First of all and before even starting, you already know how you’d like it to be, and you know there’s a long road ahead towards having it black on white. Then, after some time you get to that finished work of art… finished? Well, this is the thing. Ask any writer, and they’ll say that no matter how finished the book seems to be, there’s always room for editing or adding in order to improve it.

Same thing happens with your best beer recipe. You’ll always think there’s room for improvement, either in the brewing process or in the recipe. And let me say… this is a true fact. Maybe because time changes things, and people, and their preferences.

The good thing is that it all depends on you, and you alone.

Like Charlie Papazian says on that bible I mentioned before…

Whatever concoction you put together, the responsibility for success is yours alone. A recipe is only the result of somebody’s trial and error and ultimate success. Use your own imagination, flair, courage and common sense. Above all, whatever you do, relax. Don’t worry. Have a hombrew.

On that same chapter, there are some notes that, despite the fact they were written nearly 30 years ago, are still of good use.

Notes, Substitutions and Adjustments

• Don’t be afraid to substitute other varieties of hops. You may substitute hop pellets for whole hops at any time.
• Don’t be afraid to substitute ale yeast for lager yeast and vice-versa.
• All specific gravity readings are made with a hydrometer accurate at 60 degrees F (16°C). Degrees Balling are given in parentheses.
• Always use 1/4 cup of corn sugar of 1 1/4 cup dried malt extract for each 5 gallons brewed when bottling (except where noted). Do not make the error of misinterpreting this, i.e., do not use 3/4 pound of corn sugar. If honey is used, use 1/2 cup honey.
• When brewing you may always substitute malt extract for corn sugar for a brew with more body and character. Substitute approximately pound for pound.
• All recipes may be lightened in body and flavor (while not diminishing alcohol) by substituting corn sugar (approximately pound for pound) for malt extract. For best results, corn sugar should never be substituted for more than 20 percent of the malt extract.
• To lighten body, flavor and alcohol, the amount of malt extract may be decreased. The amount of hops should be decreased proportionately.
• The addition of grains is best done during the 15-30 minutes it takes to bring the water to a boil. The spent grains can then simply be removed with a kitchen strainer.
• You may end up with a beginning specific gravity other than noted. Relax, don’t worry. There may be some variation due to varieties or batches of malt extract, temperature or inadequate mixing of the wort in the fermenter. The important thing is not to worry.
• Manufacturers of malt extract are constantly changing their packaging. What may be available in a 2-pound can at the time of this publication may later only be available in 3 1/2-pound cans. Use your common sense when making adjustments.
• Don’t be afraid to use a pound more or a pound less in any given recipe. It will alter the character of the beer, but it certainly will not ruin it.
• Lb(s) = pound(s) / tbsp. = tablespoon(s) / tsp. = teaspoon(s) / c. = cup(s) / pkg(s). = package(s) / oz. = ounce(s) (weight) / O.G. = Original Specific Gravity / F.G. = Final Specific Gravity.
• When grains, whole or pellet hops are added to the wort always use a strainer to separate particulates from the wort as it passes into the fermenter. Hops or grains may clog the “blow-out” hose and cause hazardous pressure buildup in the fermenter.
• Whether using whole hops or hop pellets, always pass your hot wort through a sanitized strainer before allowing it to flow into your fermenter.
• Motivate yourself to learn how to use liquid cultured ale and lager yeasts. Some liquid yeast cultures available to homebrewers can dramatically improve the quality of your homebrew, especially your lager beers. Liquid yeasts may be substituted for dried yeast in all recipes.
• Five U.S. gallons equals 19 liters. One ounce equals 28,3 grams. One kilogram equals 2,2 pounds. 3,3 pounds equals 1,5 kilograms. One U.S. gallon equals .8 Imperial British or Canadian gallons. One Imperial British or Canadian gallon equals 1,2 U.S. gallons. These are conversions you may find useful when using British, Australian or Canadian products.
• HBUs. or Homebrew Bitterness Units, are a measure of the total amount of bitterness potential in a given volume of beer. They are very easy and useful units to use for beginning and intermediate homebrewers when formulating or converting recipes. Bitterness units are calculated by multiplying the percent of alpha acid in the hops by the number of ounces. For example, if 2 ounces of Northern Brewer hops (9% alpha acid) and 3 ounces of Cascade hops (5 % alpha acid) were used in a 10-gallon batch, the total amount of bitterness units would be 33: (2 x 9) + (3 x 5) = 18 + 15 = 33. Bitterness units per gallon would be 3,3 in a 10-gallon batch or 6,6 in a 5-gallon batch, so it is important to note volumes whenever expressing Homebrew Bitterness Units.

HBUs are not related to lBUs (International Bitterness Units) except that they both measure bitterness in beer.

All boiling hops in recipes quote HBUs as a guide for the homebrewer should he or she desire to substitute other varieties of hops. For example, 2 ounces of 4,5 percent Saaz hops equals 9 HBUs. which is equivalent to 1 ounce of 9 percent Northern Brewer in the boil.

So let me cut the Shuck and Jive and get on with the recipes.

(*) Charlie Papazian – The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing

Give it a try, it won’t bite.

Original image by Freepik

I was very young. I met this guy.

He is funny, smart, he smells nice. When he laughs (and he often does) his smile draws these little lines around his eyes, and I absolutely love them. He knows how to tell good stories, also.

It took me about a week to fall in love with him. He says it took him a little longer to fall in love with me. In fact, our story is so funny, that when I went after him and said “I want to be your girlfriend” and he said “Okay“, neither of us were in love with each other. But that’s a story for another day…

The Problem

So, he accepted to be my boyfriend. I fell in love with him. We got together and I was really happy. Soon enough, though, I ran into a little problem: he loves beer.

At that time, I’ve had only tried beer once or twice in my life, and I didn’t like it very much. In our very first date, we went to a restaurant. He ordered a beer. I wasn’t going to let myself get into the “uh, I’m a girl and I don’t drink beer” stereotype. I wanted to impress him.

Trying to look cool, I shut up and took a sip. And hey, it wasn’t so bad! In fact, I kind of enjoyed it. When the date ended, I’d had the remarkable amount of a whole pint of beer. From that day on, I started to actually like beer.

Time goes by, and he teaches me about good beer; commercial beer, sure, but at least we know which brands are good and which ones are… well, not so good.

The Revelation

Eventually, we get married. A few years later, he comes home one day and tells me about a group of people (mostly men) who brew their own beer! I say “Wait, what?!”

I never thought it was possible to make your own beer. “Not only can we brew our own beer,” he says “but we can even make it better than commercial beers“. “Mmmmmm” is my I’m-not-really-sure-about-this kind of answer.

Of course, he proves me wrong. He joins the group, and becomes a homebrewer. Sure, we have a few not-very-successful-stories on our record, but when his beer turns out good, it’s really good.

So, that’s how I became the homebrewer’s wife.

It’s not like I define myself through my husband, but I’m on this blog – his blog – to tell you about our homebrewing adventures from the homebrewer’s wife point of view. Why? Because I think it’ll be fun. For me, and hopefully, for you.

The Secret Plan

And let me tell you a little secret. This blog was kind of abandoned since… well, too long. I convinced him to switch from Blogspot to WordPress and re-activate My Best Beer. He liked the idea (probably because I said I would do all the heavy work needed for the switch, so, why not?), and promised he will start to post more often. After all, he is a passionate homebrewer, and he LOVES to talk about all things homebrewing.

Little did he know that my secret plan was to get him to re-activate the blog so I could share my thoughts about our homebrewing.

I hope you like my writings; if you do, I have more secret plans to reveal in the future. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it goes.

Well, that’s enough for today. I’m Nospheratt, by the way; nice to meet you. I’m the homebrewer’s wife, and these are my stories.

PS – Yes, I know my nickname is weird and hard to spell, but so is dunkelweizen. It’s a weird, interesting, bittersweet beer with a dark soul; kinda like me.

Maybe next year you’ll be able to make your own Beer Christmas Tree, and if you are to do so, call me. I’ll help you as the drinking crew. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

Featured image: Photo by T. Rampersad on Unsplash

Photo by Jesse Gardner on Unsplash

A story that began with a disease and now offers a better life standard for those who suffer this disease. They can now enjoy a cool beer without it affecting their health. Winkler was released last Friday on Argentina.

Engineer Ventura Basutto said that “It all began a year ago when my wife was diagnosed the Celiac disease“.

“The thing is that those who suffer it, are allergic to a protein fraction of cereals: wheat, oats, barley and rye. The problem for them, is that no matter of how little they ingest, a reaction takes place, where in general presents breakdowns including prolonged diarrheas, they don’t absorb nutrients, with which they are generally of small stature, with skin problems, nails, hair, etc. It is almost like undernourishment”.

He stated that “it is hard to follow a strict diet, since many food contain gluten or starches of wheat, like thickers or bonding agents (cooked sausages and cold cuts, ice creams, condiments like mayonnaises, etc)“. Knowing that Ventura added:

“Specifically, I began with the elaboration of corn beer because it does not exist in the market. The process is the same used with barley: the corn is germinated and malted, then grinded, we use water for the mash, then it’s filtered, we add hop, yeast and it goes to fermentation stage. We are bottling in 660cm3 and 355cm3, and it is carbonated while bottling”.

The Government of Costa Rica will order a beer to change the label of its marijuana flavored style.

Health Secretary of Costa Rica will order a beer importer to change the label of a swiss beer that tastes like marijuana, even thou it doesn’t contain any drug. “It may promote the consumption” is the official statement.

The Health Secretary, María Ávila, stated today to Radio Monumental that “there’s a law about alcoholic advertising, that includes labeling and packaging. This beer won’t be forbidden, we will only ask for the label to be changed“.

On its label, the swiss beer Hanfblüte, shows two farmers cutting marijuana on a harvest, and on its cap, there’s a drawing of a marijuana leaf. Some analysis showed that there’s no ‘pot’ on that beer, but some other weed similar to cannabis (hemp), widely used in Europe on cooking recipes.

It also contains an artificial essence to give the flavor and aroma of marijuana, but it doesn’t lead to addiction to the drug. Nonetheless, the Health Secretary will ask the firm to replace all stock in order to keep selling it. According to the Secretary, the current label and cap are means of deceitful advertising and subliminal ads, inducing buyers to consume real marijuana.

“We have to protect ourselves, knowing that marijuana is an illegal drug, and this advertising would be subliminally inducing the consumption of the real drug“, said Ávila. Costa Rican law about psychotropics prohibits any ad about illegal drugs.

The Secretary explained that on the following days, representatives of the importers will meet with the health authorities, to analyze the whole matter and determine the next steps. The swiss beer, sold for about U$S 2 a bottle, indicates on its label that it contains spring water, malted barley, hops and cannabis aroma, and it shows a 5.2% alcohol.

Featured Image: Falk Lademann – Balkonbepflanzung, CC BY 2.0

Some times you don’t know where you really are, until you know how to call that place.

Here’s some Beer Glossary, or Home Brewing Glossary, where you will find terms used in some cases in other languages.

Easy to know what’s the deal, when you know what it means.

____________________________________________________________________________

A

Alpha Acid Units (AAU) (HBU) – measurement of the amount of alpha acids added to a beer.
Additives – substance used in brewing, not removed before consumption, like enzymes or yeast nutrients
Adjuncts – beer ingredient used to add cheaper fermentable sugar to the wort, other than malt.
Ale – beer brewed using high fermenting yeast.
Alpha Acids – bittering compound found on hops.
Attenuation – degree of conversion of sugars into alcohol.

B

Beer – if you are looking for this, you shouldn’t be here -P beverage made by fermenting malted barley converted sugars, adding hops for bittering and aroma

C

CV – Lead Conductance Value
Charge -amount of malt used to brew a beer
Cohumulone – one of the alpha acids found on hops, used to a rougher flavour.
Conditioning – part of the second fermentation, where yeast develops beer flavours.
Conductometric Value – Lead Conductance Value
Corn Grits – beer adjunct that requires a cereal cooker.

D

Dry beer – Not sweet beer.
Dry Malt – dehydrated malt extract

E

Esters – compound generated in fermentation, adds fruity flavours to beer.
Fermenter – container where fermentation occurs.

F

Flocculation – process where yeasts form flocs near the end of fermentation.

G

Grist – mix of malt and adjuncts used to create the mash

H

Homebrew Bittering Units – HBU, Alpha Acid Units
Hop Utilisation (%) – Iso-alpha Acids x 100 / alpha acids added
Hops – flower used as a main ingredient of beer making. Used to add bitterness and flavour.

I

International Bittering Units (IBU) – Iso-alpha acids concentration.
Iso-alpha Acids – Isomerised Alpha Acids
Iso-alphas – Isomerised Alpha Acids
Isomerisation – Isomerised Alpha Acids
Isomerised Alpha Acids – Alpha acids that have been rearranged chemically without gaining or losing atoms, used to add bitterness to beer.
Isos – Isomerised Alpha Acids

K

Keg – container to hold beer, ussualy made of stainless steel.

L

Lager – beer brewed using bottom fermenting yeast.
Lead Conductance Value (LCV) – used to estimate the alpha acids concentration on recently harvested hops.
Lightstruck, Light Strike – A lightstruck beer occurs when iso-apha-acids come into contact with light in the near ultraviolet spectrum. The light cleaves off a side chain of the iso-alpha-acid which leads to the formation 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol (MTB). If a beer is to be bottled in clear glass then there must be no iso-apha-acids present unless they have been reduced.

M

MTB – 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol, undesirable component found on lightstruck beer.
Malt – main ingredient in beer, obtained from malting barley or other grain.
Malt liquor – Ussualy low on hops, and not always only with malt. In the USA it applies to strong beers, pale with 5-7’5% alcohol.
Maltz – Malt, in german.
Mash – fermentable starchy mixture of malts and water.
Mild – Beer low on hops. Many are clear, but some dark can be found. Bodied beer with 3% alcohol.
Milling – crush the malt grain before adding it to the mash.

N

Naturtrüb – Natural trub, in german
Nitrogen -used to gas dark beers like Guinness. As it is less soluble than carbon dioxide, it creates little bubbles and a creamy head.
Non alcoholic – beers with less than 1% alcohol, ussualy 0,1%.

O

Oats – grain used in some beer recipes.
Obergärig – High fermentation, in german.
OG or Original Gravity – Is the amount of extract in the wort. It cames in the label as ºB (Balling) or ºP (Plato). It’s related with the alcohol in a beer.
Öko – Organic.
Old Ale – In Australia it means dark beer. In England, it applies to middle dark beer, with 6% alcohol.

P

Pale Ale – Pale beer, bitter and bottled.
Pilsener/plinsner/pils – Nowadays, most beers are catalogued Pils. It applies to golden, low fermentation and conventional flavour beers. It comes from an original beer (Urquell) from the city of Pilsen (Czech Republic) and with 4’5-5’5% alcohol. Ussualy with high hops, fresh aroma and dry taste.
Primary Fermenter – container used during primary fermentation.
Priming – adding beer of malt to beer right before bottling. Helps carbonating the beer.
Processing Aids – substances used in brewing, and removed before consumption, like filtering agents.

R

Racking – drain or pump beer from primary fermenter to secondary fermenter, leaving behind not useful compounds.
Reinheitsgebot – German purity law of 1516 in Bavaria, where it is established that only malt, yeast, hops and water can be used on brewing. It still applies to german beers to internal consumption, and in Baviera, also on beers for export.

S

Saccharomyces cerevisiae – name of yeasts used in brewing.
Saccharomyces uvarum – term used to classify lager yeast in the past.
Schankbier – Beer with a low content of alcohol.
Schwartzbier – black beer
Secondary Fermenter – container used during secondary fermentation.
Starkbier – Strong beer in german.

T

Tarwe – Wheat in dutch/flamenco
Tripel – trapish beer, strong and dry
Trüb – trub, in german

U

Ullage – infected or staled beer.
Ur/Urquell – “Original” in german, applied to notice place of origin (like Pilsen, Urquell)

V

Vinous – beer with a flavour which reminds wine.
Vollbier – pale golden beer in Franconia

W

Weissbier/Weisse/Weiß – white beer, in german
Weizenbier – wheat beer, in german
Wheat – Grain used in some kind of beers.
White – Term used to describe wheat beer
Wild Yeast – Not desired yeast, that gets into fermentation stages, due to contamination.
Wit bier – white beer, in flamenco

Y

Yeast – single celled micro organism belonging to the fungus family. Used in brewing to convert sugar in the wort into carbon dioxide and ethanol.

Z

Zwickbelbier – beer without filtering.

Soon I will be adding some other tems, but feel free to leave a comment if you find something wrong or something to add.

Taken from Papazian’s bible:

A spruce beer brewed in the tradition of authenticity. Kumdis Island Spruce was originally brewed with the fresh spring growth of tall Sitka spruce trees in the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia, Canada.

The aroma that filled the “brewhouse” cabin was as wonderful as gingerbread hot out of the oven. And the character of the beer when it was ready to drink? Well, let me tell you that it was a real surprise. It was a very light-bodied, brown ale that tasted very, very similar to Pepsi-Cola.

Now, that may or may not sound appropriate for beer, but the fact is, it tasted fantastic, like an unsweetened Pepsi-Cola with a real beer character. It is a wonderfully refreshing and quenching beer.

Ingredients for 5 gallons

• 3 1/2 lbs. Edme S.F.X. dark malt extract syrup
• 2 lbs. plain dried dark malt extract
• 4 oz. new green growth of spruce trees
• 2 oz. Hallertauer hops (boiling): 10 HBU
• 1-2 pkgs. ale yeast
• 3/4 c. corn sugar of 1 1/4 c. dried malt extract (for bottling)

O.G.: 1.040-1.044 (10-11)
F.G.: 1.010-1.014 (2.5-3.5)

Add the malt extracts, spruce tips and boiling hops to 1 1/2 gallons of water and boil for 45 minutes. Sparge into the fermenter and cold water. Add yeast when cool and bottle when fermentation is complete.

Luckily, one of my first acquisitions as a homebrewer was a Counterflow Wort Chiller. In fact I made it by myself, but based on someone else’s design. I’m proud of it, because it looks like a home-made, homebrewer’s chiller.

As quoted from Palmer’s How To Brew:

Counterflow Chillers are a bit more difficult to build but cool the wort a bit better. Counterflow chillers use more water to cool a smaller volume of wort faster than an immersion chiller so you get a better cold break and clearer beer. The drawbacks are keeping the inside of the chiller clean between batches and preventing hops and break material in the kettle from clogging the intake. A copper pot scrubby can be attached to the end of the racking cane to help filter out hop particles.

The increased efficiency of a counterflow chiller lets you use a shorter length of tubing to achieve the same amount of wort cooling. The tube-within-a-tube chiller can be coiled into a convenient roll. The hot side of the chiller, the racking tube intake, needs to be copper or another heat resistant material. Plastic racking canes tend to melt from the heat of the pot when the hot wort is siphoned into the chiller. Counterflow chillers are best used when there is a spigot mounted on the side of the pot negating the need to siphon the wort.

I sure had my ups and downs on the first attempts to make it work, but it was worth it. Now I let the beer flow freely through the chiller and in no time it is in the fermentation bucket at the right temperature.

The best porter either side of a silver dollar can buy – but you can’t buy it because it ain’t for sale. It’s homebrew and it’s yours. Lucky for you because there won’t be enough to go around as it is.

A full-bodied, sharply bittersweet version of black heaven, this is the homebrewer’s best shot at duplicating the famous Anchor Porter of San Francisco fame.

This is my version of the recipe with just minor changes.

Ingredients for 6 gallons:

• 9.5 lbs. malted barley (American 2-row or 6-row)
• 1.2 lb. Munich malt
• 2/3 lb. crystal malt
• 2/3 lb. black patent malt
• 2/3 lb. chocolate malt
• 1 tsp. gypsum
• 1.5 oz. Northern Brewer or Perle hops (boiling): 9 HBU
• 1/3 oz. Cascade hops (boiling): 3 HBU
• 1/3 oz. Cascade hops (aroma)
• 1/4 tsp. Irish moss powder
• 2 pkgs. ale yeast
• 1 1/2 c. dried malt extract (for bottling)

This recipe calls for using a “temperature-controlled” procedure for mashing 10 lbs. of grains.

Combine the crushed grains and gypsum with 3 gallons of 130-degree F (54°C) water and proceed with a protein rest.

Raise the temperature by adding 6 quarts of 200-degree F (93°C) water and continue with starch conversion at about 150 degrees F (66°C) for 10-15 minutes. Complete conversion by raising the temperature to 158 degrees F (70°C) and holding for 10-20 minutes or until an iodine test indicates complete conversion.

Sparge with 6 gallons of 170-degree F (77°C) water.

Bring the word to a boil, add boiling hops and continue to boil for 1 hour. Add the Irish moss during the final 10 minutes of the boil. Add the finishing hops during the final 1-2 minutes of boiling. Remove the spent hops and sparge. Cool the word as quickly as possible.

Final yield should be 6 gallons of wort.

Pitch the yeast, ferment to completion and bottle.

I used to have an Armenian friend, who always said to have the super beer recipe ever. He was a second generation in America, so his name was John, and in his behalf, taken from the Papazian book, here it goes:

One look at this recipe and you may think I’ve gone bonkers. Well I haven’t, but you may after putting your ever-loving lips to this most royal of stouts. A nearly 8 percent alcohol, very bittersweet and hoppy stout with a full-bodied, creamy-headed sensation that is a definite treasure among stout lovers. This brew will age nicely for years, but believe it: This brew is velvet in glass within 4-6 weeks of bottling.

Lots of hops are called for in this recipe in addition to the hop-flavored malt extract kit used. High-alpha hops are used in the boil to minimize the amount of sparging that’s done at the end of the boil.

Ingredients for 5 gallons:

• 6.6 lbs. Munton & Fison’s Old Ale Kit (hopped malt extract syrup)
• 3.3 lbs. plain light malt extract syrup
• 1/2 lb. black patent malt
• 1/2 lb. roasted barley
• 3 tsp. gypsum
• 2 oz. Eroica, Galena, Nugget or Olympic hops (boiling): 22-25 HBU
• 1 oz. Cascade hops (aroma)
• 1-2 pkgs. ale yeast
• 3/4 c. corn sugar of 1 1/4 dried malt extract (for bottling)

O.G.: 1070-1075 (17.5-19)
F.G.: 1018-1025 (4.5-6)

Add the crushed black malt and roasted barley to 1 1/2 gallons of water and bring to a boil. When boiling begins, remove grains. Add gypsum, malt extract and boiling hops and return to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes. During the final 1-2 minutes add the aroma hops and the sparge into your fermenter and cold water. Add yeast when cool. Bottle when fermentation is complete and then wait until it’s ready and continues to improve.

Tip: Try it with a spicy lahmejune (Armenian sort of pizza).