Your house smells of a fantastic brew, boiling a way in your kettle. Your primary is awaiting the glorious pour of freshly brewed wort and you are anxiously awaiting pitching your yeast and watching fermentation take off. What, wait…your smack pack is not inflating or you accidentally knocked your starter over and spilled all of your yeast on the floor…Your wort is almost ready to go…what do you do?

Rehydrate yeast. Rehydrating yeast is a pretty simple thing to do that can maintain quality in your beer. Dry yeast is not always the first yeast of choice. The strains of yeast are somewhat limited, but there is no reason you can’t and shouldn’t use them. I prefer to use them in standard beers like a Pale Ale. But the main advice I can give to anyone who brews, is to keep a package or two of dry yeast on hand. They are small and keep really well in a fridge. If it just so happens that one of the above scenarios or something else should happen, you can still get your beer fermenting without skipping a beat.

It’s not always the main consideration, but dry yeast is cheap. Less than $2 a package, which can save you a few bucks every batch of beer. You sacrifice choice, as I mentioned before because of the lack of different strains, but if your recipe is simple or doesn’t need something special, dry yeast is a good choice.

Why Do I Need To Rehydrate Yeast

In my first batch of beer I ever made, I had a package of Muton’s dry yeast. When I was ready to pitch, I just sprinkled my yeast on top of the wort and waited. Waited, waited and waited. I waited 6 days before anything happened. Sure there are other factors involved with this. My brewing practice at the time, outdated ingredients or yeast could be the culprit as well. But what I do know is had I rehydrated my yeast, I would have either known they were no good or would have had a quicker starting fermentation.

In dry form, yeast are dormant awaiting to be awakened to help you make some beer. By rehydrating the yeast, you wake them up and get their metabolism going. When you just pitch into the wort you run the risk of the yeast not being able to rehydrate because the high concentration of sugars in the wort can make absorbing water difficult. That is probably part of the reason my first brew took 6 days to get started fermenting.

Rehydrate yeast, they will thank you for it.

How To Rehydrate Yeast

I hate to admit it, but it has been 2 months since the last brew. A lot has been going on and I just fell off the wagon for a few. However, my stash is diminishing quickly, especially since my Extra Pale Ale has come to be one of the best tasting beers I’ve ever made. I find myself drinking more of it than I should, nightly…

So Sunday brought another brew day. I decided, since I was enjoying my Extra Pale Ale, I would give the Northern Brewer English Pale Ale extract kit a try. In true British fashion the main difference in this beer versus the American counterpart is the hops being used. Kent Goldings hops, native to Kent, England, were used in this recipe and they have a spiciness to their aroma that has me very curious about the final product.

Homebrewing

Today was about as easy going and relaxing as it gets with homebrewing. It makes me wonder why more people don’t partake in this fine hobby. I was able to clean bottles, drink beer and watch soccer while I brewed up the Northern Brewer English Pale Ale extract kit. The extract kit was pretty run of the mill with its processes so I decided to do a couple of things differently than normal. With a Pale Ale such as this, a variety of yeast isn’t really needed. Normally I am a huge advocate of the wYeast smack packs. They are easy to use and rarely fail me. With a pale ale like this though there isn’t a lot of flavor and aroma that I’m looking for from the yeast so I decided to save a few bucks and give the Nottingham dry yeast a go. I rehydrated the yeast and pitched it into my wort.

With it being summer outside now the temperature really fluctuates inside of our house. I determined that underneath my steps would be a great place to ferment as it only moves up and down a few degrees during the day. However, I still wanted to maintain a better temperature shift than that. So I created a swamp cooler to use which is maintaining the fermentation temperature at 62 degrees F. I’m expecting a fine, crisp tasting pale ale.

Other than these two items, everything else fell right into place. I hit my OG smack on and fermentation started in about 8 hours. In a couple, 3 weeks I will have myself another set of tasty Pale Ales to enjoy before the rest of the summer dwindles away.

Commercial Examples of English Pale Ale’s: Bass Pale Ale, Boddington’s Pub Ale, 8th Street Ale

Brew Day Journal Stats

I adjusted the recipe just a hair by adding in all 6 lbs of the LME at the end. My wife likes a more bitter beer so I thought I would try and get a little more hop utilization and try to maintain a golden color by adding the LME late.

Specialty Grain

.5 lbs Simpsons Crystal

Fermentables

6 lbs Gold LME (Flame Out)

1 lbs Golden Light DME (60 min)

Hops

2 oz East Kent Goldings (60 min)

1 oz East Kent Goldings (1 min)

Yeast

1 package Nottingham Dry Yeast

Notes

O.G. 1.050 | F.G. 1.012 | ABV: 5.0%

Brewed: 6/27/10
Racked:
Bottled: 7/11/10

Today’s brew day taught me two very important lessons that I will never forget or take for granted again. Aside from making a very large mess all over my house, including the driveway, it was a very productive day, yielding me 54 more soldiers to drink and a bubbling fermenter with an Imperial Stout from Northern Brewer in it within 3 hours of racking the wort into the fermenter.

First things first, I had to bottle my Scottish 60 Schilling from Northern Brewer as well. Since both brews use the Scottish Ale yeast, I decided to reuse the yeast cake again since it worked the last time with the EPA. The first part of the day provided me with another 2 cases of beer to drink. But more importantly, a healthy amount of yeast to reuse on a big beer. It looked like a tornado went through our kitchen when I was done. I had cleaned bottles the night before so all my dishes were out and I had bottles every where. Add my bottling equipment on top of that and it was nothing short of pig sty.

On to the homebrew lessons I learned today.

The first thing I learned today is that no matter how much you know about homebrewing and how many times you’ve brewed, there is always a learning curve when you brew in a different environment. I really enjoyed brewing outside, but I found myself scrambling a couple of times because I had forgotten something or I was using water from the faucet on the side of the house instead of the sink.

The second and more important lesson I learned is to never, and I mean NEVER pitch in 2 ounces of hops at the end of a boil in a vigorous, “Here are your hops, you boiling pot” fashion. I tossed my hops in quickly and at the same time and my wort spit them back at me and onto my driveway. I knew there was going to be kick back, but I didn’t expect it to literally explode like the old volcano experiments in elementary school did. Needless to say I was pissed, but another homebrewing lesson learned I suppose.

Have you learned any hard lessons in your homebrewing adventures?

Brew Day Journal Stats

Specialty Grain

.5 lbs Simpsons Roasted Barley

.5 lbs Simpsons Black Malt

.5 lbs Simpsons Chocolate

Fermentables

6 lbs Dark LME (60 min)

6 lbs Dark LME (15 min)

Hops

2 oz Summit (60 min)

2 oz Cascade (15 min)

Yeast

Reused Cake from Wyeast Scottish Ale 1728

Notes

O.G. 1.076 | F.G.  | ABV:

Brewed: 4/18/10
Racked: 5/9/10
Bottled:

Review to come!

One of the aspects of homebrewing that I like the most is the encouragment of experimentation and creativity. I hear it over and over when I talk to homebrewers. “I did this and this to that and built this to do something and so on.” The creativity of homebrewing is one of the main draws I have to it. One of the best parts about creativity and experimentation is that it is not reserved for the most experienced people. Novice to advanced homebrewers can not only experiment and be creative but are encouraged to. I personally feel that creativity and experimentation equals good beer. Period.

With that being said, one of my brewing friends and member of the Traveling Wortbury’s, Jay, has been doing a little bit of experimenting with yeast. Jay bought a new Blichman 20 gallon pot and has been brewing up double batches. After the brew he splits the wort into two fermenters and uses two different yeast strains to see what the differences are first hand. In the last batch he put the standard American Ale 1056 up against the American Ale II 1272. The results were quite interesting and unexpected.

American Ale 1056 vs American Ale II 1272 (Here are Jay’s notes)

Brewing

I brewed a full 10 gallon batch and split into two five gallon primary fermenters, used 2 different yeast strains and dry hopped for 4 weeks. Upon completion, I force carbonated the beer in my kegs.

The recipe was my basic Sierra Nevada clone recipe (mini mash) which i used for my first brew and recommend to first time brewers.

My hopping schedule was as follows. I tried to keep under control because I didn’t want to mask any yeast flavors that may be imparted. That is what the experiment is about right?

4+ oz Cascade (60 min)
2+ oz Cascade (30 min)
2 oz Pearle (15 min)

1 oz Amarillo (Dry Hopping in each secondary)

So each primary got a different yeast. My regular recipe calls for American Ale 1056 and I decided to use American Ale II 1272 in the other.

Constants

Ingredients were all brewed in the same pot. (Sierra Nevada Clone)

Fermentation temperature was constant for both at around 68 degrees F.

Aeration was vigorous for each for about 4 minutes a piece.

Smack pack 125ml wYeast was used, no starters.

Results

The 1056 was the control because I have used it many times. So in direct comparison these are the main differences I saw from the American Ale 1056 to the American Ale II 1272.

• 1272 trub was very tight and didn’t get sucked up by my siphon.
• 1272 was less cloudy and had a bit more brightness to the color.
• 1272 had a cleaner finish and smoother mouthfeel.
• 1272 allowed us to pick out more hoppiness and balanced the sweetness of the malts better.
• 1272 started sooner and seemed to attenuate more.

Have You Experimented Or Been Creative?

Have you do this experiment before? What were your results? Have you done any other type of experiment that you’d like to share with us? Maybe even have it published on Mike’s Brew Review? Let us know or email me.

What the heck is this little do-hicky that came with my homebrewing starter kit and what does it do, and WORST yet, how the hell do I use it?

This interesting little tool is called a hydrometer and comes in real handy for beginner, novice, advanced and expert homebrewers. The hydrometer has two main purposes. It tells you when your beer is done fermenting and it tells you how much alcohol is in your new beer. But how do you use a hydrometer? Let’s discuss.

How To Use A hydrometer

First things first. We need to learn how to take a reading. With a little direction, you’ll be an expert scientist in no time!

Drink you sample or discard it, but never put it back into the fermenter. Now what do you do with that reading?

Use it to find out when your fermentation is complete.

1. Take a sample of beer and place it in the tube that your hydrometer came in after you are done brewing and aerating your wort. This is done before pitching your yeast. Make sure you use a sanitized wine thief or other tool to acquire your sample. Mark that number down in your brewing notes. You will use this number to figure out ABV and if your fermentation is complete.

2. When you start to think fermentation is complete, take another sample. Again, be sure to use a sanitized wine thief or other tool to acquire your sample.

3. Measure that sample and note the number. Do not put the sample back into your fermenter!

4. Twenty-four hours later, take another sample and note that number.

5. Another 24 hours later, take another sample, note that number. If your number has not changed over 3 days your fermentation is complete and you are ready to bottle.

Use your hydrometer to tell how much alcohol by volume is in your beer.

1. Remember that first reading you took when you brewed up your batch of beer? Bring that number out because you’ll need it to figure out the final alcohol content.

2. Take a final sample from your bottling bucket. Once you moved your brew over go ahead take a sample right out of the spigot or use the number from step 5 where you determined your fermentation was complete.

3. Take a reading like describe above.

How to Calculate Alcohol By Volume

Calculating the alcohol content of your beer can be pretty easy if you just follow the following formula.

(Original Gravity – Final Gravity) X 131 = ABV%

There you have it. You can now not only take an accurate hydrometer reading, but you can use this tool to find out when your fermentation is complete and how much alcohol is in your beer!

Congratulations and happy brewing!

Side note:

Some people don’t bother using hydrometers and that is perfectly fine and dandy. They just like to brew and have done it enough to know when their beer is done. On top of that, they have a pretty good idea of approximetly how much alcohol is in their beers or just plain do not care. However, if you are like me, you like to know these things for future reference as you tweak and formulate recipes. Regardless, any new homebrewer should pay attention and use their hydrometer until they are comfortable with knowing when fermentation is complete. Otherwise, you may end up with some bottle bombs and those are no fun.

Just remember, have fun and enjoy!

The Traveling Wortbury’s, the group I brew a bit of beer with, gathered this past weekend for some beer, food, brewing and good ole hang out time. We usually brew at Jay’s house, but today we were over at Marty’s where we decided with it finally becoming spring time, we would brew right outside of the garage. Needless to say, it was a great time talking beer, drinking beer and homebrewing beer!

I decided to brew up Northern Brewer’s Scottish 60 extract kit. I did a little bit of research and found that this beer uses the same yeast as Northern Brewers Imperial Stout. So I decided that I was going to use the Scottish 60 to propagate some yeast for a big beer. I plan to pitch right on top of the old cake after I rake this Scottish 60. I haven’t gotten into figuring out exactly how much yeast I should pitch yet, but my thoughts are a big 1.086 OG on the Imperial Stout could benefit from the massive amounts of yeast that will be waiting for another brew in a week. Now you know the plan, how did the day go?

Homebrewing Northern Brewer Scottish 60

It was pretty uneventful as far as brewing was concerned. My recipe was really basic. Some water, some LME, some DME and very little hops. Everything went really well for me. I had no boil overs. I hit my times perfectly and the hot toddies were yummy.

One thing that I did do differently today that I normally don’t do, was using a Wort Chiller. I have yet to buy one of these, but its on the list. Jay brought his wort chiller and since we were outside it was really easy to hook it up to a hose and use it. As soon as my boil was over I poured my hot wort into a bucket. On top of that I poured in about 3.25 gallons of cool water, probably about 50 degrees. My temperature was immediately below 100 degrees. I hooked up the Wort Chiller and in less than 8 minutes I was down to pitching temperatures. That is a new record for me.

I pitched my yeast and I was done.

The real highlight of the day was Jay’s “maple beer.” Being the experimental type of person Jay is, he tapped some maple trees and brought some 12 gallons of maple tree sap to brew. Using that as his water, he mixed in his DME and hops making one of the lightest colored beers I’ve seen come out of homebrew. It will be interesting to see what it tastes like. If it tastes good, Jay will be happy. I’m more of a style type of person but I’m not 100% sure where to put this one. At first I was thinking a light colored Marzen, but it is just so unique with the amounts of fermentables and hops, that I just can’t classify it.

If anyone has any ideas of what you would classify it as, that would be great. I know Jay doesn’t care as long as its good, but I’d love to have a place to put it, but that’s just me!

Brew Day Journal Stats

Specialty Grain

.5 lbs Briess Caramel Pils

Fermentables

3.15 lbs Amber LME

1 lbs Dark DME

Hops

.5 oz Northern Brewer (60 min)

Yeast

Wyeast Scottish Ale 1728

Notes

O.G. 1.032 | F.G.: 1.011 | ABV: 2.8%

Brewed: 3/27/10
Racked:
Bottled: 4/18/10

Review to come!