easybrew

Dialing it in: Part One

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Hop Nest is a favorite of mine. It has the right amount of complexity while still being an easy drinker. The original recipe was an experiment with 100% Munich Malt paired up with some Nelson Sauvin and Amarillo for an English IPA. That beer went on to win the best of show in the first Vlaamse Hobby Brouwers Forum competition. Hop Nest was now going to serve as a calibration recipe for my new Arsegan EasyBrew system/process. After brewing Penelope, I had a good idea about the efficiency of the system, but the volumes were not correct yet (strike water, sparge water, boil off rate, etc.).

Not only was the EasyBrew new to me but I was also trying out some new brewing software. My normal software, Beer Alchemy, stopped getting updated. Plus, the only way I could find to factor in the large amount of deadspace under the grain basket in the Easybrew, was to play with the water to grain ratio. If all my beers were going to be around the same strength then that would be alright, but I want to brew stronger or weaker beers without having to play with profile settings. It was great for my previous Batch Sparge system, but with the EasyBrew it just didn’t cut it.

BeerSmith seems to be the current market leader for homebrewers, and it offers a lot more settings to play with than BeerAlchemy. So I created my next recipe in both applications. However, even in BeerSmith the volumes of water still weren’t adding up. Starting off I didn’t have a lot of confidence in either program. I don’t want to have to second guess volumes. I want to be able to create a recipe, then follow the directions in the app without having to think. When I think, I over think, and that doesn’t make my life any easier.

Calibration Batch 1 (April 8th 2018)

Hop Nest

  • OG:1.056
  • FG: 1.012
  • IBU (Rager): 59.4
  • ABV: 5.8%
  • Final volume: 18 liters (1 corny keg)

Fermentables:

  • 90.9%  Weyerman Munich Malt
  • 5.5% Flaked Oats
  • 3.6%  Crisp Maris Otter (was to make up for the fact that I accidentally didn’t order enough Munich)

Mashing and sparging: Single infusion mash @ 67°C for 60 minutes

As I started to mash in I realized that the mash was way too thick. After doing some quick math on paper (deadspace + water/grain ratio + grain absorbtion), I adjusted my strike water volume. Sparging was easy to figure out on paper too (sparge vol. = boil vol. – strike water + grain absorption). The rest was smooth sailing.

The EasyBrew can be fully programmed to go from step to step by itself without too much input from the brewer, but for these first brews I did not try that out. I wanted to have the freedom to quickly change the wattage depending on what I saw going on in the kettle ( I use the full 2500w to quickly go up in temperature but then only 1600w to 1800w to keep it at temperature).

Boiling:

  • Nelson Sauvin (Whole leaf) 12.8%AA – 60 min. from end (21.4 IBU)
  • Amarillo (Whole leaf) 9.3%AA – 60 min. from end (15.6 IBU)
  • Nelson Sauvin – 20 min. from end (9.1 IBU)
  • Amarillo – 20 min. from end (5.3 IBU)
  • Nelson Sauvin – 5 min. from end (5 IBU)
  • Amarillo – 5 min. from end (3 IBU)
  • Nelson Sauvin – Dry Hop 1g/l for 7 days
  • Amarillo – Dry Hop 1g/l for 7 days

Unfortunately, I forgot to adjust the Alpha Acid content of this harvest of Nelson Sauvin in BeerSmith. I didn’t see that until after boiling was almost done. It’s not a big deal but it means that the hopping will be a little bit off.

My boil off rate needs some work too. I have been playing around with the wattage and seem to have settled around 2000w for a decent rolling boil. However, it may not be vigorous enough. The flavors associated with a weak boil aren’t in my beers though. I am just a bit surprised that I’m only losing about 3 liters over 60 minutes. My previous system was 5 liters. More brewing needed!

Yeast: Safale US-05 (dry)

Beer was fermented in a plastic brew bucket @ 18°C (64.5°F) for 14 days before dry-hopping in the same bucket. That is 21 days on the yeast cake. It still surprises me that this works without giving off any off flavors, but it does. It definitely makes it easy! After dry-hopping, the beer was kegged into 2 of my 9.5L (2.5 gal) corny kegs.

How did it turn out?

The beer turned out really good. It did miss a bit of the crisp citrus and summer fruit hop character that I remember Hop Nest having. Is this because of my Alpha Acid mistake? I think partially yes. I also think that this past harvest of Amarillo just wasn’t the best. There were more harsher grassy notes than there should have been. Most likely from the Amarillo, but I don’t know for sure. The malt character was great. It reminded me why I love Munich malt in high percentages. It creates a much more complex malt character than normal pale malt. Bready and biscuity malt with a touch of caramel. I did miss a little bit of caramel complexity that usually I get from a small addition of a cara malt. The Flaked Oats did’t really add as much mouthfeel as I had expected, but it wasn’t as thin as that very first batch. It was still a great drinker!

My initial thoughts on the mash efficiency of the EasyBrew were confirmed (75% with the grain crush I am now using). The mashing profile in Beersmith has to be reworked though. The first profile was based on the Grainfather but I just couldn’t get the numbers to match with what I had seen on brew day. Back to the drawing board I guess.

Coffee & Beer – PENELOPE – sketch 1

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coffee-beer-Easybrew

In the past 6 years I have only brewed twice (including this time). That doesn’t mean that I’ve lost my passion for brewing beer. It’s just been difficult to find the time to do it. With the kids getting a bit older now, I should be able to find some more time.

The System: With some Christmas generosity, I was able to order an Arsegan EasyBrew 30 liter brew system. This made-in-China brew system is sold under different brand names like HopCat, Brew Monk, Klarstein Mundschenk, Ace Microbrewery, and many more. While not a fully automated robotic brewer, it promises to cut down the time needed to brew. I’m not going to review this system right now, but once I’ve used it a few times I will post a thorough review.

coffee-pale-ideation

The Recipe: While cleaning up my desk at work I came a cross some recipe ideas intertwined with some sketches. There were a couple standouts using coffee in paler beers. With my newish passion for coffee I thought what better way to get back to brewing? Initially I wanted to go with something between and English and an American Pale Ale. Something with hop character to play with the coffee notes, but not enough to take away from the coffee. I ended up lowering the hops and adding more colored malt. I’m not sure what category the beer would now fit into now. Perhaps a Special Bitter? Perhaps not. This recipe will grow in complexity as it evolves. This is just a starting point. It’s a sketch of a beer which is looking for some direction. Thats why I am calling this brew a “sketch.”

Penelope (Batch 1):

  • Volume: 18.5 liters
  • OG: 1.053
  • FG: 1.014
  • ABV: 5%
  • IBU: 30 (Rager formula)

Fermentables:

  • 91.3% Extra Pale Maris Otter (Crisp)
  • 5.4% Flaked Oats
  • 3.3% Pale Chocolate (Thomas Fawcett)

Mash: single temp infusion @ 69C (156F)

Hops:

  • Northdown 7% AA – 45min from end (20.7 IBU)
  • Northdown 7% AA – 10 min from end (5 IBU)
  • Northdown 7% AA – in whirlpool 15 min (5 IBU)

Yeast: White Labs London Ale WLP013

Extras: Fire-Roasted Sumatra Lintong Coffee – brewed and added to taste in serving keg.

I used to write my brew posts during the fermentation phase. The idea was to go back and add notes to the posts after final tasting. That didn’t happen enough. Now I’ve decided to not write my brew posts until the final beer is finished and in my glass. Then I can already share my thoughts on the recipe and how I could improve the beer.

How did it turn out?

In short, I see a lot of potential with this beer. I wanted a lower alcohol beer with a full body and earthy, almost woody, hop character with coffee and chocolate coming in the middle and riding it out through the finish. Right now its too heavy on the chocolate. I thought the somewhat higher percentage of Pale Chocolate malt would compliment the Sumatra Lintong coffee which also has earthy chocolate notes. It’s too much. I either need to throw out the chocolate malt or choose a fruitier more acidic coffee. Ethiopian Natural Sidamo, one of my favorite all round coffees, would have been a better choice.

The mouthfeel and body are exactly what I wanted. The oats and the higher mash temperature worked their magic to keep the beer from being too thin and watery, while not being chewy. Its definitely a pleasing drinker.

The hops are too subtle, but the character is what I was looking for (cedar, herbal). I am however, left wanting a citrus note on the end. Perhaps a late addition of a citrus forward hop wouldn’t hurt. That would play well with a more acidic coffee. I think a touch of fruity hops to round out the hop character, and bridge to other two hops, wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

The beer is a good starting point but it needs to become a bit more rounded. I have time to think about it, but perhaps something more like this:

92-94% Extra Pale Maris Otter
5% Flaked oats
1-2% Some type of light cara malt
0-2% Pale Chocolate?
40-50 IBU from a blend of Northdown and Hallertau Blanc with a small late addition of Pacific Jade.
Ethiopian Sidamo dry “Beaning” for a few days, then fill in with some fresh brewed coffee to taste.
A little bit about the EasyBrew system:

This Chinese made system is essentially a Grainfather clone for just under half the price. Build quality is better than I had expected but there is still room for improvement. This newest version of the Easybrew is programmable. You can put in all of your steps (multiple step mash), boiling, and all your hop timers. It is capable of going up to 2500kw heating power (programmable for each step) which gets you from step to step quickly and makes it more powerful then the Grainfather. The volume markings on the inside though are way off. These type of systems are essentially a Brew In A Bag system, where the bag is replaced by a metal container, but by adding a sparge step you have a bit of a hyrbid brew system. Like I said earlier, once I’ve had a few brews under my belt with the EsayBrew I will write up a detailed review.

    

       

all of the beer ingredients were ordered from The Malt Miller. The green coffee beans were from Redber Coffee

The music for the video is Exotica by Juanitos. Used under  Attribution 2.0 License.  Downloaded from The Free Music Archive.