How to be a Homebrewer California Craft Beer Summit 2016
Goals Define brewing Equipment & Ingredient Basics Partial Grain/Extract Brewing Key terms/faq Evangelize Brief Overview: Mile wide/cm Deep (not mastery of knowledge, but a cursory approach)
What is a Brewer? One who produces wort in their brew house for the purpose of fermentation. Wort: Unfermented beer.
The Many Hats Scientist Chef/Baker/Cook Janitor Sex God Brewing Beer: AKA, best hobby ever.
Equipment Needs/Costs Must Haves: Boil Pot Fermenter Sanitizer Measuring tools Add-ons: Auto Siphon Capper Bottling Bucket Cost: $100-150 - equipment $40-60 -ingredients (5 gallon) Per Bottle: First Batch: $4 Subsequent Batches: $1
Batch Size: Recipes can easily be scaled 5 Gallon is most typical 1 Gallon is a fun starter size (same amount of time) https://byo.com/mead/item/1378-small-scale-brewing
How to Brew in 30 Seconds 1 2 3 Steep grains for 30 minutes at 155F (ish). Boil Wort: add extract & hops according to recipe. Cool wort to room temp, aerate, & add yeast. Actually that easy! Don t over-complicate things.
The Core Ingredients Malt (John) Hops (George) Yeast (Paul) Water (Ringo) Adjuncts ( The 5 th Beatle ) o Flaked corn, rice, coriander, orange peel, peanut butter Reinheitsgebot (Germany Purity Law): 1516 law that limited the ingredients of lager beers, but gave more leeway to Ales. Officially struck down by European Court in 1987, but still a source of pride for particular breweries.
Malt: John (The founder of the band) The main source of fermentable sugar in beer.
Malt Raw grain is partially germinated Then quickly dried & heated to preserve starches & enzymes May be roasted, or stewed to create various flavors/colors Any grain can be malted. Barley is most common. Other popular brewing malts are: wheat, rye, and oat.
Types of Malt Base Malts: Main source of sugar Specialty Malts: color, aroma, flavor Pale AKA 2-Row (2-3 L) Pilsner Malt (2-3 L) Maris Otter (6 L) Vienna (4 L) Munich (6-10 L) Golden Promise (6 L) Crystal/Caramel (10-120 L) Chocolate (250-500 L) Roasted Barley (400-700 L) Cara-Munich (30-60 L) Biscuit (30 L) Special B (160 L) L AKA Lovibond: refers to color of malt. Low # = light; high # = dark.
Malt Extracts Malt extract = dehydrated wort. LME (syrup); DME (powder) Types: Extra Light to Dark LME vs DME: Both taste great, DME stores more easily (and longer) than LME. Easily converted between each other. 1 lb LME =.8 lb DME
Hops: George (The wild one) Provide bitterness to balance out the sweet malt, a natural preservative, & provide flavor/aroma.
Hops: Wolf Among Weeds Female hop cones can be used fresh ( wet hop ), as dried whole flowers, or pellets. Longer boil time will add bitterness Shorter boil time will extract aromas/flavors (earthy, citrus, etc) A natural preservative = more beer per bushel = higher profits Whole vs Pellets: A matter of personal preference. Whole have perhaps more depth, pellets can be more intense. Completely up to you. If subbing whole leaf for pellets, use about 15-20% more by weight.
Yeast: Paul (The most feminine) Converts sugars in wort into alcohol, co2, & much, much more.
Yeast: White Labs Safale WYeast Over 300 strains available. Ranging from clean to fruity to spicy Over 500 flavor compounds associated w/ yeast. A single cell organism. Technically a fungus All female, reproduce by budding (Yeast Man is a sham!) Nutrients, proper aeration, pitching rates all very important for clean tasting beer. Brewers make wort, yeast makes beer. Wort is like a petri dish that we want to keep clean for our yeast.
Types of Yeast Liquid Dry Natural state - In hibernation Freeze dried Both are good options, and have different purposes/advantages.
Water: Ringo (The best drummer of all time, seriously) Provide a clean base from which to build off & enhance overall experience in subtle ways.
Water: Should taste clean. Chlorine/chloramine = BAD Minerals in water influence taste/mouthfeel of beer RO & Distilled water = very clean tasting beer Flavor Ions 101: Calcium Sulfate (gypsum), & Calcium Chloride are most common brewing salts. Gypsum = bitter/ sharp. Ca Chloride = sweet/full bodied.
Water s Impact on Beer Styles SD Water: High in gypsum (bitter/ sharp ). Home of the double IPA a coincidence?
Adjuncts: George Martin, Billy Preston (Depends on who you ask) Add flavors and/or impact body Orange peel, honey, coriander, coffee, etc When/how much depends on beer, adjunct, & brewer
How to Brew in 30 Seconds 1 2 3 Steep grains for 30 minutes at 155F (ish). Boil Wort: add extract & hops according to recipe. Cool wort to room temp, aerate, & add yeast. Still that easy.
Sample Recipe: American Pale Ale 5.5 lb DME ½ lb Caramel 60l WLP001 CA Ale yeast ½ oz Horizon (60) (Bittering) ½ oz Cascade (10) + ½ oz Centennial (10) (Aroma) ½ oz Cascade (0) + ½ oz Centennial (0) (Aroma) 6-7 gallons of clean water. Spring, Filtered Tap, RO, Distilled. You choose, but take notes!
Prep: Sanitizer Bucket, 3 gal Water in Freezer, 2.5 gal Water in Pot. Bucket/bowl/sink w/ sanitizer Put 3-4 gal water in freezer. We will use it later to chill wort Prepare brewing water: 2.5 gal to about 160F in pot
Steep Grains 30 minutes Hold at about 155F Keep below 170F (will extract harsh tasting tannins from grain)
Bring to a Boil Remove grains feed to chickens add to cookies? Bring pot to rolling boil (212F) & add extract
Avoid the Boil-Over Add extract just before the beginning of the boil Remove from heat and stir in extract Place a spoon over the top, or spray w/ clean water
During the Boil: Add Hops, Nutrients, etc Hops: Bittering, Aroma Yeast Nutrients, kettle finings (clarifiers) Adjuncts may be added during the boil. Depends on recipe.
Cool Down the Wort Ice bath: Cheap & easy Wort Chiller: $$, not needed at first Use cold water from the freezer (during prep), to top off. Should get wort to where we need it.
Prepare Wort for Yeast Transfer into sanitized fermenter Top off w/ water Vigorously shake/stir wort to aerate. Add ( pitch ) yeast
During fermentation: Krausen (kroy sen) Krausen can overflow: Use a blow-off tube, or Fermcap. Dry Hop: Usually 3-7 days before bottling. Use a shirt to protect from light.
Easy Temp Control Happy yeast = happy beer drinkers First 4-6 days is most crucial Damp t-shirt. Water bath. Small Fan Tip: Frozen water bottles can be swapped out during summer months.
All Grain vs Extract Brewing All Grain: Create your own extract Partial Grain/Extract: Extract is pre-made Larger equipment needs Full boil (requires burner for 5 gallon batches) Lower startup cost Condensed boil Can brew in kitchen Great beer can be made either way. Extract is closer to pre-made mix cake mix, in some ways. The cake is still great tasting, just easier.
Going All Grain: Equipment Needs Mash Tun: Floor Burner: Boil Kettle & Hot Liquor Tank (two vessels):
Going All Grain: Considerations Cost: Space: Time: Mash Tun: $50-200+ Boil Kettle: $50-500+ HLT: $50-500+ Floor Burner: $50-200 $200-1400+ 4-8 hour brew day
Indoor options Grainfather: $890 Picobrew: $1880
Brew in a Bag: An Option for All-Grain Brewing Steep grains in a large pot. Lift bag out of kettle, bring to boil, add hops etc You ve made your own extract!! Will not top off with water, need to have a good chilling method. Limited by how much your stove can bring to a boil (about 2-3 gallons for most).
What s Next? SDSU Business of Craft Beer Certificate Craft Beer Education Camp (9 Days) http://www.ces.sdsu.edu/craftbeer Master Brewers Program Short Courses https://extension.ucdavis.edu/areas-study/brewing Join a Homebrew Club!! http://www.calhomebrewers.org/
Great books The Complete Joy of Home Brewing Charlie Papazian. Fun, light-hearted, yet informative approach to teaching. How To Brew John Palmer. More technical, yet extremely approachable. Very organized. Brewing Classic Styles Jamil Zainasheff & John Palmer. Our favorite recipe book. Recipe for nearly every style. Radical Brewing Randy Mosher. History of brewing techniques, and cool recipes. Tasting Beer Randy Mosher. A must read for the serious beer drinker/brewer. Better tasters make better brewers. Yeast/Hops/Water/Malt A four part series on their respective topics. Zymurgy/AHA Brew Your Own (BYO) Craft Beer & Brewing Periodicals
Thank You!/Q&A 2911 El Cajon Blvd Space 2 San Diego, CA 92104 brew@thehomebrewersd.com george@thehomebrewersd.com 619 450 6165 @thehomebrewersd