What's in your fermenter??

[Dutch]

Chris - you are right on on the Shandy. Many people in America do not realize that when someone from the UK says "Lemonade" - they are indeed referring to lemon/lime soda. It is interesting [and a bit dissapointing] that some local bars serve a Shandy with American Lemonade.

[Michael Erwin]

Chris - you are right on on the Shandy. Many people in America do not realize that when someone from the UK says "Lemonade" - they are indeed referring to lemon/lime soda. It is interesting [and a bit dissapointing] that some local bars serve a Shandy with American Lemonade.

Looks like Ri-Ra's got it right. And, I'm going there tonight for my birthday just to make sure.

http://ri-ra.fbmta.com/members/ViewMail ... O3XJzgJkY0

[BREWsmith]

Chris - you are right on on the Shandy. Many people in America do not realize that when someone from the UK says "Lemonade" - they are indeed referring to lemon/lime soda. It is interesting [and a bit dissapointing] that some local bars serve a Shandy with American Lemonade.

Looks like Ri-Ra's got it right. And, I'm going there tonight for my birthday just to make sure.

http://ri-ra.fbmta.com/members/ViewMail ... O3XJzgJkY0

Happy Birthday Michael! I may just use my RiRa's birthday coupon tonight too.

[Michael Erwin]

Happy Birthday Michael! I may just use my RiRa's birthday coupon tonight too.

When is your birthday? Look for me.

[sirgiovanni]

11 Gallons Black Rasperry Belgian Ale - 8.5%
hell of a crop this year on the berries and first beer in the new brew pot!

[evilleadam]

C-41: Citra Pale Ale
and
Summer Steam American Cream Ale

[BREWsmith]

First 10 gallon batch is in the fermenters. As an experiement (and because I didn't feel like making a yeast starter), I pitched two vials of WL001 in one and a packet of S-05 in the other. The dry yeast took off a bit quicker, but both are bubbling away nicely. Thanks to Jack for coming by and keeping me on track!

http://hopville.com/recipe/1453923/amer ... -amber-ale

[sirgiovanni]

How did it do for ya?

[Chris Norrick]

I did another batch of Delaney Dark Mild (batch 7) last week and today I made the first of a couple of Stout experiments. Getting ready for the Big Turkey . Stout is not my style so I need to try a few things. The one I brewed is low in the style guidelines and probably like a Beamish Stout. Since it decided to pour rain the entire brew this morning and plenty ended up in the kettle, it shall be known as "Rainwater Stout".

I put some of all this water chemistry learnin' I've been doing for the last couple of months to use on this batch of Stout.

I'm no water expert but this is what I did:

I used the AJ DeLange method mostly.

To start, I bought 10 gallons of Reverse Osmoses (RO) water from Walmart. It runs about $1.85 per 5 gallon jug. Not too shabby.

I diluted charcoal filtered Evansville water to 20% (80% RO). This is to keep some Evansville trace minerals but make the water soft (remove the ions) and to dilute our high sulfate level. (Note: AJ does 9/1 dilution). Since this is BIAB, the entire water amount was treated and measured 8.2 gallons total.

Evansville water report for 9/1/2012

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Calcium	Magnesium	Alkalinity	Sodium	Chloride	Sulfate	
98			36			78			   16			16			93			

After the dilution we have approx (RO only removes around 90% of the ions so these are probably a little higher than calculated):

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Calcium	Magnesium	Alkalinity	Sodium	Chloride	Sulfate	
20			7			16			   3			3			19			

I then added 1g of Gypsum (CaSO4) for a little Calcium and Sulfate and 6g of Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) for even more Calcium and lots more Chloride:

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Calcium	Magnesium	Alkalinity	Sodium	Chloride	Sulfate	
80			7			16			   3			96			37			

This shifts to a higher Chloride to Sulfate ratio. Chloride is said to enhance "maltyness" perception and sulfate is said to increase hop bitterness perception. Or maybe none of the above, depending on who you ask . In this case I wanted the ratio to favor maltyness or at the very least try something completely opposite of Evansville water. The low magnesium is not a problem because the mash will contribute a lot of Mg which the yeast need. Now that I look at it again, 6 grams of Calcium Chloride was probably too much. 4 would have been plenty.

I also added 1.5% mash weight of Acidulated Malt to my mash. This acidifying malt normally isn't needed for a dark beer since the dark grains are acidic, but being on the light end of the style, my calculations indicated that my pH was going to be a little high. My cheap pH strip indicated pH 5.0 but those things are notoriously unreliable. Does anyone have a reasonably accurate pH meter for my next batch?

Like I said, this is an experiment, and gives us another keg of beer for SWIRCA

[Don]

I almost always use Walmart RO water with the following and/or diluted with home filtered hard water.

The first time I make a beer recipe/style, I start with this for 5 gal batch using RO water.
1-1.25 tsp CaSO4 for hoppy beers
1 tsp CaCl2 for malty beers
2 tsp CaCo3 to dark beer - if the dark grains are in the mash**
If a beer is both hoppy and malty I use both CaCl2 and CaSo4 to the ratio I want and keep the total addition under 1.25 tsp.
Then I make adjustments the next time I brew the beer if needed.

BTW I usually use grams for all my salt measurements, it's a lot more accurate.
1 tsp =
4 grams Gypsum
3.5 grams Calcium Chloride
2.6 Grams Calcium Carbonate
6 Grams Salt
4.4 Grams Sodium Bicarbonate
4.5 Grams Magnesium Sulfate
5.4 Buffer 5.2
This will change as your salts absorbs moisture for the air.

My general sulfate / chloride ratio
2:1 hoppy
1:2 milds
1:3 stouts & porters
BUT watch the total amount, too much is not a good thing (trial and error will help here)

I've picked up these notes over the years and refer to them when trying to hit a certain ion in my brewing.
In 5 gallons of RO water:
3.5 Grams of CaCl2 will add @ 60ppm Ca & 100 ppm Cl2
4 Grams of CaSO4 adds @ 60 ppm Ca & 140 ppm SO4
2.6 Grams of CaCO3 adds @ 40 ppm Ca & 60 ppm CO3

I have a meter you can borrow to check your PH. I plan on buying a new sensor for it this week ( it's a couple of years old and takes longer to settle out). BTW if you use a meter, buy the calibration buffers and use them. I calibrate mine every month.
I always check my mash PH and adjust as needed after it's had some time to work.

I also watch my sparge PH and with RO or phosphate acid try to keep my sparge water under 6 - 5.8 min, and down to 5.5 but not lower than my mash PH

I add yeast nutrient to take care of the zinc needed for the yeast.
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**Don't tell anyone my secret...
Why are you mashing the dark grains? They don't add much fermentable sugars and they are only used for color and flavor.
For some of my stouts, I cold steep my dark grains for 24 hrs. (Black paten malt, Chocolate malt, special Roast and Carafa) I use RO water (1# of grain to 1/2 gal water), and added this liquid in the last 5 to 10 min of the boil.
Steeping the grains and a short boil time will give you less astringency & harshness.
I've read that by using hot or cold steep methods you can use the grain liquid at any time, even after fermentation is completed. There are some precautions if adding this late. I've also noticed a little less color with late addition so I adjust the recipe.

I see there's a lot of people going after the Big Turkey this year. I need to get busy and start brewing.

[msjulian]

Its been my experience that evansville water makes really really good stouts straight out of the tap (run through a charcoal filter of coarse)...

[Chris Norrick]

**Don't tell anyone my secret...
Why are you mashing the dark grains? They don't add much fermentable sugars and they are only used for color and flavor.
For some of my stouts, I cold steep my dark grains for 24 hrs. (Black paten malt, Chocolate malt, special Roast and Carafa) I use RO water (1# of grain to 1/2 gal water), and added this liquid in the last 5 to 10 min of the boil.
Steeping the grains and a short boil time will give you less astringency & harshness.
I've read that by using hot or cold steep methods you can use the grain liquid at any time, even after fermentation is completed. There are some precautions if adding this late. I've also noticed a little less color with late addition so I adjust the recipe.

Excellent post Don! I used to run my dark grains through my coffee mill (spice mill) and sprinkle the powder on top of the mash the last few minutes before sparging. I completely forgot about that technique! I'll have to give the cold steep a try as I've never done it. I mainly left the dark grains in this batch for the pH adjustment but that wasn't really necessary since I have plenty of the Acidulated Malt (Sauermalz or Sour Malt) that I can adjust with. Well, in theory anyway. Without the pH meter it's all guesswork and relying on spreadsheets. Sauermalz is basically using lactic acid in the grain to lower pH. Each 1% of it in the mash will lower .1 pH unit, but don't go overboard with it. Maybe up to 8% ? Who knows without testing.

I've got some phosphoric acid around here somewhere but I don't have the acid % so I have never used it.

EDIT: From everything I've read, CaCo3 (Chalk) is pretty much insoluable even at mash pH. The spreadsheets may tell you you are getting Calcium and Carbonate out of it but its not really happening in practice unless you do some crazy stuff with bubbled CO2 to acidify the solution. YMMV. Can't deny a 3-time Big Turkey.

[Chris Norrick]

Going to do my first Cascadian Dark Ale (Black IPA) on Saturday.
This is going to be a 3 gallon BIAB. I have a small keg I need to fill .

Trying to use up some ingredients as the speciality bin is full and heavy to lift.
Carafa and Debittered Black will be cold steeped via The Don even though they are already designed to add just color and little harshness.

Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.049 SG
Expected OG: 1.069 SG
Expected FG: 1.016 SG
Expected ABV: 7.0 %
Expected IBU (using Rager): 55.6 IBU
Expected Color (using Morey): 34.2 SRM
Mash Efficiency: 80.0 %
Boil Duration: 60.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 65 degF


80% RO Water Dilution plus 3g CaSO4 plus 3g CaCl2

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Water Profile
Chloride	Sulfate	Chloride / Sulfate Ratio	
64			89			0.72	

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Fermentables	
Amount	Ingredient
 6lb 0oz	Paul's Pale Malt
 1lb 4oz	Belgian Cara 20 Malt
 1lb 0oz	US Munich 10L Malt
 8.00 oz	German Carafa Special I
 4.50 oz	Belgian Debittered Black Malt
 1.50 oz	German Sauer(Acid) Malt

BIAB: 6.28 Gallons at 157 F for 80 F grain.
Rest at 152 F Mash for 50 min. Gently raise temp via direct fire with lots of stirring to 168 F over 15 minutes for mashout.

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Hops		
Amount	Variety		 When
 0.17 oz	US Centennial	 60 Min From End
 0.17 oz	NZ Pacifica	 	60 Min From End
 0.17 oz	US Magnum	 	60 Min From End
 0.33 oz	US Centennial	 10 Min From End
 0.33 oz	NZ Pacifica	 	10 Min From End
 0.33 oz	US Zythos	 	 10 Min From End
 0.50 oz	US Centennial	 5 Min From End
 0.50 oz	NZ Pacifica		 5 Min From End
 0.50 oz	US Zythos	 	 5 Min From End
 0.50 oz	US Citra	 	 Dry-Hopped

Yeast
DCL US-05 (formerly US-56) SafAle
Ferment at 65 F. Raising to 68 F over 5 days. Three weeks in primary then keg in tiny keg.

[Don Armstrong]

Epic Pale Ale

A celebration of Cascade hops! About 45 - 50 IBU's with a nice malty background. I love this beer! Maybe I'll save some for the August Meeting.

[Dwayne_Delaney]

Coffee Stout
Watermelon Wheat - yesterday
Hefe - this morning