Bottling Day: Caribou Slobber

My typical fermentation schedule is to package a beer 3 weeks after it was brewed, so this weekend was time to get the Caribou Slobber into bottles.

There are two methods of packaging: bottling and kegging. Bottles are much more portable and easier to share with others, but you're limited to 12-ounce servings and the bottling process takes longer (takes me 3 hours from setup to cleanup). Kegs are more convenient in the home, you can pour whatever small or large glass you want, you usually need to transfer to another vessel (like a bottle or growler) when sharing with others, and the kegging process takes under and hour.

Because kegging equipment is much more expensive ($200-300 plus refrigeration unit), most beginning home brewers start out with bottling ($50-75 for everything).

Me, I've bottled 989 bottles these 2 1/2 years. This, roughly, is how I do it.

First, the entire area needs to be prepped. All surfaces get a wipe down or sweep. I use the entire kitchen table and the floor immediately in front of it.

All equipment gets brought out and assembled. Everything that will come in contact with the beer gets a few minutes of contact time with the no-rinse sanitizer - buckets, hoses, tubes, clips, bottles, caps. It sounds a lot more complicated than it really is.

Next: siphoning the beer from the fermentor to the bottling bucket. A measured amount of sugar gets boiled with a bit of water then cooled and added to the bottling bucket, and the beer gets "racked" on top of it. The sugar gives the yeast enough food to consume so it can produce a bit more CO2 in the bottle, which gives the finished beer its carbonation.

The bottling bucket is moved onto the table, and the hose and bottling wand are attached to the bucket. The bottling wand has a spring loaded tip that opens a valve when depressed on the bottom of the bottle. When the bottle is filled, I lift the wand, stopping the flow of beer and leaving the perfect amount of head space in the bottle.

The question I get asked most frequently about bottling: How do you get the cap on? A special capper presses the crown onto the bottle and crimps it in place.

In the earlier step when I transferred the beer to the bottling bucket, I grabbed about 6 ounces of beer in a Pyrex cup. I put this sample in a hydrometer jar so I can measure the specific gravity, which tells me the concentration of sugars in solution. It's tough to see in this picture, but it's reading 1.018. My hydrometer reads 2 points high, so the corrected reading is 1.016.

When I subtract this from my original gravity of 1.051 and multiply by 1,000, that's 35 gravity points consumed by the yeast. Multiply 35 by about 0.13125, and we have 4.6% alcohol by volume.

The 6-ounce sample then gets used as a taste test. It now tastes very close to what the final product will be, but it's flat and warm. This batch tastes very chocolaty with a mild bitterness. This brown ale tastes like it's approaching a porter.

The finished bottles go into a case, then into a space that's between 65 and 75F (usually a closet). After three weeks, a few bottles get put into the fridge for a week before tasting day.

My haul on a 3-gallon batch is between 28 and 30 bottles, or about five 6 packs. It's a lot of work for just over a case of beer, but because I brew every 2-3 weeks, I usually have respectable variety in my beer fridge.

How to celebrate my 3 hours of labor? A little Sharknado and a glass of Saison Dupont. I'm classy like that.

Brew Day and Temperature Control Update

Finally got around to my Caribou Slobber brew day!

Boil underway

This beer holds a special place in my heart. It was the third batch of my homebrewing career (May 2012). It was also the first batch where I used any sort of temperature control for fermentation. The beer won 2nd place in a small competition, and it was a favorite of friends and neighbors.

The session went about as planned, though I ended up with a little more volume (3.182 gallons rather than 3.0) and consequently a little less concentrated fermentable sugars (4 specific gravity points, to be exact), so the beer should be about 5.0% abv rather than 5.5%. Meh.

Chilled to 107F in 4 minutes.
Not bad! 47 degrees to go.

After chilling, into the new fermentation chamber it went. Until this batch, I've been fermenting most of my beers in the neighborhood of 67 or 68F. That's a good range for the yeast I normally use (Safale US-05), and it's also been relatively easy to keep a water bath at that temp in a hot Kansas City summer.

I'm using a different yeast on the Slobber (Danstar Windsor Ale). Some people love it, some people hate it, and even the people who love it hate it when it ferments above about 64F. It can produce way too many fruity esters that get in the way of the rest of the beer. So, after chilling the wort after the boil to 60F, I rehydrated the dry yeast and pitched, then into the fermentation chamber set for 62F. That should give me the right level of fruity esters from this English style yeast and accentuate the maltiness in this otherwise American style brown ale.

Fermentation chamber doubles as storage for empty fermentors

I expect fermentation to be done within the next few days, then I'll slowly raise the temperature about a degree each day for the first week or so to let the yeast clean up after themselves (they can get a little messy). In the meanwhile, the 1-gallon Vienna/Northern Brewer SMaSH from a couple weeks ago is hanging out in the chamber with the Slobber. I'll likely bottle the SMaSH next weekend.

The airlock on the Caribou Slobber
sporting a new 'do

Weekly Update

Lots of chores going on around the house today, but there's just enough time to update on the happenings of this weekend.

Brew Day: Vienna/Northern Brewer SMaSH

r. to l.: NB hops, Irish Moss, NB hops,
yeast nutrient, NB hops, NB hops

I was originally planning on brewing a 3-gallon batch of Caribou Slobber, but I really only had the energy to do something simpler. A 1-gallon SMaSH (single malt and single hop) beer was just the ticket. The only base malt I have at the house is simple 2-row, but wanting something with a little more flavor, I headed to my local shop and picked up a couple pounds of Vienna. That along with some Northern Brewer hops will get me a beer around 7% abv and hoppy enough to call an IPA.

SMaSH fermenting actively
in a water bath

I've only used Vienna once before, in a SMaSH with Centennial, and I really liked it. It has a subtle toasty/biscuity flavor. And I've only used Northern Brewer in a hoppy, IPA strength brown ale. It gives a flavor and aroma that some describe as a combination of mint and evergreen. I'm interested in seeing this malt and hop variety together.

Tasting Day: Scottish Heavy 80/-

Saturday was (finally!) tasting day for my 80 shilling. It was indeed an improvement on the 70/- I did last year. Starting with RO water and building up my mineral profile with salts (calcium chloride and gypsum, to be precise) definitely helped round off some harsh edges from last year's batch. My final gravity - the specific gravity of the beer post-fermentation - was a bit higher than I anticipated, so it's surprisingly full bodied considering it's only a 4.3% beer. But it's a little sweet in the finish. I need to figure out if that's a fermentation flaw (from under attenuation) or if I just need to adjust my recipe. Or both.

Bottling Day: IPA

I brewed an IPA two weeks ago. I often let beers sit in the fermenter for 3 weeks before bottling, but I'm eager to get on to tasting this, and impatience got the best of me. But I'll let it sit in the bottle for 3 weeks followed by a week in the fridge before I open up the first one, so it's hard to call that impatient.

I'm running a bit of a water experiment on this batch. The sulfate ion in water accentuates the hoppiness and hop bitterness in beers. Our tap water has about 160 ppm sulfate, and I was happy with that concentration when I brewed this recipe last year. I decided to up it to 300 ppm - almost doubling it into a range that some people really like for their hoppy beers. When I tasted a sample last night at bottling, I could clearly tell the difference in the sulfate level. I think I'm going to like it lower, but I'll reserve judgment until I get a better sense of the beer when it's carbonated.

If all goes well, I'll brew that Caribou Slobber next weekend, plus tasting day for my Victory Blonde!

Temperature Controller Project

When I talk with prospective homebrewers, I always tell them the three most important things in brewing are 1) cleaning, 2) sanitizing, and 3) fermentation temperature control.

Cleaning and sanitizing are no brainers, and they are actually pretty straightforward to do.

But it took me a few batches to realize that because brewers make wort and yeast make beer, keeping the fermenting beer within proper temperature ranges helps the yeast make the best beer possible.

To that end, I've been doing very rudimentary temperature control. I invested in a 16-gallon rope handle tub a couple years ago. My fermenter goes in the tub filled with water just below the beer level, and I control the temperature of the water bath by adding ice or frozen water bottles. Because the temperature of the water bath is usually within about a degree of the temperature of the fermenting beer, I'm able to keep the beer right at the temperature I want - usually around 68F, sometimes down near 64F depending on the yeast strain I'm using and what I'm wanting out of the beer.

It's not a lot of work keeping the water bath at these temps, but I do find I have to check on the water temperature every few hours. I consider it a labor of love, but now I'm ready to take it to the next step: setting up a fermentation chamber.

The concept of a fermentation chamber is actually pretty simple. A chest freezer fitted with a temperature controller is a great way to go. You plug the freezer into the controller and the controller into the wall, place the temperature probe from the controller into the freezer, set the temperature on the controller, and it turns the freezer on and off to maintain the set temperature.

Getting the hardware together.
The knock out for the controller is
already rough cut here.

You can buy temperature controllers already wired and ready to go, but I decided to do it on the super cheap and buy one that I wire myself. With the help my favorite homebrewing forum and a handy YouTube video, I was on my way.

All wired up

The hardest and most time consuming part of the whole project was cutting out the holes for the controller and outlet. Drilled holes in the four corners and a coping saw got the rough cuts done quickly enough, but filing back the holes to where I needed them took about 30 minutes per hole.

Project finished!

The wiring was the easiest and most fun part of the project. Since I had good diagrams and was able to source color coded wires, it was a snap.

The total project cost was about $32: I grabbed the controller on a price drop for just under $17 on Amazon, and the rest of the hardware came in at about $15 at my local big box. Considering wired dual stage controllers can range between $100 and $300, I'm going to chalk this up to $100-$200 saved. Yeah, me!

Next step: buy a 5 cf chest freezer!

Brewing On Location

Measuring out the grains

One of my favorite smells in the world is the aroma of the indoor brewery. It's intensely grainy, bready, and sweet, and somewhere in there is the citrus/earthy/floral/pine of the hops - depending on the varieties called for in the recipe.

When I brew in the morning, the kids love waking up to those aromas. And when I brew in the evening, the fragrance can be strong enough to wake me up throughout the night.

Not everyone is so fond of it. My lovely wife thinks all hops smell the same - like new carpet. (I don't fully agree. I get a lot of stink weed from Amarillo.)

Grains waiting to be mashed

As a concession, I'm resolving to brew more of my batches outside. I got a LP burner last year for the express purpose of brewing outside, but 1) I hate brewing in Kansas City's really hot or really cold weather, and 2) brewing inside on the stove is so much more convenient. If I need a Pyrex measuring cup, it's right there in the cupboard. I can easily wash equipment from the previous step while water is heating for the next. Or I can brew a cuppa or grab a bite without having to worry about a boil over from an unattended kettle.

But brewing outside has its advantages. The prime of which is . . . being outside! The same primal feeling I get when grilling outside I get when I brew outside. Away from distractions, just me and the wind in the trees. And the squirrels.

Happily fermenting away

Mainly because I'm not used to it yet, I really had a hassle with this week's brew day (my Victory Blonde). It was WINDY. With 20-25 mph winds and buds on the trees, there were all manner of particles flying around in the air. But no worries - if they hit the boiling wort, they'll be sanitized. Right?

I also made a personal record for number of trips in and out of the house in a 3-hour period. That Pyrex measuring cup? Safely in the cupboard. Inside. And I'll need to wait to do all the cleaning up afterwards. Want to make a sandwich? Better keep an eye out that window to monitor the boil.

I know it'll get easier as I make my mental (or paper) checklist of all the equipment I need to take with me. But until then, I need to prepare myself for the prospect that this may feel a little less like relaxation and more like work.

Tasting Days: Irish Red and English Bitter

The way I schedule my batches, it takes about 7 weeks to go from grain to glass: fermenter for 3 weeks, in the bottle for 3 weeks, then a week in the fridge. Then enjoy.

I'll tell you right now: it is not easy waiting that long.

The best way to counteract impatience is to have a good pipeline in place. If I can brew every few weeks, then I have batches in various stages of production, and it gets my mind off any single batch.

It also means I sometimes have the happy fortune of beers ready for their first tasting day in consecutive weeks.

Such was the case with two of my latest batches, an Irish Red (last week) and an English Bitter (this week).

I had brewed a batch of this Irish Red last year and really enjoyed it. I wanted to rebrew it this year in time for St. Paddy's Day, but I didn't want a full case of it, so I just made a small 1-gallon batch that yielded 9 bottles. I made a small adjustment to the grain bill over last year's batch - I cut the roasted barley in half, which made the color of the final beer a bit lighter - and I made some changes to how I treated the water in order to highlight the malt character over the hops.

This year's Irish Red is indeed lighter in color, but the reduction in the roasted barley also cut back the roasted character of the beer. Irish Reds don't have the roastiness of a stout, but they should have just enough roast to leave a dry finish on the palate. Next time I brew this recipe, I'll probably try to source a lighter color roasted barley, so I can have the lighter color as well as the drier finish.

The beer I was really waiting to try was the English Bitter.

Bitter is one of the many styles I've never tried. It's not easy to find commercial examples in the States, and I hear they're getting difficult to find even in the UK. But I also hear they can be a fantastic drink.

If you can't find it in the store, why not make your own?

I had planned to open my first bottle of the bitter on Saturday, but I just couldn't wait, so Friday it was. I was so happy with how it turned out, I ended up dreaming that night I was in England, hopping from pub to pub, drinking this delightful brew.

The first thing to note is that bitters are not bitter. The recipe I brewed is balanced toward the biscuity malt, but it finishes just dry enough to drive you back for another sip. And at 4% abv, it's easy to drink by the pint. The characteristically low carbonation and higher serving temp (around 55° F) make this bitter go down very smooth.

Two lessons learned: never judge a style by its name, and always try to have some bitter in the pipeline.

Brew Day: Scottish Export 80/-

I have to admit: Scottish ales are some of my favorite beers. I only discovered them about a year ago, and I honestly cannot remember the first one I tasted that I fell in love with. But if you ever catch me daydreaming, I'm likely thinking about how to brew the perfect Scottish ale.

Why do I love this style? This is a beer that is very malty. It's about as far from a hoppy IPA or pale ale as you can get. Scottish ales are not bitter and have almost no hop presence. The malt will often have notes of caramel and sometimes toffee, and may have a very small smokiness. The fermentation profile is usually clean, with little or no flavor contribution from the yeast.

When I'm in the mood for malt, I'm in the mood for a Scottish ale.

Scottish ales usually come in three strengths: Scottish Light 60/- (read, "sixty shilling), Scottish Heavy 70/-, and Scottish Export 80/-. The strengths were historically identified by their cost per hogshead, a type of cask that held about 63-65 US gallons. In today's designations, a 60/- is under 3.2% alcohol by volume, a 70/- goes up to about 4%, and an 80/- can top out at about 5%.

There is another type of Scottish beer that goes by the name Strong Scotch Ale, or Wee Heavy. They're usually between 6.5% and 10%, and have even more malty sweetness than the smaller ales.

As much as I love these beers, I've only tried my hand at brewing two of them: a Scottish Heavy 70/-, and a Wee Heavy. I was relatively satisfied with both beers, but both had their weak points. On the 70/-, the body was thin and the malt backbone didn't stand out as much as I was hoping. The Wee Heavy is a nice winter warmer at 9% abv, but the alcohol presence is a bit rough and gets in the way of the other flavors.

So, the way I saw things, it was time to brew another Scottish ale! This time, I made a few changes to the biggest ingredient - water - in order to give it more body and accentuate the maltiness that I crave.

The brew day was uneventful. Which is to say that it provided just the relaxation that I needed.

Starting with almost 6 lbs. of unmilled grains.

Daddy's little helper with a hop addition to the boil.

At the end of a 4-hour brewing session, 3 gallons of wort!

Actually, 3 gallons and 3 ounces to be precise, but who's counting?






In just a few days it'll be done fermenting, but I'll allow another 2-3 weeks for conditioning while the flavors all blend and stabilize. Then bottling, followed by 3-4 weeks of bottle conditioning.

This one's going to be difficult to wait for!