BREWING BEER:

TIPS
300 Helpful Home
Brew
Tips, Tricks & Secrets
By Dave Homebrew
Hendricks

Copyright 2012 by Dave Hendricks

All rights reserved worldwide.
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information in this document. This
Special Report is not intended to
provide exact details or advice. This
report is for informational purposes
only. The author reserves the right to
make any changes necessary to maintain
the integrity of the information held
within. This Special Report is not
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reproduction in whole or in part in any
form. No parts of this book may be

reproduced, redistributed, or given away

in any form without written permission
of the copyright owner.
NOTICE OF LIABILITY: In no event
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profits or other commercial or personal
damages, including but not limited to
special incidental, consequential, or any
other damages, in connection with or
arising out of furnishing, performance or
use of this book.
Dave Homebrew Hendricks
5826 Santa Anita Terrace
Roanoke, VA 24012
Facebook: Homebrewing With Dave

Table Of Contents
Introduction: Tell Me If Youve Heard
This One
1. Aid and Comfort for the Newbie
2. When In Doubt Write It Down
3. Sanitize, Sanitize, Sanitize
4. Ingenious Equipment
Gear That Can Make Your Life
Easier
Buy It Cheap
5. Helpful Hops Hints
Growing Your Own
6. Yeast
Getting the Most Out of Your Yeast
Yeast Starter: Your Secret Weapon

7. Other Ingredient Gold

Preserving Freshness
Water and Malt
Herbs and Spices
Attention Chocoholics!
Coffee Beer: Sounds Like a Plan
The Weird & Wonderful
Organically Grown Ingredients
8. Making Wort: A Watched Pot Will
Boil!
9. Fermentation: Is It Beer Yet?
Last Minute Saves
10. Bottle It!
Where to Get Cheap Bottles
What Kind of Bottles?
Ready, Set Bottle!

Priming: Fizz & Foam

When Youre Fed Up With Bottling
Keg!
11. Become The Master Of
Temperature
Quick-Chilling Your Wort
Cooling the Fermenter
Warming the Fermenter
12. As Steve Martin Says, Lets Get
Small!
13. Partial Grain or All-Grain
Brewing
14. Brewing With Fruit
Fruit: Generally Speaking
Fresh, Frozen, Peels, Purees, Syrups,
Extracts...

When and How to Use It

15. Miscellaneous
Boldly Go Where No Brewer Has
Gone Before
Specific Gravity and Alcohol
Content
Aging Your Beer: Patience is a Virtue
Your Own Private Labels
Another Weapon in the Battle of the
Bulge
High Gravity Beers: They Need
More
I Didnt Know Where Else To Put
These

Introduction: Tell Me If

Youve Heard This One

OK, Ok I know there are actually more
than three hundred Tips in this book. But
348 Tips, Tricks and Secrets just
didnt have the same ring to it as a nice,
round 300 did.
Within these pages youll find those little
bits and pieces of advice that
experienced brewers share with each
other when they lift a few together at
beer competitions, brewing clubs, and
local homebrew supply stores. These
are the clever innovations and the
sometimes-painful lessons that are
usually learned the hard way. You wont
fail as a brewer if you dont know them
all, but they sure can make your life

easier!
In Brewing Beer, by Homebrew
Hendricks, you found all the essential
information for brewing a great beer the
first time you try. Brewing Beer:
Problems revealed how to troubleshoot
your brews when they dont quite
measure up to expectations.
In Brewing Beer: Tips youll discover:

* A cleaning tip that can save the head

on your beer

* A trick with aluminum foil that can

save you hours of grief due to boil-overs

* How to use aquarium heaters and

pumps for brewing

* The best gadget for hauling around

heavy, slippery, glass carboys

* The best place on college campuses to

get free bottles

* How to use a test sample to check the

progress of fermentation, without using a
hydrometer

* How to brew with spices, fruit,

vegetables, coffee, chocolate, and more

* How to experiment and create great

new recipes
And over 300 other helpful, home brew
tips, tricks and secrets! Happy Brewing!

Aid and Comfort for the

Newbie
1. Before brewing your first batch, read
a competent manual or how-to book. I
recommend Brewing Beer and Brewing
Beer: Problems by Dave Homebrew
Hendricks. ;-)
Pick other people's brains. The art of
homebrewing may depend on taste and
talent, but the science can be learned by
anyone. Join beer forums and learn from
those who have already asked and
answered the questions you are only
starting to ask.
Do not follow the directions on
ingredient labels. Some of them are

downright bizarre. Understand what

you're doing before you do it.

2. Watch someone else brew a batch,

from boiling to bottling if possible. You
may see some bad habits, along with the
good. But you'll be a lot more confident
that YOU can do it, once you watch the
actual process. If you don't have any
friends that homebrew, do a google
search for a local homebrew club.

3. Get a second opinion. Compare

answers to brewing questions from
different sources. Don't be afraid or
embarrassed to ask for help.
Every brewer started out as a beginner
and no one starts out knowing
everything. If you have a doubt or

question, ask someone with more

experience for help. Most brewers are
more than happy to help. They remember
being where you are.
Search the web; ask on forums; consult
different books; ask homebrew
storeowners. You'll get conflicting
answers, but you might also get a
consensus. No brewer can know
everything and everyone's experiences
are different.

4. There are advantages to ordering

brewing supplies online, but you need to
find a good, reliable local homebrew
supply shop too. At times you will need
to smell and taste ingredients. You need
to have a source of the freshest

ingredients possible.
You will need emergency ingredients, or
ingredients on the fly. And you will need
access to more experienced brains to
pick. Use google to find a local
homebrew club and ask its members to
recommend their favorite homebrew
supply shop.

5. If you are going to be a homebrewer,

you'd better become reconciled with
becoming a janitor too. 80-90% of your
activity as a homebrewer is cleaning
cleaning, sanitizing, cleaning up after,
and sanitizing again. If you're not willing
to put the time and effort into doing it
right and thoroughly, you might as well
start looking for a different hobby right

now.

6. Before you start on brew day,

especially if you are short on space,
categorize, organize and line up all your
equipment and ingredients ahead of time.
Write out a checklist and schedule for
your chosen recipe.
If you prep, prep, prep and organize
everything ahead of time, you wont go
through any crazed, last minute hunts for
something you needed five minutes ago.
The whole operation will be simpler,
more relaxed and much more fun.

7. Never rush. You can easily pop the

airlock seal off the fermenter lid by
accident and drop it into the murky soup
of your latest batch, if you are hurrying

to finish the last task of brew day.

8. Purposely go out and taste-test a

wide variety of beers and take notes
about your observations. It will increase
your confidence in your own level of
success and increase your understanding
of the elements of beer you like the most
and most want to recreate.

9. Start slow and small. Buy a good

equipment starter kit for $150-200 and
experiment for a while. Don't invest in
an expensive automated system. Their
purpose is to eliminate variables and
produce predictable, consistent results.
But when you are just starting, variables
and mistakes are what teach you. You'll
know when it's time to upgrade and

you'll understand the value of the

upgrade better if you relax and enjoy the
journey first.

10. Experiment, experiment,

experiment. Even if you have a tried and
true favorite recipe does not mean it
can't be improved. Try a twist or tweak.
Switch some hops, or their timing;
change some grain; try dry hopping;
switch yeasts. I tried an herbal beer for
the first time last year. And it was great!

11. Don't ask other brewers if a recipe

sounds good. If they never made it they
can't know if it's good, and neither can
you. I was repeatedly told not to boil
fruit for my beer. But I tried it anyway
and the resulting beer was a hit. I had
pretty much the same experience with my
herbal beer recipe. If you experiment
and like the result, why seek anyone

else's approval?

12. Don't sweat the small stuff. Don't

worry if the temperature is off by a
degree or two, or the hydrometer reading
is off by up to .002.
The only ingredient you need to be really
careful about measuring accurately is
your priming sugar. And you only need
to worry about adding too much, not
about adding too little. Too much may
cause your bottles to explode. This is
supposed to be a fun hobby, not quantum
physics.

13. If you make a mistake and realize it

too late, don't throw out the batch. If you
dump it without tasting it, you might as
well flush money down the toilet. Just

because you THINK a batch is bad, you

can't KNOW it is without tasting it.
Even if you taste the brew, after you
realize your mistake, and don't like it,
finish the brewing process anyway.
Ferment, bottle and age the beer and
taste it again. The last stages of
fermentation and aging can hugely
change and improve beer.
I once fermented a wheat beer at 80F
(27C) by mistake and it turned out to be
one of my best brews ever.

14. Don't demand perfection from

yourself every time. If you aren't willing
to take chances, including the chance of
failure, you won't learn anything and
you'll never discover something fantastic

and unexpected.
Accept that eventually you will have to
throw a batch out and you will relax and
enjoy the brewing experience more. Just
be careful to take good, complete notes,
or you won't learn from either your
happy surprises or your unhappy ones.

15. Remember to have fun. Don't get

too focused on all the cleaning, the
details of numbers, times, charts,
recipes, and the waiting for fermentation
to start or finish. Remember that you got
into this originally for the fun.
Whatever your real job is, I'll bet
women, and other people, would be far
more interested in hearing about making
beer than in the details of your

profession. Learn about the

differences in beer styles what makes
them different and how different yeasts,
hops and grains work together to make
them different.
Have fun showing off your knowledge.
You'll find it will get you more attention
than your job does.

16. The best homebrewing advice of all

is simply to relax. Although there are a
great many mistakes you can make, 95%
of them will simply result in decent beer,
rather than superb beer. No death or
dismemberment. It's just beer not
rocket surgery.

When In Doubt Write It

Down
17. Homebrewing is easy. Can you boil
water? How about measuring dry and
liquid ingredients and putting them in
boiling water? Can you read a clock? A
thermometer? A hydrometer? Can you
wash and sanitize equipment? Can you
pour stuff without getting it all over the
floor?
Doing all of these things is easy. Doing
them at the right time and in the right
order can be hard so WRITE OUT A
CHECK LIST AND SCHEDULE AND
FOLLOW IT!

18. Buy a cheap notebook and keep a

brewer's log listing all the pertinent facts

that go into your brews temperatures,
times, aromas, flavors, ingredients,
experiments. And update your notes AS
YOU WORK. It's easy to lose track of
just when you started the boil, when you
added the hops, and when the next task is
due if you did not WRITE IT DOWN.

A Dog Walks Into A Bar

19. Take notes of EVERYTHING every little detail of the brewing

process, even when you use ingredient
kits. If you make an excellent beer, you'll
be able to reproduce it. And if you make
a mistake, you'll be able to figure out
what to change for next time.
Months later you are not going to be able
to remember exactly what ingredients,
timing, temperatures, etc. you used
without notes. A beer you may have
thought was a failure might age into
something special after it has aged. And
you won't be able to reproduce it, tweak
it, or avoid the same mistakes, if you
don't know what you did to begin with.

Record your EXACT ingredients, the

amounts you used, the temperatures, the
length of time you spent for every step in
brewing, your OG and FG, etc., etc. If
you taste test your brew at any point, try
to describe the flavor and aroma in your
notes too.

20. Label EVERYTHING. Get some

labels/stickers/masking tape and a
waterproof marker, and keep them with
your brewing equipment. Label your
ingredients, fermenters, slurry jars,
stored yeasts, hops, grains, and bottles.
You may think you know what's in what
now, but I guarantee you won't be so
sure in a month.

21. Use erasable labels and standard

sharpies to label your fermenters. Once

the labels dry they wont run if you drip
water, wort or sanitizer on them and they
erase cleanly.
Record the date of your brew day, the
name of the beers recipe or style, the
starting gravity, its predicted final
gravity and the progress of the gravity
whenever you check it. You should also
have this information recorded in your
brewing log, but it helps to label the
fermenter too, especially if you have
more than one going at one time.
You can order this type of label here:
http://www.containerstore.com/shop/kitch
productId=10009870

Sanitize, Sanitize, Sanitize

22. For good beer it is critical to
sanitize everything that will touch your
beer. But sanitization only means to
decrease populations of microorganisms
to insignificant levels. It is different
from sterilization, which means wiping
out every single microorganism on every
surface.
Although not sanitizing carefully enough
is the most common mistake newbies
make, don't obsess with it. Clean and
sanitize as well as you can, and then
forget about it. You're making beer here,
not performing surgery.

23. Sanitize everything that will contact

your beer after it starts to cool

equipment, your hands, everything. Your
beer is most vulnerable to infection by
microorganisms that will spoil it,
immediately after cooling, before your
yeast has had time to multiply and
ferment.
Once your yeast gets a good foothold, it
will have a better chance of fending off
the competition. But sanitation will
remain important for brewing great beer
right up until it is safely bottled.

24. Keep all pets and kids out of your

brewing area. Also keep the windows
closed to minimize airborne
contaminants.

25. I used to use 5 gallon (19L) plastic

buckets to clean my equipment in. But

now I have large capacity Rubbermaid
tubs. They are cheap and work much
better.

26. If you use PBW, Straight A, or

another powdered cleaner to clean your
carboy, dissolve it completely in warm
water before you dump it into your
carboy or plastic fermenter. If you don't,
these cleaners will leave powder behind
that is very difficult to completely
remove.

27. Air-dry your sanitized equipment.

Unless you just boiled your towel, it
will spread bacteria.

A Bender Fermenter or Kegerator

Great Idea!

28. Don't use any wooden equipment,

such as a wooden mixing spoon. It's next

to impossible to keep them properly
sanitized.

29. Be very thorough when rinsing soap

off your equipment. Any soap residue
can reduce your beer's head retention.

30. COMMON SANITIZERS:

STAR SAN is highly recommended. It
foams a lot but requires NO rinsing.
B-T-F IODOPHOR SANITIZER
requires two minutes of soaking and airdrying to sanitize your equipment.
CHLORINE (unscented household
bleach) is very cheap and effective, but
you have to be very careful to hot water
rinse at least three times.

For a 1/2 to 1 hour soaking sanitization,

mix 1/2 to 1.5 teaspoons (2.4-7g) in 5
gallons (19L) of water. To use as a
sponge wash, mix 1.5 ounces (44ml) per
gallon (3.8L). Rinse, rinse, rinse.
WARNING Chlorine is corrosive to
brass, copper and stainless steel and not
very good for your skin. Also, mixing
chlorine bleach and ammonia will
produce a poisonous gas.

31. Although Star San is not the

cheapest sanitizer to buy, it is economic
to use because you can use it over and
over. And you need very little of it to
sanitize. It's possible to sanitize a carboy
using only a few drops. Just mix with a
cup of water and swirl it around for half

a minute.
You can ignore the foam and pour your
wort or beer right in, because it is food
grade. No rinsing is necessary. You can
fill a sanitizing bucket with 4-5 gallons
(15-19 L) of water and 1 oz. (30 ml) of
Star San. Keep it covered with a plastic
bag, plastic wrap, or lid and you can reuse it for months until it gets real cloudy.

32. Keep a spray bottle, filled with Star

San / water solution (or the no-rinse
sanitizer of your choice) handy to your
work area. When you need some quick
sanitization, say when you are changing
airlocks, taking a sample for your
hydrometer, or replacing the fermenter
lid, it will eliminate a lot of steps back

and forth to your cleaning bucket.

33. You should also spray no-rinse

sanitizer on the outside of your yeast
package before you open it.

34. You can also keep a small bowl of

no-rinse sanitizer solution handy and
keep small equipment, such as airlocks,
plugs and bottle caps soaking until the
very moment you use them. Rinse Star
San off of your hands though, or it will
damage your skin.

35. Conserve water by multitasking

your cleaning chores as much as
possible. While youre waiting for your
wort to finish boiling, or your grains are
mashing, wash some kegs or bottles with

the cleaning solution you used on your

carboy. Save it again to clean your
boiling kettle at the end of your brewing
day.

36. One of the easiest and most

thorough methods of getting a carboy
really clean and sanitized is to give it a
good soak with 5-Star PBW. Though a
little pricy, this is one of the best
cleaners and has a low environmental
impact.
Make a one to one and a half gallon
solution with lukewarm, not hot, water
and pour it into a dirty carboy. Lay the
carboy down on its side on top of an old
blanket or towel. The level of the
solution should come to just under the

level of the mouth of the carboy.

Let it sit and soak for ten to twenty
minutes. Rotate the carboy and let it soak
again. After the entire interior has had a
turn, scrub all the surfaces with a carboy
brush. Rinse and air dry. You can also
re-use the solution to soak and deep
clean other equipment.

37. If you wash your carboy over the

sink, wear rubber gloves to get a good
grip on it. One time my carboy slipped
out of my hands, smashed into the bottom
of the sink, and gashed my hand open.
Actually, here's some better advice:
don't wash your carboy over the sink.

38. After you transfer your beer,

immediately clean your fermentation

bucket or carboy. After it air dries, stuff

some cotton in the neck or cover it with
plastic wrap or tape clean tissue paper
over it. No dust will be able to fall in
and it will be ready to use on your next
brew day.
Cliff Explains It All

39. If you dont have time to clean a

plastic bucket or glass carboy right
away, at least fill it with water. If you
wait to clean them until the wort, beer or
trub has a chance to dry, youll be setting

yourself up for a world of trouble.

But if you do put yourself in this
unenviable position, soak it with a
mixture of water, iodophor and rubbing
alcohol. The alcohol helps by breaking
the dried gunk down. Afterward
thoroughly rinse the mixture out of your
vessel.

40. If you are having trouble cleaning

your blow off tubes, soak them overnight
in cleaner, such as Electrasol or Straight
A. Then use a bottlebrush to clean out
the caked on gunk.

41. After youve been brewing for a

while, wort proteins, cleaners and hard
water will combine and form a brownish
or whitish coating on your fermenters

and boiling kettle. This coat of calcium

oxalate is commonly known as
beerstone.
Its rough surface makes a great hiding
place for bacteria and lessens your kettle
efficiency. Scrubbing will only remove a
tiny portion of this beerstone scale, even
if you use strong cleaners.
Soak the affected equipment with a
mildly acidic solution instead. Mix
Acid 5 or citric acid with water, or
mix vinegar and lemon juice. Soak for
half an hour and the calcium oxalate will
wipe off easily. Dry the equipment for a
few days to passivate their metal before
brewing with it again.

42. Any equipment that touches your

beer before the boil needs to be clean

but not necessarily sanitized, and any
equipment that touches your beer
AFTER the boil needs to be both. But
that does not mean you can leave your
pre-boil equipment lying around with
un-cleaned gunk getting dry and hard.
If you dont clean your mash tun fairly
promptly, the smell it will develop will
make it permanently unusable. Soon after
you use it, spray obvious detritus from
your pre-boil equipment. Inspect all
valves, and wipe down all the surfaces.
Air-dry your equipment before you store
it so it does not develop mold.

43. Keeping all your equipment clean

and sanitary is very important, but

keeping your brewing environment clean

and safe is just as important. Clean up as
you go along. Sweep up spilled grain
right away.
Wipe up boiled over wort as soon as
possible. Not only is clean up easier if
its not all left till the end of your
brewing day, but your working
environment will be safer too. When you
are moving five gallons of scalding
liquid is no time to step into a puddle of
spilled wort.

44. Though cleanliness and sanitation

are important considerations, so is fire
safety. Keep the area around your
boiling kettle clear of anything
flammable.

Dont come too close to the heat with

your wipe-up cloth. Dont wear loose
clothing. Tuck your shirt in. And keep a
charged fire extinguisher, a smoke alarm
and some oven mitts or potholders
handy.

Ingenious Equipment
Gear That Can Make Your
Life Easier
45. It makes sense to start small to see
if you really enjoy homebrewing. But,
once the bug bites you, invest for the
long term in very good-quality
equipment glass carboys, a good
chiller, a good mash tun/cooler, etc.
If you first buy a 3 gallon (11 L) boiling
pot and later upgrade to a 5 gallon (19L)
enamel pot, then an 8 gallon (30 L)
kettle, and finally a 9 gallon (34 L)
stainless pot, you will spend more
money in the long run than if you jumped
directly up to the 9 gallon (34 L) pot.

46. Buy a larger boiling kettle. A 6-7.5

gallon (23-28L) capacity pot will allow
you to boil a full 5-gallon (19L) batch
for the full 60-90 minute boil. Doing a
partial-batch boil of 2-3 gallons (7.5-11
L) and topping it off to 5 gallons (19L)
after the boil will cause your beer to be
more caramelized and darker colored,

due to the concentrated boil.

Full batch boils produce better beer.
Also, having plenty of extra space in
your boiling vessel cuts down on the
chance of boil-overs. Of course there's
no substitute for your physical presence,
watchfulness and frequent stirring to
prevent boil-overs and scorching.
A big pot also allows you to boil a little
extra water so you don't feel as bad
leaving the nasties behind when you
pour the wort into your fermenter. When
shopping for large boiling vessels, check
out the prices at your local sporting
goods stores.

47. There are boiling kettles on the

market that have been specially designed

with features that you may or may not

find useful.
A valve spigot is definitely a desirable
feature. Not having to use a siphoning
tube to rack your beer is a plus. Other
available features include sight glass
tubes for measuring volume, built-in
thermometers, diverter plates, false
bottoms and more.

48. Glass carboy fermenters are easier

to get clean and sanitized than plastic
fermenters. First, you can see the dirt
easier and, a carboy brush makes it easy
to clean. Plastic tends to get tiny nicks
and scratches, which are hard to
sanitize.
Plastic is porous to oxygen and other

gasses over long periods of time,

whereas glass is not. Glass carboys can
be sealed more reliably. Plastic
fermenters are more prone to leaks in
both directions, which makes it harder to
tell when fermentation has begun or
finished.

49. Most buckets and carboys do leave

you some headspace for vigorous
fermentation foam. They almost always
measure more than their stated capacity.
If you're in doubt, it's simple to measure
out five gallons and test their capacity
before you commit yourself to using
them for brewing.

50. The use of plastic buckets or glass

carboys is fine for EITHER your

primary fermenter or your secondary

fermenter or BOTH. If you use plastic, it
must be food-grade plastic and you
should not use plastic if the beer is going
to be stored in it for much more than a
month. Because of plastic's slight
permeability, it will eventually give your
beer off flavors, but this takes months to
happen.

51. Many homebrewers hate their glass

carboys for good reason. Full ones are
heavy, slick, and create an unholy mess
if dropped. They are a nightmare to haul
up and down stairs. I recommend The
Brew Hauler.
It is a nylon strap with handles that goes
around the body of the carboy. It flat out

beats lame neck rings all hollow. If you

can't find one at your local homebrew
shop, do a google search for it. It should
cost around $12 and is well worth the
price.

52. You are going to need a strong, long

handled, steel spoon. It needs to be
strong in order to make boiling wort
whirlpools, and to thoroughly stir heavy,
sticky, thick mashes.
It needs to be long enough to reach the
bottom of your boiling kettle and keep
your fingers out of the wort. It needs to
be steel because plastic paddles are too
flimsy and wood is next to impossible to
properly sanitize.

53. Pick up a stick-on temperature strip

at your homebrew supplier. Pour 5

gallons (19L) of water into your carboy
and stick the temperature strip on so that
the top edge of the strip lines up with the
top of the water. The strip can now help
you monitor the temperature of your
ferment and guide you when you want to
top off a 5-gallon (19L) recipe.

54. Dont use thermometers with

mercury in them. The glass is fragile and
the mercury is very poisonous. Red
alcohol floating thermometers are cheap
but fragile and slow to react.
You can also use bi-metal dial
thermometers, which are finicky, or
digital stick thermometers or digital
probe thermometers. Be sure to check

the accuracy of your thermometer by

comparing it to another reliable
thermometer or by measuring the
temperature of boiling water with it. Be
careful handling fragile digital probes
and recalibrate dial thermometers often.

Welcome To The Dark Side

55. Buy an outdoor propane burner.

Boiling 5 gallons (19L) of liquid on an
electric burner can wreck it quickly.
Investing in an outdoor burner might be
more cost effective than replacing
electric stove burners.
Propane or natural gas saves energy
over electric burners. They also give
you more control over your boiling
temperature and less chance of scorching
your beer. Boils go faster and cleanup is
easier.
Moving your whole brewing operation
outdoors or into the garage will make
any spouse who does not enjoy beer
making and its messes and smells much

happier. And your life will get a whole

lot simpler and more fun. Sadly, if you
live in an apartment, this won't be an
option for you.

56. Your kitchen stove probably puts

out only 12,000 BTUs/hr., unless you
own a professional range. This makes
bringing five gallons of wort to a
vigorous boil a time consuming task.
Nowadays inexpensive high-BTU
propane burners have become available,
thanks to the popularity of fried turkey.
These burners can range from 30,000 to
200,000 BTUs. Pick one that has sturdy
legs and a wide enough base to hold
your boiling kettle.

57. I boil my wort outdoors, under my

carport to protect my brew from

sunlight. But I still need a windbreak for
my burner. So I wrap a continuous piece
of aluminum foil around my pot and
fasten it with clothespins or masking
tape.
The foil extends down, over my burner
and down to the tabletop. It gaps open by
the burner's control lever so I can watch
the flames and reach the burner with my
lighter.

58. This may be obvious, but its so

important it bears repeating. If you are
using a propane burner, keep a fire
extinguisher handy. And add, Check fire
extinguisher charge to your brew day
checklist. Accidents dont warn you

ahead of time.

59. If you'd like to scale up from 5

gallon (19L) batches to 15 gallon
batches, see if you can acquire a used
tit dip jug from a dairy farmer (try
eBay) to use as a 15 gallon (57 L)
fermenter.
Dairy farmers use them for the iodine
solution that they dip their cows teats in
after milking. These jugs have a 3-inch
(7.6cm) primary opening, which is
threaded, flanged and fitted with a
gasket. They seal tightly and can be
easily cleaned with a carboy brush.

60. Buy an egg timer you can carry

around with you. Most people don't want
to hover over a 60-minute boil, although

it's a good idea to stay close to the boil

and look in on it frequently, both to
forestall boil-overs and to stir the wort
to prevent scorching. Egg timers are
especially helpful if you decide to try
all-grain brewing.

61. For those of you that have trouble

siphoning your beer, think about buying
the Auto Siphon. It works great and most
homebrew suppliers stock it or can
order it. You'll also have to buy about 4
feet (1.2m) of 3/8 (.95cm) food-grade
tubing, if you don't already have it. Auto
Siphon and tubing together should cost
you in the neighborhood of $16.

62. Hydrometers are made of very thin

glass, so they break easily. It makes

sense to invest in a second backup

hydrometer, just in case. They only cost
around $7.

63. There is a type of hydrometer that

was designed for homebrewers who
don't want to do complicated math to
figure out the alcohol content of their
beer.
These hydrometers have an additional
set of lines on them that read from 0-15.
Make note of the reading on this scale
before and after fermentation. The
difference is the percentage of alcohol in
your brew.

64. If you are brewing porters, wheat,

fruit, stouts, porters, or any other thickbodied wort with a lot of solids in it,
then you need to use blow-off tubes,
rather than airlocks. Airlocks and
bubblers can get clogged easily and
wind up getting blown out and shot

across the room.

At about $5, a typical 4-foot (1.2m)
blow off tube costs a little more than an
airlock, but it won't clog and will give
you peace of mind. Invest in several.

65. If you have a refrigerator that you

use only for beer making, you can get
more precise control over its
temperature, and save on your electric
bill by buying a temperature controller.
Most refrigerators keep a temperature of
30F-40F (-1.1 to 4.4C). If you raise
that to 50F-70F (10 to 21C), a better
temperature for beer making, youll save
as much as $10 per month on energy
costs. If you have a keg system, with a
refrigerator tap, you can save more on

electricity because you wont be opening

the door as often.

66. Gravity is always reliable, as the

force that siphons your beer. But lifting
heavy kettles of scalding liquids can be
difficult and dangerous. Consider
investing in a high-temperature impeller
pump.
You can use it to pump cleaner, sparging
water, cooling water, or hot wort from
one vessel to another. Never control the
flow through the input line to your pump.
Always keep that line wide open.
Control the flow of liquid by restricting
the output line.

67. If you use grains to brew and like to

buy in bulk, youll want to buy and store

them whole, not pre-cracked. If you
invest in a good roller grain mill youll
be able to crack your malt at the last
minute and adjust the fineness of the
crush to your needs. Pick a mill that
comes with two rollers and a hopper.
And be sure to buy a mill that you can
use a power drill to crank.

68. Vacuum sealers are handy for

storing your fresh hops, spices and
grains. Removing as much oxygen as
possible will preserve their freshness
and aroma. Remember to freeze your
hops after sealing them.

69. If you get into buying your hops and

DME in bulk, youll need to invest in a

digital postal scale. Your scale should

have a high enough resolution to register
0.1 ounce (2.8g), but it will be even
better if it is calibrated to 0.01 ounce
(.28g). To weigh the grain or DME for a
batch, a bigger packaging scale is
required. You can find both types cheap
online.

70. Go to any large home-improvement

store, such as Home Depot or Lowes,
and buy a plastic paint bucket lid
remover tool. They look like giant claws
and make taking the lid off a bucket
fermenter really easy. They only cost
about a dollar and make life much easier
if your hands are weak or injured.

71. As you become more deeply

involved with homebrewing, some small

parts, like clamps and gaskets will
prove to be critical lynch pins.
Considering how badly Murphys Law
can mess you up, its a good idea to
invest in backups of such things, and to
always keep them with your brewery
equipment just in case.

72. When you move on to advanced

brewing techniques and designing your
own recipes, youll learn that there is
some math involved with calculating
strike temperatures, hop bittering and
grain additions.
If you hate math, youll be happy to learn
that nowadays there are a few software
packages that formulate recipes and

predict results for you. There are

desktop applications, like Promash,
Beer Tools Pro, and Beersmith.
There are also some online calculators
that can do the math, store your brew
data and share your recipes with their
other members. Though similar to each
other, they differ in the cost, interface
and other details.
Though they provide online data storage,
DO NOT throw away your brewers
journal. Always backup data.

73. Use a hemostat to clamp the siphon

hose. They are much more reliable and
easy to use than those supplied with
equipment kits.

Buy It Cheap
74. Many home brewers modify kegs to
use as boiling pots. See if your local bar
or microbrewery will sell you a used
keg. A new one can cost around $200.

75. Consider using 5-gallon (19L)

plastic spring water jugs as secondary
fermenters. Sanitize them of course.
Since drinking water is sold in them, you
know they are food-grade.
You can use the water to brew with and
the jugs share some of the advantages of
glass carboys ease of monitoring
fermentation and being able to seal
reliably. But you don't have to worry
about dropping and breaking glass.

Being cheap, you can replace them fairly

frequently, when the plastic collects
scratches and nicks, which are breeding
grounds for microorganisms. At about
$12, they are a good buy, compared to
$20-25 glass carboys, at least in the
short run. Of course, if you can find used
glass carboys at a similar price, plastic
jugs can't compete.

76. The great majority of plastic

vessels that have HDPE 2 stamped on
the bottom are food-grade plastic. I use
dirt-cheap plastic paint buckets. You can
also ask your local bakery if they can
spare any of their storage buckets. You
know they have to be food-grade.
Homebrew suppliers, like any specialty

shop, can be kind of pricey. Restaurants

and delis can be sources for cheap,
food-grade, plastic buckets. Just don't
get any pickle containers. It's practically
impossible to get the smell out.

77. So you found a plastic jug or bucket

at a bargain price, but don't know if it's
food grade. Look for a stamp on the
bottom that says HDPE 2. Most HDPE 2
is food grade, but not all.
If the container is something like a water
jug, that already contains a consumable,
then it is food grade. Or if the product is
sold at a restaurant or kitchen supply
store, it's likely that it is food grade. If
you'd like to read more about plastics,
visit:

http://virtualweberbullet.com/plastics.htm

78. Buy second-hand kitchen scales and

cooking pots when you find them. Used
stainless steel pots can be very difficult
to find. Enamel-coated pots are OK to
use, aluminum too.

79. Search eBay, garage sales, flea

markets, free-cycle, and Craigslist for
used brewing equipment. For every new
hobbyist, there's one who has moved on
to another hobby, retired from brewing,
or died, leaving a spouse who is just as
happy to get rid of his stuff cheap.
Especially look for carboys and glass
water jugs. They age well and can be
very expensive from homebrew
suppliers.

80. Be aware, when shopping for a

mini fridge or freezer for your home
brewery that older units are usually very
energy inefficient. Keep that in mind if
you come upon a great deal in a used
fridge or freezer, that the electric bill it
will run up over six months may very
well come to more than the price of a
newer, energy-efficient model.

81. If you use blow-off tubes, instead of

an airlock or bubbler, you need a
container of pure water to submerge the
other end of the tube in. I picked up a
bathroom type plastic garbage can at a
discount store.
I cleaned it well, sanitized it, and filled
it with water. I have the blow-off tubes

from four or more fermenters using it at

one time. Works like a charm.

82. Nylon stockings can make great,

disposable hop bags. Buy a cheap pack
for 99 and cut off the last 12-18 inches
(30-46cm) of clean new nylons. Put your
hops in one and tie off the end.
It's easy to fish your hops out of the wort
and there's no grain bag to clean. Just
throw the hop bag away. Buy the palest
nylons you can find and boil them before
use, because the dye in them can bleed
into your wort, though it won't affect the
aroma or taste.

More Equipment Tips

83. Take a few minutes to calibrate
your brew kettle or pot, your buckets and
your carboys. Pour water in, one gallon
at a time, and mark the sides of your
vessels if possible. Masking tape and a
felt tip work well on the outside of
glass.
For vessels that don't lend themselves to
being marked, you can use a plastic ruler
and mark it with nail polish. Or make a
chart on an index card that correlates
various depths in your brewing vessels
with volumes of liquid. This will
simplify topping off correct volumes of
liquid.

84. Every time you use a bottlebrush or

carboy brush you wind up scraping the
glass with the metal handle of the brush.
These scratches on the lip of the carboy
or bottle make good hiding places for
bacteria.
Take a piece of quarter inch plastic
tubing and cut a piece the same length as
the exposed metal of the brush handle.
Because it holds its shape well, the thick
walled tubing that is used for keg
systems is ideal for this purpose.
Carefully cut through the tube lengthwise
on one side and force it over the wire
handle. It will no longer be able to
scratch your glassware.

85. Blow-Off tubes get clogged pretty

easily especially because they are

usually used for gunky types of brews to
begin with. Even soaking them in a
cleaning bucket overnight may not help.
Use blow-off tubes that are at least 1
(2.5cm) diameter and you'll be able to
use your bottlebrush to clean them out.

Helpful Hops Hints

86. Try using hop pellets instead of
whole hops. They work just as well as
whole hop flowers and cause less mess.
Hop pellets are made from dried, ground
hops that have been pressed into a kind
of concentrated hop pill.
That process breaks open the lupulin
glands of the flowers and lupulin is the
chemical in hops that gives beer its
bitterness. Hop pellets are, on average,
10-15% more bitter than the same
amount of whole hops. So adjust your
recipes accordingly. Hop pellets work
quite well for dry hoping too.

87. Alpha rating is the measure of

bitterness of hops. But the alpha rating

that is stated on hops packaging is the
rating when it was harvested, not what it
is when you get it home. Hop bitterness
drops with time and the amount it drops
varies with the variety of hop.
Refrigerate your hops as soon as you buy
them. Vacuum packing helps too and
freezing helps even more. Even so, you
should know that an alpha level
(bitterness) of 5% will go down to 4%
after 6 months of storage.

88. While it is true that the fresher your

hops the better, it IS possible to save
some money by buying hops in bulk.
Check out prices online. Even with
postage, it may be cheaper than buying

from your local supplier.

When I say bulk I don't mean pounds
and pounds, I mean 4-8 ounces (113-227
g). Keep them refrigerated and sealed as
tight as possible, and you might be able
to use them up to 6 months after buying.
But do try to use them as soon as
possible. Also check their sell-by or
shelf life date.

89. If your local homebrew shop does

not keep their hops refrigerated, don't
give them your business.

90. Don't be afraid to experiment with

your hops. Mix varieties; use bittering
hops for flavoring, or flavoring hops for
bittering. Try using 2 or 3 varieties of
bittering or aroma hops at the same time.

If you like a particular type of high AA

hop, but you'd like it less potent, cut the
quantity in half or less. Experiment with
quantities and varieties and remember to
take notes, so you can learn from your
mistakes and reproduce your successes.

91. Another way to experiment with

your hops is to vary the timing of the
addition of your hops. The long boiling
times (60-90 minutes) are for the
bitterness element in your beer. Boiling
times from 15-30 minutes at the end of
the boil adds hop flavors, and boiling
during the last 5 minutes or less adds
hop aromas.
But don't let yourself be straightjacketed
by the recipe. If the recipe calls for a

60-minute boil, try a 45-minute boil to

reduce the bitterness, or 75 minutes for a
bitterness boost. Or try using multiple
varieties of hops at once.

92. Try dry hopping to add floral aroma

and character to your beer. Put between
1/4 and 1 ounce (7-28g) of hops in a
grain bag and place it in your secondary
fermenter or keg for about a week.
Really nice.

93. It can be tricky to dry hop in a glass

carboy. If you throw loose hops in, they
can absorb a lot of your beer and it's
hard to siphon the beer with the hops
floating around in it. If you use a hop
bag, it's hard to cram a two-ounce bag of
whole hops down into a carboy, harder
to get it out again, and a lot of your hops
wind up floating on top of your beer.
If you add sanitized marbles to the bag,
it gets buried in the trub at the bottom.

My solution is to keep the hop bag

suspended in the middle of the carboy.
Add a few steely marbles to the bag, tie
the bag up with sanitized fishing line and
tie it to the bottom of the airlock.
When you're ready to bottle, pop the
airlock and the hop bag will come with
it. It's still tricky persuading it to come
through the narrow neck, but this method
eliminates the need to fish for a swollen
bag of hops and keeps it fully
submerged, yet off of the trub.

Growing Your Own

94. Hops are a perennial climbing vine.
Actially, the technical term for those
parts of the plant is bine, not vine. They
grow back every year. So, if they are
properly cared for, a hop plant can be
productive for many years.
Hops like to have something they can
climb on, and they like water, plenty of
sun, and fertile soil. Its the female
plants flowering cones that are used in
brewing.
Home growers start by planting the
rhizomes or roots from female plants.
The plants that grow from them will
produce large healthy flower cones but
no seeds.

95. If youve never grown hops before,

it would be a good idea to try growing a
few varieties to discover which will
grow best in your growing conditions.
Choose hops that can be harvested early
if you live in an area with a short
growing season, such as Tettnanger,
Spalt, Saaz, Perle, and Hallertaur. Kent
Goldings and Cascade are good choices
for areas that have longer growing
seasons. But many varieties may thrive if
you mulch and water them well.

96. If you plant three 4-inch (10 cm)

hop rhizomes in a triangle, twelve inches
(30 cm) apart, they will send out rootlets
horizontally underground and then theyll
send up shoots. They can easily come up

in a circle thats over 8 feet (2.4 m) in

diameter. Train about fifteen of the
shoots onto a trellis and mow the others
down.

97. Since they spread so vigorously,

youll need to divide them just to keep
them manageable. In the fall take note of
the plants that are getting too spread out
and thick. As soon as the ground is
thawed enough to dig in the spring, dig
the rhizomes up, cut them into 4-6 inch
(10-15 cm) pieces, and plant them again.
About 3/4 of them will take root again.

98. Hops need to be planted in soil

with the right mix of nutrients and they
need to be fed more nutrients during the
growing season. For growth and health

hops need potassium, phosphorous and

nitrogen as well as trace minerals like
manganese, iron and boron.
Organic manure is the best source to get
all of these nutrients. Cow, chicken,
horse and sheep manure are all good
sources. Rabbit manure is especially
good, but it can be hard to find unless
you raise rabbits.

99. You will probably need to upgrade

your trellising for the first three years. If
you start with ten foot sticks, supporting
baling twine, that will support hops that
will grow to 6 or 7 feet (1.8-2.1 m) tall
their first year. But they could double
that height the second year and you'll
need a more robust trellis system.

Set 2 or 3 twenty-foot (6m) poles about

5 feet (1.5m) apart and firmly set into the
ground. Run a strand of heavy twine
from the center of the bines to the top of
each pole. Each string can support up to
3 bine shoots.
This gives the growing bines plenty of
room, air and light to grow hop flower
cones. Good spacing also allows the
bines to dry out better when it rains thus
reducing the risk of mildew. Harvesting
the flowers will be much easier if you
use string, instead of a wooden lattice.

100. Dont weed your hops too

thoroughly. Its good to keep a couple of
inches of ground cover to keep the soil
moist and to hold soil nutrients. Dont let

anything grow tall enough to choke the

bines, or thick enough to keep the bines
wet at the bottom. But short grass or
weeds are beneficial.
Until the bines are well established
dont let other plants compete too
strongly. So during the first couple of
years, weed out poplar saplings and
blackberries and mulch well with
composted leaves, straw and/or grass
clippings.

101. The worst insect pests youll fight

will be Japanese beetles and aphids. To
combat the beetles install a beetle trap
available through garden-supply
catalogs. Use one trap per planting. For

a great organic solution for aphid

infestation, buy some ladybugs.

102. Its just as easy to give your hops

too much water as to under-water them.
The soil should be kept moist, but not
sludgy. You may not need to water
established plants at all in the spring.
But be more careful about watering
transplants, cuttings and new plants,
especially if its a dry spring. When the
weather turns warm and dry, check your
hops each day. Never let the soil bake
dry and hard. You probably have not
watered your bines enough if they droop
or begin to turn yellow.

103. Unfortunately, although yellowing

and wilting leaves can be a sign of

under-watering, they can also be a sign

of plant nutrient deficiency, disease,
over-watering, or just plain poor
growing conditions.

104. If you notice a brown or white

powdery coating, your plants have a type
of mildew. Strip the affected leaves but
DO NOT compost them or use them for
mulch. Check your soils moisture and
fertilize if youve been neglectful of it.
One effective and easy method of
preventing bine damage from excessive
ground moisture is to strip the leaves
from the lowest three or four feet of bine
closest to the ground.

105. Picking your hops at just the right

moment is critical. The time is right

when the cones are fully developed.

They should still be green but beginning
to become papery and yellow on the
edges.
If you bend a cone it should snap in half
cleanly. You should be able to see
lupulin, a resin-like yellow powder on
the bases of the flower cones. If your
hops are ripe you should be able to
smell them from a couple of feet away.

106. You will need a few hours on a

dry, not very windy day to pick your
hops. You will need a strong pair of
good garden shears and a dry, clean,
large tarp to lay on the ground near the
bines.
Cut your hop plants about two feet (.6 m)

above ground level, pull your trellis

poles out of the ground, and lay the
plants out on the tarp. This way a
number of people can pick the cones at
once and they wont need a ladder to do
it.

107. Be careful not to tear or crush the

cones as you pull them gently from the
bines. The tarp will keep them clean and
dry and will make it easy to gather the
leaves and bines for composting.

108. Put the cones in clean paper bags

as you pick them. The bags will protect
the cones from wind and light while you
are picking them and bringing them to
your drying rack.

109. If you package your hops before

they have thoroughly dried out, they will
get moldy and smell like cheese. One
great method for drying is to use an old
screen door, propped up across a couple
of sawhorses.
Spread your hops out on the screen as
thinly as possible. Do this in some place
like a garage, barn, attic, or other
location that is sheltered from wind and
dust. Wind will scatter them and dust
will make them taste dirty.
Stir the hops up a few times a day,
exposing all the cones to the drying air.
It should take 3 or 4 days for all of the
hops to thoroughly dry. If you want to
hurry the process, you can use a

dehydrator in the same room as the

cones.

110. Or you can slowly and carefully

bake them dry in a warm oven. Dont set
your oven over 150F (65.5C) or leave
the hops in too long or they will crisp
and become worthless.

111. When the hops are dry to the touch

and papery, put them in zippered plastic
freezer bags, squeezing as much air out
as you can. A vacuum sealer is very
valuable for this step. Weigh each bag,
label them with the variety of hops and
date the bags. Then store them in the
freezer until you are ready to use them.

112. After harvesting, you need to

prepare the plants for winter. When you
cut them down for harvesting, cut the

bines 2 or 3 feet (.6-.9 m) above the

ground, leaving a few leaves on the
bines. This will allow the plants to
continue to grow for a few weeks and
put some energy and growth into their
root system.
After the first frost of the year, cut the
bines down to about 2 inches (5 cm) tall.
Fertilize the plants and pile a thick layer
of mulch over them. Once in a while,
during the winter, pour fermentation
dregs or trub on them as winterizing
nutrition. Otherwise simply leave them
alone.

Yeast
Getting the Most Out of Your
Yeast
113. For beginners, using dry yeast is
simpler and slightly cheaper than using
liquid yeast. The critical step in using
dry yeast is the re-hydration step. Do not
simply sprinkle the dry yeast over the
chilled wort, as many recipes instruct.
Boil a pint of water before preparing
your wort. Cover it and cool it while
preparing and boiling the wort. When
ready to start chilling the wort, sprinkle
dry yeast onto the pint of cooled water
and re-cover.
Yeast water should be around 95-105F

(35-40C) reheat if necessary. Water

that is too hot or too cold will kill or
injure your yeast.

114. But for better beer, use fresh, high

quality, liquid yeast for the style you're
brewing. (Or culture it from an earlier
successful brew.) Yeast is the most
important ingredient in your beer and it's
the last thing you want to cut corners on.
Spend an extra 5 or 6 dollars rather than
using that 50 dry yeast in order to make
great beer, rather than something you'll
wind up pouring down the drain. While
you're at it, spend a few minutes, a few
days before brew day, to make a starter
bottle from that liquid yeast, and your
fermentation will go faster and smoother

and result in still better beer.

115. It's worth it to pay more for liquid

yeast over dry. It makes better quality
beer and, if you learn to make yeast
starter bottles with it, you can save
money and make it stretch further. You
can re-use it about 4 more times (5 total
uses).
When you siphon the beer from the
primary, whether into a secondary
fermenter or into a bottling bucket,
harvest the yeast from the bottom of the
primary, and use it for your next brew.
Save the sediment in a mason jar in your
refrigerator. Be sure to label the slurry
with the date, the type of yeast, and what
generation of use it is.

Two to four days before brew day, use

the slurry to make a yeast starter. That's
the second use or generation of that
yeast. You can save dormant yeast in
your fridge for months.

116. Split-test your yeast. Split your

batch, large or small, into two and use
two different yeast strains in two
fermenters. The exact same beer
ingredients can produce radically
different flavors, depending on the type
of yeast. Remember to label your
experiments and take notes on the
results.
The statistics that Yeast companies
publish about their yeasts can help you
figure out what results youll get from

them:

117. Attenuation tells you how much

sugar a type of yeast will consume. The
higher the percentage of attenuation, the
more sugar the yeast will ferment and the
more the OG (original gravity) will be
lowered. If the yeast has an attenuation
listing of 70%-75% it will lower an OG
of 1.050 to 1.013-1.015. (.050 X 70% =
.035 and .050 - .035 = .015 ---- .050 X
75% = .0375 and .050 - .0375 = .00125)

118. Flocculation tells you how fast the

yeast will clump together, fall to the
bottom of the fermenter and clear the
beer. Beers with high flocculation clear
fast, but leave unfermented sugars, and
aromas of sulfur, diactly, etc. behind.

Though lower flocculation yeasts may

leave your beer hazier, it will be well
attenuated. They make hazier beers
because they stay suspended in it, but
suspended yeasts rarely impart off
flavors, they simply cause a cloudy
appearance.

119. Fermentation Temperature is the

ideal temperature range for that strain of
yeast to do its job. Different
temperatures cause yeasts to produce
unique flavors. And some yeasts die or
are damaged by too much heat or cold.
Its a great advantage to have a
refrigerated space for your fermenter, to
give you complete control over its
temperature.

120. Alcohol Tolerance tells you how

much of its own toxic waste alcohol
your strain of yeast will tolerate.
Eventually it will die from the poison it
produces. You can help your yeast
survive longer than its alcohol tolerance
number predicts, if you develop a large,

healthy yeast population in a yeast

starter.

121. Experiment by using a yeast that's

not the standard for the type of beer
you're brewing. For instance, Widmer
Brothers in Oregon use an altbier yeast
in their hefeweizen ale and it's their best
seller. If you feel timid, split-test your
batch.

122. Email White Labs and/or Wyeast

and ask them for information and a yeast
strain poster. Most likely they will give
you a copy that can be very helpful any
time you are brewing and unsure which
yeast you should be using for the style of
beer you are brewing.

123. A yeast that originated from the

same location as a particular style of
beer is likely to be a good choice for
that style. Some yeast strains are even
named after the style they are best suited
for.

124. If you are going to use a smackpack of liquid yeast from Wyeast, get
the XL (125 ml) size because it contains
almost three and a half times the yeast as
the smaller 50 ml size.

125. Dont forget to pop the inner

pouch at least one day before brew day.
Pop the pouch two days before brew day
if the packet is 2 months old. Pop it 3
days early if it is 3 months old and six

days before brewing if it is six months

old. If it is older than that, use it to make
a yeast starter to nurse the aging yeast
back to vigorous health and larger
population.

126. When you pitch your yeast its

temperature is very important. Try to get
the temperature of your yeast or yeast
starter as close as possible to the
temperature of your cooled wort when
you add the yeast to your fermenter. If
the difference in temperature between
the two is more than 10F in either
direction, the shock can kill or damage
too many yeast cells for you to get a
vigorous fermentation.

Yeast Starter: Your Secret

Weapon
127. Make a yeast starter. Though
pitching liquid yeast directly from a
packet or tube will work, pitching from
a yeast starter bottle will result in a
faster starting, more vigorous ferment.
That will give contaminating microbes
less chance to compete with your yeast
and your fermentation will be less likely
to stall too.
2-4 days before brew-day boil one
ounce of malt extract in one pint of water
and pour into a sterilized bottle. Cover
the bottle with plastic wrap and a rubber
band or loosely with tin foil. After this
mini-wort has cooled to 60-70F

(16-21 C), add your yeast and mix by

shaking. Re-cover and let it sit at room
temperature for two to four days.
Mix it by gently swirling it around every
once in a while. Making a starter gives
the yeast a chance to multiply and gain
strength. Then when you pitch it,
fermentation should take off quickly and
vigorously within hours.

128. For an alternate medium for a

yeast starter bottle: just before pitching
your yeast, pour some wort into a muffin
tin, freeze and pop into individual
Ziploc bags. Store in your freezer until
ready to boil, cool and use in your yeast
starter.

129. The best yeast starter media is the

Super Starter formula by Fermentation

Products. It works much better than any
formula you can create on your own.

130. Higher gravity beers and lagers

require more than the normal one-quart
of starter. Prepare an ordinary amount of
starter and add four to ten pints of wort
to the starter the next day. The larger
volume of newer food will encourage
more yeast growth.

131. If you think your yeast is too old

or unhealthy, make only half a cup of
starter wort toerstart. Add another
half cup the next day and nurse the yeast
along until youve grown it to a healthy
brewing strength.

132. When you pitch your starter, try

not to add its used wort to your brewing
wort.
The day before brewing day put your
starter in the refrigerator and let the
yeast settle. Just before pitching, gently
pour off the used, clear beer. Then swirl
the dregs to suspend the yeast and pour it
into your freshly boiled and cooled
wort.

133. If you discover a brewery that

makes a beer that you particularly like,
you can steal their yeast for your own
use, if they bottle condition their brew.
Set two bottles of the beer aside,
undisturbed on a counter for a few days.

Then gently open them and carefully

pour most of their contents into glasses.
Try to leave as much of their sediment
behind in the bottles as possible. Drink
the beer in the glasses.
Pour 1/2 cup (118ml) of yeast starter or
unfermented wort into each of the
bottles. Shake them vigorously to
capture all the sediment in the bottles
and pour them out into a sanitized jug.
Put the jug aside at room temperature for
a day or two. Then check it. If you see
signs that the yeast has grown, add more
wort.
Be patient, it may take you a week to
nurse the yeast up to a high enough
population for you to brew with.
Afterward you will be able to harvest

the yeast from your trub and use it again

up to five times. This method of
stealing your favorite brewerys yeast
works best if the beer is the brewerys
freshest and if the beer is low in alcohol.

Other Ingredient Gold

134. Always use the freshest, highest
quality ingredients you can. It's
something of a no-brainer that better
ingredients make better beer.
If you use extracts, pay attention to the
use-by dates to choose the freshest can.
Crushed grains, both dry and liquid malt,
yeast and hops have limited shelf lives.
So use them soon after buying them.

135. A beer ingredient kit is likely to

include cheaper, canned and dry
ingredients. Once you've experimented
with a new style, using a kit, restock
with high quality, fresh ingredients, like
fresh hops and liquid yeast. Just be sure

to use them as soon as possible, or you

will have wasted the extra money it
takes to buy fresh.

Preserving Freshness
Fresh is best, but there are times you
want to take advantage of sales. So you
should know the best way to store your
ingredients.

136. Store your fresh hops in airtight

containers or bags in your freezer,
because they are affected by oxygen,
light and heat. Whole hops can hold their
good flavor and aroma for up to a year if
they are vacuum-sealed and frozen.
Pellet hops will retain them for as much
as two years.

137. Dry yeast stores well for up to a

year if sealed airtight and refrigerated at
40- 45F (4.4-7.2C). If you are
brewing with liquid yeast, buy it shortly
before you plan to brew with it, no more
than a month or two early, because it has
a shorter shelf life.

138. You can save money by buying

your grain in bulk. But you will lose
money instead of saving it if you dont
store your grain properly. It can get
stale, infested with insects, or damaged
by moisture.
Whole, uncrushed malt can be stored for
up to a year if you store it at room
temperature (60-70F) (15.5-21C) in
an air and watertight container. Pet food

containers are good for this purpose. Its

important that malts not be exposed to
moisture during that time, so store them
in a reliably dry location.

139. Never store either crushed or

whole malts in your freezer or
refrigerator. If you did, moisture would
condense inside the package and ruin the
malt. Be sure to vent your containers
periodically to prevent moisture
damage.

140. Crushed malt can be stored safely

for up to half a year if it is in an
unopened, airtight package. Once the
package has been opened, its best to use
crushed malts within a month. During
that time, re-seal it in an airtight

container.

141. Store dry malt extract the same

way you do whole grain malt. Store it in
an airtight container at room
temperature. If it gets exposed to moist
air, dry malt extract can harden into a
solid block. It is still usable, but youll
need more time to dissolve it.

142. Liquid malt extract darkens as it

ages, and if stored at room temperature
and exposed to moisture and air, it will
get moldy after a few months. But if
stored at 60F-70F (15.5-21C) in a
vacuum-sealed bag, it will store well for
three to six months. And it can be
refrigerated for up to a year.

143. Vacuum sealers are handy for

storing your fresh hops, spices and
grains. Removing as much oxygen as
possible will preserve their freshness
and aroma. Remember to freeze your
hops after sealing them.

Water and Malt

144. Before you do anything else,
check your water. Most homebrewers
use tap water. But it must be safe and not
taste or smell weird or bad. You can use
a water filter if you'd like, or buy bottled
spring water. Distilled water is too flat
for tasty brews.

145. If your local tap water tastes

good, it's probably fine for brewing. But
you can't go wrong by filtering it through
a product like Brita, with activated
charcoal.
Those kinds of filters remove heavy
metals, chloramine, chlorine and toxic
compounds. At the same time they do not

remove minerals, such as calcium,

which are necessary for good tasting
beer.

146. When choosing a local homebrew

shop, freshness of the malt extracts they
offer is more important than the width of
selections offered.

147. Using toasted or amber malt adds

a great nutty flavor without the roasted

or burnt flavor that roasted malts give.
And you can toast malt yourself in your
oven.
Preheat your oven to 275F (135C).
Spread pale malt out on a cookie sheet
and bake it for one hour. Then raise your
oven's temperature to 350F (177C),
and toast the malt for another half an
hour. Allow it to cool and add it to your
wort.

148. To make smoked malt at home,

you'll need a small barbecue grill, a
clean, a sanitized piece of metal window
screening, a sanitized spray bottle of
water, and some hickory or apple wood
chips. Soak the wood chips in beer or

water, and prepare a small amount of

charcoal for cooking.
When the charcoal is gray ash-colored
and glowing red, crush your grains and
soak them for 5 to 10 minutes. Spread
your wood chips on the charcoal, and
place the rack over them on the grill.
Spread your grains on the window
screen and lay it on the rack.
Cover the grill and smoke the grains for
15 to 20 minutes. Stir the grain
occasionally to ensure it smokes evenly,
and use the spray bottle to dampen it, if
it threatens to burn. Use the smoked
grain as you would any other specialty
grain.

149. Use dried malt extract, or DME,

instead of canned malt extract syrup. The

process the syrup manufacturers use to
heat and concentrate the syrup often
makes the malt darker. That makes light
beers look darker than they should.
Syrups also scorch more easily while
being boiled in the wort. This can also
darken the beer and add burnt flavors to
the beer. Syrup is also harder to handle
than DME and has a shorter shelf life.

150. Use PALE dried malt extract, or

DME, as a neutral base malt to build
extract recipes on. Then you can use
adjuncts and grains to control the style,
mouth feel, flavor and color of your
brews, without having to factor in the
color of one of the other grades of malt

extract. You'll find the beer you end up

with has a better mouth feel and is more
flavorful.

151. Newbies rarely own roller mills

to crush malts, but your local homebrew
shop will crush them for you.

Herbs and Spices

152. Experiment with spice beer. Some
of the most disgusting-sounding
combinations can turn out great. Just
because it sounds terrible, doesn't mean
it will be. Some of the spices you might
like to try out are ginger, orange,
pumpkin, lime, cinnamon, lemon,
coriander, licorice, pepper, etc.

153. There are a number of methods for

adding herbs and spices, like cinnamon,
nutmeg, star anise, ginger, chamomile,
and coriander, to beer. One method is to
add the herb or spice to the last few
minutes of the boil (ten minutes or less)
to extract the oils. Stronger spices,
especially eugenol-bearing spices like

clove and nutmeg, are potent through the

whole ferment.

154. Don't go overboard when adding

spices. Heavily spiced beer takes ages
to mellow. Add only small amounts of
spices until you get a feel for them.
Strive to make a subtle, elusive spice
character.

155. Always use the freshest spices

you can find. Its hard to tell how long a
jar of spice has been sitting, losing
potency on a stores shelf. Stale spice
will add nothing to your beer. To get the
best quality of spices for your beer,
order them from a reputable spice
specialty house.

156. You can add spices to your beer

by crushing them and adding them
directly to the fermenter in order to use
the alcohol to extract the oils. But timing
this method of dry spicing can
sometimes be tricky.

157. You can make your own herb or

spice tincture by crushing the spice and

soaking it in vodka for a few weeks.

Before you bottle your beer, draw off a
one-cup sample, add a small, measured
amount of your tincture and taste the
sample. Keep adding small amounts of
tincture until you reach your desired
flavor.
Multiply the total amount of tincture you
used by the number of cups in your
batch. There are 80 cups in a 5-gallon
(19L) batch. Add the tincture to your
bottling bucket before you rack your
beer on top of it.

158. Another way to make your own

herb or spice extract is by boiling them
in a small pot of water for 10-15
minutes. Strain and cool your extract

before using it and add it gradually to a

test sample as you would a tincture or
store-bought extract at bottling time.

Attention Chocoholics!
159. Chocolate is most often added to
stouts and porter, where it intensifies
roasted malt flavor and the killing of the
beer's head by the chocolate oils does
not matter. The base of chocolate, cocoa,
is very bitter.
If you use coca or chocolate with sugar,
the sweetness will ferment out. You can
use it to add a bitterness that is different
from the bitterness of hops, or
compensate for it by adding lactose
(milk sugar) or by mashing hot.

160. To add chocolate to your beer,

you can chop up bittersweet chocolate
and add it straight to the boil. Make sure

to melt and dissolve the chocolate

completely to avoid scorched chocolate
solids. For five gallons (19L) of beer,
use a couple of ounces (57g) of
chocolate.

161. You can also add chocolate by

using cocoa powder. It is defatted and
can be added straight to the boiling wort
without scorching. Use a couple of
tablespoons (28g) for five gallons (19L)
of beer. You can also use chocolate
syrup the same stuff you use to make
chocolate milk. Use a half-cup (118ml)
added to the boiling wort.

162. You can add chocolate flavor by

adding chocolate extract syrup directly
before bottling. Measure and taste test as

you would when adding fruit or spice

extracts. These extracts, designed for
Italian soda and coffee, have no fat to
ruin beer's head and no color. So you
can add them to pale beers.

163. One more way to add chocolate to

beer is to use cacao nibs: cracked and
roasted cacao seeds. Add them to your
secondary fermenter for two weeks to
give your beer a potent chocolate flavor
without any leeched fat. Add vanilla
beans with the nibs to boost the
chocolate flavor.

164. Whatever method you choose to

make chocolate beer, adding vanilla
extract or a vanilla bean to the fermenter,
will enhance your perception of

chocolate flavor.

Coffee Beer: Sounds Like a

Plan
165. Like chocolate, coffee is most
often added to stouts and porters, where
it intensifies roasted malt flavor and the
head-killing property of its oils does not
matter. Auto drip, cold espresso, or
fresh brewed can be added to the beer
when fermentation is over. Use 8-16
ounces (4 to 8 shots) per 5 gallons
(19L).

166. Fresh ground coffee can be added

to the fermenter, the boil, or the mash.
Give additions you make to the
fermenter time to settle before you rack
the beer away from them. Recipes can

call for the addition of a few ounces or

up to a pound (80-450g).

167. One way to add coffee without

adding harsh acidic flavors is to mix a
slurry of cold water and fine coffee
grounds then soak overnight. The long,
slow steep will extract the coffee
goodness but not the edge. Strain the
extract and add it to the fermenter or to
the bottling bucket.

168. The makers of chocolate syrup

also make coffee flavored syrup. Add it
just before bottling by measuring and
taste testing, as you would chocolate
syrup or fruit extract. Also do a
measured taste test if adding coffee
liqueur.

The Weird and Wonderful

169. Spirits and Liquor: You can
tweak a beer with the addition of
various distilled spirits. They can
strengthen a weak beer or cut a beer that
is too sweet. Or sweet liquor can mask a
harsh flavor.
Its perfectly legal to add booze to your
beer, as long as you dont distill it
yourself.
Only use unopened bottles and sanitize
the outside before you add it to the
fermenter or bottling bucket. You can
add run, tequila, whiskey or bourbon to
your beer. You can also use fruit
liqueurs, crme liqueurs, like cacao and
menthe, and coffee liqueur.

170. You can also make homemade

liqueurs to add to your beer. Start with a
neutral bottle of vodka, add flavor
extracts from your homebrew shop, or
spices or fruit, and let it steep for a few
weeks.

171. Vegetables: You can use many

kinds of vegetables as beer ingredients.
Pumpkin is often used, though pumpkin
ales are usually considered to be spice
beers. You can also experiment with
brewing with corn, potatoes, chili
peppers, and cucumbers.

172. Consider using the peel of veggies

like cucumbers, since that's where the
flavor really comes from. Make sure you
buy UNWAXED or organic varieties and
give them a good scrub before using
them.

173. Molasses or Treacle: If you'd

like to try brewing with molasses or

treacle, avoid the sulfured molasses. The
darker varieties of molasses have more
intense flavors and less fermentable
sugar. If the sugar does not ferment, it
stays sugar and adds more sweetness to
the beer.
There are a number of grades of
molasses, which is boiled sugar can
juice. The darkest molasses is
Blackstrap. It was traditionally used in
old British ales and adds unique
licorice, smoke, and plum flavors.

174. Try adding Lyles black treacle to

holiday porters to add complexity to
chocolate/black patent malts. Very little
goes a long way, especially for flavor

and head color.

175. Belgian Candi Syrup is a

relatively new ingredient for many
brewers. Originally it was a leftover
from rock-candy production. It is dark
and rich, with raisins, vanilla and plum.
One 1.5-pound bottle is strong enough to
transform a pale beer into a dark one. It
is a perfect ingredient for quads and
dubbels.

Organically Grown
Ingredients
176. There are advantages to using
organically grown malts and hops.
Organically grown malts produce
clearer mashes and fewer haze problems
in your finished beer because, on
average, they have lower protein
content. They also tend to give you
higher mash efficiencies and faster
starch conversion and fermentation.
Even under conditions that are less than
idea, organic beer generally ferments
vigorously. It rarely if ever results in
stuck fermentation because there are no
chemical residues in organic hops and
malts to interfere with fermentation.

177. Proponents of organic farming

methods say that if there are even trace
residues of toxins in your yeast, water,
hops, barley, or adjuncts, they can cause
damage to your health, especially if you
are exposed to them over a long period
of time. Just like other farmers,
conventional farmers of hops and barley
use pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
There are studies that indicate that a
number of the chemicals that farmers use
can contribute to allergies, respiratory
ailments, reproductive disorders, and
cancer. If you use organic ingredients for
your home brewing, you will produce
purer beer and help to support the
organic farming industry and contribute
to the amount of land that is slowly

becoming chemical free.

178. At this writing there is only one

organic malt extract on the market,
available through the Seven Bridges
Cooperative. Since it is pale and unhopped, it is a very versatile extract that
can be altered easily with the addition of
fresh hops and specialty grains. By using
fresh grain and hops you will be
upgrading and making better beer than
you would with a hopped, kit in a can
extract. Here are some typical
substitutions:
* If your recipe calls for Amber malt,
substitute 1/2-pound (227g) caramel 60
malt.
* If your recipe calls for Dark malt,

substitute 1/2 lb. (227g) chocolate and

1/4 lb. (113g) caramel 120 malt.
* If your recipe calls for a pre-hopped
extract, add 3/4 to 1 oz. (21-28g)
Hallertaur hops or 1/2 oz. (14g) Pacific
Gem to the boil and boil for 60 minutes.
You want an HBU of 9-12.

179. Organic malts can be substituted

for conventionally grown malts at equal
measurements in any recipe. If you are
all grain brewing, your starch
conversion rates may be a little higher
than before, so you may decide to
decrease the amount of organic grain you
use in a recipe by 1-2%.
Specialty malts may sometimes be
substituted for each other. One example

is caramel and crystal malts, which are

different names for the same malt.

180. If you use organic hops, youll

need to re-calculate the International
Bittering Units (IBUs) specified in your
recipe because organic hops usually
have slightly higher alpha acid contents
than conventionally grown hops. You
will have to adjust the quantity you use
in order to produce the same bitterness.
Here are some a few of the most popular
organic hops and the types of hops they
can be substituted for:
New Zealand Pacific Gem: 13-15
percent AAU a pleasant clean aroma
and excellent bittering. Can substitute
for: Northern Brewer, Magnum,

Horizon, Galena, Columbus, and

Chinook
New Zealand Hallertaur: 7-11 percent
AAU clean flowery aroma and can be
used for both aroma and bittering. Can
substitute for: Crystal, Centennial,
Hallertaur Tradition, Ultra, and Liberty
German Spalt Select: 4-7 percent AAU
spicy, mild, refined flavor and aroma.
Can substitute for: Willamette, Styrian
Golding, Tettnanger, and Saaz
German Hallertaur Tradition &
Mittlefruch: 4-7 percent AAU very
mild flavor and aroma hops. Aroma is
especially good. Can substitute for: Mt.
Hood, German Hershbrucker, Ultra, and
Liberty

Making Wort:
A Watched Pot Will Boil
181. If you are brewing with tap water,
sanitize your brew-pot and fill it with
your brew-water the night before your
brewing day and cover it loosely to
allow the chlorine to evaporate out of
the water.

182. Use grains in conjunction with

malt extract to add character to your
beer. I'm not referring to a partial mash
wort, which incorporates mashed barley
grains with malt extract. I'm referring to
the practice of steeping grain in hot, not
boiling, water before adding your malt
extract and hops to it. Grains that are

typically used in this kind of recipe are

chocolate malt, Crystal and black patent.
They add color, flavor and body to your
beer.

183. If you are steeping grains, or using

whole hops in your recipe, use a boiling
bag to cut down on bother and mess.
Such a bag makes it easier to strain all
of the grain and hops out of your wort
and it makes it easier to sparge the wort
without dripping hot liquid all over the
kitchen.
Sparging is the practice of pouring hot,
not boiling, water over and through the
stuff you strain out of wort when
transferring it to your fermenter. This hot
water is also added to the wort. Your

homebrew supplier carries cheap, oneuse muslin bags as well as sturdier nylon
reusable bags.

184. If you are steeping grain, to add

flavor and color to your brew, put your
bag of grain in the water before you start
to heat it, and turn the heat off before the
water reaches the boiling point. Excess
tannins will be released that will give
and astringent aftertaste to the finished
beer if you boil the water with the grain
still in it.
Turn the heat off when the water reaches
160F (71C). Then use tongs or a big
spoon to fish the grain bag out of the
water. Throw the grain out or use it to
make bread, granola, animal feed or

compost.

185. If you are using DME (dried malt

extract), first pour it from the packaging
into a small bowl before pouring it into
your wort. The steam from your wort can
make the DME gooey. You can dip the
bowl into the wort to get all of the
extract. That's not possible with the
packaging it comes in.

186. When adding your malt extract

(and honey if your recipe calls for it)
make sure the heat is turned off until the
extract has completely dissolved.
Otherwise the extract may caramelize
and burn on the bottom of your boiling
kettle.

187. Don't cover your boiling pot or

kettle, at least not completely, during the
boil. Firstly, covering completely can
encourage boil-overs.
Secondly, normally DMS (dimethyl
sulfide) escapes during the boil. DMS is
a normal byproduct that imparts
vegetable flavors. If you cover your pot
completely, the steam carrying the DMS
will condense and fall back into your
wort.
On the other hand, you might consider
partially covering your pot after adding
flavor or aroma hops, in order to better
retain those flavors and aromas.

188. Wait until the hot break to start

timing your boil. Hot break is when

proteins and tannins start to precipitate

out of the wort. This lessens the stress of
needing to do too much in too short a
time. A longer total boil time is OK, as
long as you dont go over 90 minutes for
most recipes.

189. For most recipes you should boil

your wort for a full 60-90 minutes. 6090 minutes of boiling are necessary to
completely incorporate and blend your
ingredients. Boiling releases the
bittering oils from your hops.
It causes the undesirable tannins and
proteins from your grains to clump
together, so that they will settle out of the
wort when you quickly cool it. Boiling
also vaporizes other undesired

chemicals, sterilizes the wort and fully

develops the flavors that you do want.
Though there are exceptions, 60 minutes
is usually the minimum you'll want to
boil your wort, and lighter types of beer
call for even longer boils. But, unless
your recipe calls for it, don't go over 90
minutes. Boiling time has a large affect
on the flavor, aroma and quality of your
finished beer.

190. Stir your boiling wort

periodically to prevent scorching.

191. Pay attention. Go ahead; knock

back a homebrew while you're waiting
for the boil to finish. Eat some pizza.
Chew the fat with the guys.
But do it in the same room with your
newest batch. Don't neglect your
notebook, your timer, or your bubbling
pot. Boil-overs and scorched wort are
no fun.

192. When you add hops in the final

minutes of a boil, in order to add hop
flavor and aroma, partially cover your
boiling wort to retain more steam, and
the flavor and aroma that it carries away.
BUT DO NOT COMPLETELY COVER
THE BREWPOT or you might cause a
boil-over.

193. Enjoy a beer while boiling your

wort, but DON'T LEAVE IT! To prevent
boil-overs, stay watchful. Keep some
ice cubes handy to lower the wort
temperature quickly. Or keep a spray
bottle of sterilized water handy to spray
down the foam if it threatens to boilover.

194. If you are still plagued with boilovers, spread a few layers of aluminum
foil over your stove. It can save you
hours of cleaning up if (when) Murphy's
Law strikes.

195. Aerate your wort immediately

before pitching your yeast. Make sure
your wort has cooled to 60-80F

(15.5-27C) first. During the early

stages of fermentation, yeast need
oxygen to survive and multiply. So stir
your wort vigorously into a froth just
before adding your yeast.
But be just as careful NOT to splash or
aerate your beer during ALL other
brewing procedures. After pitching,
exposure to air can cause microbial
infections, oxidation, and an undesirable
taste of cardboard.

196. Another way to aerate your

cooled wort, right before pitching your
yeast, is to use a fish tank air pump. You
can get a small one at Walmart for about
$6. You'll also need an airstone and
about 4-5 feet (1.2-1.5m) of plastic

tubing. Remember to sanitize everything.

Place the airstone on the bottom of your
fermenter and pump air while you strain
and sparge your wort into your
fermenter. This will produce a lot of
foam, which is good for your yeast
during the early stages of fermentation.

Fermentation: Is It Beer
Yet?
197. Put vodka, instead of water, in
your airlock/bubbler. It will kill any
microbes that try to invade. And if you
get any in your beer, it'll just add a little
bonus.

198. Be prepared for a clogged airlock

and/or foam-over BEFORE it happens.
Open up a leaf-size garbage bag, place
your primary fermenter in it, and leave it
open on the floor around your fermenter.
Have a second, sanitized airlock and/or
blow-off tube and a spray bottle of Star
San handy too, just in case. It's worth the
trouble to prevent the mess or make it a

lot easier to clean up.

199. Dont be tricked into adding more

yeast because you think your brew is not
fermenting. It may actually be finished
fermenting or fermentation may not have
started yet.
The lag phase of yeast growth can be as
long as twenty four to forty eight hours
or even longer. Just because you dont
see bubbles in your airlock does not
necessarily meant nothing is happening.
If the temperature is right fermentation is
inevitable.
When in doubt, use your hydrometer.
Your airlock can only give you clues
about the state of your fermentation, and
that is not its primary function or what it

was designed to do.

200. I made a mistake when preparing

my yeast and wasn't sure I had not done
irreparable damage to it. So, instead of
taking my first hydrometer reading
before pitching my yeast, I took it after
pitching.
Then I covered my hydrometer sample
with plastic wrap and stored it with my
fermenter. This way I could check on the
progress of the fermentation without
unsealing my fermenter to peek.

201. Many new brewers have trouble

reading their hydrometers accurately.
Whenever you are not sure which
reading is correct, use the lowest
reading. The reading that is closest to
1.000 is most likely to be the correct

one.

202. Your airlock is there to allow

CO2 to escape and to keep air out. It is
not meant as a foolproof guide to
fermentation activity. It can help in that
regard, true. But if the fermenter's lid is
leaking or the airlock itself is not sealed
well, the CO2 may be escaping through
the poor seals.
If you don't see bubbles rising through
the airlock, use direct visual checking of
the fermentation and check with your
hydrometer to see if fermentation has
begun and when it is finished. Just be
careful to limit the beer's exposure to air
as much as you can when checking it.
And fix those seals before your next

brew.

203. Beer might froth through your

airlock, especially during a hot summer.
Dont worry; this will not harm your
beer. It happens sometimes during a very
vigorous early stage of fermentation.
If the beers temperature is in the correct
range this occurrence, called Krausen, is
actually a good sign. If this happens to
you, wash the airlock, sanitize it, refill
the water and put it back on your
fermenter. Or you might consider using a
blow-off tube for this beer.

204. Maintain an even temperature

during fermentation. Different yeasts
perform differently at different
temperatures, so use an online chart to

find the best target fermentation

temperature for your beer.

205. Start watching your beer closely

5-7 days after fermentation begins. When
the peak of fermentation is over, and it
has slowed almost to a stop, it's time to
rack your beer over to the secondary
fermenter, if you are using one.
Some brewers use a 1-2-3 rule of thumb.
That is, they give primary fermentation
one week, they give secondary
fermentation two weeks to clear and
condition, and leave the beer three
weeks in bottles to carbonate and age.
Other brewers get good results by
leaving their beer in the primary for 1014 days and in the secondary for 10-14

days too. Experience will teach you

what works best for you.

206. Under cold environmental

conditions, fermentation may progress
normally at first. But, when the activity
slows down, less heat will be produced
and the fermentation may stall or stop
prematurely. If you prime and bottle at
this point you may over gas and blow up
your bottles.
Check the brew's temperature and gently
warm it if necessary. Gently swirl the
fermenter to wake up the yeast. And use
your hydrometer to verify when
fermentation is truly complete.

207. Many styles of ale do not need to

be racked to a secondary fermenter. For

instance one does not have to worry
about clarifying dark beers. And some
neutral and highly flocculant yeast
strains only take a week to clear in a
primary fermenter.
Many brewers prefer to skip secondary
fermentation in order to avoid the risk of
aeration, oxidation and bacterial
infection that beer is exposed to during
transference.

208. The use of a secondary fermenter

is really only necessary if the beer is
going to sit in the fermenter for more
than a month. A secondary fermenter is
basically used to clear, condition and
bulk age.

Eventually, if the beer is left on the dead

yeast and trub long enough, it might pick
up off flavors from yeast autolysis. If
you are brewing a dark beer, there is no
reason to rack it to a secondary
fermenter merely to clarify it. Only if
you intend to age a dark beer should you
bother to rack it.

209. If you are adding whiskey, rum,

fruit, hops, or the like, after the boil, add
them to the secondary fermenter, not the
primary. If you add them to the primary,
the CO2 that is produced during the
primary fermentation will carry their

flavor and aroma off with it and escape

out the airlock.

210. In a perfectly sealed fermenter

very slow bubbling rising through your
airlock can continue for a long time.
Some recipes and some yeasts may be
done in 3 days and others may take 10.
Your recipe can only give you a rough
idea of how long fermentation will take.
The bubbling might stop long before you
expect it to, or long after. If it continues
far longer than your recipe led you to
expect, use your hydrometer to
determine whether fermentation is
complete and it is time to bottle.
Do not use an airlock to decide when to
do anything! That is not what it is

designed to do. You might leave your

beer in the fermenter too long if you are
too influenced by slow airlock bubbling.
Or if you stop seeing bubbles you may
decide to bottle too early and over
carbonate. You can delay bottling for a
few days, until the time is convenient for
you, but brews CAN spoil if left in the
fermenter too long.
Yes, the frequency of bubbles rising
through your airlock is a clue to the state
of fermentation, but it can only really tell
you that it is time to use your hydrometer
to make the definitive judgment. Any
reading higher than +.002 over the
recipe's prediction is an indication that
you need to wait a day or two longer.

211. To read your hydrometer correctly,

first verify a new hydrometer's
calibration by measuring distilled water.
The reading should be 1.000. Spin your
hydrometer in the sample before trying
to read it. This knocks off clinging
bubbles, which can cause your
hydrometer to float too high.
Read the lowest point of the liquid's
meniscus, not the high levels where it
creeps up the sides of the sample flask
and the hydrometer itself.

212. Allow any sediment in your

hydrometer sample to settle, before you
take a reading. The trub can affect the
density and skew your reading. Waiting a
few minutes also gives your beer a

chance to more closely approach 59F

(15C) in temperature.

213. Ambient temperature, the

temperature of the space you're storing
your fermenter in, is not the same thing
as the temperature of your fermenter.
Yeast produce a lot of heat during
fermentation, so your fermentation
temperature may be 8-10 hotter than its
surroundings. Keep this in mind when
taking your hydrometer reading.
Hydrometers are calibrated to be correct
at 59F (15C). If your beer's
temperature is 10 hotter or cooler than
that, you need to use a temperature
adjustment chart to figure out what your
true specific gravity reading is. So

always take your sample's temperature

when you take a hydrometer reading.

Last Minute Saves:

Post-Fermentation
Adulteration
214. Beers lacking body can be
punched up with additions of maltodextrin powder or lactose for a little
sweetness. Add 4-8 ounces (113-227g)
of the powder or lactose to a cup
(235ml) of boiled and cooled water.

215. If your stout comes out too light,

you can add Sinamar, a German malt
colorant to it. Depending on the dose you
use, it can turn a blonde beer from
reddish-brown to coal black.

216. Although many types of fruit are

great when added to the boil or the

fermenter, you cant do that if the beer is
already fermented and ready for bottling.
If you want to use fruit flavors and
aromas to cover up flaws in your beer,
add them as sweet fruit liqueurs or
sugarless extracts at bottling time. They
can solve a multitude of problems.

217. An addition of apricot extract can

improve a batch that is slightly too
astringent and that has too much DMS,
causing the aroma of cooked corn. The
apricots sweet aroma will play off that
of the sweet corn and the apricots
acidic flavor will hide the astringency.

218. Add a strong dose of hop tea or a

bag of dry hops after fermentation but
before aging and clarification to counter
a too-sweet taste or to add a
complimentary fruity or spicy aroma.

219. You can scrub out a disagreeable

aroma, or reduce it by bubbling carbon
dioxide through your beer. Rack your
beer to a keg and fasten the lid. Change
the gray gas fitting for a black liquid
fitting. Put your regulator on the liquid
post and set it to 5 psi. Turn the gas on
and open the pressure relief valve a
crack. Check the aroma after running the
gas for a minute. If the undesirable
aroma is still there, continue to scrub it
with the CO2.

220. Post-fermentation adulteration: If

you brew a batch with a problem, brew
another batch that overemphasizes a
complimentary character. Then blend the
two before bottling. A beer thats too

sweet because of its malt can balance a

beer thats too bitter because of its hops.

Bottle It!
Where to Get Cheap Bottles
221. Most bars throw away Grolsch
bottles. It can't hurt to ask your local pub
if you can have some, or maybe other
reusable bottles at a discount.

222. The recycling centers of college

campuses are great places to find a LOT
of used beer bottles. Be careful though to
only collect the re-usable type of bottle,
not the screw-cap type.

223. Don't waste money, buying

bottles; ask friends, neighbors, family,
and co-workers to give you a 6 pack or
12 pack of empty bottles in exchange for

free beer. They get beer, but you get the

bottles back to re-use. But be sure
everyone understands you only want reusable bottles, not the screw-cap type.

224. To clean stubborn crud out of a

used bottle, put a little soapy water in it,
along with a length of thin chain. Let it
soak overnight then shake vigorously. If
the bottle still won't come clean, recycle it.

225. There are numerous methods of

removing labels from bottles, from
steaming, or baking to soaking in
ammonia or soap and water. No method
works 100% of the time.
But the best method is to dissolve 8
Tablespoons (114g) of Baking Soda in

one gallon (3.8L) of water (16Tb./2 gal)

and soak the water-filled bottles for half
an hour. In the very small number of
cases when this does NOT work, scrape
the soaked label off with your fingernail
and finish with a steel wool pad

Light Beer?

What Kind of Bottles?

226. The best beer bottle color is
brown and the worst is clear, followed
closely by green. Clear or green glass
allows the wrong wavelengths of light in
to affect the beer and cause skunkiness.
This light produces a chemical, which is
actually closely related to the chemical
that skunks spray.
No wonder it smells like skunk.
Skunkiness is not caused by temperature.
Allowing beer to get too warm causes
completely different problems.

227. Evidence suggests that beer ages

better in larger volumes, thanks to less
oxygen exposure. So you might consider

using larger, 22-ounce (.65L) bomber

bottles over 16 ounce (.47L) bottles.

228. If you are planning on entering

beer competitions, make sure to bottle at
least a portion of each batch in plain 12
ounce (.35L) bottles. Most competitions
refuse to accept entries in anything else
to make the entries anonymous.

Ready, Set... Bottle!

229. Some home brewers become
obsessed with eliminating all trace of
sediment in their bottles because
commercial beers mostly contain no
sediment. This goal is impossible for
home brewers unless they keg and filter
their beer.
Bottle conditioning always produces a
small amount of final sediment and
correctly made homebrew will leave
sediment that resembles a coat of paint
on the bottom of each bottle. If you
obsess about sediment and leave your
beer in the fermenter for weeks, in an
attempt to get all the sediment to settle
out, your beer may spoil before you

bottle it. Brewers with this obsession

sometimes try to filter the beer, and wind
up oxidizing or contaminating it.
You can use finings to reduce the
sediment, or learn to accept a certain
amount of sediment in your homebrew
and learn how to leave it behind in the
bottle when you decant it.

230. To avoid the dreaded bottle bomb,

observe these three simple rules: Bottle
your beer only when fully fermented;
carefully measure your priming sugar;
mix the priming sugar thoroughly to
ensure even carbonation.

231. Prepare your bottles the day

before bottling day. Fill the bottles with
a mixture of water and Star San and let

them soak overnight. Empty and air-dry

them in your dishwasher the first thing
the next morning. You don't have to rinse
Star San. Keep the dishwasher closed
until you need the bottles.

232. When you are ready to bottle,

count out the bottle caps you will need
and add a few in case of crimping
mishaps. Soak the caps in some vodka or
a cup of Star San or Campden solution.
These are both no-rinse sanitizers,
which will not damage the preservation
abilities of oxygen absorbing bottle
caps.
Don't boil your bottle caps. It will
damage the soft plastic liner. They can
soak until the moment you need them.

Priming: Fizz & Foam

233. If your beer fizzes too much when
you open a bottle, churning up the
sediment, try cutting down on the sugar
you use for priming. You might also
consider leaving your beer in the
fermenter a day or two longer. That will
give the sediment a little more time to
settle out before you bottle your beer,
though you will always have some
sediment in your bottles.

234. Priming your beer increases its

Alcohol By Volume (ABV). For a
normal (approximately) four-ounce
sugar priming in a five-gallon batch,
you'll get a bump of about 0.25% ABV.
The more sugar, the more alcohol and

CO2, up to a point.

235. There's a myth going around that

the alcohol content of beer depends on
how much sugar is added to the bottles
during priming. Some new brewers
believe that if one teaspoon of priming
sugar is good, three must be better. But
the alcohol content of a beer depends on
the amount of fermentable sugars in the
wort, not the bottle.
You can experiment to your heart's
content during all the earlier stages of
beer making, because, if done right, all
of the fermentable sugars in the wort
will have been completely digested and
turned into alcohol and CO2 by bottling
time.

Priming is the only time during beer

making when exact measurement is
critical because priming amounts have
been carefully calculated to add fizz and
a head to your beer, without blowing it
up.

236. Recipes often specify the amount

of priming sugar by volume (i.e. 3/4
cup) but it's better to measure your
priming sugar by weight, because
different brands pack more or less
densely than each other.

237. There are alternates to priming

with corn sugar (dextrose). Some
brewers believe using dry malt extract
(DME) instead of sugar, produces better
head and finer carbonation. Be aware
that it may leave a ring around the
bottleneck; a possible sign of
contamination, and it may take longer to
carbonate.

238. If you'd like to add to your beer's

aroma, try priming with honey. Unlike

adding honey earlier in the beer making
process, adding to the bottle retains
more honey aroma.

239. You can use unfermented wort to

prime your beer, but it's a little
complicated. The amount of wort needed
is determined by the specific gravity of
the wort. You want to add the same
amount of gravity to the wort, as you
would have using corn sugar.
Germans add actively fermenting wort to
the bottle. They claim that the active
wort ferments faster and will clear more
post fermentation flaws.
When your boil is almost over, fill a
large, sanitized beer bottle or a sanitized

mason jar with hot tap water. This

warms up the vessel so that adding
boiling hot wort to it wont crack the
glass. Just before you add the finishing
hops to the wort, empty the hot water
from the jar or bottle and transfer some
of the wort to it. The amount is specified
below.
Cap the wort and let it sit until it cools
enough to put into the refrigerator. When
youre ready to bottle, boil the
refrigerated wort and chill it to the same
temperature as your fermented beer.
Pour the saved wort into your bottling
bucket and rack your fermented beer
onto it. Swirl the bucket to thoroughly
mix the beer and wort.
This method is called krausening and

this unfermented wort is called gyle. It is

important to use the proper amount for
the particular beer you are priming.
If your beer has an OG of 1.030 use 2
quarts (1.9 L) of gyle
OG = 1.040 use 1.5 quarts (1.4 L) gyle
OG = 1.050 use 1.25 quarts (1.2 L) gyle
OG = 1.060 use 1 quart (.95 L) gyle
OG = 1.070 use 3.5 cups (.83 L) gyle
OG = 1.080 use 3 cups (.7 L) gyle
OG = 1.090 use 2 2/3 cups (.63 L) gyle
OG = 1.100 use 2.5 cups (.59 L) gyle

240. Another way to prime your bottles

is to use carbonation tablets, which are
hard sugar drops. Each manufacturer
offers a different dosage, but all the

tablets are designed to be added to the

bottles, not the priming bucket. You have
to cap and shake the bottles to dissolve
and mix the tablets into your beer.

241. Beers above 8% Alcohol By

Volume (ABV) might need a yeast boost
during priming. Add a rehydrated pack
of dry yeast about halfway through
filling your bottling bucket. Some
brewers successfully carbonate 11%+
ABV beers using their original yeast.

More Bottling Tips

242. Use your dishwasher to cut down
on the mess during bottling. Place your
bottling bucket on the counter above the
dishwasher and the bottle you are filling
on the dishwasher door. Any drips or
spills will fall on the dishwasher door.
You can also use this trick to siphon your
brew from your fermenter into your
bottling bucket, if you are making a
small batch say 3 gallons (11 L). You
don't want to overstrain the hinges on
your dishwasher door.

243. Mark a code, and/or date on top

of each bottle cap with a sharpie marker
to identify the batch. Don't use labels,

unless the bottle is intended as a gift,

because labels are very hard to get off.

244. Make your life much easier

developing the habit of rinsing out each
bottle the moment you decant the beer.
Doing this makes cleaning and sanitizing
the bottles for your next brew much
easier.
Keep a spray bottle handy in the kitchen
to spray into each bottle. If you fill it
with a bleach/water solution, be sure to
rinse with hot water at least 3 times
before air-drying. If you fill it with a
Star San solution you can skip the
rinsing. Store the bottles upside-down in
a cardboard carton.

When Youre Fed Up With

Bottling Keg!
245. The foremost factor that causes
brewers to give up brewing is the
tiresome chore of bottling. If bottling is
getting to you, consider changing over to
kegs.
Besides convenience, kegs allow you to
gain precise control over levels of
carbonation. You also gain the ability to
pour a small glass, a large glass, or a
full pitcher of beer, all of them free of
yeast or sediment. You also get to put
your own tap handles on your faucets.

246. Moving up to kegging does

involve an investment of capital. Theres

a bunch of gear youll need. A typical

keg setup can cost from one to two
hundred dollars. And thats not including
the price of a dedicated freezer or
fridge.
Dont get a setup that comes with a CO2
tank. You can find used or new CO2
tanks in aluminum or steel and in 2,5,
and 15-pound (.9-6.8 kg) sizes. But you
dont have to buy one. You can rent one
that swaps empty for full tanks.

247. Cornelius Corny kegs are

much sought after by home brewers.
They were originally used to mix soda
syrup. These stainless steel cylinders are
easy to maintain and clean. Each of them
has 2 posts, one for dispensing the beer

and one for forcing CO2 into the beer.

248. The kegs that used to dispense

Coke have pin locks and those used by
Pepsi have ball locks. The pin-lock kegs
fit short kegerator fridges better, being
shorter and squatter. But more brewers
have adapted Ball-lock kegs.

249. Get a gas regulator that has a

cutoff switch. Both single and dualgauge types are fine, but get a gauge
cage to protect the regulator when the
tank falls over.

250. Use Cobra draft lines as your

setups serving lines. Youll need five to
seven feet of three sixteenths inch line.

251. There are standard color codes

for the liquid and gas connections.
Black is for beer and Gray is for gas.
The connectors for ball-lock kegs slide
onto their posts when you pull on a
retaining ring. Pin locks lock onto their
connections with a twist.

252. Choose your refrigerator for

energy efficiency, ease of access and
feasibility of faucet installation in its
door. Decide whether you only need
enough space in it for one keg, or
whether you want a two-keg kegerator.

Become The Master Of

Temperature
253. If you are using a cooler to mash,
before you mash in, fill your cooler with
hot water about 170F (77C) - to
prepare it for maintaining the
temperature of your mash. Dump out the
hot water just before the mash.

254. Don't use your garage to store

your fermenter during fermentation. The
temperatures in a garage can fluctuate
wildly, winter or summer. Whether you
need to cool or heat it, a basement's
temperature stays far steadier.

255. The very best solution for keeping

your fermenter at the proper temperature

for brewing is adding a temperature
controller to a freezer or refrigerator that
you can dedicate exclusively to your
fermenter.
The built in thermostat of the fridge can
be overridden by the temperature
controller, which allows you to set any
temperature that is required by the style
of beer you are making. Since it takes
more energy to cool things to the typical
refrigerator temperature of 40F (4.4C)
than it does to maintain 50F or 55F
(10 or 12.8C) temperatures, a
temperature controller reduces the
appliances electric bill.

256. If you'd like to brew lager, but you

don't have anywhere you can store your

fermenter at 46-56F (7.8-13.4C),
consider using White Labs San
Francisco 810 yeast. It can ferment at
temperatures that are typically used for
ale, up to 65F (18.4C).

Quick-Chilling Your Wort

257. Boiling a full 5 gallons (19L) of
wort makes better beer than boiling
fewer gallons and then adding water to
the fermenter to total 5 gallons (19L).
But the advantage to doing a partial boil
is that the added water can be ice water
or ice cubes, which will help to cool the
wort down quickly.
Even if you do a full boil, chances are,
after 60-90 minutes of boiling, you will
need to top off to the full 5 gallons (19L)
anyway. Just be very sure that you top
off with sterile ice water or ice cubes.
Boil the water for 15 minutes, put it in
sanitized ice trays and cover it with a
sanitized cover before you put it in the

freezer.

258. Cool your wort as quickly as you

can. Cooling quickly reduces the
chances of microbial infection and
promotes the settling out of tannins and
proteins that you don't want in your beer.
Before you start your boil, make sure
you have at least 10 pounds of ice on
hand and a garbage can or tub for an ice
bath for your fermenter.

259. You will probably get tired of

chilling your boiling wort in a sink of
ice water. Full batch boils make better
beer than partial-batch boils, but they
are hard to cool fast enough that way.
Chilling slowly produces more dimethyl
sulfide, which in turn gives your beer the

smell of creamed corn.

Chilling quickly causes proteins to
coagulate and fall to the bottom of your
wort, producing clearer beer. Fast
cooling also preserves fresher hop
flavor and aroma. And the faster the
wort cools, the faster fermentation can
start, decreasing the opportunity for
bacteria to get a foothold. So you might
want to invest in a water-powered wort
chiller.

260. Immersion wort chillers are

available from your homebrew supplier
and are relatively easy to make yourself.
Make a coil of copper tubing that fits
into your boiling kettle. Attach some
plastic tubing from your faucet to one

end of the copper coil, and some more

plastic tubing from the coil to your drain
or re-cycling bucket.
The warmed water from your chiller can
be used to water plants or fill your
washing machine. Run cold water
through the tubing while whirlpooling
the hot wort to expose it to the cold
copper.

261. Immersion wort chillers are easy

to sanitize. Wash any gunk off of it
before and after you use it and put it into
your boiling wort fifteen to twenty
minutes before the end of the boil.
Boiling it will sanitize it. At the end of
the boil, run cold water through it while
stirring the hot wort or rocking the

chiller.

262. Counter-flow chillers can also be

made at home. Instead of cold water, the
hot water is run through copper tubing.
The copper tubing is inside a hose and
cold water is run through the hose.
Twenty to fifty feet of combined water
hose and wort pipe can chill 180F 200F (82-93C) wort to 70 - 80F
(21-27C) remarkably quickly.
But counter-flow chillers are more work
to clean and sanitize than immersion
chillers. Each time, before you use it,
run cleaner through the copper tube;
rinse it with hot water and then follow
the water with some no-rinse sanitizer,
such as Star-San or Iodophor.

263. Plate chillers are a newer

invention of professional breweries.
They work in a similar manner to
counter-flow chillers but use thin layers
of metal plates to separate the cooling
water and hot wort. They are more
compact and even more efficient than
counter-flow chillers but are harder to
keep clean.

Cooling the Fermenter

264. In general, the cooler the
fermentation, the slower it will go and
the higher the quality of beer will be.
Warmer fermentations go faster and are
more likely to spoil faster in the time
between the completion of the
fermentation and bottling day. The
cooler the brew, the slower the process
of brewing takes and the fewer off
flavors and aromas are produced.

265. In general, try to keep your

fermentation temperature steady at your
target temperature for the yeast specified
in your recipe, despite fluctuations in the
ambient temperature. Use an online chart
to find the best target fermentation

temperature for your yeast. If you have

enough space in a refrigerator for your
fermenter, great! If not, keep it in a cool,
dry, dark area in your home.
Put the fermenter in a tub or garbage can
and fill the can with water 1/3 up the
fermenter. Place spacers, such as chunks
of wood, under the fermenter so that the
water can reach its underside. Then
wrap wet towels around the fermenter
with their ends submerged in the water
and direct a small fan at it.
Many homebrew suppliers carry stickon thermometers that you can attach to
the side of your fermenter to keep track
of its temperature. Add ice to the water
bath if it gets too warm; add warm water
if it gets too cool, and siphon water out

of the bath if the water level gets too

high.

266. Whether you are using an ice

water bath to cool down your wort, or to
keep your fermenter cool, taking out the
warmed water to make room for more
ice is a bother.
Before brew day, fill some plastic soda
bottles with water and freeze them. They
are easy to remove and replace as the
ice inside them melts. For once you don't
have to worry whether the bottles or the
water is sanitized.

Warming the Fermenter

267. We usually worry about keeping
our fermenting area cool enough, but
some storage spaces, such as basements,
can sometimes get too cool for the beer
we're trying to make. So at times we
have to think about how to keep our
fermenters warm enough.
One method is to make a light box. Use a
box (cardboard, wood, etc.), section off
a small closet, or build a small
enclosure. Heat the small space with a
60-100 watt light bulb.
Loosely cover your fermenter with a
thick cloth to protect it from the light,
which can make your beer skunky. Keep
the bulb at least eight inches away from

flammable materials and the fermenter.

Put a thermometer inside the box, as far
away from the light bulb as you can, to
monitor the ambient temperature.

268. You can also use an electric

blanket to keep your fermenter warm. Be
careful though. An electric blanket can
easily get too hot.
Protect your fermenter and your beer by
wrapping a thick ordinary blanket
around the fermenter first and then
draping the electric blanket loosely on
top. Check the fermentation temperature
often using a fermometer, a thermometer
that sticks on the side of your fermenter.

269. You can use an aquarium heater to

keep your fermenter warm if you have a

tub that is large enough to fit your

fermenter and some water. It does not
have to be deep enough to completely
submerge your fermenter.
Be sure to buy the right aquarium heater.
They are rated for both the temperature
differential they will be expected to
handle and for the volume of liquid they
will be asked to handle. That volume
includes both the volume of the water
bath and the beer in the fermenter.
Buy an aquarium heater that comes with
both a temperature sensor and a
thermostat. This is a relatively cheap
ways of keeping your fermenter at a
constant, controlled temperature.

As Steve Martin Says, Lets

Get Small!
Brewing Small Batches
270. The advantages of small batch
brewing:
* The cost of the ingredients is less.
* You can fit the whole batch in a fridge
or closet easier making temperature
control easier.
* Small batches are especially good for
experimenting. It hurts less to have to
drink or throw away a failure.
* Its easier to do a full volume boil and
full volume boils make better beer.
* Bringing a small batch to a boil and

cooling it down takes less time.

* Bottling takes less time. You only have
to fill seven to ten bottles per gallon of
beer.

271. The DIS-advantages of small

batch brewing:
* You dont save any time with the
fermentation; it takes just as long.
* Scaling recipes down can sometimes
be difficult.
* If a batch turns out especially good you
dont have as much of it.
* The necks of smaller glass carboys are
smaller and it can be difficult to fit some
fruits or oak chips into them.
* It takes just as much time for all the
cleaning up and you have less beer to

show for it.

272. It can be difficult to find glass

jugs and small carboys. Apple juice and
wine are sometimes sold in glass. You
can ferment a 2-gallon (7.6 L) batch in a
3-gallon (11 L) glass carboy. Some ice
wine kits come with 3-gallon (11 L)
carboys.
Put an ad in Craigslist or your company's
classified ad site and find someone who
will be willing to trade Sangria jugs for
beer samples.

273. Some additional or different

equipment you may need:
* A digital scale needed to scale down
recipes
* Blow-off tubing Reduced headspace

means that airlocks are more likely to

blow off.
* A smaller stopper a #6 stopper is
more likely to fit small jugs
* A smaller than normal racking cane
usually available at homebrew stores

274. If you brew two gallons of beer in

a 3-gallon (11 L) carboy, youll have
little reason to worry about blow-offs.
And brewing two gallons rather than one
gallon gives you twice as much beer for
the same amount of work.
3-gallon carboys are also useful for
other things, such as making mead or
wine. However theres a problem with
their shape. Often on the inside, where
the handle meets the side, theres an

indentation or two in the glass.

Youll have to give that nook extra
attention when cleaning. Use a small
bristle brush or a bottlebrush. Otherwise
follow your usual cleaning and
sanitation routine.

275. When scaling down a typical 5gallon (19L) recipe, you'll need to
divide every measurement by five and
then multiply the results by the number of
gallons you are making. This is easier to
do if you first convert measurements to
grams, which are in base ten. A digital
scale comes in handy too.

276. It also helps to use recipe

software or to go to a web site such as
hopville.com. Your aim should be to

keep the percentages of ingredients

consistent, along with the other stats like
SRM, IBU, OG and FG. Remember to
correct the IBUs for the volume of wort
in the boil.

277. If you are making one gallon

(3.8L), put a little over one gallon of
water in the boil to compensate for
evaporation and for the water that your
steeped grains will soak up.

278. You dont necessarily need to

brew a small batch in order to try some
experiments. You can boil up a normal
5-gallon (19L) batch and divide it into
smaller portions in order to experiment
with different yeasts or other ingredients
like fruit. You can also split up batches

to do experiments during the second

fermentation.

279. You can do your primary

fermentation in smaller jugs or carboys
as long as there is enough headspace or
if you run a blow-off tube into a jug or
bucket of water. The wort needs to come
no higher than the shoulder of the carboy
or jug.

280. For temperature control, you can

use a big plastic garbage can that can
hold three jugs on the bottom. If you
need to keep them warm in the winter,
you can put a heat belt around the jugs or
put a heating pad underneath them.
In the summer, if you need to cool the
jugs, you can add an ice pack, or soda

bottles filled with frozen water, to the

garbage can. Or you may be able to fit
the jugs in your kitchen fridge. A
Johnson digital temperature controller
can be very useful.

281. When scaling down a recipe as a

rule of thumb, use roughly 1/2 of a
packet of dry yeast per one gallon (3.8
L) of wort. Thats about 2 grams of dry
yeast that you rehydrate before pitching.
You can probably get away with pitching
a little less.
If you want more precise yeast
requirements use the pitching rate
calculator on MrMalty.com. That one is
supposed to be accurate even for
calculating small batches.

282. Aerating a small batch may be the

easiest part. Just pick it up and shake it
for about 5 minutes.

283. Use the HBO priming calculator

to figure out how much priming corn

sugar you need for the style of beer you
are brewing.

284. Prepare and set out all your

equipment ready and within reach and
bottling will go much faster than you
have ever experienced before.

Partial Grain or All-Grain

Brewing
285. OK you're feeling pretty
confident as an extract brewer and you'd
like to move up to partial grain and allgrain brewing. Start by brewing your
recipes with light extracts, LME or
DME, and use specialty grains to
develop your flavor and color.
Then, when you are ready to go allgrain, all you have to do is convert light
extract gravity points to 2-row barley
gravity points. You won't have to change
your flavor and color components.
It takes a lot more experimentation and
test batches to figure out the right amount

of specialty grains to mimic an extract

recipe that uses amber or dark extract.

286. If you are mashing, consider using

a modified cooler instead of a big
brewing pot. These large insulated
boxes can hold preheated water or thick
mashes and keep them hot for hours. You
can modify many coolers by putting in a
standard ball valve in place of the
preinstalled drain. You can find more
detailed instructions online.

287. If you are using some grain in your

recipe, it will need to be crushed before
you use it. Most homebrew supply shops
will crush grains for you. But if you take
advantage of a sale, or buy your grain in
bulk to save money, you will likely need

to store your grain for a longer period

than otherwise and whole grains have a
longer shelf life than crushed grains.
In that case youll want to invest in a
roller mill that is designed for crushing
grain, so you can crush your grain right
before you brew with it. Pick a mill that
comes with two rollers and a hopper.
And be sure to buy a mill that you can
use a power drill to crank.
Its possible to make do by putting the
grain in a plastic or canvas bag and
using a rolling pin or hitting it with a
wooden mallet to crush it. But thats
terribly crude. A roller mill gives you
precise control over the degree and
quality of the crush.
Its important for the husks to remain

intact while the grain is shattered enough

to release the insides. When you mash
the grain the husks need be whole
enough to act like a filter. This keeps the
pulverized grain from sticking together
and ensures a good straining.

288. When you use a cotton or nylon

grain bag to mash, dont pack the grains
tightly in the bag before you close the
top and put it in the water. Since the
grain will swell when it absorbs water,
you need to allow enough space for the
water to flow through the bag despite the
swelling of the grain. It may take more
water than is specified by the recipe to
completely cover the grain bag.

289. To sparge your mash when using a

grain bag, first lift the bag out of the

mash liquor (wort). Make a shelf in a
clean bucket or kettle by inverting a
smaller bowl or colander inside it. Rest
your grain bag on the shelf and open it.
Pour 170F (77C) sparge water evenly
and slowly over the grains and through
the bag.

The Most Interesting Frog In The World

290. If you are steeping mash, don't

squeeze the bag after you take it out of
the hot water. If you do, you will get
bitterness and astringency you don't
want.

291. When all-grain brewing high

gravity beers its impossible to get your
efficiency as high as you can when
brewing low-gravity batches. But it IS
possible to increase your efficiency
somewhat.
You can raise the gravity reading by
adding some dry malt extract, or sparge
to a bigger pre-boil volume than you
normally would and boil it for a much
longer time than usual. Then brew a

parti-gyle batch using sum third

runnings.
But you must be willing to invest the
considerable time it takes to do it that
way. And only follow this method if the
style of beer you are making is able to
support some caramelization in the
kettle. IPAs and dIPAs will not support
such caramelization.

292. There are methods to get around

caramelization. After a long but ordinary
boiling time (not over 90 minutes) place
your wort in an enclosed space, such as
a closet, and place a room dehumidifier
next to it to speed up cool evaporation.
Or surround it with a tray of rock salt.

293. When brewing an all-grain beer,

you can leave out the sparging step by

adding 15-20% more of each grain type
than the recipe calls for.

294. Here's how to check your starchconversion, if you are all-grain brewing.
Get a white plate and place a sample of
your mash water on it. Add a drop of
iodine to it. If the iodine turns black or
dark blue, some starch is still present
and un-converted. If the iodine does not
change color, then conversion is
complete.

295. If you are all-grain brewing, you

need to check your sugar extraction rate.
Take a specific gravity reading of your
wort with your hydrometer.
Remove the decimal point from your

reading. For instance, 1.000 becomes

1000. Multiply that by how many gallons
of wort you are making. That number is
your Extraction Points.
Divide your Extraction Points by the
number of how many pounds of grain
you are using. That number is your
Extraction Points Per Pound or your
Extraction Rate. It should be around 30,
although any rate over 28 is acceptable.

296. After you sparge a mash with a

high gravity, of 1.075 or above, you can
re-mash and re-sparge and extract a little
more sugar. Then you can make a saison,
a session, or low alcohol beer from the
second extraction.

Brewing With Fruit

Fruit: Generally Speaking
297. Historically fruit has been a
popular brewing ingredient. As far back
as the Sumerians, brewers were using
dates to provide extra sugar and flavor
for their beer. Wheat beer, and other
bland base beers, can be given a
dominant flavor by the addition of fruit.
Fruit can also be used to enhance
character by adding a background note.
For example, oranges can be used to
pump up the citrusy hops of a pale ale.

298. There are a number of styles of

beer that work well with the addition of
fruit. Wheat beers are often used as the

bases for just about any fruit you can

think of. Fruit is also often added to
stouts, imperial stouts and porters.

299. The fruits that can be used for

brewing include cherries, citrus fruits,
raspberries, blackberries, blueberries,
mango, pineapples, apricots, apples, and
bananas. Some of them should be made
with fruit extract though, rather than with
the actual fruit.

300. Buy your fruit in season at a local

farmers market. Sometimes you can cut
a deal because youll be buying in
brewing quantities.

301. Experiment with the amount of

fruit you use. When using frozen or fresh

fruit you will need pounds of fruit per

gallon of beer.

302. If you don't like fruit haze in your

fruit brews, invest in a small bottle of
liquid pectinase or powdered pectic
enzyme. It attacks pectin, the
carbohydrate in fruit that allows them to
thicken jellies and causes haze in fruit
beers. However, many fruits that are
popular for brewing, such as berries,
dont have enough pectin to worry about.

303. Even when done in a secondary

fermenter, the fermentation of fruit can
be explosively violent. Use a
fermentation bucket or a 6-gallon (23 L)
carboy to provide extra room. Also use
a blow-off tube rather than an airlock or

bubbler. And put your fermenter into a

catch basin to make foam-overs less of a
headache to clean up.

Fresh, Frozen, Peels, Purees,

Syrups, Extracts
304. Some types of fruit should be
fresh if used for brewing. Citrus fruits
are in this category. In the case of citrus
fruits, use the peel for its oil. In the case
of other fruits, mash them or put them
through a blender or juicer to release the
sugars.

305. Many fruits, such as berries, work

better for brewing if they are frozen first.
Freezing creates crystals of ice that
break down the fruits cell walls and
release the juice and sugar. Freeze fresh
berries before you brew with them.
Keep in mind that freezing does NOT

sanitize, sterilize or pasteurize your

fruit.

306. Some fruits and peels work well

if added late in the boil. You only need a
few teaspoons of citrus oils, while other
types of fruit require a substantially
greater quantity and soaking time to
permeate your beer.

307. Youll probably be able to find

large cans of fruit puree in your local
homebrew store. Dont use pie filling
or any purees that contain other
ingredients besides pure fruit. And dont
use any that contain preservatives, which
can damage your yeast.

308. When using syrup, puree or juice,

add them to your secondary fermenter. If
you add them to your primary fermenter,
the vigorously produced CO2 will carry
off the fruit aroma as it escapes.

309. Real fruit makes the best fruit

beer. But if it's too expensive, fruit
extract is considerably cheaper. But be
careful, because some brands will make
perfectly awful fruit beer. I recommend
Cellar Pro.

310. Some unusual fruits may only be

available for brewing as extracts. Many
of these have strong medicinal flavors.
They are usually only used in the
stronger beers that can mask this offflavor.

When and How to Use It

311. If you are making a fruit beer,
freeze your fruit first. Freezing ruptures
the fruit's cell walls and causes more
juice to flow, increasing the fruit flavor
in your beer. This is the same reason
why you don't want to freeze yeast
without adding glycol to it. Refrigeration
is usually cool enough for yeast storage.

312. If you are adding fruit to your beer

during the boiling step, mash up your
fruit or run it through a food processor.
Wait until after the wort boil is over and
the wort has cooled to 200F (93C) to
add your fruit.
Cover the kettle with its lid and keep the

wort and fruit between 160F and 180F

(71-82C) for twenty minutes to
pasteurize it. Stir the wort occasionally.
Don't boil your fruit unless you want
fruit haze. Keep the fruit pulp in the
fermenter during the primary
fermentation.

313. When making a fruit beer from

real fruit, add it to your secondary
fermenter. If you add it to your primary
fermenter, the escaping CO2 will carry
off some of the aroma and flavor.
You can use blended, crushed, whole or
frozen fruit. Be sure to USE A BLOWOFF TUBE instead of an
airlock/bubbler because fermenting fruit
WILL clog your airlock and blow it off

halfway across the room.

314. For a nice fruit pectin haze

special effect, boil your fruit
(raspberries for instance) for 5-15
minutes. Then pour the fruit into your
secondary fermenter before transferring
your beer to it.

315. Fruit flavors will be stronger if

you add the fruit to the secondary
fermentation. But you still have to
pasteurize it to prevent bacterial
contamination. Mash or food process
your fruit and add water if the pulp is not
juicy enough to stir easily.
Slowly raise the temperature of the fruit
pulp to 180F to pasteurize it, stirring
frequently. Cover your pot and let the

pulp rest for 20 minutes. Let it cool to

room temperature before adding it to
your secondary fermenter. Add one or
two weeks to the secondary fermentation
period.

316. You can skip pasteurization of

your fruit if you are adding it to beer that
is high in alcohol - over five percent by
volume. Be super thorough when you
clean the fruit and sanitize all the
equipment you use to pulp it.

317. Add fruit flavor extracts at the

very end of the brewing process. When
youre ready to bottle, before you rack
your beer, add a small, carefully
measured amount of extract to a one-cup
sample of your beer. Swirl them together

and taste.
Keep adding the same amount of extract
until you reach the flavor you are aiming
for. Keep careful notes of how much
total extract you added and multiply that
total by the number of cups of beer that
youve brewed. There are 80 cups or
half pints in a 5-gallon (19L) batch. Put
the extract in your bottling bucket and
rack your beer on top of it.

Miscellaneous
Boldly Go Where No Brewer
Has Gone Before
318. Experiment imaginatively. Just
because you've never heard of someone
brewing with an exotic flower or seed
doesn't mean it won't work. (Just be sure
the flower or seed is edible first.)
You'll have the most fun with this hobby
if you let your creativity loose. Don't just
slavishly duplicate other brewers'
creations.

319. Basic starter ingredient kits rarely

make great beer. But they make good
bases to tweak and add to.

320. Experiment. Try unusual

ingredients like syrups and spices. No
beer-making rules are engraved in stone.
Try breaking some. Just because it
sounds weird doesn't mean it will taste
that way.

321. Always feel free to modify and

hack up recipes to suit your own tastes.
If there are some things about a recipe
that you like and others that you don't
change the things you don't. Change the
type of hops or the amount. Use a darker
or lighter malt. Add some steeped grain.
Etc., etc., etc.

322. Be unique. Yes, everyone starts

out and learns by copying other people's

successful creations at first. But soon

you will want to branch out and create
for yourself.
Why continue to copy something
someone else is known for? Why not
come up with something that YOU can
be known for?
Don't worry. Time and experience will
teach you how to tweak, experiment and
create, as long as you are willing to take
chances and take good notes.

Specific Gravity and Alcohol

Content
323. OG (original gravity) and SG
(starting gravity) are the same thing.
Also FG (final gravity) and TG
(terminal gravity) are the same thing.

324. If you simply subtract your final

gravity (FG) from your original gravity
(OG), the result is your Alcohol By
Weight (ABW). But that is not used
often. If you subtract FG from OG and
multiply the result by 131.25, the result
is your Alcohol By Volume (ABV),
which is the measurement that most
microbreweries use.
This formula is an approximation and is

not as accurate for high gravity beers.

Remember to use a temperature
correction table to correct your OG and
FG, if the temperature of your beer is
10F or more away from 59F (15C).

325. There are a number of ways to

increase your starting specific gravity
(original gravity or OG) to produce
more alcohol in your beer. Add more
fermentable sugars, such as corn sugar
(dextrose), or add more grain, or add
dry malt extract (DME).

Multi-tasking Tool

Aging Your Beer: Patience is

a Virtue
326. Don't drink your beer before its
time. The subtle flavors you are trying to
create take time to mature.

327. Many beers taste much better

when they have aged. Even if you've
aged your beer for the full time that is
recommended by your recipe, it may
improve even more if you wait even
longer. If you are impatient and drink it
all up too soon, you may never get to
find out what your brew tastes like at its
peak.
Next time you brew, set some bottles
aside and let it age for 6+ months. It will

get stronger, smoother, and its flavors

will be enhanced. The experience may
make it easier to be patient and wait
longer with subsequent brews.

Your Own Private Labels

328. You can create and buy your own

private labels for your beer at:

http://www.imagemakergraphics.com/labe
You can choose between laser or inkjet
labels, die-cut labels, foil labels, roll
labels and more. The site has a design
center where you can design your labels
online, or you can upload your own
original artwork or photos.

329. And here is a link to a selection of

bottle labels at Avery.com

http://www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Search
dimsearch=true&N=0&Ntk=All&Ntx=mo

330. If you'd like to swipe ideas, visit

Brew Your Own Magazine at

http://byo.com/photos/category/1 This is
a link to a gallery of entrants to their
annual label design contest.

331. If you have skill with graphics

software you can design and print labels
out on ordinary laser labels. That's much
cheaper than buying them from those first
two sites.
Don't use an inkjet printer because that
ink will run if it gets wet. If you don't
have a laser printer, take your design
files to Kinkos or a similar copy center.

332. Here are a few more sites to try:

http://www.onlinelabels.com/bottles.htm
http://www.aalabels.com/?
gclid=CL_jksnp6ZkCFcISzAodVjbqRg
http://www.homebrewery.com/beer/beer-

bottle-labels.shtml

Another Weapon in the Battle

of the Bulge: Low
Carbohydrate Beer
333. If you are trying to stick to a lowcarb diet, there are ways to cut down on
the carbs in your beer without giving up
beer altogether. Grains that contribute
body and sweetness to your beer also
contribute carbohydrates.
So don't use Munich malts, crystal malts
or caramel malts. Dark roasted grains,
such as roasted barley and chocolate
contribute fewer carbs. Very dark beers,
such as Guiness have fewer carbs than
light beers, such as Sierra Nevada Pale
Ale.

334. All grain brewers can reduce the

carbohydrates in their beer by altering
their usual mashing techniques. Add a
fifteen to twenty minute rest period at
140F (60C) and mash at a slightly
lower temperature than normal 148F
to 150F (64.4 to 65.5C). This will
increase the fermentability of the wort.

335. If you are trying to brew low

carbohydrate beer, aim for a low starting

and terminal gravity. You can cut the
carbohydrates in finished beer in half by
adding beano tablets to it in the
secondary fermenter. Keep in mind that
Beano does this by destroying the
complex carbs that give beer the
mouthfeel and flavor that you are
accustomed to producing in your
homebrew.
So use Beano as a last resort. Separate
about one gallon to test on and add
Beano to it. It will make the beer taste
thinner, and you may decide that the
results are undrinkable. You might be
better off brewing a different recipe that
is designed to have fewer carbs to start
with.

336. To lower the carbs, use a strain of

yeast that has higher attenuation. Make a
yeast starter to ensure the yeast is
healthy and that there is a large amount
of it in order to produce vigorous
fermentation. And aerate the wort
vigorously before pitching the yeast.

337. There are always a small

percentage of sugars in finished beer that
the yeast never does ferment. But
diabetics report that they have fewer
problems drinking home brewed beer
than non-diabetic commercial beers.
Another way to reduce carbohydrates is
to add Dry Enzymes.

High Gravity Beers: They

Need More
338. When brewing a high-gravity
beer, you need twice the yeast starter
and usually some additional nutrient.
And for 1.100+ beers, you need to add
oxygen, not only when pitching the yeast,
but at twelve hours into the fermentation
too. Some brewers use a third aeration
at twenty-four hours to build superstrong yeast.

339. High gravity beers call for blowoff tubes or foil covers instead of
airlocks. Many a thick, black imperial
stout has clogged the airlock and shot it
off across the room spraying jet-black

beer and yeast all over the floor, ceiling

and walls.

340. High original gravity beers result

in higher finishing gravities. Normally a
finishing gravity in the 1.020s would be
cause for concern, but for a big beer, this
could be the proper goal.

I Didnt Know Where Else to

Put These
341. On brewing and bottling day,
invite some newbie or 'non' brewing
buddies over. You'll have more fun and
one or two of your friends might catch
the homebrew bug too.

342. When brewing outdoors ALWAYS

keep a large towel handy to throw over
your glass carboys. And keep them
covered, even if the day is overcast, or
you're working in the shade. It only takes
minutes for sunlight to make your beer
skunky. Wrap your carboys in black
plastic garbage bags and tie the bags
shut. Not only will your beer be

protected from light, but also if you have

a blow out, the mess will stay in the bag.

343. Though cleanliness and sanitation

are important considerations, so is fire
safety. Keep the area around your
boiling kettle clear of anything
flammable. Dont come too close to the
heat with your wipe-up cloth. Dont
wear loose clothing; tuck your shirt in.
And keep a charged fire extinguisher, a
smoke alarm and some oven mitts or
potholders handy.

344. Learned this one the hard way.

Even if it's empty, always wear shoes
when carrying a 5-gallon (19L) glass
carboy. If you drop it on your foot it
hurts a lot. And if you are going to be
carrying a full carboy around, especially
up and down stairs, invest in The Brew

Hauler a carboy carrier with handles.

345. Most beer recipes are formulated

to make 5 gallons (19L). Don't be
tempted to cut one to make a smaller
volume, even if you don't have much
storage space or if you worry it will go
bad before you can drink it all. It's hard
to adjust a recipe for a smaller batch.
The smaller the batch the more a small
mistake in measurement can affect the
balance of flavors. You may wind up
throwing the batch out and wasting your
time and money anyway. It's better to
make a full five-gallon batch of good
beer than three gallons of undrinkable
beer.
And if you don't think you can drink the

five gallons (19L) yourself, share it with

friends. But if youd still like to try
small batch brewing, see the chapter - As
Steve Martin Says, Lets Get Small!

346. Most of us pay for water and there

are ways to conserve water while we
brew. You can re-use the water from
your wort chiller or ice water bath to
water your plants. You can also use the
warmed water from your wort chiller to
fill your washing machine. Or save it to
clean up on brewing day.

347. Beer may occasionally become

slightly hazy with it is chilled. This is a
condition that is caused by basic
ingredients that have slightly higher
protein content than normal and can

occur in any beer.

There is nothing wrong with the beer its
a natural phenomenon that does not
effect the beers flavor. Wheat beers
often have this haze. You can remove
such hazes by adding Polyclar VT to the
beer before you filter it.

348. This isn't a tip about making beer,

but about using beer. If you are plagued
by slugs or snails in your garden, dig a
hole to hold an open can or bowl, and
fill it with beer. Slugs find beer
irresistible and fatal. Overnight they'll
crawl in and die. It's completely
disgusting, but it works.

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BREWING BEER: TIPS

300 Helpful Home Brew
Tips, Tricks & Secrets
CHECK OUT THESE
OTHER BOOKS IN THE
BREWING BEER SERIES
By Dave Homebrew
Hendricks

BREWING BEER:
4 Simple Steps To Your First Home
Brew

With 40 Easy Peasy Recipes

This book guarantees that you will have
a lot of fun the very first time you brew
beer, and that all your future homebrews
will be rousing successes as well. When
you finish reading this book, you'll be
able to brew a great tasting 5-gallon
(19L) batch of beer in four simple steps.
Brewing beer at home should take you a
total of about three hours of actual work,
and very roughly about 6 weeks for
fermentation, clearing, and conditioning,
or aging, of your brew.
Amazon customers gave it 4.7 out of 5
stars.
----oooOooo----

BREWING BEER: PROBLEMS

Troubleshooting Your Home Brew
At some time or another every home

brewer will be faced with a batch of

beer that doesn't live up to his
expectations. This troubleshooting
manual allows the homebrewer to figure
out what went wrong and prevent future
problems before they happen. The
answers to the most frequently asked
questions and problems of beer brewing
newbies and old hands alike, have been
gathered in this one easy to understand,
simple guide.
Amazon customers gave it 4.7 out of 5
stars.