Home Brewing Tips and Techniques
So far the most informative posting I have read since being a member. Thank you.
Ok, I have a tip. I just learned this the hard way.
When walking barefoot, do not drop a 5 gal. glass carboy on your foot. Even when empty it hurts. A lot.
Yea, that's why I don't use Carboys. I'd love to use them, but I just don't trust myself walking up from the cellar bringing up a full Carboy to bottle in the kitchen. I'm sure it would end badly.
I haven't added to this message in over a year. Time for some more tips.
- Immediately after racking from a carboy, if you don't plan to clean it right away, at least fill it with water. Cleaning a filthy carboy weeks or months later is pure hell.
- Keep a spray bottle full of water near for kettle if you are brewing on the stove. As hot break is starting, you will get the foam from hell. Spray it down with your bottle to avoid boil over.
- Large rubbermaid tubs can be bought cheap and work great as large capacity cleaning tubs. I used to use 5 gallon plastic buckets, but not anymore. These work so much better and are cheap.
- If you use Straight A, PBW, or another powdered cleaner with a carboy, do your best to dissolve it in warm water before dumping it in. Both cleaners are horribly bad about leaving powder behind, and it takes serious effort to get it all out.
- Don't cover your brew kettle (or no more than half) during the boil. DMS (dimethyl sulfide), which is a byproduct of the malting process that gives cooked vegetables flavors off, are escaping during the boil, and you don't want those! If you leave the lid on, the condensate will fall back into the wort.
- Keep a bottle of Star San or another sanitizer in a spray bottle near your fermenters, kegs, or anything else you will be touching and drinking from later. This way you can sanitize on the fly.
- After you sparge a high gravity mash, such as 1.075 or higher, you can mash and sparge again to extract a little more sugar and make a saison (session, low alcohol) beer. I have done it before.
- Fruits, rum, whiskey, hops after boil and such, should always be added to the secondary fermenter, or possibly even keg. If you add these during the primary fermentation, the co2 is released from the airlock along with the flavor and aroma of these additives. Never add them during primary. That is evil.
- Beer improves considerably with age. If you can, bottle or keg a little extra and let it sit for 6+ months. Not only does it get stronger, but also smoothes out and flavors enhance.
- ALWAYS take good notes. How will you reproduce your kick ass ale if you don't take notes?
When to use a secondary fermenter, why, and when?
Most ales ferment 2-3 weeks before you bottle or keg it. First, does the yeast you are using floculate? This is when yeast cells clump together as they finish converting sugars to alcohol and CO2, and fall to the bottom of the fermenter, thus clarifying your beer.
Does having the yeast in suspension give bad flavors? It CAN, but very seldom does. A high floculating yeast makes the beer more clear (more clumps fall to the bottom), and low floculating means more cells stay in suspension (less fall to the bottom), and makes it hazy.
It is mostly just appearance.
Now that we have discussed yeast, why would you want to use a secondary fermenter?
Well, if you want to get your yeast off the trub (troob), which is dead yeast, proteins, and hops that are in the "yeast cake" at the bottom, then you will want to rack your beer off the trub and into a secondary fermenter. Why? Because if left long enough it can start getting bad flavors, although it does take a number of weeks, much more than 2 or 3. If you want to save that yeast for repitching, you also want to rack the beer off so you can pour your scavenged yeast into a container.
A main purpose is to get your beer off the yeast and allow it to clarify. So knowing this, why would you want to rack your beer if you are making something dark, such as a stout? Exactly. There is no benefit. Why would you want to clarify a DARK beer? However, if you are letting it age, then move it off the trub.
Given this, when should you move it from primary to secondary? After 10-14 days is good. There will probably still be fermentation. That is fine. Don't worry about it. Just rack it over. If you insist on leaving it in the primary, then you can let it go another week, but don't push it. When I brew in 2 stages, I almost always go 10-14 primary, 10-14 secondary. 3+ years worth of brewing and no problems.
Precooler - I have a stainless steel wort cooler, but our ambient temperature in Florida can be in the 90s, so I got about 30 ft of copper tubing in a coil sitting in a bucket or cooler with about ten lbs of ice. The water from the garden hose goes through this first. Cools down the wort much faster and to a lower temp.
Additional wort cooling - I put the cooling pot in the plastic plant dish(see below) or shallow tub with ice in it and spacers under it so the ice water can contact the bottom.
Plant dish for primary - I put my primary in a plastic plant tray(usually terra cotta colored dish about 16" diameter by three inches high from garden dept) with blocks of 1 x 2 wood to keep it level and have room for overflow. This can also be used to cool an overheating wort. (I had a wine kit go to over 90 degrees once!) Wrap a towel around the bucket that is wicking up water from the tray and cooling by evaporation.
Windbreak for burner - I boil my wort in the carport.To keep drafts from slowing down the heating(My burner is an old slow cast iron antique) , I wrap a long piece of aluminum foil around the bottom of the pot extending down to the tabletop and secure with masking tape or clothespins. It is open by the control lever so I can see the flames and reach in with the lighter.
Prepare before boiling - I have a printed checklist with all the equipment and supplies that I need to remind me so I'm not running all over the house looking for stuff when the timer goes off. (will post separately)
Prepare water and ice beforehand - I store up ice for a couple days before starting. My cooler precooler uses about ten lbs of ice, so I save it up and put in gallon ziplocks beforehand. I also keep three or four gallon jugs filled with RO water to top off the primary. My RO system crawls to a trickle after two gallons. I also refrigerate them to help the cooldown process.
sharpstick wrote:
Prepare before boiling - I have a printed checklist with all the equipment and supplies that I need to remind me so I'm not running all over the house looking for stuff when the timer goes off.
This is for a basic extract kit. It's printed in two columns on a single sheet of paper. Feel free to use or modify.
Beermaking Prep
accumulate ice & water
precool water
________________ prepare burner
________________ warm malt syrup
________________ 2 gallons water to pot
________________ light burner
________________ add grain - heat to 160 - 170 degrees
________________ 20 minutes - remove grain
________________ bring to boil
________________ add syrup, dry malt, bit hops, ir moss
________________ return to boil
________________ 55 minutes - add finishing hops
________________ 5 minutes turn off heat
________________ cool to 70 degrees
________________ siphon into primary bucket
________________ add water to 5 gallons
________________ read SG (1.0_____ - 1.0_____)
________________ add yeast
________________ seal bucket
________________ xfer to secondary (optional)
________________ bottle at SG (1.0_____ - 1.0_____)
equipment:
brewing pot
burner & propane, foil,
level crate (my driveway is sloped)
lighter
scissors
digital thermometer
3 clothespins
tongs
spoon
wort cooler, drain hose, supply hose, precooling bucket or
cooler
primary bucket
cooling pan (for brew pot)
malt warming pot
funnel & holder
sieves
materials
2 days of ice
5 gal water
irish moss - 1 teaspoon per 5 gal
or whirlfloc - 1 tablet per 5 gal
isinglass - optional in secondary
bottling:
autosiphon
bottling wand
capper
bottles
caps
add finishing sugar
bottle
2 weeks to carbonate
3 weeks to age