Recently in Homebrewing Category

Just about five hours on the clock from steeping grains to finished with clean-up. Using malt extract is certainly one time-saver during a brew day. I've brewed up my first attempt at a Belgian Wit beer today. And, as is oftentimes the case moments after I've sealed the top on the primary fermenter, I'm not sure what I'm going to get on the back side. So, I'm embracing the homebrewer's mantra, coined by über-guru Charlie Papazian: relax, don't worry about it, have a homebrew.

Wit beers are characterized by coriander and orange flavors which I added at the end of the boil (steep). Also added at various times are hops (I used domestic Goldings), dried jasmine flowers, and caraway. The last two are my experiments with this batch. Caraway is one of my favorite flavors (rye bread toast anyone?) and dried jasmine flowers are added to my favorite IPA so I thought a small amount would be a nice complement to the orange. Sounds good in theory, right?

My biggest concern at the moment is the color. The color profile for wit beers is very light golden and into the fermenter my beer was anything but light or golden. I think the malt extract may be a contributing factor. It was darker than I expected wheat malt extract to be. I wonder if the homebrew store where I purchased my ingredients filled my malt bucket with pale or even light amber malt extract rather than wheat malt extract. If they did, it's certainly too late now. So, we'll see. It's not always all about the style guidelines, but for my first attempt, it would be nice to be in the right zip code.

Grain bill:

• Crystal 10L
• Wheat malt
• Torrefied wheat

Wheat malt extract

Additions:

• Cracked coriander
• Cracked caraway
• Orange zest
• Dried jasmine flowers

Yeast: Wyeast 3944 Belgian Witbier

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I also moved my porter experiment into secondary fermentation this weekend. My 7 quarts have now been put into one one-gallon growler, and about half-full on two half-gallon growlers. The smaller vessels will wind up yielding 2 22-oz. bottles when all is said and done, so let's hope something in this experiment is darn tasty. Into the one-gallon fermenter I also tossed some oak chips from a Jack Daniels barrel so an oaky bourbon porter will be the end result. Paired with some apple pie a la mode. Mmm, who's hungry?

The more I learn about beer making, the more I learn I don't know. I first homebrewed about 8 or so years ago when I was living in San Francisco and probably made 6 or 8 batches total, all using malt extracts, before moving to Seattle. The Northwest is, arguably, craft and homebrewing nirvana and since moving here in 2005, I've joined the American Homebrewers Association, graduated to the more complex brewing method, all-grain, for some of my batches, and averaged brewing up 4-5 batches a year. Extract brewing uses pre-constituted liquid malt made from a combination of malted barleys. The brew day is shortened significantly by not needing to extract the sugars from the grain. There is a mostly friendly debate among the homebrew community about which method produces the better finished product. I'll leave that one to the more knowledgeable folks for now.

And so the learning has begun in earnest. One of the most important facets of brewing that I've learned is the value of keeping a log of what you've done so you can replicate, tweak, or if necessary trash a given recipe or procedure. I hope to use this space for some of the record keeping as well as to solicit info, advice, and suggestions from those more in the homebrew know-how than me.

My latest batch is my first in a scaled down quantity -- 2 gallons, rather than the standard 5-gallon homebrew batch. I did this so I can test some secondary fermentation additions without (potentially) screwing up a big batch. Plus, my brew day wound up being a bit shorter since my wort came to a boil and later cooled down fairly rapidly as I was working with 40% of the usual volume. So far, so good.

The basic ingredients for beer are four: malted barley, water, yeast, and hops. The photo above is what's known as the mash stage. Hot water has been added to crushed grain to release the sugars, add color and some flavor. After an hour of steeping the grain is rinsed and the liquid collected, called the wort, is boiled to break down the proteins. During the boil, hops are added for aroma, bitterness, and flavor. Once the boil is completed, the wort is cooled to a temperature that will be hospitable to the yeast. The yeast eats the collected sugars converting them to alcohol. Voilà, beer. Below is a shot of my fermenting wort; pretty dark as there was plenty of brown and chocolate malts in the grain bill.