#19 O Hike Ale / Building the Fermentation Chamber

The Terrapin Rye Pale Ale clone

Since Reunion is about four weeks from yesterday, I brewed what will hopefully be the final batch of O Hike Ale. 

I was able to taste the O Hike test batch while it continues to carbonate in the bottle before brewing and I chose to alter the fermentation of the beer. I think I failed to pitch enough yeast into the test batch, resulting in an under-attenuated beer after it finished at about 1.020. It's sweet, even for a beer of this size and bitterness, so I focused on pitching a good size pitch for the most recent brew of this beer. The fermentation also ran a little hot. Although 1056 is a great yeast to use if you can't control fermentation temps, the fermentation ran a little too high. In such a large beer, some of the harsh alcohols came through a little too strongly so the new fermenation chamber I built shortly before brewing this beer should help with this issue, as well as allow me to ferment beers correctly in the future which I'm really excited about.

O Hike Ale

Batch Volume (Gal): 5.5 (should be 6.0)

Pre-Boil Volume (Gal): 7

Total Grain (Lbs): 18.71

OG: 1.076 (should be 1.081)   Anticipated FG: ~1.015   Anticipated ABV: ~8.0% (should be ~8.7%)

IBUs: 70 (should be ~65)

SRM: 14.6 (should be ~14)

Brewhouse Efficiency: 60%

Boil Duration: 90 min

Grain             (Lbs/oz.)                 (%)

Pearl 2-row        15                       80.2

Crystal 40          1.5                       8.0

Munich                1.1                       5.9

Carastan             1.1                        5.9

Chocolate Malt  0.01 (42 grains)  0

Hops                      (AA%) (IBU) (Oz.) (Boil[min])

Northern Brewer    12.3     25.9   0.5        80

Columbus                 14      44.3    4           7

Amarillo                    9          0       2       Dry Hop

Yeast

Repitched ~150 mL of thin slurry of 1056 American Ale yeast from American Wheat Ale

Water

Ca: 49 Mg: 2 SO4: 40 Na: 4 Cl: 40 HCO3: 50

(targeted Colorado water profile)

1 Whirlfloc tablet (6 min)   1/2 tsp yeast nutrient (6 min)

Mash Schedule:

Single Infusion   60 min 151-150 F, 10 min mashout at 170 F

1.3 g SO4, 1.5 g CaCl2, 1 g CaCO3, 4 mL Lactic Acid (all in mash);

hit ~5.2 pH mash at mash temp

The one brewday I had hoped would go well turned out to be a bit of a disaster. I rushed to finish the fermentation chamber in anticipation of this brew, but made me unable to get my recipe, ingredients, and equipment ready in time for the brewday. Since Hurricane Irene came in on Sunday, that left Saturday the only day to brew in order to get this beer ready for the September Reunion. 

The compost benefits from 18 lbs of spent grain and excess wort

I had to assemble the mill after last weeks cleaning and the reassembly must have caused some issues for the drill. I just about burnt out the drill trying to grind my grain, and the replacement O-ring I used to space the rollers may have been too large and provided too much resistance, thus putting a larger than normal strain on the drill. Wet milling I believe has made a huge improvement in the quality of the grist; the husk is left mostly intact and pillowy while also separating the starch completely from the grain. I really think wet milling has improved my mashing and lautering, but wet milling appears to have made it much more easier to grind the husk into a paste on the rollers. It's difficult to remove, and soaking the rollers in PBW has only caused leaching of something out of the rollers, leaving behind black spots and remaining bits of husk. I may have to leave the wet milling behind or at least reduce the amount of water I spray the grain with before milling in order to avoid this goey mess left on the rollers.

Even though the milling of the grain was frustrating, it likely had little influence on the final beer; however the issues I experienced with the mash are more likely to have impacted the beer I hope to serve at Reunion. I believe I may have, in the process of using the wooden mash paddle to stir the grain, ground some of the grain husk through the false bottom in the bottom of the mashtun. Once it came time to empty the mashtun and lauter the grains, the flow was blocked by all this grain husk that I pushed through the false bottom. I spent a good twenty minutes with a wire coat hanger trying to remove the blockage only to finally resort to dumping the mash into two buckets, unclogging the valve, and returning the mash to the mash tun for the lauter. I've had this problem before, and I'm not sure the dumping and splashing of wort at this stage will result in hot side oxidation, but I'm worried it may be a detriment to the final beer. I am hopeful however that due the boiling of the wort shortly after this aeration, that all of the oxygen that I added to the wort during this transfer was boiled off quickly, before the oxygen could cause any long term damage to the wort. With all these issues, I'll have to taste the beer after fermentation and see whether or not I give it another shot and rush a batch in three weeks before Reunion.

On a positive note, I think the mash went fantastic even with complicated salt and acid additions. I wanted to closely replicate the Colorado water profile provided by the Can You Brew It show on The Brewing Network when they brewed their Gordon clone. I kept the sulfate to chloride ration just about equal, increased my calcium to just about 50 ppm, and upped the carbonates to about 50 ppm as well. This required the addition of Lactic Acid in order to acidify the mash in the presence of CaCO3. The brewing water chemistry calculators have been excellent tools when trying to imitate water profiles and/or targeting mash pH. I measured a mash pH of ~5.2, but I've had trouble knowing if that is measured with mash temperature accounted for or not. If it isn't, it should be a great mash pH, if mash temp is accounted for with the pH strips, it may be a tad low. I've been trying to push mash pH lower with each subsequent batch in order to see if a lower mash pH, and thus lower overall beer pH, will result in the more crisper and brighter beers I've heard talked about on Brew Strong on The Brewing Network.

The outrageously small amount of chocolate malt (brown, center)

Due to the fact that I had to pour the mash in and out of the mashtun, I failed to collect a good amount of sugar that I should have from the mash. I bumped up the grain bill for this brew since I had failed to hit my target gravity at 75% efficiency. This time I had aimed for 70% efficiency to hit 1.081 but came up short again since my lauter was so inefficient after the stuck mash fiasco. The mash pH may have played a part in this, but I have no way of knowing since I had the issue with the mash. I'll have to see if a lower pH will result in this type of inefficiency in the future.

As a result of having an extremely low efficiency (60%) many of my other numbers were off. I chose to dilute the wort to 5.5 gallons rather than my typical 6 gallons post-boil in order to keep the gravity of the beer high. This however caused my IBUs to be about five IBUs too high (70 rather than ~65) and my color to be too dark (14.6 rather than 14). Again, I'll have to wait and see how this influences the final brew, but since it's not necessary that I clone a batch of beer for Reunion, I may end up being ok with this beer and choosing to hand it out anyway.

The chilling of the beer was another one of the few bright spots in this brew. After doing some research as to what my next chilling system may be (either whirlpool chiller ala Jamil Zainasheff or plate chiller) I figured I could at least begin to replicate a whirlpool chiller by more actively stirring the wort, post-boil, around in the kettle around the immersion chiller. The wort cooled quicker (~20 minutes to 60 F) than in the past when I have simply used the copper coils to stir the wort every 10 minutes or so. This seemed to at least replicate the activity of what a whirlpool chiller would produce, although I wasn't able to stir as constantly as a whirlpool chiller would be able to cycle the wort. This may or may not be my next project/investment in my brewing system, but I think it could greatly improve my reduction in DMS in my final beer as well as enhancement in the aroma of the final beer as the result of finishing hops in the boil.

Tasting the O Hike Test Batch during boil

Even with everything that went wrong during this particular brewday, I'm willing to see how this brew turns out. It may or may not be influenced by the missteps I had during the day, but one thing I've learned as my brewing experience has increased, is that a beer is made during fermentation and not necessarily during "wort production" (aka the brewday). I'm hoping that pitching the correct amount of yeast and keeping the fermentation temperature under 72 F will save this beer, but I'll have to see once fermentation is done at the end of the week. The yeast slurry I pitched from the American Wheat ale was a bit thin, but it seems to have started fermentation fairly quickly, and the "fermentation chamber" I built shortly before brewing this beer is working perfectly at keeping this fermentation under control at 68 F. I plan on ramping up the temperature as things progress, so hopefully this will result in a nice clean brew. Whether or not I brew a second "final" batch of O Hike ale will depend on how this batch tastes at the end of the week.

________________________________________________

Building the Fermentation Chamber:

During the colder months, I've been lucky to have a basement that is relatively cold in order to ferment ales anywhere from 60 F to 75 F and an upstairs that would allow fermentation above those temperatures. However, as I've brewed more and more, I've realized that a sufficient, healthy pitch of yeast at the correct fermentation temperature is what makes or breaks a batch of beer. Ever since I began brewing all grain, I was overly concerned with the things that happened on brewday. While those things are important, they don't compare to the correct fermentation process in the production of beer, and it seems that only during the winter have I been able to attain this correct fermentation process with certain styles of beer. Winter has been great for high gravity British beers, while the summer has been great for Belgian ales, but I have wanted to forget about brewing seasonally for a while now, and the fermentation chamber will hopefully give me that opportunity.

The fermentation chamber I built should allow for a wide range of ale temperatures; so far it appears that I can reach anywhere from 60 F (without accounting for heat from fermentation) to whatever the ambient temperature is outside the chamber. I hope to find how to adjust the thermostat of the ac unit I have cooling the chamber in order to reach even lager temperatures, which will open up a new entire group of beer styles that I will be able to brew. I plan on purchasing a temperature controller prior to attempting any lager brewing, but for now, the internal thermostat of the ac unit seems to work perfectly for my ale fermenations I'm glad to find.

I built the fermentation chamber using 3/4 inch plywood screwed together with 2" foam insulation cut into place to create roughly a 2' by 20" chamber to fit a fermenter or possibly a keg(s). The gaps between the insulation were sealed with caulking. The door is another 2" piece of insulation on another 3/4 inch piece of plywood held tight by ratchet straps with weather stripping providing the extra bit of seal I need between the door and the body of the chamber. The ac unit I picked up off of Craig's List for 20$ and it's been working excellent for what I need. It's only 5,000 BTU, but since the chamber is only about eight cubic feet, the unit has little work to do to keep the chamber a few degrees colder than the ambient temperature. The fan runs constantly, with the ac kicking infrequently, so I think a temperature controller should help to turn off the unit entirely if I end up purchasing one. This should save on electricity, and I believe the unit will be even more efficient once only the ac turns on once and a while to maintain fermentation temperature. This chamber has worked excellent so far, so I hope it can help me make better beer in the future.

The fermentation holding steady at 68F while the chamber ambient is ~65F

#18 American Wheat Ale with Willamette Wet Hops

A Willamette hop cone on the bine

After debating whether repitching from previous 1056 batches (Terrapin Rye Pale ale and the O Hike Ale test batch) or pitching a fresh pitch of 1056 into a small beer would result in a better batch of O Hike Ale, I chose to go with the later. The O Hike test batch is still in the process of dry hopping and so I figured it was premature to remove the beer, leaving the dry hops and yeast cake behind. The Terrapin Rye is just about finished fermenting and almost ready for bottling, but I figured I should just be safe. Rather than repitching yeast that has been with the Rye ale for the past three weeks, I thought it would be best to grow a new pitch and repitch it into the O Hike Ale just after wrapping up fermentation on a low (~1.040 OG) wort. My past experience with repitching yeast into a second, high gravity beer soon after fermenting a low gravity beer has yielded some of my best beer by far, and I hope the same will happen with the O Hike Ale.

I had a few style options from which to choose. In order to produce a large quantity of the healthiest yeast I could propagate I purposefully chose the style in order to minimize IBUs, color, and gravity of the beer. That ruled out pale ales, brown ales, etc. I had hoped to brew an American Rye, but my local homebrew store was out of Rye malt. I chose to go with another wheat beer before the end of summer. The recipe turned out to be very similar to that of the Belgian Wheat, so it will be useful to contrast the two once the American Wheat has finished fermentation.

A Willamette hop bine with cones

I was also lucky enough to brew with some fresh, wet Willamette hops from Bert's Beers in Hooksett, NH. Bert apparently has more of a hop crop that he can utilize as a homebrewer, and when I stopped in the store for a mixed six pack, he was offering some of his Willamette crop for free. I was only able to come away with 1.5 ounces of wet hops (roughly 0.3 ounces dried) so I wasn't able to brew this beer with a huge finishing hop charge at the end of the boil, but I think this small amount of fresh hops should offer a noticeable contribution to the flavor and aroma of this beer. I'm still contemplating whether or not to dry hop with an ounce of Centennial after fermentation as this may likely cover some of that delicate flavor and aroma from the Willamette wet hops; I'll plan on kegging this beer, tasting the finished beer, and then either dry hopping or drinking the beer as is depending on how much I enjoy the finished aroma.

American Wheat Ale with Willamette Wet Hops

Batch Volume (Gal): 6

Pre-Boil Volume (Gal): 5.33

Total Grain (Lbs): 10

OG: 1.044   Anticipated FG: ~1.010   Anticipated ABV: ~4.5%

IBUs: 19.7

SRM: 4

Brewhouse Efficiency: 70%

Boil Duration: 75 min

Grain              (Lbs/oz.) (%)

Pearl 2-row         10        50

Wheat Malt         10        50

Rice Hulls           8 oz.  (at mashout to improve lauterability)

Hops           (AA%) (IBU) (Oz.) (Boil[min])

Willamette   4.8       19.7      1          60

Willamette    ~           0       0.3         0           (Wet)

Centennial   9.1          0        1      Dry Hop

Yeast

 Pitched 1056 American Ale yeast activator pack directly

Water

Ca: 86 Mg: 2 SO4: 8 Na: 4 Cl: 8 HCO3: 148 

(targeted Munich water profile)

1 Whirlfloc tablet (10 min)   1/2 tsp yeast nutrient (10 min)

 

Mash Schedule:

Single Infusion   60 min at 152 F, 10 min mashout at 170 F

4 g CaCO3 (in mash), 6 mL Lactic Acid (in mash); 

targeted and hit 5.4 mash pH

4 grams of CaCO3 and the 6 mL of Lactic Acid

I was excited to find that for the first time I was able to dial in my mash pH using a new excel sheet that I believe was created by John Palmer, author of How to Brew. I've been experimenting with an online brewing water chemistry calculator when looking to imitate a specific water profile or create my own, but until today I had not yet been able to use salt and acid additions to dial in mash pH. My aim was to imitate a Munich water profile just as I had done with the Belgian Wheat before; however, soon after I had added CaCO3 to the boil of the Belgian Wheat I realized that CaCO3 solubility is dependent upon being in the presence of acid and will only dissolve partially when added to the mash. Most likely I added very little if any HCO3 to the beer when I added it directly to the boil during the brewing of the Belgian Wheat. Most of it likely remained insoluble and precipitated to the bottom of the kettle, failing to make it into the final brew.

Willamette wet hops before the "flameout" addition

When in the presence of an acid such as Lactic Acid however, CaCO3 appears to be at least equally soluble/insoluble if not completely soluble. I'll have to do some more research on this topic but I am hoping that much more of the CaCO3 was able to solubilize into the mash in the presence of acid. 

This was also my first instance of using Lactic acid or any acid for that matter in the acidification of the mash. Up until now I had only acidified the mash to a very small extent when brewing using salts (CaSO4 and CaCl2), and these additions were simply based off of the color of the mash as a predictor of pH of the mash. Using this new excel sheet, I mashed in at exactly the pH I had aimed for (5.4), to the level of accuracy that my pH strips will allow. I have meant to experiment with lower mash pHs with the expectation that a lower mash pH will allow for a crisper and cleaner finished beer. Higher conversion pHs (5.6-5.8) are known to produce a beer that is softer and "rounder" whereas lower conversion pH (5.5-5.4 and lower possibly) produce a beer that is crisper and "brighter" due to a more acidified beer. It will be interesting to see how playing with mash pH will influence the resulting beer, something I hope to do now that I have Lactic Acid as another tool to produce this result.

Spraying the grain before "wet milling"

Other than a few issues with the milling of the grist and overshooting my original gravity by a few points (aimed for 1.040), the brewday went well. I was a bit amazed to see how little hotbreak, coldbreak, and over all protein there seemed to be in the wort. With wheat malt I expected a much cloudier wort. I believe after stirring up the grain bed during mash out may have re-suspended the protein from the husks, and caused the protein to be filtered out by the grain bed during lautering. It's hard to know whether separation of a large portion of the protein from the finished wort is a positive or negative for the finished beer; it may result in greater clarity of the finished beer, yet it may withhold necessary protein useful to the yeast during replication/fermentation.

Since the activator pack I pitched was manufactured only ten days ago, I am confident it will do a great job fermenting this relatively low gravity beer and will offer a healthy population with which I can ferment the "production" batch of O Hike Ale. After fermentation, I plan on cold crashing this beer in order to squeeze out all of the yeast I can. Once all the yeast settles out, I'll have a large yeast cake on the bottom of the fermentor from which I can scoop out the healthiest pitch of yeast. One of the parameters that I hope to improve on in the "production" batch of the O Hike Ale over the test batch is the size of the repitch, and a large repitch will be essential for fermenting the batch I hope to produce.

The Willamette wet hops after the end of the boil and during chilling of the wort

#17 "O Hike Ale" Test Batch (Gordon Clone #2)

The Belgian Wheat

The first part of the mash collected in the vorlauf

In order to get a sense of how to brew the beer I intend to make for my High School's reunion, I thought I should at least get one test batch in to see if there's anything I would change in my recipe or process for this Imperial Red ale. Brewing the extract Gordon clone with Laura gave me a few ideas of how I would alter the recipe, firstly by lowering the amount of chocolate malt and secondly by lowering the number of IBUs. I'm hoping to brew a beer that approximates Gordon (aka G'knight) by Oskar Blues, producing a beer that is strong and hoppy but balanced between bitterness and maltiness; a beer that should be drinkable for a wide variety of beer drinkers.

O Hike Ale (Gordon Clone #2)

Batch Volume (Gal): 6

Pre-Boil Volume (Gal): 7

Total Grain (Lbs): 17.4

OG: 1.076 (should be 1.081)   Anticipated FG: ~1.012   Anticipated ABV: 8.3%

IBUs: 64.5

SRM: 13.1

Brewhouse Efficiency: 70%

Boil Duration: 90 min

Grain                     (Lbs/oz.)                       (%)

Pearl Pale 2-row        14                            80.4

Crystal 40                   1.4                              8

Carastan Malt             1                                5.7

Munich Malt               1                                5.7

Chocolate Malt  0.08 oz (39 grains)        0.0

Hops                     (AA%) (IBU) (Oz.) (Boil[min])

Northern Brewer 12.3       23.8  0.5         80

Columbus               14         40.7   4            10

Amarillo                 10           0      2       Dry Hop

Yeast

1056 American Ale yeast harvested from Terrapin Rye Pale ale trub/yeast layer. Collected roughtly ~130 mL of clean, solid yeast.

Water

~2.5 g CaSO4 and CaCl2 (in boil)   Ca: 56  Mg: 2  SO4: 61  Na: 4  Cl: 53  HCO3: 24

Mash Schedule

Single Infusion   60 min at 152 F, mashout at 170 F 10 min

The wort chilling after the boil

The brewday went well except for letting a bit of the mash grains making it into the brew kettle through my mesh bag during the sparge. I also may not have harvested quite enough yeast either; I was unable to measure the exact amount of yeast I had harvested but it appeared to be at least close to the amount I needed to pitch into a beer of this size. If I underpitched, it may result in more fruity esters and/or phenols which may or may not result in the beer I'm looking for so it'll be something to look at once this beer finishes. I also was unable to reach my goal OG of 1.081 as with the commercial version of Gordon. But that as well may make for a more suitable beer for a reunion; somewhat less alcoholic and inebriating.

Other than a few minor mistakes, the brew day went very well so this beer will make for a good reference point from which I can make final adjustments for the beer I hope to hand out at reunion. It'll also be a good chance for me to learn more about my process and about brewing in general. I typically brew very different styles and rarely brew the same beer repeatedly, which is a missed opportunity to learn about how process effects the end result in a beer. I think this process will give me the chance to learn a bit about how small adjustments will influence a beer.

Adding the four ounces of Columbus hops for flavoring and aroma

Brewing Updates

The German Kolsch

I've missed a few opportunities to write about brewing and brewing related activity. In July, in addition to brewing an American IPA and an extract Gordon clone with my girlfriend Laura, we also finally got around to labeling and putting a wax finish on all of the Laurabelle barleywine labels. 

The Barleywine came out great; a really nice, complex, malty beer that should be great this winter. Hopefully these beers will be able to age well through the summer at cellar temperature of about 65 F. 

Laura and Mike

Finished bottles of Laurabelle Barleywine

Laura measuring out grains for the extract Gordon clone

The Belgian Wheat finished about a week ago and I quickly carbonated it in the keg through shaking and force carbonation. I think anytime I need to get a keg quickly on tap, I'll shake it a bit at a time which should allow for me to reach the proper carbonation level quickly without overdoing it like I have in the past. 

Chocolate and other specialty malts

The Rye Pale ale is just about finished with fermentation with just a bit of fermentation and conditioning left. I racked the beer off the yeast and trub layers in order to get some 1056 ale yeast ready to ferment the test batch of the "O Hike Ale". The beer tasted great regardless of the fact that it took a while to begin fermenting after pitching a bad activator pack of 1056. After the Pale ale cleans itself up, I'll pitch the two ounces of Amarillo for dry hopping and then either put it on tap or bottle it for competition next month.

Steeping the specialty grains

#16 Terrapin Rye Pale Ale (clone #2)

In addition a wheat beer, I had hoped to brew another pale ale this summer before warm weather was gone. I have always loved the idea of a rye pale ale, and gave the style a shot last summer. I altered the common Terrapin Rye Pale ale recipe found online with a few adjustments and it came out great. I figured another shot at this recipe was in order, and it also gave me the opportunity to build up a healthy batch of yeast which I will repitch next week into the "test-batch" for a beer I'll be brewing for my High Schools reunion this year.

Draining the mash into the boil kettle

Terrapin Rye Pale Ale (clone #2)

Batch Volume (Gal): 6

Pre-Boil Volume (Gal): 6.16

Total Grain (Lbs): 13.19

OG: 1.056 (should be 1.054)  

Anticipated FG: ~1.012  

Anticipated ABV: ~5.5%

IBUs: 42.8 (should be 40)

SRM: 8

Brewhouse Efficiency: 69%

Boil Duration: 90 min

Grain (Lbs/oz.) (%)

Pearl 2-row 9.39 71.2

Munich Malt 1.32 10

Rye Malt 1.32 10

Victory Malt 0.66 5

Honey Malt 0.5 3.8

Hops       (AA%) (IBU) (Oz.) (Boil[min])

Magnum   12         28.8 0.6         60

Fuggle        4         4.9    0.6         30

EKG          4.5        3.0    0.5         20

EKG          4.5        2.2     0.6        10

Cascade      6         4.0       1           1

Amarillo   10          0        2      Dry Hop

Yeast

Pitched 1056 American Ale yeast activator pack directly

Water

3.24 g CaSO4 (in boil)   2.7 g CaCl (in boil)

Ca: 75   Cl: 58   SO4: 80

Mash Schedule:

Single Infusion   5 min at 160 F, brought down to 155-154 F for remaining 55 min

Some of the numbers given by the Can You Brew It recipe I couldn't quite match. I overshot my mash temp by quite a bit but was able to bring it down quickly. It was still a degree high for the duration of the mash but I think since this recipe is without crystal malts of any kind, this high mash temp is compensatory. I wasn't able to hit the water profile exactly either (although this was not a parameter given specifically by the brewer at Terrapin), but I was able to at least keep the ratio of sulfates to chlorides roughly the same, so this should help produce a profile that works with this beer. I also chose to finish with a whole ounce of Cascade as well (should be 0.6 ounces), since I figured more is better as always when finishing and dry hopping. I'll also be dry hopping at a greater rate (2 ounces versus 1.3 ounces).

One of the primary reasons for brewing this beer was so that I can grow some 1056 yeast prior to brewing another Gordon clone in anticipation of brewing a beer for my High School reunion. Beers with which I repitch yeast from a previous batch have always been substantially better than with other pitching methods, and I'm hoping to see how a test batch comes out before I brew the final batch that will be in bottles in September.