Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Simple present, complex future
Logged a few more hours of brewing this weekend. On Saturday, I continued my "apprenticeship" experiences with Joe and Mike as they brewed up a new batch of Oatmeal Stout. In the process we christened Mike's new carboy - he plans to slowly construct a setup of his own over the coming months. Conveniently, they happened to have their previous batch of Stout on tap for us to enjoy while we cooked - it was excellent. They also had a Belgian Ale and a Barley Wine on tap. Joe has a three-tap (2 in-door, 1 hand) kegerator. Good times were most certainly had.
On Sunday, my CO3 (which stands for "cohort 2003" - the year we began the ed psych program) group bottled our ESB and cooked the Cream Ale. We tried something new this time by using filtered water instead of straight tap. We had been given the impression that having a certain amount of minerals in the water is by and large a good thing. However, there are certainly extreme differences in a town/city's water supply. Experienced brewers seem to go to great lengths to ensure the right pH balance and mineral quality of their wort water (e.g., burton-izing). In any event, Georges got it in his head that we should try a batch with filtered water just to see what happens. The virtue of brewing with scientists, I suppose.
Another note on our approach to brewing. We have thus far only attempted "extract+grain" brewing, meaning that we use a base of malted barley extract that we augment by steeping specialty grains for different amounts of time and temperatures depending on the specific recipes. We have not yet, nor do we plan to anytime soon, attempted a partial mash or an all-grain process. Just seems a bit too complicated and messy for us right now. However, as Joe and Mike have informed me, over time the attentive homebrewer will notice that all beers made with the same brand of extract (e.g., Muntons) share a common taste. So it's conceivable that in the future when I have my own setup I'll experiment with some all-grain brewing from time to time. I look with fondness towards that future.
Enough whimsy. I have a full glass of Poor Richard's I.P.A. to enjoy. Cheers.
On Sunday, my CO3 (which stands for "cohort 2003" - the year we began the ed psych program) group bottled our ESB and cooked the Cream Ale. We tried something new this time by using filtered water instead of straight tap. We had been given the impression that having a certain amount of minerals in the water is by and large a good thing. However, there are certainly extreme differences in a town/city's water supply. Experienced brewers seem to go to great lengths to ensure the right pH balance and mineral quality of their wort water (e.g., burton-izing). In any event, Georges got it in his head that we should try a batch with filtered water just to see what happens. The virtue of brewing with scientists, I suppose.
Another note on our approach to brewing. We have thus far only attempted "extract+grain" brewing, meaning that we use a base of malted barley extract that we augment by steeping specialty grains for different amounts of time and temperatures depending on the specific recipes. We have not yet, nor do we plan to anytime soon, attempted a partial mash or an all-grain process. Just seems a bit too complicated and messy for us right now. However, as Joe and Mike have informed me, over time the attentive homebrewer will notice that all beers made with the same brand of extract (e.g., Muntons) share a common taste. So it's conceivable that in the future when I have my own setup I'll experiment with some all-grain brewing from time to time. I look with fondness towards that future.
Enough whimsy. I have a full glass of Poor Richard's I.P.A. to enjoy. Cheers.
# posted by richard : 8:22 PM
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My always burning desire to make edible things completely from scratch will one day lead me to all grain brewing, I believe. While it is something that obviously should come with time and experience with the easier brewing methods, it seems so very appealing. I mean, you start with a bunch of different grains... and you turn them into a liquid. Brilliant.
I've always subscribed to the, "if it's good to drink, it's good to brew with," philosphy when deciding if I should use tap water or not.
Unless you're brewing all-grain, you probably don't have to worry about the pH of your water.
What you might have to worry about is the chlorination of your water. If your city/county's water authority heavily chlorinates the water then that could be cause of concern. Existing phenol compounds in the beer wort (produced from certain kinds of roasted malts that you steeped) can react with the chlorine compounds to form chlorophenols; which, are can be detectable in parts per trillion! They are truly nasty, and can ruin your beer -- trust me on this one. The chlorine in your tap water can be removed with a carbon filter. If you believe your tap water has a chlorine taste/smell to it, it might be a good idea to filter -- as you have done. If not, I wouldn't worry about it. Carbon filters are also good because they remove certain bad organics from the water, but because you're an extract brewer, and boiling (i.e. sterilizing) the water right away it's kind of a moot issue. Carbon filters also do not remove metallic ions (good or bad).
Personally, I don't like using bottled water because it's either deionized or has gone through reverse-osmosis. In other words, it's been stripped of all the necessary ions that the yeast needs for nutrition. If you're an all-grain brewer you might get a great conversion rate on in mash, but your fermentation will not be very productive. If you do use bottled water I would recommend that you add yeast nutrients to the fermentor, but I've never had any experience with them, so I couldn't tell you how to use them.
But, hey, relax, take your time, enjoy your homebrew. Just remember that you'll always be your hardest critic.
Fun blog, BTW.
Unless you're brewing all-grain, you probably don't have to worry about the pH of your water.
What you might have to worry about is the chlorination of your water. If your city/county's water authority heavily chlorinates the water then that could be cause of concern. Existing phenol compounds in the beer wort (produced from certain kinds of roasted malts that you steeped) can react with the chlorine compounds to form chlorophenols; which, are can be detectable in parts per trillion! They are truly nasty, and can ruin your beer -- trust me on this one. The chlorine in your tap water can be removed with a carbon filter. If you believe your tap water has a chlorine taste/smell to it, it might be a good idea to filter -- as you have done. If not, I wouldn't worry about it. Carbon filters are also good because they remove certain bad organics from the water, but because you're an extract brewer, and boiling (i.e. sterilizing) the water right away it's kind of a moot issue. Carbon filters also do not remove metallic ions (good or bad).
Personally, I don't like using bottled water because it's either deionized or has gone through reverse-osmosis. In other words, it's been stripped of all the necessary ions that the yeast needs for nutrition. If you're an all-grain brewer you might get a great conversion rate on in mash, but your fermentation will not be very productive. If you do use bottled water I would recommend that you add yeast nutrients to the fermentor, but I've never had any experience with them, so I couldn't tell you how to use them.
But, hey, relax, take your time, enjoy your homebrew. Just remember that you'll always be your hardest critic.
Fun blog, BTW.
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