System Mods

I work in the HR industry, so I'm extremely busy in the Fall configuring open enrollment systems for my company's clients. After several weeks of what feels like 'round the clock work, I was starting to feel a little burned out. To help remedy this, I set aside a couple hours here and there to work on some system mods. I won't get too detailed here because these mods are well documented all over the web. The mods include:

1. Weldless ball valve with pickup tube on brew kettle
2. Weldless thermometer on brew kettle
3. Improved immersion chiller connections
4. Immersion chiller whirlpool capability

The ball valve and thermometer both involved drilling holes in by brew kettle. To drill stainless steel, use cutting fluid or some other type of lubricant (I used 3-in-1) and take it slow. Start off with a small drill bit and work your way up to a step drill bit that will allow you to drill out a 7/8" hole. Keep the RPM's low, use plenty of cutting fluid and use firm even pressure. Give it a rest every once in a while so that the heat can dissipate and your drill motor can cool off.

The valve has two benefits. First, I'll be able to put my pump to good use and whirlpool while I'm chilling my wort to pitching temperatures. Second, when it's chilled I'll be able to transfer the cooled wort directly to my fermenter. No more lifting to pour five+ gallons of wort. The pickup tube is based on the design featured in the BYO September 2009 issue.

The weldless thermometer will be used to monitor wort temps, both during the boil and while chilling.

The immersion chiller's connections originally consisted of plastic high-temp tubing slid over the copper tubing and secured with hose clamps. The problem was this didn't result in a snug fit. A couple times I had the pressure too high and chilling water was able to seep past the hose clamps and the drips almost fell into the wort. I added a second set of hose clamps and this seemed to help, but it still wasn't very secure. I tried compression fittings but they also tended to leak. This time I flared the copper tubing and used flare fittings. To flare the tubing I used the cheapest flaring kit available from Harbor Freight Tools. I think it ran me about $8. It's not the best tool available, but it works pretty good. Even with the garden hose going at full blast there are no leaks.

Lastly I added whirlpool capability to the chiller. It's based on Jamil Z's design as seen on mrmalty.com. The basic concept is wort flows from the ball valve on the kettle to the pump then is returned back to the boil kettle across the coils of the immersion chiller resulting in a whirlpool action in the boil kettle. This should cool the wort more quickly and prevent most break material from entering the fermenter. Now I just need to find some time to brew!

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Smoke Jumper Rauchbier

I love smoked foods...ribs, pork shoulder, fish, brisket, cheeeeeeeese. Basically I've never had a smoke food that I didn't like. The first smoked beer I tried was Rauchbier from Eisenbahn Brewery located in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil. With the cooler months approaching it's time to brew up a batch of this flavorful beer.

I made this recipe for the first time last year and it turned out great. Last year I used Weyermann Rauch malt. I don't know if the grain was on the old side, but I couldn't detect any smokey aroma when I got it so just to be safe I ended up smoking it over hickory for about 45 minutes. This resulted in a nice smooth smoky flavor in the finished beer. This time I'm using Briess' Smoked Malt. It's smoked over cherry wood and Briess says it contributes a smooth sweet smokiness.

This is a lager and as such it's best to pitch a good sized starter. I started my yeast starter a few days ahead of brew day following John Palmer's instructions for a lager yeast starter. I believe there are a few commercial beers named Smoke Jumper. This is not intended to be a clone of any of the commercial offerings.

Ingredients

6.00 lb Smoked Malt (Briess)

4.00 lb Munich Type II (Weyermann)

1.00 lb Carared (Weyermann)

0.50 lb Caramunich II (Weyermann)

1.00 oz Tettnanger [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops

1 Pkgs Bavarian Lager (Wyeast Labs #2206) Yeast-Lager

Mash

The first time I made this I used a single infusion mash @153 for 75 minutes. I've been wanting to try a step mash so this time I mashed at 122 for 20 min, 149 for 30 min, 158 for 30 min and mashout at 170 for 10 min.

Fermentation

Pitch at 58 F and lower temp to 48 F over two days. Hold at 48 F for two weeks. Rack to secondary and lager at 35 F for 6 weeks.

Updated 11/13/2010 - I kegged this one this week. Sad to say but I'm very disappointed. I'm picking up some off-flavors in the form of band-aid like flavors. II think I made a critical error in the step mash by not first boiling the hot liquor water. As a result, I believe there was chlorine in the mash which resulted in unwanted phenols. On the upside, I've added a carbon water filter to my equipment list so hopefully I'll be able to avoid this in the future. I'm going to let this age a bit more and cross my fingers and hope for the best. First taste impressions give it an F grade.

Updated 12/12/2010 - I took some of this with me to the 2nd Annual Big Ass Holiday Beer Tasting last night. I'm pleased to say that the band-aid-like phenol has subsided, so this beer has definitely improved over the last month. This is an intensely smokey beer. It's not harsh like a peat smoked malt would be, but it is unmistakeably smokey for sure. The next time I make it, I'm thinking about a blend of traditional rauchmalt with the cherry-wood smoked malt, or perhaps increasing the Munich to try to give it a little more malt/smoke balance. At this point I'd give it a B-.

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Cali Trip

We just got back from a family vacation to Southern California. While we were there we had a BBQ at my in-laws and my brother-in-law was nice enough to bring a couple growlers from TAPS Brewhouse in Brea, CA. Brewmaster Victor Novak makes some great beer so if you're in the area, I highly recommend checking them out. They'll also be at the GABF, so check them out.

I also made a trip to BevMo and picked up a few beers. Whenever I'm in Cali (or anywhere else) I always try to find some beers that aren't distributed in Utah.

1. Allagash Curieux - A Tripel Ale aged in Jim Beam oak bourbon barrels for 8 weeks - 11% abv
2. Dogfish Head Red & White - Malt beverage brewed with coriander & orange peel with Pinot noir juice concentrate added with 11% aged in Pinot noir barrels and 89% aged on oak barrel staves - 10% abv
3. Rodenbach Classic Ale - Flanders Red-Brown Ale composed of three-quarters young beer and one-quarter beer matured for two years in oak - 5.2% ABV
4. Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier (Original Schlenkerla Smokebeer) Urbock - A full bodied smoked bock beer for Bamberg's strong beer season (October through December) in fall. Brewed already in the summer time, it is matured for months in the ancient Schlenkerla rock-cellars underneath Bamberg. - 6.5% ABV
5. Stone Cali-Belgique IPA - A California style IPA brewed with a Belgian yeast strain. Not your typical IPA - 6.9% ABV
6. Stone Smoked Porter - As the name implies, a Smoked Porter. I love smoked foods and not to toot my own horn, but I have a smoker and I make some pretty mean smoked ribs and a real nice porkvshoulder. I definitely likes the smoked beers as much as I likes a good smoked pig.

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