Tasting : Visually Impaired Sow (Russian River Blind Pig clone)

Even though I've had Russian River's Blind Pig IPA two or three times, I really didn't know what to expect when I brewed this clone in late June. It's probably been at least two years since I've had Blind Pig; I know I really liked it, but I can't remember specifics. So, when I saw the clone recipe posted in Zymurgy, it immediately went in the top section of my list of IPA clones to brew. Even if the results weren't the exact same as Blind Pig, I could tell by looking at the recipe that it would make a tasty beer.

And it did. The result was an American IPA with a healthy amount of hop aroma and flavor, moderate (but extremely smooth) bitterness in the finish, yet some definite malt character in the background. The body is also a bit fuller than a lot of other American IPAs out there now, but it's not chewy. I think I was expecting more hop character in this beer than I got, but the hop amounts in this beer really aren't that crazy. A bit of bittering, a small amount of Amarillo at 30 minutes (which I screwed up and added at 60 minutes... obviously any bit of flavor from that would be next to nothing), and 2 oz of several hops total at flameout. Follow that with 2 oz of dry-hopping... a healthy amount of hops, but not DIPA territory for sure.

The first few bottles struck me as hoppier, overall, but it's settled quickly into a very easy-drinking American IPA. Definitely a tasty recipe; recommended to anyone out there looking for a new IPA to brew, whether you've had Blind Pig or not.

Not as dark as the picture makes it look

Appearance: Pours with a moderate-large, white creamy head that shows very good retention; finally fades to about 1/4-1/2 finger and stays there. Body is golden-colored, with extremely good clarity.

Aroma: Strong hop aroma (but maybe not as strong as I expected)... citrus and tropical, mainly. A bit of dankness in there, too. A touch of sweet malt character, but it’s very light. No diacetyl.

Taste: The hops dominate, of course, again, coming through with a lot of citrus and tropical character, followed by that bit of dankness. Medium bitterness in the finish; mostly dry, but it’s got a bit of sweetness there, too. Quite smooth.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, with moderate carbonation.

Overall: Very nice. I was expecting a bit more hop character (the first couple bottles seemed to have more), but I like how easy-drinking it is. The higher mash temp really helped increase the body (it’s close to medium-full) and leave a bit more malt character. Nice hop presence... an IPA I think that non-IPA drinkers would be able to enjoy, and maybe open up to bigger things.

Brewing a Modern Times Fortunate Islands clone

If you're any bit a beer geek (and if you're reading this, you probably are... or, you're stalking me), you know that the number of breweries in the U.S. and Canada is at an all-time high point, even compared to pre-prohibition numbers. And the amount of breweries in the planning stages is even more staggering. This is fantastic news for all of us, but as a brewery owner, how do you make your brewery stand out? How do you get people excited about your product... before you even HAVE a product to offer? I spend a lot of time reading - mostly online - about beer and breweries, and there is one brewery that has succeeded in accomplishing this better than any other, in my opinion. That brewery is Modern Times.

Based in San Diego, CA, Modern Times has only had their beers available at bars for the past month or so. However, due to a lot of hard work and smart choices by its owner, Jacob McKean, Modern Times has been well-known and much-anticipated in the brewing world for a year or more. For example:

• Jacob kept an ongoing blog of the trials and tribulations of getting a brewery up-and-running... we all know it isn't easy, but Jacob's blog made the whole process feel more personal. It wasn't long before I was rooting for him to succeed.
• He got Michael Tonsmeire involved. Now, Mike's blog is probably the most-read and most-respected homebrewing blog out there, and for good reason. He started developing the recipes for the four regular-release Modern Times beers about a year ago, and kept detailed and open records on the recipes, tastings, and subsequent changes. Again, this made it more personal for those of us following along.
• The Kickstarter campaign. With a pretty-hilarious video to go with it, this campaign managed to raise $25,000 beyond their $40,000 goal, giving out some classy-looking swag and original awards to backers, of which I proudly am one.

I could go on and on here. Basically, Jacob got a lot of people excited about his brewery, and while Modern Times hasn't been producing beer for very long, I've heard a lot of great things about their products. They brew four regular-release beers: Black House, a coffee stout; Blazing World, an "Amber IPA", or hoppy Amber if that's easier to picture; Lomaland, a sessionable Saison; and Fortunate Islands, a super-citrusy and tropical, easy-drinking American wheat beer.

I've been an avid reader of Mike's blog ever since I got into homebrewing, so I followed along (with a lot of other people) when he was tweaking the recipes for the beers above. They all sound great, and I'd be more than happy trying out the recipes for each on my own. However, for this time of year, it was the Fortunate Islands that attracted my attention the most. With a supporting malt backbone and a boatload of Citra hops, it sounds like the perfect summer beer for hop-lovers! After a couple of variations on the recipe, Mike settled on this one.

Regarding the grist, Mike's recipe is fairly straight-forward, with a little more than half of it being Wheat malt, along with some 2-row and a healthy amount of Caravienne. The mash temp is fairly high at 155 F, mainly to provide some body that was lacking in previous recipes.

A lot of hops; more importantly, a lot of Citra!

The real fun lies in the hopping schedule. There's a single "Hop Shot" of CO2 hop extract at 60 minutes to provide the bulk of the bitterness to the beer. Hop extract is becoming popular with commercial brewers and homebrewers; it provides bitterness without leaving a lot of the hop sludge in your wort by the end of the boil. I'll do a separate, small post on hop extract in the future; for now, if you don't have access to hop extract, just know that 5 mL equals about 10 AAU of hops, or 1 oz of a 10% AA hop.

That's the only hop addition during the boil. However, there's a very healthy 11 oz of hops added afterwards... 8 oz (1/2 lb) of which is Citra! The other 3 oz are another delicious, hard-to-get hop: Amarillo. I'd normally be quite wary of adding this much Citra into one beer, but I was lucky enough to get my hands on a good amount of it a couple of months ago, so I'm willing to sacrifice 8 oz... this time. In Mike's
homebrew process for this beer, he was able to make use of a plate chiller, March pump, and HopRocket... none of which I have. He goes into detail about this on his post... however, I had to improvise. So, the first flameout addition I let steep for 10 minutes, then I turned on my immersion chiller and made the second addition. Won't be as effective as his method, but it'll have to do with what I have available. There's two dry-hop additions at 4 days apiece; pretty massive, coming in at a total of 5 oz... not bad for a wheat beer!

Yeast-wise, this beer requires your standard, clean California Ale-type. I've been using the dry US-05 for the last several batches of APAs and IPAs, but I had the time here to pick up Wyeast's 1056, and make a starter. A single pack of US-05 would work fine, as well. Fermentation should be in the 66-68 F range, but if it gets a bit higher due to summer temperatures, it shouldn't be too much to worry about, especially if you pitch in the mid-60s.

I didn't make much in terms of adjustments to my water. As I've been doing lately (to varying degrees), I added some gypsum and calcium chloride to mainly boost the calcium, and at the same time bring up the sulfate and chloride a bit. I also added Irish Moss as I normally do to most of my beers; the BJCP lists American Wheat as being "brilliant to hazy", so I aimed for clarity.

I'll be drinking this clone before I ever get to try an actual Fortunate Islands... but, maybe not TOO long before? There's a chance I may be making a trip to San Diego in September; if so, I'll be absolutely visiting the Modern Times brewery and trying as many of their beers as I can, wherever I can find them! In the meantime, I'm really hoping this beer has the huge hop aroma that I'm expecting it to have... a lot of hops are riding on it.

Recipe targets: (6 gallons, 73% efficiency) OG 1.048, FG ~1.013, IBU ~48, SRM 5, ABV ~4.7%

Grains:
2.6 kg (55%) Wheat malt
1.795 kg (38%) Canadian 2-row
332 g (7%) Caravienne malt
113 g rice hulls to prevent a stuck sparge

Hops:
Hop extract - 5 mL @ 60 min
Citra - 56 g (14.1% AA) @ 0 min (steep for 10 min)
Amarillo - 28 g (8.9% AA) @ 0 min (steep for 10 min)
Citra - 56 g @ 0 min (when start chiller)
Amarillo - 28 g @ 0 min (when start chiller)
Citra - 56 g dry-hop for 4 days
Amarillo - 14 g dry-hop for 4 days
Citra - 56 g dry-hop for 4 more days
Amarillo - 14 g dry-hop for 4 more days

Misc.: 1/2 tab Irish moss @ 5 min

Yeast: Wyeast 1056 American Ale (PD May 21st; with a 1.5 L starter)

Water: Fredericton city water, carbon-filtered; 5 g Gypsum, 3 g CaCl in the mash

- Brewed on July 9th, 2013, by myself. 50-minute mash with 15 L of strike water, mashed in at target temp of 155 F. Mashed-out for 10 minutes with 5.75 L of boiling water, resulting temp 166 F. Sparged with ~4.5 gallons of 168 F water for final volume of ~7.3 gallons in the kettle.

- SG a couple points above target at 1.041. 60-minute boil. Took about 35 minutes to chill to 64 F using pump/ice water. Poured ~5 gallons into Better Bottle. OG a bit high at 1.050. Aerated wort with 90 seconds of pure O2. Pitched yeast at 66 F and set BB in laundry room sink with cold water.

- 10/7/13 - In AM,  good airlock activity, temp 66 F. Temperature had climbed to 70 F by the evening, bubbling 1-2 times per second in the airlock.

- 11/7/13 - In AM, bubbling every second, temp 70 F. Slowing down by the evening, temp still holding at 70 F.

- 23/7/13 - Added first dose of dry-hops directly into primary.

- 27/7/13 - Added second dose of dry-hops.

- 31/7/13 - Bottled with 120 g table sugar, aiming for 2.5 vol CO2 for 5 gallons, with max temp of 72 F reached.

- Tasting notes... came out really great - huge hop nose, lots of tropical hop flavors... delicious.

Brewing a Russian River Blind Pig clone

After brewing a Witbier in early June, it's time for another hoppy clone! The clone recipes are starting to get a little out of hand, but I've accumulated so many that I've wanted to brew, and I've accumulated a good amount of hops as well, so I'm going to take the time over the next few months and cross a bunch of them off my to-brew list.

There aren't many homebrewers/beer geeks out there who haven't heard of Russian River Brewing. Vinnie Cilurzo, owner/brewmaster at RR, is one of the main craft beer idols that we all worship; he may not be as Hollywood-ish as Sam Calagione, or as revered as Shaun Hill... but he's somewhere in-between! RR is known for brewing some of the finest American Wild Ales and hoppy beers that you can find; I've been lucky enough to have had several of their beers, and can say that all of the praise they get is completely warranted.

Blind Pig was one of the first beers that RR began producing when their brewpub  opened in 2004. An American IPA, it's still available on tap and in bottles today, and it truly is a great beer. It's not quite as dry as the other RR hoppy ales, but it still packs a big hop punch, showcasing fruity and piney hop aromas and flavors. The "recipe" is included in Mitch Steele's IPA book, but unfortunately there aren't any specifics when it comes to hop amounts to use. Luckily, Zymurgy had an article back when the book came out, and they included several of the book's recipes, but with exact grain percentages and hop weights. On top of all that, Scott of Bertus Brewery did a couple of iterations of the recipe, and reported that his most recent attempt was extremely close to being cloned. I'll trust his opinion; it's been a couple of years since I've had Blind Pig, and Scott obviously has greater access to it than I do, given his location.

Like most of Vinnie's IPA recipes, the grist is fairly simple. It's mostly 2-row, with close to 8% of Crystal 40 L and Carapils combined - high for him, actually; when it comes to DIPAs, Vinnie recommends no more than 3-4% Crystal malt of any sort. The mash temp was quoted as 153-154 F; again, high for a RR hoppy beer, but obviously Blind Pig wasn't meant to be as dry as, say, Pliny the Elder.

Mashtun steaming and ready to go

Surprisingly, the recipe doesn't call for a HUGE amount of hops. There's a small bittering charge of Chinook and CTZ at 90 minutes, a bit of Amarillo at 30, and then four 1/2 oz additions of different hops at flameout for a hop-steep. Other than that, the original recipe called for 1/2 oz each of three hops for the dry-hop. However, Scott had noted that if brewed again, he would increase the dry-hop additions by 25%, so I went with a bit more, at 2/3 oz each.

For the flameout additions, I decided to go with a 10-minute hop-steep before turning on the chiller. When you throw the below numbers into BeerSmith, it comes out with an IBUs in the low-40s. However, calculating for a 10-minute steep actually brings the bitterness to about 62 IBUs, which is about the target for Blind Pig, so that should work fine.

I added a bit of table salt and Gypsum to the mash to help decrease the mash pH and boost the water chemistry a bit, bringing the calcium to 73, sulfate to 108, and chloride to 81. This isn't too far off the targets I had for my Maine Beer Co. Zoe clone, and I was quite happy with how that beer turned out. 

Once this beer is complete, I'll be sure to post the tasting notes post-haste. I vow not to drag my feet doing that for hoppy beers anymore, especially now that we're in the summer months and the days of storing large amounts of beer at proper temperatures are over!

Recipe targets: (6 gallons, 75% efficiency) OG 1.059, FG ~1.013, IBU ~62, SRM 6, ABV ~6%

Grains:
5.5 kg (93.1%) Canadian 2-row
227 g (3.8%) Crystal 40 L
182 g (3.1%) Carapils

Hops:
Chinook - 17 g (11.4% AA) @ 90 min
CTZ - 8 g (13.4% AA) @ 90 min
Amarillo - 14 g (8.9% AA) @ 30 min
Amarillo - 14 g @ 0 min
Cascade - 14 g (5.5% AA) @ 0 min
Centennial - 14 g (10.9% AA) @ 0 min
Simcoe - 14 g (12.9% AA) @ 0 min           Note: All flameout hops have a 10-minute steep
Amarillo, CTZ, Cascade - 18 g each dry-hop for 7 days

Misc.: 1/2 tab Irish moss @ 5 min

Yeast: US-05, 1 package, re-hydrated

Water: Fredericton city water, carbon-filtered; 4 g table salt, 7 g Gypsum in the mash

Flameout hops about to be added

- Brewed on June 25th, 2013, by myself. 50-minute mash with 16.25 L of strike water, mashed in at target temp of 153 F. Mashed-out for 10 minutes with 7 L of boiling water, resulting temp 168 F. Sparged with ~4.5 gallons of 168 F water for final volume of ~8 gallons in the kettle.

- SG at target of 1.044. 90-minute boil. Mistakenly added 30 min Amarillo addition at 60 min; stupid, but should only increase IBUs by 3-4, and likely won't affect the flavor much. Took about 45 minutes to chill to 70 F (extremely hot day), even using pump/ice water. Poured ~5 gallons into Better Bottle and set in fermentation chamber with temp at 38 F; brought wort down to 66 F after 30 minutes. OG on target at 1.059. Aerated wort with 90 seconds of pure O2. Pitched yeast and set BB in laundry room sink with cold water and ice.

- 26/6/13 - In AM, hardly any visible activity in the airlock, temp 64 F. Drained most of the water from the sink. By evening, temp up to 66 F, airlock bubbling every 2 seconds.

- 27/6/13 to 28/6 - Over this period, consistent activity in the airlock, big krausen... temp got as high as 70 F.

- 2/7/13 - Krausen completely settled, temp 70 F. Took gravity reading of 1.015.

- 4/7/13 - Added dry-hops directly into primary. Temp 72 F.

- 11/7/13 - Bottled with 115 g table sugar, aiming for 2.4 vol CO2 for 5 gallons, max temp of 72 F reached.

- Tasting notes here... a very easy-drinking, citrusy and tropical IPA.

Tasting : Maine Beer Co. Zoe clone vs. Zoe

Ok, here we are about 7 weeks after brewing this Maine Beer Co. Zoe clone, and the beer has been bottled about 4 weeks. I was lucky enough to snag a couple of bottles on a recent trip to Portland, ME (straight from the source, at Maine Beer Co.'s new brewery in Freeport), so that I could do a direct comparison. This was done last week, when both the clone and the commercial beer were about 3 weeks bottled. I didn't hit my target FG (which doesn't surprise me; MBC has some crazy attenuation going on, according to their numbers!), so my beer is about 0.4% lower in alcohol than the commercial one.

I started drinking the clone about one week after bottling, and carbonation was already in the right zone. I have to say, I was really impressed with how it came out. I've had Zoe probably 8-10 times now, and without comparing directly, I felt that not only was the clone an excellent hoppy Amber, but it was quite close to the real thing. However, I had one main caveat, based on a couple of Zoes I had drank a few months ago...

At that time, I had two bottles of Zoe. One was only 7 days old, and the other was a month old. The 7-day-old Zoe was very tasty, but it had a fairly-prominent chocolate/rich malt character in both the aroma and flavor that I didn't remember from other Zoes. When I cracked the 1-month-old bottle, oddly enough it struck me as HOPPIER. It's not that it was FRESHER; it was just that the hops were more prominent in the aroma and flavor compared to the younger Zoe. Not sure if this was due to batch variation? Maybe once Zoe ages for a little bit, the hops take over? Not what I would expect in a hoppy beer, but Ambers ARE different from IPAs in that they have a more complicated malt profile, generally.

So, getting on to the actual comparison. I didn't take any official notes, but jotted down the important things. Basically, it was damned close. The two beers looked EXACTLY alike. Held to the light, whatever, there's no way you could tell them apart. Deep red color, very good clarity, moderate-sized white head that held at about 1/2-finger, leaving some nice lacing on the glass. As for the aroma and flavor, they were really close, but the commercial version again had a stronger chocolate presence, which kind of hid the hops a bit. My beer was still slightly sweet and malty, but more in a bready way. The hops come through great - fruity, slightly dank and piney. Very delicious. Mouthfeel for both beers was about very similar: medium-bodied, medium carbonation.

I'd say the beer I brewed is ~95% cloned (I know you can't really measure that in a number!), at least when compared to the Zoe I'm more used to. I wish I had had some on tap at the tasting room at MBC in Freeport, but I stuck with their two Pilot beers (which were amazing, by the way). If you wanted to get this beer closer to the more-malt-forward Zoe, I guess you could increase the Chocolate malt slightly, but I'd be worried the beer would get darker, and maybe more roasty as well.

Regardless, I'm extremely happy with the beer as-is. Attempting to clone a beer is a lot of fun, but in the end, if you get a really delicious beer in the style, it's a good thing, right? I've now found an American Amber recipe that I'll be sure to re-visit in the future!

Tasting : Going to California (California Common)

It's always encouraging when you re-brew a beer style that you weren't happy with the first time, and it actually DOES turn out better the second time around. My main issue with my first California Common wasn't the recipe; it was due to the stuck fermentation that resulted in a final gravity that was 10 points above the target. I'm happy to say that this second attempt turned out much better.

The recipe for this beer was virtually the same as my first Common, except I added more Northern Brewer as a dry-hop addition, and kept the beer at cooler temps for a couple of weeks. Since I got much closer to my target FG this time, the taste is more bang-on... toasty with a bit of toffee, but not overly sweet. I really like what the 1.5 oz of dry-hop did for the beer, too. The first couple bottles I had DID smell and taste a bit odd - I think the Northern Brewer came through a little strong. It soon mellowed, however, and even several months after bottling still has a nice woody aroma to it.

Not much I would change about this beer if I were to brew it again. It didn't come out very clear considering the yeast I used and time it had at cooler temps... maybe a bit of chill-haze issues? Also, the ABV is ultimately lower than what I was aiming for, since my OG was also a bit low. Still, I'd highly recommend the recipe to anyone who felt like trying the California Common style... definitely an easy-drinking beer that offers more, flavor-wise, then your typical Blonde or American Lager.

Appearance: Pours with a moderate-sized, white head that begins to recede quickly to a thin film. Body is copper-colored, and fairly hazy.

Aroma: Even several months after being bottled, the beer still has a very pleasant hop aroma that showcases the Northern Brewer: woody and earthy. There’s a definite malt character in the background that is moderately sweet, with also some toffee.

Taste: Definitely a hoppy beer, but unlike an IPA, it isn’t citrus... it’s that same earthy quality in the aroma. Some caramel malt flavors as well, but the balance is towards the hops. Finishes with a moderate bitterness, and fairly dry.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light bodied, medium-high carbonation.

Overall: Yes, this is hoppier than your standard CC (I’m looking at you, Anchor Steam), but to me it doesn’t seem too hoppy when you compare it to the BJCP guidelines for the style. I really like it and would brew it the same way again.

Brewing a Witbier, with Belma hops

Last July I brewed one of my favorite summer beer styles, a Belgian Witbier (recipe here). It was my second attempt at this style, and it turned out a lot better than my first try, which was, unfortunately, overly phenolic. I was happy with the recipe, which was taken (and altered slightly) from Jamil's Brewing Classic Styles. The beer was refreshing, creamy, and had a good amount of coriander presence without being TOO spicy, which is my main complaint about a lot of Witbiers available commercially.

So, with summer fast-approaching, I wanted to do a re-brew of this recipe to have in time for the warmer weather. From my tasting notes from last summer, the main issue I wanted to fix with this beer was to boost the amount of citrus (namely, orange) character. After a bit of research and thinking, I decided to make the following changes as well:

• Use real, grated orange peel - I had used dried sweet orange peel for the last batch; this source is easier, in that you just have to weigh it out, as opposed to grating several oranges. However, I felt using the real thing would give a better-quality orange character, so I grated about 1 oz of navel orange zest, twice the amount of orange peel from the previous recipe.
• Skip the protein rest - While some sources recommend a protein rest (at about 122 F) when using high amounts of unmalted grain, a lot of other brewers say that a single saccharification rest is sufficient. Since time was an issue, I decided to go with a single rest at 154 F and see how it worked out for me.
• Increase the amount of acid malt - Just a slight bump to bring the mash pH down a bit more.
• Change the water chemistry - Only slightly... 2 grams each of calcium chloride and Gypsum to the mash, mainly to bring the calcium into a better range for yeast health.
• Add the orange zest and coriander later - You don't want to boil either for very long, as you don't want the aromatics boiled off. I added them with 5 minutes remaining in the boil for the last recipe; this time, I went even later, at 2 minutes.
• Change the hop variety and schedule - Probably the biggest variation from the previous recipe. Bitterness and hop flavor/aroma are a very minor part of your classic Witbier, but I wanted to try a hop that I've never used before - Belma. I made three small additions, one at 60 minutes, and then again at 10 minutes and flameout.

Belma is a hop grown and offered exclusively by Hops Direct last fall. They describe it as being very clean, and having a "very orange, slight grapefruit, tropical pineapple, strawberry, and melon aroma". It was sold for a pretty cheap price, and those lucky enough to have snagged some are encouraged to send feedback. I've read reviews, blog posts, etc. since it has become available, and even got to try an American IPA single-hopped with it by a friend of mine, and it's definitely the strawberry that seems to stick out the most. I got to thinking that maybe this type of hop would work in a Witbier... maybe the strawberry will go nicely with the orange and coriander? Maybe not; maybe it'll ruin the beer. Well, only one way to find out! The additions I made were nothing large... just a small bittering addition, and then 1/2 ounce each for the other two.

On a side note, it's nice mixing up brew days between clones (which I seem to be brewing a lot lately), and beers whose recipes you've formulated/tweaked yourself. After this crowd-friendly Witbier, however, it's time to move back to something hoppy!

Note: While I've been getting slacker about taking pictures of my brew day, please excuse the more severe lack this time... my camera messed up early, so I only got in one!

Recipe targets: (5.5 gallons, 70% efficiency) OG 1.048, FG ~1.012, IBU 15, SRM 3.5, ABV ~4.7%

Grains:
2.18 kg (46.2%) Pilsner malt
2 kg (42.3%) Flaked wheat
341 g (7.2%) Flaked oats
204 g (4.3%) Acid malt
227 g Rice hulls to help prevent a stuck sparge

Hops:
Belma- 7 g (9.8% AA) @ 60 min
Belma - 14 g @ 10 min
Belma - 14 g @ flameout

Misc.:
Sweet Orange Peel - 30 g @ 2 min
Coriander seed, ground - 14 g @ 2 min

Yeast: Wyeast 3463 Forbidden Fruit (PD Apr 20/13, with a 1.7 L starter)

Water: Fredericton city water, carbon-filtered; 2 g Gypsum and 2 g calcium chloride, in the mash

- Brewed on June 2nd, 2013, by myself. 50-minute mash with 16.35 L of strike water, mashed in at target temp of 154 F. Mashed-out for 10 minutes with 6.5 L of boiling water, resulting temp 168 F. Sparged with ~4 gallons of 168 F water for final volume of ~7.4 gallons in the kettle.

- SG at target of 1.035. 90-minute boil. Chilled to 65 F in about 30 minutes with immersion chiller. Poured ~5 gallons into Better Bottle. OG low at 1.045, for some reason. Aerated wort with 60 seconds of pure O2. Pitched yeast and set BB in laundry room sink with cold water and a bit of ice.

2/6/13 - Already some activity in the airlock by the evening, temp at 66 F.

3/6/13 - Vigorous airlock activity in the morning, bubbling about twice per second, temp holding at 66 F. By evening, temp had risen slightly to 68 F, but activity already slowing to every 2 seconds or so.

4/6/13 - Airlock activity seems to be about complete already. Temp 68 F. Moved out of laundry sink.

23/6/13 - Just took a gravity reading... this bastard is stuck at 1.019! Let this be a lesson never to wait too long to check on your beer's progress. I roused the yeast a bit, but I think I'm way too late to save this one.

3/7/13 - FG 1.019, couldn't get it to drop. Temp 70 F. Bottled with 120 g of table sugar, aiming for 2.5 vol CO2 (would normally go to at least 3 vol, but want to minimize bottle bomb risk) with max temp of 70 F reached.

25/9/13 - Finally posted the tasting notes from July. A tasty, refreshing beer, but the Belma hops didn't add as much character as I'd like, and the beer is definitely overcarbed from the high FG.

Beginner Tips : Wort Aeration

Oxygen is the enemy. This is hammered into the brains of all homebrewers. We're told of the importance of not splashing beer too much during the mash, not splashing the beer at all when racking from the primary fermentor, leaving as little headspace as possible in secondary fermentors, blanketing the beer with CO2 when kegging, etc. Oxygenating beer at these stages can lead to stale, "cardboard-like" flavors, and can decrease the beer's shelf life after packaging.

Of course, there is one time when you WANT to oxygenate your beer: when the wort has been cooled, right before you pitch your yeast. While fermentation is anaerobic (meaning oxygen is not required), yeast DO require oxygen for reproduction. So, you want to have some oxygen available in the just-cooled wort for the yeast to use for producing the cell walls for their offspring. The idea is that, at the very beginning of fermentation, the yeast use up the oxygen, reproduce to higher numbers, and then actively ferment the sugars in the wort into alcohol and CO2, making beer.

If we don't add enough oxygen into the wort before fermentation begins, there are a lot of problems that can result. Common ones (and I've had my share of these) include:

• Under-attenuation and stuck fermentations
• Slower fermentation starts, and therefore a higher likelihood of infection
• Longer fermentation times
• Yeast stress and off-flavors
• Lower viability for re-used yeast generations

In the excellent book, "Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation", by Chris White (of White Labs) and Jamil Zainasheff, the authors conclude (from various studies) that 8-10 ppm is the ideal oxygen concentration to have in wort for optimal yeast growth. As homebrewers, there are basically three methods available to use to aerate our wort:

1) Shaking the fermentor - Every homebrewer has used this method at some point. And a lot of veteran homebrewers STILL oxygenate their wort by shaking. In fact, up until my Maine Beer Company Zoe clone a few weeks ago, this is how I've aerated every single past batch. How long you shake, and how much headspace you have in the fermentor will determine how much oxygen you get into the wort. With lots of both, "Yeast" reports that a maximum of 8 ppm of oxygen can be achieved. However, keep in mind that with a 6-6.5 gallon fermentor, and ~5.5 gallons of wort, you don't really have a lot of headspace to work with when you're relying on shaking.

2) Aquarium pump with sintered stone - I haven't used this method, but know some people that do. From what I've heard, it can take quite a while to fully oxygenate wort this way (up to 30 minutes). As with shaking, greater than 8 ppm of oxygen cannot be achieved no matter how long you run the pump.

3) Pure oxygen - The preferred (and most expensive) route, and the only way to get up to (and beyond) 10 ppm of oxygen. This is the method I used for the Zoe clone, through the "Oxygen Aeration System" through Williams Brewing. This involves a stainless steel aeration stone and wand, tubing, and a regulator for a standard small oxygen tank (that you can purchase at most hardware stores). Simply sanitize the stone and wand, drop it in your fermentor, turn on the oxygen till you see bubbling for 30-60 seconds, and the yeast is ready to be pitched.

Of course, there's few homebrewers out there who will spend the large sum of money to buy equipment to measure just how MUCH oxygen they're getting into their wort. Regardless of which aeration method you use, you're guessing at what you're putting in. Even though the Williams system has the regulator to control the oxygen flow, you don't know for sure where to turn the regular knob so that you're getting, say, 1 L of oxygen per minute.

Do you have to worry about getting too MUCH oxygen in your wort? Definitely not if you're shaking or using an aquarium pump. If you're using pure oxygen, it's still probably not a worry. However, "Yeast" does say that really high amounts of pure oxygen can result in "high levels of fusel alcohols, increased acetaldehyde, and other flavor problems". This would be difficult to do accidentally on a homebrew level, however; you'd have to have the oxygen turned on for a significantly longer time to get really high levels that would be detrimental to your beer.

When about aerating really high-gravity beers? It's simply stated in "Yeast" that with beers with OGs higher than 1.092, aeration methods other than pure oxygen simply won't do. In fact, the authors suggest that for all beers with an OG above 1.083, aerate TWICE. That is, before pitching the yeast, and then another dose of oxygen 12 to 18 hours after pitching (this allows the yeast one cell division). This second dose was shown in a study to help speed up fermentation speed and attenuation.

Generally speaking, if you're brewing a low-to-mid-gravity beer, you're probably ok to aerate by shaking, if you put a lot of effort and a good amount of time into it. But when you're brewing bigger beers, or lagers, and you really want to ensure you're getting the right amount of oxygen -> healthier, happier yeast -> better beer, you're better off using pure oxygen. I finally made the move to pure oxygen because I've had many batches (especially "bigger" beers) where I've had trouble hitting my target FG, and now that I've consumed over 60 types of my homebrew, I'm picking up on off-flavors that could be attributed to under-aeration. I felt this was a small investment to make for healthier yeast and (hopefully) better beer.