What the heck is a minor infection?

So you have heard the term minor infection before but maybe not known what it really means.   So what the heck is a minor infection and what can you do to prevent them?

An infection is an unwanted growth of mold, bacteria, virus, or fungus.   Generally we call the genus of an unwanted infection a germ.   When mold, or bacteria is wanted we celebrate it and call it fermentation or culturing.   Bacteria, Mold, Fungus (yeast), and virus are neither good or bad.  They just are.   They don't want anything.  They are merely programmed to survive.   They have no agenda, they support no political candidate.   But for our purposes it is good to look at them as an active enemy that is trying to lessen the quality of your beer.

Now when I talk about minor infections, I am talking about infections that are not big enough to overwhelm the growth and fermentation of your yeast colony.   I'm talking about minor infections that can live quite happily along side your yeast.  Infections like a relatively harmless a film yeast, or a myriad of other infections that can live down in the beer with your yeast, changing the flavor profile.

The variety and effects of minor infections is beyond the scope of this blog.  There are literally hundreds of potential minor infections.   The late Dr. George Fix talks about the role of minor infections in his seminal book "Principles of Brewing Science"  copyright 1999 Dr. George Fixx, and available through brewers publications.   He argues quite compellingly that post wort production of diacetyl and pentanedione are two of the most common flavor flaws in home brew.  Diacetyl tastes like butter, or butterscotch.   Pentanedion tastes like kind of like honey, but not in a good way. And further, that they are usually caused by minor infections.  There are other biological infections that can occur as well, but they tend not to be minor.  Infections such as common mold, film yeast (wild yeast), or Pediococcus (especially prevalent in keg systems that are not cleaned regularly).  Dr. Fix was a brilliant mathematician, and contributed considerable technical knowledge to the home brewing hobby.  Yes, the book was written in 1999.  But the point of the incredible scholarly research is still valid.   Minor infections are a major cause of off flavors in home brew.

So clearly a solution to minor infections must be found.

We are focused, therefore, in this blog on how to prevent minor infections and the off flavors they cause.  This is not a blog on all off flavors of home brewing. What processes, cleaning agents, and chemicals can we use to prevent off flavors from minor infections.

The late great Mankind (my brewing mentor) said, "if you don't like cleaning... you don't like making beer... you just like to make wort."   This was one of his many great sayings.   Now, I know many of you have taken um-bridge with some of Mankind's absolute rules of brewing.   But, his point is valid.   Making the beer, is fun and exciting.  Cleaning kinda sucks.   But the point is that you have to clean constantly to become a great brewer.

Soft Bristle Brush is a must have

 I am as guilty as the next guy.  I have been known to leave the dregs in a bottle on the counter for days.  I have been known to not clean my kettle until the next day.  And there is a rumor floating around that I almost never wash my brew bag on brew day.   So believe me this statement is not from a self righteous point of view,  you have to clean all of your gear before and after every brewing session.   Running Star San or PBW over and through your gear is not adequate.  Take out a soft bristle brush and get to work with your PBW, or Oxiclean Free.    Take your valves apart,  Get to work.  Consider it part of your next great brew.  The beginning of the next great recipe you are brewing.  Step one... Make your yeast starter, Step two Clean everything...

Here is a list of procedures I follow to clean my gear.

At the end of a brew day...

• General cleaning with hot water and mild detergent, and a soft bristle brush / sponge.
• Rinse all brew bags, hop socks, and tubing
• Oxiclean/PBW soak of valves, wort chiller, and brew bags, and possibly brew kettle (my electric kettle is aluminum so I don't use PBW or oxiclean)   
• Soak the Kettle element.
• Thorough Rinse of everything.  
• I let everything drip dry.  
• Re assemble
• Light mist of Star San into the brew kettle and into the valve to prevent growth of unwanted nasties.

During fermentation, nothing touches my beer that hasn't been, soaked, in Star San rinsed, and soaked again. I am known to break down my thief, my auto siphon, and thoroughly clean my tubing.  A quick soak in star san is not enough.  You have to clean everything.


At the beginning of the next brew day I thoroughly rinse everything with hot water and star san.

Occasionally I give my kettle elements a long soak in Oxiclean or PBW... which ever I have on hand.  And I really go to town with my little brush.   I do this when I'm bored, and my carboys are all full, like last week, and I just really need to do something related to home brew.

I don't use iodine/iodophor to clean.  But I know a lot of guys who do.   I don't want to stain my brewing gear.

I don't use bleach any longer either.  But for a stubborn system infection, or when trying to rehabilitate gear that was used for a sour at some time... you're going to need a bleach solution.   1 part bleach to 10 parts water for most instances.

Think it's overkill?  It really isn't.  It is part of brewing excellence.  Cleaning and Sanitizing are the first steps in brewing.   You should have these steps mastered before making yeast starters, or controlling fermentation temperatures.

Keeping your gear clean is one of the 3 big things that separates average brewers from great brewers. It doesn't matter if you brew with extract or all grain,  BIAB or 3 Vessel,  eHERMS, or traditional mash tun.   If you can master these 3 things... Cleaning and Sanitation,  Temperature Controlled Fermentation, and correct yeast pitch... you can make great beer.

Prost!

What the heck is Partial Mash?

First of all thank you for all of the questions and comments.  You all keep me on my toes.

Recently there have been a lot of questions about partial mash.   If you read this blog, you know partial mash is my favorite style of brewing.   there are so many advantages to partial mash for the home brewer.

Advantages of PM

• More fun than extract - you still get to mash grains and sparge and the fun stuff.
• It feels like brewing. Sometimes when I do an extract batch, it doesn't feel like brewing. I'm just heating up some stuff on the stove and throwing hops into a boil, for me mashing is the difference that feels like real brewing.
• Better Taste than extract  - Real all grain flavor -
• I defy anyone to tell the difference between a high percentage grain partial mash and an all grain brew. I think only industry people and BJCP judges might be able to pick out the differences.
• More recipe options than extract, you can brew anything.
• Less cost than extract - extract is expensive.
• More reliable than all grain or BIAB -
• The extract (DME) is an insurance policy that protects your needed gravity.
• You don't have to stress over pH levels water chemistry etc…
• Affordable equipment - electric turkey fryer is about $100.00  All in equipment is about $250.00
• Decotion and step mashing are available to you.
• It’s reliability is repeatable you can brew the same beer with the same results more easily.
• You control the amount and % of grain that you are using.  I have recipes that are 75% grain.   The DME is there as a buffer, an insurance policy if you will.
• Takes way less time than all grain. It’s about the same as BIAB

But what is partial mash?

There is a lot of confusion over what is partial mash.  Often brewers (especially on the internet)  define partial mashing as extract with grains.   And guys... that isn't partial mash.   

I would define partial mash as a brew where a significant portion of your fermentables come from a grain mash.  What portion?   Well that is up to you.  I have recipes where 75% of my fermentables come from a grain mash, with the rest coming from dry extract.   I always prefer dry, but sometimes you need a variety that isn't readily available as a dry extract, such as Maris Otter, Pilsner, or even Vienna.  

Does Partial Mash take special equipment?

No, not really.  You don't even have to have a brew bag, but it sure makes life easier.  You can use your extract set up for partial mash.   But if you want to make truly excellent beers, you will need to be able to boil full volume batches.  If you can't brew full volume, you will need to increase your hops.  How much?  depends on how much you are boiling. But at this point you need to get a decent brew calculator like brewtoad.com,  or brewersfriend.com

So how do I partial mash?

Well every one does it a little differently.   Basically, you need a way to mash your grains, and a way to boil your wort.  Chris Colby, the editor of beer and wine journal, uses a couple of 2 gallon beverage coolers.   He still does a vorlauf, and a sparge.   This takes him to full volume.   He tends to add his extract late.  With this method, you only need one big pot and one smaller pot for the sparge.

I do things a little differently. I have multiple mash tuns, after 25 years in brewing. But once, I started BIAB small batch, I realized that BIAB and partial mash could be the very best compatible processes.

So I soak my grains in a paint strainer bag in my electric turkey fryer.   After a 60 minute mash I pull the basket and set it on a grate above the turkey fryer to let it drain.   I then add 2 gallons of water in which I have dissolved my DME.   Then I sparge to volume. It is that simple.  

I hit my numbers or barely exceed every time.  I never have issues related to water chemistry.  I can make nearly the exact same beer every time I brew a recipe.   The flavor is as good as all grain (better than when all grain doesn't go very well).   And, most importantly it is a blast.  I still get to do the fun stuff, mashing, full volume boil, chilling, aerating, etc...

Where do I find partial mash recipes?

Here is one for you...

and here is what to avoid when looking for a partial mash

not a partial mash recipe

Partial Mash recipes are readily available on the internet,  but beer and wine journal is a great source.   I have many of them posted on brewtoad.com.   And, if you'd like, I am happy to convert any recipe for you.   But remember it is much easier to go from all grain to extract than the reverse.   As you search for recipes look for recipes that have a base grain in them.  Look for recipes that require a temperature controlled mash.  If they don't they are probably just an extract with grain recipe.

Give partial mash a try. It is fun... and I think truly a better process for homebrewing great beer.   This technique is fighting to find it's place in the post BIAB era.  Many brewers just jump to BIAB, which is fine.  Heck I brew as much small batch BIAB as any one.  Over 70 batches this year. But I have been brewing a long time.   I know how to adjust my water.  I know (or have a good idea) what is going on in my mash/wort.   So if you want to crank out consistently great beer... give this awesome method a try.

Answering a question... "do any breweries use partial mash? " Yes. Several brewpubs that I am aware of, but they do it because they don't have space for the grains.  But primarily it is a home brew method.

Answering another question... "can I do large volumes of partial mash?"... yes the largest I have done is 1BBL.  But to do 10 gallons of PM on a 5 gallon BIAB set up is easy.  Just adjust your hops to account for the partial boil

Updates... lager at ale temp, Oktoberfest w/wyeast 2112, session ipa

Ok I got a lot done today,  more to do tomorrow.  5 gallons to bottle up tomorrow, and Ill probably brew a small all grain batch. 

I love the small all grain batches in the Mr beer fermenters.   You can brew them on your stove top and they are easy to move, and they are easy to bottle.   I just don't love the ingredients. I truly hope Coopers continues to make the LBK.   I even love the Mr. Beer bottles, and the carbonation tablets.  Although I ran out of those a long time ago and bought the Brewer's Best tablets.  The only problem is the location of the spigot means you will inevitably pick up some protein foop, and trub when you want to bottle.  But don't worry sports fans,  I have a $10 solution.  (update there is no problem bottling in PET)

I ran to the LHBS this morning.  Now, I am lucky I have 3 home brew stores in close proximity, where they know my name.  But I most frequently shop at one close to work called Bacchus and Barley corn.  I have been buying beer supplies at this store for 25 years.  The owners Big Al ( a petite woman named Alberta) and her husband Jackie are incredibly knowledgeable.  The store is plastered with ribbons from AHA competitions they have won. I purchased 4 lft of tubing, a 2 gallon bucket, a bottling spigot, and a voile hop bag.   

For all three batches I simply transferred from the Mr. Beer LBK to the new miniature bottling bucket.  I clipped the voile bag to the side of the mini bottling bucket, and inserted the tubing.   Boom, poor mans filtering.   The voile bag is an excellent filter.  I was able to bottle all three batches in under 1 hour.  All were filtered through the voile bag.  I got clean clear beer.   Easy. 

ROOM TEMPERATURE LAGER
Update on the "You can go all grain LAGER with the Mr. Beer"    I brewed this on Sept 5th.  It fermented for 10 days at room temperatures then, on the 15th it went into the fridge at 38 F.    I has been sitting there ever since.    You may recall our not so subtle friend "Tommy Knowitall" sent multiple messages assuring me it wouldn't work.  I bottled it in 2 liter bottles today.   Two of the bottles were forced carbonated with a CO2 gun.  The final bottle got 5 carbonation tablets.  The beer is freaking amazing.

 The beer is crystal clear, the beer has no off flavors or aromas.  There is the very slightest hint of DMS (appropriate and intended)  There is just a wee touch of Diacetyl (again intended). The beer is excellent.   On the left you can see the 1 gallon that I packaged up in 2, two liter bottles.    I have covered that topic before, but by all means feel free to ask questions about it.  It is really an easy way to package your beer. These will sit there under pressure for the week getting ready for John and Beth's wedding brunch.  When you force carb in 2 liter bottles you can try your beer in a couple of hours.  But to get it truly, fully carbed up, you have to let it sit for a couple of days,  occasionally shooting it with more CO2.

I also bottled up the Oktoberfest (made with Wyeast 2112) and the Session AIPA "by grace and banners fallen"  that was originally inspired by Drew Beechum's Pliny the Toddler.  The Oktoberfest is good, not great.  The carbonation might help the malt character come out more.  To me it just tastes like a basic, non hoppy, malty, amber beer.  So Im sure it will be a big hit with the muggles.  The AIPA is fantastic.  It always it.  It is a hop monster.  Hop perception is based on a ratio of hops to specific gravity.   This one delivers.  This batch in particular is very balanced.  About 66 IBUs and only 5% alcohol it is a tongue stinger.  It is a little darker than the last batch, I'm sure that is from the addition of the biscuit malt.   But the beer needed that balance, so I'll take it.

I also made counterbrew cider.   Cider is the easiest thing you'll ever make. Definitely give it a try.  Especially if your SWMBO or SO doesn't prefer beer.   I'll cover this in another post.   Today, Church, Chiefs, a Centennial Blonde, and bottling the Belgian Quad.

UPDATE I let the quad sit for another week.  It had a slight rubber note.  That is acetyl.   As of last night... that was gone... its ready to bottle.  The lesson?   BIG BEERS TAKE WHAT EVER TIME THEY TAKE.

Common sense: Make dry yeast your everyday yeast...use liquids for specialty beers

There is no perfect beer yeast.  As a homebrewer I am always concerned when brewer's have a specific loyalty to one and only one yeast, or to one and only one yeast company.   As an example,  there is a guy who comes into the LHBS who only uses White Labs San Francisco Lager Yeast WL810.  In fairness he makes german style lagers, at ale temperatures.  He is relatively advanced and he knows he needs to aerate the ever living bejeezus out of the wort before pitch.   But he even makes his "IPA" (or IPL) with WL810.  uh... why?  There are so many yeast choices for us as home brewers now.

Today I thought I would present the merits of a yeast plan, and a plan for brewing in series.   I am in the middle of my All Grain Mr. Beer Lager series as many of you know.   But I also have a bunch of WLP500 that I want to get into a series of belgian style beers.

I use dry yeast most of the time.   I almost never make starters.  When I do make a starter now it is usually a 1 gallon batch of beer.   For me this is easier time wise than having to begin a starter 2 or 3 days before brew day.  You may have noticed extra pots in the background of my brew day photos.  Often those are 1 gallon batches that are for use as a starter in a week or two.   I like dry yeast because:

• The viability of the yeast is consistent.  It doesn't lose viability over longer periods of time, up to 2 years.
• The cell count is much higher.  1 package is generally adequate when put into a medium or low gravity beer that has been aerated.
• Simpler to use.  Fermentis doesn't even recommend rehydration any longer.  Just open the package and pitch it into the wort. 
• Variety is adequate.  When I started brewing, there were really only 4 dry yeast strains.  Now by my count there are 18 or 19 available to home brewers.  And any BJCP style can be made with them.  

What are your favorite yeasts?   For specialty beers, or beers I am working on for contests, I tend to select a specific yeast to create that character.   Often that means a liquid yeast. Often, but not always.

For my clean ales I prefer  Fermentis Safale US05.  I do not wash this yeast. It's to affordable to waste fridge space on.  I have made 1 gallon starters before for a DIPA that I knew would need more yeasty power.  US05 is my go to yeast strain for testing and recipe development.

I like Lallemand Nottingham for my english inspired ales and even for my brown ales and stouts.   I like the fruity character it throws off.  I also like how hard it flocculates.

For Saisons I like Lallemand Belle Saison.   It gives you the character of a Saison in a dry yeast.  When you ferment this yeast the trick it to follow a schedule.  Initial at 65 F then rise to 85 F over time.

For german wheat beers I like Fermentis WB-06.  Banana and Clove baby.

For most lagers - everyday thirst quenchers... I prefer Wyeast 2112. My champagne lager is clean and thirst quenching.  It is simple to brew, and a real crowd pleaser when muggles (non craft beer people) come over to the homestead.  The trick to getting this one to finish clean, and not give off steam beer characters is to keep it at or under 65 F, and to aerate the ever living bejezus out of it prior to pitch.

I also am known to ferment lagers with Fermentis W34/70.  When I do I do the primary fermentation at 65 F, then lager it out at 39 F for 3 - 5 weeks.   Gives a clean tasting lager.  I can assure all you nay sayers, that I have been in contact with the great people at Fermentis technical support,  they assure me that my method is sound and works just fine with 34/70.  So if all you have is an extra fridge, start lagering in smaller fermenters.  It's fun and it makes great beers.  

Series or campaigns

Whenever I use a specialty yeast that I like.  I save some of the yeast.  I don't do a traditional yeast wash.   I have been greatly educated in this by Steven Deeds at woodland brewing research.     His research and book are awesome for advanced home brewers.    I then brew a series of beers that use this yeast.

1. WLP500 in a Chimay Blue Clone (amazing beer)
1. Save the yeast 2 pints cleaned Steven's way
2. WLP500 2 pints are going next into a Dark Strong Ale (partial mash)
1. Save the yeast
3. WLP500 2 pints are going then into a Boulevard Quad Clone

What are your favorite yeasts and why?

You know you're a home brewer when....

Yes, it was a busy home brew weekend.   We bottled 3 batches, brewed another, saved one, added amylase to 2 batches,, dry hopped one, combined a 1.5 gallon batch with 500 ml of Chardonnay, and cleaned everything... somethings multiple times... oh, and we had people over... and we went to church, a dinner date, and something else that I can't remember.  The beer on the sink window is a Saison/Wine Blend... it is amazing.  Ill post the recipe soon.  I make a 1.5 gallon batch of saison, and blend it with a 500 of Chardonnay. The alcohol from the wine means that carbonation can be a challenge. But this one is for a party on Saturday night.  So part of it will be bottled, and 1 gallon will be force carbonated in two 2 liter bottles... can't wait.

So this is the state of the Brewery/Kitchen/Homework station tonight. But, everything is clean... and will be ready for Thursday night, and Sunday afternoon... Ill be brewing 2 more batches of all grain for my other 2 Mr. Beer fermenters.  Both of them....LAGERS... that's right sports fans... LAGER in the LBK.

The LBK is perfect for small batch lagers.   It will actually fit in your fridge.  There are many, yes many, lager strains that primary ferment at ale temperatures.  Secondary cold... diacetyl rest for a couple of days... cold crash... package, drink.. repeat.  I like Wyeast Czech Pils, and White Labs 2308.  I follow this procedure with both of them. Ferment at 65 until primary ends, move LBK to the garage fridge (39F) and let it ride till final gravity is reached.  Out of the fridge for a few days for a diacetyl rest, then cold crash and bottle. Drink... Repeat.



By the way the beer in the photo on the left, is the batch I thought was ruined.  It was stuck at 1.024... It only started at 1.052.  It tasted like bad candy...  I added amylase enzyme, as of tonight it is down to 1.009.  Boom.  I also dry hopped it with .5 oz of Centennial.  Think it is actually going to be good.

   By the way, these photos don't even scratch the surface of my carboy/bucket/brewing gear obsession... how many fermenters do you have?  I currently have; 2 large glass, 6 small glass (1 gallon)  4 five gallon plastic, 3 Mr. Beer, 2 two point five plastic, 2 3 gallon plastic, and 1 15.5 wine fermenting carboy.   So... yes... I have been giving away some gear recently.   The glass carboys are dedicated now to sours.

That's all for today.  Soldier on.   Thanks for your support.  Keep the questions and comments coming.

A little overwhelmed... thank you all...

So I set out to write this blog for my self, as much as for all those of you who love home brewing.  I for one am sick of the "tommy know it alls", and the "mikey moneybags" guys who I think are hurting our hobby.   My point was and is, that you don't have to spend tens of thousands of dollars on your home brew equipment.   My other point was you can brew good beer, even great beer in your kitchen with pots and pans you already own.   My third point was there is a lot of bad information floating around the interwebs.  I read a post this morning where someone described how not boiling for at least 90 minutes creates DMS.   You already know my stance on that...

I never thought that my first rant would generate such an amazing response as of the writing of this nearly 20K of you have come to the blog.   Your responses have been overwhelmingly positive.   So thank you.

I pledge to keep telling the truth, to try to educate, try to share a laugh, and to keep on brewing.  And I here by officially pledge to keep brewing kick ass beer, and posting about it on this blog.

Up coming blogs...include in no specific order...

• a Cheap all grain system... for 5 gallon batches. getting into all grain for under $200
• How yeast actually does its' voodoo.
• Partial Mash in electric turkey fryer... a pictorial and video of how I actually brew 5 gallon batches.
• 2 gallon all grain, on the stove top.  part of my YOU CAN BREW ALL GRAIN series.  (using your old Mr. Beer Fermenter) Ill brew a Bells two hearted ale clone, and a standard lager.  
• A Rant about "tommy know it alls"  I have been collecting quotes from guys who know everything.  
• clarifying beer with out cold crashing.  I almost never cold crash... (gelatin doesn't care)

What else do you all want to hear about, or what do you want me to brew...?   send me a comment.

PS if you're in KC and you want to come brew with me and be on the blog... let me know.  I live in south JoCo suburbia...

A quick rant.

• Mash doesn't know if it's in a recirculating system. 
• Enzymes don't care if they're running through a pump. 
• Recirculating is to keep temperatures perfect and free the sugars into solution, it does not put more grain in contact with enzymes.   The
  
  enzymes are in the grains already.  
• Having said that I really want a Colorado Brewing System, or a System from Brau Supply.
• A mash paddle,  can easily keep your temperatures consistent and your sugar in solution.  
• Better gear only makes sense if it means your brewing gets easier and better.  
• Knowing your gear is way more important than new gear.  
• Fermentation control and proper yeast pitch are way way way more important than recirculation of mash.  
• when you wash yeast , you actually want the stuff from the bottom.  Head over to woodland brew and read up.  In fact get Steve's book and read up.  
• Yeast slurry is way more viable than a starter.  
• You don't need a Kabillion yeast cells,  viability is more important. 
• You can not clean enough.  repeat.  
• If you can't brew a near perfect 1.045 cream ale,  your process needs work.  
• If you buy a home brew system that costs thousands of dollars, and you don't have a college fund for your kids,  you missed the point... of life. 
• If you buy or build a home brew system,  before you can control fermentation temperatures,  you missed the point. 

• North Carolina Home brew... great fermentation chamber 
• Meat does not go in beer. 
• 6 is your friend,  6 malts maximum, 6 hops maximum,  1.06 target.  
• Not all beer should be royal or imperial.   Enough already with the 1.09 beers.  Again I say if you can't brew a nearly perfect 1.045 cream ale, you need work on your procedures.  
• You don't just  "go pro" running a brewery is not the same as making home brew.   Unless you're a great business person,  and a truly
  
  great brewer, focus on getting better and having fun.  
• Any one,  yes any one,  can make a dipa that tastes pretty darn good,  anyone, yes anyone, can make a ris that comes out bold and malty.   Learn to make beers where you can't hide flaws behind huge hops and malt.    Then will you truly be a brewing jedi!
• If you can't lager,  don't spend money on a new brew system.  
• Several of the  AHA NHC award winners, won the award with a turkey fryer,  a voile bag, and a big pot.   They all had fermentation temperature control.  
• Electric brewing means more cleaning than stove top or simple 3 v gravity brewing.   You have to clean the elements and the valves, hot boiling water is not enough.  
• Rims brewing is even more cleaning.  Especially 3v rims.
• The only easy to clean recirculating systems are recirculating biab systems. from brausupply, colorado brewing systems,  high gravity, brewboss, and brewha.  In other words the RIMS eBIAB systems. 
• A clean brewing system is paramount to sudcess in brewing.
• Well modified grains don't generally contain very much dms precursors.   You can't create dms precursors,  they already existi in your grains (S-Methylmethionine) you can only break then down completely and avoid DMS or fail to break them down completely and create some DMS.  S-Methyl-Methionine is a complex methyl, in the boil you can break it down to DMS or past DMS.
• A 60 or 90 minute boil is not necessary,  but it often improves clarity. 
• A Rigorous boil of 15 minutes is required to avoid DMS.
• This was inspired by a guy at a LHBS who shared with us that his daughter was taking a semester off college due to family finances being tight, but he had just purchased a $5000 brewing system...  his beer... kinda sucks... his priorities definitely do.
• Tomorrow Ill be my normal happy go lucky brew enthusiast self. 

Teaching Newbies on Saturday... What should we brew... and How?

So here's the deal.  I'm teaching some newbies how to brew this weekend.  And how to brew better.

So come on yall give me some input.  Should I teach them extract, all grain biab small batch, or partial mash.

Im leaning toward all grain small batch.  Most people own a 2-4 gallon pot already.  And all grain costs less to brew than extract.

But I'd like some input.  If you could go back in time and have someone teach you,  what would you want to learn?

My thoughts are that for the beginning brewer, extract is the easiest, but the hardest to do really well.  All grain small batch BIAB is probably the way to go 2 gallon batch right on the stove top.

Now,  the next question is what recipe?   I'm thinking a crazy hoppy AIPA. My thoughts are that many, many deficiencies that new brewers encounter would be hidden by the hops.

What say you?

The essential 10

So I've been thinking.  What are the 10 essential styles every home brewer should be able to do well? What should you master before you attempt a continuously hopped imperial sour stout with bretomyces and dragon fruit puree?  Not that there is anything wrong with experimental brewing. I am a fan of Denny Conn and Drew Beechum.  But, before you run, you should really be able to walk.   Notice here I am not talking about process type here.  This isn't an extract vs all grain post.   I know extract brewers who make amazing beer.  This is about understanding styles.

What beer is the measuring stick?  The process checker?

Here are my 10, and my process checker.

1. Pale ale - just a good basic pale ale
2. Wheat Beer - good basic wheat is the base of so much fruit and sour
3. Brown ale - dark and sweet and yummy a gateway beer
4. American amber - cause you know amber
5. American ipa - who doesn't love a hop monster
6. Cream ale - this is the beer your BMC friends will love
7. Stout -  (and preferably with some sour included)
8. Ale temperature lager - ( my champagne lager recipe is at brewtoad)
9. A fruit beer - hot chicks need beer too
10. A honey beer - my personal favorite is honey brown

Cream ale is one of my favorite
styles to make and drink. Even
SWMBO will drink it cold. 

My control beer is cream ale.  If there's anything wrong with your process,  the cream ale will expose your flaws.   If you can't brew a clean crisp cream ale, then you need to work on your process.  Not hide flaws with mega hop additions.   Just saying. Not that there is anything wrong with mega hop additions.  But if you can't brew a nearly competitively perfect cream ale?  what is the problem in your process?  Although I will say with cream ale, you can taste it prior to bottling, if you do have a flawed beer, you can add a hop tea and dry hop it for a couple of days... boom American IPA.  One of my favorites ever was a beer that had too much estery flavors.  (I tried a cream ale with an english ale yeast)  I threw the kitchen sink into dry hops and created a great cream IPA that we dubbed the "creamy indian".

I'd love to hear your 10...

Pliny the toddler, Yum!

A note in closing. I have been researching extract vs all grain recently. Most of the experiments, and exbeeriments I have seen, the extract actually won.  Leading me to the conclusion that brewing with at least some extract may actually be a superior method.  The only draw back is the lack of base grains available in extract.  Im not aware of a Vienna, or Munich malt extract.  It seems that the malt companies may be better at extracting sugar from grains than we are... hmmm who would have guessed it.   Just another feather in the cap of partial mash brewing.  Ill be posting links soon when I reach some real conclusions.  I'll still do loads of small all grain batches.  They are just too much fun to stop, and the beer turns out great.   But it does make you wonder.  

disasterous brew day... when life hands you lemons

These things are facts;  I have been brewing for a long time. I have won some awards (local only).  I make really good beer.   There is a thin line between confidence and arrogance... and I crossed the line on Sunday.

After church (a service that left me angry by the way, all people should have the same basic human rights!) I decided to brew. Nothing fancy, another cream ale...partial mash... you probably saw the previous post.

Unfortunately for me, I was trying to cram a brew session in before a

Sunday night engagement I had.  And quite simply I wasn't paying close attention.   I doughed in, put the lid on my electric mash kettle, and forgot to turn off the heat.   So when I opened my mash tun to stir... boiling mash...  So since it was boiling any way.  I stirred and let it boil for 20 minutes then shut it off.   (tested the gravity on this error and it came out to 1.056)  So...I packaged that wort for now.  Ill grab some lager hops, and some lager yeast, california 2112 from Wyeast and make a fully decoted lager from it.  I have no expectations that it will be good, but well see.  This is home brewing, most of my accidents turn into beer that gets poured out.  Sometimes, once in a great blue moon...an accident is awesome and you spend years trying to recreate the happy incident that created it.

Meanwhile on the stove top 2.25 gallons of water and 2# DME was heating slowly to 190 F.  So I added  .5 # of flaked rice in a bag for 20 minutes, cut the heat, added 2# of DME and 3.3 LBS of Briess Golden LME.  

Oh and 1 Gallon of Hot water.   I proceeded to boil this 3.25 gallons of water and extract adding hopps at 60 and 0.   1 oz of mount hood, and 1 oz of liberty.   So... yeah an imperial cream ale, that's what ill call it.  if it doesn't taste amazing Ill add a hop tea or perhaps a fruit extract.

The lessons (re) learned

• Don't brew when you're pressed for time
• Organize organize organize
• stay on top of your details
• slow down,  slow down

Even an old brew hound like me screws up every now and then.

Update on the cream ale... tasting notes...

Update on the Cream ale we brewed 5/30/15...
If you're like me you always try a sample at bottling.   The wine glass (really a chalice) has a sample of the cream ale. I would say the color is spot on.   About a 4 SRM.  The aroma is very light hop,  it smells like beer.  This is not a hoppy style. This is lawn mower beer.   This is watching the game with beer muggles beer.   Initial taste impressions... wow!  The body is too thick for competition... but I love it.  The flavor has a definite corn flavor, but not like a DMS sweet creamed corn flavor, more like a pleasant corn flavor.   Time to force carb this and see how it really is... The body should lighten some.

Force carbonated the beer in 2, 2 liter bottles.  I do that a lot.  It is easy, reliable and lets me consume my beer immediately.   So the taste was balanced some by the carbonation, now it tastes even better.  The body is still there but it is balanced by the carbonation.  There is just a hint of hops.  SWMBO did not like it... "too thick and bitter" Cool I must be doing something right, cause if it doesn't have fruit or honey in it she doesn't like it.   Very low bitterness and hop aroma.   This beer is all about the combination of grains.   I think this beer would get dinged in the cream ale category, too much body.  It would probably do ok as a blonde... except for the corn.     The beer cleared beautifully.  That is the TV screen through the beer.  Ill keep working on my cream ales, but this one was very encouraging.

Saturday Brew Session Champagne Lager and a Cascadian IPA

 Your brew day should always begin with a clean kitchen.  There are no exceptions to this rule.  If you want SWMBO to appreciate your brewing hobby, it begins and ends with cleaning the kitchen.  After a crazy Friday night our kitchen was a disaster, if you look closely you can see half of a 6 of Genesee Cream to the right of the stove.  The pink pitcher,  is my one gallon brewing pitcher.

 I have some fining and bottling to do today to, it is going to be a very long home brew hobby day. (In fact is was a long day.  Started cleaning at 8 am finished cleaning at 8 pm.  But took a break for a 2 hour movie in there, and a trip to the LHBS.  But I walked away with 6 gallons of great beer,  I bottled 5 gallons, I fined 10 gallons.) You know you're a home brewer when... You have empty glass carboys in your breakfast room, and a bucket of sanitizer...

 I always organize and then re organize my stuff.   I keep a brew log and check off my boxes. I find that when I don't follow my brew log... I screw up.  Even after 20+ years.   Our hobby has lots of little details that make big differences.  You can't screw them up if you want to make truly excellent beer.   As you can see this is  a partial mash batch.

 Headed to strike temperature,  My brewery was suddenly invaded by hobbits.  "hobbits my precious...what are hobittses? filthy breakfast making dont clean up after themselves little creatures ...Hobbitses ar our friends.... not on brew day."  What are they doing up early?  They're never up before noon.  There must be some dumb "one direction" special on Nickelodeon.   Oh no maybe that one guy got a hair cut...

 Warming on the stove are my DME pot and my rinse sparge pot.   When I do large batches it is almost always partial mash.  5.5 Gallons is large for me.  So I add the DME with a whisk to a pot that I can gently heat.  I don't add the DME until after the mash.  You have to calculate your mash water correctly, and to do that you need to see how much water the grain absorbed.  The other pot is heating to 168 for rinsing the grains. A very easy repeatable way to make good beer.

After dough in, pretty much spot on.  I was at 153, but 5 ice cubes solved that.   "Listen to me young padawan... If can mash at correct temp good beer will you have... if too HIGH VERY BAD."  You can accidentally "fix" the fermentability of your wort. Not fix as in repair, fix as in affix, fasten, glue... Your best strategy is to dough in low around 135 F for a protein rest and rise to your mash temperature.  Multi step mashing is a key to excellent beer. Doughing in low cant hurt anything, doughing in TOO HIGH, can ruin a batch.  And btw, when did it become a big deal to nail your saccrification rest temp? No Belgian brewer ever tweeted about nailing his strike temp. How dumb is that, just add a protein rest.  It improves your beer, and eliminates the risk of overshooting strike temperatures.

 These warriors are ready for service.  California Lager Yeast.  A lager yeast that thrives at ale temperatures.  And you can make just about any full bodied lager with it.  I'm not kidding on this one, it makes great lawn mower lager, great steam beer, great bock, and great Oktoberfest.  Give it a try if you are an ale brewer.

The boil. Nothing too exciting here, as you can tell from the leavings on the side of the pot, I had a near boil over.  So yeah, clean up sucked.

Chilling on the patio.  Large batches get chilled on the patio.   Need the full power of the garden hose to cool them faster.  They still take 25 -30 minutes.  I hate that water waste, so I have to improve my immersion chiller in the near future.  I may just buy a Jaded chiller. http://jadedbrewing.com/. Or I may turn mine into a double coil, I haven't decided yet.

 I like to use my grains again for a second 1 gallon batch.  Here you see the one gallon fermenter the cascade hops, the S04, and the strike water coming up to temp.  There have been many days where the 1 gallon batch was the better of the two batches.  In this case the grains and a pound of DME were turned into a pretty big cascade hopped APA.  1.068 OG.   .4 oz at 60, .3 at 15, .3 at flame out.  It will have .125 of cascade, and .125 of centennial for dry hopping.   It should be a tongue stinger.  It's kinda for a friend at church who loves the big APAs and IPAs.

I suggest that if you are a partial mash or small batch all grain brewer you should almost always do a partiguyle batch when you brew.  Its fun, easy, and only adds about an hour to your brew day.

Here is the carbonated and pretty clear result of the partial mash "every day pale ale" from a couple of weeks ago.  It is dang good.

Beer Book Study Guides... "How to Brew"

So, I'm re reading John Palmer's "How to Brew".  For those of you who don't know who John Palmer is... well he's an author, and home brew enthusiast.  You know the joke... "he's no rocket scientist?" ... John Palmer actually is a rocket scientist.  I think his education is in metallurgical engineering.   So, he's smart.  But more importantly he makes brewing beer easy to understand.  Something many of the other really smart guys in home brewing don't take the time to do.   John is also a very funny cool person, and like me he loves Tolkien.  So yeah... FRODO LIVES!

As I'm re reading this great book I am taking notes and really studying the material.   I'm treating it like a course in brewing.  I'm creating an outline of every chapter and reviewing the chapter notes as I go.

Wondering if anyone wants me to turn these Notes into a study guide?  A series of worksheets that you can fill out as you read the book?  I don't know about you, but I find that kinda stuff helpful.   If it is helpful I'll probably do it for several of the other brewer's publication books.

The New Rules for Me...Common Sense Home Brewing

As home brewer's we all have a tendency to want... to want a better set up, to want more equipment, to want cheaper prices, to want the perfect recipe.   I am no different, but what I want... to consistently make excellent (near competition quality) beer with my current set up.  To that end I have developed some rules for my self.  By following these rules I avoid wandering all over the fertile landscape of home brewing.   These rules are my road map.   I'm sure you have all been tempted to try many different methods, recipes, and techniques.  By having rules, you can try different things in a way that you know, that you have proven will work for you.

So with out further adieu, I present my common sense rules for making excellent beer.  The first rule is of course have fun.

1. .
2. It's about the skill of the brewer.
1. It's not the equipment
2. It's not the recipe
3. It is about the skill of the brewer
1. The cleanliness of the brewer
2. The sanitation of the brewer
3. The organization of the brewer
4. The subtle tricks, nuances and processes picked up through experience... and failure
3. There is no substitute for Sanitation. 
1. Clean everything. 
2. Sanitize everything.
4. Know your equipment, and it's limitations
1. Stick with your process
2. Do not change from 3 vessel, to BIAB, to Partial Mash, to No Boil constantly.  
3. Find your process and stick with it. 
1. For me that process is Partial Mash.
1. I don't do all grain 5 gallon batches
2. I don't do purely BIAB, although I use a bag.
3. I don't do purely extract
5. Proven Recipes tend to work well.
1. Proven means vetted out, tested, published in a reputable journal of home brewing.  BYO or ZYMURGY
1. Get BYO Here
2. Proven means recipes from sources you KNOW and trust.
1. It may mean a recipe off of Beer Smith, or BrewToad, or Brewer'sfriend, if you know the brewer and their quality.
1. Be careful with online recipes... I saw a so called partial mash "stout" recipe that had 4 lbs of chocolate malt in it. and 9.9 lbs of LME... uh... well... no... hard pass sir.
6. There is no substitute for Sanitation.  YES I'M REPEATING MYSELF
1. Clean everything. 
2. Sanitize everything. 
7. Record everything
1. Have a brewing log for every batch.  Record Everything that happened while you were brewing.
1. Successes
2. Failures
8. LEARN, LEARN, LEARN
1. I've been brewing for 24 years, and I still learn all the time.
2. I'm currently re reading "How to brew" by John Palmer. This time I'm reading it with a note book, studying everything.  
1. get the book here
3. Next up "Principles of Brewing Science" by George Fixx.
1. a very technical book for more advanced brewers
2. Get Principles of Brewing Science Here... but have your learning cap on.

What are your rules for home brew success?