Opening Up to Sour Beers

I remember the first time I tried a sour beer.  I made a face that looked like this:

Yes, I was 8 years old with a bowl haircut when I had my first sour!!

When I was living in San Francisco, I received a number of sours in my beer of the month club from Plumpjack in Noe Valley.  I was always terrified of these beers and they ended up aging in my refrigerator for months until I worked up the courage to open one.  Since that time I've tried a number of sours and my, "OMG, that's gross" face has steadily declined but I had never reach the point of actually enjoying a sour until last week.

Last week I attended a home brew club meeting for the first time with The Mad Zymurgists in Livermore.  The topic of the night was sours and of course as any good home brew club would do there was a beer tasting.  According to the BJCP, the following styles are recognized as sours:

BJCP Category 17

17A. Berliner Weisse
17B. Flanders Red Ale
17C. Flanders Brown Ale/Oud Bruin
17D. Straight (Unblended) Lambic
17E. Gueuze
17F. Fruit Lambic

Now, two of these styles are beers that I've enjoyed in the past.  I've found Berliner Weisse and Gueuze to very enjoyable beers and would recommend that any beer drinker explore these style as an "entry drug" into sours.  I didn't even realize these were sour styles until last Thursday.

Similarly, a lambic may be a great way to convince some of your wine snob friends to begin enjoying the delightful-ness of beer.  A lambic will usually come in a fancy, corked bottle and can be sweet & sour.  Also, the color is usually not amber or golden like most beers.  Most of the lambics I've been exposed to are some variation of red in color.  Don't tell your friends its beer and they'll drink it straight down!

Finally, we come to the two styles that surprised me the most, the flanders red ale and the flanders brown ale (or oud bruin).  I did not expect to enjoy either one of these, but these really opened my eyes last week to how enjoyable sour ales can be.  The flanders red ale was a beer called Oude Tart from The Bruery (side note we also tasted an ale aged in bourdon barrels with wild yeast call Tart of Darkness also from the The Bruery).  I regret not being able to recall what the flanders brown ale was, but if it returns to my memory I will update this posting.

So in summary, if you're looking to start you're journey into sour beers perhaps begin with a nice Berliner Weisse or Gueuze, save the lambics for your wine snob friends, and then ease yourself into the flanders red.  I enjoyed the tasting so much that it got me thinking about brewing my own sours.  Perhaps I'll jump into those style someday when I'm ready to commit to aging one for about a year!

Pumpkin Spice Saison

EastbayBrewing.blogspot.com made it possible for me to brew my first Pumpkin Spice Saison!  Happy upcoming Holidays everyone!

Cheers,

Justin

How To: Calculate Efficiency

If you've read my recent Harvest Pumpkin Ale post, you probably noticed that my OG was lower than that of the original author.

My OG = 1.060
Original Author OG = 1.070

This result was al little puzzling to me since I'm usually within a few points of the OG for the recipe I'm following.  I'm sure that my batch of beer will still be delicious and enjoyable, but this got me thinking about what could have caused the lower OG reading.  I had started with the author's original 10 gallon recipe and scaled it down to 6 gallons.  I later realized the original author had noted an expected efficiency of 85%.  When I planned my batch, the author's efficiency was something I ignored.  I've typically tried to avoid too many calculations in my brewing history, but I know that my efficiency is usually in the 70-80% range (I use a brewing app called iBrewMaster which calculates efficiency on its own).  To this point in my homebrewing career, efficiency has been a fun to follow stat (kind of like on base percentage in baseball), but hasn't really changed my brewing approach.

Here's my hypothesis and what I'm hoping to learn from this post:

The lower OG reading was a result of a lower efficiency than that of the original author and that I should have increased my grain bill to account for this.

Let's begin exploring this possibility.

First, let's learn how to calculate efficiency.  Referencing John Palmer's How To Brew, 2nd Edition, p. 151 (this link is for the 3rd edition):

"In mashing, you are collecting "x" number of gallons of wort that has a gravity of "1.0yy" that was produced from "z" pounds of malt.  To calculate your extraction in terms of PPG (points per pound per gallon), you need to multiply the number of gallons of wort you collected by its gravity and divide that by the amount of malt that was used."

x = gallons of wort

yy = maximum PPG (reference this table, max PPG is the last two digits of the potential SG)

z = pounds of malt

PPG = yy*z/x

I'm going to begin by calculating efficiency for a very simple batch of beer, Be-Otch IPA.  Here is the grain bill with the efficiency calculation (I collected 6 gallons of wort)

14 lbs US 2 row pale malt          (36 x 14) / 6 = 84 max PPG
0.6 lbs Caramel/Crystal 20L      (35 x 0.6) / 6 = 3.5 max PPG

14.6 lbs total                               87.6 max PPG

Max PPG would be the specific gravity (1.087) if you were able to achieve 100% efficiency.  In this case I know that my gravity reading was 1.063

Efficiency = 63/87 = 72%

Now let's try this with my Harvest Pumpkin Ale.  Note, I'm ignoring the rice hulls since they do not contribute any sugars to the mash.

11.4 lbs 6-Row Pale Malt         (35 x 11.4) / 6 = 66.5
0.75 lbs Melanoiden Malt         (37 x 0.75) / 6 = 4.6
0.6 lbs Crystal 60                      (34 x 0.6) / 6 = 3.4
0.6 lbs Victory Malt                  (36 x 0.6) / 6 = 3.6

13.35 lbs total                            78.1 max PPG

OG reading = 1.060

Efficiency = 60/78 = 77%

As expected, my efficiency was lower than the 85% recommended by the original author.  If I was to do this batch again, I would probably assume an efficiency of 75% and increase my grain bill by enough to compensate for my less efficient operation.  To calculate my grain increase I'm going to take the original max PPG (78.1) and multiply that by the recommended 85% efficiency to get my target PPG.

78.1 x 85% = 66.3 target PPG

Next, I'll take the target PPG and divide that by my assumed efficiency of 75% to get my new max PPG.

66.3 / 75% = 88.5 new max PPG

Finally, I'll divide my new max PPG by the original max PPG to determine the percent increase for each of the grains and multiply that increase percentage by each grain in the recipe.

88.5 / 78.1 = 113%

Revised grain bill:

12.9 lbs 6-Row Pale Malt         (35 x 12.9) / 6 = 75.3
0.85 lbs Melanoiden Malt         (37 x 0.85) / 6 = 5.2
0.7 lbs Crystal 60                      (34 x 0.7) / 6 = 4.0
0.7 lbs Victory Malt                  (36 x 0.7) / 6 = 4.2

15.15 lbs total                            88.7 max PPG

After doing this exercise, efficiency is not just another stat to be ignored.  You can see that this makes a significant difference in the grain bill (1.8 lbs!!).  If I were brewing this recipe on a large scale, efficiency would be a huge deal and could cost thousands of dollars.  On the homebrewing scale its only a few extra dollars out of my pocket.  If you're planning recipes in the future, whether its from a magazine or book try to find out what the assumed efficiency is and if it is similar to your system.  The exercise above only take a few minutes and could make a difference in the final product of your batch.

But if you hate math and just enjoy brewing for fun, ignore this post, relax, and have a homebrew!!

Upcoming Home Brew Competitions

So normally I try to keep things like this to Bay Area event only, but home brew competitions tend to be less frequent than other types of beer events, so I've expanded this list to emcompass homebrew competitions throughout the state of California.  Bay area (or close to) events are in bold.  If you enter and win I want to know about!!!

September 21 - OC Fest of Ales Home Brew Challenge - Anaheim (Registration closes tomorrow 9/11 so get your entries submitted!!)

September 22 - Fresno Fair Homebrew Competition - Fresno (Registration closes 9/15)

October 5 - Mother Earth Rhythm and Brews Home Brew Competition - Vista (Registration closes 9/28)

October 5 - University City Home Brew Contest - San Diego (Entries accepted day of the event on 10/5!!)

October 5 - Oaktoberfest - Oakland (Registration closes on 9/15)

October 5 - Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. and Valley Brewers Pro-Am - Buellton (Registration closes on 9/27)

On a side note I was at Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company a couple weeks ago.  They have delicious tri tip BBQ on the weekends as well as excellent beer!  If you're ever in the Santa Ynez area north of Santa Barbara, I recommend stopping by.  I particularly enjoyed the Hoppy Poppy IPA!

October 12 - Queen of Beers - Placerville (Registration closes on 10/1)

October 19 - National Organic Home Brew Challenge - Santa Cruz (Registration closes 10/15)

November 2 - California State Home Brew Competition - San Francisco (Registration closes 10/12)

Harvest Pumpkin Ale

Here's a recipe that I brewed over the Labor Day weekend (I don't like the name....please post both awesome and terrible suggestions in the comments section).  This recipe is from the September/October edition of Zymurgy.  I'm really excited about this recipe!!  I've been wanting to brew a pumpkin ale for a few years and I finally found a recipe at the right time so that the brew will be ready for Halloween & Thanksgiving.  

There are a few minor differences between my recipe below and the recipe in Zymurgy.  First, the brew store I went to did not have White Labs East Coast Ale Yeast, so I substituted White Labs California Ale.  Secondly, the talented brewer who wrote the article had the ability to fine tune their mash temperature and used a protein rest at 120 degrees F during the mash (my 10 gallon orange cooler is awesome, but unfortunately only supports single temperature infusion mashing).  Lastly, this recipe can double as a Pumpkin Saison by using East Coast Yeast Saison Brasserie Blend.  I did not brew the Saison version of this recipe, but I'm tempted to brew another batch in a few weeks!

Batch Size: 6 gallons

Grains:

11.4 lbs 6-Row Pale Malt
0.75 lbs Melanoiden Malt
0.6 lbs Crystal 60
0.6 lbs Victory Malt
0.6 lbs Rice Hulls

Hops:

0.6 oz Magnum Hops - 90 minutes remaining in the boil

Other Additions:

3.6 lbs Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin (add during the mash)
1.2 lbs Maple Syrup (add at the end of the boil)
1.2 lbs Honey (add at the end of the boil)
1 tbs Pumpkin Pie Spice

Here's a look a few of my ingredients.

Yeast:

White Lab California Ale WLP 001 (Zymurgy recommended using White Labs East Coast Ale WLP 008)

Mash & Sparge:

Bring 5.8 gallons of water to a strike temperature of 168 degrees F.  While the water is heating up, add the 3.6 lbs of pumpkin to the strike water.  Stir throughly to dissolve pumpkin into the strike water.  Target mash temperature is 154 degrees F.  You might notice that the water to grain ratio is about 1.75 quarts per pound.  I normally mash at 1.33 quarts per pound.  The higher water to grain ratio will help keep the pumpkin suspended and prevent a stuck sparge.  Mash for 60 minutes.

Strike water with pumpkin

My actual strike temperature was about 172 degrees F and actual mash temperature was about 158 degrees F.

Heat 3.4 gallons of sparge water to 170 degrees F.  Due to the pumpkin, you'll want to sparge as slowly as possible to prevent a stuck sparge.  Collect wort until the grain bed settles.  This should be approximately 8 gallons of wort.

Sparging!!

Sparging in progress....cool wort color

Bring wort to a boil and boil for 90 minutes.  Add 0.6 oz of Magnum hops at the beginning of the boil.  
If I were to brew this recipe again, I would probably scale this down to five gallons instead of six gallons.  Normally, I like to brew six because it gives me some flexibility to leave some beer behind in my fermenters as I rack from one stage to the next.  Unfortunately, for this batch I had several boil overs that created somewhat of a mess.  I had about 8 gallons of wort in my 9.5 gallon pot.

Orange Boil!

At the end of the boil add the maple syrup, honey, and pumpkin pie spice.  Cool the wort to about 75 degrees F and transfer to your fermentation vessel.  Aerate wort and pitch your yeast!

If possible ferment at 68 degrees F for two weeks in your primary vessel.  Transfer this batch to your secondary fermentation vessel for a least another two weeks to help the batch clear.  Add an additional teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice when you keg or bottle.  

OG = 1.070 (my actual was 1.060, this recipe assumed an efficiency of 85%.  I usually only reach 75-80%.  This could account for the lower OG reading, but this sounds like a separate post.)
FG = 1..014
ABV = 7.4%

How To: Make A Yeast Starter

A few years ago I was sitting at work on a Saturday, not thinking about work, but thinking about ways to improve my beer.  After spending some time on Google, I found that making a yeast starter was an easy and inexpensive step to improve beer.  I usually try to make my starter the day before I brew.  Sometimes I forget, take a deep breath, and I make the starter the morning of brew day (this is usually is enough time for the starter to get moving and begin creating additional yeast).  I think that any head start you give the yeast is better than nothing.  This is good for your beer because full on fermentation will begin sooner, minimize the risk of infection, and will lead to a healthier fermentation.  Healthy fermentation = delicious beer!!!

This is the procedure I follow for 5 gallon batches of beer.  If you're brewing 10 gallon size batches, you'll probably want to double everything in the procedure.

Here's what you'll need:

Yeast (duh!)
1000 mL Erlenmeyer flask w/ stopper
Funnel
Light Dried Malt Extract (DME)
Saucepan
Stirring Spoon
Lighting reading (optional)
Whiskey (see background, also optional, but leads to more fun!)

Here's what you need!

Now for the procedure.  This is very simple.  You're basically making a very smaller batch of wort to get the yeast going.

1.  Clean and sanitize all your equipment that will come in contact with the wort.  I use PBW and Star San like I do for brewing full batches.  However, you should clean and sanitize using whatever method you're used to.

2.  Bring 650 mL of water to a boil in the saucepan.  Add 1/2 cup of the light DME to the boiling water and stir until the DME dissolves.  When you add the DME it will boil over.  Be prepared to lift the pan off the stove.  Once the wort calms down, continue to boil for 15 minutes.

Note:  I've tried performing the boil directly in the Erlenmeyer flask, but have had a very difficult time controlling the boil over.  The flask tends to act like a 3rd grade volcano project and erupts every 30 seconds during the boil.

Ready for boil over!

Boil over gone!

3.  Before the end of the boil prepare a small ice bath.  Once the boil is complete, transfer the boiled wort into the Erlenmeyer flask.  Place the flask into the ice bath and wrap the flask in a cold, wet towel.  The wort should be cooled in about 10-15 minutes.

This isn't the most impressive ice bath, but it doesn't need to be for your starter.

4.  Once the starter has cooled to room temperature.  You're ready to pitch your yeast.  For this particular batch, I'm using White Labs California Ale WLP001.  Swirl the yeast around inside the vial to be sure none is stuck to the sides and pitch into the flask.  If you're using a Wyeast smack pack, perform the smack! as your normally would pitching into a full batch of wort.  Swirl the flask after you've pitched the yeast to throughly mix the yeast with the wort.  Place your stopper and let sit for about 24 hours.  You're done!

Pre-pitch

White Labs Yeast Vial

Post pitch

All told, this take less than an hour and I've had success using this method for more consistent fermentation in the full batch.  Remember to pitch the entire starter into your batch.  This will not affect the flavor of your particular style.

One additional step that can be performed is to place the starter on a stir plate to continually oxygenize the starter.  I don't use a stir plate and would recommend that a stir plate is strictly optional.  If you're in the cool chemistry lab stuff, then by all means one.  If you're on a budget, you can skip the stir plate and still make a great starter.

UPDATE:

By popular demand here is a shot of the yeast starter right before I pitched into my pumpkin ale yesterday.

Yeast Starter on Brew Day - 9/2/2013