Beer Brewing Calendar

A Calendar is invaluable for those of us that have busy, sometime hectic, lives. Between work or your business, kid’s activities, birthdays, holidays and hobbies, it’s important to schedule everything so that you don’t overlap activities, or conflict with others. Many of us home Brewers haven’t given a Brew Calendar much thought because we squeeze in a brew day on our off time, which appears to be the best way to schedule a brew day. However, a Brew Calendar is more than scheduling around a busy life of activities and an occasional brew day. The Brew Calendar is about the brew day preparation, competition scheduling, beer style scheduling, fermentation scheduling and club meetings and events. Brewing requires some forethought into setting up recipes, purchasing supplies, creating yeast starters, brewing beer styles based on seasons, aging, competitions, and conflicts with others planned events. 

What calendar do you use? Do you pull out the old paper flipping calendar with the cute puppies or go digital? The old school paper calendars are often the preferred medium for scheduling activities and would be difficult for some brewers to change to digital calendars. However, I'm partial to the digital calendars because it can be synced to your computer, mobile phone, other people in your life and organizations. However, either way works as long as you accommodate everyone's schedule to avoid conflicts.

I use the Google Calendar because I can incorporate my Son's baseball schedules, practice and tournaments, while my wife schedules our girls dance practice and competitions. My wife and I share our personal & shared events so that they don't conflict with each other, and all these calendars can be shared, making it easier to set it up and maintain.

Setting up your calendar: A calendar should be divided into several beer and brewing related categories. If you use an online or digital version of a calendar, the club meetings, competition dates and beer styles should be set with an annual repeat function to avoid entering the same information annually or forgetting an important annual event. Using a color for each category is very useful when reviewing scheduled events. A paper/cardboard calendar can also accommodate different type of calendar categories by using different highlighter colors for each category. For instance, you might use orange for personal, yellow for brewing & fermenting and red for competitions. For the paper calendar, a “key” is required to keep the colors the same month to month. This “key” is a section of the calendar or a separate page with each category name highlighted with a color. For each event on the Calendar, the corresponding category’s highlighter color would mark that event.

There are several categories to consider within a Brew Calendar as noted below:

1.     Beer Competitions

2.     Fermentation & Temperature Schedule

3.     Preparation and Brew Days

4.     Seasonal & Beer Style Scheduling

5.     Club Meetings & Events

6.     Clearing and Bottling/Kegging

Competition season starts the first of the year through summer with some trailing competitions during the fall and winter. The American Homebrewers Association National Homebrew Competition holds their first round of judging in March followed by second rounds. And, clubs like the one I belong, the Maltose Falcons, hold annual competitions like the Doug King Memorial in January, and the Mayfair Homebrew Competition in April. Some beers, with exceptions, should be brewed and entered into a competition freshly made, while others require aging.

Your brew schedule will be limited to the number of vessels allowed in your fridge at one time. In addition, the fermentation temperature of one beer can conflict with another beer. Brewing a Lager will put your fridge on hold until the end of lagering period, making it difficult to brew and ferment Ales due to the fermentation temperatures and lagering periods. However, in contrast, Ales with common fermentation temperatures work well with multiple fermentations, allowing multiple brew days.

The weekend of your brew day will be followed by a fermentation schedule. I typically block two weeks for Ale fermentation and more for Lagers so that I know how many vessels are in my fridge along with required fermentation temperatures. In the example below, you will see the first half of the month includes three solid lines for fermentation over a two week period. This indicates I have three vessels fermenting in the fridge during this period. Because I know the fridge is full, I won’t brew until at least one fermentation vessel is removed from the fridge.

Brew day preparation is a no-brainer. However, scheduling a brew day forces you to prepare ahead of time to allow a timely visit to the homebrew supply store, go online and create a yeast starter. Unlike my previous brew on-the-fly day, due to the lack of planning, where I did not set up my yeast starter. The lack of planning unfortunately forced me to buy more yeast, which I could have avoided and saved some money.

Beer style scheduling applies to every beer style. What’s important is knowing how beer style scheduling applies to you. First, determine what you’re trying to accomplish with your beer(s). Is it for consumption or competition? Does it need to be consumed or submitted to a competition fresh or require aging? The second consideration for beer style scheduling includes specialty beers or certain seasonal beers styles. Saison's ferment best in the heat of summer, which would otherwise require heat source if done in the winter. Advanced brewers are not typically concerned with seasons due to the use of temperature controlled fridges & freezers. However, ambient temperatures outside the fridge/freezer can assist in obtaining your temperature, which may require scheduling based on the season.

Club meetings and events will take up one or more days per month. My club typically meets on the first Sunday of the month, which uses up one of my weekends and leaves three or less weekends to brew. If you are involved in administration or management of the club, that is also going chip away at your available time on the calendar.

The last category is the clearing, bottling or kegging. This is typically not as high of a priority unless your schedule is very busy. You could do as usual and clear, bottle and/or keg on-the-fly. However, if you have a busy schedule, planning your final product is certainly helpful.

The Brew Calendar organizes your brewing process along with other personal activities. It helps keep track of scheduling brew days, fermentation, beer styles and creating the final product for consumption or competitions.

Cheers,

David Lesteredule

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Easy Chocolate Raspberry Liqueur

This will be my shortest blog ever. That's because this is super easy, and phenomenal (slight over-selling, but wait, there's more). Seriously, this is really tasty and fun for an after dinner drink. Or, for a nip or two once in a while.

The recipe is easy. Buy a bag of frozen Raspberries, your favorite Cocoa mix and a good Vodka. Don't be cheap on the Vodka, the flavor comes through and cheap Vodka will make it taste bad.

Here is the step by step process:

1. Blend 1 cup of Blackberries with a quarter cup of sugar and two tablespoons of Cocoa. The blending will liquefy the sugar and cocoa.
2. Strain the mixture through cheese cloth into a bowl.
3. Add the bottle of Vodka to the mixture and stir.
4. Use a funnel and add back to the Vodka bottle. You will have some left over, so be prepared with another bottle, or mason jar.
5. When it runs low, pull the remaining mixture and add it back to the Vodka bottle.
6. Chill. You will need to shake the bottle prior to pour.

Note: Using a lot of sugar without cocoa makes this taste like cough medicine. The magic comes from the combination that includes the cocoa mix. If you decide to make this without the cocoa, use the sugar sparingly to slightly accent the fresh raspberries.

Easy "Hard Cider" with Rum & Mulling Spices

The following recipe is perfect "sit by the fire" type of drink with a warming amount of alcohol. This is not a Cider that is fermented. It's very easy and doesn't require anything more than apple juice, rum and spices.

To make a Cider with Mulling Spice drink, you will need at least one gallon of apple juice. I am aiming for 5% alcohol so that it's warming, not biting.

Remove 2 3/4 cups of juice from the Container so that you can add the spices, tea and alcohol.

Here are the mulling spices:
1 Tsp Cinammon
1 Tsp all spice
1 Tsp Nutmeg
1 Vanilla bean, cut and scrape
    or 1 Tsp of Vanilla
1 Black Tea Bag

Add 2 cups of good Dark Spiced Rum (see calculation below) and 1 Tablespoon of dark sugar for that slight molasses. Now add all the mulling spices to the gallon container of juice except the Black Tea Bag.The tea bag adds a slight tanic flavor similar to wine. Make a hot tea with the tea bag into 1/2 a cup of water. Add while hot to the gallon of juice.

Place the container in the refrigerator to avoid spoiling and/or fermentation. Taste daily until the flavors meld to your taste. When you believe it's ready, filter out the ingredients by pouring into another container through cheese cloth.

Serving

Shake the container of juice and pour enough liquid into a pan to adequately serve your guest. Warm to serve in glasses. Add a cinnamon stick to the glass and pour your apple cider for a delicious warm Christmas Drink

Cheers and enjoy,



Calculating amount of 80 proof/40% ABV Rum needed for a 5% ABV in 1 gallon of Hard Cider:

1. 1 Gal. = 128 oz
2. 128 oz x 5% ABV=6.4 oz of 100 proof (to find how many oz of 100% proof for 5% ABV)
3. 6.4 oz / 40% ABV = 16 oz, or 2 cups (divided oz needed by ABV of spirit used since it isn't 100 proof)

Alcohol By Volume (ABV)

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Fall Brewing Schedule - How to Make a Last Minute Christmas Beer

Fall Brew Schedule

How to Make a Last Minute Christmas Beer

Summer is gone and Fall is upon us. It's time to brew dark, big ABV and holiday beers.

In the following article I will address Christmas Beers, along with a recipe formulation. I know it's late to brew a big ABV Christmas Beer, but you can compensate so as not to require aging.

First, the available time before the next holiday is a major factor. I'm writing this towards the end of October, which gives you about 1 1/2 to 2-months before Christmas and the New Year.

Because big ABV beers need time to mature, you will need to stay with low ABV beers. Most Ales will be ready for Christmas if started now. Big ABV beers, Sours and other beers that need aging should consider brewing in December or January for next years holiday.

A Winter Seasonal Beer under 30C of the BJCP Beer Style Guidelines suggests holiday spices, specialty sugars, brown sugar and spices that are reminiscent of mulling spices or Christmas holiday desserts. I would suggest considering wood chips plain or soaked in rum, bourbon or whiskey, orange peel, cherries, figs, chocolate (a favorite of mine) and spices.

The base beer can be a American Barley wine, Belgium Strong, Belgian Dark Strong, Porter, Stouts, wheat, American or English Brown. However, as noted earlier, keep the ABV low enough to avoid aging the Beer. It's very important that there is only a hint of spices and fruits so as not to overwhelm the beer's malt flavors.

The following is a list of spices and fruits used in commercial and home-brewed examples of Christmas Beers:

Spices for Winter Ales include:

Allspice
Cardamom
Cinnamon
Clove
Coffee
Coriander
Ginger
Grain of Paradise
Nutmeg
Vanilla

Fruits for Winter Ales include:

Orange Peel

Cherries
Blackberries
figs

Other:
Pine
Cocoa Chocolate
Toffee
Bourbon Barrel (Bourbon soaked chips)
Rum Barrel (Rum soaked chips)

Commercial Examples of Christmas Beers

The following are commercial examples I enjoy:

Anchor Steam Brewery in San Francisco makes a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Ale. Although it is only 5.5%, the beer and it's wintery flavors are bold, including pine, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate. Bob Brewer (Head Brewer at Anchor Steam Brewery) brought a couple cases to my club, the Maltose Falcons, when we won Club of the Year in 2013. It's a fun beer to drink.

Goofy pic of me at Anchor Steam in front of the Mash Tun

St. Bernardus Christmas Ale at 10% ABV with typical Christmas spices. The Ale is dark as chocolate, malty without being too sweet.

Troeg's The Mad Elf Holiday Ale is an American Strong Ale that clocks in at 11%. This beer has a big cherry flavor component along with chocolate and malty sweetness. However, making beers this strong will require aging.

Ommegang's Adoration is a Belgian Strong Ale that is 10% and coriander, cardamom, mace and grains of paradise, with a hint of sweet orange peel.

Christmas Beer Recipe Formulation

The Base Beer:

In my recipe formulation, I want a base beer that is dark, malty sweet, and I want to avoid the harsh tannin's from dark grain husks and big hoppy beers. Therefore, I will avoid Stouts, sours and IPA's, and consider either a Brown, Porter, Black Lager or a Saison. In this recipe formulation, I will use a Porter recipe as the base beer, which has won 1st place in multiple competitions due to it's dark color and it's close kinship to a stout, but doesn't have the harshness of roasted barley.

Hops, Spices and Fruits

When I think of Christmas spices I think of chocolate, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg, all balanced in harmony.

Base Malt

I like the 2-row and Munich Malt combination, and think it would marry well with the yeast, hops and spices. I added a small amount of wheat malt to stabilize the foam due to the addition of cocoa, which has oils that will degrade the foam at time of pour.

Crystal Malts

Crystal malts should be used based on its flavor. For a porter, I believe that the 80°L crystal malt is the most appropriate due to its pronounced caramel, slight burnt sugar and raisins.

Other Additions through blending spices:

I think that Bourbon is appropriate for this beer. I'll soak wood chips in Bourbon and add them to the secondary. To avoid making your beer taste like sawdust, flash boil the wood chips for 30 seconds prior to soaking them in Bourbon. It appears to have worked well in previous beers, but I'm still experimenting with this method. I added brown sugar to thin the beer a little and to get slight molasses flavor.

ABV

I should be able to get 6.0% to 6.5% ABV without aging. This is dependent upon the health of the yeast and temperature control.

Yeast

Think of yeast as the Engine pulling a train. It does all the work and requires enough energy to pull through the fermentation. If you are not aware, or have ignored it previously, you must have an adequate amount of yeast bodies, nutrients and Oxygen. A 1-Liter starter with one vial or smack pack of yeast fermented at 1.04 OG on a stir plate, or swirl starter every couple hours, is the minimum required for a clean fermentation.

It is my opinion that too much yeast is better than too little. I have used multiple trillion cells in a simple 6 gallon brown ale that fermented out within 48 hours and it came out clean without any flaws. On previous occasions, when I was new to brewing, I used one pack, period. It took almost two weeks and it didn't ferment out completely and suffered multiple flaws. Take my advice if you're new to brewing, focus on the health of yeast for clean professional tasting beer.

For my Christmas Beer I plan on using a California Lager Yeast I previously used at Ale temperatures from a previous batch. I estimate it to be several trillion cells. You can use an American Ale Yeast with a 1 Liter starter to keep the beer clean.

The Last Minute Christmas Beer Recipe

All Grain Recipe - (Check back later for the extract recipe)
12.00 lb.   2-Row Barley Malt
2.00   lb.   Munich Malt
0.25   lb.   Wheat Malt

Hop Schedule
0.25   oz.  Columbus pellet 13% AA (60 Minutes)
0.50   oz.  Columbus pellet 13% AA (20 Minutes)
0.50   oz.  Columbus pellet 13% AA (0 Minutes)

Malts and Additions added at end of boil (flame-out):
0.75   lb.   80° L Crystal Malt
0.75   lb.   Chocolate Malt
0.50   lb.   Special Roast (not roasted barley) or Victory Malt (both considered biscuit malts)
2.00   lb.    Dark Brown Sugar
0.25   lb.    Cocoa powder
0.50   Tsp. Cinnamon
0.50   Tsp. Allspice
0.50   Tsp. Nutmeg

Note: Do not mistake "roasted barley" for "special roast." Roasted barley is harsh tasting and is most appropriately used in stouts. Some brewers have used it in other styles, but do a cold soak and add it to the boil at flame out. However, it's still harsh. Stay with Victory, Special Roast or other biscuit type malts.

The Crystal, Chocolate and Biscuit malts are added at the end of the boil (or, better yet, a cold soak the night before then added to end of boil, or flame-out) to avoid harsh tannin's from the grain husks, resulting in a mellow, balanced tasting beer. The only downside is the lower efficiency of these malts.
However, lower efficiency can be compensated by adding 25% of the total "flame-out" grain weight  (in the form of 2-row barely malt) to the base malt grains at flame-out (2lb. flame out grains x 25%=.50 lb additional base malt). e.g., figure out the weight of the grains added at flame out. In this case it's 2 lb. Multiply by 25%, which equates to 0.50 lb. Now, weigh out the 0.50 lb in 2-row (base malt) and add it to the existing base malts, increasing the efficiency and compensating for lower efficiency of the grains added at flame-out. Sorry if that's confusing, hopefully I explained it correctly.

For a maltier and bigger mouth feel, consider taking 2-quarts of the base malts during mashing and boil them for "melanoidins," which creates a bigger mouth feel and a rich maltier sweetnes than regular mashing. Be sure not to scorch or burn it. If so, throw it out and start again. Scorched or burned barley malt is rancid and will ruin the beer.

Mash Schedule

1. Mash in grains on 5 gallons of water at 162°F for a final mash temp of 154°F. Hold 60 Min.
2. Lauter the wort to the boiler and Boil 90 minutes
3. Add hops per schedule during the boil
4. Add hops, malts and spices at end of boil per schedule
5. Cool and move to a fermenter
6. Add yeast
7. Hold until fermentation is close to ending and either hold or move to secondary.

Fermentation

I'll ferment at 65°F ambient temperatures because the heat generated from the yeast will push it to approximately 68°F during fermentation. You can allow the temperature to increase after 48 hours of strong fermentation.

Clearing

You will need to filter or clarify the beer. The cocoa, cinnamon and other ingredients have hard particles that will not mix into the beer and will settle out of solution at the bottom of your keg or bottles. It's very harsh if you get a mouth full when you pour your first several beers.

There you go, last minute Christmas Beer. If you make this beer, be sure to respond with a taste test. No matter, if good, bad or indifferent.

Thank You and Cheers,

David Lester


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Spring and Seasonal Homebrewed Beers For The Month of March

It's March and Spring has Sprung. It's time to decide what you are going to brew the next 30 to 60 days. Yes, the weather is starting to change, it's going to get warm, trees and plants will bear fruit and we will once again begin brewing lighter beers for family, friends and ourselves.

We're done with the snifter full of big 12% Barley Wines, Octoberfests and Marzens. Big beers just doesn't seem right now that it's starting to warm up. Now is the time to make refreshing Ales and Lagers. However, don't fold up your proverbial Snuggie Blanket just yet. Certain beer styles that require aging will require some forethought and planning. So, let's make plans before you race off to look up your next lawn mower beer recipe.

If you want a big winter warmer that's aged 6 to 8 months, being that it's already March, you should

setup to brew one now. You can't brew a big beer a month before Octoberfest or December for winter consumption. In fact, January through May is the season to brew big beers for consumption within 9 to 12 months. Brewing big beers now will give your beer a chance to age nicely, with the consideration of aging over some wood or in a barrel. Big beers are also good for long term aging, which can be brewed anytime if long term is the intent.

Aged big beers to consider for consumption include Marzens and Octoberfest for August/September, and Imperial Stouts, Barley Wines and Scotch Ales for December/January. However, as of today, we are running late on styles that require more than 9 months aging. Unless, it is for competition, not consumption.

Competition season is a consideration for this months brewing. If you entered the National Competitions with the American Homebrewers Association, you've already brewed several of your favorite beers hoping for that big win, and maybe even a Ninkasi Award. For competitions with due dates in June and July, most Ales and Lambics should be brewed March through April. However, beers that require long term aging, now is the time to brew next years competition winning big beer.

Other beers to start in March for consumption and competition within the next 30-90 days include Pale Ales, Pilsners, Stout, IPA's, Lambics, Kolsch, Bocks, Maibock, Munich Helles/Dunkles, American Lagers and pretty much anything Ale and light, as opposed to a big beer.

Since IPA's are best consumed young, brewing in March will be best for consumption and competitions due in May/June. Lagers will require a lagering period, therefore a finished Lager would be ready for competition June or July depending on when you start and how quickly your yeast will finish out.

It's time to schedule your brewing for consumption and competitions. Good luck and feel free to post your responses.

Cheers,

How to re-use beer bottles for beginners

Many beer bottles can be re-used for home brewed beer, sodas and even wine. This is a great way to save on the bottom line when making your own beers, soda's and wine. As an alternative, you can purchase new beer bottles at any homebrewing supply store, but adds to the base cost of your beer. I estimate that homebrewing beer costs around $0.40 to $0.60 per 16 oz serving (except Hoppy IPA's and High ABV beers). However, include a bottle at $0.50 each and your cost is now the same as purchasing a beer at the store.

How to choose beer bottles for re-use

The type of bottle that you can re-use is important. First, the typical beer bottles have two types of caps; screw top and clamp on (not sure of the term for "clamp on," so hopefully your still following). You can't re-use the screw top bottles. That's because there are no caps available for them, or at least that I know of as of the date of this publication.

The second issue is glass vs. plastic bottles. If you insist on using plastic bottles, it is my opinion that short

term use is fine. However, plastic has a degree of oxygen absorption, which can oxidize the beer and make it dull and cardboard-ish tasting. But, for those of us that use our bottles every 30 days, it is my opinion that oxygen absorption is not going to be an issue. In fact, I've seen some very famous home brewers use plastic Litre bottles for storage.

Bottles also come in clear and different colors. This is very critical when brewing beer, but not so critical for sodas. Beer is sensitive to light. That is because light can change the chemical properties of the beer (simple terms without going into detail). Some molecules within beer change when struck by light and morph into a new chemical compound that is similar to a skunks glands. That is why you will find some beers smell "skunky." That is meant literally, the beer has a slight smell of a skunk. Therefore, you need beer bottles that block light to avoid "skunking" your beer.

With that said; the best beer bottles are brown. You should avoid clear and green bottles if possible. If you choose the clear, green or plastic bottles (typically clear or green) and will require extra care to avoid skunking your beer. This is accomplished by keeping your bottles in the dark.

How to Remove the Label

Fill a bucket, sink or container full of hot water. Place the bottle in the hot water and allow to sit for 15-30 minutes. I like to use the back side of a knife to scrape off the label, but anything with a straight or slightly curved edge will work. After the label is off, place the Bottle back in the water to soak the remaining paper and glue. I typically use a scrub pad within a few minutes of soaking to wipe off the last remaining paper from the bottle.

How To Clean Beer Bottles for Re-Use

The following are basic steps for cleaning a beer bottle to re-use for your beer, soda or wine.

1. If you re-use your store bought beer bottles, be sure to rinse thoroughly immediately after consuming the beer. This will help avoid mold and bacteria growth.
2. To begin cleaning a beer bottle; physically inspect the interior of the bottle. Use a strong light and place the bottle in front of the light and inspect the interior for dark formations. If found, these spots are typically mold. If you find dark spots, put the bottle to the side along with any other bottles that show mold spots. These bottles will require extra scrubbing and an additional inspection after cleaning.
3. Fill the bottle a quarter way up with water, add a small amount of soap in the bottle and scrub the interior with a bottle scrubber. The bottle scrubber can be found at a homebrewing supply store. 
1. When you scrub a bottle that shows mold formations during the interior inspection, be sure to scrub, rinse, check again and repeat the scrubbing until there are no signs of mold and/or bacteria growth.
4. Thoroughly rinse the bottle with clean water and make sure there is no soap remaining in the bottle, which could be construed as a beer defect.
5. Rinse the bottle with a sterilizing solution that is often found at your homebrew supply store.
6. Immediately fill the bottle with new beer.
7. Cap the beer with a new cap (make sure you sterilize the cap first) using a caper, both found at a homebrew supply store.

The process is fairly simple. However, some of the steps require a bit of extra attention.

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How to Pasteurize Your Beer and Why?

How to Pasteurize Your Beer and Why

Pasteurization was discovered by Louis Pasteur (1822-95), a French chemist and bacteriologist, who invented the process of heating food, milk, wine, etc., to kill most of the micro-organisms in it; distinguished from sterilization, which involves killing all of them. 

The process is to elevate the temperature of food, wine or beer for a period of time that is sufficient to destroy certain microorganisms, as those that can produce disease or cause spoilage or undesirable fermentation of food, without radically altering taste or quality. The general rule is to hold at 163°F to kill most organisms.

Why pasteurize and how does this apply to home brewing? If there is any microorganism present in the beer, along with the unfermented sugars remaining in the beer, it will spoil. The result is a beer that may gush when opened due to the over fermenting of sugars that beer yeast can't process. In addition, harsh off flavors will be produced that will ruin the beer.

There is always a risk that microorganisms live in your home or garage that can infect your beer. However, due to the process of cleaning and sterilization, along with the antiseptic qualities of hops, most beers will be fine. 

The application of pasteurization is important for those that send their beers to competitions. Yes it is true that many beers are fine to send to competition without pasteurization. However, if you're like me, and want to win. Why not take the extra step and pasteurize your beer before sending it? The reason I believe the extra step is worth the effort is that I've seen a lot of beers that went sour at our clubs beer competition.


With that said, here is the process of pasteurizing your beer:

1. Place your bottles in your boiler kettle and fill with water about 3/4 way up the bottles side.
2. Open one of the bottles and place a thermometer in the bottle to track the temperature.
3. Start the fire on high and track the temperature. Your goal is to reach 165°F.
4. Turn off the flame at about 163°F and allow the temp to rise to 165° F.
5. Remove the bottles from the boiling kettle and allow to cool.
6. Recap the open bottle. BTW: It will foam during the heating, but don't worry it will be fine.

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