The NonconFERMist

All Grain, Parti-Gyle and the origin of some words...

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:02:00 +0000

A not so innocent bystander asked, while I was buying a bag of American Two-Row malt at Artisan Homebrew, "So you're a professional all grain brewer now? Are you going to post that on your blog?" Well, yes I am. Although I still need a grain mill and should actually have a batch under my belt first, right? Eh, isn't having the grain sitting in my hallway good enough? I mean it's just beer. I'll post a picture of my pet bag o malt later. I think we will call him Doughballs. Speaking of whom, I better check on him. I think he's lonely over there. Poor guy.

So, have you heard about this Parti-Gyle thing? You know where you mash your grain, er malted grain and use the first runnings for a high gravity beer and the second runnings for a smaller beer? I guess I've known about it for a long time, but, now that I'm a "professional all grain brewer" I can try it. (need a shorter way to say professional all grain brewer...hmmm PAGB, pro-agb, AGPB... I'll keep working on that. Too much thinking. I'm tired).

Anyway, if you want to read something interesting and informative about this gyle thing, check out Randy Mosher's article in Brewing Techniques. It's from all the way back in 1994 when I was drinking stuff like Molson and didn't even know about homebrew. A time when Ace of Base topped the charts with The Sign. Lucky for you, Randy's article isn't anything like those things I just mentioned. Pay close attention to what he says about the origin of the terms triple, double and single.

AHA Event: Big Brew Day around the world and local...

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:10:00 +0000

Check out the AHA Big Brew event page. I know that locally the BUZZ homebrew club is joining up with Artisan Homebrew for this event on May 5th. Lots of brewing going on that day.

3% Pale Ale, the next beer and my electric brewery...

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 01:46:00 +0000

Happy to say that the 3% ales are being received well. The dry hopping really took them to the next level. Without that I don't think they would have nearly enough flavor. Probably have a few gallons left. Been enjoying these at ambient room temp and even then they taste good. Not exactly cask conditioned since I'm using CO2 pressure to serve and add some carbonation, but, much of the carbonation was natural as it wasn't quite finished fermenting when I kegged it.

The next beer. What will it be? Well, I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I only have so many ingredients on hand so I think it will be another simple beer. Maybe this time I'll use the wheat beer yeast that Bryan shared with me the other day. Tons of yeast left in one of his growlers from East End Brewing. Might be fun to experiment with. Maybe half a batch with that yeast and half with another.

The electric brewery is 98% done. Two plugs to rewire, receptacle to mount and then mount my new Therminator, recently purchased from Mike at Artisan Homebrew. Once that's all done, I will have andoor stationary system. It's been a long time coming. I'll still need to test the boil kettle to see if 4500 watts will give me the rolling boil that I want. It would be nice to have it all run off a PID, but, if I can manage to get this to work for now, I'll be happy. If I do need to use a PID I'll be relying on the Homebrew Talk forum for some background on parts and wiring.

3% Pale Ale Dry Hopped

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 02:53:00 +0000

This little 3% pale ale seems just right with a little yeast and some dry hopping. Will be interesting to see how it develops over the coming days. It's meant to be a table beer. Something to have with dinner, kinda light with some flavor and not too much alcohol. I added whole leaf Amarillo to one of the 5 gal. kegs and whole leaf Columbus to the other which makes the Columbus a 100% single hop beer. Used a Stainless Steel Mesh Tea Ball in the keg for dry hopping.

My Electric Brewing Parts List

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 02:34:00 +0000

I'm putting together a parts list here with links. This is a work in progress that I'll update as I have time. Search http://homebrewtalk.com for more complete lists and others experiences. Ask questions in the comments.

Ultra Low Watt Density - Water Heater Elements (5500 w, 4500 w)
Spa-Panel with GFCI (Amazon)
Spa Panels (Home Depot)
30 amp 3 conductor 10 guage flexible rubber cable (Home Depot)
Leviton 830-T 30 Amp, 125 Volt, Travel Trailer Vinyl Grounding Angle Plug, Black
Leviton Surface Dryer Outlet - Black Finish
1 inch hex nut (bargain fittings.com)
1 inch silicon O-ring (bargain fittings.com)
stainless steel bolt washer and nut for grounding
Leviton 3032-2W 30 Amp, 120/277 Volt, Toggle Double-Pole - White
Carlon E98TSCN-CAR Single Gang Weatherproof Toggle Box Cover

Electric homebrewing update... (cost, parts, etc)

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:25:00 +0000

I brewed a simple single hop 3% pale ale about a week ago using electricity and propane. The entire electric brewing system isn't complete yet, but, it was definitely cool to heat up water with a flick of a switch. Right now I have a hot liquor tank with 5500 watt 220 volt electric element in it. I don't remember exactly how long it took to boil 12 gallons of water, but, I'm pretty sure it was less than an hour. I'll provide some exact numbers next time around. All numbers below are based on en electric brewing spreadsheet I found via http://www.homebrewtalk.com. I used my current electricity rate and current tap water temperature.

I used this formula to calculate the cost to get 14 gallons of water to boil. (don't really need 14 gallons, but I didn't have my pickup tube installed so that's what I needed to boil to get 12 gallon or so)

kilowatts used per hour * hours it takes to get to boil * cost per kilowat hour = cost
5500 watt electric element = 5.5 kilowatts per hour
61 minutes to boil = 61/60 = 1.02 hours
$0.097 cents per kilowatt
5.5 * 1.02 * .097 = $0.54 to get 14 gallons of water to boil from starting temp of 56F.

Now I just need to add to that the cost of a 60 minute boil. In this last brew I used propane for this. Next time I hope to have a smaller element installed in my kettle to maintain a good boil. I think 5500 watts would probably be too much. I'm thinking 4000w or 4500w to maintain a boil. That would cost even less. Here's the projected cost for a 60 minute boil with a 4500w element.

kilowatts used per hour * hours * cost per kilowat hour = cost
4500 watt electric element = 5.5 kilowatts per hour
1 hour boil
$0.097 cents per kilowatt
4.5 * 1 * .097 = $0.44 to boil for 1 hour

So it would cost a little less than a dollar to brew a 10 gallon batch of homebrew using extract :-) Shouldn't be much different for all grain. I would imagine that propane costs between 3 and 6 dollars per brew session. Assuming a savings of $5 a brew session it would take 4 brews to pay for the element, 10 brews to pay for the wire, etc. IF I brew often (if...heheh), it would take one to two years to pay for the investments in electric equipment (wire, plugs, spa box with GFCI, elements, o-ring, nut, switch, switch box, items for waterproof cover for element wire connection).

Why go electric? Mostly because I can safely brew in my garage with the door closed all year around. Not to mention eliminating the need for propane refills. Eventually it will be cheaper to brew this way too. I will need to keep propane and a burner around in case the power goes out in the middle of a brew session ;-)

NOTE: Need to revisit with actual numbers from next brew session.

Brewing & Baking: Spent grain bread....

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 01:56:00 +0000

I've tried using spent grains to bake bread and it turned out OK. Never tried again. Since then, I've learn more about baking bread and making beer. Today, out of the blue an email came over the BUZZ homebrew club email wire/ether and voila, I am inspired to bake with spent grains again. Thank you Brandon for this link. Of course this means I need to brew again ;-)

Note: Original photo is not mine and can be found here.

Back in the brew garage wiring things up...

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 05:53:00 +0000

If all goes well tomorrow I'll have a way to heat water with electricity. We will call it a Hot Liquor Tank. Hey, why didn't I just get a water heater? Hmmm....

Cascade hops sprouting! (photo)

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:13:00 +0000

Chinook hops sprouting! (photo)

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:13:00 +0000

New feature: Most popular posts

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 18:07:00 +0000

Looks like Blogger added something cool to their gadgets so I'm trying it out. Always thought the post in the number two spot was funny for a homebrew site :-)

LOOK over there to the right --->

I hire a Beersmith to help me make homemade beer...

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 17:46:00 +0000

I'm getting ready to brew again. (don't fall off your chair) While I generally know what to do I can't remember stuff so I use a computer to help me with that. Beersmith remembers my recipes and knows how to calculate abv, color, ibu's, etc. I usually grab an old recipe and tweak it. This way I'm able to rely on past results and I can incorporate something new. I am very thankful for Brad Smith and his program Beersmith.

Note: I don't get paid by Brad. I just like his stuff. I do get a bunch of traffic from his blog post about growing hops though :-)

Are your hops up yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:49:00 +0000

I have a few sprouting up here and there. Chinook I think. I should go check them again.

How about you are yours up yet?

Electric Brewing: Hole for the element drilled...

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:11:00 +0000

That's how things go around here, at a snail's pace...heheh. Well the 1.25 inch hole is drilled for the 5500 watt element. Used a step drill bit and a cordless drill on one of my keggles which will become a hot liquor tank of sorts. Didn't think it was going to cut it, but, with lots of oil I was able to do it in about 20 minutes I guess.

Tune in next year (ha ha) when I mount the element. At this rate I'll be done in 2020 ;-)

Next up, wiring. Here are the steps I'm thinking about.

Mount 5500 watt element in 1.25 inch hole (1 inch hex nut, high temp o-ring, element, 1.5 inch rubber plumbing connection, PVC cap, 10/3 wire)
Wire into a 30 amp double pole toggle switch encased in wet area switchbox.
Wire into spa box with GFCI.
Wire out more 10/3
Add 3 prong dryer plug

NOTE!!!

I am not an electrician. This information is provided for discussion purposes only. Do not try this at home.

Electric Brewing

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:07:00 +0000

A long time ago I bought some parts for an electric brew kettle. Trying to find those and get this thing rolling. Might just make an electric hot liquor tank and use a small propane burner to keep the brew kettle boiling. This would reduce the amount of propane used, decreased trips for propane and keep my brew kettle free of wires.

Update: Found the bag of stuff. Now I just need to see what's left to buy. I think I need one of those cheap spa boxes with GFCI in it.

Making your own beer...

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 18:04:00 +0000

...is still easy. Actually it is easier than ever. There are books and videos and blogs and people twittering (notice the sidebar to the right) and homebrew clubs and local shops on and on. So many things come together in life when you brew beer.

Friends to help or share with.
The creation of something different each time whether you meant to or not ;)
You are in fact creating something with your own hands.
Continual learning and the expansion of your knowledge.
Trusting in nature, yeast, to create something for you.

Hope you are out there creating, sharing and having a beer :-)

Filling a barrel...

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:22:00 +0000

A while back I received a few oak barrels as a gift, but, never managed to do anything with them, except fill them with water and well that was about it. I've abandoned those barrels from a brewing perspective. They will be used in the Brew Garage though.

Recently the BUZZ homebrew club decided to start a barrel project using some barrels from Victory Brewing's Dark Intrigue version of Storm King Stout. All the chatter on the mailing list got me thinking, "Should I give this another shot?" Well, I ordered a barrel from Victory and I'll be picking it up next week. Here goes nuthin'.

I guess I'll have to brew 5 ten gallon batches plus some extra for the angel's share. Here are the steps as I understand them right now.

decide on recipe
purchase bulk ingredients
brew 10+ gallons 5 times
ferment in carboys
prepare the barrel (hmmmm...hoping I won't need to do much here)
fill the barrel
wait
top off
wait
top off
wait
etc (as long as it takes to get a beer that tastes good)

I guess this is going to force me to get the brew garage in gear. It's a mess right now. Any homebrewers out there ever fill a 53 gallon barrel before? (Yikes 53 gallons!)

New Homebrew Supply Shop Directory

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:42:00 +0000

Check out the new Homebrew Supply Shop directory.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org./pages/directories/find-a-supply-shop

Seems to work pretty well.

What people buy @ Amazon via the nonconFERMist

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 01:55:00 +0000

This time of year I get more traffic than most. Topics like growing hops trend pretty high. This leads to people clicking on the referral links. I don't really make a bunch of money, but, it helps pay for domain name registrations.

So more often than I like to admit, I go to the Amazon referral reports and read through the items folks have purchased via this site. I don't see who bought it, just that somebody did. Items purchased this month so far include:

All of those were books. Somebody else bought some hardware! Cool. I'm thinking wort chiller :-)

PETRA 63632048598 Copper Refrigeration Tubing, 1/4-Inch

Also, nice to see some readers checking out the electronic version of The Homebrewer's Garden (Kindle Edition). Haven't seen anybody buy a Kindle yet though ;-(.

Here's a little story about how I brew beer, or don't brew beer. You tell me.

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 01:26:00 +0000

So I couldn't remember the last beer I brewed. I mean, it couldn't have been November of 2010, could it? I guess so. A black ale. and it was tasty. Why no brewing? Well, I had lotsa stuff goin' on in my life. The job wasn't really panning out and well I eventually was laid off after 11 years. (hmph) Spent some time getting my wits about me. I actually blogged on for a while and that was cool. Well I'm happy to say I am employed again. So much so that I've been so busy that I haven't had time to brew. At least that's my current excuse. No more procrastination.

Labor Day is almost here and I didn't want to show up to the family reunion empty handed. So, I thought about it for about four weeks and last week I finally decided to brew. The first night I was a little side tracked and decided to work on cleaning up the brew garage. You know the one with the nice epoxy floor (before, after) Well some shelves are up now and the stainless steel prep table is together. Still looks like the brew monster threw up on some tires a scooter and lumber.

That was Wednesday night last week. As they say, the best laid plans. So, Thursday night became brew night instead. I had some liquid pilsen malt extract in a partially full 33lb jerry can. Found some roasted barley and aromatic malt in my box of brewing stuff. Picked up some Wyeast 1968 (Fullers strain, WLP002) from Home Sweet Homebrew in Philadelphia at lunch earlier that day (the only planning I did evidently). Picked an English Ale Yeast mostly because it falls out of suspension quickly. Quick is good when Labor Day is fast approaching. Had about 4 ounces of dried homegrown Cascade hops harvested a few weeks ago and two ounces of homegrown Cascade hops from 2009. Thought that would be nice for the flavor and aroma. Now for some bittering hops, First Gold and Galena will do.

Time to haul out the keggle, scale, bowls, hydrometer, burner etc. Fill the keggle to 10 gal, fire up the burner and well you get the picture. I'll cut to the chase. The steeping grains were steeped and the bittering hops were added. What? Oh right, forgot the malt extract. Added 20% of the malt extract since I'm doing late malt additions. Wait, I don't have enough malt extract! That's right I didn't weigh it. There's not enough. I needed 16 lbs or something and I only had about 8.75 lbs. Not good. So either I make a 2.5% beer or find some more fermentables.

Scour the brew garage and the basement, I did. Guess what I found, 12 lbs of basswood honey! It's goin' in. Yep, 3 lbs of honey in one 5 gal fermenter and um 7 lbs in the other (couldn't resist). All the while I'm using Beersmith to calculate the final gravity, bitterness etc. Just dumped it in the fermenter, no boiling or anything. I guess that's OK. Some people say DISASTER others don't seem to say either way. I guess we'll see.

So, I guess this will be my first braggot. Accidental introduction to styles are always the best, don't you think? The higher ABV batch probably won't be ready for this weekend, but, the other one is already starting to drop clear. Either way one of them is going to the party in a keg (not bottles).

By the way as my brewing buddy Brian points out, this isn't necessarily me being rusty. Evidently I brew like this all the time. (shrug) Watch this be the best beer... er braggot I've ever made. Or the worst ;-)

Hey...

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 06:51:00 +0000

...yeah I'm still around. Check out http://www.notthewholepicture.com. I've probably posted more stuff there recently.

Thanks for keeping me in your reading list. I'll fire this thing up again.

How many variations of homebrewing are there?

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:30:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 20:16:00 +0000

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...

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:37:00 +0000

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.

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 18:31:00 +0000

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 ;-)