Category: Misha’s Brewing

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Time marches on

Well, the last Brew Day went remarkably well. Beer was brewed, so the important part was taken care of… Additionally, lots of people came over, and the whole event turned into a barbecue/potluck sort of thing. I’d say a good time was had by all… I was able to introduce a couple of people to mead, which is always entertaining; I’m proud to say that the response to my brews was overwhelmingly positive.

In other news, the next Brew Day will be on the 24th of May. I’ll probably be following that up in quick succession with a Brew Day early in June. I need to clear out a couple of kegs to move some of the things currently aging; I should be able to empty one or two at the Barony’s event at the end of May (On Target), so that should keep me in business for a while.

Progress on the HERMS upgrade continues. I’m waiting on some temperature sensors that I hope will work–I had absolutely no luck with the LM34’s. I’m sure they’re wonderful sensors (and I’d love to be able to get Fahrenheit temps without conversion from Celsius), but I just absolutely couldn’t get the things to work. Hopefully the DS18B20’s will do the job. I’ve got the relay working, and the LCD figured out, and I figured out the I2C interface last week for the clock and data storage. I’ve got to figure out the addressing for the EEPROM yet, but that shouldn’t be a big deal. Otherwise, it’s mostly just programming, with a little hardware to put together. Woohoo!

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Brew Day, April 2009

This Sunday, at the request (insistence?) of my Lady Wife, I will be brewing a Cherry Brown Ale. I’m basing the foundation (the Brown Ale) on the Southern English Brown Ale recipe from Brewing Classic Styles: 80 Winning Recipes Anyone Can Brew. It looks like a solid brew, as have been every other recipe I’ve tried from the book. The plan is to let it primary as per normal, then rack it onto a can of Oregon Cherry Puree; allow it to re-ferment to completion, then keg. It should be a simple beer, and hopefully it will turn out well.

I also plan to attack the non-alcoholic brews again, trying another root beer. I believe I learned from the last root beer I tried (which ended up a case of gushers). In the grand scheme, as long as the flavor and mouthfeel are there, and there are *only* sufficient fermentables for priming the bottles, it should be OK. Or, it could end up a foul, vile brew. I’ll be boiling up the ‘regular’ ingredients, less the sugar; cooling the ‘tea’ of sassafras root, etc., then adding the entirety of a bag of Splenda. That will give it non-fermentables for sweetness and mouthfeel. Carbtabs will provide sugar for carbonation. A bold experiment? Well, an experiment, at any rate. Time will tell how it turns out. (This recipe will be #82 in Misha’s Little Black Book.)

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Successful Brew Day

Last weekend’s brewing went well. I brewed my follow-on to the French Pale Ale (this one with Carawheat), and Sorcha brewed a wit based on the last one I did. The ale came out well, but I’m concerned about the wit–I couldn’t get a gravity reading on it over 4 Plato, which is exceptionally low. I suppose about 5 lbs of DME could be added; basically a “re-do” of primary fermentation, but I don’t think it’d be the same. Ah, well…

The Perry was bottled, as well. Initial taste tests indicate that it most resembles a cheap white table wine. This is not a bad thing–just not where I had expected it to go. I meant to bottle the Lambic, but that will have to wait until next time. It’s got a lovely wood flavor (from the oak table leg) under the tartness. There’s a flavor to it that I’m not completely fond of, but it’s not off-putting, and will quite probably age out as it sits.

I’m continuing to amass parts for the HERMs build. Apparently, if you ask nicely, many electronics manufacturers will send free samples! So, a couple of parts may arrive before horribly long (I hope), and drop the cost of the build by a couple of dollars. Every little bit helps!

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Lots to do

So, the Brew Day is coming up (three days from now), and I’m only just beginning to approach being almost ready. Granted, I’ve got the grains, and specialty grains, and hops, and a nice yeast cake–so, in that sense, I’m ready. My gear is still in its latest phase (while I learn PCB design, electronics, PICAXE programming, and a host of other things); fortunately, that phase is functional. But there’s so much yet to do!

We’ve been having relatively decent weather of late, so we’ve cleaned up the back yard–but part of the assorted gardening/yard chores included splitting some spider plants. What were two large spider plants, hanging in windows in the living room, are now *four* moderately-sized spider plants, lounging in my Brewing Storage Room (avoiding a few early-spring frosts). On a somewhat related note, the hops (the ones the dog didn’t dig up) are showing signs of life–small shoots are up; I’m just waiting for them to really get going…

I’ve got electrical diagrams and parts scattered across my desk, and tons of paperwork to file, just to have room to work. I’ll probably do a bit of clearing of my Lady Wife’s sewing table–just don’t tell *her* that. And the Bar area is an unholy mess.

Why the frantic cleanup? Well, it’s spring, for one–time for cleaning. I’ve also been contacted by someone who’s interested in learning the Brewing Arts–someone from the local Barony, no less! And it’s a difficult thing to learn in a thoroughly messy environment. So, a bit of tidy-up is in order. Finally, if I’m to have *room* to brew, I’ve got to get a bunch of stuff bottled–the pyment can probably get bottled; the pear cider most likely can; the lambic should be about ready; my last two beers, the SMaSH and the Helles, are also coming ready for their containers. Egad, I’ve got to finish off a keg to have room, too… Ah, trials and tribulations…

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March Brew Day

Well, it’s around the corner. I’ll be doing the follow-up to my SMaSH brew from last month: the same basic recipe, swapping out a pound of the base malt (which was all there was, last month) for a pound of specialty malt–in this case, I’m thinking some of the Crystal Wheat that I’ve got. I’ve had it for a while, and have been wondering what to do with it; without that, I’d likely go with a dark Munich malt or something similar. I’ll be using the yeast cake from last month, as well–it seemed like a good yeast, once it finally got going.

The parts collection for the HERMS upgrade is moving along, as well. I’ve got the microcontroller, the temperature sensors, and a few other miscellaneous parts; there are a few things that I’ve ordered recently that aren’t here yet. I think the biggest part of the actual HERMS upgrade will be a second pump. Moving up to keggles will be a “3.1” upgrade somewhere further on down the line. In all, I don’t figure to have the rig switched to HERMS before August at the earliest, maybe September–although things have a tendency to leap ahead when I least expect them to.

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Rig Update Update

I’m slowly but surely getting the planning done for the HERMS update for my brewing rig. (I’ve decided, somewhat arbitrarily, that the update, when it comes, will make this Version 3.0 of the rig; I hope not to go much past about 5.0 in future.)

“Why,” you may ask, “do you want to improve on a functional system?” The answer comes in several parts, most of which have been covered in other websites and blogs about HERMS systems:
1) Greater consistency between brews (greater repeatability);
2) Greater control over mash temps and steps;
3) Increased brew efficiency (arguable);
4) Increased clarity;
5) To satisfy my fondness for tinkering.

Of these, I’m claiming that #1 and #5 are the most important (in no particular order), with #2 coming a very close second. I’ll believe #3 when I see it, and #4 hasn’t really been a problem, for the most part–I’ve been thinking about filtering some of my brews post-fermentation, anyway.

So I’m still looking at going with the PICAXE–it seems most suited to my abilities (or lack thereof). I’m mildly frustrated (as I have been in the past) with the electronics side of things. The Venerable Guild of Electrical Engineers has kept their secrets well and truly hidden from the non-initiate; I’m picking up a thing or two here and there, and may even be able to explain some of it to the layman, when I’m done. And I’m gathering parts, one by one: a heating element has been acquired, and other parts are being negotiated for.

To bring the blog back around to “touch” the SCA, which I’ve been meaning to do for some time, a brewing contest has been announced for Sapphire Joust, here in Atlantia. I’m not sure that I’ll be here for it, nor that I’m even going, but I’m contemplating entering something, just for the heck of it. Perhaps the French Pale Ale? Granted, it’s almost completely undocumentable. But even getting just the feedback can be helpful, sometimes.

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On the road

First, an update, about last weekend’s Brew Day: It was successful (perhaps predictably so), despite the weather. It went from merely cold, to cold and rainy, to sleet, to slushy snow, to cloudy, to breezy, to sunny and actually warm. I’m sure a couple of weather types were missed, but there’s only so much time in a brew day.

The beer itself shows all signs of being good. There having been nothing darker than pilsner malt in it, it’s going to be light in color. I turned the heat on the kettle before running off into it, so the heat caramelized the first bit of running as it came in. This should add a bit of color, as well as creating some melanoidins for mouthfeel. The Nugget hops had a better smell than I remember from the last time I used them; They’ll add a (hopefully) good bittering, and a nice spiciness. The French Ale yeast seemed a bit slow to take off, but it was fermenting happily as of Tuesday.

In the meantime, I’m down in Georgia with my parents, helping out with a sick relative. I brought a pile of stuff to help with research into upgrading my Brew Rig. I’ve ordered a heating element for the heat-exchanger; I think I know what I’m going to use for the exchanger. The controller is going to be the difficult part; I’ve some ideas, though. This is going to be one of the slower equipment upgrades–the expenses for some of what I want to do could become somewhat prohibitive. But, I want to do this right, so–well, perfection takes time.

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Equipment upgrades

I’m brewing this weekend, on Sunday, and will be doing the initial run with a new sparge-arm. This one is much more elegant than the drilled copper hoop I had been using; I was inspired by a sparger I saw in the most recent Zymurgy. It’s made of PVC, with a bolt and some washers providing the ‘spray’ aspect. I’ve extended it a bit so that the hose from the pump won’t get any kinks, and I think it’ll work like a champ. We’ll see on Sunday, I suppose. (Photos to follow; I’ll try to take some during the brew day.)

I’m also deep in the planning stages for conversion of my rig to a HERMS-style system. I’ve got the process flow mapped, and know what I need (in broad strokes) to make it work. I’m looking into various possibilities for automating the recirculating/heat-exchanging. I’m leaning towards something either based on the Arduino platform, or something that looks innovative (and, more important, simple) called “PICAXE”. At this point, only time will tell. I am not, unfortunately, an electrical engineer, nor have I been a computer programmer for decades, so there’s absolutely no telling how half-assed this will turn out. All the same, I’m optimistic.

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SMaSH update

So, I’ve become more intrigued by the SMaSH concept of brewing. I’m now certain that that’s how I’ll do my next batch (a week and a half from now); I think I’ll follow that up with a slight modification for the batch after that.

Rather than doing a basic Pils-style beer, I’ll probably use an ale yeast, most likely one that will ferment at slightly cooler temperatures (the unseasonal weather we’re having right now can’t last). Also, to help add a bit of complexity, I think I’ll play the Scottish Ale game and caramelize the first runnings a bit. That should darken things just a hair. (I’m debating using a Scottish yeast; I may go that way, or I may use an Alt yeast…)

Then in March, I’ll repeat the technique as best I can, and use the same recipe, subbing a pound of the base malt for the pound of carawheat I picked up out of curiosity, not knowing what I’d do with it. I’ll probably even pitch onto the yeast cake from the earlier batch. If I play my cards right, I should be able to do a nice side-by-side taste test; this would show me exactly what (if anything) the carawheat is good for. Heck, I could probably continue the experiment, subbing out the carawheat for other specialty grains (Munich, Victory, Crystal 80, Honey malt, etc.), and finally determine what each of those specifically does to a beer. I could even go all-out crazy, and decide which basic one I like best, then spend next year playing with different yeast strains for that beer. The year after, I could go with different hops. Hah! If I didn’t get tired of the same beer month after month, I’d have some interesting data to play with later.

Maybe I’ll do this, but after next month, hold it to every other brewing session…

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SMaSH brewing

So, I’ve been feeling the urge to do something rather basic for a brew. Something to highlight the complexity possible from a very simple recipe. A batch using just one grain, and just one hop, fermented as far as the yeast will take it. A quick search of the various brewing bulletin boards (such as my favorite, the Green Board) showed that I wasn’t the first to think of such a thing. They call it “SMaSH” brewing–Single Malt and Single Hop. The predominant brew for this seems to be Scottish Ales, but there are others. At least one person did an all-Munich Malt brew (which would be yummy); there was one I recall that focused on Golden Promise malt. Hops seemed to be whatever was available and to the brewer’s taste; yeast likewise.
In considering this for my next Brew Day (the 25th of this month), I’m looking at what I have on hand. While I’ve got some Saaz hops, I think I’ll save those, and use some Nugget–it’s stronger, so I won’t have to use as much for a balanced bitterness. The malt is a no-brainer; I just picked up a sack of Pils malt. Where to go with the yeast is really the question. Pils malt with a single hop looks a lot like your standard Pilsner-style lager, but where’s the fun in that, really? I mean, there’s a whole world of yeast to explore. Any suggestions from you, my loyal reader(s)?