Pliny the Toddler... Again... and is Centennial Blonde the best house beer ever?

So I know I brew it a lot... some would say too often.  But if you haven't tried Drew Beechum's Pliny the Toddler.  You should.   It is reminiscent of Pliny the Elder but it is a session beer.  So you can have more than one with out worry of a DUI or a myriad of other bad decisions that come with excessive consumption.

If you don't know who Drew Beechum is, you should.  Drew is the co author of Experimental Homebrewing. (along with Denny Conn).  They also host a new pod cast, which is great.

Drew though to himself one day,  "I wish I could have that Pliny combination of hop flavors, but have more than one".   He developed a recipe.  The original recipe is on the Maltose Falcons brew club page.   But there is also a version on the AHA website.   Like many recipes this one has changed a bit for me over time.  Drew calls for Maris Otter and 2 row.  I just use two row.   Drew calls for some table sugar.   Honestly, I haven't added it because my efficiency keeps going up and up.  So, although i know it would help dry out the beer,  I haven't been able to add it.   One myth about BIAB is that it is less efficient than 3 vessel.  I haven't found that to be the case, quite the opposite in fact.   With correct water and a fine crush, my efficiency has actually skyrocketed into the mid 80s consistently.  (and the malty flavor has increased).  Drew doesn't call for dry hopping, but I dry hop with Centennial, Cascade, and Simcoe.    You should definitely give this recipe a try.   I am literally sad when I run out.  I spend 20 minutes trying to find another one last night.

Counter Brew Pliny Small Batch recipe. on Brewtoad.com


(one of my brewing partners has started a blog.  Our adventures are further documented on his page.  The blog is new but the guy loves brewing.  I'm sure it will come to rival this blog soon.) thebordersbrewingadventures.

On another note. I brewed a batch of Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde recently.   I brewed it because it was the #1 recipe on Homebrewtalk.   I'll be honest, I didn't expect much.  It's just a blonde ale... kinda boring.  But I brewed it any way... wow was I wrong.   I tasted a sample last night.   Wow.  Not even carbonated yet but amazing.   Can't wait to try this beer.  I'll probably bottle up a gallon of it and force carbonate it tonight.  That way I can take it to our brew session tomorrow morning.

All Grain Mash voodoo... now this is super secret stuff... so don't go blabbing about it everywhere...

The most common questions new brewers ask on this blog and when I'm teaching all grain are... how do I mash... and when is the mash done... and should i stir the mash?  and what the heck is a sparge...

PS - the secret technique is toward the bottom, so keep reading.

These concepts are fundamental to all grain brewing, and partial mash brewing.  So, I'll try to handle them here without too much complication. As you know I hate complications.   We won't be covering multi step or decoction in this post.

Mashing is soaking grains.  Grains that have been malted.

Wikipedia  - close enough for beginners. 

Some Hipster making floor malted barley

"Malt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried in a process known as "malting". The grains are made to germinate by soaking in water, and are then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air.^[1][2][3][4] By malting grains, the enzymes are developed that are required for modifying the grain's starches into sugars, including the monosaccharide glucose, the disaccharide maltose, the trisaccharide maltotriose, and higher sugars called maltodextrines. It also develops other enzymes, such as proteases, which break down the proteins in the grain into forms that can be used by yeast. Malt also contains small amounts of other sugars, such as sucrose and fructose, which are not products of starch modification but were already in the grain."   Pretty darn good explanation from Wikipedia.

Diagram of 2 Row Malted Barley

So we use Malted base grains when we mash.   Malted base grains have enzymes in them.   The enzymes can convert the starches to sugars in a process called Mashing. 

There are really only 3 general types of grains.  Base grains, adjunct malts, and non malted grains.   That is it.   Yes there are hundreds of types of grains, but I think even the worst Tommy Knowitall would agree that all grains fit nicely into one of these categories.   Base grains have enough enzymatic power to convert their own starches and often additional starches.  Adjunct grains do not have enough enzymatic power to convert their own starches.   Other grains may or may not contribute sugars to the wort, but always contribute flavors and color.   That is the simply explanation.  Yes, it can be way more complicated, but doesn't need to be in order to brew great beer.  

Brew in a Bag - Mashing away!

When we brew beer, we soak the malted grains in water.  This makes the enzymes active.   We use specific temperatures to get specific enzymes more active.  We generally soak grains at 140-160 degrees F. (60 - 71 C).   At lower temperatures beta amylase is more active, at higher temperatures alpha amylase is more active.   In general we mash around 150 to 155.  (higher for thicker bodied beers, lower for thinner bodied beers ).   We use 1.25 to 2.33 quarts per pound of grain, depending upon whether or not we are sparging (rinsing) the grains. Sparging is just rinsing the grains.   I generally don't sparge, but you may choose to.  I generally use the grains and make a second batch of beer...That's all there is to this.   If you can make oat meal you can make all grain beer. 

But one question remains unanswered... how long do I mash.   Here is the real secret.  Ok, hold on a minute, before I tell you make sure no one is around.  This is the super secret I mentioned above.   This knowledge will dramatically improve your beer... Brewing is cooking. 

The mash has to take what ever time it takes.  Generally people mash for 60 minutes.  But that is completely unnecessary, the grains and enzymes don't know they are being mashed.  They simply react the way nature designed them to react.   Most mashes convert in 20 to 30 minutes.  If you do an iodine test, you will find that the starches are all sugars.   So, why do we mash longer?  Well experts at Briess  (specifically Aaron Hyde, the product line manager) explains it this way...

What it comes down to - basic starch is converted into sugar.  The simple sugars are converted first, these are shorter chain sugars, so the flavor isn't as complex, thus sweet.  The complex sugar, which takes longer to create is more flavorful, and thus you get more biscuit and nut flavor.  This is also from flavors leaching over time from the grain- the malting process creates melanoidins, the grain contains proteins and other compounds, and they all contribute to this more complex flavor.
So it comes down to simple sugar creation first, and melanoidins and complex sugars coming out later.

So the longer mash isn't necessarily for creation of sugar, although it will keep grabbing more starch and converting it.  The longer mash is to get that nutty, bready, melanoidin taste that comes out of the grains.   How do you know when that taste is there?

Here is the shocker... taste your
mash.   The guys I brew with and I taste the mash every 15 minutes when we stir the mash. Trust me you will know when the melanoidins have leached out. The taste will go from sweet and cloying to nutty delicious bread.  So best advice, taste your mash.   You'll have one of those "aha" moments somewhere later in the mash.

Zombie Dust Brew Day. Small Batch All Grain and a vertical quad tasting

a laminated poster is a great tool for brew day. 

Brewing is fun.   It is fun by yourself.  It is more fun with a group of people who love to brew.  Saturday, I got to brew with some hardcore beer fans who want to become hardcore brewers.   These guys already have a great knowledge base for becoming brewers.   They have even completed some brews with extract.   Some were good, others not so much.  We started the day with some basic training.  Nothing to complicated.  Complicated comes when there is a problem.  As you have undoubtedly heard me say, "quit complicating everything".

I decided the best way to teach them was to forgo extract and focus on small batch all grain.   If you haven't tried small batch, it is really a lot of fun.  Small batch allows you to make an all grain beer right on your stove top.  You can even do 5 gallons if you have to, by just splitting up the boil. We decided to do a zombie dust clone.  We did stovetop BIAB.  The decision to make Zombie Dust was made more simple by two prevailing factors.   1. We can't get zombie dust in Kansas City.   Because of the dominance of Boulevard, and some weird local liquor laws in KS and MO, we don't get a lot of the smaller craft beers here.  2. I wanted the guys to brew an IPA or pale ale that had enough hop power to cover all sins. Remember my basic philosophy that anyone can make a hop monster taste good.  It takes skill to make a balanced light ale.    So when I teach guys to brew all grain.  I tend to teach with a hop monster so they can have success.  And, let's face it... new brewers are almost always hop heads.

The day started well.  The water report indicated very hard water.  But the pH strips indicated water at 6.4 pH.   I was ready with acid, and brewing salts to modify the water just in case, but we didn't need to do much.   We added a little 5.2 just to buffer the water, and some gypsum just to enhance the hops and we were ready to brew.

Strike went well.  We heated 3.3 gallons (12.5 L) to 155.9 F (68.83 C) and doughed in.  After dough in we dropped to 151 F (66.1 F)  which is close enough not to require any adjustments with hot or cold water.     The calculator at brewtoad.com is pretty much spot on.  If you give it good information you'll hit your strike every time.

The mash created a beautiful golden, almost orange wort.   We left the lid on and stirred every 15 minutes.   We dropped to 148 after 45 minutes and had to turn on the heat for about 20 seconds.   Every time we stirred we tasted.   Mankind taught me to taste my mash.  To always think of this as cooking.   There is a point in the mash where the flavor changes.  A certain nutty bready flavor becomes prevalent.   That is what we are looking for,  I never know when it will happen.   Seems to depend on the grain bill, and the freshness of the grains.   But it is always slightly after full conversion, and it is the super secret key to great malty flavor.   I am actually talking with a major malter about this phenomenon now.  When I have more understanding I'll post more about it.   The change that happened between 30 and 45 minutes was awesome.  At 30 minutes the mash tasted like sweet oatmeal.   At 45 minutes, it tasted like nutty, whole grain bread with a hint of sweetness. REMEMBER BREWING IS COOKING.   Our preboil gravity was 1.052.  So we were close on the gravity.

The boil was uneventful.   But I'll show you why you need a laminated poster for your brew day.  It is the best way to organize hops.  Just write all the times down with a dry erase marker.   We even added the times for the immersion chiller, and for the nutrients and the irish moss.   You can see my trusty computer, it's my constant companion on brewday.   After boil we were at 1.062.  That is a 84.5% efficiency.   Pretty darn good.

During our brewday we did a tasting of Boulevard's Bourbon Barrel Quad from 2014 and 2015, and compared those to a BSDA quad I just bottled about 2 weeks ago.    That is a fun thing to do during a brewday.  Taste great beer and discuss it with other beer fanatics.   I actually like the strong taste of the bourbon in the 15 it really fades over time.   Think a bourbon infused brew is in my immediate future... perhaps a  "Dragons Milk".

We chilled the brew with my small 25' immersion chiller. The break was insane.  We clearly had a great boil and breakdown of proteins.  M.A and John are checking out the cold break in the photo at the right.   It was truly impressive, I probably should have gotten a photo of it.  All wort chillers drip some, so it is a good idea to grab a kitchen towel and use it to contain the drips.

After aeration we pitched an entire pack of US05.  Yes this is an overpitch.  So what?  We rehydrated our yeast.   And we pitched the entire package.   It will be fine.  It isn't such a huge over pitch as to cause any problems.   It is monday morning now, and John reports that the Krausen was forming nicely.   Im sure it will be almost done by the morning.   It's only a 1.062 beer and we overpitched.  We also aerated for 25 minutes.   So this is a really healthy environment for yeast.    Dry hop in 10 days.   Then Bottle it up in another 4 days.   Yup it's that quick.   We'll taste first of course.  One of the many advantages of the small batch all grain in the LBK is that we can easily crash and taste.   If it isn't ready, we'll let it ride for a few more days then bottle.  UPDATE:  It's Thursday, The Krausen has come and gone.  Dry Hopping Tuesday, Into the Fridge for a cold crash on Friday, bottle saturday.  We'll probably force carb .5 gallons of this so we can try it immediately.


On another note.  My cider is ready for the bottle.   It has dropped clear, and should be fantastic by thanksgiving.  Which is what it is for.   So that is pretty cool.  Can't wait to have cider around the house all the time.  Think ill just keep making new every time I bottle.

HOME BREWERS! STOP COMPLICATING EVERYTHING!

Some people could complicate making toast. And unfortunately many of them are in our hobby.  I Just saw a combination eHERMS recirculating biab, gas kettle recirculating mash system.   What the what people...So once again... I'm compelled to act like an angry old man...

Mash doesn't know it is being recirculated.   And quite frankly, even if it did, it couldn't care less.  Mash doesn't know how it is being lautered. Mash doesn't need to be recirculated.  Enzymatic action works whether or not you recirculate.  You can easily agitate your beer with a spoon.  

Enzymes work whether or not they are recirculating.  Yes exposing more surface area to enzymatic action for a longer period of time will produce more conversion of starch to sugar. But again, temperature, pH, and grist size are far more important that recirculation.   Use the finest grist you can use.  Yes, even if it makes some flour, line your mash tun with voile fabric ($9.00 a yard at JoAnn).  You'll thank me.  That will do more for your mash than some $5000 brewing system.  

this system still works just fine, 

So once again, my best advice is Keep it simple.   A simple gravity system or a simple BIAB system will produce excellent beer.  If your beer isn't good, it is because your process, or recipe isn't good.  Not because your equipment sucks.   I learned from a guy who used aluminum pots, and plastic buckets.  His malty beers were the best I ever had.   If you complicated your brewing system, you complicated your sanitation regimine. There is just no reason for that.   If you improved your brewing system, you probably also improved your processes.  Why not just improve your processes?   Why not put your focus on sanitation and fermentation? Why not learn how to create a yeast pitch with maximum vitality? Why not learn how to decoction mash?  Why not learn about the hop glycosides, or the role of melanoidin in malt flavors?

Put your focus on things that matter.  Yes a pump is nice to have,  but it doesn't improve your beer.  And I only run water through my pump...water is easy to clean, wort is not.  Water doesn't tend to foster bacteria, fungus, or mold. 

this system also works just fine

People we are focusing too much on the creation of wort, when we need to be focusing on the sanitation, and fermentation of beer.  I know from my experience that an identical grain bills created with 3 different systems, 3 vessel Gravity, BIAB, and recirculating BIAB, come out nearly identical, with the 3 vessel Gravity system gaining only a slight advantage in conversion.   And the maltiness, and time savings of no sparge BIAB cant be beat for me, so that is what I usually do.   Plus with BIAB I can partigyle my grains into a partial mash batch.  So what is my real efficiency?  No idea, just know I'm getting two batches of beer out of each set of grains. (of course I can tell you my average efficiency is 81.9%)  But what is my real brewhouse efficiency when I get 10 gallons out of each grist?

So if you want to redneck engineer something please create something that makes sanitation, and fermentation better.   Please show me how to create a fermentation chamber that can have multiple temperatures in one chamber.  The best I've come up with is a lower overall temperature and heating bands to create different temperatures.  Please show me how to more easily control lagering temperature schedules.  Please show me how to make a carboy cleaner that makes sense and doesn't just spray sanitizer in a carboy.  Let's get a home brew hack for sanitation.   Show me how to make a carboy cleaner out of a drill and some car cleaning shammies.  Show me how to track the fermentation of my beer without exposing my beer to potential contamination. 

Look, do your thing and have fun doing it.  It's just home brew.  But it really doesn't have to be this complicated.

UPDATE:  This weekend we hit 84.5% with BIAB.  Now granted, it was a small batch, and they generally are more efficient, but still, 84.5%.   You're not gettng that out of an eHERMS system.   We didn't recirculate, we didn't use some fancy controller system.   We made sure our water pH was perfect, we made sure our strike was perfect, we crushed our grains very finely, we stirred every 15 minutes.   We used spoons to occasionally taste the wort.   (you did what?  well that just makes no sense...)  I'll write more about this technique later, but trust me if you can learn what the different tastes are and what they mean... you will become a wort whisperer. 

Zombie Dust... as an all grain teaching tool... Yup I said that...

Some have called me crazy.  Some say I shouldn't cater to the whims of the voices in my head.  ("filthy nasty little hobitses").  To them who sling these arrows of misfortune, I say "fie".  Fie on ye and on yer clan.  I know some of my ideas are out there, and I know some of my ideas fly in the face of accepted home brewing cannon.   But, please before you start posting links to other websites, or quoting John Palmer (I'm sure John thinks this is funny by the way) take a minute and ask yourself, "what is the reason for my disdain, will this idea actually work? and have I ever tried it "

Here is another idea that is a little off.   I teach guys to brew all grain with small batch super hoppy IPAs and AIPAs... I know I'm always preaching..."if you can't brew a perfect light ale, you need to work on your craft" but, for a guys first all grain experience,  I want them to choose a beer that will hide any flaws.  Cover any deficiencies.    And what beer is more perfect for that than Zombie Dust.  ZD is over the top.   It is by three Floyd's brewery in Munster, Indiana.  It is a bigger than most American IPA that is hopped 100% with Citra hops.  Simple mash bill, simple hop bill, lots of additions.  Perfect for training newbies on all grain. It's fun to add lots of hops, makes you feel like you are really brewing.

This should be a fun brewing weekend.  But tonight I finally bottle the Clan of the Kilt Scottish Ale.  And the old school lager, probably,  if it has dropped enough.  Ill be bottling up the apple ciders too.  One hopped, and one left as just a simple straightforward cider.

Pliny the Toddler ... One of my favorites... and I overshot... again!

Started, like always by making sure the brew
house, (ie kitchen) was clean and ready.

I love small batch brewing.   Most of my batches now are 2.25 gallons.   I can make them on the stovetop, I can easily control temperatures.   I'm not outside brewing in the cold, or the hot.   And lets be realistic.   Small batch gives you more variety, more chances to brew, and makes you a better brewer.

So Saturday, I brewed up one of my all time favorite recipes.   Drew Beechum's Pliny the Toddler.   My recipe is not exactly the same,  Drew uses Maris Otter for half of his grain bill.  I just use 2 row, and a tiny bit of carapils.  Drew's Recipe is for 5.5 gallons, mine is for 2.5.  This recipe is all about that magical combination of hops.   It isn't overly hoppy, it isn't a hop monster.   It simply features that combination of hops that you get when you drink a Pliny.  But the alcohol is low, so you can have several.   Yum.

Mash in went perfectly.   Hit my numbers exactly.  But here is where i think I goofed up.  I decided to mash for 90 minutes.   No one was home, I was watching Dr. Who and Football.   An extra 30 Minutes? Sure, why not?  Because you overshot by 12 points that's why...  Unfortunately I overshot this beer gravity by 12 points.  Trying for 1.040, ended up at 1.052.   I guess I have to accept that the 82% - 88% I keep getting is not a fluke, and just plan on it from now on.   The gravity was higher than expected, so i changed from US05 to Nottingham for this batch.  I've used both with this beer, and both come out just fine. The Nottingham won't attenuate out as much as the US05, so the alcohol content will still be where I want it.  But it will also leave a little more sweetness.  Think the hops in this can handle that no problem.   As you can see with small batch, I do brew in a bag, and I do it right on my stove top.  So simple; a couple of paint strainer bags (1.97 each) a 5 gallon pot, and a brewing thermometer.  That is all you need. To make great beer.  

So here is a cool trick that I learned.   Write your hop additions and times on the counter with a dry erase pen.   Perfect way to keep organized,   just make sure it is a dry erase pen.  Cause... well it takes a long time to scrub off permanent marker if you goof.   ONLY USE DRY ERASE.  DON'T DO THIS ON WOODEN COUNTERTOPS.

Another reason to love small batch.   It chills in record time.   With my 25' stainless chiller, and a sink of ice water, I had this batch down to pitching temps in under 10 minutes.   Now granted the ground water here is getting colder every day.   And this day was Halloween, probably mid 50s outside.  But still 10 minutes is pretty darn fast.  

Aerated the batch like crazy and pitched 1/2 of a pack of Nottingham into it.     As of monday morning a slight Krausen has formed on the beer.  Should be rocking by the time I get home.  Sounds like I'm brewing with some friends this coming weekend. Gotta figure out what to brew with them. I'm pretty sure I should teach them all grain small batch.  I'm also pretty sure they will want to make a hop monster.   That should be a great time.   Got some serious bottling to do tonight.   The Scottish Ale will bottle up tonight, and the Centennial Blonde will be bottled.   Need to dry hop the Miller the Muggle Wednesday Night. Think Ill try Saaz and Hallertauer for the dry hop. Trying to give it just a little more character. I'm letting the old school lager, lager for a while longer.   There was a slight hint of butter, more in texture than flavor.   That is Diacetyl.   Rested for 48 hours, now back into the fridge for 2 weeks of lagering.  

UPDATE: A Beautiful Krausen has formed.  creamy and thick