a 5 gal system...

Calling all readers. If you have related experience, please consider helping Raymond out.

Question:

Hey,

Gearing up for the spring party season. I don’t get the chance to brew often, so I am looking for a decent workable method to net 10 gallons on my 5 gallon system, utilizing only one boil.

I have a 10 gallon Gatorade style MLT, using a steel braid and no false bottom. My boil kettle is 7 gallons which I usually max out at 6.25 to 6.5 gallons pre boil. Still brewing on the ol’ electric stove in our kitchen. I have plenty of room for a 10 gallon sized mash, but I don’t have the boil volume, nor the time (patience?) for two boils/cools. My best idea so far was to boil a higher gravity wort and then top up to 10 gal with 2nd/3rd runnings instead of all water.

I’m looking at a low to middle OG (1.050 max), something like an American Special Bitter, mostly two row and c-60 or c-80, a charge of high alphas early in the boil, bunch of late hop additions, US-05. I have beersmith as my software package, so I should be able to ballpark my boil additions based on the gravities of my preboil and extra runnings; provided my following assumption is correct:

Gravity of wort is linear. 5 gallons of 1070 wort blended with 5 gallons of 1030 runnings will equal out to 10 gallons of 1050 wort? Is this correct?

Thanks,

Raymond

Answer:

Hey there Raymond,

Hmmm... I'm stepping out of my extract brewing world into your all grain brewing world here so bear with me.

I'm thinking you'll need to boil the second and third runnings. Steriliztion, DMS, etc. Here's an article to help backup that conclusion.

http://www.byo.com/stories/techniques/article/indices/13-boiling/1682-wort-boiling-homebrew-science

Topping off with good water seems like a better option in your circumstance.

I hope that helps. Thanks for sending in your question :-)

-Adam

Followups...

Raymond said...

Good point on sterilization and compounds in unboiled wort. Something I didn’t think about. Was just trying to avoid using flavorless water.
Ok, so to get the end volume that I was looking for I should target 1.080 wort, cut with 1.000 water would net 1.040? I really should just wake up earlier and do two boils, I could make two beers.
Feel free to share on your site. And if you have any better ideas for how to increase volume on a small system, go ahead a let er rip.

My Response

Yeah, I'd say that would do it. If you need to increase the gravity, you could always add some extract at the end of the boil. BeerSmithcan help with late malt additions and hop utilization.
Thanks I'll put this up on the site. Who knows, somebody more knowledgeable might chime in.
Good luck preparing for the party season :-) You're reminding me that I need to brew too.

Daily BROUPON: Ask a homebrew or growing hops question and get it answered here on The NonconFERMist.

Daily, ask a question, I'll get you an answer.  Leave a comment or send an email to adam@nonconfermist.com and get an answer to a homebrew or growing hops question.

There are no stupid questions and hopefully no stupid answers ;-)

Nine more BROUPONs left...

Ask a homebrew or growing hops question and get an answer for free. I'm extending this offer to the first ten comments, emails or tweets. Nine more to go!

BROUPON # 1: Mike's question and an answer. Small boils, late malt addtions, etc.

Here's our first BROUPON question and an answer.  Congrats Mike!

QUESTION:

Mike said... 

What is a reasonable amount of water for steeping grains and boiling hops?

I'm going to be doing my first non-Mr Beer brew, but still using the 2.14 gallon fermenter. My plan was to use 1 gallon of water to steep some specialty grains and do a 60 minute hop boil. Then at the end of the boil I plan to add 3.3lb of LME.

I want to use the gallon so I don't lose a ton of water during the boil.

Should I be aware of any grain:water ratios or any other concerns?

Bonus question: is it OK to add more water during the boil if you notice you're losing a lot to steam?

Friday, March 04, 2011 

ANSWER:

nonconFERMist response...

Thanks for stopping by. You're the first taker! You also presented a couple of very good (read tricky) questions.   Two things to note.  I haven't used a Mr. Beer and I haven't done a hop boil with 1 gallon of water.

First, since you are adding the extract (most of your fermentables) at the end of the boil, this low gravity wort will affect your hop utilization. The same amount of hops in low gravity wort produces more bitterness. That means you might want to back off the bittering hops. How much? I've heard 25% less for an hour boil is a good guess. If you want to get more specific, here are some resources.

• John Palmer's How to Brew link to online version Chpt 5 Sec. 5 Online (Amazon Link: How to Brew)

• Second, Beersmith has options for calculating IBUs based up boil time and late malt additions. I use it for this when making 5 and 10 gallon batches. 

The answer to your bonus question may also require some calculations.

With such a small wort you are right to worry about boil off. Especially over an hour. There might be nothing left! There are many different ways to approach this. Here's one approach I would try.

1. Start with more water 1.5 gallons or add small amount of hot water during the boil.
2. Download BeerSmith
   (there's a free 30 day trial) or Email me your recipe and I'll calculate it for you.
3. Enter your recipe
4. Select late malt addition
5. Shorten your boil to 30 minutes to lessen boil off.
6. See what your IBUs are.
7. Reduce hops in recipe to reduce IBUs to what your shooting for

Not a complete answer, but, hopefully I've pointed you in the right direction. Post or email your recipe and I can tell you what BeerSmith calculates.  I created a test recipe for a 2.15 gal. batch of American IPA with 1 oz of bittering hops and .25 lbs of crystal malt for steeping.  When adding 3 lbs of malt extract at the beginning of boil the IBUs were ~45.  When specifying late malt additions after the boil IBUs increased to ~70.

-Adam

BROUPON Extended! Get your hombrew questions answered...

Ask a homebrew or growing hops question and get an answer for free. I'll extend this to the first ten comments, emails or tweets.

Today's BROUPON: Ask a homebrew question, I'll get you an answer...

This one is limited to today only.  Buy none get all free!  ;-)  What is a BROUPON, well I don't know for sure.  Mostly a way to use The NonconFERMist site to help brewers do their thing.

Today's deal.  Ask a homebrew question, I'll get you an answer.  The first ten people to leave a comment or send an email to adam@nonconfermist.com will get a BROUPON for an answer to a homebrew question.

This BROUPON is good at anytime, except when I'm busy.  There are no stupid questions and hopefully no stupid answers ;-)

Love this British Beer vid...

More About White House Homebrew...

More about brewing at the White House.. I'm in the middle of reading it now.