Now given enough time, these meads should clear on their own. I am not sure about that. I did use raw, unfiltered honey and there may be a large number of particles that are in my mead that wouldn’t be if my honey was filtered.

Plus, this situation gives me an opportunity to experiment.

If I had some sparkolloid, I would use that stuff. What I have instead is gelatin and bentonite.

I have two meads that I want to clarify. One is a small portion of the larger mead. I took a gallon and add an oak spiral to it. Go here to read more about my latest mead flavoring experiments.

The photos above are what my meads look like now. They are sort of hazy. To gather as much information as possible, I am going to use gelatin in one and bentonite in the other. Let’s see which agent is better at making particles settle out of these meads.

I plan to add the agents to these meads this weekend and then report on the findings next week. I will post the “after” pictures to see which one had more success.

Read the original article Clarifying Mead and other Brew Dudes posts.

The Digital Johnson Temperature Controller (model A419) is very popular among homebrewers. You can find them for $50-$70 bucks at most retailers. Running one of these in parallel with a fridge/freezer or with a heater like the FermWrap gives you control over ambient temps during your fermentation.

In this video, we break down the process of setting your controller to either heating or cooling by swapping the jumpers inside the unit. For everyone that is timid about electronics, or manipulating expensive and complicated pieces of equipment; we break it down into short easy steps.

As a precaution, be sure that you completely unplug the unit before attempting to open up the unit and play with the jumpers. Be gentle with those jump pins. We take no responsibility for you fumbling around in there with fat fingers and breaking something. Get the neighbors kid to do it if you must!

Cheers. BREW ON!

Read the original article Digital Johnson Temperature Controller and other Brew Dudes posts.

I plan to brew this beer this weekend and I will update the post with links to the brew day.

Boil size: 7 gallons
Final batch size: 5.5 gallons
Volume for fermentation: 5 gallons

Ingredients:

5 lbs 2-Row Malt
5 lbs White Wheat
1 lbs Pilsner Malt
.25 oz Sorachi Ace Pellets 12.85 %AA boiled 60 mins.
.25 oz Sorachi Ace Pellets 12.85 %AA boiled boiled 15 mins.
.25 oz Sorachi Ace Pellets 12.85 %AA boiled boiled 1 mins.
.25 oz Sorachi Ace Pellets 12.85 %AA boiled dry hopped
Yeast: White Labs WLP001 California Ale or White Labe WLP029 Kolsch yeast

Instructions:
Mash all malt and malted wheat at 152°F for 60 minutes and collect enough wort for a seven gallon boil. Boil for 60 minutes and add hops at specified times. Chill wort to 65° F and ferment for 2 weeks.
At the end of two weeks, rack the beer into a clean, sanitized carboy with last bit of hops. Leave the beer on the pellets for 3 days and then bottle or keg as necessary.

Predictions:

Original Gravity: 1.052
Terminal Gravity: 1.011
Color: 4.05 °SRM
Bitterness: 19.0 IBU
Alcohol (%volume): 5.3 %

This beer won’t be a hop heads’ dream. The American wheat style isn’t supposed to be too hoppy so I have developed this recipe based on the style guidelines. My first thought was to added some lemon zest to this beer. I had the thought of zesting one lemon and adding it to the secondary along with the dry hops. I may still do that but just split the batch in half. I still want to get the know Sorachi Ace hops without anything else getting the way.

Read the original article Sorachi Ace Wheat Beer Recipe and other Brew Dudes posts.

There are some conflicting reports on their aroma.  Some sources stated that they were similar to Styrian while others claimed it was a common misperception and the name association is based on the hops’ origin rather than its flavor or aroma properties.

This writer is also confused by the name Aurora.  I don’t have the story of why they decided to choose that name to identify this variety since it doesn’t seem to have an attachment to its Slavic roots but rather a city in Illinois.

It’s all marketing to me.  Here are the stats for Aurora hops:

Origin: Slovenia (formerly Yugoslavia)

Aroma/Flavor:  Like Northern Brewer, which I would define as woody.  Most sources said pleasant and hoppy.  There weren’t many good descriptions but I would think there would be a nice earthy spice to these hops.

Alpha Acid: 7 – 9%

Typical Usage: Dual Purpose.  You could use this variety throughout the boil and it would probably play well with other hops.

Beer Styles: American, Belgian and dark English ales.

I could see you using these hops in recipes that call for Northern Brewer – maybe a California Common beer – to put a different spin on that style.  I think Aurora hops would be good to use in beers that use Saaz for aroma to give them a little punch of hoppiness.

Read the original article Aurora Hops and other Brew Dudes posts.

We discuss the general costs associated with starting up with kegging. For a single keg setup with a single faucet you can expect to pay around $200 dollars. If you want to go all the way to multiple kegs for serving, multiple faucets for serving and a few extra kegs for conditioning; expect to lay out closer to $400-$500.

We recap the three most homebrew kegging tips we think you should keep in mind before moving from bottling to kegging.

1. How are you going to store and chill the beer? What do you want to serve it out of? Have a plan.

2. Be sure you research in advance how your going to get your CO2 tank filled. Swaps or fills. Do this before you buy any equipment.

3. Lastly, focus on balancing your system. Understand the relationship between carbonating pressure and serving pressure and how to apply the right amount of restriction. Remember 3/16th inch beverage tubing is the way you want to go.

Enjoy the video. Leave questions in the comment section either on the site or on our YouTube Channel.

BREW ON!

Watch the rest of the video series.

More Kegging Homebrew Videos:

Video 1 – Introduction To Kegging Homebrew

Video 2 – Everything You Wanted To Know About Corny Kegs

Video 3 – Learn Something About CO2 Tanks and Regulators

Video 4 – Guide to Keg Faucets and Towers

Video 5 – Balancing You Kegging System

Read the original article Homebrew Kegging Tips and other Brew Dudes posts.

Looking up saison yeast strains, I was happy to see there were many different choices for homebrewers to use.

A few summers ago, I wrote a yeast profile on one of the White Labs strains. It was one I used in my recipe and it performed well. It did not quit on me, seemed to handle the warm temperature without a problem, and produced a beer that did well in competition.

Now White Labs has three strains available. Their Saison I (WLP565) and Saison II (WLP566) yeasts are available all year round. Their Saison III (WLP585) strain is available in July – August according to their website.

Wyeast has two strains. One is their Belgian Saison strain (3724) and the other one is their French Saison strain (3711).

Danstar has a dry Saison strain. If you are so inclined, their Belle Saison Yeast may be one for you to try.

The big issue with Saison yeast is the habit of the Dupont strain (WLP565 and Wyeast 3724) to get stuck during fermentation. The yeast activity halts and the gravity is no where near the target final gravity. Many homebrewers report that waiting a few more weeks and/or raising the temperature of the carboy will get your beer to ferment completely. Some other homebrewers claim that have to add another clean yeast strain, like WLP001 to ferment the beer completely.

I didn’t have a problem with the White Labs I strain when I used it, but I think since there was such a large issue with the Dupont strain the main beer yeast providers introduces alternative Saison stains.

With a good amount of healthy yeast, well oxygenated wort, and warm temperatures, I think you should be ok to use any of these Saison strains without having to follow emergency procedures.

What is your experience with these Saison strains? Do you have any tips to share?

Read the original article Saison Yeast Strains and other Brew Dudes posts.

With the increased demand of certain varieties like Citra and Simcoe, Hop Union wanted to be able to provide for all brewers looking for hops that best suited their IPA needs. This proprietary blend of American hops is meant to be a substitute for other well known and well used hop varieties.

After Mike used Falconer’s Flight in a IPA, the complexity of that blended hop pellet has me hooked on trying other ones in my own brews. These blends are definitely to be used late in the boil, at flameout, or for a spell of dry hopping after fermentation for the most desired effect.

It is supposedly a blend of the big “C” hops, but I couldn’t find any concrete information on which specific varieties are used.

Check out the rest of the details for the Zythos hop blend pellets:

Origin: USA – Hopunion

Aroma/Flavor:  Like Amarillo.  Not much grapefruit flavor.  More tropical fruit flavors

Alpha Acid: 9 – 11%

Typical Usage: Dual Purpose

Beer Styles: IPA.  American pale ales.

For homebrewers, I think that these hop blends are great for experimentation.  They are sort of like malt extracts where you do not control the blend of what is in them, but at the same time the measurements are all done for you.  Just throw them into your next brew and go!  There is no need to sweat out the measurements.

If you are will to try something new, I think that the Zythos hop blend would be a good choice for your next India Pale Ale.

Read the original article Zythos Hops and other Brew Dudes posts.

A balanced system is critical to keep your beer carbonated at the levels you want, but also allows the beer to be pushed out of the keg with enough force to fill your glass, but minimizing foam. Too much foam and you end up wasting beer because you inevitably pour off the foam to try and fill it with more beer. Professional set ups view this aspect of draft beer maintenance as critical to achieving maximal return on each keg of beer ($/pourable beers).

Luckily, it’s not really that hard to do. In this video, I discuss the concept of restriction and how providing the right back pressure via the exit tubing keeps all the pressures in balance. Allowing a great pour and keeping your beer carbed and ready for that next pour. Do not underestimate the value of 3/16th inch tubing when setting up your beer lines!

Here is a link to a carbonation chart I mentioned as well:
Carbonation Chart

Enjoy the video.
BREW ON!

More Kegging Homebrew Videos:

Video 1 – Introduction To Kegging Homebrew

Video 2 – Everything You Wanted To Know About Corny Kegs

Video 3 – Learn Something About CO2 Tanks and Regulators

Video 4 – Guide to Keg Faucets and Towers

Video 6 – Hombrew Kegging Tips

Read the original article Balancing Your Keg System and other Brew Dudes posts.

I have a blog, don’t you know.

Seriously though, most of my note taking was on the blog. If I had questions later on, I would just search Brew-Dudes and then find the recipe or the brew day that I was looking for.

The thing is, I wasn’t capturing every last detail in blog posts. I was typing them up later on that day or most times a few days later. By that time, the small details were probably forgotten or I decided not to include them in the post.

Earlier this year for my birthday, my wife bought me a nice Moleskine homebrewer’s journal that I have been using ever since. It’s a good size – it doesn’t take up much space on the table when I am measuring ingredients and it’s easy to carry around.

This particular journal has a nice template for the brew day with information for the recipe and space to jot down notes on how the session went. There other templates in there including one for tasting beers. It’s pretty cool and a thoughtful gift. I know I wouldn’t have bought it for myself. It is interesting to know that the hobby has become popular enough that this kind of journal – specialized for beer brewing and beer tasting. Maybe I shouldn’t be so naive.

Anyway, homebrewing note taking is something that I think is important to do if you want to keep getting better at your craft. Even if you have a great memory like I claim I have, you aren’t going to remember every thought you have and you should write down things to keep in mind for next time.

If you want a good home brewing log sheet, download the one Mike posted.

Read the original article Homebrewing Note Taking and other Brew Dudes posts.

One of those varieties is Kazbek hops. The heritage of Kazbek includes Saaz and wild hops from the Caucasus Mountains. Some sources said they were related to Cascade hops but I couldn’t find anything conclusive to support that notion.

Here are more details of Kazbek hops:

Origin: Czech Republic – Registered in 2008 and released in 2009

Aroma: Spicy like Saaz but more so. Also earthy and wild. Saaz with a little more kick?

Alpha Acid: 5.0 – 8.0%

Typical Usage: Flavor / Aroma hop

Beer Styles: Pilsners, Lagers, Belgian Ales

There are a few other Czech varieties that I would like to check out for their spiciness. This summer, I think there is going to be a Saison throwdown of some sort and I am looking for varieties that will add to the spiciness of the beer. You get a lot of spicy flavors from the yeast especially with the warm fermentation temperatures. Rather than add black pepper or other spices to the recipe, I want to get as much flavor as I can out of the typical beer ingredients. New hop varieties can help in this quest.

If you are looking to buy these hops, there are a few homebrew shops that have them available at posting. There are commercial beers being brewed with these hops as well. Seek them out to get a sense of how they will perform in your beer.

Read the original article Kazbek Hops and other Brew Dudes posts.