;; Last Update 13-Jan-94 by EHN

		   Some Notes on My Homebrewing Methods

			    Eric H. Nyberg, 3rd
			      ehn@cs.cmu.edu

* Introduction

First of all, let me begin by saying that I've only been homebrewing for 2
years and I'm far from a master brewer. In fact, the best you could say is
that I'm a successful brewer of ales from malt extract. But I've covered
enough ground to get some friends of mine started homebrewing themselves,
and they've asked me to summarize what works for me. So that's what this
text is all about. I've tried to make note of other information sources
I've taken advantage of, too, so you can seek them out if you're
interested.

I looked in the Yellow Pages under "Beer Homebrewing Equip & Supls" and
found a local homebrew store. I went there and bought a copy of "The New
Complete Joy of Homebrewing," (NCJHB) by Charlie Papazian. After studying
the book for a while, I decided how I wanted to set up my home brewery.
Then I went back to the homebrew store with a detailed shopping list.
It cost me about $60 to buy the initial set up, including ingredients for
the first batch of beer. I had a couple of cases of empty bottles, so I was
all ready to start.

I chose one of the easy recipes in NCJHB as my first ("Palilalia India Pale
Ale"), and the rest is history. You could easily try my recipe for
"Altitude Ale" (see "Recipes") for your first brew, or try one of
Charlie's. He also gives a very simple set of brewing steps for your first
beer, too, so you might want to try that out before you take all of my
method too seriously. From here on in, I'm going to focus on just what I do
when I prepare for and brew a batch of beer with my present method.

* Cleaning Bottles

I use a tall kitchen trash can (the plastic kind with the flip top) to soak
bottles when removing labels. Put in a few gallons of the hottest water you
can get out of your tap. Throw in 1/2 cup of BBrite. Put on some rubber
gloves. Grab a couple of bottles and put them under the surface to fill
them. Keep doing this as you fill up the trash can with bottles, arranging
them to maximize capacity (try to fit 4 bottles on each layer by pointing
the necks of the bottles into the center and staggering them). You should
be able to fit almost a case at a time. After a while, you'll notice that
the labels are coming off the bottles (when the water's hot, it happens
quick; when cool, I leave 'em for a day or so).

When the labels look loose, put your rubber gloves back on. Empty each
bottle back into the trash can. Swirl the bottle under the water if
necessary to remove any bits of label still sticking. Use a copper pad to
scrub off any remaining label if necessary. Make an effort to leave all the
label in the trash can. Then rinse the bottle in hot water (rinse outside;
fill 1/2 way, put thumb over top, shake, turn upside down, swirl to empty
quickly; I do each bottle twice to be thorough). As you rinse the bottles,
put them upside down into a dish drainer or a beer case with a towel in the
bottom. After they drain, stand them upright to dry. When they're dry, put
them into a case and cover it up to keep dust out.

You can repeat this procedure with the same cleaning solution until you're
done or the water gets too funky with dissolved label material. I keep
around an old strainer to take this stuff out from time to time so I can
keep using the solution.  The best way to dispose of the old solution is
down the toilet; the little bits of label wreak havoc with drains. Make
sure to rinse the copper pad well so it won't break down too quickly (it
will eventually die from this kind of treatment, though).

After drinking a homebrew, be sure to rinse out the bottle to remove all
yeast sediment, invert for a while, and then store in a covered container.
This will minimize cleaning chores beyond the initial investment of elbow
grease.

Don't do this without the rubber gloves unless you want fingernails that
look like raisins. Trust me.

* Preparing the Water 

Prepare 3 gallons of water by boiling it in your brewpot for 1/2 hour or
so. Cover and let cool. Pour into 3 one-gallon jugs and put them in the
refrigerator. This step is used to boil off chlorine and any other volatile
chemicals in your brewing water. With stronger and/or darker beers you may
not want to bother. This step is strictly optional, assuming that your tap
water is basically drinkable. If not, you might want to boil first or
consider other water treatment (see NCJHB). I don't always boil my water
first.

If you choose to perform this step, do it at least a day before you brew so
that the water can chill down as cool as your fridge can get it.

* Preparing the Yeast Starter

1. Bring two cups of water to boil in a small saucepan (use one that has a
   tight-fitting lid). Dissolve in 5 tablespoons of dried malt extract. Throw
   in a few hop pellets (any kind will do). Boil for about 5 minutes. Cover
   tightly and remove from heat.

2. Take your liquid yeast culture out of the refrigerator so it can come to
   room temperature while the starter is cooling down.

3. Wash a 22-ounce bottle and sanitize it by filling with cold water and a
   splash of bleach. Let it soak. Sanitize a funnel by soaking it in a bleach
   solution in your bottling bucket. I just put a couple gallons of cold
   water in and splash in some bleach. If you're retentive about it, you can
   check with NCJHB for the exact ratio of bleach to water. Drop in a
   fermentation lock and a drilled stopper that fits the bottle.

4. Wait until the starter in the saucepan is at room temperature (this will
   take a few hours; swirl the pan gently from time to time to help heat
   dissipate). Then rinse the bottle in hot water to drive off any bleach
   (2 or 3 rinses), rinse the funnel, and carefully pour the contents of
   the saucepan into the bottle.

5. Leave the funnel in the bottle. Swirl the yeast culture around until all
   the yeast is in suspension, and pour it carefully into the bottle, too.

6. Rinse the fermentation lock and stopper in hot water, then shake dry.
   Insert the lock into the stopper and then put the stopper in the bottle.
   Swirl the bottle gently to mix the yeast in.  Use a measuring cup with a
   spout to fill the bottom of the fermentation lock with some of the bleach
   solution in your bucket.

7. Set the bottle someplace not too cold or warm (70 degrees F is about
   right). You should see a lot of fermentation activity in 24 hours --
   this is evidenced by a 1/2- to 1-inch head of foam on top of the starter
   solution. I usually time it so that the starter is made about 24 hours
   before I'm going to finish brewing a batch of beer, so the yeast is
   very active when it hits the full volume of beer.

* Brewing the Beer

After a day, the yeast starter should be quite active. Make sure you've got
a couple of bags of ice in the freezer -- you'll need it after brewing the
beer to chill it down before you put it in the fermenter. Then you're ready
to start brewing.

1. Put your cans of malt extract into some really hot water to get it fairly
   fluid (a dishpan will work).

2. Put 1.5 gallons of water in your brew pot and bring it to a boil. Take
   it off the heat, and add the malt extract, using a big spoon to stir in the
   extract as you pour. Use a spatula or your spoon to get all the malt out of
   the can(s).

3. When the malt is dissolved, return the pot to the heat and bring to a
   boil. Watch the pot very carefully, stirring occasionally -- when the boil
   comes up the foam will come right over the top and turn your burner into a
   charred mess. The best tip is to take the pot off the heat when the boil
   foams up and let it subside all the way, then return to the heat. Then the
   boil should "break" and you'll be okay.

4. Add your boiling hops and boil the whole thing for 60 minutes. Cover the
   pot so that you get a good rolling boil without causing a boil-over. You'll
   have to adjust this from time to time, as the danger of a boil-over will
   increase as the volume decreases during boiling. So stay sharp.

5. While waiting, soak your thermometer in some bleach solution. Sanitize your
   fermenter by filling it with bleach solution for at least 15 minutes,
   then rinse with hot water and drain. Do this early enough that the
   fermenter has enough time to cool down by the time you're done with the
   boil.

5. Rinse your thermometer in hot water, then take the temperature of one of
   the 3 gallons of chilled water in your fridge. Check the room temperature.
   Return the thermometer to the bleach solution. Then whip out your
   calculator and calculate the target temperature of the boiled beer as
   follows. Multiply the room temperature by 4.5 and add to memory (M+).
   Multiply the temperature of the cold water by 3 and subtract from memory
   (M-). Recall memory (MR). Divide by 1.5. This is the target temperature for
   the beer after you've cooled it down.

   For example, suppose we have 3 gallons of water chilled to 40 degrees and
   the room temperature is 70 degrees:

      70 x 4.5 = 315
      40 x 3   = 120
     315 - 120 = 195
     195 / 1.5 = 130 <--- target temperature

   This may seem like a pain, but it's worth it -- if you calculate the
   target temperature and then chill the beer just right, then adding the
   hot beer to the cold water will result in a complete volume that is very
   close to room temperature, which means you can toss in the yeast starter
   immediately. This saves time, and also minimizes the chances for infection.

6. With 10-15 minutes left to go, add Irish Moss (if recipe calls for it). Then
   stop up your sink and put the ice in there with a few inches of cold water
   (enough to cover the ice). Rinse off your sanitized funnel and pour all
   but 1/2 gallon of the three gallons of cold water into your fermenter.
   Rinse off your sanitized strainer and put into place atop the funnel.

7. Turn off the heat under the brewpot. If the recipe calls for finishing
   hops, add them now. From the moment you turn off the heat, keep the spoon
   inside the pot (I'm assuming you've read about bacteria and infection in
   NCJHB). Transfer the pot to the ice bath in the sink. Rinse off your
   thermometer in hot water (use another sink if you have to). Grasp the
   end of the thermometer and the end of the spoon in your stirring hand, so
   that the bulb of the thermometer is next to the blade of the spoon and you
   can read the numbers. Start stirring the beer slowly, with the cover open
   just enough to stir. This helps the beer cool faster. From time to time,
   cover the pot (keeping just the ends of the spoon and thermometer sticking
   out) and move it around in the ice bath to circulate the ice. Keep a close
   eye on the thermometer -- you don't want to undershoot the target
   temperature, which will be considerably above room temperature. You also
   don't want to stir too quickly, since you can easily oxidize the hot
   beer if you splash it around. 

8. When you reach target temperature, ditch the thermometer and pour the beer
   slowly into the funnel, using the spoon to stir the hops around if
   necessary. When all the beer has passed into the fermenter and the funnel
   is just dripping, use the other 1/2 gallon of chilled water to rinse the
   hops in the strainer, pushing down with the spoon to squeeze out as much
   liquid as possible.

9. Remove the strainer. Swirl around your starter solution to get all the
   yeast in suspension, then pour it through the funnel into the beer.

10. Plug your fermenter with a solid stopper. Carefully lift the fermenter
    and lay it on its side on a carpeted surface, with one hand over the
    stopper to make sure it's tight. Roll the beer around vigorously to
    aereate it. Once the beer's cool, it can't oxidize as easily, and you
    want to get a lot of air in there to help the yeast reproduce.

11. Rinse off your sanitized fermentation lock, shake dry, and insert into
    a drilled stopper for your fermenter. Put the stopper into the fermenter
    and use a measuring cup with a spout to put some bleach solution into
    the fermentation lock (1/2 inch will do).

12. Put the fermenter in a cool place (60 to 70 degrees for ales, 50 to 60
    for lagers). You should notice signs of activity within 8 to 12 hours,
    and the beer should reach the highest level of activity within 24 hours.

13. The beer is ready to be bottled when there is no more than one "blurp"
    per minute. This is usually the case in 7 to 10 days. If the beer is
    light enough, you will also be able to see the yeast starting to fall
    out of suspension --- the top part of the beer will look darker and
    clearer as the yeast falls. Be patient -- bottling too early is a common
    beginner's mistake.

* Bottling and Storage

NCJHB has lots of cautions about maintaining sanitafy conditions during
bottling.

You'll need to have two cases of bottles already cleaned and ready to go
(see previous chapter on cleaning bottles). Clean out your bottling bucket
with soap and water and rinse with hot water. Rinse out the spigot and then
close the spigot. Fill with cold water and splash in some bleach (use the
measure in NCJHB if you're particular). Set on the edge of the counter and
attach a hose and your bottling wand. Set up the bottles on a towel on the
floor (better make it an old one). To fill the hose and wand, hold it above
the level of the spigot, and open the spigot; let the hose fill slowly
while you bring the wand down to let the water rise. Fill each bottle with
the wand. This will be important when filling with real beer.

Use this opportunity to practice on a few bottles as though you were going
to fill them with beer: lift the bottle up so that the bottom is only 5-6
inches below the level of the spigot, then start filling (raising the
bottle slows the flow, so you can start gently with no splashing).  When
the tip of the bottling wand is covered, bring the bottle down to the floor
level (to fill it faster); then when the liquid gets to the neck of the
bottle pull it up to the initial height again (to slow down so you can stop
just at the top). Withdraw the wand slowly so the liquid on the surface of
the wand flows into the bottle. Then move on to the next bottle. When
you're done, turn off the spigot, remove the hose/wand, and put them into
the bottom of the bucket.

Let the bottles sit for about 15 minutes or so. Empty about 10 or so into
the bottling bucket, rinsing the hose/wand. Put your (clean) racking cane
in there too and rinse it. Empty the rest of the bottles down the sink and
rinse each one 2-3 times with hot water (use the technique mentioned in the
"Cleaning Bottles" section). Drain well, and set the bottles aside.

Hook up the hose and cane and run the bleach through it. Rinse the hose,
wand, cane and bucket in hot water. Rinse everything thoroughly, to remove
all traces of bleach; run some hot water through the hose/wand. Try to put
the hose, wand and cane somewhere sanitized, if possible (like in a big
bowl you've sanitized with bleach + hot water rinse; I use my
stainless-steel sink, after emptying all that bleach and rinsing with hot
water). Put the bottling bucket on the floor, taking care to turn the
spigot upward so it doesn't touch the floor. Put the carboy of bear above
it on the counter. Assemble the racking cane/hose, remove the stopper from
the carboy, and put the can into the beer straight end first; have your
partner hold the bottom of the cane against the front wall of the carboy so
you can see where it is; put it about in the middle of the beer. Wash and
rinse your hands thoroughly.  Rinse your mouth out with rum or vodka.
Stand on a chair with the hose stretched out from your hands. Blow out all
your air, and slowly suck the beer up the hose, trying ot avoid making air
bubbles in the beer. When it gets up to your hands (you can do this in one
breath when you get good at it), quickly fold the end of the hose and pinch
it tightly so the beer can't fall back into the carboy. Jump off the chair
and put the hose at the bottom of the rinsed bucket; hold the end in so it
gets covered with beer quickly.

Once the beer starts to flow, you'll want throw a piece of tinfoil over the
top of the bottling bucket to protect the beer from airborne crap.
Then switch with your partner and start to monitor the beer's progress.
Keep the end of the cane at least 2-3 inches below the surface of the beer;
when the beer is within 4-5 inches of the bottom, start tilting the carboy
towards the front of the counter while keeping the end of the cane at about
the same place on the front wall of the carboy. This will allow you to draw
more beer; and it's okay to suck a little sediment at the end, too. As soon
as you've gurgled out, pull the hose out of the beer


* Drinking

* Recipes

* Using Your Computer to Access Information on Homebrewing 

Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing
From: homebrew@lupulus.ssc.gov
Subject: HOMEBREW Digest #1318
Nntp-Posting-Host: lupulus.ssc.gov
Organization: The Internet
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 08:40:00 GMT


HOMEBREW Digest #1318                        Fri 07 January 1994


        FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
                Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  Peltier Thermoelectrics (bobreg)
  counter-flow -vs- immmersion chillers ("Peter.Langlois")
  Cider kits, BREWHEAT BOILERS (ginty)
  Hop growing (kstiles)
  dreamland... (HEAD IDJIT)
  Re: Idea for step-infusion (adc)
  malt extract adulteration? (Joe Boardman)
  Growing Hops/HSA/Ovens/Batching It (npyle)
  Wheat Beer (MARK CASTLEMAN)
  RE: higher alcohols, mashing (Jim Busch)
  Cherry Stout (Larry Bellmard)
  Re: Rumours (Darren Aaberge)
  Heat exchange/electric coolers/mashing/Nuke/mashing (Ed Hitchcock)
  Big brewing..Science/art? ("Daniel F McConnell")
  Big brewing..Science/art? ("Daniel F McConnell")
  big brewing (followup) (Spencer.W.Thomas)
  List of suppliers. ("George Cebulka, ECE Facilities")
  Yeast from bottles (TODD CARLSON)
  Polyclar ("Timothy R. Peters")
  priming with honey (Bryan L. Gros)
  clip art coming soon... (George Tempel)
  SS oatmeal stout/yeast energizer/primary (James Clark)
  guessless mashing (BMOORE)
  Water Analysis Followup (npyle)
  Advice needed on serving for large events (Richard Goldstein)
  diastatic power/souring beer (Joel Birkeland)
  Chillin' Wort (Scott Neumann)


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