Information.
CONTENTS
......how to prime beer
......how to brew beer from Kits
......how to brew lager From Kits
......how to brew a fully mashed ale
......how to make wines sparkle
......how to calculate %age alcohol by volume
......how to make a 14% (by volume) wash using Still Spirits Triple Distilled turbo yeast
......how to make a 20% (by volume) wash using Alcotec 48 turbo yeast
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When I started brewing beer, more years ago than I care to remember, I tried
bottling it but soon gave that up as I found it almost impossible to prime it
just right. Very infrequently I would get it right but more often than not it
would be under-primed and there would be a saddening silence or it would be
over-primed and I would spray the walls and end up with a lap full of foam.
So, I have used kegs ever since. However, lately I have got into making Helles
Beers, Lagers and Strong Ales which I prefer from bottled and kegs do not give
me the textures I wanted in these beers and so I did some experimenting with
priming.
I have found the best way to prime a beer, without a doubt, is to go through
the normal process of fermenting, conditioning and clearing the beer. Then two
days before bottling (or kegging) it start off another brew. Then two days into
the new brew take 5% of it - which is about 2 pints into 5 gallons - and stir
it into your cleared beer. Then cap the bottles (or put the pressure cap on
the keg). If your new brew used a top fermenting yeast then put your bottled
or kegged beer in a warm place for a couple of days and then into a cool place
for at least 2 weeks. If your new brew used a bottom fermenting yeast then put
your bottles of keg in a cool place for 6 to 8 weeks. You should then have perfectly
primed beer.
If it is not practical for you to start fermenting another brew 2 days before
you need to bottle or keg your cleared beer then I have had successful results
with the following method. I poured 2 pints of boiling water onto 125 grams
of light spray malt. The boiling water makes it a lot easier to dissolve the
spray malt in a sterilized container - it takes ages to dissolve it in cool
water and leaves lumps. Then let it cool to about 15 °C and stir in about a 3
grams of bottom fermenting yeast and add this to your cleared beer. Give it
a thorough but gentle stir and bottle or keg you beer. When kegging beer do
not forget the Vaseline (or petroleum jelly) around the cap washer and thread.
Then after a day release some of the gas. Do this for 2 or 3 days and you should
evacuate most of the air in your keg - leaving mainly Carbon Dioxide. This will
keep your beer in good condition for a long time.
Sterilize all equipment thoroughly and rinse well with cold water. This
is best done using products such as VWP – put 2 good teaspoonfuls onto
your fermenting bin and pour on 1.5 to 2 gallons of hot water (it need not be
boiling). Swish all surfaces well for about 10 minutes. Pour away the sterilizing
solution. Remember to sterilize your spoon – and if using it, your hydrometer
and trial jar. Rinse all surfaces at least twice in clean, cold water.
While you are sterilizing put the tin(s) of your beer kit in hot water
for about 5 minutes to soften the contents.
Open the tin(s) and pour the contents into your fermenting bin. Boil
a kettle of water and rinse out all of the contents of the tins. Stir the contents
of the fermenting bin so it is evenly dissolved. If you kit requires the addition
of sugar you can use granulated sugar (but make sure it does not contain saccharin)
or you can use glucose powder or beer kit enhancer . The latter will give you
a maltier brew. You an also use spray malt which will give you a very malty
brew. If using beer kit enhancer then sprinkle it in slowly and stir well –
if you put it in quickly you will get lumps which are difficult to dissolve.
Fill the fermenting bin with cold water to the level recommended by your
kit instructions.
Stir well for at least one full minutes and a few minutes is better.
This is to get oxygen into your wort which the yeast will need to grow a strong
culture.
Sprinkle on the yeast and stir it in.
Cover your fermenter and put it somewhere which will be around 20 -
22 °C for ales and 8 - 12 °C for lagers. Do not be tempted to
put it anywhere too hot (above 26 °C as this will kill the yeast.) Use
a heater if you need to.
Ferment your beer until complete. You can determine this with a hydrometer.
Other indicators are that the yeast head had dropped back into the beer and
it look to be clearing. You can siphon it into a keg then and prime it or into
a wine fermenter – put and air lock on this and leave it to clear for a
week or two in a cool place. If you are bottling then I would recommend this
extra stage.
To prime you add about 100 to 125 grams of sugar and stir it in. This
will give you a secondary fermentation in the keg or bottles which will create
Carbon Dioxide to give you fizz and to keep out air (which will spoil your beer.)
If you have kegged your beer then smear the cap washer with Vaseline
and also the keg top thread. This will let you keep it air tight without shearing
off the top through over-tightening it.
When your beer has been in the keg for a day slacken the top and let
out some of the gas then make it air tight again. Do daily for 2 or 3 days so
that you expel all the air and just leave Carbon Dioxide over you beer.
Let your beer clear for a week or two and then you can start drinking
it. It will get better over about 4 to 6 week – if you can wait that long.
Other Tips
Water:
If your water is bad you can Burtonise it. This requires that you bring
it (all) to the boil and then add 2 teaspoonfuls (to 5 gallons) of Gypsum (Calcium
Sulphate) and let it boil in a open container for about 15 minutes. Then switch
the boiler off and let the precipitate drop.
Take off the clear water and if you are brewing Light Ale, Bitter, Strong
Ale or Barley wine add half a teaspoon (to 5 gallons) of Epsom Salts (Magnesium
Sulphate). If you are brewing Brown Ale, Winter Ale, Mild or Stout instead of
adding the Epsom Salts, add half a teaspoon of common salt (Sodium Chloride.)
Then use the Burtonised water for making your beer.
Priming:
The best way to prime is to start another brew 2 days before you plan
to keg or bottle your beer. Take 2 pints of this new brew and add it to your
cleared beer and stir it in. The will give you excellent priming.
It is not always practical to start off another brew so you can boil
1 litre (2 pints) of water, add 125 grams of light spray malt and stir it
in to dissolve it. Let this cool to around 20 °C and add 1 to 2 grams
of bottom fermenting yeast. You can miss out the yeast and most people do but
is does not work quite as well if you do.
Amount of yeast:
You need about 11 - 12 grams of dried yeast to get a good brew going. Some
kits only have 5 - 6 gram sachets in them. This is barely enough and your fermentation
will start more slowly. You may have trouble fermenting out rich (high content
malt) kits and those to which you have added beer kit enhancer or spraymalt
instead of sugar.
If you are using a 3Kg or a 3.6Kg kit, or you are using Beer Kit
Enhancer or Spraymalt instead of sugar you may wish to consider the use
of a yeast nutrient specifically designed for ales and lagers such as
Yeastvit. It must be used in small quantities as it has a strong
Vitamin B1 smell which you do not want to be evident in you fiinished
beer. It usually ensures you kits ferment out well and do not
stick around SG 1.015 - 1.020.
If you get a stuck fermentation or want to ferment everything out to total
dryness then use Dry Beer Enzyme.
Enhancing flavour:
If you think your kits are a little lacking in flavour then try using the
Brupaks Flavorpaks for ales. These are similar to the packs of hops
and grains found in the Brewers Choice beer kits from Brupaks and I think they
work very well.
Sterilize all equipment thoroughly and rinse well with cold water. This
is best done using products such as VWP – put 2 good teaspoonfuls onto your
fermenting bin and pour on 1.5 to 2 gallons of hot water (it need not be boiling).
Swish all surfaces well for about 10 minutes. Pour away the sterilizing solution.
Remember to sterilize your spoon – and if using it, your hydrometer and
trial jar. Rinse all surfaces at least twice in clean, cold water.
While you are sterilizing put the tin(s) of your beer kit in hot water
for about 5 minutes to soften the contents.
Open the tin(s) and pour the contents into your fermenting bin. Boil a
kettle of water and rinse out all of the contents of the tins. Stir the contents
of the fermenting bin so it is evenly dissolved. If your kit requires the addition
of sugar you can use granulated sugar (but make sure it does not contain saccharin)
or you can use glucose powder. (Some kits recommend the use of liquid malt extract
but I find it can give the lager a bit of a caramel flavour – I like my
lager clean and fresh tasting.) You an also use spray malt which will give you
a malty brew. If using spray malt then sprinkle it in slowly and stir well –
if you put it in quickly you will get lumps which are difficult to dissolve.
Fill the fermenting bin with cold water to the level recommended by your
kit instructions.
Stir well for at least one full minutes and a few minutes is better. This
is to get oxygen into your wort which the yeast will need to grow a strong culture.
Sprinkle on the yeast and stir it in.
Cover your fermenter loosely and put it somewhere which will be cold but
not freezing anywhere between about 8°C to 12°C. You do not need heat
for lager as the yeast is completely different from ale yeast. It is bottom
fermenting and will enhance the flavour of your brew if you let it. It likes to
ferment slowly over a long period of time.
Ferment your lager in the ‘bucket’ type of fermenter in a cold
place for a few (2 to 4 weeks depending on temperature. I leave it in the primary
fermenter until it just starts to clear but while there is still some foam on the
top. The foam contains Carbon Dioxide which will act like a protective coat.
After this period I siphon it off into a plastic 5 gallon (25litre) wine fermenter,
put an air lock on it and leave it in a cold place for 3 to 4 weeks. The I am
pretty sure the fermentation will be complete and the lager will be clear. The
wine fermenter stage is not mandatory but you will end up with far less debris
at the bottom of your bottle or mini-keg.
When it has stood in the wine fermenter for long enough then I siphon it
back into the first fermenter (having sterilized it) and I prime it either with
about 100gm of sugar light spray malt. I also usually add about ¼ teaspoon
of lager yeast too. Then I give it a good stir to make sure everything is
dissolved and evenly distributed. Finally, I bottle it (you must use beer bottles
and fit them with crown caps – any other bottles are not safe.) It is also
possible to use mini-kegs which hold 5litre (just over 1 gallon) of lager. The
advantage of these is that you can refrigerate them as they are small enough to
fit into a fridge and have it on tap. I do not use plastic kegs for lager as I
like it to have small bubbles rising in the glass – I do not get these with
plastic kegs.
For the first 5 to 7 days after bottling or kegging, keep the bottles or
kegs at room temperature and then store them in a cool place for a few weeks to
condition, after which you should find your beer has cleared and is ready for
drinking. As you have a live beer there is likely to be a small yeast
deposit at the bottom of the bottle. If you use bottles with shoulders and pour
the beer carefully you should be able to get a clear pint without any sediment.
Other Tips
Water:
If your water is hard or chalky then you need to soften it. This requires
you to bring it (all) to the boil and let it boil in a open container for about 15
minutes. Then switch the boiler off and let the precipitate drop.
When it has cooled and the precipitate has dropped to the bottom take off
the clear, soft water and use it for making your lager. You do not need to add
anything else to it for making lager.
Priming:
The best way to prime is to start another brew 2 days before you plan
to keg or bottle your beer. Take 2 pints of this new brew and add it to your
cleared beer and stir it in. The will give you excellent priming.
It is not always practical to start off another brew so you can boil
1 litre (2 pints) of water, add 125 grams of light spray malt and stir it
in to dissolve it. Let this cool to around 20 °C and add 1 to 2 grams
of bottom fermenting yeast. You can miss out the yeast and most people do but
is does not work quite as well if you do.
Amount of yeast:
You need about 11 - 12 grams of dried yeast to get a good brew going.
Some kits only have 5 - 6 gram sachets in them. This is barely enough and your
fermentation will start more slowly. You may have trouble fermenting out rich
(high content malt) kits and those to which you have added beer kit enhancer or
spraymalt instead of sugar.
If you are using a 3Kg or a 3.6Kg kit, or you are using Spraymalt or liquid
malt extract instead of sugar you may wish to consider the use of a yeast nutrient
specifically designed for ales and lagers such as Yeastvit. It must be used in
small quantities as it has a strong Vitamin B1 smell which you do not want to be
evident in you fiinished beer. It usually ensures you kits ferment out well and
do notstick around SG 1.015 - 1.020.
If you get a stuck fermentation or want to ferment everything out to total
dryness then use Dry Beer Enzyme.
Enhancing flavour:
If you think your kits are a little lacking in flavour then try
using the Brupaks Flavorpaks for lagers. These are similar to the
packs of hops and grains found in the Brewers Choice beer kits from
Brupaks and I think they work very well.
Mashing ales is the process of making beer from grains and hops. It is a
fairly straightforward process with a number of sequential steps. It does require
some specific items of equipment.
The following steps are common:
Calculate amount and heat up the mash liquor (22water)
Weigh out malts and adjuncts
Add grain to water and mash for 90 minutes
While mashing heat up liquor (water) for sparging (rinsing grain)
Run off liquor and sparge (rinse) grain
Collect required amount of liquor, put into boiler and bring to
rolling boil
Weigh out bittering hops, flavour hops(if used) and aroma hops(if
used)
When liquor is boiling add bittering hops and leave to boil for
90 minutes
20 minutes before the 90 minutes is up add your flavour hops
Switch off boiler and add your aroma hops
Strain wort through hops and cool to about 20 to 25°C
If people are thinking of mashing beer then I recommend they first
start by making a good a few good quality kits. This will enable you
to determine the quality of the water in your area and to perfect the
fermenting, clearing, priming and either bottling or kegging (depending
on what you prefer to do.)
While you are doing the above look out for a (preferably stainless
steel) boiler of net less than 25 litres capacity, 30 liters would be
better and make sure it has a l arge (or butterfly) element. You do
not want one with a small kettle element as the heat will not be so
evenly distributed and it might burn the hops during the boil.
When you have your boiler then I recommend you brew from malt extract
and hops. You need to find or design a recipe for a beer you like. In
reality this means deciding if you are going to use light, medium or
dark malt extract and the quantity of it. Also deciding on which hops
and the quantities you need. At this stage I would not advise the use
of adjuncts such as flaked maize, crystal malt etc. (There are a lot
of recipes for malt extract brewing in a book: Home Brewing by Graham
Wheeler. Unfortunately is has been out of print for some time but you
can often find them in charity shops.)
When you are brewing from malt extract then you should make the equipment
you will need for mashing beer from grain. Then you can go to the full
mash.
There are also some fairly obvious pre-requisites:
Designing the beer or finding a good proven recipe.
Getting the ingredients together.
Deciding if your water is of good quality for brewing or if you
need to prepare or burtonise your water. You need to had a good mineral
balance and the water should not be too hard or too soft (although
soft water is often preferred for lagers.) It should not be tainted
with chlorine etc. It is usually best to do one or two brews with
prepared water and one or two using unprepared water. If they both
ferment out well and you cannot tell the difference then the water
in your area is good for brewing and you need not go through the trouble
(and expense) of preparing it.
To prepare water you need a boiler which you fill with 25 litres of
water. You bring it to the boil and get a good rolling boil going. Sprinkle
in a couple of teaspoons of food grade calcium sulphate (food grade
gypsum) and let it boil for 15 minutes. Switch the boiler off and let
it stand for 10 to 15 minutes then siphon off the water. Leave all of
the gray deposit behind. You can then add half a teaspoon of Epsom Salts
(food grade magnesium sulphate) and a teaspoon of salt (sodium chloride)
to you water and use that for brewing.
You can use prepared water for brewing from kits, malt extract or
full mash brewing. The 25 litres will be sufficient for brewing from
kits and is likely to be sufficient for malt extract brewing but because
the grain absorbs and retains water you will need more when you do the
full mash. I estimate about 35 to 40 litres.
The process steps and equipment for the full mash are:
Warming up your liquor (water) for the mash to about 72°C in
the Summer and about 76°C in the Winter. Use your boiler for this.
Put a measured amount of liquor into your mash tun (a good guide
is to add up the weight of grains you will be using in Kg. Then multiply
this number by 2.5 to 3 (so you get an easy answer) and that is the
amount of water you need in litres.
Weigh out and the grains and adjuncts to the water in the mash tun
slowly and stir it in as you add. It is best to do this slowly as
you need to make sure there are no dry pockets in the grain – it
should be wet through evenly.
Check the temperature a adjust to around 66°C, insulate the mash
tun and leave to rest for 90 minutes. It may be advisable to check
the temperature about half way through. In the mean time use the boiler
to heat up the water you will need for sparging (rinsing all of the
sugars out of your grain.) The sparging water should be around 80°C.
Start your run-off from the mash tun and gently play a spray of
sparging water over the grains in your mash tun. The idea is to let
droplets of water run through the grain picking up the sugars in the
grain as they go. If you let the water run through the grain quickly
then it will form channels in the grain and you will not rinse out
much of the sugar. If you do not let it run through fast enough then
your grain will collapse into a heap and you will not be able to get
it through. A sparging arm is idea but a watering can with a fine
rose is commonly used.
When you have collected your design quantity of liquor (remember
that quite a bit will boil off in the next step) then pu tit in the
boiler and get it to a rolling boil. Be aware that as it starts to
simmer it will release quite a lot of foam which you need to stir
back in or cool the surface to stop it from forming.
When you have a rolling boil add the bittering hops you are using
and let boil keep going for 90 minutes. 20 minutes before the end
of the boil add any flavour hops and irish moss you are using.
At the end of the 90 minutes switch off the boiler and add any aroma
hops you are using. If you are using aroma hops then let them steep
in the liquor for about 20 minutes.
Run the wort off into your fermenter (using the settled hops as
a filter bed).
Cool the wort to a suitable temperature for pitching (adding) your
yeast (20 – 25°C). Before you add the yeast make sure you stir
in as much oxygen as you can because it will have been boiled out
of the wort and the yeast needs it to grow a good colony.
Things to bear in mind are that dark malts are quite strongly flavoured
and should be used advisedly and that small variations in quantities
of malts or hops make big differences to the appearance and flavour
of your beer.
Try to establish a work-flow which ticks the important boxes in the
process but suits you and you can repeat readily. It is really nice
when you have perfected a recipe you like and are confident of getting
it right every time.
| Temperature (°C) | Correction |
|---|
| 4 – 10 | – 2 |
| 11 – 17 | – 1 |
| 18 – 22 | 0 |
| 23 – 26 | + 1 |
| 27 – 29 | + 2 |
| 30 – 32 | + 3 |
| 33 – 35 | + 4 |
| 36 – 38 | + 5 |
| 39 – 41 | + 6 |
Assume the temperature of the reading you took before the start of fermentation
was 34°C and the SG reading was 1.047. First you get rid of the decimal point
so that your reading becomes 1047. To compensate for the temperature you look at
the table and see that for 34°C (i.e. 33 – 35) is + 3, so you add 3 to
1047, making a reading of 1050.
Assume the temperature of the reading you took when the fermentation
had finished was 15°C and the SG reading was 1.009. You get rid of the decimal
point, as above and your reading becomes 1009. To compensate for the temperature you look at
the table and see that for 15°C (i.e. 11 – 17) id – 3, so you subtract 1 from
1009, making a reading of 1008.
Then you take the second reading from the first reading and divide by 7.36.
i.e. (1050 – 1008) / 7.36 = 42 / 7.36 = 5.706%, or 5.7% alcohol by
volume, rounded to one decimal place.
Equipment:
Two 33 Litre fermenting buckets
Siphon tube fitted with U-bend
Stirring spoon with long handle
Heater (to maintain temperature at around 20°C
Ingredients:
Still Spirits Tripple Distilled Turbo Yeast
Still Spirits Turbo Carbon
Still Spirits Turbo Clear clearing agent
6 x 1Kg bags of white granulated sugar
Method:
Sterilize all equipment thoroughly.
Put 21 litres of water at a temperature of 30°C into the fermenter and
stir in the six 1Kg. Bags of white granulated sugar.
Make up to 25 litres with water at a temperature of 30°C.
Stir in the Still Spirits Triple Distilled Turbo Yeast.
Knead the bag of Turbo Carbon carefully so as to loosen the carbon but
be careful not to burst the bag then add the carbon to the fermenter and stir
well.
Insert heater, cover fermenter loosely (– fermentation is fast
and a lot of carbon dioxide gas is released) and leave to ferment for 1 week.
After a week measure the gravity of the wash – if below 0.990 then go
to the next step, otherwise let it ferment a bit longer and check the gravity
again.
Rack off into the other 33 litre fermenting bucket and degas well by
stirring or pouring the wash from one bucket to another several times.
Add part A of the Still SpiritsTurbo Clear clearing agent while stirring
and stir it in well then leave it for one hour.
Add part B of the Still Spirits Turbo Clear slowly while stirring gently
and stop stirring when the part B runs out then leave it for a couple of days to
clear.
Finally, rack off into a sterilized container.
Equipment:
Two 33 Litre fermenting buckets
Siphon tube fitted with U-bend
Stirring spoon with long handle
Heater (to maintain temperature at around 20°C
Ingredients:
Alcotec 25 litre pack of activated carbon
Alcotec Turbo Klar clearing agent
8 x 1Kg bags of white granulated sugar
Method:
Sterilize all equipment thoroughly.
Put 19 litres of water at a temperature of 35°C into the fermenter and
stir in the eight 1Kg. Bags of white granulated sugar.
Make up to 25 litres with water at a temperature of 35°C.
Stir in the Alcotec 48 Turbo Yeast.
Knead the bag of activated carbon carefully so as to loosen the carbon but
be careful not to burst the bag then add the carbon to the fermenter and stir
well.
Insert heater, cover fermenter loosely (– fermentation is fast and a
lot of carbon dioxide gas is released) and leave to ferment for 1 week.
After a week measure the gravity of the wash – if below 0.990 then go
to the next step, otherwise let it ferment a bit longer and check the gravity
again.
Rack off into the other 33 litre fermenting bucket and degas well by
stirring or pouring the wash from one bucket to another several times.
Add part A of the Alcotec Turbo Klar clearing agent while stirring
and stir it in well then leave it for one hour.
Add part B of the Alcotec Turbo Klar slowly while stirring gently
and stop stirring when the part B runs out then leave it for a couple of days to
clear.
Finally, rack off into a sterilized container.