How many beer bottles do I need?

128 ounces per gallon × 5 gallons = 640 ounces

640 ounces ÷ X ounces per bottle = Y bottles

Here are some numbers for bottle sizes you can order online.

• 6 oz = 106
• 187 mL = 101
• 12 oz = 53
• 375 mL = 50
• 16 oz = 40
• 500 mL = 37
• 22 oz = 29
• 750 mL = 25
• 32 oz = 20
• 1 L = 18
• 1.5 L = 12
• 64 oz = 10
• 2 L = 9

Brush Valley Brewer’s Imperial Celebration Extract IPA

Gretchen and I really like Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. We stock up on it every winter. To celebrate July 4th this year, I decided to make a bigger version of it. I looked at a few clone recipes and what Sierra Nevada had to say, then I converted it to extract and cranked it up a bit. Here is my recipe:

Makes four 22-ounce bottles

OG: 1.082 SG
FG: 1.020 SG
ABV: 8.4%
IBU: 79.4
SRM: 8.6 (Amber)

Ingredients

• 1.4 pounds Alexander’s Pale Malt Kicker (end of boil)
• 0.5 pounds Simpson’s Caramalt (steeped)
• 0.1 ounce Chinook pellets (60 minutes)
• 0.1 ounce Centennial pellets (60 minutes)
• 0.1 ounce Centennial pellets (15 minutes)
• 0.1 ounce Cascade pellets (5 minutes)
• 0.15 ounce Chinook pellets (in primary)
• 0.15 ounce Centennial pellets (in primary)
• 0.15 ounce Cascade pellets (in primary)
• Wyeast American Ale propagator pack (1056)

Directions

1. Make a 1-quart starter several days in advance.
2. Crush the CaraMalt and place it in a disposable grain bag. Bring 1 quart of water to 165°F in a 12-quart pot. Place the grain bag into the pot and allow to steep for 30 minutes.
3. Bring another quart of water to 165°F and use it to rinse the grain bag. Dispose of the steeped grain.
4. Add sufficient water to make 5 quarts in the 12 quart pot. Bring to a boil.
5. Add 0.1 ounces Chinook pellets and 0.1 ounces Centennial pellets. Continue boil for 45 minutes.
6. Add 0.1 ounces Chinook pellets. Continue boil for 10 minutes.
7. Add 0.1 ounces Cascade pellets. Remove from heat and add 1.4 pounds of malt extract. Stir to dissolve. Return to heat. Boil for 5 minutes.
8. Turn off heat. Cover. Place pot in a sink of cold water. Stir wort with a sanitized spoon. Be careful to not aerate the wort while hot. Change the water occasionally as it warms up. Continue until wort reaches 70°F.
9. Pour wort into a sanitized 1-gallon jug through a sanitized funnel with a screen to remove the sediment.
10. Swirl the starter to suspend the yeast. Measure out 0.5 cups into a sanitized measuring cup. Pitch. Cap the jug with a sanitized stopper and shake to aerate. Affix a sanitized 3-piece airlock and drilled stopper. Place in a 65–75°F dark place for 1 week.
11. Place 0.15 ounces Cascade pellets, 0.15 ounces Chinook pellets, and 0.15 ounces Centennial pellets in enough warm (less than 167°F) water to just cover. Steep covered for 20 minutes. Add the hop tea and hops to a sanitized 1-gallon jug.
12. Using a sanitized siphon, racking cane, and siphon hose, transfer the beer from the primary fermenter to the secondary onto the hop tea. Affix a sanitized 1-piece airlock and drilled stopper. Place in a 65–75°F dark place for 1 week.
13. Combine 0.7 ounces DME with 12 fluid ounces of water. Bring to a boil for several minutes. Cool to 70°F. Add to a sanitized bottling bucket.
14. Using a sanitized racking cane and siphon hose, transfer the beer from the secondary to the bottling bucket.
15. Using a sanitized siphon hose and bottling wand, fill four 22-ounce bottles. Cap and store in a 65–75°F dark place for 2 weeks before sampling.

Notes

This was kind of fun. Though based on other clone recipes of a well known beer, I enjoyed trying to crank up the gravity and hops to make an imperial version that I could make with standard sized available ingredients. We enjoyed the beer. It was a bit sweet for me, but the two batches we made disappeared soon enough.

Shorter "Top 10 Steps to Better Beer"

From Chris Colby’s September 2005 article Top 10 Steps to Better Beer, annotated with my own notes:

1. Cleaning (PBW)
2. Sanitation (Star San)
3. Quality Ingredients (Vacuum-packed hop pellets stored in the freezer, DME)
4. Pitch Enough Healthy Yeast (Liquid yeast with starters)
5. Proper and Stable Fermentation Temperature (Son of fermentation chiller, fermwrap, stopper thermowell, and a digital thermostat)
6. Wort Aeration (Rock for 5 minutes)
7. Avoid Excess Tannins (steep in 1–3 quarts per pound, rinse with the same volume or less, stay under 170°F)
8. Keep Oxygen Away (move beer gently)
9. Vigorous, Full-Wort Boil (A 10-gallon Blichmann BoilerMaker™ Brew Pot on a Camp Chef Explorer. Woo hoo!)
10. Proper pH (Hmmm…)

What about proper wort chilling? What would another be? Maybe pitching at your fermentation temperature, though that might be part of proper wort chilling.

A Test

Posted with LifeCast

Test of LifeCast

I'm also trying out LifeCast.

Posted with LifeCast

Test of BlogWriter Lite

I'm trying out the free version of some blogging software for the iPod Touch. It doesn't look like it picked up my draft posts or has any way to save a post as a draft, either.

Okay. It shows up on the blog. I see it recognizes that there are no tags or categories. Maybe that is only available in the pay version.

It seems that this is actually an HTML editor. That is pretty tough when you have to tap 3 times to get a < and two more to get a p.

All that said, at least it allows updates. Something that LifeCast apparently does not. :(

Brush Valley Brewer’s Northwest Golden Cascade Extract IPA

I brewed this beer back in April after seeing the “Six-pack IPA” episode of the Basic Brewing Video podcast.

Makes four 22-ounce bottles

OG: 1.060 SG
FG: 1.018 SG
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: 66
SRM: 4.7 (Dark Straw)

Ingredients

• 1 pound Briess Golden Light DME (end of boil)
• 0.3 ounces Cascade pellets (60 minutes)
• 0.1 ounces Cascade pellets (15 minutes)
• 0.1 ounces Cascade pellets (5 minutes)
• 0.25 ounces Cascade whole (in primary)
• Wyeast Northwest Ale yeast propagator pack (1332)

Directions

1. Make a 1-quart starter several days in advance.
2. Put 5 quarts of water into a 12 quart pot. Cover. Bring to a boil. Remove cover.
3. Add 0.3 ounces Cascade pellets. Continue boil for 45 minutes.
4. Add 0.1 ounces Cascade pellets. Continue boil for 10 minutes.
5. Add 0.1 ounces Cascade pellets. Remove from heat and add 1 pound of dry malt extract. Stir to dissolve. Return to heat. Boil for 5 minutes.
6. Turn off heat. Cover. Place pot in a sink of cold water. Stir wort with a sanitized spoon. Be careful to not aerate the wort while hot. Change the water occasionally as it warms up. Continue until wort reaches 70°F.
7. Pour wort into a sanitized 1-gallon jug through a sanitized funnel with a screen to remove the sediment.
8. Swirl the starter to suspend the yeast. Measure out 0.5 cups into a sanitized measuring cup. Pitch. Cap the jug with a sanitized stopper and shake to aerate. Affix a sanitized 3-piece airlock and drilled stopper. Place in a 65–75°F dark place for 1 week.
9. Place 0.25 ounces whole Cascade hops in enough warm (less than 167°F) water to just cover. Steep covered for 20 minutes. Add the hop tea and hops to a sanitized 1-gallon jug.
10. Using a sanitized siphon, racking cane, and siphon hose, transfer the beer from the primary fermenter to the secondary onto the hop tea. Affix a sanitized 1-piece airlock and drilled stopper. Place in a 65–75°F dark place for 1 week.
11. Combine 0.7 ounces DME with 12 fluid ounces of water. Bring to a boil for several minutes. Cool to 70°F. Add to a sanitized bottling bucket.
12. Using a sanitized racking cane and siphon hose, transfer the beer from the secondary to the bottling bucket.
13. Using a sanitized siphon hose and bottling wand, fill four 22-ounce bottles. Cap and store in a 65–75°F dark place for 2 weeks before sampling.

Notes

Good clarity. Color of dark straw — not quite amber. Well carbonated. Good citrus aroma. Slightly “green” taste — could age longer. Served a bit too cold. Citrus flavor. Good bitterness. Not thin. Success! This was my first brew after a 14 year break. While it is not terribly complex, it was quite good and a good confidence builder.

Wort Chilling Time

I used my immersion chiller for the first time over Thanksgiving. I hear there are a couple of important temperatures to be concerned with, so I measured how long it took to get from one to the next. This is using MoreBeer’s Efficient Wort Chiller, 55°F ground water, and whirlpooling with a big ass stainless steel spoon, for 6 gallons of wort in a 10-gallon Blichmann BoilerMaker™ Brew Pot.

Seconds	°F
0	212
153	140
380	100
594	80
845	68

The upsot is that I got down to pitching temperature in just over 14 minutes.

Also, I drained the cooling water into a 5-gallon bucket. I had to empty it 6 times. So, it took about 30 gallons of water to do the cooling.

Brush Valley Brewer’s 2008 Red Cap Cider

Gretchen and I have been growing our own apples for years now. We bought a cider press a few years back and have been making ourselves sweet cider every fall. As I get back into home brewing, after a fourteen year hiatus, I thought I would try a hard cider. I decided to go for a medium-dry, petillant English cider. This is my first attempt at a hard cider.

Here is my recipe:


Ingredients

• 2 bushels Apples from several varieties
• White Labs English Cider Yeast (WL775)
• ½ teaspoon plus a pinch Wyeast Nutrient Blend
• 5 Campden Tablets
• 2 pounds Lactose (Milk Sugar)
• 0.75 ounces Malic Acid
• 0.25 ounces Wine Tannins
• 5 ounces Corn Sugar (for priming)

Directions

1. Pick the apples and allow them to sit at cellar temperature for one week.
2. Press the apples. You should end with something in excess of 5 gallons of juice. Measure the Brix and Gravity of the juice. Mine turned out to be 13.6/1.054 this year.
3. Make a starter by mixing 1 quart of juice with a pinch of yeast nutrient and bring to a boil for several minutes. Cool to 72°F. Place in a suitable container. I used a half-gallon growler. Shake to aerate. Pitch yeast. Affix an airlock. Ferment at 72°F for 2 days.
4. After pressing, place the juice in a bucket. Add 5 crushed Campden Tablets (one per gallon). Affix an airlock. Allow to sit at cellar temperature for 2 days.
5. Vigorously stir the juice to disperse any remaining Sulfur Dioxide gas resulting from the Campden tablets. Transfer the juice to a 6½-gallon glass carboy. Add ½-teaspoon of yeast nutrient. Rock to aerate. Pitch the yeast starter. Affix an airlock. Ferment at 72°F for 4 weeks.
6. Measure the Brix and Gravity of the cider. Mine turned out to be 5.3/1.001 (7% ABV) this year. Rack the cider to a 5-gallon glass carboy and allow to mature at 72°F for 8 weeks.
7. Mix the lactose, malic acid, tannin, and corn sugar in 5 pints of water and bring to a boil for several minutes. Cool to 72°F.
8. Add the mixture to the bottling bucket. Rack the cider to the bottling bucket. Bottle. Allow the cider to bottle condition at 72°F for 3 weeks before sampling.

Just for fun I measured the gravity after back-sweetening with the lactose. It brought it back to 1.014, which would be about as sweet as a typical finished ale.

Thanksgiving 2008 Brew Day

The Brewer in his Brewery
Originally uploaded by brushvalleybrewer

I brewed a milk stout on Thanksgiving this year. It was the Triple-X recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. Jamil talks about it at length in the Sweet Stout episode of his podcast. Things went really well.

It was my first full-boil. My first use of my wort chiller. Gretchen made me a really great meat pie for lunch. I had one of my Irresponsible Blonde Ale’s while I brewed. Everything seemed to go well.

Almost everything, that is. I forgot to crush my steeping grains. It was funny. When I finished the brew — Yes, I got all the way through without noticing — my wife said, “So, the grain mill worked all right then?” Eh? Grain mill. Right. Grain mill. OH SNAP!

Also, after the steeping I tried to rush the boil by starting the flame while I was topping up. Unfortunately, when I added the liquid malt extract, the bottom was already hot and some of it burned before I could get it all dissolved.

Finally, I forgot to measure my boil volumes. I think I boiled off one gallon in an hour, but I’ll have to be more careful next time.

I did manage to nail the target gravity and the brew is happily fermenting at 67°F at the moment. I plan to let it continue to do that and bottle it on the 17th.

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

This is actually a copy of my first post over at beerporn (completely SFW).

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
Originally uploaded by brushvalleybrewer

This is a review of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale from the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California.

Though it is only available seasonally, and marketed “especially for the holidays,” this beer is used by the Beer Judge Certification Program as an example of an American IPA and not a spiced or specialty beer. At 6.8% alcohol by volume this beer will give you a nice warm feeling of cheer on a cold winter’s night.

Sierra Nevada lists the ingredients as two-row pale and english caramel malts with chinook hops for bittering, cascade and centennial to finish and dry hop. They just say they use a “top-fermenting ale yeast,” but it’s probably the Chico yeast. If you look at some of the more popular clone recipes, you'll see that's really all there is to it.

The beer pours a clear copper color with a thick, creamy off-white head. The aroma is hoppy with hints of flowers, spice, citrus, and pine with a faint malt sweetness. The beer feels smooth on the tongue with the right carbonation for an American IPA and a crisp finish that leaves you wanting another. It has a good hop bitterness with a nice malt backbone, with hints of unsweetened chocolate and cherry, like biting into a Godiva cherry cordial.

Overall I really like this beer. The wife an I stock up on it every year between Thanksgiving and New Years.

Brewery Plaque

Brewery Plaque
Originally uploaded by brushvalleybrewer

I found a site that lets you make fake signs. I used it to make this plaque for my fictitious brewery.

About Me

I grew up with American beers: Schlitz, Stroh’s, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Little Kings, Mickey’s Big Mouth, and Busch. I enjoyed the variety.

At some point in my career I got a job that required much travel over long distances for long periods of time. By necessity, I drank the local beers: Australian, Japanese, Pilsener in Northern Germany, Helles in the South, Austrian beers, and French. All good in their own way. Then I got sent to England where it seemed that each town had its own brewery. Ah the variety.

I was married by then and my wife also became enamored of English beers. Returning home, my old standby beers left me wanting and my wife disgusted, so we started to look for ways to get the taste of the world beers we remembered.

She had a friend who was into home brewing. He and his wife brought their equipment over to our house and walked us through what was involved in making your own. It seemed simple enough, so on my thirty-fourth birthday, my wife got me a starter equipment kit, some ingredients, the Papazian books, and a membership to the American Homebrewers Association. I do not use the phrase “perfect woman” lightly.

I made a few batches — I even managed to make a passable stout that we still talk about — but I never really understood what was happening. When a batch did not turn out I did not know why.

Feeling a little frustrated, we turned back to the commercial market to find the budding craft brewing movement. Suddenly there were interesting local beers. Some were trying to reproduce authentic English ales. Others were experimenting with distinctly new styles. The market was full of interesting beer and you can only drink so much, so there was less need for me to brew my own haphazard beers.

While many of the craft brewers were good at making beer, some had problems with consistency and scale. Others were good brewers but not good business people. Still others simply succumbed to competition. The result of all this being that the market started to get stale again. The other issue was geographic. I live on the East coast and most of the interesting brewing was happening on the West coast. Oh, there were still good beers, but nothing like the craft brewing heyday. All of this left my heart to wander.

While all this was going on, a wonderful thing happened: The Internet. With it came electronic publishing, e-commerce, discussion forums, social networking, and podcasts. Thank you, Al Gore.

At the same time, all these people were learning new techniques for brewing, and understanding more about why things work and what happens at a chemical level, and they shared what they learned. New products were also coming to market: liquid yeasts, more interesting hop varieties, better malt extracts.

One of the new techniques that intrigued me was small-batch brewing. One day I happened upon the Basic Brewing Video podcast and the episode “A Six-pack of IPA.” James Spencer and Steve Wilkes showed how they made a simple American IPA in a one-gallon glass jug with minimal equipment or ingredients investment. I figured I could do that. I rounded up a maple syrup jug, ordered a drilled stopper, some hops, malt extract, and yeast, found the airlock from my original equipment kit, and tried it out. To my surprise, it worked.

I made a few more small batches and started experimenting with recipes. This time when something did not work out, the Internet was there to help me. I could ask in any number of forums, populated by experienced and dedicated brewers, what went wrong. If it had this smell, or this flavor, or this floating thing, what did it mean? If I wanted a certain flavor, color, aroma, or mouthfeel, how could I get it? I started to learn and I loved it.

I learned that temperature control is important. I never did anything special before to control temperature and frequently got rocket fuel. It was not very good, but I am a possum, so I drank it anyway. While I did not start out controlling the temperature, at least I decided to measure it. I bought myself a fermometer and stuck it to the side of my carboy. It taught me that working yeast can easily raise the fermentation temperature by 8°F. That meant that if my ambient temperature was 72°F — warm, but within the range of some ale yeasts — the fermentation was taking place at 80°F, which makes some nasty Fusel Alcohol. Yuck, nice and spicy! The lesson: Fermentation temperature is of the wort, not the ambient air. Since then I have moved to a thermowell to measure the fermentation temperature and have built a fermentation chiller with a modified home thermostat for temperature control.

I always knew that sanitation was important, but I was naive about it. It never occurred to me that my top-up water should be sterile. Even where I was cleaning appropriately, I was using bleach and did not understand the effects chlorine could have on beer. I really did not understand the difference between cleaning and sanitation. Now I use PBW and Starsan.

I certainly did not know about melanoidin production or hop utilization or DMS precursors. I have moved to a full-boil kettle to try to give better control here. The other thing about hops is the volatility of the flavor and aroma components. To help out here, I now have an immersion wort chiller.

I am still learning, but I think I am to the point where I can make a consistent extract brew. When I am confident I have it down pat, I will be ready to move on to the challenges of all-grain brewing.

Of course, others have found these tools and the craft brewing movement seems to be having a resurgence. Hopefully, it will serve as inspiration for me to brew more and better beers and not as an excuse to quit. We shall see.

Making a Yeast Starter

1. Calculate the starter volume required to achieve the number of yeast cells required for the desired pitching rate.

2. For each quart of starter required, add 3.5 ounces (1 cup) of DME and 1/40 teaspoon yeast nutrient to a quart of potable water.

3. Boil for 20 minutes to sterilize.

4. Cool to 70°F.

5. Pour into a sanitized container with a stopper and airlock.

6. Shake well.

7. Add yeast culture.

8. Let the starter ferment at or near your target fermentation temperature for 24–36 hours.

9. Periodically agitate to resuspend the yeast, aerate, and remove CO2.

10. Chill the starter for 24 hours to flocculate all of the yeast.

11. Decant the starter beer from the yeast cake.

12. Allow the yeast cake to warm to fermentation temperature.

13. Swirl the container to suspend the yeast in a slurry.

14. Inoculate the target wort using the slurry.