You can go all grain: or.... How to rule the world from your stove top:

If you brew on your own, how should you brew?  What is the most fun?  What makes the best beer? and what can you do on your own to make the very best beer with the most affordable equipment? Well if you are like me, you have an enthusiasm for brewing, you would literally brew 3 or 4 times a week.  Brewing is not a chore that you enjoy occasionally, brewing is your relaxation.  Cleaning doesn't bother you.  Bottling doesn't bother you.  It is all an escape from other pressures in your life, and the end result is hand crafted delicious beer.  And I am here to tell you the most affordable way to brew, and the most efficient, is to do small batch all grain BIAB no sparge on your stove top.  If you've been brewing extract, you probably own everything you need.


When I brew on my own, I brew small batch.   I brew 2.5 gallon batches of beer.  Usually I brew 2.75 gallons and try to bring 2.25 gallons to package. So calling it 2.5 gallons is a misnomer.  It packages 2.25 gallons.  That is a case of beer.  I try to use minimal equipment, the less equipment, the less cleaning.  I brew in a bag utilizing the no sparge technique, When the grain bill is high OG, I generally partigyle my batch. That means I get 5 gallons of beer from a single brew day.   I use a small stainless wort chiller, in an ice bath. I bag my hops to reduce trub space. My fermenters are cake icing buckets I got from the bakery at Walmart. There is a bulb seal in the lid, so they are air tight. They are FDA approved and BPA free. To aerate I pour the batch back and forth between the kettle and the fermenter 3 or 4 times. To ferment I choose forgiving yeast, or I choose a yeast that benefits from higher temperatures. I do not generally control fermentation temperatures on small batches.  I probably should, but I have 1 small refrigerator/fermentation chamber and it is used for lagers.

Batch one boiling, Patigyle mashing away!
Two 2.5 batches from one grain bill!

Once I started brewing small batch, I found that I brewed a lot more than most people, usually 2x a week.  That is a huge reason my beer is so much better than most home brewers.  I brew more often.  I have more practice.  And I started producing more beer, with less stress,  Bottling became easier.  It is no big deal to bottle one case of beer.  Sanitation became no big deal,  I can easily lift and clean any of the things I use to brew small batch.  I can easily carry the fermenters around and place them on the counter.   I find that I can brew any style of beer easily at 2.5 gallons without any loss in quality.  One gallon batches of beer are not nearly so forgiving but I make them too sometimes for recipe development and to brew something fun or weird.

To keep costs down on small batch I look for style appropriate bittering hops that have high alpha acids.  (Example when I brew my English IPA I use Admiral or Target for bittering).  I think about the cost and expense of brewing a lot. I often brew batches that feature high alpha acid hops.  like my Two Hearted ale clone, or my Zombie Dust Clone.  These hops save you money by the very fact that they are higher in AA%.  My local home brew store sells hops by the 1/10th of an ounce.  So, I buy them there.   I adjust them up a bit because they are exposed to oxygen at the LHBS.  If it is a special hop centric beer, like my dIPA I order pre packaged hops in 1 ounce packages.  These are flushed with nitrogen and provide you the very best freshness.  I like BSG, they have been good to us, but I am also a fan of YCH Hop Union.  Both companies offer pre packaged hops.


I often re use my yeast cakes by planning several brews on one yeast cake, increasing the OG with each batch.  I do not truly wash yeast. I do a modified wash where I collect some of it in a mason jar, I let it settle. Alternatively, I pour off almost all of it into the new batch leaving behind only the chunky gross stuff in the bottom.  I get crazy fast and complete fermentation using this method.  An example, With Safale S04, I make a Centennial Blonde followed by an English IPA and finally by a Scottish Ale. With Safale US05 I make a Cream Ale, followed by a Bells Two Hearted Clone, finally a double IPA.   This saves you a lot of money. Specialty beers are made with yeast harvested from our larger batches of beer.  Learn to wash yeast, it will save you a lot of money.   There are so many videos on yeast washing.  Here is my favorite.  His approach is very similar to mine.

Crushing your own
malt saves you a lot.
And improves your
beer dramatically.

I get my grains in bulk,  We brew a lot. So grains don't last forever, and I brew a lot on my own, but if you search around at your local home brew stores, you will find that you can get a bag of two row for about $35.00 to $40.00. Even a bag of Munich or Vienna will only be about $50.00 with no shipping. I also have been known to toast my own grains and make my own crystal malt.  But for small batch there is really no need, it is so affordable to grab the specialty grains at the local home brew store.  I like Rahr, Weyermann, Cargill, and Muessdoerffer, oh and Dingeman and Warminster... and and and...

The process is straight forward.

• The day before brew day 
• I dechlorinate the water with 1/2 of a  Campden Tablet.
• That is all you need for de chlorinating your water
• I crush the grains
• On brew day
• All of the water goes in the pot
• Every recipe is different use your brewing calculator to determine your water needs.
• If you don't have a brewing calculator, Here is a simple water calculator.
• The water is treated to adjust the pH.  
• I am a fan of Five Star 5.2 stabilizer for small batch
• I am a fan of Acidulated malt for small batch pH adjustments
• The water is heated lid on to strike temperature
• My false bottom/cake rack is put in the kettle
• The grains are placed into the bag and lowered into the water
• After 5 minutes I check my pH, if it is too high, I add some acid malt to lower it.
• I don't even crush the acid malt.  I just add .1 to .2 lbs to get the pH corrected.
• The heat is turned off once the grains go in.
• I step mash a lot, but that will be handled in a later post.
• I also have a valve on my kettle, so I can recirculate with a pitcher if I want. 
• The grains are recirculated or stirred every 15 minutes, and the lid is left on during the mash.
• I don't care if I lose a couple of degrees, and you shouldn't either.  
• It really doesn't matter if your mash falls from 152 to 146 F. 
• If it falls too much, turn on the heat and stir, but undershoot your target temp. 
• At the end of the mash it is just like any other batch of beer. 
• Bring to a boil
• Add hops
• Add extras
• Chill (ultra fast on a small batch)
• Aerate 
• I aerate small batches by pouring them back and forth between the fermenter and the kettle (which I rinse out first)
• Pitch yeast
• You may not need an entire package of yeast. 
• You can seal up the rest and use another time. 
• Ferment -  if I need to keep a small bach cool, I ferment it in a laundry tub. 

How to make a Session IPA clone... spring and summer are coming!

Yes, I know... alright.  You don't have to tell me... session beers have become all the rage. Every micro pub and brewery has them now.  But I was brewing sessions before they had a cool name.  Not because I was some trailblazer, I wasn't,  but rather because that is what we brewed in the dark ages.  In the early years of home brewing we didn't have all of the computer software, and technology we have now.   Most of the recipes we brewed were between 1.040 and 1.050 original gravity.   Because... well that's just how it was.   No one had thought of a double IPA in 1992.   So we made lots of American Pale Ales, and English IPAs.    Sure, when we made a Russian Imperial Stout, or an Imperial Porter we bumped that gravity up as high as we could but we only brewed  those maybe once a year.

Why?, you ask?   Well the main reason is that the beer culture in America was centered around light american lagers that were all 3.2% alcohol.  So making a 4-5% alcohol beer was comparatively strong.  But I think the quality of the yeast, and what we knew about yeast had a factor in our brewing too.

So we brewed a lot of lower alcohol beers.  Beers we now call Session Beers.   When you think about it, session beer makes a lot of sense.   With a session beer you can enjoy multiple beers with out becoming intoxicated.   Intoxication and alcoholism are real problems.  We often make lite of them in our hobby, but I believe that if we were being real and honest we would all admit that drinking too much is a problem among some home brewers.  (And if you do choose to get drunk, do it at home and never ever freaking drive drunk!)  But session beers offer more than the ability to have multiple beers . Session beers are fun.  It is fun to try to make a beer reminiscent of one of your favorite high alcohol beers. It requires thought, planning and creative experimentation.  And finally session beers cost less than high OG beers.  They just do, less grain, less extract, less yeast always equals less cost.

So with those things in mind I am going to give you some tips to cloning the big beers you love into reminiscent session beers.  These are not true clones.  They are homages to their bigger inspirations. Today I present to you Pliny the Petulant.  A less than 5% alcohol version of a great IPA.   I'm sure most of you have heard of Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger.   Some of you may have even heard of Pliny the Toddler.   For those of you who haven't,  "Pliny" is a beer by Russian River Brewing.  It is debatably the penultimate imperial India pale ale.  I'll let you research and try for your self.


I have a long love affair with this beer.  It is with out question one of my 2 favorite dIPAs (the other being Boulevard The Calling, which I don't think lends itself well to a session approach).  So when I set out to make a session IPA for spring and summer... I'm setting out to make a version of Pliny.   I'm setting out to capture the flavor profile of this beast.   Having said that I am not the first,  Drew Beechum's recipe for "Pliny the Toddler" is widely available online.  As is the recipe from The Maltose Falcons brew club.  I have made these recipes many, many times.  I have even blogged about them several times. They are great recipes.  But I have brewed them and made certain tweaks over time.  Tweaks that have gotten me exactly what I want.

In Planning a session, There are two approaches.   The first approach is to try to capture the flavor profiles of the original beer with out worrying about the balance of IBU to OG.  When you take this approach, and I certainly prefer this approach and have taken it many times,  you aren't as worried about the ratios and % of the hops, or the balance index?   Wait, you did it again, you used some term no one has ever heard...  You're right I did.   The balance index is merely the IBUs / OG.  In Pliny the real laboratory IBUs are insanely high... approaching 250.  But the perceived IBUs are around 95.    And this is the gist of the other approach.  Leave the % of hops the same,  and leave the balance index the same. make a smaller beer with exact percentages.  I have done this too and... I think the first approach is actually the better one.  But with either approach we still have to do some math and some planning and we have to look at the original recipe carefully.   So here is the American Home brewers Association published clone recipe for Pliny the Elder.  

6 Gallons (22.7 L) 5.5 to the second fermenter
75% efficiency
OG 1.072
FG  1.011
IBUs  90 -  95 (200)
Balance Index - 1.319
ABV is around 8%

13.25# of 2 Row Barley
.6 # of Crystal 40
.6 # of CaraPils
.75# of Corn Sugar (late boil)

3.5	28.00%	oz (99 g) Columbus* hops, 13.9% a.a. (90 min)
0.75	6.00%	oz (21 g) Columbus* hops, 13.9% a.a. (45 min)
1	8.00%	oz (28 g) Simcoe hops, 12.3% a.a. (30 min)
1	8.00%	oz (28 g) Centennial hops, 8% a.a. (0 min)
2.5	20.00%	oz (71 g) Simcoe hops, 12.3% a.a. (0 min)
1	8.00%	oz (28 g) Columbus* hops, 13.9% a.a. (dry hop, 12-14 days total)
1	8.00%	oz (28 g) Centennial hops, 9.1% a.a. (dry hop, 12-14 days total)
1	8.00%	oz (28 g) Simcoe hops, 12.3% a.a. (dry hop, 12-14 days total)
0.25	2.00%	oz (7 g) Columbus* hops, 13.9% a.a. (dry hop, 5 days to go in dry hop)
0.25	2.00%	oz (7 g) Centennial hops, 9.1% a.a. (dry hop, 5 days to go in dry hop)
0.25	2.00%	oz (7 g) Simcoe hops, 12.3% a.a. (dry hop, 5 days to go in dry hop)

West coast ale yeast (WLP 001, Wyeast 1056, Safale US05)  appropriate starter.
1 tsp Whirlflock at 15 M
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient at 12 M
Aerate
Ferment at 67 F till fermentation subsides.
Rack to secondary.   Yes actually rack it, there are loads of dry hops in this beast.
Dry Hop in secondary, again you'll thank me... you'll lose way less beer with secondary in this particular recipe.
Let it finish, and package it!


So A little math and planning tells us that we want a recipe that looks something like this...

6 Gallons (22.7 L) 5.25 to the fermenter
75% efficiency
OG 1.045
FG  1.007
IBUs  50 to 55
Balance Index - 1.319

The goal is creating a beer that captures the beer being cloned.   It's that easy to "sessionize" your favorite big beers.   Of course you'll have to brew it, drink it all, and tweak it a couple of times.   I've done that bit for you... you're welcome!   But if you do you'll end up with something that looks like this...

Pliny the Petulant

Method: All Grain 
Style: American IPA
Boil Time: 60 min 
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7.5 gallons 
Boil Gravity: 1.033 (recipe based estimate) 
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)
Source: Counterbrew 
Rating:

5

 of 

5

Original Gravity:

1.045

Final Gravity:

1.008

ABV (standard):

4.91%

IBU (tinseth):

57.31

SRM (morey):

2.99

Fermentables

Amount	Fermentable	PPG	°L	Bill %
7.6 lb	American - Pale 2-Row	37	1.8	88.4%
0.5 lb	German - Caramel Pils	35	2.4	5.8%
0.5 lb	Corn Sugar - Dextrose	46	0.5	5.8%
8.6 lb	Total

Hops

Amount	Variety	Type	AA	Use	Time	IBU
0.3 oz	Warrior	Pellet	16	First Wort		11.71
0.5 oz	Columbus	Pellet	15	Boil	45 min	27.73
0.5 oz	Simcoe	Leaf/Whole	12.7	Boil	30 min	17.87
0.25 oz	Centennial	Leaf/Whole	10	Whirlpool at 180 °F	0 min
0.5 oz	Simcoe	Leaf/Whole	12.7	Whirlpool at 180 °F	0 min
0.25 oz	Cascade	Leaf/Whole	7	Dry Hop	4 days
0.25 oz	Centennial	Leaf/Whole	10	Dry Hop	4 days
0.25 oz	Simcoe	Leaf/Whole	12.7	Dry Hop	4 days

Hops Summary

Amount	Variety	Type	AA
0.25 oz	Cascade	Leaf/Whole	7
0.5 oz	Centennial	Leaf/Whole	10
0.5 oz	Columbus	Pellet	15
1.25 oz	Simcoe	Leaf/Whole	12.7
0.3 oz	Warrior	Pellet	16

Mash Guidelines

Amount	Description	Type	Temp	Time
8.72 gal	No sparge brew in a bag	Temperature	150 F	60 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 4.36 qt/lb

Yeast

Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05

Attenuation (avg): 81% Flocculation: Medium Optimum Temp: 54 - 77 °F Starter: No Fermentation Temp: 67 °F Pitch Rate: 0.75 (M cells / ml / ° P) 175 B cells required

This is what we'll be brewing this coming weekend.  And to make things even easier, we will be doing a no sparge batch.   We put all but 1 gallon of the water into the mash tun and all of the grains. If our temp is spot on we add the withheld 1 gallon when it is at the mash temp.  if we are too high we add up to 1 gallon of cold water until we are at temp.  Were almost never too low, but if we were we could add up to 1 gallon of 170 F. water to get to temp.  This is the easiest way to brew by far.   We use a bag as a filter medium, but you don't have to if you prefer a false bottom or stainless supply screen. After 60 minutes we stir, check our gravity, and usually we are ready to drain into the kettle.   Yes I know some of you are  freaking out right now  what about pH, what about ideal mash thickness, what about, what about... Kai says... John Palmer says.... Just adjust your water, use good buffers, and give it a try it works just fine. (OK clearly I've touched a nerve with a disciple of the BrauKaiser who has chosen to PM me rather than post publicly,  Listen, I am a huge fan, nearly a devotee of Braukaiser... but no sparge works every stinkin time, so just try it!)

From there on it is just like any other batch... It is really that straight forward.    With No sparge brewing you can reduce your brew day to under 3.5 hours if you are organized and plan in advance.  

That's all for now sports fans.  Prost!

The holy grail... a lager like ale, at ale temperature

For 27 years I've been on a grail quest.  Like the Templar Knights of old, searching through the treacherous, talismaned,  and golden treasured landscape of brewing,  searching for the elusive grail...I've endured trolls along the way, and I've out lasted most of my original brethren,  I've battled my two most arch enemies, "Tommy Knowitall", and "Charlie Followcanon" in my search.  My search for the elusive ale yeast that will mimic a lager.  Mimic a lager so closely that they are nearly indistinguishable.  

You can make lager at
Low ale temps with
Wyeast 2112 or WLP
810 San Francisco.

I'm no longer searching for myself.  My battle was lost long ago. I surrendered.  I'm not sure it can be done.  After all, we are talking about two similar but very different fungi here.  S. Cerevisiae and S. Pastorianus.   They are different.  Even the methodology of reproduction is different (coccular v. rod). So I surrendered. I gave up.  When I want to make a light "lager like" beer.  I just make a real lager.  So I'm continuing this search, this holy quest...for you.  My somewhat loyal readers, albeit accidental readers. ( By the way,  I can, and have argued pretty compellingly that this quest can be completed by using Wyeast 2112 or WLP 810 in a medium to low OG beer at low ale temps 60 - 62F.)  

The grail? You ask, What is the grail?  For this blog, the grail is a mythological ale yeast that would create an ale so clean it might be confused with a lager.  Think of it.  An ale yeast that would perform well enough to create a lager like flavor.  So clean that only the purists could detect that it was an ale.   Over the years I have tried many methods and yeasts; Kolsch yeast, Alt yeast,  US-05, 1056, 001... all were good... none could be confused with a lager.  I have tried "beano beer", and the addition of amylase enzyme.  Also very good, but not a lager.   You see they all had too much ester.  There is a fruity, almost pleasant acidic note to an ale.  Lagers produce far less esters and therefore we call them cleaner.  And chemically the esters produced by ale  and lager are different.   I won't be getting into the science of yeast in this blog,  I won't be discussing amino acid up take,  and it's role in higher alcohol production and limitation,  and subsequently esters.  But know that ale and lager produce slightly different esters and compounds,  simply because they are different.

Fermentis K-97,  If it lives up to the hype, it will be the ale
yeast we all use all the time.  The "new US05" if you will.

So I  begin another chapter in my search.  The latest contender, Fermentis  K-97. Laboratory reports on this yeast are excellent.   Real world reports of this strain are mixed.   But performance reports on the Internet,  especially negative ones, tend to be from people who aren't very good brewers.  Brewers who didn't take the time to understand fermentation temperatures.  This yeast needs low ale temperatures to be super clean.   I reached out to both those who loved the yeast,  and those who did not on the internet.  Guess what I learned. .. the guys who loved it, used it correctly,  they controlled fermentation temperatures, they aerated, they pitched adequately.   The guys who didn't,  told me how they fermented in their basement around 65, or maybe 68.  "Did temperatures vary?"  I would ask.  "Not real sure,  think it was pretty consistent." they would answer.   Generally with some comment about how they were about to build a fermentation chamber, or how they preferred a strain of yeast that could handle some temperature variation.  (and that is a fair and fine approach, that is what US05 can offer you).

But imagine a world of 1 fermentation chamber set to 62F where you could make, lagers, pale ales, cream ales,  and many english styles... you have to admit it's tempting. 

I intend to try k97 in a cool consistent ambient fermentation.  I will not be using my fermentation chamber for this one.  Some yeasts are very forgiving. Some tolerate temperature  swings well.  Some do not.  Some yeasts are finicky,  others are not.  I want to know if this one is finicky.  I want to brew this the way you probably brew at home.  All yeasts are affected by temperature,  and pitch rate.  For example,  US05 is clean and moderately fruity,  but if you ferment it in the 80s... you can make a dammed fine Saison with it... yes you can, so don't even argue this point.  At higher temperatures the "chico" strain kicks off all kinds of phenol and ester.   It's really good, you should try it.  What is important to note is;  every strain of yeast reacts differently based on certain factors.  Chiefly.

• Temperature
• Generally the lower the temperature the slower the fermentation, and the cleaner the yeast profile. the yeast kicks off less ester, and phenol at lower temperatures. That also means fermentation takes longer... OK, so?   If you want fast rehydrate US05...
• Stress - Osmotic Pressure  and pitch rate
• Putting yeast directly into a high gravity beer can kill lots of the yeast, yes even with liquid strains, but even more so with dry yeast.   Creating an underpitch of yeast... poor fermentation.   Pitching too little yeast can have the same results. 
• Stress - lack of oxygen and nutrients
• Putting yeast into an environment where there is not enough oxygen for growth, or not enough nutrients, can have a similar effect.  The yeast has to work harder to reproduce and there fore it puts off more ester and phenol.

I've been talking to Fermentis  again.  And again, they are more than helpful.  I encourage you to use Fermentis. They're great.  So here is the basic information,  and the plan  Safale K97 is an ale strain that, when used correctly,  and at consistent correct temperature will attenuate at or above 80%, and will produce very little ester, only about 23ppm in a 1.074 wort at 68 F.  That is amazing.  It is about the same esters as amount as many lager yeasts and a little more than half of what you get from US05.   But remember these will still be ale esters.   There are many kinds of esters.   The sharp esters produced by a lager will not be present in this beer.  But the esters should barely be noticeable.   

This is the best contender I've seen so far.  

this is the krausen on
the direct pitch, 14
hours into fermentation
don't worry theres a tshirt
covering it. 

Mark Anthony tending to the mash,
we stir every 15 minutes and check
the mash temps constantly.

So this weekend, I brewed some cream ale.  Actually 11.5 Gallons.  Mark helped me on Saturday with a Pilsner style cream ale.   7# Weyerman Barke Pilsner and .5# of flaked corn.  The Weyerman Barke Pilsner is amazing stuff.   You need to try it.  The wort was delicious, and the extraction was fantastic. We got 1.046 for 6.2 Gallons of Wort.... Do the math... it's in the 90% efficiency range.   Tried a new technique for rehydration.  We pitched the dry yeast into a 1.035 wort starter at the start of the brew day.  By the time we were ready to pitch we had a great foamy starter.   That batch is rocking and rolling.   I'll do a brew day post tomorrow.

The direct pitch
is at 64 F.

On Sunday I brewed a House Standard Cream Ale.   3# of Rahr 2 row, 3# of IdeaPils, 1.5# of Flaked Corn,  .5# CaraPils,  4 ounces of C40, and 4 ounces of flaked oats.  Im a big fan of Cargill IdeaPils for everyday pilsners.  Liberty Hops 3 additions to 23 IBUS... Ill dilute it down 15 IBUs with a water and corn sugar addition tonight.  Bringing it up to 6.5 gallons.   My wort was 1.045 again in 6.2 gallons of wort... again I'm in the high 80% range.  Don't believe me?   come brew with me... you're always welcome.  I'll show you what I do to get the efficiency I get.  This week Ill probably post with every step I take to get into the high 80% to 90% range every time.   This batch was direct pitched with dry yeast after a 20 minute aeration with my aquarium pump.

That's all for now sports fans...
Prost!

UPDATES:  It has been 11 days for the beer Mark and I brewed.  And The Krausen has begun to fall.  The Krausen lasts a long time with K-97.   The gravity is down to  1.010.  Should drop a little more before secondary.  Yes, Im going to secondary these beers, use gelatin, and cold crash.  This yeast is not a great flocculator.  But it will clean up with these steps.  Should be brilliantly brite.  Im in no rush.  

It has been 9 days since I brewed the cream ale.  The Krausen is shrinking.  I'll make the Water and Corn sugar addition tonight.  But I will taste it first.  And decide how much to add.

Update: decided against secondary on both of these.   Just fined with gelatin.   Both batches have dropped under 1.010 both are around 1.007.  The taste is amazing.   Also I never added water and corn sugar to the cream ale and it still got this low.  This is done good yeast.   But reports of low flocculation seem to be true.  So if you use this yeast you'll have to fine with gelatin.  I'm going to use again soon for a true kolsch, that one I'll fine with super clear kc.  To get a perfect, brite beer.  

Friday Brewed an All Citra IPA with the crew Saturday Brewed my Stell"ale" a great brew days...hot brewing action photos at bottom

Friday was new years day.  Banks and Markets were closed all over the world.  The turbo charged, whirling gears, and clogs that are our modern world, all ground to a stop. And for  a moment there is peace in our crazy lives...  So, what else would we do but brew some beer.  On this day, an all citra hop IPA designed to be somewhere between Zombie Dust, and Pseudo Sue.  Trying to get the bitterness of Pseudo Sue with the brightness of Zombie Dust.

Recently I have been talking with the good people at Cargill.  Cargill is a US Based Grain company.  It is almost not fair to call them a grain company, their business model reaches into so many different sectors.  Luckily for us, as home brewers, it reaches into some of the finest malts you can buy.  Cargill is a dominant force in macro beer production.  But they are still growing in homebrew, and craft brewing.  If you type "Cargill homebrew" into a search engine, you'll find homebrewers every where trying to find their products.   They were kind enough to supply some malt for me to try.  And, boy did that malt perform...

After using their malts a couple of times,  I can now say... "go, young padawan, and find Cargill Malt at a local home brew shop near you".  This stuff is awesome.  It extracts like crazy,  The flavor of the malt was bready, and nutty, and sweet, and complex.  Awesome Stuff.  Will I exclusively use Cargill in the future?  No.  I'm still a fan of Rahr, and MCI, and Briess as well, but I sure will happily use Cargill when I can get it.  The point is don't limit yourself.   There are many great malts made by many great companies.   Try them, find the one that works best in your recipe.

Friday's  brew session was with out event, other than a little spill of grains... on a garage floor. Pre-boil, who cares... we scooped up what we could, we picked out anything we saw and we headed to the mash. The crew is getting good.  The brew was very good.  And we bottled up 5 gallons of Cream ale that is going to be amazing.  Although, Jake did note if this is an amazing beer it is going to be difficult to replicate what ever dirt and minerals were picked up from the garage floor.

Saturday, SWMBO went to a "married at first sight" marathon wine party.   So, I brewed again.  (And if she leaves today, to go binge watch the Kardashians with her friend "DameDrama", I'm brewing an apricot wheat beer.)

Saturday brew in detail.   Stell"ale".  My lagering capacity is full (1 carboy, Need to work on that).

I ground my grains Old school.   The bid red funnel and the tall hopper will hold about 5 lbs of grain.   This recipe is only 5.8 lbs of grain.  So I didn't bother with the drill.   Just 5 minutes of good ol fashioned hard work.  I will admit my old arms do get tired when I grind by hand.  But there is something satisfying about grinding your grains up by hand.

The grist was perfect. I had set my mill to the thickness of a credit card. My advice for all brewers is get a bag and set you grain mill fine.  Even if you are a 3 vessel brewer.  Your efficiency will climb.  My efficiency with my 3 vessel set up is around 75%,  with brew in a bag I always get into the 80% region.   Sorry for the awesome photography of the grist.  I was boiling water to clean the brew kettle, so it was kinda steamy.


I mashed this batch at 148 for 60 minutes then rose to 168 for 1 minute.  Total mash time was about 78 minutes.  I think I created a very fermentable wort.  After sparge my gravity was 1.032.  Not too shabby.  With only 5.8 lbs of grain in 6 gallons of wort, that is somewhere around 89.3% efficiency.

The mash was awesome.  The cajun injector electric turkey fryer was awesome at keeping the temperature perfect.  I use my cajun injector electric turkey fryer for partial mash and low og all grain.  Never have a problem.   I set the temperature conttrol to 150 F and stir occasionally.  If the temperature falls below 148 F, I simply turn it up to 175 F for a couple of minutes, then back to 150 F.

I sparged this one to a volume of only 6 gallons, not 6.5.  I knew I would be adding corn sugar dissolved in a gallon of water as fermentation slowed.   I began my boil with my lid on but a jar.  The boil is rigorous when I follow this method.  I never have problems with DMS and I have covered this issue ad nauseum on this blog.

The hop selection for this batch was almost 100%  US Saaz.  US Saaz had a weird year.  The reported AAUs for saaz this year were 8.9%.  That is way high for a hop that is usually 3.5 to 4.25% alpha acids.  I did throw in .1 oz of nugget at 60 just to make sure I was around 21 IBUs.

At the end of the boil, I chilled, and shook to aerate.  Then I pitched re-hydrated US05 by Fermentis, you should really give it a try.  It is reportedly the famous "Chico" ale strain from a brewery in Chico California... It can be your go to yeast for almost all "clean" ale styles.  Styles where you don't want the yeast flavors to be more pronounced.

I realized I have become spoiled with my double coil chiller.  I only used the 25' copper chiller for this batch and chilling took 30 freaking minutes.  Back to the double coil next time.  I pitched rehydrated US 05.  And a calm but active fermentation had begun by 6 hours later.  I say calm but active.  Remember this batch was only 1.039 after the boil.   It isn't going to have a super vigorous amazing fermentation.

Tonight , I'm adding corn sugar and 1 gallon of water to the wort.  This is a great old school trick to use to help your beers finish out lower.  Don't add the simple sugars to the early part of the fermentation.  Wait until you have a big healthy colony of yeast in there.  Yeast will always eat the easy sugars first.  But if you give them the easy (simple) sugars after they are established, you will wake them up and get them munching again.   The result, they'll finish eating all of the maltose too... Boom! a clean, dry, ale... that tastes like a lager.   I'll update the blog with more pictures after I add the corn sugar.

Update:  it is 11 days later and this beer is done fermenting.  It tastes amazing.  It had fining added 2 nights ago and is currently cold crashing.   Still looks a little hazy in the carboy, but not in the hydrometer or the wine glass I use to taste.  So I'm bottling it up tonight.  I told you all how easy this beer is.  John and Jake both have tried it and assured me I am not crazy.  It really is excellent.

Update 2:  This beer is amazing.   There is the slightest fruity hint from the ale yeast.  Next go round well use K97.   But it tastes just like a stella.  Fantastic! brew it!