Do You Even Oak, Bro?

(Oak-aging beer)

If you’re like me, you can’t get enough of barrel-aged beers.  I love drinking them and I love brewing them.  Barrel-aging adds wonderful complexity to beer.  It can impart flavors from whatever was originally aged in the barrel (i.e. Bourbon, wine, rum, etc…).  I don’t, however, have the need or an interest in purchasing and maintaining oak barrels.

We, as homebrewers, can “cheat” our way into the barrel-aging craze.  There are multiple ways to impart that woody goodness and most are simpler and faster than traditional barrel-aging.

Oak Extract and Oak Powder:  While very quick and convenient, this method is not my favorite.  It’s somewhat unpredictable what sort of oak character you’ll get and whatever character you do get, I find to be 1-dimensional.

Oak Chips:  Oak chips are nice because they’re relatively quick in extracting the oak character (about 2 weeks for full extraction), they’re affordable and there are a variety of toasts and countries of origin available.  The downside is that, again, because they’re so thin, you don’t get a whole lot of depth to the oak flavor.

Oak Cubes:  Like chips, cubes are affordable and offer variety.  The’re a bit thicker, so they tend to offer up a little more complexity.  They do take a bit longer than the aforementioned barrel alternatives (about 4-6 weeks for full extraction), but worth the wait if you have the time and patience.

Oak Spirals or Staves:  I’ve never worked with staves, but oak spirals are my favorite means of oaking beer.  The’re about 1″ in diameter so you’ve got a good level of depth to the oak flavor, but the spiraling also creates large surface area so extraction of all that depth of wood is relatively quick.  I’ve heard it said spirals can take up to 20 weeks, but I’ve gotten fantastic results with a booze tincture soak for 1 week and 6-8 weeks in the beer.  Again – you can get spirals in American, French or Hungarian oak varieties and with various levels of toast.

My Method:

As mentioned above, I typically use oak spirals, but with spirals, chips or cubes I follow the same procedure.  I decide which sort of barrel I’d like to emulate, break the spirals in halves or thirds and put them in a mason jar to soak for a week in whichever type of booze-character I’m trying to emulate.  Bourbon is typical, but I’ve done rum, port, vodka (very neutral) and tequila.

Once the week-long soak is completed, I dump the tincture (oak and booze) straight into the beer to finish extraction.

This method speeds extraction due to the high level of alcohol the wood is exposed to for the first week and it simultaneously sanitizes.

If you’re doing a smaller beer, dumping a bunch of booze in may not be an option.  In this case I would recommend steaming the oak to sanitize or brewing an oak tea where the oak is steeped in hot (160-170F) water for 20 minutes or so, then the wood and liquid are added to the beer.

See the below varieties and what my research and drunken experiments have found to be common aromas and flavors for each.

Oak Varieties:

American:
American oak tends to be “bolder” than French or Hungarian.  More coffee and smokey flavors are present.

• Light Toast – Vanilla, dill, coconut
• Medium Toast – Vanilla, honey, caramel, toast, nutty, strong coconut, coffee, cocoa
• Medium Plus Toast – Similar to Medium with more vanilla and fuller mouthfeel
• Heavy Toast – Strong coffee, caramelized sugar, smoke, vanilla

French:
French oak tends to have a perceived sweetness.  Spicy & fruity flavors are typical.

• Light Toast – Vanilla, caramel, spice
• Medium Toast – Cedar, cigar box, milk chocolate, spice
• Medium Plus Toast – Vanilla, honey, nutty, a little roasty
• Heavy Toast – Cedar, charcoal, Asian spice, dark fruit

Hungarian:
Hungarian oak is known for high amounts of vanilla and hints of leather.

• Light Toast – Vanilla, herbal, sweet spice
• Medium Toast – Strong vanilla, coffee, cocoa, black pepper
• Medium Plus Toast – Strong vanilla, cocoa, slight smoke and coffee
• Heavy Toast – Strong spice, vanilla, butterscotch, toffee, molasses

Previous Article:  “Converting All-Grain to Extract”

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1 of 2 beers 1 brewed, donated and poured during the dessert course of Gilead Community Services
Quizine for a Cause” fundraiser event on November 1, 2015.

This Belgian-style Golden Strong Ale was brewed as the counter-balance to the Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout also being poured at the event.  The plan was to have a beer that would pair especially well with pastries and fruity desserts.  The intent with Golden Strongs is to have a beer much dryer and cleaner (though still complex with yeast esters) than what people typically associate with Belgian beers.

Historically, most Belgian Golden Strong Ales have had some reference to the devil as an homage to the original, Duvel (the Dutch word for Devil).  Geest is loosely translated as the Dutch word for Demon.

Batch Size:  5.5 Gallons
Measured Original Gravity: 1.076 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.018 SG
IBUs:  71.3
ABV:  7.6%

Recipe:

Mash at 148F for 75 minutes then fly sparge until desired volume of wort is collected:

14 .5 lbs of Pilsner Malt
8.0 oz Cara-pils
6.0 oz Caravienne Malt
6.0 oz Aromatic Malt
2.0 oz Honey Malt

0.50 oz Warrior [15.00%] – Boil 90.0 min
1.00 oz Saaz [3.75%] – Boil 10.0 min

1 lbs Candi Sugar, Clear – Boil 10 min
8.0 oz Corn Sugar – Boil 10 min

1.0 pkg Belgian Stron Ale (Wyeast Labs #1388)

Ferment 14 days at 72F then cold crash for 14 days at 33F.

Tasting Notes:

I think this was a great example of the style.  It’s crisp and dry, but complex.  Tart, but not bitter.  Great fruity esters and a hint of yeast-derived and Saaz spice.

How To Make the Leap To All Grain Brewing:

(everything you need to get started)

At some point most every extract brewer considers making the leap to all grain.  And why not?  It’s cheaper, gives you more control over the end product and provides you with a real sense of having made something truly from scratch.  Did I mention no more sticky arms from adding DME to your kettle??

It can be a scary transition for some, however.  There is a lot of new equipment and science that needs to be learned… or is there?  I thought about it for several months before finally just diving in.  What I found was the processes and equipment needed really weren’t all that different.

Some of the Science & It’s Practical Application:

Below is a list of terms you’ve no doubt heard in your homebrewing studies.

Grist – Another word for grain bill.

Mash Tun – A vessel used for mashing (synonymous with “steeping”) grains.  In homebrewing, this vessel is often a converted cooler.

Mash - The process in which grains are steeped for a period of time at a specific temperature and a specific ratio of water to pounds of grain.  The temperature and ratio of water activate enzymes in your base malt (often 2-row) which break down the complex carbohydrates in the grains to fermentable sugars.  You can think of this process as turning your grains into your extract.

The generally accepted ratio of water to grains is 1-2 quarts of water per pound of grain.  The temperature range is 140F – 168F, lower temps = dryer beer while higher temps caramelize more of the sugars resulting in a sweeter end product (either end of the range would be considered extreme… rarely will you mash below 148 or above 160).  Typical mash times range from 60-90 minutes.

Hot Liquor Tank (HLT) – Simply a vessel used to contain and/or heat water (called liquor in this case… because why not take something simple and make it more confusing?).

Sparge – This process is simply rinsing your mashed grains with hotter water (typically around 168F)  in an effort to leave behind as little fermentable sugar as possible.  This can be done by gently pouring water over the top of the grain bed as the mash tun slowly drains, a device called a sparge arm can be used to automate the process or, in brew in a bag situations (I’m not a big fan of this process, but it’s effective if you have space limitations) batch sparging where the entire batch is dunked in clean water like a tea bag.

Before starting the sparge I typically gather the first gallon or so from the mash and pour it back into the tun as it tends to have a fair amount of particles from the grain.   Normally you don’t want to disturb the grain bed during the sparge.  Allow your mash tun to slowly drain into your brew kettle while gently adding your sparge water over the top.  Try to maintain an inch or so of liquid on top of the grain bed to help maintain temp.   Continue running until you’ve reached your desired volume (your full final volume plus whatever you expect to boil off).  The transfer into your boil kettle and sparge should take about 20-30 minutes for a 5-gallon batch.

Brew In A Bag (BIAB) – Pretty much what it sounds like… your mash is contained within a food safe bag (paint strainers work great).  Much like brewing a big pot of tea.  As I mentioned above, I’m not a huge fan of this particular process, but for some it’s the only option either because of kettle size constraints or space in general.

Efficiency - Your efficiency is a measurement of how effectively your equipment and process are at extracting the potential fermentable sugars from the grains.  Around 70-75% tends to be pretty average.  Efficiency will vary slightly based on the amount of grain used and the size of the mash tun (as well as the surface area of the mash).  Larger grain bills will typically result in lower efficiency.

Step By Step:

Step 1)  Select your grain bill.  Unlike your previous extract brews, you’ll need to include (usually) 60-100% base male.  The most common base malt is Pale Malt (2-row).   Base malts contain the enzymes necessary to break down the complex carbohydrates from your entire grain bill into fermentable sugars.

There are many other base malts to choose from depending on your desired flavor.  I’ll cover these as well as many of the specialty grains available to you in a later article.

Step 2)  Mill the grains.  The goal here is to have as many of the grain husks cracked open as possible without creating flour.  While a fine mill may result in a higher efficiency, it’s not all about having the most efficient brew – it’s about having a tasty brew.  Additionally, over-milling can result in a doughy mash which, in turn, can become a stuck (clogged) mash/sparge.  Most commercial breweries aim for under 80% efficiency (while they could certainly get close to 100) because beyond that you may start extracting undesired flavors.

Step 3)  Calculate the volume and temperature of your strike water (mash water).  You’re aiming for somewhere between 140-168F in your final mash temp, though likely not either extreme.  For a basic ale, lets assume a mash temp of 148F-154.   Remember, the temperature of your grain as well as the internal temperature of your mash tun will cause a reduction in the temperature of the strike water.  There are several tools available to help calculate this (I use BeerSmith).

Your volume of strike water should be about 1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain.  I like 1.25 because it allows me room to make adjustments by adding either boiling or cold water to hit my target mash temp precisely.

Your 2-row is happiest in a pH of around 5.2.  It is this pH that activates the debranching enzymes which you need to break down the complex carbohydrates to fermentable sugars.  If you want non-alcoholic grain drink feel free to ignore this… seriously though, I’ve never needed to make a water adjustments to get to my pH nor do I bother testing the pH.  The grains do a pretty good job of getting within the 5.2 range all by themselves unless your water is really basic (alkaline).

There is a product on the market called 5.2 which (through magic, I can only assume) claims to stabilize mash water at a consistent… you guessed it – 5.2 pH.  I’ve never experimented with it myself and there seem to be mixed reviews.

Another option if you’re water is too basic (meaning the pH is too high) would be a small addition of acidulated malt to your grain bill.

Step 4)  Mash in.  Infuse your strike water into your grains in your mash tun.  Make sure it is well mixed and take a temperature reading.  If your temp is low you can add a little boiling water to increase it.  If it’s high, add a little cold water to reduce it.  Mash times can vary, but 75 minutes seems to be generally accepted for most brews.  A taste of the mash now vs. 75 minutes from now should be very different.  It should taste like liquid bread now, but will turn extremely sweet once conversion has completed.

Step 5)  Prepare your sparge water.  The most common temp for sparge water is around 168F.  You don’t want to go much higher or you’ll start to extract unwanted tannins from the grain husks.  Remember you’re going to have some thermal loss when you transfer your water into your HLT (sparge tank).  I usually heat my sparge water to around 178F.  You will learn what works best for your specific equipment given a little experience.  Adjustments can always be made with boiling or cold water.

Step 6)  Once conversion is complete you can begin your sparge.  Run out the first gallon or so of the wort and gently pour it back into the mash tun.  Once the wort pours mostly clear you can allow it to slowly drain into your boil kettle.

Whether manually infusing your sparge water through a hose or gently pouring it over the top of the grain bed or using a sparge arm to automate the process, the goal is to leave the grain bed undisturbed and maintain a thermal blanket by keeping an inch or so of water on top of the bed.  The grain bed will actually act as a filter and help keep particles out of your kettle.  Continue this process until you’ve collected enough wort to compensate for trub loss and boil-off.

Step 7)  Begin your boil.  That’s it!  Now it’s business as usual except you won’t have to worry about extract additions (unless your recipe calls for them).

So to dumb the whole process down, you will be steeping (mashing) grains for about an hour, rinsing them (sparging) and then starting your boil as normal.  Not so scary, huh?

There are loads of do-it-yourself videos on the web for virtually all the equipment you’ll need.  Here is a list of what you’ll need to either build or purchase:

Mash Tun – Usually a cooler (often 10-gallon Home Depot water coolers, though I’ve converted larger, rectangular coolers as well) fitted with a ball valve and either a false bottom or stainless steel filter to keep the grain junk out of your wort.

HLT / Sparge Tank – This can be either another cooler with ball valve (no filter necessary) or a second kettle.

Sparge Arm (optional) – A sparge arm slowly and automatically spritzes your sparge water over the top of your grain bed.  You can do this manually, but you’ll need to be gentle and expect to spend some time standing over your steamy mash tun.

Thermometer – I’m pretty sure you know what this does.  One thing to keep in mind as you heat your strike and sparge water is that the temperature of your HLT & Mash Tun as well as your dry grains will absorb some heat causing it to drop in temp.  I find that BeerSmith is relatively accurate at calculating and compensating for this heat loss.

Thanks for reading!  I hope this took some of the mysticism out of all grain brewing.  Please let me know if I missed anything or if I can give further clarification.  Until next time!

Next Article:  “Converting All-Grain to Extract”

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My intro post can be found here:

>>Click here to read Intro & My First Home Beer Brewing Kit

From there you can navigate forward using the Archive on the right side of the page.

What Should I Buy?

(everything new brewers need to get started)

Since diving headlong into this new addiction, I’ve annoyed a lot of people with my constant Facebook updates. I’ve also intrigued some.  People have started asking me how to go about getting started and what is the minimum equipment they should have.

This article assumes you will be starting out brewing extract beers.  I recommend you start with extract unless you have an experienced all-grain brewer helping you as it is an easier way to get comfortable with the brew process.  Extract is faster, requires less equipment and still produces delicious beer.

If you read my first post you know that I started with a $100 kit for Christmas.  You also know I immediately began purchasing additional equipment.  I’ve since lost my job, my car, sold my house and pimped out my girlfriend to cover the costs of my “hobby”.  Okay – only some of those are true.

This post will give you my opinion of what equipment is absolutely necessary and what equipment might make life a lot easier, but you can get away with not purchasing (or building) right away.

I’ve included links to view and/or purchase this equipment from my preferred online brew supply store, Adventures In Home Brewing.

1)  Fermentation & Bottling Vessels – Buckets, Carboys & Accessories:

 

Obviously you need somewhere to ferment your beer.  The standard beginner setup would be a 7.8 gallon primary fermentation bucket and a second, smaller (6 or 6.5 gallon) bottling bucket with spigot.  While you can get away with just a single bucket, you may have some issues with the clarity of your beer if you’re bottling off the puddle to sludge (aka trub) that settles after fermentation.  In my opinion, a second vessel is required.

You’ll need a grommetted lid and an airlock for your primary to keep contaminants out.

Additionally, you may opt to purchase buckets and carboys in different sizes to act as secondary vessels and for different size batches.  The more the merrier.

When racking to a secondary, remember that oxygen is not your friend.  Reducing head space to a minimum, by racking to a vessel that holds very close to the exact volume of wort to be racked is ideal (unless continuing fermentation in secondary through adjuncts like fruit or added sugars/fermentables which will create a new CO2 blanket).

Note – I don’t generally rack to secondary unless doing long-term, bulk aging or adding new fermentables like fruit.  There is a lot of debate about the benefits of secondary, but the recent consensus seems to be that it’s unnecessary and I agree with the consensus.

Required:

7.8 Gallon Primary Fermenting Bucket (with grommetted lid)
6.5 Gallon Secondary / Bottling Bucket (hole cut for spigot)
Airlock (I use 3-piece, any standard airlock is fine)
Spigot (for bottling)
Racking Cane & Siphon Hose (for transferring between vessels)

Heat Pad (if you need warmer fermentation than your room temp)
Glass Carboys (varying sizes available)
Auto Siphon (makes racking MUCH easier)
Adhesive Thermometers (for monitoring fermentation temps)

Brewing Equipment:

At minimum you’ll need a place to boil your wort.  Any large stainless steel (or aluminum) pot will do.  Beyond that there are a lot of nifty gadgets that can save time and reduce the risk of contaminants getting into your cooling concoction and make cleanup easier.

Required:

Stainless Steel Brew Pot (the bigger the better… less chance of a boiled-over mess).  I started with a 5-gallon stock pot on the kitchen stove and pretty quickly upgraded to an 8 gallon turkey fryer pot and burner for outdoor brewing.  When I decided to go all-grain, a big boy pot was required.  The “brewery” (read: garage) currently has a keggle (which is a half barrel keg converted into a brew kettle) and (2) 16 gallon stainless steel brew kettles.  I personally prefer the commercially purchased kettles over the keggle.  They really don’t cost that much more, require no modifications and they are a lot lighter.

Long Plastic or Stainless Steel Spoon (do you need to ask?)
Muslin Bags (kinda like tea bags for hops and grains to keep the mess out of your wort)
Wort Chiller (cools your wort to pitching temp very quickly…  adapter may be needed**)
Strainer (scoop the floaties off your wort before it is put into the fermentation vessel)
Floating Thermometer (for monitoring mash/steeping temps)
Scale (for weighing ingredients)

3)  Cleaning & Sanitizing:

When it comes to brewing successfully, cleanliness is godliness.  The best beer in the world can easily be ruined with poor sanitation practices.  You will, at least, need a sanitizing concentrate for your bottles, buckets and anything that comes in contact with your beer/wort. I’m sure you’ve got sponges and rags kicking around that can be used for basic cleanup.  Spray bottles are great for misting sanitizer onto surfaces and equipment.  If recycling bottles (they aren’t cheap), there are a bunch of accessories which I think border on required, but I will list as optional.

Required:

Sanitizer (I use StarSan)

Cleanser (you don’t want to use regular soap. OxyClean Free can work, however.)
Bottle Tree (hang clean bottles upside down to dry)
Bottle Washer (blasts inside of bottles with water from your tap… adapter may be needed**)
Carboy Washer (makes it easy to spray out gunk from the bottom of your carboys)
Vinator Bottle Washer (shoots sanitizer solution into your bottles)
Bottle Brush (for scrubbing out dirty bottles… they come in carboy size as well)

4)  Bottling:

Whether you buy them or recycle and reuse them, you need bottles (unless, of course you’re kegging).  There are a few different types.  I’ll list all as optional since you may or may not opt to purchase them brand new, but rather acquire them in other ways. A typical 5 gallon batch will fill roughly 50 bottles.  As for the actual process of bottling, you’ve got your bucket with spigot above.  Otherwise, caps and a way to apply them and a bottling wand with a small piece of tubing is all you need.

Required:

Caps (varying colors available)
Bottle Capper (there are different types… I use the red one)
Bottling Wand (easily fill bottles without splashing and stop when full with spring tip)

12 Ounce Glass Bottles (brown is preferred as it keeps light out)
Growlers (varying sizes and colors)
Swing Top Bottles (I recycle Grolsch bottles)
Growler Caps (varying sizes)
Replacement Swing Tops (gaskets are available separately as well)
Cases (milk crates and empty commercial beer cases/boxes work fine)

5)  Testing & Miscellaneous:

You’ll want to be able to calculate your beer’s alcohol content and monitor fermentation progress.  While you can just drop your sanitized hydrometer right in your fermenter, it’s recommended you extract a sample to reduce the risk of contamination and to get a clearer, more accurate read.

Required:

Hydrometer (for measuring gravity and calculating alcohol content)

Brewing Software – I use Beersmith to help me with recipe formulation
Test Jar (holds a beer sample for hydrometer reading)
Thief (this nifty gadget allows you to remove a small sample from a bucket or carboy)
Stir Plate – Yeast Starter Kit

(One one thing I learned early on is that pitching a healthy yeast colony is crucial to brewing good beer.  A stir plate setup allows you to quickly build a healthy yeast colony from a yeast starter. I recommend against using an airlock with the starter, however.  You want air exchange as the colony reproduces.  A sanitized piece of foil placed loosely over the top is better or they make foam stoppers which can be pushed into the flask opening).

** Watch out for those adapters! Mine put about a dozen bloody razor blade slices in my hand before I even knew it was happening.  I now use a rubber kitchen glove anytime I need to remove or attach it.

I hope you found this helpful.  Please feel free to share with your friends.  If you think I missed something that should be on this list, please let me know!  Until next time…

Next Article:  “How To:  Going All Grain”

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Our journey begins now:

The kit came highly reviewed on Amazon so I figured, being a complete novice (I have no idea what I’m doing), my best bet is to trust the reviews.  According to the package, the kit contains a whole bunch of gizmos I’ve never heard of. (True Brew Handbook & Kit Instructions, 7.8 Gallon Fermenting Bucket, 1 Lid Drilled & Grommet, True Brew Rack & Fill kit, 6 Gallon Glass Carboy, Fermometer Fermentation Thermometer, Small Buon Vino Drilled Stopper, Hydrometer, Bottling Spigot, Emily Double Lever Capper, 3 Piece Airlock, Bottle Brush, C-Brite Sanitizer 8-Pack).

EDIT – I was not overly thrilled with this kit or the company selling it for a number of reasons you’ll be able to read in my not-to-distant-future posts.  Take a look at my “Buy Equipment” page for some recommended kits offered by my sponsors.

A second, smaller package was then opened.  “The Complete Joy of Home Brewing” by Charlie Papazian (buy it here).  The book contains roughly 8x as many pages as an entire encyclopedia set and I’ve got dinner to cook at my parents’ house, so becoming a leading expert on home brewing will have to wait another day.

This guy is more than just a beer nut. He’s a Nuclear Engineer & President of the Brewers Assoc!

Charlie Papazian Wiki

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