CHAPTER TWO
INGREDIENTS
Beer is an agricultural product. The base of beer—the essences of barley malt and hops dissolved into water and fed to yeast—is an elegant, natural culmination of the Earth and its environment.
Keeping those ingredients fresh and using them well are among the first challenges that homebrewers face as they begin to brew. What starts off as a little extra grain left over from the weekend’s brew is the beginning of a collection of disparate bags and boxes filled with a few ounces of specialty malt, scattered here or there, never going away, and never ultimately getting used in a recipe until weeks, months, or even years later. A small bag of hops in the freezer evolves into a freezer drawer stacked with bits of pellets and hop dusts, waiting to be thrown into the annual “kitchen sink” beer to make space for food in the freezer.
How each of these ingredients is handled and processed can make a crucial difference. Beer is, in so many ways, more than just the sum of its parts. It can amplify, exemplify, or heighten flavor, regardless of whether that flavor is great to begin with.
10 | My hops smell like cheese or feet |
CAUSE
Under the wrong conditions, the alpha acids in hops degrade and form isovaleric acid, which contributes a flavor and aroma reminiscent of Parmesan cheese, or sweaty socks, that can linger into the finished beer.
SOLUTION
Hops are very delicate. They can change flavor character and lose bitterness if not stored properly. Hops are best stored very cold (32°F/0°C or below) in an airtight container away from light. Both whole-cone and pelletized hops are sold in opaque, vacuum-sealed bags to lengthen their shelf life as much as possible. Even in the original unopened bag, hops should be stored in the freezer, as bittering compounds can decay quickly.
Once the bag is opened, you should try to keep the hops away from long-term air contact, as oxygen promotes the formation of isovaleric acid, particularly in warm conditions. Transferring unused hops to a resealable plastic bag which has had the air squeezed out of it as much as possible—or has been vacuum-sealed—will insure the longest possible hop freshness. Stackable airtight plastic containers that can be placed in a freezer are perfect for hop storage. Be sure to label containers with date, variety, and alpha-acid information for later reference.
Unfortunately, once a beer has been made with oxidized, or cheesy, hops the flavor will be in the beer, and there is no good way to remove it. Fortunately, it is not easily detectable in small amounts.
Hops can be easily stored in the bag they were purchased in. Simply seal the bag and keep it in the freezer.
11 | My malt extract has solidified |
CAUSE
If dry malt extract is stored in moist conditions, or liquid malt extract is stored for a very long time, it tends to crystallize or solidify, which can make brewing difficult.
SOLUTION
The good news is that the malt extract is still perfectly good to use. The bad news is that the brew day just got longer.
Crystallized dry malt extract is much easier to deal with than crystallized liquid malt extract. Soak the extract in hot water (but not over an active heat) while occasionally stirring as the crystals break down. Once the crystallized malt has completely dissolved into the water, you can move on with the rest of the brewing.
When liquid malt extract solidifies, it’s much more difficult to deal with, but still usable. Heat the malt extract in its original container using a double-boiler, which keeps it in a liquid bath. Don’t use direct heat, which might scorch or burn the extract.
In both cases, measuring out a portion—if your recipe calls for it—is possible, but much more difficult, and it is ultimately easier to use the whole thing.
When malt extract solidifies or crystallizes, some of the sugar molecules in the extract can change shape and become less fermentable. There is a chance that a beer made with old or poorly stored extract will be less attenuative than fresh, but in many or most cases it will be fine. However, if the extract smells or tastes moldy or off do not use it to make beer; at best it will ruin the flavor, at worst it will infect your whole batch.
If using liquid extract in a recipe, heating the extract slightly before use can help it to flow more freely.
12 | My malt extract is moldy |
CAUSE
If malt extract has been poorly stored and exposed to open air, mold spores may land in the nutrient-rich environment and grow, making the malt extract unsuitable for brewing.
SOLUTION
The easiest solution for this problem is to only buy enough malt extract to use in the batch of beer that you are currently working on, and always to use fresh extract. However, it’s not always practical. Different recipes call for varying amounts of extract that may not match the increments the store sells, meaning that a brewer may have some extract left over.
Once opened, liquid malt extract should be stored in a cool, dry place in an airtight container, and used as soon as possible. Many liquid malt extract containers are resealable, which makes storing an unused amount easier, but packages that are not resealable may require repackaging into a clean and sanitized container. Liquid malt extract is easier to transfer from one container to another when it is warm.
Dry malt extract can be stored in cool, dry storage, and in most cases can be stored in the container that it was purchased in—often a bag or a jar. If the container has gotten wet in any manner, it is important to transfer the malt extract to a new cleaned, sanitized, and thoroughly dry container. Sealable plastic kitchen containers are excellent for storing dry malt extract. Unless it has been exposed to moisture, dry malt extract has an excellent shelf life.
Liquid malt extract has a shelf life of about three months in storage; dry malt extract can keep for at least one year.
Moldy extract should never be used for brewing, but if it is properly stored, malt extract should not become moldy anyway.
13 | My grain has bugs in it |
CAUSE
If brewing grain has been stored poorly for a long period of time, or contaminated somewhere along the distribution chain, it can get infested by grain weevil or meal moth eggs and may no longer be suitable to use.
SOLUTION
The first sign of a grain weevil infestation is an excess of powdery husk pieces within grain, where the weevils have broken through the husk to eat. The weevils themselves are often easy to spot. They look like small ants at first glance but reveal themselves upon closer inspection. Meal moths can be trickier, as the moths tend to be very mobile. However, like other moths, the larvae do form a chrysalis within grain storage and may be detectable by small silk filaments on the side of a bag of grain.
Upon finding bugs in grain, all steps should be taken to stop the infestation so that it does not become an ongoing problem. Isolate or destroy the grain that contains the infestation, then thoroughly clean the area that the grain was stored in. Be sure to check and clean any nooks or cracks in porous surfaces, in case there are bugs hiding that will re-infest your grain.
Barley malt is a perishable agricultural product, and should be treated as such. Grain should be stored uncrushed in a sealed container in a cool, dry place to avoid infestation. Cool temperatures and lack of moisture can inhibit hatching cycles. Properly stored grain can last a year or more with no issues.
Grain with the occasional bug is okay to brew with, but large infestations can mean a loss of sugar and carbohydrates in the malt, as well as an elevated moisture content from the waste products of the insects. Elevated moisture content can lead to mold and considerable off-flavors.
Meal moth larvae can sometimes be difficult to spot among barley kernels, and if present can create long-standing problems in a home brewery.
14 | My grain is moldy |
CAUSE
If brewing grain has been stored in a moist environment it can become infested with mold, which is inconvenient and wasteful.
SOLUTION
Under no circumstance should you brew with moldy grain. Moist grain does not crush well, which means that brewing efficiency will suffer, and there is a significant chance for mold-related, musty, or earthy off-flavors in your final brew. Some mold spores can survive boiling temperatures, which means that your final product may be infected immediately.
Many homebrewers only buy as much grain as they need to brew with, thereby removing the trouble of storing grain at home. However, buying in small quantities is not always possible, and buying in large quantities can often come with a bulk discount.
Grain should be stored in a cool, dry, dark environment. Large, opaque, resealable plastic containers are often the best place to store grain. Be sure that any bags that grain might be in are also tightly sealed within the containers. Whenever possible, keep different types of grain in separate containers.
It is best to take precautions to avoid moldy grain the first place. Once opened, properly storing grain in airtight containers away from sunlight can mean reliable long-term use and excellent beer in the future.
15 | My grain won’t crush well |
CAUSE
The spacing of the rollers in the grain mill may be set too wide to properly crush grain, or the grain may be stale, or contain a higher moisture content, causing the husk of the barley to bend, instead of crack.
SOLUTION
If grain is not crushed well, it can be difficult to access the starch and proteins within, leading to low efficiency, and less sugar in the wort than intended. To diagnose whether the problem is the roller spacing or the moisture content of the grain, start by crushing some grain in a bowl, or with a mortar and pestle, or in your mouth. Malted barley should be easy to crack or bite; it should not be chewy, gummy, or bendable.
If the issue is high moisture content, check your grain is being stored correctly—in resealable, airtight, plastic containers in a cool, dry place. The moisture content of grain can be reduced by placing the grain in a warm oven, set to the very lowest temperature for short amounts of time—15 to 20 minutes. Take special care to monitor the drying process, as oven-roasting grain can also toast the grains. While this can sometimes add a pleasant nutty or caramel character to malt, it can also burn malt very quickly. Toasted malt will be darker than anticipated when used in brewing.
If moisture content isn’t the problem, it is time to check your mill. The gap in a homebrew roller mill should be set to 0.0036 inches (0.9mm) and can be measured with a feeler gauge. Well-crushed grain kernels should be cracked open, revealing the starch—which looks like white dust—inside the kernel without fully crushing the husk itself into fine pieces. Husks should be largely intact.
If grain is not properly crushed it may well end up being less efficient or useless for brewing beer with.
16 | I crushed my grain too finely |
CAUSE
The roller gap on the barley mill was set too close together, crushing grain into a fine powder. Grain crushed too finely can lead to lautering problems, as well as possible off-flavors in the beer. Barley husks crushed too finely can lead to a harsh astringency.
SOLUTION
First, reset the gap on the mill. Rollers should be set 0.04 inches (.9 mm) apart from each other, or about 0.04 inches as measured by a feeler gauge. If a feeler gauge is unavailable, a credit card can suffice.
Finely crushed grain means a slow lauter because it lacks the barley husks needed to create channels within the grain bed that allow water to pass through. You must now create that matrix of fiber to allow water to pass through. To address lautering problems, mix rice hulls or uncrushed barley into your grain—or your mash bed—as much as possible.
Rice hulls are very light and can be difficult to mix into a mash bed after the mash is wet, but they are inexpensive and add no character to a finished beer, so large amounts may be used to help lautering.
Uncrushed barley malt can often help build a good mash bed because the kernels can act as whole husks. It can also help bolster efficiency by a very small amount. If the uncrushed barley is not base malt, some additional flavor or color may be contributed to the beer. The cost of using uncrushed barley is considerably higher than rice hulls, and it may take much more uncrushed barley than it would rice hulls because they are not as long.
Ideally grain should feature whole, uncrushed husks as well as finely crushed white dust. This dust is the starch extracted from the kernel by the crushing process.
17 | My water smells funny or is discolored |
CAUSE
Various water sources can cause unpleasant smells or colors, whether it’s spring runoff in a well or rust-colored water from an old iron pipe. Water with high mineral or biological content can effect pH, solubility, and water hardness.
SOLUTION
It is best to brew with clean, pH-neutral (around 7 pH), good-tasting, soft water. If your normal water source—your tap water—is often discolored or has an off-putting aroma or flavor, it is worth considering purchasing bottled water to brew with. If you trust the water to wash your dishes in, then the same water can be used to clean your brewing equipment. However, be extra-vigilant with sanitation prior to use. It takes only a tiny amount of bateria to cause contamination. As noted in Problem 9, never rinse a sanitizer—particularly in this case.
A more permanent solution might be a simple charcoal filter, installed either on your water tap or earlier in your plumbing system, to help remove water impurities.
In either case, the wisest course of action is to have your water tested for mineral content, heavy metal content, and biological content. Simple water-test kits are available from most hardware stores, but often only indicate safety thresholds, rather than an exact makeup of your water. The most accurate water tests will require sending a sample of water to a lab for testing. It can take a few days to a few weeks to receive results, but this will allow you to make the most informed decisions about your water content. Water reports are often available through your local municipality.
Tap water is often fine to brew with. When in doubt, however, bottled water is a good alternative. Installing a carbon filter on a tap can also help with any water problems.
18 | My water is chlorinated |
CAUSE
Some municipalities use chlorine or chloramine to kill harmful coliform and bacteria, which can be metabolized by yeast to create chlorophenols, flavor compounds that can be detected by humans as “antiseptic” or “medicinal” flavors at as little as 5 parts per billion (ppm).
SOLUTION
If you live in an area with a public water system, you likely have some chlorine content in your water. While chlorination guidelines allow for chlorine or chloramine content as high as 4 ppm, many municipalities have much lower levels that may not be detectable in your beer. It’s up to you to assess your finished beer and make the decision on whether chlorine or chloramine removal is in your best interest.
Chlorine is volatile and easy to remove from water. Boiling water will allow chlorine to evaporate, and even stirring liquid in a pot or allowing water to sit out overnight can remove active chlorine content from it.
Chloramine, however, is much more stable, which is often why municipalities use it. Chloramine stays in the water, killing bacteria all the way to your tap, and all the way to your brew kettle. Chloramine can be removed with a high-quality charcoal filter that allows long contact times as well as reverse-osmosis systems.
For quicker water treatments, brewers can use Campden tablets, which are usually potassium or sodium metabisulfites. The sodium metabisulfite will react with chlorine and chloramines and remove them from the water. When using Campden tablets to dechlorinate water, add 1 tablet per 20 gallons of water.
Boiling water can easily reduce chlorine content, but chloramines will require extra help to get rid of.
19 | The expiration date on my yeast has passed |
CAUSE
Retailers didn’t rotate expired stock, or a brewer neglected to use the ingredients when they bought it, leading to expired product. Once yeast has passed its printed expiration date, it may no longer be suitable for brewing.
SOLUTION
Unless the yeast in question has gone through extreme temperatures or conditions, or the expiration date passed years ago, this yeast will probably still be alive and able to make beer, although it may need some help.
There are two important factors in determining whether yeast is suitable for brewing: viability (how many of the cells in each sample are alive) and vitality (how healthy the yeast cells are). In a lab setting, a brewer could isolate a sample from these, place them on a hemocytometer with a dye, and perform a cell count to find out both viability and vitality. At home, it’s a bit less exact.
If possible, it’s safest to either replace this yeast with a fresh pitch or supplement it with an additional yeast pitch of the same type. Where more or replacement yeast is unavailable, it’s important to make a yeast starter (see Problem 20). The yeast should be growing, off-gassing, or creating krausen before it is pitched into finished beer. If there is no yeast activity in the starter, you may be increasing infection risk.
If starting with dry yeast, rehydrate it for 10 minutes in distilled water before creating a starter with it. When yeast is dried and dormant, it loses the ability to regulate what passes through its cell walls, so adding it directly to wort may significantly reduce viability. In an expired yeast pitch, that may include the remaining viable cells.
Liquid yeast can come in a wide variety of strains. The use of “smack packs” of yeast (like the one pictured here) may seem like a good shortcut to creating yeast starters, but they may still need some additional help to get working.
20 | I don’t know how to make a yeast starter |
CAUSE
Between stir plates, Erlenmeyer flasks, and fancy stoppers, yeast starters can seem intimidating, but they can mean the difference between good beer and great beer.
SOLUTION
Making a yeast starter is as simple as putting a small amount of yeast into a portion of unfermented wort and allowing it to ferment. The primary purpose is to give the yeast time to grow more yeast and become active and healthy before being added into a large, sugar-rich environment.
Start with a cleaned and sanitized glass container that is large enough that your starter takes up two-thirds to three-quarters of the available space. The glass container needs a way to be covered so that debris, including bacteria or mold spores, do not fall in, but it needs to have a way to allow gas to escape. This can be a stopper with an airlock on it, a foam stopper, or even plastic wrap stretched across the opening of the jar and held loosely on with a rubber band.
Ideally, make sure that your yeast starter is between 1.040 and 1.050 specific gravity. It’s good to start with sterile wort. Otherwise, boil a pint of water with half a cup of dry malt extract and a few hop pellets, and cool to room temperature. Once the yeast has been pitched into the starter, agitate the starter occasionally to keep yeast in solution. Remember to keep sterile everything the yeast will be in contact with.
Within a day, krausen should form on the top of the starter, and a layer of yeast should be visible on the bottom. Once the starter has finished its full fermentation, it is ready to pitch into your homebrew. It should be good for two or three days after fermentation has completed. You can store it in the refrigerator, but the starter should be the same temperature as the wort it will be going into when you pitch to avoid shocking the yeast cells.
A good yeast starter can be made on a magnetic stir plate in an Erlenmeyer flask, or made in a jar on your kitchen counter—the basics remain the same.
21 | I’m not sure how much yeast to put into my wort |
CAUSE
Counting yeast cells at home can be challenging to impossible, so many homebrewers must take on faith that they pitched the correct amount of viable, healthy yeast.
SOLUTION
Over- or underpitching yeast can lead to fermentation problems, and undesirable flavors in the finished beer. A good rule of thumb for homebrewers is to pitch 1 million cells per milliliter of wort per degree Plato for ales, or 1.5 million cells per milliliter for lagers. This assumes that around half of the cells pitched will not be viable. Most homebrewer’s yeasts promise 100 billion cells or more, and many offer viability upward of 90 percent. One package of healthy yeast can ferment up to 5 gallons of wort (20 liters) at 10 plato.
Use this information to determine whether you have an ideal pitch size for your beer. The ideal operating window for yeast pitches is 500,000 to 2 million yeast cells per liter. If you are on the low end of this range, more yeast growth will occur before resources are consumed, leading to more yeast character in the final beer. If you are on the high end of the range, less growth will occur, meaning less yeast character in the finished beer (a “cleaner” beer). Underpitching can lead to sluggish or incomplete fermentation, or high ester or fusel alcohol content. Overpitching can mean that fermentation completes before the yeast can clean up after itself, leading to lingering fermentation-related off-flavors.
While repitching from one homebrew to another can save money, it’s best to start with a commercial yeast package with your final plato in mind, to be sure you have the correct amount of yeast in your pitch.
A hydrometer should always be read from the top of the meniscus of the liquid; i.e., where the liquid rises to meet the glass of the hydrometer.