Beer and The Weather

[Loyalist Dave]

Winter and very early Spring are my favorite brewing times.

Well folks, my kin bought me "beer machine" variety pack . The nice thing about these is that for a novice, there is nothing else needed but something sealed with a fermentation lock to ferment the brew within. You can stretch these by adding more than the recommended amount of water..., and add extra malt...and you can push up the alcohol by adding some extra sugar. I normally put together my own ingredients, but heck it was a Christmas present. :wink:

Now the directions say just add water, but in the past when using other "kits", I found the just add (room temp) water = spoiled beer. So..., the plan was that I would boil the water, and mix it hot with the ingredients. This would then be poured hot into my sanitary fermentation container. This then would to cool, to around 60° or below, before I added the brewer's yeast.

The PROBLEM is that for the past two weeks we've had temps between the upper 50's to 70's. So I can't place the hot liquid in the fermentation container on my outside deck, to allow it to slowly cool, and I don't own a "beer cooler" tool. :shake:

GAH!

So what I'm planning on doing is to boil two gallons of water, seal that in my fermentation container and let it cool. Then when chilled, I will boil a third gallon, dissolve the kit in that, pour that into my fermentation container, which will result in a mildly warm, completed brew that needs no cooling or just a little. That, hopefully, will give me a resulting temp below the 60° mark.

I'm also going to culture the dry yeast packet in the kit, by using a cooled, sanitized, water/sugar solution in a bottle to which I have a fermentation lock and a stopper fitted. I will add the yeast to the sugar/water in the bottle and put it on the counter for a 24 hours while I prep and cool the two gallons of plain water in the fermenter. That should give me a lot more yeast to "pitch" when the brewing part is done.

I'm curious to see if this produces anything worth drinking. I will try one of the "beer" packets first..., the kit comes with a Pilsner, a Lager, and an Ale. The ale would be the only one at all "close" to an 18th century beverage. IF it works, I may simply buy a couple of packets of Ale yeast and substitute that for the the yeast in the remaining kits.


LD

 

[Nativearizonan]

I've always been told, if you don't like the weather, just wait a while.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Hi Dave,

lots to comment on....

I'm not a fan of beer "kits" from my experience two of the most important things in brewing are technique and ingredients...You have little control over these with kits.

With the kits, the lager and pilsners most likely still use an ale yeast....

I highly recommend doing a yeast starter....I also don't recommend using yeast that came with the kits, often you don't know how old it is or how it has been handled....I would spend the $3-4 and buy a good quality ale yeast from the HBS.

I also don't recommend using sugar for the starter...Yeast prefer and need nutrients found in malt to reproduce properly.....

I've brewed six times in the last month..

 

[coloradoclyde]

Now the directions say just add water, but in the past when using other "kits", I found the just add (room temp) water = spoiled beer. So..., the plan was that I would boil the water, and mix it hot with the ingredients. This would then be poured hot into my sanitary fermentation container. This then would to cool, to around 60° or below, before I added the brewer's yeast.

The PROBLEM is that for the past two weeks we've had temps between the upper 50's to 70's. So I can't place the hot liquid in the fermentation container on my outside deck, to allow it to slowly cool, and I don't own a "beer cooler" tool

Never add municipal tap water directly to your beer.....It contains things like chlorine, or chloramines, fluoride, and phosphorus line cleaners....as well as bacteria, organic matter, and possibly heavy metals....You can't make quality beer with bad water....
In you're case recommend buying bottled or RO water....The bottles..(gallon or 5 gallon ) can be placed in the fridge and chilled to increase your cooling capacity.

Also, do not cool your beer in direct sunlight. Sunlight is bad for beer.

and I don't own a "beer cooler" tool

A wort chiller is not difficult to construct...it makes life much easier.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Thanks Clyde, I appreciate the tips. I'd never use municipal water, ESPECIALLY the water in my town..., it's just a little less chlorine than pool water, and pool water companies use my town to fill up their trucks. :grin:

When I chill on the back deck, it's overnight. :wink:


LD

 

[coloradoclyde]

Now the directions say just add water, but in the past when using other "kits", I found the just add (room temp) water = spoiled beer

Can you explain this more?

What are you using for water and what are you sanitizing with?

I have seen some guys brew using methods that are anything but sanitary and (shockingly) still make good drinkable beer....

Every second that beer sits at a temperature below 140 degrees until it is cool enough to pitch the yeast is potential bacteria incubation time.

PH is also very important ....Yeast can tolerate a lower PH than most bacteria....If your fermentation starts with a high PH it may favor bacterial growth.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Surely,

Take for example a can of Mountmellick Famous Irish Style Stout Malt Extract, or a can of the same company's Brown Ale..., the can is a "kit", it comes with a packet of dry, ale yeast. The recipe says (well it's been a while since I read it so perhaps they've changed it) to dissolve the contents of the can in X amount of water, then add the yeast. The kits that I was given, say the same.

NO reference to sanitizing the water first by boiling.

Now we've both known guys who do this without "trouble". At least they make it and when they served it to us, no worries. Usually it's a short period of time from fermentation to bottling and bottle conditioning to serving.

AND don't ask me to explain how the Belgians produce good beer...have you seen photos of a Belgian brewery? ....I don't understand that at all.

:idunno:

(Back to the guys that just add water..., ) I've seen the same guys get a lactobacillus in their brew. I've also seen guys who served a very nice beer, and put some of it up on the shelf away from the sun in a stable temp, who found 6 months later that a slow growing bacteria had contaminated their brew. :shocked2:

So, I boil even when the directions don't call for it. You can get a nice cooling of small batches by first boiling water, and chilling it, THEN add the hot wort to the cold water, already in the fermenter. Really cuts down on the cooling time when one does not have a wort cooler. One could also, follow the directions on my kits, if one used sanitized water first, and hoped no bacteria were in the ingredients.

LD

 

[coloradoclyde]

I agree with everything you're saying....

Back when I brewed from kits I always brought the malt syrup up to temperature regardless of what directions said.....Just the process of opening the can introduce bacteria, can openers are a great place to find bacteria.

Another thing to consider is hops....fresh hops are antimicrobial....I am uncertain as to the antimicrobial property of a pre-hopped extract...

You mentioned the Belgians...Many beer styles are actually infected, from Belgian sours to some English ales, sometimes infection compliments the beer...Keeping beer "neutral" was a big problem for 18th century brewers. I have read many reference and "remedies" for infection.

Brewing in the winter months when there is less bacteria floating around in the environment is definitely beneficial, especially when open chilling and fermenting....I still can't stress good sanitation measures enough though....I like clean beers....

18th century brewers would have used a coolship to chill their wort....Much more effective in cool weather.
I've always wanted to use a coolship... :hmm:


Using extract or kits can have a wide range of problems...I stopped using it about 15 years ago...All-grain is so much more versatile, and in my opinion produces better results.

Canned kits are made to be "introductory" by keeping it simple....

 

[coloradoclyde]

You could always put your hot wort in a vessel and place it in a large tub if ice water.....