British Brewer

Recreating the perfect British Pint

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20 January
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Brewing on a budget – Borrowing Yeast

Yeast StarterAs part of the continued deep dive into specific ingredients and techniques (so far we have dug deeper into yeast and reviewed water treatment) I thought a further post on yeast was in order especially given the cost of quality yeast. Its expensive.

As I mentioned in an earlier post on why I brew, its not just the pleasure of drinking high quality fresh ale, or the enjoyment of simply brewing, but also the lower cost of home made ale that stokes my passion for homebrew.  Brewing your own real ale is very economical. I was reminded as I toured the liquor store today and noticed a 6 pack of Fullers ESB on the shelf for $12 (or $2 a bottle), and remembered I have 2 cases (48 bottles) of my own version (though still not up to Fullers quality) in my cellar that cost me approx $4.75 per 6 pack ($0.79 per bottle).  Given I like to use the more expensive liquid yeast from Wyeast or White Labs I find yeast is the most expensive ingredient in my brews. These yeasts have reliable attenuation percentages and produce very consistent results every brew. I have never had a bad batch.  But they are expensive, most being over $6 a packet.  What also doesn’t help is I am often left guessing what type of yeast to purchase for a recipe, e.g. is it a London Ale, London Ale III, or a Thames Valley strain?

But what if I could get the right yeast and pay nothing (except for the one time cost of a single bottle of beer). I could bring the price of a 6 pack of Fullers ESB down to $4 (or $0.66 per bottle) helping my budget somewhat and deliver an even closer match to the original I am trying to clone.

This brings me to the main reason for the visit to my local quality liquor store (as I rarely buy beer except for research purposes), to acquire a sample of 2007 bottle conditioned Fullers Vintage Ale.  As noted in my prior post, I am unhappy with the results of version 1.0 of my Fullers ESB clone.  As part of my research into figuring out how to improve the recipe I have been investigating how to improve the malt, hops and yeast mix.  I have managed to finally find a reliable source for the appropriate hops but got stuck on the yeast. Fullers, like most breweries, is very secretive around its yeast as so much of the flavour and character of the finished ale comes from it.  During my research I was browsing some recipe web sites and found a post on a bulletin board where a homebrewer from England was trying to replicate Fullers London Pride using some yeast grown from a yeast sample he had lifted from some bottle conditioned Fuller 1845 Ale.  Much like homebrew, bottle conditioned commercial beers are naturally carbonated in the bottle using residual yeast and priming sugar leaving a sediment on the bottom of the bottle. The sediment is rich with yeast cells and, with a little care and attention, these cells can be reactivated and grown to be used again in whatever beer you choose. In my case any Fullers clone I might make in the future.

But isn’t all beer sold in the USA pasteurized? I always thought so. So what commercial beers are out there that we could use to create our own free supply of yeast?  The answer appears to be not many.  As a rule almost all imported bottled and keg beers are pasteurized, the reason given to preserve freshness and enhance shelf life (though this point in hotly debated, I can attest to having regular gravity beers in my cellar for months and they continue to improve with age).  Furthermore almost all domestic US bottled beer is also pasteurized though domestic US keg beer is typically unpasteurized and “fresh” (with the exception of the mega-breweries such as Bud who pasteurize everything).  But recently the rules appear to be slowly changing. It is now possible to get imported and domestic bottled conditioned ales for higher gravity brews. I have noted Ringwood, Fullers 1845, Fullers Vintage Ale, and Sam Smiths Organic Ale from the UK and Shipyard Barleywine and Sierra Nevada from the US all available unpasteurized and bottled conditioned in the US market.

So how do we take a sample of bottled conditioned ale and re-culture it for use in your typical 5 gallon batch of homebrew?

  1. First acquire some bottled conditioned ale that matches either the style you are shooting for or from the same brewery that brews the ale you are attempting to clone (chances are its the same strain)
  2. Pour yourself a drink, make sure to save ~20% of the ale bottle, including all the sediment from the bottom
  3. Assemble the following to make a “yeast starter” :
  4. In a saucepan bring to a boil 8 oz of water, add Wheat DME and the hop pellets and boil for a total of 10mins
  5. After 8 mins add yeast nutrient (optional)
  6. Cool rapidly, I partially submerge the saucepan in a sink full of ice cold water and stir vigorously, this also aerates the liquid
  7. Once the liquid is cooled to 80ºF pour into a clean, sanitized flask or carboy
  8. Add the remaining 20% of the bottle conditioned ale, including sediment, from the bottle you purchased
  9. Insert stopper and airlock and keep at a constant 68-75ºF. The yeast should come back to life within 3-4 days.
Yeast Harvesting Materials

The Equipment

Mixing in the Wheat DME

Mixing in the Wheat DME

Source Ale

Pour drink, saving 20%

Yeast Nutrient

Add yeast nutrient after 8mins

Cooling starter to 80%

Cooling rapidly in cold water

Final product

Transfer to flask, add ale with sediment

Once the yeast is active you can either use it or place in the refrigerator to sleep.  Make sure to keep some back to re-culture again for another brew.  Yeast can stay healthy for up to 3 months in the fridge, so make sure to re-culture a batch before 3 months to keep the strain alive or you will just have to go out and actually BUY beer, how does that work with the budget!

Other resources:

  • For a complete list of breweries where White Labs and Wyeast strains originate you can look here.
  • For a list of bottled conditioned ales capable of harvesting yeast go here.
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11 December
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Getting Started Pt 5 – Priming and Bottling

…and drinking of course. As my friend Liz Knox asked for more quotes in my posts I will give them. Given we are about to bottle and store away the fruits of our labors to prepare them for consumption I thought this was appropriate.

Filled with mingled cream and amber I will drain that glass again. Such hilarious visions clamber Through the chambers of my brain — Quaintest thoughts — queerest fancies Come to life and fade away; Who cares how time advances? I am drinking ale today. – Edgar Allan Poe (American short-story Writer, Editor, Poet and Critic, 1809-1849)

This is the final post in our getting started series.  I have to say they have been fun to do and have helped me analyze and question my own techniques and process, improving them along the way.  As I noted in the first post of this series, brewing is a journeyman profession.

As with all the other steps in our process I have included photos, again from the Best Bitter I used in both the brewing and fermentation post.  Lets get on to business

Bottling Equipment

Bottling Equipment

Equipment and Additional Ingredients

There are some basic equipment requirements when it comes to bottling beer.

1) Bottles –  You can either reuse beer bottles from brews acquired at the store or go to a homebrew supplier and buy them there.  If you reuse commercial beer bottles make sure they are not screw tops as these require additional equipment not commonly available at homebrew suppliers.

Ensure the bottles are made from dark coloured glass.  Over exposure to bright light can cause the beer to get a skunky smell caused by a chemical reaction in the hop oil from an over exposure to ultraviolet light. Whatever your choice, the bottles need to be cleaned thoroughly and dried before bottling can commence using a bottling brush and some HOT water.

Bottles typically come in 3 sizes, either 12 oz, 16 oz, or 22 oz.  There are others including growlers and wine bottles. The choice is yours. My only advice is to use a bottle that provides enough ale for a single serving.  Remember homebrew ales contain live yeast and a small amount will settle to the bottom of the bottle as part of the priming process. We do not want any of the sediment to get into a poured ale which happens if the bottle is swished around while pouring from glass to glass or placed back on the counter half full, churning the yeast in the process.  So either decant into a jug or pour a bottle into a single glass.

2) Bottle Caps and a Capper – Regardless of the bottle size you choose the bottle tops are one standard size (except the wine bottle) and one standard bottle cap though there are a couple of different varieties on offer. There is the standard pry-off cap, it can come in plain metal or decorated with a logo.  Some commercial breweries sell surplus caps through homebrew suppliers.  The second type of cap is a pry-off cap with a special oxygen-scavenging liner that can help reduce oxidation and staling, especially useful in higher alcohol beers such as Imperial IPA or Barelywine which bottle condition for many months.

Bottle Cappers come in a variety of shapes and sizes from automated to incredibly manual. I use a simple manual twin-lever device with a magnet to hold the cap in place.

3) Priming Sugar – In order to create the CO2 in bottled conditioned beer it is necessary to create a mini fermentation by adding some additional sugar for the remaining yeast to convert to CO2. The amount of sugar is too small to make any real change to the final ABV.

Each ale recipe can have its own priming ingredient and methodology. Typically cane sugar is used, it is easily consumed by the yeast and has no flavour, colour or aroma characteristics once fermented. It needs to be highly soluble and dissolve quickly into the beer. Some recipes call for Dried Malt Extract, or syrup, both which require boiling for 15-20mins and left to cool before adding to the bottling bucket.  Unless mentioned, all recipes on this site will use confectioners sugar, typically 3/4 cup to 1 cup depending on the level of carbonation.  Do not go over a cup or risk some mini explosions as bottle caps are forced off from too much pressure being created in the bottle.  Confectioners sugar is very fine and dissolves easily into the beer.

We also need a bottling bucket, preferably with a spigot, a siphon, racking cane, and a sanitized long wooden or plastic spoon to gently mix the sugar into the beer.

Process

1) After the ale has been in the secondary fermenter, typically for 5-7 days or as instructed by the recipe, it is ready to be bottled.  First assemble the equipment outlined above, if the priming sugar has been boiled, ensure it has been cooled to room temperature before we begin.

2) Next, attach the siphon tube to racking cane.  If any hops or other adjuncts were added to the secondary fermentation it may be necessary to attach a small filter to the end of the racking cane to avoid any particles getting into the bottled beer.

3) Remove airlock from the carboy, insert racking cane and siphon off into a clean bottling bucket being very careful to avoid the sediment sitting on the bottom of the carboy.  I tilt the carboy forward as the beer drains to ensure we get as much beer out of the bottle leaving all the sediment behind.

Ensure the siphon tubing is coiled around the bottom of the bottling bucket and the beer does not splash as it enters the bucket. Splashing causes the beer to aerate. At this stage of the brewing process oxygen is our enemy.  We need a little oxygen to re-invigorate the remaining yeast cells to replicate and consume the small amount of priming sugar, but too much will lead to stale beer. Too much oxygen can also cause the yeast to over produce leaving a lot of sediment and create cloudy beer with a heavy yeast taste, again bad.

Adding 3/4 cup of priming sugar

Adding 3/4 cup of priming sugar

Stir gently to avoid overly aerating the beer

Stir gently to avoid overly aerating the beer

4) Transfer the now filled bottling bucket to the bottling area, mix the priming sugar or solution to the beer and stir very gently so as not to aerate the beer.

Case of 12 oz beer bottles

Case of 12 oz beer bottles

Filling the bottle

Filling the bottle

5) Position empty bottle under the bottling bucket spigot and fill bottle leaving about 1/2 inch open at the top.  Don’t worry about the oxygen in the top of the bottle, the CO2 generated by the priming sugar will force it to the top of the bottle and away from the precious ale.

Place cap on now filled bottle

Place cap on now filled bottle

Place capper over bottle like so

Place capper over bottle like so

Push down on levers, crimping the cap around the edge of the bottle

Push down on levers, crimping the cap around the edge of the bottle

and you are done

and you are done

Don't forget to clean and santize your equipment!

Don't forget to clean and santize your equipment!

6) Put caps on bottle and store in a dark cool place for as long as the recipe states.  Two weeks is usually enough to test a bottle to check for successful carbonation, but I would let the ale sit for a couple of weeks before cracking open the case proper.  Most ales will hit a peak at around 1 month in the bottle, higher ABV ales can rest for months and sometimes years. Yeah sure, not in my house.

Finally, sit back, crack open a brew, and pour (remember one single pour leaving the small amount of sediment in the bottom of the bottle) and quaff down the fruits of your hard earned labor.  Brewing is a fun process, and its fun to discover the flavours, aromas, and colours created by the various combination of hops and grain and the various strains of yeast.

Have fun and please leave comments on the this page about any additional tips and tricks you have found helped you while on your own brewing adventures.

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02 December
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Some interesting Christmas present ideas….

…for those that make beer and those that love to drink it.

In my daily reading of the blogosphere I came across a cool post and some great books I wanted to highlight.

First up a post from ex-pat beer scholar, zythophile, a pint pot that solves the problem of a beer getting overly warm in the palm (or for those who like it chilled, condensation getting on your hands).

classic quote here:

The pint glass is normally a triumph of function over form, being, too often, an extremely ugly container for a very fine product.

I have asked santa for a couple myself but for those that cannot wait Amazon has some in stock, check it out here.

I am always researching techniques and recipes and there is a wealth of knowledge online and in books.  One big source of ideas comes from homebrew recipe books.  I already have one called “Clone Brews: Homebrew Recipes for 150 Commercial Beers“. This is not only a great source for brewing techniques but also provides guidance on crafting your own unique recipes.  As the title suggests it the pages are filled with 150 recipes drawn from all over the world including the infamous Famosa Lager from Guatemala, the Maccabee Premium from Israel, and the Ngoma Awooyo Special from Togo. It has a great list of British Ales(Fullers, Courage), Irish (Guinness) and some US favorites (Magic Hat, Red Hook, Sam Adams) with some of the more famous Belgium brews thrown in (Duval, Chimay Red).

I was surfing around yesterday and came across this gem, “Brew Your Own British Real Ale“.  If there was a book the BritishBrewer should own it would be this one.  It has actually been out of print since 1998 but due to the rise in popularity of homebrewing the book is being re-issued next year.  I looked it up on Amazon, and from the sample pages Amazon provided I noted an extensive knowledge-base on techniques and tips for brewing authentic Brtitsh real ale.  Most importantly it had a 100 recipes including all the beers I used to love, and yes I have drunk every single one on the list. My long suffering parents can attest to this fact mainly due to the existence of probably one of the best pubs in the world ever just 5 min walk from my house growing up in New Malden called “Woodies“. Had 7 real ales on tap and rotated them constantly.  Always something new to try and sometimes I would somehow manage to get through all 7 in a session, would be rude not to.

I digress, these recipes are priceless as a number of these breweries are no longer in business.  I cannot wait to brew a Wadsworth 6X or a Flowers and write back here with my findings.  Check out the book here, used copies are available (I have ordered one) and you can pre-order the new edition.

Happy reading

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01 December
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