Brewing with good water is an often overlooked but very important part of the brewing process. If you are an extract brewer, you may already know that you have little or no control over the water that was used to make the malt extract. To change the water profile, you need to change your extract. For all grain brewers, your main focus is reducing unwanted elements in the water and then building it back up to make it suitable for brewing. A tube style carbon filter is a great way to strip out undesirable chemical elements such as chlorine, chloramine, lead, etc.

Once all grain brewers have a baseline for their water, they face other challenges that extract brewers don't. The biggest of which is being familiar with the water's mineral content to achieve the proper pH in the mash. There are other considerations as well, like using chemicals to establish a water profile to brew a perfect clone of your favorite beer!

Although a free water report can sometimes be requested from your local water authority, the best way to be sure of your water's content is to use a private company like Ward Laboratories. This is especially true if you are on well & septic. [Read More]

We use White Labs any time we need liquid yeast and are always trying to understand the magic a little better. Chris White, the President of White Labs, wrote a great article on the life cycle of yeast that sums up the whole process nicely and he has allowed us to repost it here.

"What is yeast doing during beer fermentation?  It is consuming wort sugars, and turning that sugar into new yeast cells, ethanol, CO2, and flavor compounds. Brewers are primarily concerned about flavor compounds. In order to maximize the correct flavor compounds, it is helpful to know how yeast ferments beer.
  
Ale fermentation of brewers wort follows three phases:  lag phase  for 3-15 hours, exponential growth phase for 1-4 days, and stationary phase of yeast growth for 3-10 days. Each of these phases will be described in terms of yeast behavior." [Read More]

So apparently it takes rosemary, sweet orange peel, raisins and a blow torch to make Lost Abbey's 10 Commandments Ale. I said A BLOW Torch. Why didn't I think of that??  My secret homebrew ingredients usually include sweat, tears, and complaints from my family. Ninkasi Award here I come!!

It's been almost two days since I pitched the yeast...3 packs of dry SAF-05 rehydrated into each carboy, and this is by far the most active fermentation I've ever seen. I didn't quite hit my target OG of 1.114 but came close at 1.104. I'm standing by with a pound of corn sugar for each which would add roughly another 9 points and get me closer to the 12% ABV I was hoping for. 

The plan is to check the gravity after 3 days and most likely add a 1/2 lb of sugar to each carboy to keep the yeast going. After another two days, do the same thing with the remaining pound. I've already set a fermentation schedule and the temp can be raised if needed. I also poured a satellite sample into a clean beer bottle which has been in one of the chambers at the same temperature. It's already reading 1.060 so the yeast are definitely doing their job.

One thing I'm not thrilled with is how much beer I lost due to blowoff. This is not usually a problem with the temps kept in check, but with this much sugar and yeast, it's almost unavoidable. Unless of course I build a burton union system!  (scoundrel has one and I need to ask him if it works well)

Man I wish I would have taken vids last night when it was going bonkers. Here are two short videos at 41 hours.

I've been working on converting a 60qt Igloo Cube to a MT, needed something to hold more than my existing 10gal Rubbermaids. After trying several different ideas on how to utilize the existing drain, (which is located approx 2 1/2" off the bottom in the back of the cooler at a 45degree angle, not exactly ideal for a MT). I decided to drill for a new drain spout in the front of the cooler. I thought that I would provide some pics in case anyone is interested in converting one as well. I had most of the parts lying around so the cost was very minimal. I also went with all copper and SS and cost could be reduced by subing brass for the SS. Initial testing of my design showed 1.32qts of dead space.

Parts that I Used
1- 1/2" male to female copper pipe adapter
1- 1/2" copper street 90
1- 1/2" copper tee
3- 1 1/4" lengths of 1/2" ID copper pipe
7- 1 1/2" diameter SS washers (1/8" thick with a 7/8" ID)
1- 1/2" x 2" SS nipple
1- 1/2" SS ball valve
2- SS hose clamps
2- food grade o-rings
3ft- 1/4" OD copper utility coil
4ft- 3/4" SS braid

[Read More]

We've demonstrated how to make pre-made starters, but what if you need a starter now! You're probably going to grab a flask or a pot and hover over the stove for 30 minutes, right? Then you're gonna chill it down over ice for 10 minutes? 

Why not use the microwave? It's not 1959. I'll show you an easy way to make a starter that will free you up to do other things in 10 very easy steps!

[Read More] 

Drip irrigation is a method of delivering water directly to the base of a plant which has many benefits including less evaporation, lower stress from variations in soil moisture, and improved plant growth. In fact, applying water slowly this way exceeds 90 percent efficiency where sprinklers and other methods are generally 50 to 70 percent efficient.

Hops are great candidates for drip irrigation which is why most commercial hop growers have converted their systems to work this way. So then why not do the same thing for my little slice of hop heaven!?  Let's get started!

There were a few different options to make this work and after talking it over with my buddy scoundrel, it made the most sense to repurpose a bottling bucket since it already has a valve. [Read More]

Check out this great chart from BeerAdvocate’s Extreme Beer Fest illustrating the kinds of ingredients brewers use.