The Brew Times Homebrewing Blog
What happens if you add too little or too much water to your LBK?
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="KXNC7bySCdc" video_title1="What happens if you add too little or too much water to your fermenter?" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} I saw this question in the Facebook group the other day where someone had added too much water to their fermenter and was wondering what the effects would be. So I thought it would be good to talk about what can happen if you add too much or too little water to your fermenter. So for the most part this won't have that big of an impact on your final beer. Unless you go way over or way under like half a gallon or more. Then you will have some completely different beer. But if you are only slightly over or under the impacts will be minimal. If you go slightly under your beer will be a little stronger than normal. So the OG will be higher and the ABV of the beer will be higher. Also, the beer will be a little maltier than it normally would be. If you go a little over your beer will be a little weaker than it normally would be. Your OG will be lower and your ABV will be lower. Also, you will lose some of that malty flavor in your beer. Like I mentioned before these changes are minimal. If you are slightly above or below the proper fill line don’t worry, your beer will be fine! Cheers, Robert
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How to properly clean your bottles?
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="inuamMSZav8" video_title1="How to properly clean your bottles?" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} Cleaning your bottles can often be an overlooked step in the homebrewing process, but if you want your bottles to last a while then you need to take proper care of them. We break down the proper way to clean your bottles in this episode of BrewTalk with Mr. Beer. Cleaning your bottles can often be an overlooked step when it comes to brewing. It is not something in most brewing instructions and not something that I see talked about often. So I wanted to break down the proper way to clean your bottles so you can keep using them well into the future. If you do not clean your bottles or clean them properly then you will increase the risk of getting infections in your bottles. Just sanitizing your bottles before you use them does not count as cleaning. So after you finish pouring the beer out of your bottles, or dinking your bottle what should you do? The first step is to rinse it with warm water in your sync. Fill it halfway up, swirl it around and dump it out. Fill it halfway up again add the cap then shake it real good then dump it out. Now at this point, I add a little bit of unscented dish soap and then fill it halfway up with water. I add the cap back on again and shake it up. Then I usually take a bottle brush and scrub the inside of it. But be careful about what type of brush you are using. Do not use a brush that is abrasive that will scratch the inside of the bottles. Scratches on the inside of the bottles can harbor bacteria and create infections in your beer. I would recommend getting a sponge brush, you can find those on Amazon for very cheap they work well and won't scratch your bottles. So after you scrub the inside of your bottle you want to rinse it well until all the soapy water is out of the bottle. Then let it air dry. So this is the step you to repeat every time you empty a bottle. If you can’t clean your bottle right after you empty it then just a quick rinse with water will do until you can get back to it later. One more thing I will do with my bottles after a few uses is to soak them in a solution of the Craftmesiter Oxygen Brewery Wash. I just fill up a 5-gallon bucket with a few gallons of tap water, follow the directions on the brewery wash. Then let the bottles soak for about 5-10 minutes. After the soak I make sure to rinse them very well. So if you want your bottles to last a long time then you need to take proper care of them and these steps should be helpful in doing that. Cheers, Robert
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Beer Battered Fish
Who said fish-fry? What? You didn’t say “anything”? Yeah, okay, whatever; you can’t just blame “EVERYTHING” on the voices in my head! Heh. Heh. Heh. Why were we here again? OH YEAH, FRIED FISH! Not just any fried fish either! Beer battered; fried fish is more like it! Not only is that “time of year” in the States, but May-September actually marks the “blue water” fishing season in Australia, too! I don’t know about you, but that’s enough justifiable excuses for me. So, without further delay, grab that apron, and let’s make some, BEER BATTERED FISH! What you will need: Approx. 1.4 Lbs.- White fish fillets (make sure they are boneless/skinless. This could be varieties such as flathead, snapper, whiting, cod, tilapia, or flathead) Make sure it dried off very well or it will not crisp well, and the coating will fall off. ¼ Cup rice flour for dusting Batter mix: ¾ cup all-purpose flour ¼ cup rice flour 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt PLUS extra for sprinkling onto fish 8 oz COLD, bottle conditioned “homebrew”. (Yes, it needs to be carbonated and cold. You can use just about any variety you would like but I would not recommend using dark beers like stouts or porters, including anything super “hoppy”) 4-5 cups of canola or vegetable oil for frying (If you would like, you can also use peanut oil. This also provides a nice flavor just make sure none of your diners have peanut allergies!) Tartar sauce for dipping Lemon wedges for squeezing! How to make it: Pat fish dry using paper towels. Cut into 7 x 3cm / 3 x 1¼" batons, or larger fillets if you prefer. If you have very thick fillets, cut them in half horizontally. Depending on where you get your fish, you may also be able to have someone from the shop cut them for you. Next, in a medium to a large bowl, add ¼ cup rice flour and set aside. This will serve as your “dusting bowl”. After that, it’s typically a good time to start heating your oil. Heat about 2" – 3" of oil in a large heavy-based pot over medium-high heat to 190°C/375°F. While the oil is getting hot, sprinkle 3 or 4 pieces of fish with a pinch of salt, then coat in rice flour and shake off excess. You can leave them like this for up to 10 minutes before you run the risk of soggy breading! Once your filets are dusted and prepared and your oil is hot, whisk together the flour, wet mix allocated rice flour, baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Add cold beer into the batter and whisk just until incorporated evenly into the flour. Do not over-mix, do not worry about flour lumps. It should be a fairly thin batter but fully coat the back of a spoon. If it is too thick add a little beer 1 tsp at a time. Keep checking it with the spoon. Now, it’s time to dredge your dusted filets! Dunk a piece of fish in the batter, then let the excess drip off very briefly into the dredging bowl. Carefully lower into oil, dropping it in away from you, one piece at a time. Don't crowd the pot or those little fishes won’t brown! I recommend frying them in batches. Fry for 3 minutes, flipping after about 2 minutes, until deep golden. Make sure to have a paper towel-lined plate ready to receive those delicious, and now super crispy, aquatic critters! Serve them HOT with a side of tartar sauce and a couple of wedges of lemon! Note: These little morsels are at their pinnacle of “crisp” when eaten within 10-15 minutes of being cooked, so get ready to eat! I also recommend pairing your fried fish with a mug of the beer you used in the batter! It’s like a “Beer circle of life” HA! Alright folks, as always, I hope you enjoy this recipe, and feel free to let us know if you have any questions or suggestions! Cheers, Ashley
Read moreHow to add flavoring to your bottles?
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="HM5eKh9CMMI" video_title1="How to add flavoring to your bottles?" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} Adding flavoring to your bottles is a great way to change up you’re the flavor of your beer and make it into something totally different. While the process may sound intimidating it is actually very simple! We break down how in this episode of BrewTalk with Mr. Beer. There are few things you should know when adding flavoring to your bottles so I wanted to go through what those are and the best way to add flavoring. When it comes to flavoring you can pretty much add anything you want. We did a video a while back about the best ones to add, but we find the best things to add to your bottle are, honey or maple syrup, vanilla extract, coffee or espresso shots, whiskey, and Monin flavor syrup. Now a few things to note. If you are adding something like honey or anything that will not be heated, you want to make sure you are using a fresh bottle. Anything that has been sitting around for a while has the potential to infect your beer. So an easy rule of thumb is to always use a fresh bottle. When using things like coffee make sure to cool it to room temperature before adding it to your bottle. When using different whiskeys you don’t want to add too much, we recommend nothing more than a shot per 740ml bottle. Also if you are adding something that contains sugar such as honey or syrup do not add your carbonation drops. We usually go by a 1 to 1 ratio. So if your bottle calls for 2 teaspoons of sugar for carbonation then you would add 2 teaspoons of honey. Any more and you could risk over carbonating the beer. If you are using the Monin Flavor Syrups just check to see if yours is sugar-free or not. If it is sugar-free then you still need to add carbonation drops. The Monin Flavor Syrups are probably the best way to try all kinds of different flavors in your beer, we highly recommend those. Now for adding it to your bottles, it is very simple, the bottling process does not change. If you are adding something with sugar such as honey, you will add your 2 teaspoons of honey to your bottles, then fill with beer and cap. That’s it, it's easy. If you are adding something without sugar like coffee, you will want to add your carbonation drops or sugar and then add your coffee, then fill with beer and cap. Simple! I think people get intimated a lot about trying to experiment with their brews, but this is a safe, easy and tasty way to try new flavors in your beer. Cheers, Robert
Read moreWhy you should trim away the excess material on your hop sack?
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="O5uBc7m4eiw" video_title1="Why you should trim away the excess material on your hop sack?" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} This is one step in our instructions that we really do not explain, we tell you to trim away and access material on your hopsack, but what is the reason for that? If you have ever brewed one of our recipes and you're adding some hops or maybe one bag of grains you will notice that after you tie your hopsack you will have quite a lot of material left over. We always tell you to trim that material away. One reason is that if you have a lot of extra material just laying around it could be susceptible to harboring an infection. If you are doing a hop boil for example and you leave the excess material kind of laying over the lip of the pot and it never gets into that full boil, then it could not be properly sanitized which could result in an infection. Now the chances of this happening on very low but we always feel it is better to be safe than sorry. Another reason we tell you to do that is to help during bottling. If you have this long piece of cloth floating around your fermenter then when you go to bottle, you have a good chance of getting that cloth sucked into the spigot opening. This can really put a damper on your bottling process. So by cutting that excess material off you are reducing your risk for infection and remove the risk of headaches during the bottling process. Cheers, Robert
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How to Make Non-Alcoholic Beer
Alright, that is it! If I had a dollar for every time, I was asked about making NA homebrew, I could buy a lot of commercial NA beer! Seriously though, it comes up ALL THE TIME, so I thought, “ya know what? Let’s just go ahead and oblige these fine people, already.” So here we stand; you excited? Don’t answer that or do if the answer is “yes”. Moving right along… heh, heh, heh. What you may not know is that most NA beer starts as “regular” beer containing alcohol. That means that your average Mr. Beer Refill can indeed be made nearly alcohol-free. Before I get into the how there are a couple of things you need to know. The first thing is that alcohol is more volatile than other liquids and because of that, slow and long heating is typically the easiest method for alcohol removal from fermented beer. The next thing you need to know about making good quality NA homebrew is “all-malt” is better than trying to remove alcohol from a beer that is more adjunct heavy. We recommend reaching for a deluxe refill, HME can only, or a complete craft refill, with no Boosters. Why? Well, because we aren’t after alcohol production, we are after FLAVOR. Speaking of flavor, the next thing you need to ponder is your water quality. This becomes VERY important when dealing with any beer but NA beer especially… Alcohol covers up more than you think, so make sure you are using chemical-free (hello Chloramine) drinking water! Sticking with all malt options will also help shorten the evaporation process later and leave you with more “beer” flavor. So now that we have selected the appropriate refill, what next? Well, you brew and ferment that beer just as you would any wort! It is what we do AFTER fermentation is complete that makes it non-alcoholic. From here, I will break down the process from start to finish, below. For the Alcohol removal process, you will need a large, clean pot that will fit the entire volume of your beer, and a controllable heat source (stove) as well as a thermometer. Gently flow the fermented beer, ideally via tubing to reduce any splashing, into the large, clean pot. Insert your thermometer and begin gently heating the beer (you can stir it very occasionally with a sanitized spoon to help keep the heat even, but do not agitate the beer) Watch the temperature very carefully, do not allow it to exceed 175 degrees Fahrenheit and should stay closer to 173. You will maintain this temperature, allowing the alcohol to evaporate for about 20-30 minutes. To determine if you are done, a sample can be cooled and a hydrometer used, but it’s honestly a lot easier to designate a taste tester if you cannot taste the beer yourself. Temperature maintenance is key here, so watch that temp closely… If you creep too high, you can get some not-so-nice-off flavors!! Once you have evaporated the alcohol from your beer. The solution will need to cool. You can use a wort chiller or ice water bath, but the less agitation you create in the beer the better, so leaving it to cool is fine too. Avoid covering it as this can create condensation under the lid from steam, which will potentially dilute your flavors. Now that your beer has had its NA treatment… it is going to be really, really flat and probably kind of one noted, flavor-wise. Don’t worry! We have bottle conditioning up our sleeve. Before we get into that… Have you ever noticed that most NA beer still contains .5% alcohol? Usually, this is due to bottle conditioning. Using this process, however, is a big part of what makes NA beer, taste anything like “regular” beer. So, it is best not to skip it. Once your beer has cooled enough to not kill the yeast cells you are going to be adding, it is ready to bottle! For this, you will need carb drops or table sugar for bottle priming and you will conduct that normally with one addition… A pinch of yeast to each bottle! Once your beer has cooled enough you can transfer it back to the LBK for botting. (make sure it’s sanitized). It’s a good idea to stick with the same yeast you used in the fermentation for this as well. Sanitize and dry a small saucer or plate and empty a small Cooper’s gold yeast packet into the center of the dish. Wash and dry your hands very well. After you add carb drops or sugar and fill each bottle with beer, press the tip of your clean finger into the yeast on the plate and add whatever cells that stick to your finger (it’s usually plenty if there’s a fairly even layer on the fingertip) and sprinkle them over the beer in each bottle, seal the caps and allow them to condition at room temperature for 3 weeks before enjoying. While doing this, I think it’s best to work one bottle at a time, Prime, fill, yeast, cap. Repeat with the next bottle. As you can see, with a little extra work you CAN have NA homebrewed beer! If you decide to give this a whirl, just remember to stick with REFILLS that do not contain a booster addition (Use Deluxe, HME can only or complete craft options instead) and not “Recipes” as these may not lend themselves very well to the reheating process. As always, if you have questions about this or any other beer-related topic, never hesitate to reach out to us at the helpdesk! Cheers! Ashley
Read moreHow to use a bottling wand & what are the benefits of using one?
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="DI-oNTuWXMU" video_title1="How to use a bottling wand & what are the benefits of using one?" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} The bottling wand is a very useful tool. We often get asked how to use it and is it required to use it. It is not required to be used in the bottling process, but it makes the process a whole lot easier. Let's dive into the benefits of using one first before we get into the how. The first one is that it just makes bottling easier. You can leave your spigot open and all you have to do is push your bottle against the bottom of the wand and it fills with beer. So its fewer movements in the process. It also helps reduce the amount of oxygen in your beer caused by bottling. Using the wand your bottles fill from the bottom up. This causes the beer to be splashed around less when just bottling right from the spigot. So now let dive into how you use it. Depending on when you got your beer kit you have one of two spigots. One that has a barbed end that opens from left to right and one that does not and the top pushes up and down. So I will cover both spigots real quick so you know. Let's do the pushdown spigot first. To get the bottling wand to fit you do not need the rubber attachment. Simply just slide the bottom of the wand into the spigot opening and push it up as high as you can. I usually let it sit for a few seconds just to make sure it is secure and not going to fall out. Then all you do is open the spigot by pulling up on the top lever. This will help the spigot say open. Then just insert the bottom of your wand into your bottle. Once you push the bottle on the black tip beer will come out. That’s it! So now for the barbed spigot. For this one, you will use the attachment and it will slide over the barbs. Again once you get it on just give it a few seconds to make sure it is on securely and not going to fall off. Then just open your spigot and your good to go. A few tips I also wanted to point out when using your wand. Always put a small bowl under the wand. This will help catch drips that happen to fall or if your wand happens to fall out it will help prevent a big mess. Make sure to sanitize your wand! That is very important. Run sanitizer through the wand. Make sure you are taking it apart after each use and cleaning it. Sometimes hops and other debris can get stick in the spring inside the wand. When filling your bottles with your wand, you want to fill them to right at the bottom of where the cap goes. The wand takes up some space in the bottle, so once you pull the wand out of the bottle, the beer will be at the perfect level. Cheers, Robert
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Beer Bread Recipe
Here we go again… I have decided to bring you yet another beer-bread recipe! To be fair, you asked for it! You might be saying “but Ashley, you already gave us the most spectacular trub bread recipe and we plan to canonize you for it…” Okay, okay, so you probably aren’t saying that “exactly” but who’s checking? Anyway, this truly is a BEER bread, as beer will be providing most of your wet volume in the recipe. This BEER BREAD is hearty and flavorful so don’t expect it to be just like that stuff you buy at the store, this bread has substance and it’s probably going to wreck your diet if you are on one, but life is short, and this is DELICIOUS! A small note I need to emphasize; SIFT YOUR FLOUR into your measuring cup. If you do not own a sifter, that’s okay just sprinkle the flour into the measuring cup with a spoon, instead of “scooping” it from the bag or canister. Sifting puts a tiny pocket of air between each particle of flour and helps you achieve a much lighter texture in the finished product. We want bread… NOT hardtack…unless that’s what you are into! Without further delay, Let’s make some Beer Bread! What you will need: 3 cups SIFTED (DO IT. IT’S IMPORTANT) All-Purpose Flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt ¼ cup sugar 1 and ½ cup “lighter” style homebrew (12 ounces) We LOVE Golden Ale for this one. ½ cup melted butter divided into ¼ cup portions. Here’s How we make it: Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and make sure it is nice and evenly hot before you add your bread to bake. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Next, add ¼ cup of melted butter and 12 ounces of beer. I like to mix this with my hands until a dough is formed. Be careful, not over-knead or overwork this dough as it can become a bit, though. Grease a loaf pan and add in the dough. Allow the dough to rest in the pan for 10-15 minutes under a cloth before placing it in the oven. After the dough rests, pour another ¼ cup melted butter over the loaf and bake for 1 hour or until the top is golden and the loaf is cooked through. There you have it, folks! My favorite way to enjoy this bread is toasted, topped “brunch” style with an egg, some fancy cheese, and a couple of slices of bacon, avocado and finished with a shake of salt and pepper! Let me know how you like to enjoy YOUR beer bread! CHEERS! Ashley
Read moreTips for Getting All the Malt Extract Out of Your Brew Can
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="ou5cfAeXVPs" video_title1="Tips for Getting All the Malt Extract Out of Your Brew Can" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} If you are missing your original gravity readings and not hitting your ABV you may be leaving some malt extract behind in your cans. In this episode, we provide some tips to get all that sweet goodness out of your can. Real quick we will talk about why it is important to get all the malt out of your can. The more malt extract or fermentable you have in your beer the higher the ABV will be and the more flavor you will get in your beer. So if you are consistently missing your OG’s when taking your gravity readings you are either not getting all the malt out of the can, or you are not mixing it up well enough into the water. Those are the main reasons why you should try and get all the malt out of your brew can so lets talk about some tips to help you out. The first one would be from our video last week. Soak you can in warm water before you brew, that will help it pour out and mix easier. The second would be to use a silicone spatula to help scrape the inside of the can. This makes it easy to get all that malt extract that gets stuck in the corners and those hard-to-reach places. A third method that I think not a lot of people would know about is to add some of your water into your can then use the spatula to mix it. This helps get any remaining malt extract off the side of the can and mixes it with your water in the can. Then you just dump that into your pot of wort. You can do this 2 or 3 items until you get all the malt extract out of the can. Also, one last thing to note is that these methods can be used on the packets of LME as well. Cheers, Robert
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What is Positive Pressure & why is it Important to Consider?
If you have witnessed me speak about fermentation lengths, you have most definitely heard me use the phrase, “positive pressure”. Some of you may even think I am a little obsessed with it, and you would not be entirely wrong. I promise there’s a handful of very good reasons for this and that is what we will be discussing today! What is “positive pressure”, anyway? The dictionary defines the term as: “Air or gas pressure greater than that of the atmosphere, as used e.g., in the artificial ventilation of the lungs.” This is a very broad and basic definition, so let us talk about its application in brewing. When we use this term as it relates to your beer, sitting in the fermenter, we are typically referring to the presence of active fermentation resulting in the production of C02 gas, which in turn, pushes other atmospheric gases like Oxygen, away. You can visualize this positive pressure as a sort of protective “force field”. So, what exactly creates this “positive pressure”? Well, as mentioned above, fermentation, but more specifically it is initiated by the yeast consuming and metabolizing wort sugars; one of the bi-products of that feasting is C02, along with roughly 500 other fermentation compounds! In the most active stages of fermentation, the yeast is releasing large quantities of this gas over a short period of time, so your fermenting beer is generally well protected in your LBK or other appropriate fermenters, as this C02 release pushes oxygen out and away from the beer. As you can probably imagine, as the C02 production slows with the activity of the yeast, that positive pressure drops, until it is no longer present at all. As a result of this, unwanted oxygen can come into contact with your beer, and create a whole host of undesirable issues. You might be wondering, what are some of the possible consequences for the loss of positive pressure? Let us talk about a few of the “big” ones, but spoiler alert, most (all) of them have to do with the resulting oxygen exposure… Color: When pressure is no longer protecting a fully fermented beer, oxygen enters and intensifies a phenomenon called the “Millard effect”, which can cause your beer to darken, significantly. Clarity: Oxygen exposure due to pressure loss, contributes to a clarity issue known as “chill haze”, causing the molecular chains of certain compounds to collect oxygen and become so large that they create a “haze” when cold, that is visible to the naked eye. Flavor: The absence of pressure causes air to change the flavor of certain fermentation components and can give a “wet cardboard” character, or even intensify a strong apple cider flavor, in beer. You also lose desirable flavor and aroma compounds without positive pressure. Infection: One of the most significant vectors for infection within homebrewing (and arguably, brewing in general), is oxygen. Wild spores and microbes can travel right into your fermenter and take root in your beer! Condition: The success you have with carbonating the beer in your bottles is also indirectly affected by positive pressure, as yeast that has sat hungry for a week, with no active fermentation, will not be as healthy or vital within the bottle. Having yeast that is unhappy in the bottle, can cause your beer to condition very slowly, or not at all. Believe it or not, these are not even all the consequences of losing your positive pressure, but they are typically the most common! If you have been brewing with Mr. Beer for the last couple of years or more, you may have noticed our general direction for fermentation and conditioning times, has changed a bit. The primary reason for this change came from our testing and observation on many batches. What we found, was that on average, except for a high gravity wort or certain types of yeasts, when the correct fermentation parameters are maintained, most beers will fully ferment in 10-14 days, inside the LBK. Adding an extra 7 days beyond this time means the beer is no longer under the protective veil of “positive pressure”. You might be thinking, “but Ash, what about letting the yeast clean up?”, you’re not wrong… but how much sense does it make to “mop a floor, in dirty boots?”, Not a lot, unfortunately. Once the correct FG has been achieved, it is best to bottle that beer and allow it to mature and clean up in a stable, and airtight environment! The rapid release of positive pressure is also why we discourage you from opening the fermenter to “look”. Your next thought might be, “well what about adding the additions to recipes?”. Not to worry, when a quick addition is made, such as hops or fruit, the yeast is usually going to continue to produce some C02 after the fermenter is closed back up again. It is worth mentioning that many brewers opt to apply outside means of pressure, as well. This is not needed for the average homebrewer but can help brewers that do use it, keep very tight control over the fermentation conditions of a batch. Fermenting under “added” pressure, is a subject all on its own… that we will save for another day! I hope this helped you to better understand the role and importance of positive pressure in the beer-making process. As always, if you have any questions about this or any other brewing topic, feel free to get in touch with Zach and myself! We are always happy to help you better understand the “why” behind what we do! Pints up! Cheers! Ashley
Read moreWhy you should put your HMEs & LMEs in warm water before you brew?
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="3gcTXyL4VZU" video_title1="Why you should put your HMEs & LMEs in warm water before you brew?" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} This step in the brewing process almost seems nonrelevant. Can letting your malt extract can sit in warm water really make a difference? We break it down in this episode of BrewTalk with Mr. Beer. This is a step in the process that I think can get overlooked. For the longest time when I was first brewing I did not do this, it just seemed like a waste of time. Can letting your HME and LME soak in warm water really help? I thought no but was soon proven wrong. There are a few reasons why you want to do this. The first being that it helps the malt extract mix easier in your pot, so you’re not having to go all crazy stirring to mix it up. If you have ever just dumped in the whole can and then go and try and mix it up, it can be quite difficult to do that. The second reason, which I think is more important is that it helps you get all of the malts out of the cans easier. The more malt that you get into your brew you’re going to have the better chance of hitting the OGs as well as making sure you are getting the full flavor of the beer. If you are leaving some malt extract behind in your can or in the pouches of LME then you're leaving some ABV and some flavor in there as well. That is the main reason why you should be putting your HMEs and LMEs in hot water before you start brewing. It was the main reason that I started to do that. Cheers, Robert
Read moreCan you bottle and carbonate your beer in growlers?
{{widget type="Solvature\VideoSlider\Block\Widget\VideoSliderWidget" video_embed1="3fZ7OU7gBrA" video_title1="Can you bottle and carbonate your beer in growlers?" video_cta_color1="white" video_cta_color2="white" video_cta_color3="white" video_cta_color4="white" video_cta_color5="white"}} While growlers are pretty cool and work awesome when taking beer home from your favorite brewery, they don’t do well for bottling. We recommend against bottling your beer in growlers for a few reasons. The first is that depending on the type of growler you have the lid may not be suitable to keep in the C02. So after you bottle your beer you could end up with flat beer or beer with very little carbonation. Another reason is that growlers often have thinner glass than beer bottles. This can lead to bottle bombs. If you have a lid that will hold the pressure you could end up with your growler exploding. Since growlers have thinner glass, they are not build to withstand the pressure that is created during the carbonation phase. Now it should be noted that we are talking about traditional screw-top growlers. There are swing top growlers and other types of growlers that can be used to bottle your beer. But to be safe and help ensure that your beer is going to be fully carbonated and delicious we recommend staying away from growlers when it comes to bottling your beer. Cheers, Robert
Read moreThe History of Women in Brewing
Welcome to March. This month brings Basketball, St. Patrick’s Day, the first day of Spring, The Ides of March, and of course, Women’s History Month. Now, you may or may not know, but women have played a pivotal role in the evolution of brewing since humans started doing it! In fact, you cannot really have a “scholarly” conversation about the history of beer without mentioning the great “Alewives” of old that contributed so directly to the dynamic evolution of the “craft”. Though Western societies have viewed brewing as a male-dominated field for the last 150 years, traditionally, it was an activity engaged in and governed by women. So, join me on this brief look into the female role in beer production, through the ages! Starting with the industrial revolution and through most of the 19th Century, the practice of beer production was relegated primarily to men; women were mostly filling rolls as “barmaids” and “publicans” with the occasional few, found in auxiliary roles of production such a packaging. But what about before that? Who likely made the first beer to grace the lips of a human? Well, I bet you can already guess the answer… The world’s first Brewster was indeed a woman. Archaeologists have found the oldest known beer or “grog” near the Ancient site of the “Yellow River”, in China, dated to be nearly 9,000 years old. The evidence of this ancient beer was found among many other cooking and “homemaking” related artifacts, and the women that produced this concoction were said to chew the grain in their mouths and spit it back into the mash, in order to impart the catalyzing enzymes that assist in the conversion of starches into sugars! Pretty nifty, right? Brings a whole new meaning to “spitting in your beer” doesn’t it? Because the production of beer and other fermented beverages was historically viewed as a facet of cooking, and a method to utilize left-over grain, beer-making was considered the “domain” of the woman. Samples of these Neolithic brews reveal surprisingly complex and thoughtfully constructed beverages, that serve to demonstrate the care for the “craft” taken by these founding “mothers” of fermentation. Of course, 9,000-year-old beer is old, but the women of ancient prehistoric civilizations had likely been producing beer within their tribal communities’ way before human history was written down. The origins of the “beer” based in cereal grains like barley, which would later influence beer production throughout the rest of the world, were likely first produced in the Middle East, starting some 12,000 years ago. Like the previous “grog” I mentioned, this beverage was also created by female hands. In ancient Mesopotamia, brewing beer was a “consecrated” task, performed by well-respected and highly regarded, priestesses. Archaeologists have unearthed ceramic vessels from 3400 B.C. still sticky with beer residue, and the tablets containing the now famous, “Hymn to Ninkasi”—an ode to the Sumerian goddess of beer. This passionate Hymn is both worship and recipe, as it describes in detail how to create the beloved ancient brew made by female priestesses. Yes, you read the correctly, the “God” of beer, was actually a “Goddess”. Not only was Ninkasi associated with grain, bread, and brewing but she was also seen to have connections to other feminine attributes such as fertility and childbirth; for the ancient people of this region, the ability to birth children and the authority to brew beer was sacred rights, afforded to the feminine. Ninkasi represented the connection between grain crops, fertile soil, and fertile, healthy people… Which back then, certainly helped to ensure a society’s growing population and prosperity. (Photo: Statue of the Goddess Ninkasi) Even in Ancient Egypt, the tradition of female brewers continued, and additionally, on the continent of Africa, women in Burkina Faso have been making a mash of fermented sorghum into beer for some 5,500 years. Women in Tanzania have traditionally been the "sole marketers" of the drinks, and many use the money they make by selling alcohol to supplement their incomes. In ancient Maya society, female brewers created beer from the cacao bean, well before it used to make other alcohol-free cacao-based beverages more commonly associated with the present-day region. Women across Latin America have long been the traditional purveyors of many native fermented beverages, from Chica to Pulque with many things in between. The ancient tradition of female brewers is not just limited to the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, but also holds deep roots in Europe, too. Women in Germanic Europe were no different than the previously mentioned societies, in that they were the original brewmasters, well before the practice was taken over by monasteries. In early England, water potability was often unreliable, therefore the matriarch of the household was responsible for crafting ale for her family, out of necessity but not without the care and attention to making recipes that have influenced many of the early models for the traditional English beers we have come to love, so much. Many women across England also relied on selling their surplus to the public, as good ale, was always in high demand! Some of the ladies even obtained professional brewing permits and made a very prosperous living through their skill in the trade. Unfortunately, throughout Europe, the founding of guilds often forced women out of the brewing industry; however, in Haarlem in the Netherlands, because women could inherit guild membership from spouses, many continued in the profession. Data collected on the period between 1518 and 1663, showed that 97 Brewster’s, three-quarters of whom were widows, were operating among a total of 536 brewers in the city. Finland is another European country with an incredibly rich, “feminine” brewing history. For a millennium, Finish Brewster’s created a native beer made from smoked malts, juniper, and hops. There is even quite a bit colorful Finnish mythology surrounding some very notable women; One of my personal favorites is a story of a woman that made a beer that consisted of honey and bears saliva… One must wonder; how did she get that bear to spit in the kettle? Anthropologists have reported that in Viking culture, women were the only ones allowed to be involved in the production of ale and they maintained their proprietary recipes to be passed to their daughters and granddaughters. In Danish communities, Alewives were considered the standard up until about the middle ages. After this time, the newly formed and male-dominated brewers’ guilds, made it very difficult for these women to operate commercially, within the more metropolitan areas but their markets within the more rural countryside continued to prosper for some time. Over a period of many years, during the 17th and 18th centuries, Europe began to make a noticeable shift, and beer production became a more male-dominated field, though women were still often involved with the sale of the libation. Unfortunately, with this shift, came some unfortunate attitudes toward women and brewing beer. One famous poet of the time wrote of an alewife’s appearance as, “striking and nasty”; female brewers were often dramatically depicted as witches and malevolent temptresses out to lure unsuspecting men into their occult ceremonies. (Must have been some really good beer.) Thankfully, that level of extremism was relatively short-lived by chronological comparison, in much of the Western world. Brewing traditions in North America, also started with women, specifically, native women. In my own “backyard” of Tucson, Az, the women of the Tohono O'odham brew a traditional beverage made from the Saguaro cactus called tiswin, to be used for certain spiritual rituals, made from corn. This is just one of many examples of Feminine, Native American brewing traditions, many of which center around fertility. Early colonial women were also compulsory homebrewers, as “new land” generally does not come with brewery infrastructure, included. A surprisingly little-known fact is that Martha Jefferson, wife of Thomas Jefferson, was renown for her wheat beer recipe! It was not uncommon for a colonial woman to inherit and take over her husband's brewing operation, should he die or become too unwell to run it himself. One of the oldest colonial brewhouses that still stands today in Pennsylvania, was built in 1713 by a woman named, Elizabeth Haddon, in the backyard of their mansion while her husband was away on business… Talk about a surprise upon returning home. He got over it though and let’s be honest, you probably would, too! (I would). Further north, in Canada, an English immigrant named, Susan Oland started a brewery of her own after coming to Canada with her husband in 1865. Prior to owning her own operation, she ran a brewery with her husband before his unfortunate passing. Susan was so committed to her craft she presented herself as a male to her market, as female brewmasters were still not entirely accepted as legitimate in Canada at the time. Though it is likely you may have never heard Susan’s name before, if you have had Moose Head beer, you have likely had “new age” versions of her original recipes! (Photo: Susannah “Susan” Oland) Fast forward, to between the beginning of the industrial revolution and the early 1970s, women were phased out of commercial brewing operations almost entirely. By the latter part of the 1970s, women began to quietly reappear at the kettle, holding the mash paddle, once again. Unfortunately, so quietly, that their sizeable contributions often went unnoticed and uncredited early on. Suzanne Stern Denison and Jane Zimmerman worked at and invested in Sonoma, California’s now, long-closed New Albion Brewing, established in 1976 and the first new brewery in America since Prohibition, however, Jack McAuliffe is most often the only person mentioned as founder. It’s now generally seen as an unfortunate “pass over” in the history of female brewery proprietors. American women such as Jill Vaughn and Rebecca Bennett have been successful at becoming top brewmasters at Anheuser-Busch, where they developed brands such as Bud Light Platinum, Shock Top, and the Straw-Ber-Rita. Patricia Henry, another notable figure in a modern brewing and the first African American woman to manage a major American brewery, Miller Brewing Company, now MillerCoors, in Eden, NC. The ’80s saw a noticeable uptick in the number of women in the United States, especially, returning to commercial brewing. Carol Stoudt founded Stoudts Brewing Company in Adamstown, Pennsylvania in 1987; she was one of the first well-known female brewmasters since Prohibition in the country and the nation's first known female sole proprietor. Teri Fahrendorf; founder of the Pink Boots Society, Irene Firmat; founder of Full Sale, Deborah Carey; co-founder of New Glarus, and many more were the women responsible for bringing about the renaissance of women in the Brewing industry. (Photo: Carol Stoudt of Stoudt’s Brewing Company) Starting in the mid-2000s, the craft beer industry has been seeing another sizeable influx of female brewers, Brewery owners, and sole-proprietors. Women once again, are ascending the steps to the kettle platform, but this time, not quite as quietly. Now, more than ever before, Brewster’s from around the world are finally starting to get the credit they deserve for making great beer! Nowadays names like; Elise lane; CEO and head Brewer of Scarlett Lane Brewing, Celeste Beatty and Briana Brake; co-founders of Rocky Mount Brewing, Carol Pak; the founder of Makku, Shyla Sheppard and Missy Begay; founders of Bow and Arrow Brewing Co., represent a very small sample of the extremely talented “women in beer” across North America. It is not just North America taking notice, either… In 2015, the BBC's "100 Women" project, honored Leimin Duong, a Vietnamese-Australian woman, who brews strawberry beer, as one of the most influential women of the year; Australian Brewster’s Jayne Lewis and Danielle Allen, were honored with the Champion trophy for Medium Australian Brewery by the Australian International Beer Awards; Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela, is a brewer, brewery owner and the first black South African accredited as a trainer for the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and as a certified beer judge for the South Africa Beer Judging Certification Program; Emi Machida, has run her family's 130-year-old brewery for ten years as the master brewer and has won seven gold medals for her sake from the Annual Japan Sake Awards; Miho Imada, is noted for her Hiroshima-style “junmai ginjo” method which uses very soft water, low temperatures and a slow fermentation process to bring out the fruity flavors and aromatics. The list really could go on and on! (Photo: Leimin Duong) (Photo: Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela) As a woman in beer myself, this shift “back” to the acceptance of “women in beer” gives me great joy! Making amazing beer for people to enjoy is something that ANYONE, with enough passion and drive can do, no matter if they are male or female, brewing is for everyone. I hope you enjoyed this and maybe even learned something you did not know! I think it is safe to say, the future of women in the commercial brewing industry is bright! You never know, you might even be raising the world's next great Master Brewster! Cheers! Ashley
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