Brewing for Color
It is not normal when I don’t look forward to a brew day. So I have to thank my homebrew club’s Iron Brewer competition for ruining this brew day for me. Iron Brewer works similarly to its namesake. Three brewers are given two ingredients or rules for their beer. Everything else is up to the brewer. For this brew, we were given no ingredients. Only restrictions. We could only use fermentables of 3L or lower and the finished beer had to be 17SRM or higher.
So where does that leave us? Clearly any highly kilned or roasted grain is out. Fruit is a fermentable so anything that would provide color can’t be used. Highly toasted oak isn’t technically a fermentable, but the challenge only gives us two months so there is a risk that the wood character wouldn’t meld properly. I’m probably leaving out some options, but I didn’t have much time to get this beer put together.
So what I landed on after a week of debate then changing my mind last second at the homebrew shop is a take on a dunkelweizen. I can’t use the traditional Munich malt for the style so I need to make up for that somehow. My method for getting some additional malt character and color is decoction and a long boil. Now you can see why I was not looking forward to this brew day.
The Decoction
A decoction mash is a more intensive process than a standard single infusion mash. In essence, it is a step mash that has you remove a portion of the bash, boil it and return it to the mash to raise the temperature. Doing a decoction is supposed to give you some color and flavor impact, but a quick internet search will lead you to the debate over whether the flavor impact is meaningful. Decoction can be done as a single, double or triple, which essentially dictates how many steps you will do.
I decided to do a triple decoction. Whatever color change I can wring out of this process I need to get. This is the part of the day that I was not looking forward to at all. The portion of the mash you pull for the decoction is intended to be thick. You want to leave as much fluid as possible in the mash tun. Boiling a thick portion of the mash leaves you at risk for scorching the grain and being left with a burnt flavor in the beer. So you need to keep stirring the decoction to keep that from happening. That can lead to a tiring brew day!
Adding to my tiring day is the fact that my brew system is in the garage and my brew kettle can’t boil anything less than 4.5 gallons. So that means I have to take my mash up and down the stairs to the kitchen for each decoction step. A rather unfortunate setup, but it is part of the limitation of my electric system.
By my third decoction (picture above), I was getting some brown color. I was pulling at most 1.75 gallons from my 4.5 gallon mash, so the overall effect was less than the picture above because it was diluted each time I added it back to the mash.
The Boil
I planned for a two hour boil. Since I have to keep at least 4.5 gallons in the kettle during the boil I couldn’t just boil until I got the color I wanted. Adding water would thin out the beer and actually lighten the beer.
The image on the left is the preboil wort. The right is after one hour. The wort is already darkening substantially. If I had this to do over again, I would tone down how hard the wort was boiling. After doing the brew day, I read that the maillard reaction that darkens the beer really only needs to be above 190 degrees F. So I could have kept it to more of a simmer and kept it going longer to slow my evaporation rate. Going into the day I assumed I needed to boil hard to get the most color.
In the end this brew day took my almost 12 hours. That is more than double my normal brew day. I won’t be doing this sort of brew again anytime soon, but I can at least say I’ve done a decoction. They are tough, but the stirring wasn’t quite as bad as I was expecting.
I ended up getting quite a bit of color in this beer. I pitched dry hefeweizen yeast that has it looking a milky, light brown. Definitely does not look like a beer you’d want to drink at the moment, but we’ll see how it looks at the end of fermentation. I figured a hefeweizen yeast could help with the perception of dark color by making the beer hazy. The judging for this competition won’t be until mid March so I won’t have an update on the results for awhile.
Pacific Northwest Homebrewers Conference
This year homebrewers in the Pacific Northwest will gather for the first ever Pacific Northwest Homebrewers Conference (PNWHC). The conference will be held March 4-5 in Vancouver, WA. Local clubs have been looking to put on an event of this type since the National Homebrewers Conference (NHC) visited Seattle in 2012. The PNWHC is endorsed by the American Homebrewers Conference and anyone who has attended NHC will feel at home with the event schedule. The conference will feature:
- 24 educational seminars with topics ranging from simplifying your brew day to going pro.
- Pro Brewers Night with over 15 regional breweries pouring beer
- Club Night. Area clubs will be pouring beer and partying!
- Pre-conference bus tours of local breweries
- 2 dinners and a keynote lunch
- Exhibit hall with vendors showing off their gadgets and wares
Due to other commitments, this will be the first year I am missing the National Homebrewers Conference since it came to Seattle. Instead, I’ll be heading to PNWHC instead! Looking forward to enjoying great beer with some great people. For more information on the conference you can visit pnwhc.com.
Heating the Conical Fermenter
So I’ve got this conical fermenter and I want to put some wort in it right away. Then it hits me… the garage is 47 degrees. So I need to figure out how to heat this thing. I need to get a temperature controller hooked up, a heating method and I need to make sure it works. Even though I bought a conical fermenter, I’m still cheap at heart and I don’t want to waste a batch that will not ferment because it is too cold.
So the first step is getting the temperature controller figured out. In my current setup I am using a borrowed Ranco controller on a wine fridge to temp control a 6-gallon Better Bottle. The Ranco temperature probe fits snugly in the Chronical thermowell. For now, that is what I will be using. However, I also have all the parts to build my own temperature controller with an STC-1000. When I make the transition to that controller, I will be able to use both the controller and the LCD thermometer that is included with the Chronical. With the Ranco, the only thing that fits in the thermowell is the temperature probe. So I will have to check the controller to know what the temperature is in the fermenter.
My heating method in the wine fridge was two 20-watt Flexwatts sheets hanging on the wall. This was not overly efficient because it was just heating the air in the fridge, but it made it easier for me to get the Better Bottles in and out of the fridge. For the conical, I took the Flexwatt sheets and cut them apart. I figured I would only need one wrapped around the cone of the conical. I was wrong. One sheet only provided an internal temperature 10 degrees F higher than ambient (with 12-gallons of water in the conical).
My garage has been sitting around 48 degrees F on our cooler days so I figured if I could get two sheets wired together I would have enough heat for a standard ale fermentation. My first attempt at wiring them together did not work. I thought I had clamped them together well enough, but one of the sheets was not getting power. So I completely tore it apart and redid the wiring.
These Flexwatt sheets get power using a clamp style connector. The clamp punctures the plastic coating on the sheet to reach a metal strip that runs on each side of the sheet. So when I rewired the sheets I took it completely apart and made sure the sheets were lined up and used a pair of pliers to make sure the clamp fully punctured. When I tested it with 12-gallons of water in the conical, I was able to hold an internal temperature 18 degrees F over ambient. I did some testing of water at the top, middle and bottom of the conical and the temperature was consistent throughout the vessel. Although heat rises, I was worried having the heat all at the bottom would cause the base of the conical to be very hot and gradually get cooler. I’m glad that is not a concern.
SS Brewtech now sells a heating/cooling kit that is designed for their Chronical line. They have a heating pad that wraps around the cone in a similar method that I used. Their heating pad is 60-watts. My two sheets are a combined 40-watts and are capable of barely holding the temperatures I need in my standard low temperature scenario. Depending on how the first couple beers go, I may have to get an additional sheet to wire in parallel with my current two to give myself some extra cushion.
Another option for additional heat would be to pump hot water through the coil to get the temperature higher. This could be beneficial for cold winters or beer styles that have a higher fermentation temperature like Belgians. A heat stick could be used to maintain the temperature of the water. Currently, I do not have a pump to use for this setup. SS Brewtech recommends a pump with a flow rate of 8-10 L/min and a head of roughly 4-6 meters. This is essentially what they sell in their kit and individually. However, their pump uses a connector that is specific to their FTS temperature control system. It is not a standard plug that could be used on any system.
Heating is the only temperature control I need in the winter. However, by the time spring arrives I will need to have my cooling setup figured out. In the spring and fall I will definitely need heating and cooling. When I have the cooling setup figured out I will detail it here. In the meantime, I can report that the first beer is currently in the fermenter and holding steady at 67 degrees F in first stages of fermentation.
So I Got A Conical Fermenter
Ever since I started brewing one of the things I always coveted was a conical fermenter. I could never justify the cost for one. Buckets and carboys are cheap. Beer ferments just fine in those vessels. The desire for a conical persisted in the face of rational reasons not to buy one. They’re shiny.
So I finally rationalized getting a conical. Biggest reason: because I want one and I can. However, if I am going to spend the money on a conical I don’t want to be making a lot of compromises. The things I was looking for in a conical:
- Integrated temperature control
- Ability to do pressurized transfers
- Ability to do 5 and 10 gallon batches
- Sanitary fittings
- Shiny
As my wife could attest, I do way too much research before making a purchase. This is especially true when the purchase is large like a conical. Without going into a dissection of all of the homebrew conical fermenters on the market, I can break down how I landed on the SS Brewtech 14 Gallon Chronical – Brewmaster Edition. Here is how it stacks up against my criteria:
Integrated Temperature Control: SS Brewtech first caught my eye on their standard line of Chronical fermenters with the lid immersion chiller they offered. One thing that stopped me from pulling the trigger on that set up was that by using the lid chiller you lose the ability to do pressurized transfers. The chilling coil in the Brewmaster Edition of the Chronical is side mounted which allows the use of the domed lid and pressurized transfers. Some are now thinking that I could have installed a coil like this in any conical, and they are right. However, I installed a coil in my hot liquor tank and it was the most nerve wracking part of my system build. Happy to have someone else drill those holes.
Pressurized Transfers: The Chronical Brewmaster Edition comes standard with the domed lid and pressure relief valve to protect the fermenter from over pressurization. A few fittings are required to connect the CO2 tank to the fermenter, but that would be required regardless of the fermenter chosen.
5 and 10 Gallon Batches: The chilling coil in the 14 gallon Chronical – Brewmaster Edition is installed from about 4 gallons to 10.75 gallons. With a 5 gallon batch, about 2 gallons will be in contact with the chiller. This will definitely decrease the efficiency of the chilling, but being in Seattle I expect no issues maintaining temperatures because extreme temperatures are not normal.
Sanitary Fittings: Brewmaster Edition Chronicals come standard with sanitary tri-clamp butterfly valves on the racking arm and dump valve. These fittings will help keep everything clean and sanitized. They also open the door for yeast harvesting with greater peace of mind.
Shiny: The fermenter is shiny out of the box. Then the neoprene insulation sleeve is installed and the lid and fittings are the only shiny parts still standing. It is a little disappointing that it does not fully gleam in the garage, but if I have to make a compromise, this is the category I’ll take it.
Additional pros for the Brewmaster Chronical are the sample port and the 3 inch tri-clamp on the lid. The sample port provides a quick method to take gravity readings and taste along with the beer. Using the sample port eliminates the risk of introducing contamination with a thief. The 3 inch tri-clamp allows for easier hop and miscellaneous additions. I am looking forward to this because lately I’ve been adding hops and coffee beans in the Better Bottles and that can be difficult with an inch and a half opening.
There are a couple cons for the Brewmaster Chronical. The neoprene sleeve is a huge pain to get on and off. In theory this should not be a problem long term because I should not be removing the sleeve very often. Another con that many have with the Chronical line of fermenters is the use of weldless fittings. The concern is that these fittings introduce places for bacteria and wild yeast to hide. Personally they are not an issue. I thing they are easy to manage and if I perceive a problem it takes 5 minutes to remove, clean and reinstall.
At this time, I have not put any beer into the fermenter yet. I am still working out the details of temperature control. I’ll have a post on temperature control for the conical once I have if figured out (at least the first iteration). I’ll also put up a more thorough review of my thoughts after using the fermenter for a couple batches. For now, I’m excited about the future of my brewing.
2016 Brewing Resolutions
A new year has arrived and everyone is pledging to lose weight for real this time. At the end of every year I have some time off and it gives me a chance to look at where my brewing is and where I’d like it to be this time next year. I’ve already talked about how 2015 was a disaster for meeting my brewing goals. Time to change the script.
Here are my goals for 2016:
- Fine tune my system
- Experiment with sour beer
- Improve yeast management
- Improve consistency and quality of content
You’ll recognize most of these from last year. I still need to make system improvements to improve my quality of life. I still have some fittings to install on the chiller and HLT. I’ve now got a conical fermenter I need to get dialed in as well (more on that later). With the addition of the fermenter the only thing left I want to add to my processes the ability to oxygenate the wort. By the end of 2016 I plan to have my system completely finished.
Sour beer is still something I want to try at home. I have 1-gallon jugs to experiment with, but I think I will start with kettle souring and go from there. This is all uncharted territory for me so I expect to make a lot of mistakes… I mean learn a lot.
The only new addition to the list is improving my yeast management. This is one that I don’t feel is a large detriment to my brewing, but I could be more consistent and more intentional on how much yeast I use. Currently I make starters for an overwhelming majority of my beers, but I haven’t put much thought into it other than “make a starter.” I’m sure there is more to do that would improve my beer. I could even look at harvesting yeast with the conical if I get adventurous.
This site definitely suffers when my brewing time suffers. Writing about brewing slips my mind when I’m not brewing, go figure. I need to put a focus on writing even when I have down time in my brewing schedule. It is rare that I’m not at least reading about something I could share. I’m also considering some additional content formats, but I’d like to be on a consistent writing schedule before I try to add something else to my plate.
I made these goals with a focus on improving my beer and my ability to fit brewing beer into an increasingly hectic daily life. 2016 should be a great year for brewing.
State of the Homebrewery 2015
The end of the year is here. It’s time to look back at all the great things I did things I wanted to do and did not. In January, I shared brewing resolutions for 2015. There were five things that I wanted to work on during the year. I failed at all five.
Get more involved in competitions: Absolutely zero progress here. I only judged one competition (and it was a pro brewer competition) and I didn’t enter anything. Even if I don’t enter anything I really want to be more involved in judging and helping others improve their beer.
Nail down a pilsner, kolsch, and pale ale recipe for my system: This one is mostly a fail, but with some silver lining. I didn’t even attempt a pilsner. Fail. I rebrewed my kolsch recipe once. It was during a heat wave and I struggled to chill properly. I ended up dumping it. Just tasted like apples. Fail. But here is the good part. I think I found my pale ale. I really liked the beer I brewed for my club and with a few reps I think I could get that one dialed in. Win.
Fine tune my system: I haven’t made any of the improvements that I’ve identified for my system. I did fix some wiring issues, but I am still where I was the day I finished this build. I need to make this stuff happen.
Experiment with sour beers: Another absolutely zero progress. I haven’t attempted anything. I did pick up a set of four 1-gallon jugs to do some small batch testing. I guess that is “progress.” Recently, I was talking with a buddy about kettle souring and tasted a couple of his experiments. I think that may be the way to attack this one.
Be more consistent in sharing what I learn and brew here: I actually only missed three months of posting. However, only one month of posting would I consider a success, January. Started strong and limped along the rest of the way.
Part of my issue in this past year was just not fully realizing the impact of my second son joining our family. I posted the resolutions just three weeks before he was born and immediately watched my free time disappear. I had just started getting to a more stabilized schedule when I posted and I feel I am getting there again (no kids on the way this time). So I think I can turn this around.
But this year wasn’t a total loss for brewing. In addition to the pale ale, I also had success with a coffee stout. That beer will definitely enter my rotation. Between my hops and grain, I’ve transitioned to more bulk buying. That has saved me some money, but I need to brew more to make sure I keep everything fresh.
My processes have been ironed out. As I mentioned earlier, I had some issues with equipment, but I have fixed them and the last couple brews have been problem free. Of course now that everything is working I am going to be making some changes. Everything I have in mind (and I’ll flesh this out more in the future) is quality of life focused. How do I make homebrewing work within the constraints life provides?
As I get to the end of this post it seems like this year has been mostly negative, but it is more that I didn’t stretch myself the way I wanted. I managed to stay afloat with big changes in the family and get back to the status quo. I feel like I am picking up momentum as I head into the next year. New posts are also in the works (spoilers… conical fermenter and temp control). I’m already starting to think about what I want to accomplish over the next year and that will come next week. At least some of these failures will be back to give me a shot at redemption.
Fly on the Wall Pale Ale
Sometimes things just come together. When you have young kids like I do that rarely seems to happen because the kids control your life. I was supposed to brew a beer for my club’s sensory training progam call Beer on the Fly. Basically, a club member brews a beer that they like or are want to improve and bring it in for the club to taste together. As a group we describe the beer and provide feedback for the brewer. Due to a quirk in the schedule I was going to have 4 months to brew this beer rather than the normal 2 months. Everyone was excited for the chance to try a bigger beer that there is normally not enough time for: barleywine, Russian imperial stout, etc.
I forgot.
About 1 month before the meeting I remembered that I was supposed to brew the beer. Well crap. I stopped by the homebrew shop after work and started to make up a beer. I didn’t have any of the recipes I had in my Beersmith library because I didn’t have time to make it home and back before the shop closed. So I came up with a true beer on the fly.
Recipe Specifications -------------------------- Boil Size: 6.72 gal Post Boil Volume: 5.72 gal Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal Estimated OG: 1.056 SG Estimated Color: 4.6 SRM Estimated IBU: 46.8 IBUs Brewhouse Efficiency: 85.00 % Est Mash Efficiency: 85.0 % Boil Time: 60 Minutes Ingredients: ------------ Amt Name %/IBU 8 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 80.0 % 1 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) 10.0 % 1 lbs Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) 10.0 % 0.50 oz Horizon [14.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min 32.5 IBUs 1.00 oz Mandarina Bavaria [7.40 %] - Boil 15.0 min 8.8 IBUs 1.00 oz Mandarina Bavaria [7.40 %] - Boil 5.0 min 5.5 IBUs 1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs 1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs 1.0 pkg Northwest Ale (Wyeast Labs #1332) [1.5L Yeast Starter] Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Electric Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs ---------------------------- Name Description Step Temperat Step Time Mash In Add 4.47 gal of water at 160.1 F 152.0 F 60 min Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 2 min 168.0 F 10 min Sparge: Fly sparge with 4.17 gal water at 168.0 F Notes: Citra and Simcoe were whole leaf in the Hop Rocket
I went with a simple malt bill mostly out of laziness. I didn’t want to have to individually bag a bunch of different grains in small amounts in case I changed my mind on something. Mandarina Bavaria was a hop that I had never used before. It is supposed to give a citrus profile with an emphasis on oranges. The Northwest Ale yeast was something else I had not tried before because why not. I was making it up anyway.
The brew day was uneventful. It had been awhile since I had a day like that so I almost didn’t know how to handle it. Normally I would do a dry hop with a beer like this, but I wanted to see how much hop character I could get just using the hop rocket at the finish.
The beer was received well by the club. I received good feedback on the malt bill. The general consensus was that there was enough going on to add a little depth while still letting the hops take center stage. I am definitely going to do experiment some more with this grain bill.
The hops turned out very well. This combination provided very nice mixed citrus. The hop rocket did enough without a dry hop. I may continue that for pale ales, but it wouldn’t be enough for an IPA. The bitterness in this beer is a little high for a pale ale, but being in hop country makes it not seem too bad. If I was going to compete with this beer I would probably want to dial that back a bit.
Overall, I was very happy with this beer. That was elevated by the fact that I made up the recipe on the spot at the homebrew shop and it all came together as I envisioned. Easily my most successful original creation (at least on the first brew). I will probably keep this one in my rotation and perhaps play with different hops on top of this malt bill.
Donnie IPA Brew Day
It started off as a nice little Sunday. Pleasant breakfast with the family despite my two sons having colds. I set up the brew system and started heating the water for the mash. At this point I still didn’t have a full recipe put together. I had my grain bill set and my yeast starter on the stir plate, but no plans for hops yet. So I set about trying to think about what I had in the fridge that might be fun to use with the HBC-438 (Ron Mexico) hops that I picked up at the National Homebrewers Conference this year.
With a rough idea of pairing some Amarillo and Mosaic with Ron Mexico, I realized I needed to transfer the water needed for the mash to the mash tun before my friend Pete showed up so we could start the brew day promptly. Almost on cue he showed up right as I was getting the transfer set up. We transferred the water and started the recirculation. Everything was going fine so we milled the grain and doughed in.
In my normal process I will add the grain to the mash water at a strike temperature a little higher than my expected mash temperature. The grain will take the temp below my desired mash temperature, but the HERMS system will recover fairly quickly. This is where we started noticing problems. The grain dropped the temperature as expected and started climbing back up as the HERMS system transferred the heat from the hot liquor tank to the mash via the coil. However, the temperature on the HLT started dropping as well.
I thought perhaps the HLT was just struggling today so I stopped the recirculation. I was counting on the large thermal mass of the mash to maintain the temperature we did have while we tried to right the ship with the HLT. We waited a few minutes and the temperature was going nowhere but down. After fiddling with the control panel and futzing with the power cord for the element we determined that the element wasn’t firing, and it appeared to have died. Even plugging it into the boil kettle outlet was getting no action.
So we just stared blankly at each other. He started at me expecting me to know what to do since I was the experience homebrewer. Me staring at him trying to figure out what that course of action would be. First step was to get the mash to temp. We were hovering about 10 degrees low and I wanted to get it to temp as quickly as possible. Using a brewing calculator we figured out that adding a couple gallons of boiling water should get us to our temp. So we pulled my first brew kettle off the storage shelf and ran it upstairs to start heating water on the stove. We added the boiling water and after some extended stirring we hit our mash temp. So I threw on the lid and started the timer.
While the water was boiling we needed to solve the problem of how we were going to sparge. Normally I fly sparge from the HLT but that did not seem like it would be in the cards today. So we figured we could pull off a batch sparge just heating the water in the boil kettle and moving it back to the HLT to just hold there until it was time to sparge. Did I mention that we still needed to figure out our hops? With the mash seemingly stable and a plan in place we finally took the time to figure out when our hops would be added.
When the timer went off for the mash we discovered we lost a lot more temp than we expected. I had figured 24 pounds of grain and 11 gallons of water would have held its temperature pretty well over the course of 40 minutes, but we lost 8 degrees. My system is not designed for holding temperatures in a static environment. I don’t have insulation on the kettles, but that seems like a lot of temperature loss for that amount of thermal mass on a hot summer day.
Following the batch sparge, we found that our pre-boil gravity was almost 20 points too low. All of our mash shenanigans caused us to miss horribly. I had used the last of my malt extract to make my starter for this batch so we were stuck. We started the boil and through in our first hop addition without accounting for the smaller amount of sugars. I was being stubborn even though I knew I should lower the bitterness level and readjust to call this a pale ale.
As we were sitting and waiting for our first flavor/aroma hop addition, Pete pointed at a small container sitting near my brew stand and asked what it was. Turns out it was a container of honey that I had forgot to put into a previous batch of beer. We now had 2 pounds of sugar at our disposal to fix our gravity problem! We added all of the sugar and it got us much closer, but we still stayed about 8-10 points low of our expected gravity.
After the boil and 3 oz of Mosaic in the Hop Rocket we had some wort. Whether or not it will turn into anything worthwhile. Normally, this is where I would put the recipe. I’m not. Although the fermenters smell promising, only time will tell. If it turns out alright I’ll post some tasting notes and include the recipe with my best approximations for recreating it. If not, I’ll try to get my hands on some more Ron Mexico and give it another go.
But this still leaves me with the fact that I am short one working element in my homebrew system. Outside the heat of the moment I was able to take my time stepping through the issue. After some more fiddling I did get the element to turn on using the boil kettle wiring. So that isolated my problem to somewhere in the control panel for the HLT.
Tracing all my wiring and checking all my fuses left me with no answers. Fuses were still in tact and none of the wiring seemed to have melted or had anything else go awry. Out of frustration I poked one of the wires between the relay and the fuse and asked it, “why won’t you turn on?” There may have been another word or two thrown in there, but saying earmuffs doesn’t work in a textual format.
Low and behold the wire and its connection at the relay moved when I poked it. All along I had a loose wiring connection at the relay and it had finally moved enough to not complete the connection. I quickly tightened the screw and checked the other connections (all okay). I fired up the HLT again and it worked! A new lesson learned. I need to check my wiring connections from time to time and make sure nothing has loosened up.
In the end I could not have asked for a better solution to the problem. Prior to getting the element to fire using the boil kettle wiring I was already dreading replacing the element and having to do all the leak testing again to make sure I had a snug fit. Bottom line: I can brew again. And if this batch doesn’t turn out, I may need that ability sooner than later.
How To: Store Malt in Bulk
Earlier this year I wrote about the power of buying in bulk. That post was focused on my bulk hop purchase, but also discussed the important factors for storing malt in bulk. Storing malt generally requires a low-humidity environment around room temperature in an air tight container. The caveat with storing anything in bulk is the need to use it in a timely fashion. So storing base malt in bulk is really the only legitimate option for homebrewers since we have to buy 50+ pounds at a time.
I was finally pushed over the edge for buying malt in bulk while planning a 10-gallon batch of IPA. At my local shop, the cost for 22-pounds of grain is close to the cost of a sack of the pale malt I generally use. So for about $5 more than I would have been spending I took home an additional 33-pounds of grain. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
So now how do I take proper care of my new found riches of grain? I decided to use buckets and Gamma Seal Lids. These screw-on lids are made of food safe plastic and snap on to buckets. They say the lid can work on 3.5-gallon to 7-gallon buckets. ;In keeping with the food safe theme, I used 6-gallon fermentation buckets. Two 6-gallon buckets held 55-pounds of grain with ease.
The Gamma lid does mention a rubber mallet might be needed to get the lid to snap onto the bucket. I found that by removing the screw-on top the ring snapped easily on the rim of the bucket without the mallet. It was more difficult to attach with the screw-on top in place.
Overall, I’m very happy so far with this solution.The buckets are easy to store and the lids make them air-tight and very accessible. The best part of it all is the savings from buying one sack of grain paid for the buckets and lids. From now on I will continue to save money on base grain!
Revisiting the Luce Cannon
Eleven months ago today, my good friend Denny and I brewed the Luce Cannon. This Belgian dark strong ale had a brew day that was full of problems. The wort at the end of the day tasted good, but it was still unclear if we had saved it.
Early returns on this beer weren’t great. It came across pretty sweet and did not come together as a complete package. However, a lot went into this beer and the last thing I wanted to do was dump it. I let it sit in bottles in my basement for almost 6 months before I started sampling it again. Thankfully this beer has turned the corner.
Tasting Notes:
Aroma: Dark fruit (plum, cherry) dominates. Sweetness. Slight alcohol note with a deep sniff.
Appearance: Dark brown with orange highlights. Light, off-white lacing – no real head formed. Hazy
Flavor: More dark fruit. Raisins, plums. Slight caramel sweetness. Toffee.
Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. Medium carbonation. No alcohol coming through.
In the end, I’m happy with the way this beer has come together. I am very thankful I refused to dump it out. Just another example of not giving up on a beer paying off. I do wish it had dried out a little more in the finish. I am going to keep the recipe the same going forward and just try to put more emphasis on pitching enough healthy yeast.