The Knights of the 
Brown Bottle

Your Monthly Newsletter Ocktober Fest 1999

Serving the dallas - fort worth home brewing community Vol.3 Issue 10
 
 

 
 

Octoberfest meeting at Dr,Jeckyll’s

7:30 pm October13……BREW IN!

Officers

President J.B.Flowers
V.President Tom Brooks
Secretary Karl Williams
Treasurer Jim Case
Competition Chm. Richard Graham
Newsletter Editor Steve Wesstrom

WEB PAGE: http://www.hbd.org/kobb/

Webmaster:
Joel Henderson(joepat54@flash.net)
 
 

Calender of Club Events:

October 13 - at Pat’s Shop,

Improve your Beer Series- We will brew an extract recipe using simple, beginner equipment. Utilizing ice in sink for cooling. Very basic simple procedure… Come and participate!

October 23- Saturday- Pumpkin Brewin and invitational at J.Bs’,

Additional brewing , all grain, extract ( Richard’s Christmas Brew) with partial, contact JB if you want to brew or assist.

November 10- at Pat’s-We will bottle the beer we brewed in October.

November ? - a brew-in using several of the members systems- possible 3 or 4 units- JB, Byron and Steve have 2 tier RIM systems we can use in a joint brewin

December – Christmas Party

January Meeting at Mike Porters Homebrew shop- Improve your Beer Series-

Intermediate extract brewing demonstration. Extract with grains to improve recipe.

February – Bottling at Mike’s. Preparation for Bluebonnet!

March-Bluebonnet!!!

Even if you don’t enter, you should attend!
 
 

Looking forward to the Brewin at J.B’s on October 23 Saturday, here is a recipe for

Harvest Pumpkin Ale

Extract

1 lb english crystal
6 lbs light extract
1 lb light dme
2 oz willamette hop pellets
4 lbs fresh pumpkin
2 whole nutmeg
3 cinnamon sticks
4 whole cloves
1 tsp irish moss
ale yeast

Preparation of pumpkin

slice pumpkin and place on foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until soft,then divide in 2, place 1/2 in boil put the remainder in fermenter.

Spices

late additions of fresh spices will yield better results. crack spices, during last 15 min of boil add 1/2 of spices when moving to the secondary fermenter use last 1/2 of the spices.
 

Oktoberfest

The terms Oktoberfest, Marzen originally referred to a brewing process, not a beer style. Beer was brewed in March, stored during the summer then served in October when cool weather returned.

The origins of modern October festivals can be clearly traced back to celebrations relating to the introduction of the seasons new beer .Vienna style became the standard beers brewed on a regular basis, Oktober and Marzen beers became fest beers brewed for the celebrations each October.

Traditional Oktoberfest

from George Fix

5 gallons

All Grain

2 row- 8.5 lb
6 oz crystal malt-light
6 oz crystal malt- dark
6 oz english 20L
Hops 4 per cent alpha 1.8 oz

Extract

4 lb pale Extract
4 lb DME-light
6 oz crystal malt-light
6 oz crystal malt- dark
6 oz english 20L
Hops 4 per cent alpha 1.8 oz

OG 1.059-1.063
Ending Gravity 1.012-1.016

Wyeast German Lager
 
 

This is more than a competition,for anyone that has not attended one of the recent Dallas.Fort Worth events, your have really missed out on brewing information. The speakers that we present are those that write the books and articles we see in the brew shops. The forums on Saturday are invaluable!
 

Bluebonnet Items:

Meetings:

October 17 1:00 pm at Wilsonworld

on hwy 183 west of Easter Road, Date TBD

(For approval of new site for event )

November- Dallas location 1:00 pm

Gingerman DateTBD

December No Meeting-

January- Arlington location-J. Gilligan’s 1:00 pm date TBD

February- Fort Worth location- 1:00 pm date TBD

Login

Site Location TBD

Early entry login (Saturday) 2/26,

( Sunday) 2/27

Late login( Saturday) 3/4,( Sunday) 3/5

First-round Judging is March 11 and 12

( at COORS DistributionCenter in N.Fort Worth)

-The event (if at Wilsonworld )will be held on March 24,25

instead of the 17th and 18th to avoid St. Patrick's Day.
 

BJCP date TBD, Steve Hacker and Mike Porter are handling information concerning this.

***************************

Richard’s Corner :

COMPETITION UPDATE

By Richard Graham

NEW STYLES GUIDELINES. Effective next year, the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) and the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) have agreed to consolidate and standardize their beer, mead and cider style guidelines. The new styles are very comprehensive and in a new format.

The BJCP web page (http://www.bjcp.org/) has more information and a listing of the new guidelines.

The updated AHA/BJCP style guidelines will be used in the 2000 National Homebrew Competition and in all AHA sanctioned competitions.

The Knights will start using these guidelines in the Barleywine/Brown Ale Club only contest. A sample copy of the new guidelines will be at the October meeting.

AHA/KOBB - Porter! Style Numbers 9a and 9b. Entries were judged at the September meeting. A total of seven entries were received. Results of the judging were:

1st Place - Dave (Just Dave) Girard

2nd Place - Joel Henderson

3rd Place - Steve Anderson

Congratulations to the top finishers and thanks to all who entered and judged.

Upcoming Competitions

Following is a list of homebrew competitions from around the state and region. For club members interested in entering any of the out-of-town competitions, we will try to gather the entries and send the lot to save on shipping costs. For KOBB members only - You pay your entry fees and the club will pay for shipping. Be sure and let me know well ahead of time if you have out-of-town entries to insure the entry deadlines are met.

The 16th Annual Dixie Cup Homebrew Competition. Sponsored by the Foam

Rangers, Houston, Tx. Last leg of the Gulf Coast Challenge. Awards/party 22 & 23 October. $6.00/entry before Oct. 10th- $10/entry up to Oct. 15th. For more information and styles see - http://www.foamrangers.com/

KOBB entries were due October 2nd.

Contact Richard Graham for additional details.

If there is any interest in a road trip to Houston to attend the Dixie Cup, contact Dave Dixon of the NEThoppers.

December:

AHA - Winter Warmer (Strong English/Scotch Ales)/ KOBB Holiday Cheer (spiced beer/cider). Style numbers 10, 22, and 28d. This is the final competition for the KOBB Master Brewer of 1999. Entries due at the November meeting. The top scoring Strong Ale will be sent to the AHA Club Only judging to be held in early December.

January 2000:

AHA - Barley Wine/ KOBB - Brown Ales. Style numbers 12a, 12b and 10. Entries due at the December meeting.

This is the first contest for the Y2K (Year 2000 Knight) Homebrewer of the Year and the first contest using the new AHA/BJCP guidelines. The top barley wine goes to the AHA in early January

Real Ale

Real ale refers to any beer which undergoes a secondary fermentation and which is served without artificial carbonation. Cask conditioned beer is draught beer which undergoes secondary fermentation in the cask. Bottle conditioned beers, which ferment in bottle, are also real ale.

Whether a beer is real ale or not can be decided objectively. This usage in Britain has been upheld in the courts and is accepted by major dictionaries.

Why is CAMRA keen on it? Because secondary fermentation allows character and flavour to develop, whereas pasteurisation and/ or filtration inevitably reduce flavour. Clearly real ale is a perishable product, and will age rapidly once the cask is opened and the beer is exposed to air. In the UK market the majority of pubs sell enough draught beer to finish a cask while it is in good form. Real ale drinkers find keg beers generally over carbonated, too cold, and lacking in flavour.

Real ale should not be warm, cloudy, or flat. Real ale is served at cellar temperature (54 degrees F / 11degrees C), the same as red wine; it clears in the cask and should never be cloudy; the beer is not fizzy but it does have enough natural carbonation that it tastes lively in the mouth.

CAMRA ( Campaign for Real Ale )
 
 

Oxygenator by Liquid Bread

OXYGEN

Most home brewers oxygenate their wort by shaking and letting the air (only 21% oxygen) in the head space absorb into solution. These oxygen deprived yeast may start fine but may fail to develop the energy needed to complete a healthy ferment. The most notable result is a sweet and heavy taste to the beer due to the slow, sluggish fermentation and/or high finishing gravity. Instead of the 1.008 to 1.012 final gravity possible with the oxynator (typical of lighter beers), a final gravity greater than 1.015 is not uncommon with air only.

The Need for Oxygen…

Depending on your level of brewing skill, the need for oxygen in beer may or may not be understood. While most beginning brewers understand the basics of brewing, the details of the brewing process are typically learned as the brewer gains experience. As brewers mature, they begin to realize that, in addition to the ingredients used, improving home brewed beer is a function of understanding and improving the process used to make the beer. However, even after a brewer gains experience, it is very possible that the fermentation process and the need to oxygen still remains a mystery.

Beer and Fermentation…

Without fermentation we would have no beer, but only beer wort which is sickly sweet, sticky and for most consumers, pretty lousy to drink. If you’ve never tasted unfermented beer wort, try some and you will understand why fermentation is needed. In fact, we recommend that all brewers taste their worts in an effort to better understand beer flavors and the entire brewing process.

Fermentation is the critical process in which millions of healthy yeast cells convert the sugars in beer wort into alcohol and carbon dioxide. It is also the process during which certain flavors known as Esters, which make beer taste like beer, are produced. Care must be exercised at this stage or other "off" flavors that have no place in beer can also develop.

Fermentation is generally considered to consist of three distinct steps as follows:

Respiration

Reproduction

Sedimentation

Each step is critically important to the finished beer and with well fed, healthy and vigorous yeast, fermentation and sedimentation are typically never a problem. Yeast will usually work exactly as they are supposed to - assuming they are given the opportunity which you, the brewer, can provide through proper care and feeding. For more information on yeast, check out our links.

Care and Feeding of Your Yeast…

Prior to starting respiration, the yeast prepare themselves by taking in nutrients from the wort. Once ready, the yeast begin the respiration phase by taking in oxygen. And lots of it. As much as is available in your wort. With one or two exceptions, you can’t put too much oxygen in your wort. This is an important point in the brewing process where you provide opportunity for your yeast through feeding. In fact, this is not even a case of equal opportunity, but unfair, unequal opportunity for your yeast. Read on! This raises a number of important questions including:

Why oxygen is needed in beer wort

How oxygen is added to wort

Will it take longer to make beer if Oxygen is added?

Can too much Oxygen be added to wort?

Why oxygen is needed in beer wort

Not only is it important to have oxygen, but it is important that there be enough. Just like you need oxygen to live, without enough oxygen, you would not be able to run a marathon and you would fall far short of the finish. Yeast are no different. While better than no oxygen at all, inadequate oxygen for your precious yeast will be bad for your finished beer. The yeast may not be able to finish the marathon, or may have problems along the way. Here’s why.

Before the yeast can begin to turn sugar in your beer into alcohol and other beer flavors, they must first go through the respiration and reproduction phases to multiply from a few yeast cells to millions of yeast cells. This process requires lots of oxygen. Without oxygen, the yeast will not ferment at all. Instead, bacteria will take over and bacteria really don’t have a clue as to how to ferment beer wort! Since the boiling process forces all the oxygen out of the beer it must be added back before the yeast can perform fermentation.

If you don’t remove the trub from your beer before fermentation, making sure there is plenty of oxygen for the yeast is a must. Yeast can and may use trub as a substitute for oxygen. According to Dr. George Fix, yeast metabolism stimulated by trub rather than oxygen can have detrimental affects on beer1. Trub can also add to the production of nasty tasting fusel alcohols. Making sure you have plenty of oxygen will minimize the effect of trub. If possible, we recommend you remove the trub before pitching your yeast. This will provide your yeast with the best environment to make them as healthy as possible. When you can't or don't want to remove the trub, be sure to add plenty of oxygen.

During respiration, a number of reactions take place in the wort as it begins the transformation into beer. To understand the details of these reactions requires a PhD in biology and chemistry. However some enzymes used in the fermentation process are affected by the oxygen content in the wort. If oxygen is inadequate, then the enzymes may be as well. If there are inadequate enzymes, such as NAD+, the metabolic activities of the yeast won’t function properly and will produce excessive glycerol which can exceed flavor thresholds2. In other words, your finished and prized beer, on which you spent numerous hours and tens of dollars will taste lousy, be spit out in competition and be used as fertilizer. This problem is a strong possibility in weakly oxygenated worts and in worts of high gravity.

High gravity worts, which are very heavy and thick, need more oxygen due to the higher levels of fermentable sugars they contain. In addition, Oxygen is not as soluble in higher gravity worts making them more difficult to oxygenate (add oxygen). In such cases, you could shake your carboy indefinitely (aeration) and never get enough oxygen in the wort. Some of the more creative brewers have used aquarium pumps running for one to two hours to aerate (oxygenate) their wort. Compare this to 30 to 45 seconds for the oxynatortm!

If oxygen levels in your wort are too low, a number of off flavors can be produced due to increases in the level of: fusel alcohols fatty acids esters (those apple, banana, raisin, grape and many other fine flavors). While many ales are supposed to have esters, it is possible that too much of a good thing can become bad. Although I do recall a wonderful banana brown ale that… Oops!

According to Greg Noonan's book "Brewing Lager Beer", yeast require a significant amount of oxygen during respiration ranging from 4 to 14 parts per million3. With inadequate oxygen, yeast may autolyze (feed on themselves) producing a yeasty off flavor in the beer. Fermentation may be slow and may stop (stuck fermentation) if there was too little oxygen in the wort. Once the fermentation process is started, it is too late. Oxygen should not be added after yeast have completed their respiration phase and have started fermentation since you run the risk of oxidizing your beer and increasing off flavors. It is best to be sure you get adequate oxygen in the beer in the first place. If you have ever entered a competition with a beer that did not ferment properly due to low oxygen level at the start of fermentation, you might have received comments from the judges such as sweet, sugary, cloying, unattenuated, lacks a clean crisp flavor. If you have these words on your score sheet, you need more oxygen!

Noonan4 also points out that yeast growth in beer can be limited by two factors. Inadequate amino acids or inadequate oxygen, but usually oxygen. This tends to indicate that, as a general rule, most brewers do not add enough oxygen to their beer wort, increasing the chances of a less than perfect beer. Are you one of those brewers depriving your yeast of oxygen? Do you want to drink better beer? Then get yourself an oxynatortm and make a step change in your home brewing technology!

Unequal opportunity for your yeast. With too little oxygen in the wort, lag times ( the time it takes to start fermentation) are increased. This is bad for your beer and bad for your friends who have to drink your beer. Beer wort is an excellent growing medium for yeast. However, this means it is also a great growing medium for other organisms such as Lactobacillus and Pediococcus bacteria. A short lag time allows the yeast to become fully established, decreases the chance for infections and results in an improved final product. Long lag times may indicate a waste of your time and money.

By adding sufficient oxygen to your wort BEFORE you add the yeast, you will give your yeast the opportunity to grow into a healthy colony capable of fully and properly fermenting your beer. The two basic approaches for adding oxygen are aeration and oxygenation. However, there are a number a ways to apply these techniques. A few of these are described below. Keep in mind that adding air or oxygen should be done preferably before, or soon after, adding the yeast!

Shake it up

Aeration is achieved by mixing air into the wort. One method is to shake wort in a container with lots of air in it. This is typically done by most brewers using 5 gallon carboys. Please remember to stick a cork in it before shaking! The problem with this technique is that a full carboy does not contain a large enough volume of air. In fact, you may have no air at all. Because of a lack of air space or "head space" (to be technical) in the carboy, many home brewers shake the carboy when it is about half full and then continue to fill it up. The problem with this approach is that the last 2 or 3 gallons of wort go in without any air. Furthermore, air only contains about 21% oxygen. Finally, shaking is not all that efficient for adding air or oxygen. The end result is a wort without enough oxygen to promote the healthy growth of yeast. As many of you know from experience, shaking a carboy is hard work and may be difficult for those that don’t bench press 200 pounds. This can also be a dangerous practice in that the carboy could break, although the beer, splashing to the floor and splattering all over your walls, will be sufficiently aerated. Ask around and you will find a brewer that has dropped or broken a carboy during aeration.

Oxygenation

As opposed to aeration, Oxygenation is the process of adding pure or almost pure oxygen to your wort, with pure being the better choice. The big brewers do this, so why shouldn’t the small ones. It is easy to do and products are already available to the home brewer (some good, others questionable).

The process basically involves injecting oxygen into the wort through a tube. To be effective however, the oxygen must be properly diffused for this process to be truly effective. The oxygen is supplied from a small container of compressed oxygen. It is certainly easier to measure the oxygen added using such a system than "I aerated the wort by shaking till my arms got tired". It is also preferred to use the best grade of oxygen available. Avoid welding grade oxygen. If it is not made for breathing by living creatures, you don’t want it.

Can too much Oxygen be added to wort?

Excessive oxygen in wort can be harmful to yeast. However, the levels required for dissolved oxygen to become an effective sanitizing agent are very high. Practically speaking, it is unlikely you could add this much oxygen to your wort, even if you radically overused pure oxygen. At Liquid Bread, we have added significant quantities of oxygen to beer, far more than we actually recommend, without any detrimental effects on the finished beer.

References (both excellent sources of information for the intermediate to advanced brewer):

1, 2 - Principles of Brewing Science, George Fix, 1989, Brewer's Publications, Boulder, CO

3, 4 - Brewing Lager Beers, Gregory J. Noonan, 1986 Brewers Publications, Boulder, CO
 

Late breaking news!!

Some of the top scoring entries for the Cactus Competition: Note that Dave May took second for his Dark Lager (oktoberfest I think) and his German Wheat.

Looks like the guys from the DFW area did ok.

Cheers, Richard.

2nd Annual Cactus Challenge

September 25, 1999

Lubbock, Texas

From the Editor

I would like to thank those guys that have provided articles these past few months. The Brewing Season is Here!

Newsletter articles are welcomed, and requested.

Steve 817-229-3500 Email SGWESST@aol.com
 

Knights of the Brown Bottle
1714 Park Ridge Ct.
Arlington,Texas 76012