3.16.10 Bottle Filling Woes

I really do not enjoy bottling. Like many others, that was one of my main reasons for switching over to kegging. Plus, you can avoid storing a surplus of empty glass bottles (my obsession with saving empties is fodder for another post). These days, the only time I bottle in large batches is for gifts. I started using John Palmer's nomograph for carbonation (can be found in How To Brew or in Brewing Classic Styles) and now I can reliably hit the proper carbonation levels for each style in every bottle. But all the extra work is still a pain.

This is really about bottling that handful of bottles to give to a friend or to send to a competition. In order to transport a small volume of beer, there is no way around bottling. Initially, I contemplated building a full-blown counter-pressure bottle filler. I decided against it, because they look pretty bodgy and didn't appear to be as 'simple' to use as commercially available versions. I decided I could pony up the cash for a CPBF, and decided on the stainless steel version listed at More Beer. But it was perpetually out of stock...

I spoke with my local homebrew shop owner. I reviewed info on the brewing podcasts that I listen to. I scoured the brewing forums. All of these sources assured the would-be bottler that a cobra tap and part of a racking cane was all that was necessary... Simply slide the plastic tube up into the opening of the cobra tap, insert this into the bottle, open the tap, fill to the brim, remove the filler, then cap. Oh yes, don't forget to "cap on foam"! Simple.

But my beer was always flat. I listened to podcasts on the Brewing Network again, where accomplished brewers such as Jamil Zainasheff and 'Tasty' McDole said that it wasn't necessary to 'over pressure' the keg (Tasty has repeated this over and over, and that he uses the cobra-tap-racking-tube method). But my beer was flat.

I did a little more research, and it seemed like a better seal at the bottle's opening might be of some help. So I built Ken Schwartz' 'Poor Man's Counter Pressure Bottle Filler' (the PMCPBF - based on the diagram posted here). I assembled the materials, but had problems with the valve stem popping off of the inflating needle. A quick mod involving two-part clear epoxy (it never touches the beer) - which looked great - solved that. This was better, and I was able to actually hold quite a bit more CO2 in the bottle as I went (better allowing the "cap on foam" step), but the carbonation level has still been inconsistent. About half the bottles are pretty flat, and half are properly carbonated - seemingly with no way to predict which way it will go!

This is not a huge deal when bottling a couple bottles to take to a friend's place (still not very aesthetically pleasing however), but it is a critical problem when bottling for comps! I had three solid beers that I sent to one this fall - all three had carbonation problems listed on the judging sheets.

My beer might not be anywhere near as good as Tasty's, but I should be able to replicate his bottling success, for Pete's sake!

Should I spend the money on a better CPBF? Should I try the Blichmann Beer Gun? I want my competition beers to reflect what I am serving out of my kegs - good beer at the proper level of carbonation. I need to figure this out...

3.15.10 Beer Shipped & Received

OK. I got an email yesterday... Jamil Zainasheff received the beer that I shipped to him recently. This makes me nervous.

This might not sound like a big deal. However, Jamil is about the most award-winning homebrewer of all time. I sent him one of my clone attempts along with the original beer - Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale - for feedback. While I am totally open to any insight he and the gang at The Brewing Network can give me, and I know my beer is not perfect, I don't want it to be a slamfest.

I usually dislike pumpkin beers. I have tried every iteration I can get my hands on up here: Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale, Brooklyn Brewing Post Road Pumpkin Ale, Harvest Moon, Dogfish Head Punkin, etc. Elysian's Night Owl was the first one I ever have tried that I actually wanted to drink another! I was averaging 3-4 bombers each week this fall... And everybody I shared it with liked it too!

So my 2009 Holiday Brew was a Night Owl clone. I ramped up with several small batches, including a version of Jamil's pumpkin spiced ale from Brewing Classic Styles, a recipe from Zymurgy magazine, and my own formulation of Night Owl based on info from the Elysian website. I began with 1-gallon all-grain batches, mashed in my mini tun and fermented in jugs.

All three of the beers were decent. They were definitely drinkable, and I drank every last drop. The recipes from Brewing Classic Styles and Zymurgy were good, but not spectacular - something to brew before Hallowe'en or Thanksgiving to share with a guest or two. But that was not really what I was shooting for. If I'm going to all the extra effort with the pumpkin, I want the resulting beer to be one that people can't get enough of. Besides, I was drinking them in side-by-side comparisons with the original Night Owl.

My clone recipe hit surprisingly close the first time around. I tweaked it a bit - double roasted the pumpkin (a chef's trick for getting a little more roasty sweetness & caramel out of squash), and adjusted the spices. I scaled it up and pitched the yeast from the first batch. I was shooting for an amber ale with English leanings as the base, with a bit of complexity from the pumpkin and spices - this is what I got from the Elysian brew.

My beer was well-received over the holidays. But it was still not a spot-on clone. This is one that I'd like to make an annual tradition, so I want to keep working on the recipe, but I lack the depth of expertise to go beyond what I've already done. I am proud of how close I got with just a little research and tasting, but I needed some expert opinions... Jamil (along with Mike 'Tasty' McDole) hosts a show on the Brewing Network called 'Can You Brew It' - a craft beer clone show. I am hoping that their crew can give me a few pointers to make my recipe even better.

I have also been trying to get them to do a clone of Silver City Fat (Bastard) Scotch Ale on the show. So I sent them a couple of fresh bombers of Fat in hopes I could persuade them!

I'll let everyone know what I hear from Jamil & the gang at the BN.

3/5/10 - Dry Hopping & Kegging

This weekend, we are officially "reintegrating" the guys who recently (Thanksgiving) returned from Afghanistan into the unit... I have missed these guys a great deal - first while they were deployed, and more recently as they resettled their lives upon their return. Out of respect for their space, and knowing firsthand the heightened sensitivity to all-things-military, no matter how well-intentioned, I have kept my distance for several months as they adjusted to life back home.

I brewed up a couple of batches of beer for the occasion - one a Classic American Pilsener that I brewed at the tail-end of last year, the other an American IPA which I repitched on the yeast from the BYO/BBR Collaborative Experiment on extract techniques... The yeast had crashed out well, and it was time to keg it up. Actually I should have kegged it up last weekend.

I took the day off to go in and do some admin prep for the drill, but I started my day in the shop taking care of this beer! Since I did not keg it last weekend, and I wanted to dry hop both beers (a little bit of noble hop character in the pilsener and a hefty hop nose in the IPA), I had to alter my technique a bit... I opted for a "hop tea" added to the keg prior to racking in the beer.

I was adding about 2 oz of hops to the pilsener, so I boiled 2 cups of water for them; since the IPA was getting closer to 4 oz, I boiled about a quart for them. While they boiled, I weighed and bagged up the hops - nice and loose with lots of 'swimming' room! After 10 minutes of boiling, I cut the flame and tossed in the hop bags, making sure that each bag was entirely saturated... When I wasn't stirring, I kept the lids on the pot in order to trap in most of the volatiles.

The liquid and saturated bags went into the sanitized kegs ahead of the beer, which I racked onto the bags and hop tea. I sealed up the kegs, and applied CO2 over-pressure to speed carbonate them in time for Sunday's picnic...

3/4/10 - Consolidation...

When we moved last June, it was under less than optimal conditions. Recall that we were actually homeless for about two weeks while we waited for our new place to close. While it was really more like camping than being truly homeless, but we didn't actually have a home during that time... This unexpected turn of events led to a less than organized move - we had stuff squirreled away everywhere: my parents', my in-laws', three storage units. When we finally got to move into our house, we put most of our stuff into the garages.

The first garage to get cleaned out was the spare - the "shop". This was mostly because it was where the overflow went, and most of that was stuff that needed to go into the house (the main garage was full of yard tools, bikes, wagons, shelving units and stuff from our last garage). This is a bit of a sore subject with my wife: her Volvo is still parked outside, while all 4 motorcycles and my Landcruiser are in the spare garage. Hey, it just worked out that way, right?

Since Christmas, I have been gradually moving brewing stuff from the main garage into the spare, which will be a combination shop & brewing space (which my wife is calling my "man cave"). A couple of weeks ago, I inventoried most of my empty glassware an organized that onto shelves. At the same time, I reorganized all of my brewing bins, and got them stacked up neatly. And I cleaned out my kegerator (a converted chest freezer with a condensation/sweat problem - that will be another post entirely! ;-), and made a spot for it as well. Last weekend, I temporarily mounted the dartboards (one for adults and one for boys) on the back of a set of wall lockers.

I have been using the main garage for lagering, cold crashing, and conditioning my beers this winter... This is mostly because it is more convenient since I've mostly been brewing on my deck, and it has been chilly and I'm a bit lazy. And I have been using it for the cool storage of my drinking supply (also out of convenience/laziness). My wife would really like the treadmill and her car in the garage - which is totally fair (it would be a bit embarrassing to have lived here a year and not have her car in the garage). So tonight, I got the last of the beer stuff out of the main garage.

While the boys threw darts, I borrowed a wagon from them, and began carting stuff over. First, I moved 3 carboys (1x Classic American Pilsener, 1x American IPA, and 1x RyePA) and a couple of 1 gallon lager starters - that was 2 trips by wagon! The kids thought it was hilarious (I was muttering under my breath, because the wagon didn't turn or maneuver very well with all that heavy beer in it)! And they kept pretending like they were going to hit me with darts as I wheeled by.

That actually turned out to be the easy part... My "beer shelf" was full of a combination of beers and empties, and the floor around it also had quite a bit of beer. I found quite a few six packs that I've been aging (like 5 years worth of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, 4 years of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, and several of my own homebrews). I organized my empties, and got them over - but I didn't want to mess up my inventory, so they're off to the side and not shelved. At this point, I realized that I hadn't checked the dinner - I ran in, and things were OK!

I tackled the beer from on and around the 7' shelf next, which took about 4 or 5 trips. There was quite an impressive pile around my kegerator... But it was time for dinner. We all took a break and headed in... After dinner I did get the shelf moved over, but I did not get it loaded up with beer because I need to move a few boxes of language materials first...

3/4/10 - Sean Terrill's Yeast Starter Experiment

Basic Brewing Radio is an outstanding informative podcast hosted by James Spencer (http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio). Between this and the content on the Brewing Network (http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com), it is nearly all that I listen to on my daily commute...

This week's episode of Basic Brewing Radio (3/11/10) featured a yeast starter experiment. I am always interested in this topic – my yeast are the best pets I've ever had! The original experiment can be found here:

http://seanterrill.com/2010/01/14/aeration-and-yeast-starters/

Mr. Terrill was thorough on his experimental design and procedures. The only piece that I had any questions about was his connecting regular agitation with “simulating a stir plate”. Experimentally, there is a huge difference between agitating or swirling the beer once per hour or every 15 minutes and the constant swirling caused by a stir plate. Everything else was wired tight, and there were some compelling results...

There was not much surprise that by constant aeration (filtered air from an aquarium pump) or agitation/swirling, the brewer can increase yeast production. I have always been paranoid about having that hose hanging out of my starter: with my luck, something would catch on the hose and spill the starter or I wouldn't be able to properly secure the cover with the tubing going in and my starter would get contaminated... When I began making starters almost two years ago, I would agitate the vessel every time I remembered – sometimes in the morning before work and once more at night, which was probably better than nothing; and sometimes it was every time I walked by the starter.

Eventually, I built my own inexpensive stir plate (like http://www.stirstarters.com/instructions.html, http://brewiki.org/StirPlate, http://www.byo.com/stories/projects-and-equipment/article/indices/20-build-it-yourself/401-build-your-own-stir-plate, http://www.swampwaterbrewery.com/index.php/do-it-yourself-diy-stir-plate.html, etc.). The first magnetic bar I got worked well in beakers & flasks, but not in my gallon jugs; the barbell type work well in vessels which are slightly convex at the bottom... I have never tried to quantify scientifically the differences I have obtained with the various techniques I have used, so this experiment grabbed my attention right away.

I don't want to rewrite this homebrewer's article, since anybody can access it at the link above. But I did want to highlight some of the things I found most interesting... First, he opted for a low-tech method for measuring the yeast at the end of the experiment: slurry volume settled and measured in a graduated cylinder. This is great, because it means nearly any homebrewer who is already doing starters can replicate this experiment for the price of an inexpensive graduated cylinder (1L for about $10). This doesn't measure actual viability, but he used fairly well established existing research for his estimates.

I was first excited when I saw the words “stir plate,” but as I mentioned earlier, there was no stir plate involved in this experiment – a point to which I'll return later. Even so, the wort variables he built in – still, frequent agitation/swirling, and constant aeration – provide insightful data for homebrewers who make starters. From his results, some aid in gas exchange (introduction of O2 and release of CO2), whether agitation or continuous aeration, resulted in better yeast propagation than the control that was left still.

The most striking of his findings, however, revolved around how the starter is capped. Most of the information I read when I decided to begin using starters directed brewers to use a fermentation lock. I never even thought to question this, given the source of the information (New Complete Joy of Homebrewing and other well-established texts). And the starters were yielding the intended results: more yeast, less lag time, and reliable fermentation. A few months ago, I was surprised to hear Chris White (of White Labs) talk about using loose foil instead of an airlock during primary fermentation... This went against nearly everything published for beginning homebrewers, but he's the yeast expert, right?

In Terrill's findings, there was about an 8% difference in volume between the airlock starter and the foil-covered starter. In the agitated/swirled starters, there was an astounding 17% difference between the airlock and the foil! Since there really is no way to aerate a starter and have a fermentation lock, there is no data to compare, but the aerated sample was within 5% of the agitated starter. In this experiment, there is clear evidence that an airlock suppresses yeast growth/reproduction and that the loose foil covering resulted in increased yeast propagation yields.

Bottom Line: I am going to change my yeast starter process based on these results!
(I actually have already changed my process on full-batches, opting for a blowoff tube into a pitcher without any liquid or a sanitized foil covering).

Within the next couple of months I plan on conducting a similar experiment, piggybacking on these results. I will drop the continuous aeration variable, and compare still, periodically agitation/swirl, and stir plate starters with both airlocks and foil covers. I will keep the other techniques, including the measurement procedures, the same for comparison.

3/1/10 - Shepherd's Pie!

Monday night, Deb usually cooks dinner, because that is her day off. Tonight we had awesome enchiladas. But Monday night is also often a cooking night for me. Tuesday's she works late, so I try to have something we can make ahead of time that my mother-in-law can just throw in the oven or heat up for the boys.

Tonight, I decided on Shepherd's Pie! I don't think the kids have ever had it, and I have had a hankering ever since Deb ordered it at the Horse and Hounds Public House back in February. Everybody (if you know your way around the kitchen anyway) knows that real Shepherd's Pie is made with lamb. My wife is not a big fan of lamb in most cases, but she does like Shepard's Pie. My main concern was my sons - I doubt that lamb would sit well with them... On the other hand, I feel like Cottage Pie (the all-beef version) is not that great. Time to re-work a classic recipe!!!

I opted for a 50-50 mix of lamb and beef - enough lamb to provide the richer character, but not so much a dominant, strong lamb flavor. I am pretty crappy when it comes to writing down my recipes, because I mostly cook "by feel", but here goes:
Potato Topping
2 lbs boiled potatoes
~2-3 Tbsp unsalted butter
~1/4 c half-and-half
~1/4 c sour cream
~2 Tbsp prepared horseradish
Meat Filling
1/2 lb cubed lamb (lean lamb roast)
1/2 lb cubed beef (lean beef roast)
1 1/2 c chopped carrots
1 1/2 c chopped celery
1 c chopped yam
1 c chopped onion
2 Tbsp canola or olive oil
1/2 c seasoned flour (see below)
2 Tbsp beef bouillon powder (or 2 c beef broth
1/2 t crushed/chopped rosemary
1 t crushed savory
1 t crushed thyme
1/2 t ground black pepper
1 pt Guinness or other dry Irish stout
Seasoned Flour
1/2 c flour
1/2 t crushed/chopped rosemary
1/2 t crushed savory
1/2 t crushed thyme
1/2 t seasoned salt (Lawry's or other)
1/2 t ground black pepper

1) Mash the potatoes with all of the potato topping ingredients. Add the half-and-half a little at a time - you want these potatoes to be much stiffer than typical mashed potatoes. The sour cream helps smooth them out and keep them creamy with less liquid. Set aside or refrigerate.
2) Heat the oil in a large stew pot over medium/medium-high heat. Once it is hot, add all of the vegetables. Stir the veggies to coat in oil; stir occasionally as they cook.
3) While the vegetables cook, put the seasoned flour in a bowl. Add the cubed meat, and toss to coat well. Hint: if you start with slightly frozen roast, it cubes up nicely.
4) Once the veggies have softened up a bit (check the carrots and yams - about 3-4 minutes, about the length of time it takes to coat the meat cubes) - not mushy, but not as hard as when they were first put in - add the floured meat cubes and anything left in the bowl. Again, give it a good stir to coat.
5) Continue to cook this mixture until the meat is seared/browned, stirring occasionally.
7) Once the meat is browned, stir in the seasonings and the stout.
8) Add the bouillon (plus water to cover) or the beef broth.
9) Simmer over low heat until the mixture thickens to a stew-like consistency.
10) Layer the meat mixture on the bottom of a large casserole.
11) Spread the potato mixture evenly over the top of the meat mixture, being sure that they are sealed well around the edge (this helps to keep the sauce from boiling out onto the top of the potatoes). Use a spoon or a fork to make scallops or peaks on top of the potatoes - these will brown up as the pie bakes!
12) Preheat oven to 400°. Bake the pie until the potato peaks are golden-brown - about 30 minutes.
** Don't you dare let any cheese anywhere near your Shepherd's Pie! Although I have probably taken some liberties with the authentic British Isles version (like the yams), I have stayed true to the spirit and style of this hearty dish...

This was a total winner! Tuesday night, Jordan had thirds and Brandon had seconds. There were no leftovers! The stout, along with the increased dose of spices (I usually just season the flour), added a richness that made up for the smaller portion of lamb.