Grain to Glass with Eric - GTA Brews · 2016. 4. 7. · Grain to Glass •Type of presentation where a brewer takes you through their process •Brewing doesn’t all take place on

Grain to Glass with EricEric’s 2014 Brewery

GTA Brews – March 2016

Eric Cousineau

ericbrews.com

2016/01/09 Eric Cousineau

http://ericbrews.com/

What is Covered in This Presentation?

• Grain to Glass

• Ingredient Storage

• Eric’s 2014 Brewery (spent 2 years dialing in this setup)• Brewery Setup

• Mashing

• Boiling & Chilling

• Fermenting Process

• Racking & Dry Hopping

• Carbonating & Serving


Grain to Glass

• Type of presentation where a brewer takes you through their process

• Brewing doesn’t all take place on brew day (or brew night)• It’s hard to learn all a brewer’s tricks if you only see their brew day

• Hoping to get others to do these presentations at future meetings

• Mostly review for advanced brewers• But you might pick up a new trick if you pay close attention!

• Feel free to ask questions at any time!


Ingredient Storage - Grain

• Bulk base grains• from GTA Brews Bulk Buys ;)

• Store unopened in sacks

• Open sacks go into food safe buckets• Some have gamma lids, some

just orange lids

• Keep lots on hand to not limit options

• Use within 1 year of purchase


Ingredient Storage - Grain

• Specialty grains stored in a mix of bags and airtight containers

• More frequently used grains in containers• Containers are Betty Crocker

brand from Dollarama

• Try to use within a year, usually fail

• Taste before using to check freshness


Ingredients Storage - Hops

• Hops are stored in the freezer of my beer/yeast/hop fridge

• Bulk hops stored in original 1 lbs bags or repackaged into 4 oz foodsaver bags

• Once 4 oz bags are opened the un-used hops are sealed in mason jars


Ingredients Storage - Hops


Ingredient Storage – Yeast

• Yeast harvested from starters stored in sanitized mason jars in fridge

• Un-used yeast packages are stored in fridge

• Dregs are stored in ~200 mL of starter wort• No stir to avoid acetic acid

• Allow several weeks at room temp to grow before cold storage


Ingredient Storage – Yeast


2014 Brewery - Setup



• Brewhouse:• MLT: 10 gal Igloo cooler with false bottom

• BK/HLT: 3500 W induction cooktop + 10 gal stainless kettle

• Chugger pump

• Copper convoluted counterflow chiller

• Plastic bucket (marked at ¼ gal increments with sharpie marker)

• Quick disconnect silicone hoses

• Batch sparge




• Utility shelf to store lots of odd items

• Very helpful to have everything within reach

• Great for hanging hoses/tubing to dry

• Store most used things closer to eye level and at front of shelf• Thermometer, brew log, towels, keg cleaning

equipment



• Yeast starter kit

• Air tight container to store DME

• DAP, scale, marker/tape, stir plate

• Laser thermometer• To measure pitch temp

without putting thermometer in flask

2014 Brewery – Mashing


• Weigh out grains on UltraShip 75 and scoop

• Crush using Monster Mill MM3-2.0

• Corded electric drill


• Mash at 1.75 qt/lbs by default• Due to large dead space under false bottom (~ 1 gal)

• About the same as 1.5 qt/lbs

• Decrease qt/lbs and/or increase boil time for high OG• Longer boil gives more sparge water

• Need more than 1.0 qt/lbs of sparge water to re-suspend grain bed

• For 1.100+ beers I do:• 120 min boil & 1.35 qt/lbs

• Fly sparge due to tiny sparge volume!

• These quirks will vary from system to system, you just need to manage them for yours!




2014 RIS 1.0 qt/lbs = Mistake! 2015 Barleywine1.35 qt/lbs = Success!


• Heat strike water volume in BK/HLT• Add extra ½ gal due to loss in pumping to MLT

• Once heated over 175°F transfer into MLT using pump• Pump in through the ball valve, “underlet”

• Put on lid and let MLT absorb some heat

• Estimate grain temp and calculate strike temp using BeerSmith• Grain stored in cold room

• Stir and/or add cold water to reach strike temp (160°F - 165°F)

• Add crushed campden + acid/salts, stir to mix• Calculated salts and acid through Bru’n Water



• Move bucket of crushed grain onto table

• My method (make this consistent):• Mash paddle in left hand, grain scoop in right

hand, scoop as much as you can then dump

• Mash in fast to avoid losing too much temp• Keep this consistent to make mash temp more

predictable

• Measure mash temp about 10 mins in

• Extract pH sample with stainless ramekin• Depress the top of the grain bed with strainer to

take a debris free sample2016/01/09 Eric Cousineau


• Chill pH sample in shallow ice bath• Only takes 1 minute to reach room temp

• Calibrate pH meter every brew day• Sometimes I just do the 4.0 pH buffer

• Usually undershoot the pH adjustment• Stir in ~1 mL acid per 0.1 pH drop desired

• Varies with batch size, lbs of grain, mash thickness, water profile, etc…

• Re-measure mash pH after 10 min

• Record initial and final pH readings



• Get sparge heating (+½ gal loss)

• Notes on base malts:• Pilsner malt seems to hit mash pH first

time more often than others

• Bru’n Water isn’t perfect• Mash pH prediction is based on

base/crystal/roasted and °L only

• Doesn’t take into account wheat, etc...

• Happy to hit within 5.2 – 5.4 pH• For most (not all) styles



• After mash rest is done begin vorlauf

• Vorlauf into Rubbermaid pitcher• Pour into mash over plastic paddle

• Recirculate several times until grain debris is minimal

• Attach silicone hose with nylon bag tied on end

• Drain 1st runnings into bucket• Keep hose above runnings by moving

bucket away from table



• Do the batch sparge bucket dance!• Drain 1st runnings into bucket

• Pump (underlet) sparge water into MLT and re-suspend grain bed• Stir in sparge acid/salt addition, let settle

• Transfer 1st runnings into (emptied) BK with pitcher, turn on heat, rinse bucket

• Vorlauf, drain 2nd runnings into bucket through nylon bag

• Transfer 2nd runnings into BK with pitcher

• Discard any extra 2nd runnings

• This is how I managed to brew with only 2 vessels

• Record SG and volume of 1st & 2nd & combined (pre-boil) runnings


2014 Brewery – Boiling & Chilling

• In order to have 5 gallons go into the keg:• 5.5 gal into fermenter (0.5 gal trub loss)

• 6 gal of wort in kettle (0.5 gal kettle loss)

• 6.25 gal at end of boil (0.25 gal cooling shrinkage)

• 7.25 gal pre-boil volume (boil off rate is 1.0 gal/hr)

• 60 min boil for most beers• Increase to 90 min for beers with pilsner malt

• Installed a DIY vent hood to avoid steam clouds

• Nutrient/Whirlfloc at 10 or 15 min to match hopping schedule

• Fermcap used in every boil (why risk it?)2016/01/09 Eric Cousineau


• Boiling with induction same as propane• Start boil timer, add additions, etc…

• Boil with 3500 W for most beers• Keep this consistent to make boil off

predictable

• Measure hops while heating to boil

• Clean out mash tun while boiling

• Do what you can to prepare ahead:• Sanitize cold side, decant starter, etc…



• Stir in any 0 min additions before turning on pump• Pump can clog with pellet hops

• Check OG at 0 min before pump• Add DME or water to hit OG target if wanted

• Recirculate through chiller, to sanitize, before turning on water

• For hoppy beers:• Extend hot recirculation for 20 mins as a whirlpool

• Turn on chilling water to start cooling



• Watch chiller output drop to pitching temp

• Turn off pump at pitching temp and move hose to fermenter

• Turn pump back on and fill fermenter

• Throttle the water pressure using water valve to control pitching temp

• In the summer ground water gets hotter• Need to chill lagers in ferm chamber to pitch

• 45°F in winter, 58°F in summer



• Pour yeast into carboy• Keep some for next batch in

mason jar

• Oxygenate with 2 mm stone• 90 sec for most beers

• Don’t forget to sanitize wand

• Label carboy and put in ferm chamber• Don’t forget the blow off…

• Clean up


Fermenting Process

• Yeast starter 2 days before brewing

• Brew United to calculate• Add 100 billion cells for harvesting

• Round UP starter size to closest 0.5 L

• Cold crash 24 hours before brewing

• Decant before pitching on brew day

• Harvest from starter in mason jar• Estimate yeast count by measuring volume

of sediment in mason jar

• Multiply mL by 2.5 to get billion cells• Very crude, but conservative


Fermenting Process

• Ramp temp on every fermentation• Usually starting around day 4

• Keep the pipeline full enough that you don’t need to rush

• Once active signs (krausen) fade:• Take SG reading

• Taste for off-flavours

• Precision hydrometer for most beers

• Your palate is the best off-flavour detector there is


Fermenting Process

• When tasting gravity sample look for all off-flavours including:• Diacetyl, acetaldehyde, inappropriate

esters & alcohols, sour & phenolic (from contamination), etc…

• Flavours that won’t age out

• Some off-flavours age out:• Sulfur, yeastiness, some kinds of

astringency, etc..

• Once FG is reached AND beer is tasting clean, fermentation is done


Racking & Dry Hopping

• After fermentation some beers get racked into the dry hop keg• Shortened dip tube with small filter slotted on

• Larger filter basket over the dip tube with the end covered in nylon bag (stainless brewing)

• Purge keg, rack in, add hops, purge again

• After 2-3 days move keg into keezer to crash

• Transfer into serving keg using CO2

• Sometimes add gelatin for clarity• Usually not needed after this filter method



• Elevate finished carboy above keg for auto-siphon

• Purge, purge, purge!

• Give a few minutes for carboy to settle after moving it

• Avoid picking up trub by tilting carboy

• Don’t overfill kegs or they won’t carbonate

• Working on moving to closed transfer with CO2, stainless, and silicone tube• Do everything you can to avoid oxygen pickup


Carbonating & Serving


CO2 utility line


• Most new kegs get about 20 PSI for the first day or two• Lagers carbonate at serving pressure while they lager

• Finish off carbing at serving pressure (Eg. 12 PSI)

• Keezer specs:• 4.5°C temp controller setting

• 8 ft 3/16” lines, except for one 10 ft

• Dual output CO2 tank• Output 1: secondary regulator with 4 outputs

• Output 2: CO 2 manifold with 6 outputs

• 11 ball lock keg capacity

• Drip tray hangs off shanks2016/01/09 Eric Cousineau


• First 3 taps run off 8’ line

• Last tap is 10’ line for higher carb beers

• Always throw away the first few ounces of beer from a line each day

• Pay attention to how beer changes over time

• Balance your system so that you can pour with acceptable foaming at equilibrium PSI



• BeerGun for competition and long term beers

• Tray on left to catch overflow while filling

• Pitcher to hold beergun

• Vinator and bottle rack to sanitize bottles

• Bench capper to cap any kind of bottle


Conclusion

• Covered:• Ingredient storage for malt, hops, yeast

• Mashing, boiling, and chilling with my 2014 brewery

• Fermenting

• Dry Hopping and Racking

• Carbonating and Serving


Questions?


Documents

Grain to Glass with Eric - GTA Brews · 2016. 4. 7. · Grain to Glass •Type of presentation where a brewer takes you through their process •Brewing doesn’t all take place on