West Coast Brewer Home Brewing Blog

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Fermentation and Oxidization

Oxidation is a chemical reaction that occurs when a substance reacts with oxygen. It is a process where atoms or molecules lose electrons to oxygen or other oxidizing agents. This reaction can alter the chemical composition and properties of the substance. It is important to avoid oxygen exposure during beer fermentation. When oxygen comes in contact with fermenting or fermented beer it can cause several negative effects including negative impacts on the quality and flavor of the beer. Here are a few reasons why oxygen should be minimized during fermentation:

1. Off-flavors: Oxygen can react with the compounds in beer, leading to the development of off-flavors. This is particularly true during fermentation when the yeast is actively converting sugars into alcohol. Oxidation reactions can produce undesirable flavors such as cardboard, stale or sherry-like notes, and a loss of freshness.

2. Stalled fermentation: Oxygen exposure can potentially disrupt the fermentation process and lead to a stalled or incomplete fermentation. Yeast requires an oxygen-free environment to perform its job effectively. Oxygen can inhibit yeast activity and growth, leading to sluggish or stuck fermentation where the yeast is unable to fully convert sugars into alcohol.

3. Spoilage: Oxygen can also contribute to the growth of spoilage microorganisms. While yeast is a desirable microorganism in beer fermentation, other bacteria and wild yeast strains can thrive in the presence of oxygen. These unwanted microorganisms can produce off-flavors and spoil the beer, resulting in an unpleasant taste and potential health risks.

To prevent oxygen exposure during fermentation it is suggested that a brewers take precautions. The use of a sealed fermentation vessels, such as fermenters with airlocks or conical tanks with controlled gas exchange is your budget allows for it . It is also suggested that you purge your keg with carbon dioxide or nitrogen to create a protective atmosphere for your beer. Additionally, careful transfer and handling techniques are employed to minimize the introduction of oxygen during and after the fermentation process.

By avoiding oxygen exposure during fermentation, brewers can maintain the desired flavors, aromas, and quality of the beer. The above photo is the system that I use. After I transfer the wort from the brew kettle and pitch the yeast in the conical fermenter, the only time that the fermenting beer has the opportunity to come into contact with oxygen is when I add dry hops.  I try to do this while fermentation is still occurring so that there is a layer of krausen containing CO2 filled bubbles to purge any oxygen that may have entered the fermenter while the lid was briefly off. I use CO2 to transfer the finished beer into a keg that has been purged with the CO2 that was created during fermentation.

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Information on the 9 Gallon BrewZilla 120v Homebrew System from MoreBeer.com

We’ve seen a lot of all-in-one systems over the years, but none are as feature-packed and affordable as the Brew Zilla. While other units simply maintain your set temperature, the Brew Zilla home breweryfeatures a sophisticated digital controller which can be programmed with a full mash schedule, executing each step automatically. The built-in pump will continuously recirculate wort during the mash for more even heat distribution and higher efficiency, but thanks to the integrated camlock fitting, it has even more functionality. Add the optional whirlpool arm to make your late hop additions pop and speed up chilling time, or connect a camlock fitting and tubing to transfer wort to your fermenter. These are just a couple of reasons why MoreBeer loves the BrewZilla, but there are so many More!

Best Features:

Sophisticated digital controller capable of programmed mash steps, boil addition timers and delayed start
Built-in pump for constant recirculation during mash or whirlpooling and transferring with optional accessories
Full depth malt pipe for higher mash efficiency and capable of running small batches without a pricey adapter
Multiple power modes to cover each step of the brew day – low power to gently heat your mash up to full power for a rolling boil
Wort chiller included! Perfectly sized for this system and adds even more value to your purchase of the Brew Zilla
High capacity brewhouse – with a volume of over 9 gallons, you can fit more grain and more wort to make
Single wall design doesn’t trap in heat – chill your wort quickly after the boil!
Super convenient bottom handle makes lifting/pouring a breeze
This is the best price for an all-in-one brewing system you’ll find, period.
If you want to jump into all grain brewing right from your first batch, or as an upgrade from malt extract brewing, the Brew Zilla is a complete turn key solution. The Brew Zilla is an all-in-one electric brewery that has built-in elements for heating and boiling, programmable mash schedule and delayed start, a built-in pump for recirculation, an onboard water resistant control panel for setting and monitoring temperatures, a removable grain basket, and a built-in spigot for transferring. It is extremely portable and uses 110V power so it can be used nearly anywhere.

The BrewZilla  version 3.1.1 unit features an upgraded main circuit board that changes how the automatic step mashing functions. Now when moving from step to step, the timer for each step will not begin counting down until the programmed temperature is reached. This means more accurate mash schedules than ever before! The new board also introduces boil addition timers so you’ll never miss the mark for hop additions.

To get the Wort Chiller Connection Kit for free, add the item to your cart along with the Brew Zilla and use code ZILLAKIT at checkout.

New accessory! Check out the BrewZilla Whirlpool Arm, which uses the unit’s internal pump to recirculate and spin the wort, improving hop extraction and chill times. No more stirring!

Automatic Step Mashing & Delayed Start!
One of the coolest features of the BrewZilla is the ability to program the unit with up to 6 individual temperatures and durations so you can step mash precisely how you desire. Simply press the “S1-S6” button to select the stage you want to adjust, and use the temp, time and +/- buttons to program the stage. If you have less than 6 stages in your mash schedule, program the stages you want to skip with 00:00 as the time and the controller will automatically move on to the next step. When all the stages are complete, the unit will sound an alarm and hold the last set temperature.

The programmable stages can also be used to set a delayed start of up to 23 hours in advance so that you can have your water hot and ready to go when you get home from work or wake up in the morning. In order to do this, fill the unit with strike water and program the controller with two steps. Step 1 should be programmed at a temperature lower than the unheated strike water (so the elements will remain off), and the duration should be programmed for however long you want the delay. Then program Step 2 with your desired strike water temperature and a duration of 1-2 hours, giving the BrewZilla ample time to heat up and giving you a margin of error in case you hit the snooze button the morning of brew day.

Recirculating Mash with Full Depth Malt Pipe
The built-in magnetic drive pump easily recirculates wort during the mash. We recommend getting some silicone tubing to go with the recirculation arm. This allows you more control over the recirculation and you can then use the pump to transfer your wort to your fermenter. As with any mash, be sure to stir your grain very thoroughly after mashing-in so you start out with an even temperature throughout the grain bed.

Some competing models advertise their perforated malt pipes as “high flow”, but what they don’t mention is how this affects efficiency. When recirculating the mash, wort will escape through the side perforations rather than passing through the grain at the bottom-most end of the malt pipe which can lead to lower efficiency. The BrewZilla’s malt pipe is designed so that recirculating wort must pass through the entire grain bed before escaping through the false bottom and being pumped over the top of the grain bed again. If you’re worried about the flow rate, simply add a pound or two of rice hulls to your grain bill. This is especially recommended when brewing with a high level of wheat, oat, or flaked grains.

Power & Heating Control
Dual heating elements run off of a single 110 volt plug and have individual switches allowing for more control over the heating process. One element is 1000 watts and the other is 500 for a combined 1500 watts! Use both when you need to ramp up the temperature quickly either at the start to get to your mash temp or to go from your mash temp to boiling. Use only one of the elements when you want to hold a temperature.

We highly recommend adding the optional BrewZilla Neoprene Jacket to help reduce heating times and maintain a more vigorous boil. The extra thick neoprene jacket is custom designed to insulate the entire kettle portion of the BrewZilla while staying out of the way of the ball valve and handles. The jacket can help you acheive up to 10% faster heat up times and cut heat loss from the boiler in half. And when it comes time to cool your wort after the boil, simply remove the jacket! While other units boast a double wall design for better heat retention, this actually becomes a disadvantage when it comes to chilling.

The digital control panel makes it easy to see the current temperature and set the temperature you want. The digital controller is also water resistant so don’t worry about spills or some water dripping down the side. This controller is built for brewing!

The brewery also includes a stainless steel malt pipe with false bottom allowing you to easily shift from mash tun to boil kettle during your brew day. The malt pipe includes a handle to lift it out and tabs at the base so you can set the malt pipe over the kettle to let the wort drain out. It also has feet at its base to raise the malt pipe slightly off the base and help prevent clogging.

The included stainless steel wort chiller is shipped with bare ends so you can set it up for your situation. We list below the most common tubing and fittings to connect to a hose, hose bib, or faucet.

What MoreBeer! loves about this product: Homebrewing is trending in the direction of all-in-one, all-grain brewing systems and the BrewZilla is the ultimate value. The cost is half of the next comparable system with programmable mash steps and nearly the same as buying converted coolers and a kettle. We’ve brewed on all the systems and we can truly say the BrewZilla is the easiest to use. We feel confident that a lot of first time brewers could buy this and use it with ease. At the same time quite a few of our experienced, all-grain brewing staff are buying it to brew at home. The unit is extremely compact because the pump is built-in to the bottom of the unit. You can move it around with ease which makes it perfect for guys and gals that have space constraints. Someone on the team also mentioned how they like that you can drain it via gravity without having to use the pump. All in all a great buy and highly recommended. Please note you will need a few extra pieces of hardware to connect the wort chiller and at least 2′ of silicone tubing for the sparge.

Use the Pump for More Than Just Recirculation!
One of the surprisingly handy features of the BrewZilla is that the recirculation pipe features a female camlock. This allows you to hook up other accessories and use the unit’s pump for more than just recirculating wort. With a male camlock and silicone tubing, for example, you can use the internal pump to push wort through a plate chiller or counterflow chiller. Check out our selection of camlock fittings here.

Brew Zilla Features:

Stainless steel construction
9 gallon total capacity with a finished beer output of 5-6 gallons
Digital temperature controller
Automatic step mashing with 6 programmable stages
110V power and plug
Dual heating elements for total control (1000 watts and 500 watts)
Stainless steel 1/2 inch ball valve for draining (dont have to use the pump)
Immersion wort chiller included
Stainless steel malt pipe/basket
Stamped in volume markers
Glass lid
Magnetic drive pump for recirculation
Recirculation arm
Bottom handle for easy lifting and pouring
Upgraded rocker switches
Temperature reads in °F or °C (press and hold temp button for several seconds to adjust)

Home Brewing and Oxygen

Purging Kegs With CO2 From A Fermenter

Purging Kegs With CO2 From A Fermenter

Home Brewing and Oxygen

Recently one of the things I have been focusing on with my beer making is fermentation practices. For a while now I have been using a temperature controlled fermentation chamber and yeast starters to make sure that I had sufficient quantities of yeast and an ideal environment for the yeast to ferment in. That being said, I have been pretty relaxed when it comes to oxygen levels and have been working on making progress in that area.

Just some basic information on oxygen and home beer brewing. At certain points in the beer brewing / beer fermentation process, oxygen can be either your best friend or your worst enemy and it is important to know when to add and when to avoid it.  Thankfully it is pretty easy to keep track of! The only time that you want to introduce oxygen to your beer is post boil and once the wort has cooled down and you are preparing to pitch your yeast. The reason for this is that yeast requires oxygen for healthy propagation. “Yeast use oxygen for cell membrane synthesis.  Without oxygen, cell growth will be extremely limited.  Yeast can only produce sterols and certain unsaturated fatty acids necessary for cell growth in the presence of oxygen. Inadequate oxygenation will lead to inadequate yeast growth.  Inadequate yeast growth can cause poor attenuation, inconsistent or long fermentations, production of undesirable flavor and aroma compounds, and produces yeast that are not fit for harvesting and re-pitching.” – Wyeast Labs. During the boil process, much of the oxygen is stripped away from the wort, so it is good practice to reintroduce oxygen back into the wort. There are several ways to accomplish this but the key is to do it in a sanitary way. Many brewers will rapidly stir the wort or swish it around in the fermenter and others will pump pure oxygen into the fermenter with a diffuser stone.  In my setup I keep the yeast oxygenation / aeration process pretty simple and meet in the middle. I use an aquarium pump with a stainless steel diffuser for about 15 minutes once I have transferred my wort to the fermenter.  It has an inline HEPA filter to make sure I am not blowing a bunch of dust or wild yeast into my wort. I also pitch the yeast at  the same time. You can pickup at yeast aeration kit from MoreBeer.com for about $35.

 

Yeast aeration

Yeast aeration

Once you have aerated your wort and begun the fermentation process you will want to do everything you can to avoid introducing oxygen into your beer.  Thankfully, the yeast will help you with this process.  As the yeast consumes the oxygen to replicate itself and converts the sugar in your beer, it is creating two main byproducts which are alcohol and CO2.  The creation of the CO2 will help purge any residual oxygen from the fermenter.  The next step is doing your best to avoid introducing oxygen to your beer when it comes time to transfer your beer to the keg. The most common way to do so is to purge your keg with CO2  from a CO2 tank and then push your beer from the fermenter with CO2 from a CO2 tank. In my setup the only thing that I do differently is that I use the CO2 being expelled from my fermenter during active fermentation to purge my keg.  You can view the setup in the photo at the top of this article to get a visual, but basically I am diverting the CO2 to the keg as opposed to pushing it the a flask filled with sanitizer. I user mini stainless steel ball lock valves that I picked up here from Amazon.  For the final step, I push CO2 into my fermenter to build about 3 PSI of pressure and move the fermented beer from the fermenter to the keg as shown in the following image.

Beer Fermentation

Beer Fermentation

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New Stainless Steel Manifold for my More Beer Ultimate Sparge Arm and Stainless Steel Braid for My Home Brewing Tubes

Stainless Steel Ultimate Sparge Arm

I purchased my MoreBeer.com  Ultimate Stainless Steel Sparge Arm about 4 years ago. I still consider it to be one of my very best home brewing purchases. It has been durable, functional, reliable and most importantly clog free for me over the years.

One home brewing modification that I recently did, made something great even better!  In my home brewery, I use a electric heating bar that allows me to lock in the temperature of my mash with no fuss.  I just recirculate my mash, set the desired temperature and I am done.  The mash recirculates back into the mash tun via my stainless steel sparge arm. Previously, I would then disconnect the sparge arm from the mash tun and connect it to my hot liquor tank when it was time to mash out.  Now with the new stainless steel manifold that I made for the sparge arm, it is much safer and as easy as turning a nob.

More Beer Stainless Steel Sparge Arm

More Beer Stainless Steel Sparge Arm

The above photo illustrates how it works. I swapped out the existing ball valve and added in 3 mini stainless steel ball valves as well as a stainless steel 1/2″ tee fitting and 2 90 degree stainless steel elbows. The whole process only took about 30 minutes to complete. I then covered the high temp silicone tubing with stainless steel braiding to make them easier to handle, reduce kinking and make it look a little sharper. Here is a list of all of the parts that I purchase for the project:

 

Stainless Steel Sparge Arm for Home Beer Brewing

Stainless Steel Sparge Arm for Home Beer Brewing

1  – MoreBeer Ultimate Stainless Steel Sparge Arm

Home Brewing Stainless Steel Mini Ball Valves

Home Brewing Stainless Steel Mini Ball Valves

3  – Stainless Steel Mini Ball Valves for Home Brewing

 

Half Inch Stainless Steel Elbows for Home Brewing

Half Inch Stainless Steel Elbows for Home Brewing

2 – Stainless Steel .5″ Elbows for Homebrew

 

Stainless Steel Quick Connects for Home Brewing

Stainless Steel Quick Connects for Home Brewing

1 – 4 Pack of .5″ Stainless Steel Quick Connects and Stainless Steel Quick Disconnects for Homebrewing

 

Stainless Steel Half Inch Braid for Home Brewing Tube

Stainless Steel Half Inch Braid for Home Brewing Tube

1 –  Home Brewing Stainless Steel Half Inch Braid for Homebrew Tube

Everything worked out great on the project.  I tested for leaks and cleaned all of the parts well with a hot mixture of PBW home brewing cleaner and water. Just a couple of tips. I ran three loops of teflon tape for all of the connections.  I tightened all of the fittings as tightly as I could. For the stainless steel 1/2″ braiding for the home brewing hoses, I ran a small .5″ pipe through it first to stretch it out, then inserted the silicone tubing and that made getting on the tube much easier. I can’t wait to put it all to good use on my next batch of homebrew, which will either be a Coconut Porter or a Hazy IPA.  If you have any questions on anything, just hit me up with a comment or on Facebook.

Stainless Steel Mini Keg Dispenser & Portable Kegerator Kit

Mini Keg Stainless Steel Homebrew Dispenser

It has been a little while since I got any cool new home brewing gear, so I was pretty excited when the Amazon guy dropped this package off! One of my good friends is going to be getting married later this month. I figured that I would bring some home brewed beer to help celebrate. I have a Milkshake Hazy IPA in the fermentation chamber that should finish up just in time. The wedding is about 8 hours away and I am unfortunately limited on how much I can bring. Unfortunately a full sized keg is out of the question. So I began my search and finally ended up selecting this 128 oz stainless steel mini keg draft beer dispenser.

After cleaning all of the items well and assembling the parts (took about 5 minutes), I put some beer in the mini keg to try it out and it worked perfectly.  It has a mini regulator that features a gauge so that you can carefully control the PSI of your CO2.  I set the PSI to 5 and it poured beer perfectly with out excess foam or spitting beer halfway across the room. They say that the CO2 cartridge should last for at least one mini kegs worth of beer but I have yet to deplete one. The mini keg beer dispenser holds right about 8 pints of beer and you can purchase additional 128 oz mini kegs separately for about $35 each. I have a 64 oz stainless steel mini keg that I am also planning on bringing with my latest Viking Double IPA so that I have a little variety. They also offer a insulator sleeve, but I am going to try an keep it in a bucket filled with ice, so hopefully that will do the trick.

Here are some of the features of this mini keg draft beer system:

  • Keeps beer vacuum pressured and fresh for up to 2 months
  • Perfect for any homebrew or craft beer
  • Each CO2 cartridge will pump around 128 oz of beer before depleting CO2 cartridge
  • Monitor the mini keg growler’s current PSI from the regulator gauge and fine tune pressure by rotating the adjustment knob
  • Add the optional insulator sleeve to help keep beer cold
  • The accessories and mini keg are all constructed with 304 food grade stainless steel
  • Includes a pressure release valve
  • Laser marked at the fill level
  • Includes metal screw on lid for easy portable transportation and storage
  • The perfect size to fits in your home fridge

Perhaps the best feature of this stainless steel mini keg was the price! Amazon has it on sale with free next day shipping for just $114! If you are in the market for a great little draft beer system to help you transport your homebrew for the holidays, you can use the following link.

Stainless Steel Mini Keg Draft Beer System for $114

Stainless Steel Mini Keg Kegerator

Stainless Steel Mini Keg Kegerator

Battle Hammer Viking IPA & Kviek Yeast

Kviek Yeast
Perhaps  the biggest brewing trend of 2019 has been the explosion in popularity of Kveik (pronounced Ki-Vike) yeast. Kveik is a group of Norwegian yeast strains that were previously best known for their use in Norwegian farmhouse brewing. Kviek yeast has been used in brewing for over 400 years now, but recently has seen a resurgence in popularity because of some of its unique properties.

So what is so special about Kviek? Primarily it boils down to temperature! Unlike typical ale yeast, which ferments best around 68F, Kviek yeast strains ferment well up to temperatures of 100°F (a temperature that would kill most lager or ale yeast strains).  In fact, the sweet spot for Kviek yeast strains is between 70°F and 95°F  and at high temperatures it imparts little noticeable difference in ester production. The ideal fermentation temperature for a lager is typically between 45F and 60F ; for an ale it is 68F and 72F.  Unlike Kviek, most lager and ale yeast strains produce undesirable off flavors / esters once they exceed their optimal fermentation temperature ranges. If a home brewer does not have the ability to control their fermentation temperature this often times translates to sub par beer.

The high fermentation temperature range of Kviek yeasts has another big benefit, SPEED! You know how cold blooded animals like snakes and lizards move slower when it is cold outside and faster when it is hot? Well yeast works the same way.  When the temperature is high, yeast gets super charged.  It is the reason why lagers ferment so much slower than ales. Using Kviek yeast is kinda like trading in your old 2007 Dodge Caravan for a 2020 Porsche GT2 with a carbon fiber spoiler, reduced weight seats and upgraded suspension package.

Not wanting to drive a Minivan any longer, I figured I would give Kviek a shot and see what all the hype was about.

 

Kviek Yeast Fermentation TemperaturesTEMP: 65–100F (18–38C) FLOCCULATION: MEDIUM-HIGH ATTENUATION: 75–85% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 10% Norwegian Voss Kveik Strain. Highly versatile, can be used in a wide variety of beer styles. A traditional Norwegian Kveik strain that has an extremely wide fermentation temperature range. This strain has been traditionally used in Norwegian farmhouse style beers however, due to it’s fermentation temp range can be used in a variety of beers from pseudo lagers, Belgian inspired, and hop forward beers. The possibilities seem endless when fermenting with Loki. On the cool end of the range Loki is super clean; producing little to no esters. On the high end of the fermentation range, 85-95F, it tends to produce a huge fruit ester profile.

Home Brewing with Kviek Yeast

To take full advantage of the Kviek fermentation benefits, I purchased a dual stage temperature controller and an “always on” heating pad for my fermentation chamber (converted chest freezer).  Keep in mind that as yeast ferments it is releasing a bunch of energy as it replicates, digests sugar, pees out alcohol and burps out CO2. In the image at the top of this article, you can see that I set my fermentation temp to 86F and the yeast brought the temperature all the way up to 90.1F during primary fermentation. It is advised that you make sure you keep that in mind as you set your desired fermentation temperature into your temp controller if you happen to use one.

For my first Kviek batch, I fermented a Double IPA and used the Imperial Loki Kviek yeast strain. Here is some of Imperials information on it:

Imperial Loki Kviek Yeast

TEMP: 65–100F (18–38C) FLOCCULATION: MEDIUM-HIGH ATTENUATION: 75–85% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 10%
Norwegian Voss Kveik Strain that can be used in a wide variety of beer styles. A traditional Norwegian Kveik strain that has an extremely wide fermentation temperature range. This strain has been traditionally used in Norwegian farmhouse style beers however, due to it’s fermentation temp range can be used in a variety of beers from pseudo lagers, Belgian inspired, and hop forward beers. The possibilities seem endless when fermenting with Loki. On the cool end of the range Loki is super clean; producing little to no esters. On the high end of the fermentation range, 85-95F, it tends to produce a huge fruit ester profile.

I created a yeast starter with the Kviek yeast the night before. The brew day went well with no mishaps. I pitched the wort, placed the fermenter in the fermentation chamber and checked in on it periodically.   The fermenter was already bubbling after just a few hours. I had never seen fermentation begin so rapidly. Primary fermentation concluded in just 3 days which was incredibly fast for a beer with an approximate ABV of 8.5%.  I dry hopped the beer for 3 additional days and then cold crashed for 2 days at 45F. My highest fermentation temperature reached was 91F.

 

Battle Hammer - Viking IPA with Kviek Yeast

Battle Hammer – Viking IPA with Kviek Yeast

I named my first Kviek beer Battle Hammer – Viking Double IPA. It is extremely hoppy, but with a name like Battle Hammer, I figured it needed to be. I had only let the beer condition in the keg for about a week and at this point it is still a little cloudy;  I am hoping it will clear a bit over the next couple of weeks. The beer tastes fantastic; very clean and with no off flavors that might have come from the yeast. I was unable to taste any noticeable difference between brewing with this Kviek Loki yeast to when I had brewed this same beer in the past with a Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast strain. The beer came out great, my only change would be to perhaps swap out some of my old school hops for some Citra to brighten the hop profile a bit.

To celebrate the beer, I had created a tap handle inspired by it’s Norwegian heritage.

Norwegian IPA - Battle Hammer - Kviek Yeast

Norwegian IPA – Battle Hammer – Kviek Yeast – Tap Handle Being Welded

 

Norwegian IPA - Battle Hammer - Kviek Yeast - Finished Tape Handle

Norwegian IPA – Battle Hammer – Kviek Yeast – Finished Tape Handle

The runes on the tap handle read “IPA” or at least that is what the Google tells me.

I already have another Kviek fermented beer in the works. For this batch I am using the Omega Kviek Hornidal strain. It is going to be a Coconut Milkshake Hazy IPA.  I am hoping that some of the tropical not from them Hornindal Kviek strain take hold in the beer. The hop profile of this beer is far more subtle than my Battle Hammer Viking IPA, so the yeast should have a greater impact on the flavor of this beer.  Here is some information on the Kviek yeast stains put out by Omega.

HotHead

HotHead is Norwegian in origin from the Stranda Kveik. The famous Lars of Larsblog collected it in Norway and then sent it away for isolation. This isolate has a uniquely pleasant fruitiness and an absurdly wide fermentation range, and ferments clean across the entire range. This is great for brewers who want to be energy efficient with temperature control, or who lack temp control in warm climates. It maintains a stable ester profile, and we advocate it’s be used for hoppy American ales.

Attributes:  Med-High Flocculation, 75-85% Attenuation, : 72-98° F Temp Range, 11% ABV Alcohol Tolerance

HotHead Kviek Yeast can be purchased here for $8.99

Voss Kveik

Voss Kveik is also a Norwegian farmhouse strain from the Gjernes farmhouse which is new to US brewers. It maintains character over a broad temperature range with subtle orange citrus notes that match fruity hops well.

Attributes: Medium Flocculation, 75-82% Attenuation, 62-98° F Temp Range, 12% ABV Alcohol Tolerance

Omega Voss Kviek Yeast can be purchased here for $8.99
Hornindal Kveik

A wonderfully unique Norwegian farmstead Kveik.  Hornindal presents a tropical flavor and aroma of fresh pineapple, mango and tangerine, which complement fruit-forward hops. Add even more dimension to C hops with a high fermentation temperature, intensifying aroma and fermentation speed. Ferments well at 90+° F.

Attributes: High Flocculation, 75-82% Attenuation, 72-98° F Temp Range,  16% ABV Alcohol Tolerance

Omega Hornindal Kviek Yeast can be purchased here for $8.99

 

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David Hazelhop Hazy IPA

Home Beer Brewing Brewery

Home Beer Brewing Brewery

Recently I took about 8 months off from brewing beer. I have had a lot going on in my life and homebrew had to take a back burner for a little while. But there is something about October. It just feels like beer brewing season for me.  The air started getting a little cooler and I began to remember all of those little things that I enjoy so much about home beer brewing.  So I crafted a recipe, got some friends together and we brewed up a batch of Hazy IPA that we are calling David Hazelhop.  If it turns out to be good, I will post the recipe.  I have a few ideas for some tweaks that I would like to make on it for the next time, so we will see.  This was my first time using malted oats and I think I will add more of them to the next batch if this one turns out well.  Here are some photos from this brewing session.

 

Home Brewing Beer

Home Brewing Beer – Photo of me and the gang after the brew session, enjoying a can of Monkish Hazy

Homebrew, Homebrewing, Home Beer Brewing, German Mandarina Hops

Homebrew, Homebrewing, Home Beer Brewing, German Mandarina Hops

Transferring the Hazy IPA wort to the conical fermenter

Transferring the Hazy IPA wort to the conical fermenter

Homebrew, Homebrewing, Home Beer Brewing

My buddy not to excited about having to scrub up the mash tun

Homebrew, Homebrewing, Home Beer Brewing, Prost!

Homebrew, Homebrewing, Home Beer Brewing, Prost

 

Once this batch finished up I will either try to brew a slightly different version or try an idea that I have for a Viking IPA that uses the Kveik yeast!

Celebrate IPA Day!

Happy IPA Beer Day!

Happy IPA Beer Day!

Happy IPA Beer Day! In honor of this beloved beer drinkers holiday, you can reap the rewards at MoreBeer! From now until Sunday, you can save 15% on all of MoreBeer’s IPA home beer brewing kits including their famous Pliny the Elder beer kit! Here are the details and links to this More Beer promo code.

Promo Code Description: 15% OFF IPA BEER KITS AT MOREBEER.COM WITH THIS MORE BEER PROMO CODE
Promo Code Date: 8/2/2019 to 8/4/2019
MoreBeer Promo Code: IPADAY – Click for Promo Code Offer 
MoreBeer.com Promo Code Type: MoreBeer Coupon Codes for August, 2019

MoreBeer Click For The Promo Code: SAVE 15% ON ALL IPA BEER KITS AT MOREBEER.COM

MoreBeer Flash Sale for 15% Off

MoreBeer.com Flash Sale Promo Code - Save 15%

MoreBeer.com Flash Sale Promo Code – Save 15%

 

Promo Code Description: More Beer just launched a Flash Sale that will save you 15% on nearly everything that they offer!  Click the link for all of the details.
Promo Code Date: 6/17/2019 to 6/20/2019
MoreBeer Promo Code: FLASH15 MOREBEER PROMO CODE
MoreBeer.com Promo Code Type: More Beer Coupon Codes for June, 2019

MoreBeer Click For The Promo Code:MoreBeer.com Promo Code Link

MoreBeer.com Promo Code Found At: HomebrewingPromoCode.com

MoreBeer Beer Brewing Kit Promo Code

MoreBeer Promo Codes
Promo Code Description: Save 15% On Select American Kits with this MoreBeer.com Promo Code!

MoreBeer.com Memorial Day Promo Code

Promo Code Description: Save 15% On Select American Kits with this More Beer Promo Code. Click the link to see all of the home brewing beer kits that qualify for this limited time MoreBeer.com coupon code.
Promo Code Date: 5/23/2019 to 5/28/2019
MoreBeer Promo Code: HONOR – Click for Promo Code Offer 
MoreBeer.com Promo Code Type: MoreBeer Coupon Codes for May, 2019

MoreBeer Click For The Promo Code:Save 15% On Select American Kits with this MoreBeer.com Promo Code!

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