Scary crush
I popped out to the homebrew store in Woburn during my lunch break to pick up supplies for a possible brew tomorrow. I usually go to the place in Cambridge, but that's hard to get to during the week unless I can talk
noradeirdre into meeting up at Redbones after work. Usually that's very easy to do, but she's been far too sick this week.
The place in Woburn has a mixed reputation among local homebrewers. They don't care too much about that (which is part of the problem) because the bulk of their business is online. They're a little more expensive than Cambridge, and they sell most of their grains in pre-filled bags of 1 or 5 lbs, which is usually a pain (this time it was fine, because I needed round numbers of stuff). They've always been very nice to me, but other brewers have run into some questionable customer service. I'm not sure why they do so much business online, because their selection, prices and shipping are nowhere near competitive with the bigger online presences like MoreBeer and Northern Brewer. I think that some of their local business is based on loyalty from a time when they were the only homebrew store in the area.
Because I don't have my own grain mill (ahem) , I have to use the mill in the store. The one in Cambridge is a bit rickety, but it does the job. The one I used today in Woburn is unusual. I think it's a converted coffee grinder similar to the ones in Trader Joe's and it produced the scariest looking grind I have ever seen: the pieces are much smaller, there's more flour and the husks have been torn. This will probably have an effect on brew day. The finer grind may increase my extract efficiency, but it may also lead to a stuck sparge; I'll throw in a handful of rice hulls to guard against the latter. My big worry is that the torn husks will cause extraction of tannins, which could make the beer taste like overbrewed tea. I'll just have to make sure I don't let the mash get too hot.
The beer I'm planning to brew is an English Summer Bitter. This is a relatively new style dating from the late 80's and the release of Hop Back Brewery's "Summer Lightning". It's basically an English take on a summer ale: lighter in color and body, crisp and refreshing with a pleasant hoppiness. There were a number of these beers at NERAX and Nora was very enthusiastic when I mentioned the possibility of brewing one.
Tonight I'm bottling the Ordinary Bitter that I brewed a couple of weeks ago - a session beer like that doesn't need as long in the fermenter. I cleaned the bottles last night, so it should go pretty quickly. I'm putting this one into my favourite bottles, thick 550ml brown bottles harvested from Samuel Smith's beers.
I'm going to try a new technique this weekend - using yeast harvested from one beer to ferment the next. When fermentation is done and the beer is racked off, there is always plenty of yeast left behind in the bottom of the fermenter and a lot of it is good stuff. Commercial breweries will typically use yeast for a number of generations before using a fresh strain. Some breweries take this to the extreme and never go back to the original yeast; they always use yeast from a previous fermentation. There are breweries in New England where their yeast is 4000 generations on from the original strain.
Homebrewers are thrifty by nature and many of them have taken to reusing yeast for a number of generations. Some just dump new wort onto the yeast "cake" in the fermenter - this usually leads to an explosively vigorous fermentation because there is far more yeast in the cake than is needed for most beers (if you're brewing a barleywine, that's a different matter). More typically, they will harvest the yeast by pouring or ladeling it into a sanitized vessel and keeping it in the fridge until needed. Glass should be avoided, because even the most inert-looking yeast may still be belching out CO2 and the pressure can build up quickly. I have some PET seltzer bottles that I'm planning to use. The key is good sanitation and if possible trying to separate the good yeast from other stuff that collects at the bottom of the fermenter, like hops and proteins that drop out of solution.
We'll see how it goes. I have some back-up dried yeast in case it doesn't work out.
noradeirdre into meeting up at Redbones after work. Usually that's very easy to do, but she's been far too sick this week.
The place in Woburn has a mixed reputation among local homebrewers. They don't care too much about that (which is part of the problem) because the bulk of their business is online. They're a little more expensive than Cambridge, and they sell most of their grains in pre-filled bags of 1 or 5 lbs, which is usually a pain (this time it was fine, because I needed round numbers of stuff). They've always been very nice to me, but other brewers have run into some questionable customer service. I'm not sure why they do so much business online, because their selection, prices and shipping are nowhere near competitive with the bigger online presences like MoreBeer and Northern Brewer. I think that some of their local business is based on loyalty from a time when they were the only homebrew store in the area.
Because I don't have my own grain mill (ahem) , I have to use the mill in the store. The one in Cambridge is a bit rickety, but it does the job. The one I used today in Woburn is unusual. I think it's a converted coffee grinder similar to the ones in Trader Joe's and it produced the scariest looking grind I have ever seen: the pieces are much smaller, there's more flour and the husks have been torn. This will probably have an effect on brew day. The finer grind may increase my extract efficiency, but it may also lead to a stuck sparge; I'll throw in a handful of rice hulls to guard against the latter. My big worry is that the torn husks will cause extraction of tannins, which could make the beer taste like overbrewed tea. I'll just have to make sure I don't let the mash get too hot.
The beer I'm planning to brew is an English Summer Bitter. This is a relatively new style dating from the late 80's and the release of Hop Back Brewery's "Summer Lightning". It's basically an English take on a summer ale: lighter in color and body, crisp and refreshing with a pleasant hoppiness. There were a number of these beers at NERAX and Nora was very enthusiastic when I mentioned the possibility of brewing one.
Tonight I'm bottling the Ordinary Bitter that I brewed a couple of weeks ago - a session beer like that doesn't need as long in the fermenter. I cleaned the bottles last night, so it should go pretty quickly. I'm putting this one into my favourite bottles, thick 550ml brown bottles harvested from Samuel Smith's beers.
I'm going to try a new technique this weekend - using yeast harvested from one beer to ferment the next. When fermentation is done and the beer is racked off, there is always plenty of yeast left behind in the bottom of the fermenter and a lot of it is good stuff. Commercial breweries will typically use yeast for a number of generations before using a fresh strain. Some breweries take this to the extreme and never go back to the original yeast; they always use yeast from a previous fermentation. There are breweries in New England where their yeast is 4000 generations on from the original strain.
Homebrewers are thrifty by nature and many of them have taken to reusing yeast for a number of generations. Some just dump new wort onto the yeast "cake" in the fermenter - this usually leads to an explosively vigorous fermentation because there is far more yeast in the cake than is needed for most beers (if you're brewing a barleywine, that's a different matter). More typically, they will harvest the yeast by pouring or ladeling it into a sanitized vessel and keeping it in the fridge until needed. Glass should be avoided, because even the most inert-looking yeast may still be belching out CO2 and the pressure can build up quickly. I have some PET seltzer bottles that I'm planning to use. The key is good sanitation and if possible trying to separate the good yeast from other stuff that collects at the bottom of the fermenter, like hops and proteins that drop out of solution.
We'll see how it goes. I have some back-up dried yeast in case it doesn't work out.