Practical Yeast Starter Culture

This is probably one of those things many other brewers have hit upon long ago, but I was amazed that I had not thought of this earlier.  It seems so obvious.

I have prepared starter cultures on and off over the years, but usually simply pitched with multiple smack packs with decent (but variable) results.  I had always used dry malt extract and some hops to prepare a boiled sterile wort to use to start the yeast culture.  This extra work often caused me to forgo the preparation of a good yeast starter culture.

With my system, I use a counter-flow chiller to cool the beer on the way to the fermenter (a 27 gallon conical fermenter in a freezer controlled by a dual temp thermostat).  Even with the counter-flow chiller, the finished wort in the fermenter is too hot to pitch the yeast right away, so I usually wait until the next day to pitch.  Therefore, I would prepare my starter the same day as I brewed.  One day it suddenly hit me - why am I preparing a separate wort specifically for the starter when I have just prepared ~18 gallons finished wort that day?  Why don't I take a gallon or so of the finished wort and use it as a starter?

This works great.  On the way into the fermenter, I take off about a gallon of the finished/cooled wort into a gallon jug.  Because the volume is only 1 gallon, it does not take this long to cool to pitching temp - usually by the time I finish cleaning up.  Once cool, I pitch yeast from a pre-swollen smack pack into the gallon of cooled wort, affix a blow-off tube and let it go over-night.  I even incubate the starter in the fermentation freezer with the cooling fermenter.  The next day, I simply pour the gallon of actively growing yeast into the fermenter and everything takes off.

I really like this practical way of preparing a starter culture.  Because it uses the same wort I prepared for the beer I was brewing, there is no extra work.  This encourages me to use a good starter every time I brew and my fermentations have been going great.  When there is no extra effort, its easy to follow best practice!

Note the starter in the gallon jug in front of the conical fermenter.

Used Bourbon Barrel

Just received an used bourbon barrel.  My plan is to brew my standard porter recipe later this summer and age 5 gallons of it in this barrel to impart the bourbon flavor and aroma.  I will compare this to simply adding a volume of bourbon to another keg (which I have done in the past with great results).  We will see if the portion aged in the barrel gets a more interesting flavor profile.

Practical Heating of Hot Liquor for HERMS

I have long used my hot liquor tank, heated by propane burner, with a copper coil heat exchanger to raise the temperature of the mash in my cooler tun.  The high BTU propane burner and heat exchanger do a great job of bringing my mash to strike temp.  The pump is connected to a temperature probe in the mash tun.  When strike temperature is reached, the pump is shut off and the mash stops recirculating and stops heating.  At this point I have to reduce the heat or turn it off to ensure I maintain the hot liquor at 170F to be used to raise the temperature of the mash for sparging.  This sparging raise (or other mash steps) involves very low heat to the hot liquor/heat exchanger that is turned off or on as needed.  The only drawback is that if the temperature of the hot liquor is not monitored closely, it sometimes raises to 190F or higher (have even brought to a boil with a good degree of neglect).

Although this is manageable, this got me thinking about using a heating element as opposed to propane.  This way, I could use a temperature probe heat controller to regulate the temp of the hot liquor and maintain 170F during mash heating steps.  I started investigating this option and found it to be unnecessarily complex to solve.  To convert the hot liquor to electrical heating element with the kind of heating power I get with propane would require me to install a 220V outlet.  Not something I relish doing myself nor paying someone to install.

This made me start to consider a much  more practical solution - Why not continue to use propane for the heavy duty heating and only use controlled electrical heating element for the relatively low heat required to maintain the hot liquor during steps in heating the mash?  This would allow me to use a lower wattage 110V heating element that could be plugged directly into my currently available electricity on the system.  A 110V element should provide sufficient heating for this purpose.  So, I have decided to add to the system a 110V heating element and temperature controller.  Rather than going through the side-wall, I think I will use the lid to suspend the element into the water.  Why drill another hole in my expense stainless steel pot?

There are lots of options on how to accomplish this.  One complete solution is the Brewer's Best Brew Heater. This is a complete heating element with 110V cord and plug and is suspended from the edge of the pot.  This thing even has an analog dial to control vessel temperature (empirically).  This heater will give 2200 watts which should be sufficient for this task.  Alternatively, there are lots of inexpensive drop in electric heaters for agriculture and marine applications.  But with these, I would also have to add a Ranco type temperature controller as well.  Maybe the premade system would be the most practical approach?

I will post an update once I have implemented this change and let you know how it goes.

Forced Carbonation

Forced carbonation - the act of forcing CO2 into solution as opposed to allowing the yeast to natural carbonate the beer has several advantages.  For me, the biggest advantage is speed.  You can have your beer carbonated and ready to drink within 24 hours.  In addition, the level of carbonation is much more controllable than depending upon natural carbonation.  You can calculate exactly how much pressure you need to get a specific level of carbonation based on the temperature of your beer.

There are three basic approaches I know of to force carbonation of beer in kegs.  I have used all with success and each has its advantages.  The first and slowest approach is to put the keg under the pressure you have calculated based on the amount of carbonation you desire.  For me, this is ~15 psi at ~42 degrees F.  Simply place the kegs under this level of pressure and wait about a week for the kegs to slowly carbonate.  I often force carbonate 1 keg using the next method below and let the other two slowly carbonate while I serve the first.  This method has the advantage of physical effort and lack of issues with over/unstable carbonation encountered with the more aggressive methods described below.

The second method is the quickest approach and gives you beer ready to drink within about 24 hours.  Although quick, this approach produces a carbonated beer that seems to me to be "unstable" and requires a lot of finesse during serving.  The beer does seem to "settle" over time and become easier to serve.  Due to my impatience, this is the method I have used the most.  To carbonate a keg using this method, crank the CO2 pressure up to 20-25 psi and attach to the keg you want to carbonate.  Next, sit down and place the keg across your legs with the carbonation "in" on the high side of the keg (this is important so that beer does not enter your gas lines).  Begin shaking the keg and/or rocking the keg side to side across your legs.  As teh top of the keg goes below the level of the bottom of the keg you should be able to hear CO2 bubbling in.  Continue to agitate the beer - which allows the CO2 to enter solution - for 4 minutes.  Yes - 4 minutes is sufficient and necessary.  Now, incubate the keg overnight at 20-25 psi.  The next day, you can reduce the pressure and serve.  The beer will produce a lot of foam until the carbonation has settled.  A word of caution - once you have shaken the keg, be careful not to release or reduce the pressure to that keg (can happen when you attach an additional keg to the system).  If pressure is released, the foam you just produced by shaking the keg will be pulled into your gas lines.

The third approach is the one I am currently using and may be a sign that I have mellowed somewhat with age. This approach is a compromise between the two approaches above and yields carbonated beer ready to drink in ~3 days.  To carbonate beer with this method, start by placing the kegs under 30 psi for 24 hours (no shaking is necessary).  Next, reduce the pressure to 20 psi for another 24 hours.  On the third day, reduce the pressure to 10 psi and enjoy.  This last method, although slower than the second, seems to produce a more "stable" carbonation which is easier to serve, yet is quicker than the first approach.

Introduction

I started homebrewing about 20 years ago.  As with most homebrewers, I started brewing extract recipes on my stove top.  This was a great way to brew the finest beer at a fraction of the cost of store bought beer.  As the brewing bug caught on, I graduated to partial mash recipes.  For several reasons, not the least of which was the birth of my first son, I went on a hiatus from brewing for several years.  

Upon taking on a new job and a move to a new city, I became great friends with a seasoned brewer who introduced me to the world of all grain brewing.  We combined skills and resources to develop an approach to brewing that combined a love of beer with a focus on keeping it simple that resulted in some of the best beers many enthusiast have ever tasted.

I do not claim to be the most knowledgeable of brewers.  I have many brewing colleagues that are so much wiser than myself.  What I will attempt to do here is pass along the insights I have gained over the years of what works and what is worth worrying about.  Its easy to get caught up in over-complicating the brewing process, but I believe that with brewing, as with most things in life, the old axiom of "Keep It Simple Stupid" is the best approach.  Keeping it simple and focusing on the flavors and styles I love have proven to be my success factors for brewing great beers.

I will attempt to post here those procedures and approaches I have found successful.  I do not claim they are the best or only way to success in brewing, but welcome comments or suggestions of what has worked well for others.  Above all, I try to keep it simple.  I hope you find the information posted here helpful.

"Relax, don't worry.  Have a homebrew." - Charlie Papazian