Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Copyright © 1992-1998, Kurt Swanson.
All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to disseminate
copies
free of charge (inclusive of media costs), provided this message
is contained throughout.
1. How is beer made?
2. How do I start? What equipment do I need?
3. What is the HomeBrewDigest (HBD)?
4. Where can I access the archives?
5. Where can I get a copy of "The Cat's Meow" (recipe
book)?
6. What is a good text on brewing?
7. Where can I get mail order supplies?
8. What are the "lambic-list", "beerjudge-list", "cider-list",
and "mead-lovers" lists?
9. What is the A.H.A./Zymurgy?
10. I'm going to (city), what brewpubs are there?
11. My terminal gravity seems high, should I worry?
12. Why hasn't my yeast done anything yet?
13. Are there any homebrew clubs in (city)?
14. What's the word on Bottle Fillers?
15. What is CAMRA?
16. What is a hydrometer? How is it used? What is
"specific gravity"?
17. What is a wort chiller? How/why is it used?
18. What is hot break? What is cold break?
19. How are all-grain recipes converted to extract?
20. Regarding hops, what are alpha acids? What is
HBU? What is IBU?
21. What is "dry hopping"? How should I dry hop?
22. What are 20L, 40L, etc. crystal malts? What is
Lovibond?
23. What is "Wyeast" (liquid yeast)? How is "Wyeast"
pronounced?
24. How do I make a yeast starter?
25. How do I convert from PPM to mg/l and vice-versa?
26. What net links exists for brewing?
27. What about distilling? Marijuana in beer?
28. Should I avoid aluminum brewpots?
29. How do I convert from US to UK measures, and
vice-versa?
30. Why should I avoid glucose, table sugar, honey,
apple juice, etc. in making yeast starters?
31. How do I make my pre-hopped beer kit?
32. How do I make my wine kit?
33. What is the shelf life of Brewer's Best ingredient kits?
34. What if my starting gravity is lower than it should be?
35. I am not seeing any bubbling in my airlock. What should I do?
36.
It has been 3 weeks and my bottled beer is still not carbonated. What do I do?
37.
The directions tell me to add only part of the malt that was supplied in the kit. When do I add the rest?
38.
If I do not have the equipment for secondary fermentation, how long before I can bottle my beer?
39.
The instructions state to do a 2.5 gallon boil. Do I need to change anything if I boil more than 2.5 gallons?
40.
My beer is in the bottle and I notice there is sediment at the bottom of the bottle. What is this sediment and is my beer ruined?
41.
I got my kit and all the hop packages say “aroma.” Did I get the right ones?
1. How is beer made?
Beer is made from extracting sugar from the starch in malted grain.
This is boiled with sufficient water & hops to make a "wort." When
this has cooled, brewing yeast is added to ferment the wort to create
this finished product, which is suitable for bottling or kegging,
and maturation. Some people mash their own grain, while others buy
canned malt extract. Either method is suitable for creating an award-winning
brew, though mashing does allow greater control over the finished
product, and "mash'ers" claim better beer is made. For more complete
information get the compressed file beginners.gz from the Stanford
server ftp://ftp.stanford.edu/pub/clubs/homebrew/beer/docs/
as well as similiar files from other net sources (see
question 26).
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2. How do I start?
What equipment do I need? There are specialty shops all over the
country that sell ingredients and equipment for making beer and
wine at home. Check your yellow pages under "Beer" or "Wine" for
homebrewing or home winemaking shops. If you can't find a shop locally,
many shops do mail order (more on mail order later). Basic equipment
includes a kettle for boiling the wort, a fermentation vessel of
some kind -- glass carboys (5 gallon bottled water bottles) and
food-grade plastic buckets are popular -- siphon hose for bottling,
bottles, and a bottle capper and caps. Most shops sell "starter
kits", which include essential equipment (and sometimes some not-so-essential
equipment), ingredients for your first batch, and a book. Prices
vary, $60-70 U.S. is common. Otherwise, try contacting local clubs
and books, see questions 6 and 13.
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3. What is the HomeBrewDigest (HBD)?
The Digest is another forum for discussing homebrewing. It is not
associated in any manner with this newsgroup, or Usenet in general,
except that a high percentage of people contribute to both forums.
The Digest is a list-group which is sent out via e-mail daily (except
Sunday), containing all postings collected prior to that issue.
It is also available on the web at http://www.hbd.org.
The HBD generally handles a more advanced discussion of brewing
issues, but all are welcome. Flames are frowned upon. Currently
the HBD is being posted to this newsgroup as a courtesy. Beware
that some newsreaders will split the Digest into its component articles,
and that follow-up posts will not be seen by the original poster,
nor other HBD subscribers. Direct replies should work - but make
sure the address is correct. To subscribe to the e-mail edition
of the Digest, send email to homebrew-request@hbd.org
containing the word "subscribe" in the body of the message. Note
that you cannot subscribe an account other than the one from which
you send the request. No subscription is required to view the HTML
(web) version.
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4. Where can I access the archives?
Currently no one that I know of archives rec.crafts.brewing (beyond
the usual sites that archive all of USENET), but the archives to
the HBD are available. They can be obtained via anonymous ftp from
hbd.org in the /pub/hbd/digests directory. Digests are stored in
subdirectories by year. The digest are also available via the web,
at http://www.hbd.org
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5. Where can I get a copy of "The Cat's Meow" (recipe book)?
This is available on the archives, in the recipe-book subdirectory.
See #4 for information on accessing the archives. Also The Cat's
Meow III is available at "The Brewery" web site: http://hbd.org/brewery/index.html
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6. What is a good text on brewing?
It is generally agreed that "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing,"
by Charlie Papazian is an excellent beginners text. Other find David
Miller's "The Complete Handbook of Homebrewing" just as good for
the beginner, as well as containing more information suited for
intermediate/advanced brewers. I use both. Other texts include "The
Big Book of Brewing," by Dave Line, which is a British text (with
British & metric measurements), and "Brewing Lager Beer" by Greg
Noonan. Mr. Line has also written a recipe book which does contain
basic instructions, called "Brewing Beer Like Those You Buy." A
more modern recipe book is ""Brewing the World's Great Beers" also
by Dave Miller. Also you might try "Brewing Quality Beers," by Byron
Burch, which has been described as "short enough to read for the
extremely impatient, yet has lots of good information." Lastly,
CAMRA (see below), publishes "Home Brewing: The
CAMRA Guide," by Graham Wheeler, 1990. Write to CAMRA directly,
at the address given below.
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7. Where can I get mail order supplies?
The wang archive server contains the file "suppliers" which is
a good place to start, or try the classifieds in any copy of Zymurgy.
Also, try the yellow pages under "Beer making supplies" and "Wine
Making." Lastly, the original copy of "the Cat's Meow" (see
#5), contains a list of mail order shops. Or, the best place
is right here at The Brew Shop!
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8. What are the "lambic-list", "beerjudge-list", "cider-list",
and "mead" lists?
These are four special topic mailing lists, unassociated with Usenet.
Subscribers send mail to the list and then copies are immediately
mailed out to every other subscriber, or assembled into "digests"
which are mailed out regularly. The lambic-list covers information
on brewing a special type of Belgian brew called lambic (ask for
it at your liquor store). The beerjudge-list covers topics related
to judging beer in competitions, as well as administration of the
judge test. The cider digest concerns the making of "hard" cider
(fermented apple juice) and perry (fermented pear juice). The mead
digest concerns the making of mead (fermented honey/water--i.e.,
"honey wine"). To subscribe, send mail to lambic-request@longs.lance.colostate.edu,
judge-request@synchro.com,
cider-request@talisman.com,
and mead-request@talisman.com.
Include your name, email address, and in the case of the judge-list,
your judging rank ("apprentice" for non-judges).
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9. What is the A.H.A./Zymurgy?
Zymurgy is a quarterly publication, plus one special topics issue,
put out by the American Homebrewers Association (AHA). Zymurgy contains
many article on brewing as well as information & ads regarding clubs
and supplies. Contact the AHA by phone or US mail to: American Homebrewers
Association, Inc. P.O. Box 1679 Boulder, CO 80306-1679 (303) 447-0816
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10. I'm going to (city), what brewpubs are there?
The Wang archive server contains a file listing brewpubs. The file
is call brewpub-list. See question #4 on how to
access the server.
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11. My terminal gravity seems high, should I worry? Worry?
No. There are several possibilities. First, depending on your recipe,
an acceptable terminal gravity may be high. For example, a Barley
Wine with an initial gravity of 1.120, might completely ferment
out at 1.040. On the other hand, a lite lager, with an initial gravity
of 1.025 might ferment all the way down to 1.002. Thus you should
check with your recipe, or a similar recipe of that style, to determine
what might be proper. If you still believe it is high, and this
is a frequent occurrence, you may have a "stuck fermentation." This
occurs for a variety of reasons. The wort might not have been sufficiently
aerated to start with, you might slosh it around in the fermenter.
Or, fermentation temperature might have dropped to the point where
the yeast may go dormant. Also, the yeast might not have enough
nutrients in the wort to work with. This often occurs in extract
brewing. In these latter two cases, you might try adding a yeast
nutrient, according to the instruction that come with it. Lastly,
give it time, as fermentation may slow, then suddenly accelerate
at a later date.
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12. Why hasn't my yeast done anything yet?
Some yeasts take longer to start than others. Make sure your fermentation
temperature is in the right range (lower temps slow yeast activity).
Also, high temperatures are bad for yeast. Besides problems of mutation,
yeast may be killed if pitched before the wort has sufficiently
cooled. You might try aerating the wort by sloshing it around in
the fermenter. Lastly, the pitching rate affects startup time. If
you pitch too little yeast, not only will the lag time be greater,
but you also risk infection. Many people either use 2 packets of
dry yeast (Whitbread excepted), or make a starter culture from one
packet, or from liquid yeast.
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13. Are there any homebrew clubs in (city)?
Scott Murphy maintains an on-line list of homebrew clubs. You can
contact him by sending mail to: scott@gordian.com.
(If you are in Oklahoma City, check out the High Plains Draughters
at http://www.draughters.com).
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14. What's the word on Bottle Fillers?
The following was graciously submitted by Paul Chisholm regarding
a recent discussion on bottle fillers in this newsgroup... Thanks,
Paul...
Some people Worry (for shame!-) that a bottle filler causes more
oxidation (because of spraying through the smaller opening, rather
than through the whole opening at the end of the siphon tube, I
guess). The solution is to tilt the bottle at the beginning, and
stick the end of the bottling wand into the bottom "corner" of the
bottle. The wand's end is soon covered with beer, and no amount
of spraying will cause any extra air to be mixed in with the beer.
Also, if the end of the wand (or siphon tube, or whatever) isn't
much lower than the end of the siphon tube in the priming carboy
(or whatever), the beer will be siphoned slowly, at low pressure,
reducing spraying. (This works for any bottle filling procedure.)
Another problem is the bottle filler has beer in it. When you lift
the filler from the bottle, that beer doesn't go into the bottle,
and the headspace is greatly increased. Even if you fill the bottle
almost full, the resulting headspace is larger than some people
consider optimal. You can fill the bottle, move the filler to the
top of the bottle, and press the tip of the filler to drizzle enough
beer down the side of the bottle to reduce the head space.
There are two kinds of fillers. One kind has a spring. The other
has a stopper that's held down by the weight of the beer. The latter
is slower. Does that mean oxidation is less of a problem? I expect
it's easier to finish filling (using the side-of-the-bottle trick)
with a springless filler.
(There's also something called Phil's Philler, which has a hole
at the top as well as at the bottom. You can remove the filler without
removing the beer in it, thus eliminating the headspace problem.)
My take on all this is that there are ways to use a bottle filler
to reduce problems (and reduce Worry). I didn't find enough evidence
of problems to bottle my beer without a bottle filler.
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15. What is CAMRA?
CAMRA stands for "the CAMpaign for Real Ale," a British consumers'
group that is concerned with changes, primarily in the quality of
British beers. For membership details write:
Campaign for Real Ale, Ltd
230 Hatfield Road
St. Albans
Herts AL1 4LW
United Kingdom
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16. What is a hydrometer?
How is it used? What is "specific gravity"? A hydrometer measures
the weight of a liquid relative to the same volume of water (i.e.,
relative densities). In brewing, much of this excess weight is expected
to be from fermentable and unfermentable malt sugars. Most hydrometers
measure Specific Gravity (SG), which tells how many times heavier
than water the liquid of interest is; for example, a 1.050 SG wort
is 1.05 times heavier than an equal volume of water at 60 F. SG
measurements are temperature dependent, and SG should be measured
at 60 F., as water is SG 1.0 at 60 F.
Hydrometers often come with a temperature conversion chart, but
hydrometers often are not accurately calibrated, so that water at
60F will not read 1.0. An easy way to take SG readings with a hydrometer
is to measure at room temperature, and then measure water at room
temperature and take the difference.
Some abbreviations commonly used in homebrewing relating to specific
gravity: OG, Original (wort specific) Gravity; FG or TG, Final or
Terminal Gravity (when the beer is finished fermenting).
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17. What is a wort chiller? How/why is it used?
A wort chiller is a device used to quickly cool boiling wort to
yeast pitching temperatures. Two common constructions are the immersion
chiller and the counterflow chiller. The immersion chiller consists
of a coil of copper tubing that is immersed in the wort, and cold
water is run through the tubing. Counterflow designs usually consist
of copper tubing inside of a larger diameter plastic tubing; cold
water runs through the plastic tubing in one direction, cooling
wort runs through the copper tubing in the other direction.
Using a chiller to quickly cool wort has several advantages over
slow air cooling. You get your yeast pitched quickly, reducing the
risk of infection; the time the wort spends at DMS* producing temperatures
is reduced; and a quick chill promotes good cold break.
* DMS is Dimethyl Sulfide, a malt by-product with an aroma described
as similar to cooked corn.
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18. What is hot break? What is cold break?
Hot and cold break are terms used by homebrewers to describe the
flocculation of proteins and other materials during the boil (the
hot break) and cooling (the cold break). This material tends to
settle to the bottom of your kettle or fermenter, where it becomes
part of the "trub". Sometimes the terms "hot break" and "cold break"
will be used to refer to the activity ("I had a great cold break
when I pumped ice water through my wort chiller"), while at other
times the brewer may be referring to the actual matter ("The cold
break settled to the bottom of my carboy"); if you're worried that
you may not be understood, you can always specify whether you're
talking about the occurrence or the stuff. Usually it is understood
from context.
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19. How are all-grain recipes converted to extract?
All fermentables (malt extract syrup, dry malt extract, grain malt,
sugar, honey, etc.) cause an increase in the specific gravity of
the solution when added to water. A common way to measure how much
the specific gravity increases is the number of SG points of increase
when a pound of the ingredient is added to one gallon of water.
Most fermentables used for beer are in the range of 25-45 points
per pound per gallon. Values for many of these ingredients may be
found in the references mentioned in the Bibliography section. When
substituting one fermentable for another, use the ratio of the specific
gravity contributions of each ingredient to scale the one you will
use to the amount that will provide the desired SG contribution.
Example: You have an all-grain recipe that calls for 8# of Malted
Barley, and you want to replace it with extract syrup. One of my
references lists the SG contributions of these ingredients as approximately
30 points for the grain and 36 points for the syrup per pound of
ingredient per gallon of water. You multiply the 8# of grain in
the recipe by 30/36 to get 6 2/3 pounds of malt extract syrup.
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20. Regarding hops, what are alpha acids? What is HBU? What
is IBU?
Alpha acids are bittering compounds found in hops that are extracted
when hops are boiled with wort. The alpha acid "rating" on hops
describes how much of the weight of the hop is made up of alpha
acids. Hops with a higher alpha acid content will contribute more
bitterness than a low alpha hop when using the same amount of hop.
HBU stands for "Homebrew Bitterness Unit", which is a recipe unit
for hops. It takes into account the alpha acid content of the hop,
so that a recipe will call for a certain amount of HBU's rather
than an amount specified in ounces. HBU is computed by multiplying
the weight of hops in oz. by the alpha acid percentage of the hops;
sum for all hop additions. For example, 1 oz of 7% alpha hops will
have a HBU of 7. Note that volume is ignored in the HBU, therefore
it is important to include the volume of the recipe, or express
the hop additions in HBU per gallon (or HBU per 5 gallons) rather
than just strictly HBU.
IBU stands for "International Bittering Unit", and is a measure
of the amount of bittering compounds in a particular volume of beer,
rather than a recipe unit. However, the "Hops and Beer" special
issue of Zymurgy (see Bibliography) presents a formula for estimating
IBU, considering several variables -- alpha acid content, wort volume,
wort gravity, and time in the boil.
Another way to think of this is that HBU represents the "potential"
for bittering beer (the bittering strength of the hops), while IBU
represents "actual" bittering, and is a measure of the beer, not
the hops.
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21. What is "dry hopping"? How should I dry hop?
Dry hopping is the practice of adding dry hops to beer at some
time after the boil. The technique is used to increase hop aroma
in the finished beer, as aromatic hop compounds are quickly lost
when hops are boiled. Common practice is to add the hops to a secondary
fermenter, or if kegging, to the keg from which the beer will be
served. Dry hops added to a fermenter should be left in contact
with the beer for at least a week or two. The consensus seems to
be that the amount of alcohol present by the time fermenting beer
is in secondary fermentation is sufficient to prevent bacteria and/or
wild yeasts from "riding in" on the hops and contaminating the beer,
so sanitizing of the dry hops is not deemed necessary. Either whole
hops, plugs, or pellets may be used for dry hopping.
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22. What are 20L, 40L, etc. crystal malts? What is Lovibond?
For brewers, the Lovibond degree is a unit used to measure the
color of malted barley and beer. Darker grains have a higher Lovibond
measure, and contribute more color to brewed beer. Darker crystal
malts (such as 60L, 80L, 120L, etc.) will provide more sweet flavor
and more color than similar amounts of lighter (20L, 40L) crystal
malt. Dave Miller's book (see Bibliography) provides a formula for
very roughly predicting the color of finished beer in degrees L
based on the grain that goes into making the beer.
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23. What is "Wyeast" (liquid yeast)? How is "Wyeast" pronounced?
"Wyeast" is a nickname for the Brewer's Choice line of liquid
brewing yeasts from Logsdon's Wyeast Laboratories. There are more
than a dozen varieties of ale and lager yeasts available from Wyeast.
Many brewers that use Wyeast consider it to be of high quality,
uncontaminated by bacteria. For a report on contaminants in liquid
and dry yeasts available to homebrewers, see the "Yeast" special
issue of Zymurgy. Good results can be obtained from either dry or
liquid yeasts, especially for brewers that are willing to carefully
home culture yeasts that they know to be pure and provide good results.
The name Wyeast is pronounced like "Why-yeast", not "double-u yeast",
and is the name that the local Native Americans had given to Mt.
Hood in Oregon, which stands near the site of the Wyeast lab.
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24. How do I make a yeast starter?
The Wyeast package recommends making a 1.020 SG wort and pitching
the active contents of the package into a sanitized bottle with
an airlock to allow the quantity of active yeast cells to build
up before pitching into a typical 5 gallon batch of wort. This "starter"
wort is usually made from dry malt extract boiled with water at
the rate of 2 tablespoons per 8 oz. cup of water. Some brewers like
to throw in a couple of hop cones or pellets for their antiseptic
qualities. When the starter is at high krauesen (the term is used
loosely here, you often won't get a foamy head on your starter,
look for visible, strong fermentation) it's ready to pitch. Typical
time for a starter is 24 hours. This technique is recommended for
both dry and liquid yeasts.
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25. How do I convert from PPM to mg/l and vice-versa?
You multiply (or divide) by 1. PPM (parts per million) is *defined*
as mg/l (milligrams per liter).
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26. What net links exist for brewing?
This FAQ can always be reached in its most up-to-date form via
WWW. The link is http://www.dna.lth.se/home/kurt/rcb.faq.
Other specific FAQs (yeast, hops) can be found at ftp://ftp.stanford.edu/pub/clubs/homebrew.
Spencer Thomas' beer page is http:/realbeer.com/spencer.
The humble author's home page is http://www.dna.lth.se/home/kurt/.
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27. What about distilling Marijuana in beer?
Private distillation is beyond the scope of rec.crafts.brewing,
and illegal in most countries (try asking a Balkan newsgroup, where
private distillation is legal). While marijuana (cannabis) is mildly
related to hops, using it in your beer will most likely ruin your
beer and your dope. I'm told.
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28. Should I avoid aluminum brewpots?
There has been a good deal of "discussion" as to whether or not
the use of aluminum in brewing contributes to Alzheimer's disease.
Thanks to Oliver Weatherbee for providing to following:
Aluminum has NOT been linked to Alzheimer's disease. The following
is taken from "Frequently Asked Questions About Neurological Problems"
at The Department of Neurological Surgery of The Cleveland Clinic
Foundation (http://www.neus.ccf.org/patients/faq.html):
"There is little support for the theory that aluminum causes
Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia in the
United States. The exact cause of this disease is unknown, although
the risk of Alzheimer's is higher when there is a family history
of this disease.
[two paragraphs removed]
Workers exposed to high levels of aluminum in industrial environments
have no increased incidence of Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore,
careful studies to date have not shown an increased aluminum concentration
in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients.
Since there is no convincing evidence linking aluminum toxicity
with Alzheimer's disease, you need not worry about exposure to
aluminum in cooking utensils."
Furthermore, Brewing Techniques (Jan/Feb '95) had an article
on a parallel brew experiment using an aluminum brewpot and a
stainless. Laboratory analysis showed that there was no significant
difference in trace aluminum levels between batches. They also
pointed out that most of the Al you digest is from your food and
water. And for that matter, many medical people consider copper
a bigger health risk.
As for off flavors, IF this happens (hearsay IMO), it is probably
the result of the brewer scrubbing the oxidation layer of the
pot during cleaning. Don't scrub, use a soft cloth or sponge and
non-abrasive cleaner. This is one of the reasons aluminium is
not used much commercially, its not caustic cleaner friendly.
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29. How do I convert from US to UK measures, and vice-versa?
There are two inherent differences between US and Imperial (British)
liquid measure:
1: ounce - US = 29.573 ml, Imperial = 28.412 ml
2: gill - US = 4 US ounces, Imperial = 5 UK ounces
For both systems there are 4 gills in a pint, 2 pints in a quart,
and 4 quarts in a gallon. Thus
(UK gallon) _____28.412 * 5
______________------------ = 1.2009
(ratio UK->US gallon)
(US gallon)_____ 29.573 * 4
That is to say, for all units above the ounce, the Imperial or
British variant is almost exactly 20% larger than the corresponding
US unit.
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30. Why should I avoid glucose, table sugar, honey, apple juice,
etc.in making yeast starters?
Brewer's yeast has been selected for its ability to grow well in
malt-based wort and produce pleasant by-products. In particular,
yeast prefer to ferment maltose because it is the largest fermentable
constituent in wort. Growing your yeast up in a non-malt environment
can affect the health and you can get a disordered fermentation
and possible off flavors in your beer. Growing up in a high glucose
environment, for example, can result in selection in favor of respiratory
mutants that cannot properly ferment maltose. As an analogy, consider
how unhealthy you and your decendents would be if you were asked
to live (and reproduce!) on a diet of nothing but soda pop.
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