johnlittle.com

I think the last science class I ever took was in the 9th grade. Most chemistry is very foreign to me. One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed homebrewing so much is because it stretches my mind in a new direction. One of the most fascinating issues I’ve learned about through homebrewing is yeast growth and fermentation. Water chemistry is another area I’ve always wanted to know more about, but struggle with it.

Thanks to the Brewing Network, Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer, I have 4 one-hour Brew Strong podcasts to listen to and learn from. Let me tell you how slow I am on these issues. I’ve been listening to Episode 1, “Why Adjust Your Water” for 6 hours today, off and on, taking the best notes I could. I’ve listened to many parts about 6 or 7 times, trying to let it sink in. It got so bad I had to start jotting down the time I left off and sit there and contemplate or take a break. But I’m learning!!!

This is the 1st time I’ve listened to any of the Brew Strong podcasts, and I love the intro:

Brewers: It’s time for the Beer Radio you’ve been looking for. This is the show that dispels myths, tackles the toughest topics and makes no apologies for geeking out on beer. Hosted by two guys that drink before they think, Jamil Zainesheff and John Palmer. This is Brew Strong!

There are also two really good Welcome Back lines after the commercials:

Back to your hosts, Jamil Zainesheff and John Palmer, putting the testicals in technical

Back to the 2 guys who know how to turn beer (high voice) into BEER (low voice). This is Brew Strong.

Here’s my notes from the 1st Brew Strong water chemistry episode: Read more…

My very good friend Brant (2nd place 2007 Mid-South Homebrewer of the Year!!!) wrote this summary of part of the Dec. 2, 2007 Sunday Session interview with Ralph Olsen. I haven’t gotten to listen to it yet, but Brant’s write up is pretty good, and he said I could post it here. Thanks for the info Brant!

Brant wrote:
I’m behind on The Brewing Network archives, and just now listening to the 12/2/2007 episode. I’m only partway through it, but so far it is very interesting. Ralph Olson, the Hopunion honcho, is interviewed about the hops shortage. If you want to hear it from the horse’s mouth, I’d suggest downloading that from their archives, and giving it a listen sometime when you have about an hour to spare. Fastforward to about the 20 minute mark or so to get to Ralph. They’ve also got Ian Ward, pres of the Brewers Supply Group, later in the show talking about the malt shortage; I haven’t gotten far enough through the show to comment on that, though.

Anyway, from the Ralph Olson part, here are some of the high points I picked up about the cause of the hops shortage: Less than 1/2 of the acreage worldwide grows hops than 15 years ago. That is mainly because hops farmers were run out of business or otherwise sold out (housing developments, strip malls, etc.), or switched to growing other crops. And the reasons for that are because there were way more hops being produced in the past 10 – 15 years ago than needed — 230-something acres were just too much. The important thing to know is that those excess hops were not just disposed of; instead they were converted to extracts. Hop extracts are what the big brewers worldwide use, and it will store for several years without going bad (that’s a very important point). In the past few years, from the overproduction days, there has been an abundance of extract available from crops grown years earlier for the big brewers to buy cheap . That kept hops prices deflated, and that in turn ran many farmers out of business each year. The problem today is because demand for new hops did not pass the reserves of extract until way too many farmers were run out of business, and there are now not enough hops produced to fulfill the big orders. Add that this year’s crop was bad, and as Ralph put it, even if we had a bumper crop this year, we would still be in trouble. Ralph says he has seen this coming for years (dwindling acreage over years’ time), but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Here are some high points about what is going on today: The big brewers are paying whatever they have to buy up all of the hops, especially the high-alpha ones, and naturally, that is inflating the prices. Yeah, we already knew that. What I hadn’t considered before are the international buyers, whose currencies are stronger than the US dollar — they aren’t really paying as much as we are, so they can offer more money without it costing them as much. And the reason different types of hops cost different amounts of money is largely based on their per-acre yield. Most of the high-alpha hops yield two to three times as much poundage as the flavor/aroma hops, and farmers are going to price them accordingly. For example, Cascade might cost twice as much as, say, Columbus, and Hallertau as much as three time that.

And here are some high points about what we’ll probably see in the future: Farmers will tend to produce high-alpha hops over bittering hops, because that is where the demand is (from the big brewers wanting extracts), many high-alphas can produce in the first year of planting (vs the 2 – 3 years of other types of hops), and the greater per-acre yield. New acreage will be high-alpha hops, and some existing acreage will convert to high-alpha hops. He even speculates that some types of aroma hops might be gone forever. Scary is the Hallertau in Germany, where a wilt disease is pretty much killing off all of them! It will be years before the high-alpha demand subsides, so the aroma hops that craft and home brewers want will continue to be in short supply for a long time. Prices will never return to what they were last year — but that’s probably a good thing in the long run, since they were really too low to keep the needed farmers in business.

I don’t know — I’ve heard some retailers saying things will be fine next year, but I think Hopunion would know better about what is going on than them…

JZ says the recipe he gives here is not the perfect recipe, like John Curtis’s awesome beer brewed at Barleys, using a complex process and complex recipe. Curtis uses extra ingredients and uses very specific methods.

JZ didn’t have all the ingredients John Curtis uses and is lazy (which implies that John Curtis does a decoction mash).

A Roggenbier is like a Hefe or Dunkleweizen that uses rye instead of wheat.

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6 gallons, 1.054 OG, 18 IBUs
6.25 rye
3.50 munich
3.00 pils
1.00 caramunich
2 oz. Carafa Special II

154F mash, or step mash w/protein rest 130 (15 min).
Tettnang for bittering, .87 oz, 4.9%, 17.1 IBUs, 60 minutes
Saaz for flavor, .33 oz, 3%, 1 IBU, 15 minutes

WLP300 or Wyeast 3068
fermenting at 62F will produce a balance of banana/clove
It is a myth that fermenting cooler produces more clove and warmer produces more banana

JZ admits slightly underpitching yeast is probably ok, but prefers to pitch proper amount

Flasked Rye is non malted

John Curtis’ may have had a combo of Flasked Rye and Malted

errata
275 calculated IBUs good for IIPA
but will only get around 100 IBUs of bitterness
will get lots of flavor and aroma

This is from the 7/16/06 (or so) Brewing Network Jamil Show concerning American Brown Ales. But there’s often other general brewing information, during listener emails for example, not necessarily related to the beer style that is going to be discussed.

Notes

• cynmar.com is a good place to buy autoclavable, polypropelene containers, good for yeast storage
• the American Brown Ale style originated in Texas
• commercial versions tend to be more malty w/bitterness and a touch of hop flavor
• homebrew versions tend to be more hoppy/dry, almost a chocolate/roasty version of an IPA
• Mike McDole wins alot of gold medals and his is a hoppier and drier, almost a Southern English Brown Ale just bigger
• my thought: would an ABA/SEBA be a good partigyle combo
• wide range in this style
• homebrew OGs go up around 1.070
• Mike’s recipe: 16P, 62 IBUs, 90 minute boil, 18-19 SRM
• See bonjour for Mike’s recipe
• 75-80% pale 2-row (JZ uses English, Mike uses American… JZ says American is probably better so you don’t end up too malty)
• 4% chocolate malt (or JZ uses 3% chocolate and 1% pale chocolate)
• 6% wheat (or JZ uses 3.5% wheat and 2.5% Victory)
• 7% Crystal 40L (JZ uses 6% Crystal 40L and 2% Crystal 60L)
• Crystal 120L gives a roasted caramel burnt character
• Crystal 60L gives a cooked caramel but not burnt character
• Crystal 20L gives a sweet caramel character
• Mash the ABA at 152-154 (Mike uses 152-153, can do 155-156 for rich dextrin character like Moose Drool)
• use WLP001, Wyeast 1056, or US-56 (aka US-05)
• ferment at 67-68F
• Mike’s hops -> Norther Brewer hops: 15.3 HBUs mash hopping, 15.3 HBUs at 60 minutes, 10.2 HBUs at 15 minutes
• Mike’s hops -> Cascade hops: 16 HBUs at 10 minutes and 17.2 HBUs at 1 minute
• Mike’s hops -> Centenial hops: 45 HBUs
• JZ’s hops -> Horizon or Magnum for clean bittering, 9.5 HBUs
• JZ’s hops -> 2 oz Amarillo pellets at 15 minutes
• JZ’s hops -> 3 oz Amarillo pellets at 0 minutes
• JZ wouldn’t necessarily enter his in a competition but likes to drink it
• There is an excellent discussion of bittering vs. flavor vs. aroma hop additions at approximately 10 minutes from the beginning or 10 minutes from the end, I forget which… didn’t make notes

I’ve been listening to the Brewing Network’s Jamil Show and Sunday Session, and I recently decided to start making notes because the information is so good. The following info is just what I found noteworthy. There’s other good info provided in the show. If you’re a homebrewer and haven’t listened to the shows yet, they are extremely educational.

This is from the 6/18/06 (or so) Jamil Show.

Notes

• fermented with ale yeast cool and then lagered
• authentic ones can be anywhere from light golden to brown
• big thick creamy head
• 2-2.5 volumes carbonation that gets driven out by the way they pour
• no roastiness but maybe caramel
• 20-40 IBUs, JZ somewhat disagrees with the BJCP guidelines on this
• use dehusked carafa to darken
• hop flavor and aroma is restrained
• 60% pilsner, 15% vienna, 15% light munich, 5-6% caramunich 75L, 2 oz carafa huskless
• 1 oz. carafa ground up in coffee grinder ok
• 149F mash
• watch evaporation rate when boiling, its already melanoidin rich, and you don’t want to increase that too much
• 12% evaporation rate ok, minimum 8% rate needed to drive off DMS, 15% too high
• a rolling boil is ok, it doesn’t have to be leaping out of the pot, an exchange of wort from bottom to top of wort and steam coming out of the top (DMS) is all that is needed
• schpalt hops are traditional but Americans tend not to like them
• small dose of noble hops for flavor
• Wyeast 1007 German Ale or WLP036 (May/June only)
• 60-61 F fermentation temp, never exceed 62-63
• lager process very similar to Kolsch
• JZ not convinced that the distinction in BJCP between Dusseldof and North German is merited
• Otis Alt wins gold at GABF all the time and it is far more bitter – 50 to 60 IBUs
• you could back off of munich and caramunich and do a decoction
• always measure temp of beer, not amnbient temp (can use thermowell or tape to fermenter w/ b ubblewrap taped over probe)

I’ve been listening to the Brewing Network’s Jamil Show and Sunday Session, and I recently decided to start making notes because the information is so good.  This is just what I found noteworthy.  There’s other good info provided in the show.  If you’re a homebrewer and haven’t listened to the shows yet, they are extremely educational.

 This is from the 6/18/06 or so Jamil Show.

Notes

• White Labs propogates yeast in the mid-70s.
• A hybrid ferments with lager yeast at ale temperatures or ale yeast at very cool temperatures and lagered.
• For a classic kolsch, you can use 100% pilsner malt.
• But it is nice to add 10% wheat for breadiness (or 5% wheat and 5% munich or vienna)
• If you can chill fast to prevent DMS, then keep your boil down to 60 minutes to prevent melanoidin development and color darkening
• But normally 90 minute boil because of using alot of Pils causes DMS risk
• mash at 149 (148-150) to end up crisp
• JT really likes BrewTec CL 450, but can use Wyeast 2565 or WLP029 (all 3 are very different yeasts)
• Kolsch yeast is great for American Wheat Beer
• Pitch at 60F and don’t let it warm beyond 62F
• underpitching and fermenting warm increases esters
• ferment a little longer than a standard ale but not as long as a lager
• if start warm, diacetyl rest necessary, if start cool diacetyl rest not necessary (I don’t get this)
• Let it FULLY finish.  Be sure.  If you cool to soon, you may end up with diacetyl, acedealdehyde (sp?),  other off-flavors
• 10 days in Primary
• Cool to 33F (1 to 2 months; 1 month ok)
• may benefit from filtering, one of the few styles where it is ok
• 2.5V carbonation
• Alot of lagers done with a slow low ferment  (need a big pitch of healthy yeast for this) are very good right out of primary
• Munich Helles is a good example (ok right out of the primary)
• Kolsch is the same way except the yeast does not floc well so it needs another month for the yeast to drop
• Bo Pils and Czech Pils are stunning a month of 2 out but turn bad at around 6 months (most pale lagers are that way) vs. beers such as RIS and Robust Porter that can be good at 1, 2, 3 years.