Improving Beer Brewed with hopped extracts

Brewing with Pork-N-Beans

   Back when I was unsure about what I wanted to do when I grew up, before I became a homebrewer, I would spend my free time in the kitchen or at the back yard grill. I was always making something different. I’ve always thought it is more fun to make new and different. I prefer to do things that haven’t been done before rather than following someone else’s instructions. I went through a period when I wanted to know how many dishes could be created from a can of pork-n-beans. Beans and wieners were a staple in those days. Beans and brats tasted a lot better with beer. I inherited this attraction to beans from my grandmother who insisted that baked beans were at their best when spread cold onto white bread and served with ketchup as a sandwich.
   Leener and I spent a lot of time camping in those days. Vacations, weekends and even during the work week. Pork-n-beans are a must in any campsite. One time I was struck by the bean muse and the fact that were a lot of leftovers taking valuable beer space in the cooler. Something had to be done. Cooler space in August is very dear. I cleaned out the camp coffee pot, opened a can of beans and went to work. One hamburger patty, a cooked hot dog, diced radish, a tablespoon of sweet relish, one half of a baked potato, half a Spanish onion, two cloves of crushed garlic, a small chopped apple, three ounces of catsup, one quarter bottle of Open Pit BBQ sauce, one can of warm beer, a half can of cold beer (this was thirsty work), salt, pepper and hot sauce. I stirred the mix until it looked cooked and then added the pork-n-beans. With a final stir I covered the coffee pot and placed it near the fire to work.
   Right now you are sick or hungry, and wondering what any of this has to do with homebrewing. As I write it I am both hungry and thirsty so excuse for a moment... The connection between my passion for pork-n-beans and homebrewing has been staring you in the face for years. It’s right there on the label of every brand of canned beans. Heat and serve. How boring can it get!

Brewing with Hopped Beer Kits
   Beer kits, to their own detriment, say just about the same thing. Add hot water, sugar and ferment. This will make beer but I rather make exceptional beer. All you need to do is follow a few general guidelines and be creative. I define a beer kit as those pre-bittered malt extracts designed to match the color and bittersweet balance of a particular beer style. I prefer to call complete packaged beer formulas, like our Brewer’s Best line, recipes. I feel it is necessary to make this distinction. Beer kits offer the homebrewer some excellent advantages like less brewing time and consistency in bittering.
   Beer kits are a great place to start, but, do it with the emphases on the word start. Kit beers are available in three to four pound tins. These require the addition of fermentable sugars. Here’s where you start your creative process. There are three basic brewing sugars to choose from. Dry malt extract, rice syrup and corn sugar. Common sugars like honey, brown sugar and molasses can be used. For a more exotic taste Belgian brewing candy and flaked oats, corn, wheat and rye are available. It is important that you know what each sugar type will do to your brew. There are good references in most homebrewing books. For this article I am going to stick to the malt basics. My rule of thumb is to use at least one pound of malt extract per gallon of water.
   One beer kit and two pounds of dry malt will result in a finished beer of low to medium strength with good body. Adding more dry malt (up to three pounds total) will increase alcohol strength, accent malt character and produce richer body. Dry malt extract (DME) is an excellent choice for 60% to 100% of the additional sugar required to reach your original gravity target. DME is available plain (unhopped) or hopped. If you like strong bitter character you may opt to use all or some hopped dry extract. If you prefer medium to light bitterness use the plain version. Remember that the beer kit is already bittered at a ratio of one pound of malt to five gallons of water. Using more than two pounds of additional sugar will reduce the perceived bitterness of the finished beer.
   Dry malt is available in four color ratings. Extra light, light, amber and dark. Selecting the color rating of dry malt is a little tricky unless you are making a dark beer. I prefer to control color by steeping specialty grains. I use a dry malt which is lighter than the finished beer. Check the beer kit instructions to see if the manufacture has made any recommendations.
   There are two major manufactures of dry malt. Each has it’s own character. Munton’s DME from England tends to ferment more completely giving the finished beer a lower final gravity (more alcohol) and drier finish. Laaglander DME is imported from Holland and is produced in a way which leaves residual un-fermentable malt sweetness which adds body and malt character to the finished beer. When selecting dry malt pick the brand which suits the beer style, your taste and your expectations.
   Steeping grain is a critical step in making a kit beer. The processing of the malt extract (syrup or dry) is not without losses in the malt character. Steeping specialty grains for 20 to 30 minutes at between 150 and 160 degrees will make up for some of the character that was sacrificed for convenience. The list of grains to choose from and possible combinations are limitless. Each malted grain makes it’s own statement in the finished product.
   Crystal malt is the most common steeping grain. Crystal adds color and caramel character. If you want to make the kit beer the same color as it’s rating on the label and you want crystal in the formula then select a crystal with a Lovibond (color) rating which is less than the kit. Higher Lovibond grains will add color. To add body and character without adding color use dextrin or carapils malt. Combining grains for steeping will add to the complexity of the malt flavors in the finished beer. Just make sure that the selected grains are compatible with your desired results. Even I would not add ice-cream to pork-n-beans or black patent malt to a Pilsner.
   Selecting a finish for your kit is the same thing as tasting a pot of augmented beans and deciding what spices are needed to make it complete. With over 25 hop varieties to choose from, hops are the spice rack of brewing. When selecting finishing hops, take the time to smell each one and seek out the aroma which suits your anticipated palette. Leeners has every hop variety available for sampling. Keep in mind that just like salt in cooking, over hopping is almost impossible to repair.
   Choose hops with alpha acid ratings of less the 5% and try mixing different varieties. It is not necessary to use a full ounce. Finishing hops, added to the boiling wort for 15 minutes or less, become the signature of your brew. You don’t have to add them all a once or even to boil them at all. Steeping one half to one ounce for one or two minutes after the boil will add distinct aroma without adding much flavor or any bitterness.
   Brewer’s yeast is not just responsible for the production of alcohol and carbonation. Many of the complex flavors which make a beer distinctive are contributed by the yeast strain used in fermentation. The 5 to 7 gram packet of dry yeast included with most kit beers is about half the yeast that should be pitched.
   Some of the better beer kits make recommendations for substituting liquid yeast strains for the dry yeast packet supplied with the kit. Liquid yeast is available for just about every beer style. These do require more planning of your brew schedule to allow time for the yeast to activate. For those of us with less control over our brewing schedule there are specialty dry yeast strains available which are an improvement over the packets included with the kits. I have had great success with Glen brew's Secret Yeast which has exceptional attenuation (ferment ability) and far less fruity esters than most ale yeast. It produces a fresh, crisp, lager type finish without lager fermentation temperatures.
   If all of this is getting confusing, relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew. You can get started creating your own special recipes with simple additions to your favorite Brewer’s Best Recipe. Here’s some great suggestions brought to us by customers. To make a Honey Porter or Honey Brown, add one pound of honey for 30 minutes of the boil. For a Belgian Brown, start with the Brown Ale and add one pound of amber Belgian brewing candy to the boil. Leener is looking forward to a Honey, Cherry Wheat made from the Wiessnbier recipe, one pound of honey and some cherry extract syrup. The sky’s the limit. If you can think it, you can brew it. We look forward to sharing your ideas and helping in any way we can. I think I’ll stop at the grocery store an the way home and pick up some pork-n-beans for dinner.

Summer Brewing
I have been telling you about the problems associated with warm weather brewing. The serious problems are airborne wild yeast and temperature control during fermentation. The simpler problems are cooling wort and allocating time to make beer. Here are some tips you can use to overcome these problems year round without a major investment.

Selecting a Beer Kit: I look for solutions which solve multiple problems and when it comes to summer brewing, heat is the root of all fermentable evils. Eliminate the heat and many potential flaws in the finished beer will become manageable. The easiest way to avoid heat is to use a beer kit which requires no boil. Pre-bittered beer kits are perfect for this. Sixty minute boils are necessary to extract bitterness from the boiling hops. The manufactures of bittered kits have done this for you. Any extract syrup kit will work.

Water: I recommend using bottled water for all brewing and wine making. This is especially true in the summer when tap water has increased treatments for the same reasons summer brewing is a problem.

Basic Extract Brewing: Simple summer brewing should start one day and be completed the next. On day one the full amount of water required should be boiled for at least fifteen minutes. This will sterilize the water and allow you the opportunity to add steeping grains and adjuncts to the kit.

The primary fermentation must take place in a serialized 6.5 gallon plastic fermenter. Never put boiling water into a glass carboy. The heat shock to the glass will break it. Place the wort concentrate into the plastic fermenter and then splash the water into the fermenter picking up a lot of oxygen. Any bacteria in the air will be killed by the hot water. This method of aerating the wort is called hot side oxidation and some brewer’s feel that it should be avoided. I have used this method and made good beer. If you are a partial boil brewer who cools your wort with cold make up water, you are
using this method already.

Natural Cooling: Close the fermenter and fit it with an air lock. The wort is hot so you will experience ‘suck back’ as it cools. To prevent contamination during cooling the airlock needs a filter. You must use a three price airlock to do this. The three piece airlock should be filled half way with 100 proof vodka. A sterile cotton ball or two must be place loosely into the air space in the top of the air lock and then the lid should be snapped on. You can tell that the airlock filter is working by the bubbling as air is pulled through the cotton and vodka and then into the fermenter. Don’t worry if some vodka in pulled into the fermenter. Place the closed fermenter into a wash tub and fill the tub with cold water. Change the water a few times as it heats up and let the fermenter soak over night.

Dry Hopping and Pitching: On the morning of the next day check the water temperature in the tub. It will be 2 to 3 degrees cooler then the wort. Check the vodka level in the air lock and add more if needed. Replace the sterile cotton regardless of the vodka level. Drain the tub and carefully rock the fermenter to stir up the wort and add more oxygen. Refill the wash tub with cold water and prepare to pitch the yeast. It will not hurt to change the water one to two more times while you get ready to start the fermentation. If you are using a single stage fermentation, one fermenter and then bottling, you will need to prepare the dry hopping along with the yeast. Two stage fermentation should be dry hopped at the time of racking.

All Grain and Full Boil: If time is not a factor, making an all grain and or full boiled wort is still possible in warm weather. The method described above can be used but if you are concerned about hot side aeration (adding oxygen to hot wort) there are two simple devices necessary to prevent contamination.

First is a wort chiller. Cooling the wort quickly and pitching the yeast as soon as possible will reduce the amount of time your beer is exposed.

The second device is an aquarium air pump. You need to aerate the cold wort and you will want to prevent any wild yeast contamination previously avoided by splashing the hot water. In addition to the air pump you will need an air filter and a medium to fine glass or stainless airstone. The aquarium air pump is used to force air through a filter and into the wort which should be siphoned from the brew pot. The pump usually comes with a length of 1/8" I.D. hose. You will need to insert an air filter into the setup between the pump and an aerator stone. The filter is easy to make. Two hose fittings which allow 1/8" hose to be connected to 1/2" hose, a 6" piece of 1/2" I.D. hose, some activated charcoal and cotton is all that is needed. Cut the 1/8" hose about 6" from the pump and insert a fitting. Attach the 1/2" hose and then fill it half way with activated charcoal (on the inlet side) and loosely fill the outlet side with cotton. Connect the aerating stone to the other piece of 1/8" hose and sanitize this assembly. Attach the open end to the in-line air filter and place the stone into the fermenter. Turn on the pump and start transferring the chilled wort.

Fermentation Temperature Control: Controlling temperature during fermentation is a little more difficult. Air conditioning really helps but it is not critical. With a little understanding of thermal dynamics you should be able to locate a spot in your house which will aid in keeping the fermenter cool. It is the nature of heat energy to migrate to cold. Cold will not transfer to heat. Heat exchangers are devices designed to facilitate the natural transfer of heat. The radiator in your car cools the engine water by allowing the heat to transfer to the coils inside the radiator which are kept cold by air forced through the many vents in the radiator design. Wort chillers work the same way. The copper coil is kept cold by running water and heat in the brew pot transfers through the cold coil and is carried away by the water.

Concert floors and walls are excellent heat exchangers. With a few inexpensive accessories to help the heat transfer, basements make great summer breweries . The most efficient basement cooling can be achieved in a north corner of the building unless that location is near a heat generating device such as a hot water tank or washing machine. Placing the fermenter as tightly into the corner as possible will provide exposure to the concert on three sides. The fermenter should physically touch as much surface area as possible. The top and front sides of the fermenter need to be covered by insulation.

Hard foam at least one inch thick works best. The closure should be constructed so that it touches the floor and walls on all edges and allows about one inch of space around the fermenter. The top should have a hole cut out for the airlock to poke through. The whole closure can be held together with duct tape. On moderate summer days of 80 degrees this device should keep your fermentation well under 70 degrees with no trouble. If you want to add some useful ‘low tech’ to the device, push a dial thermometer probe through the insulation so you can check the inside temperature. All heat generated by the fermentation will be transferred to the concrete and the closure protects the wort from light and wide changes in temperature during the day.

If you don’t have the advantage of a basement you can still use the above method. Houses built on concrete slabs may have the concrete exposed, or ceramic tiles in the mud room area. A fermenter cover, like above, constructed as a box with one end open will give good cooling results.

The Water Cooled Fermenter: The natural evaporation of water is and excellent cooling source. Place the fermenter in a cold water bath and then wrap the top in a towel. As the water evaporates it will migrate from the bath into the towel. Place the whole system on the floor in the coolest part of the house and top up the water as needed. If additional cooling power is needed, place a small fan next to the system and allow the air to blow over the wet towel. This will speed up the evaporation and lower the temperature.