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Single Tier Home Brewing Beer Rack – Brewing Sculpture

July 28, 2013 / / 2 Comments

A home brewing single-tier brewing sculpture or beer rack is a single level brewing configuration where all of the brewing kettles are at the same level. Single-tier brewing racks typically consist of a hot liquor tank, mash tun, and boiling kettle. One or two pumps are used to transfer liquid from one kettle to another.

 

A notable benefit of a single-tier brewing sculpture over a multi-tier one is ease of access to the kettles. On a single-tier platform, the kettles are all at one low height, so it makes it safe and easy to stir the mash, add water to the hot liquor tank, or transfer the wort from the boil kettle. If the single tier system is constructed high enough off the ground, gravity can still be used to transfer wort from the boil kettle to the fermenter. Single tier beer racks also tend to be more stable then a multi-tier rack; trust me when I say that one of the last things you want is 15 gallons of burning hot liquid pouring down upon you due to an unstable rack or earthquake.

 

Cleaning and unloading grain from kettles is also very easy with a single-tier design since no step stool is required to reach any of your kettles. I personally use a single-tier brewing rack that I designed and constructed myself. It was a good deal of work, but I also learned a lot while building it. If you prefer not to build your own, there are some really fantastic stainless steel models available for sale here:

 Click Here for turn key beer racks and brewing sculptures

Below is a photo of the brewing rack that I built. It uses 2 pumps, 3 burners, and 3 (20 gallon) Blichmann brewing kettles. If you have any questions on building your own, please feel free to drop me a line.

Beer Sculpture - Brewing Rack - Beer Rack - Single Tier

Beer Sculpture – Brewing Rack – Beer Rack – Single Tier

 

Here is a MoreBeer.com single-tier brewing sculpture.  You can click the photo to go to their site:

You can purchase them here

 

MoreBeer Single Tier Home Brewing Beer Rack

MoreBeer Single Tier Home Brewing Beer Rack

 

 

 

Active Beer Yeast Video – 400x Magnification

July 28, 2013 / / 0 Comments

The following video shows American Wheat Ale yeast in active fermentation. The yeast was taken from the krausen of a beer that had been fermenting for a week. If you expand the video to fullscreen and look closely at the 400x magnification segment of the video, you will see yeast activity where small black specs are moving around inside of the yeast cell walls.

The video continues on to show the yeast at 100x and 40x magnification to give you an idea of just how many yeast cells there are on such a small glass slide. An active 5 gallon beer fermentation should have well over 10 billion active yeast cells during primary fermentation.

 

Video showing active yeast during fermentation:

 

Here is a still shot of the yeast at 400x magnification:

Active Beer Yeast at 400x Magnification

Active beer yeast at 400x magnification shown under a microscope.

Sparge Arm

July 22, 2013 / / 0 Comments

A sparge arm is a piece of brewing hardware used to flush the grain bed with hot water in order to extract any residual sugars left behind in the mash. The sparge arm water needs to be in the range of 168° F in order to liquefy the remaining sugars; if the temperature exceeds 170° F, the brewer many risk pulling excess tannins from the grain husks and causing off flavors and chill haze in the finished beer. Sparge arms are typically constructed of copper, stainless steel, or plastic, and should have some form of flow control so that the approximate flow rate can be set to keep pace with the flow of wort leaving the mash tun (or lauter tun) and heading to the boil kettle.

 

Below are three examples of home brewing sparge arms. From left to right, there is a MoreBeer.com “Ultimate Sparge Arm,” a rigid copper sparge arm, and a fly sparge arm with a stainless bracket. I have used each one of these and am currently using the MoreBeer.com sparge arm due to its versatility, which allows me to integrate it into my RIMS system.

 

You can purchase the sparge arms here:

Home Brewing Sparge Arms

Home Brewing Sparge Arms

Top Fermentation

July 18, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Top fermentation, or top fermenting, describes the tendency of ale yeast cells to conduct the majority of fermentation on the surface of the fermentation vessel as opposed to the bottom, as is common with lager yeast. Top fermenting ale yeast is typically fermented at a temperature range between 65° F and 75° F; the lower the temperature, the slower the fermentation is carried out.

 

Excessive fermentation temperatures have been known to generate off flavors in beer, and that is why a temperature range of 65° F to 75° F is typically recommended. When a top fermenting ale is most active, a thick head of foam known as a krausen forms on the top of the fermentation vessel and will subside as the fermentation draws to an end. The length of fermentation is dependent on the health of the yeast, the original gravity of the wort, the temperature of the fermentation and the amount of yeast pitched, but typically takes anywhere from one week to three weeks for the majority of fermentation activity to complete.  A secondary fermentation is oftentimes conducted so that any remaining fermentable sugars can be converted to alcohol, and the beer can condition and allow the yeast to precipitate to the bottom of the fermenter in preparation for bottling or kegging.

 

Below is a photo of a top fermenting ale that was recently transferred to a secondary fermentation carboy.

Top Fermenting Ale - Beer

Top Fermenting Ale – Beer

Oxidation

July 16, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Oxidation is the degradation or modification of beer when it comes in contact with oxygen or an oxidizing agent. Oxidization in beer is inevitable and occurs in beer at all times regardless of how it is stored. That being said, there are ways to diminish the rate of beer oxidation.

A good rule of thumb is to prevent oxygen from coming in contact with your beer whenever possible. The only time that oxygen should intentionally be introduced to a beer is when aerating or oxygenating wort prior to pitching yeast, and, in rare cases, to facilitate a souring process. Great caution should be taken when transferring, racking, kegging, and bottling beer to avoid splashing it or exposing it to more oxygen then is necessary.

When possible, fermentation vessels, kegs and bottles should be purged with CO2 prior to and after having beer transferred into them. Heat is another factor that impacts oxidation, and, whenever possible, beer should be stored cold to reduce oxidation rates and to preserve its freshness. Another way to help slow the impact of oxidation is to keep bottles and fermenters shielded from sunlight.

 

Beer that has been oxidized typically has a stale or paper-like taste.  In darker beers, you may also smell or taste sherry notes.

 

Hot Liquor Tank

July 15, 2013 / / 0 Comments

The hot liquor tank or HLT is a brewing vessel used to heat water for different stages of the brewing process, including the mash and sparge. The hot liquor tank is typically heated by either gas, steam, or an electric heating coil. Depending on brewery configuration, the hot liquor tank may hold water at temperatures as high as 170° F or possibly even higher in cases where a boil is conducted to modify the mineral composition of the brewing water in order to remove bicarbonate

 

The photo below is the brewing configuration that I use. The hot liquor tank is the rightmost kettle, and I utilize a march pump to transfer the heated water to the mash tun at different times in the brewing process. Additionally, at the end of the boil I fill the hot liquor tank with ice and cold water and pump the cooled water through the counter flow wort chiller to cool the wort more quickly.

Home Brewing Hot Liquor Tank

Home Brewing Hot Liquor Tank

Lautering

July 14, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Lautering is a brewing process where hot water (typically heated to 168-170° F) is used to flush the sugars from the crushed grains after the mash has completed. Once flushed from the grains, the hot water and sugars are then transferred from the mash tun or lauter tun.

mash tun

July 14, 2013 / / 0 Comments

A mash tun is a brewing tank used for converting and extracting sugars from grains and certain types of adjuncts. The crushed grains are loaded into the mash tun and then mixed with temperature controlled hot water. The hot water causes an enzyme reaction in the grains that converts their starches to sugars. The sugars are then rinsed from the grains with hot water that helps liquefy the sugars so that they can be more easily extracted from the grains. Many mash tuns are fitted with a raised perforated false bottom that permits the sugars to be extracted from the grains without requiring the grain husks to be transferred to the next stage of the brewing process.

 

The photo below displays a mash tun in the WestCoastBrewing.com home brewing sculpture/beer rack. The mash tun is in the center with the hot liquor tank to the right and the boil kettle to the left.

 

Photo of a home brewing Mash Tun.

Photo of a home brewing Mash Tun.

 

20 Gallon Home Brewing Mash Tun with False Bottom

20 gallon home brewing mash tun with false bottom

 

Lacing or Lace

July 14, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Beer lacing is the white foam residue that is left on the side of the glass after the beer has been consumed or once the head has subsided. It is called lacing because it resembles white lace cloth. Lacing is considered a beneficial quality for a beer to have, and typically speaking, a beer with a good head retention will also have good lacing.

kilning

July 13, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Kilning is the process of drying malted grain in a kiln using an indirect heat source to halt germination and evaporate much of the moisture from the malted grains. Kilning grain started to become popular in the early 18th century and was the predominant method for drying malt by the 19th century. Prior to kilning, malt was often dried over open flame which would impart a smoke flavor in the finished beer, similar to what you may find today in a German rauchbier.

Irish Moss

July 12, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Irish moss, a beer fining agent, is a blend of seaweeds used to clarify beer. It works by making the smaller molecules in the wort aggregate into larger particles and then fall out of suspension where they collect on the bottom of the brew kettle. Typically 1 tsp per 5 gallons of wort is added 15 minutes before the end of your boil.

Infusion Mashing

July 12, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Infusion mashing is the process of regulating mash temperature by injecting heated water from the hot liquor tank into the mash tun at specific times.

 

When conducting a step infusion mash, differing temperatures and quantities of water are infused in the mash tun from the hot liquor tank at specific intervals or steps in the mash process to control sugar conversion and extraction.

 

When conducting a single infusion mash, the room temperature of the grains is compared with the desired mashing temperature and mash water volume. The hot liquor tank is then preheated to the appropriate temperature and the mash water is infused with the grains all at one time. The mash is maintained at a constant temperature until the mash out or sparging sequence begins.

 

RIMS or the recirculating infusion mash system is a mash infusion system that either utilizes a pump to recirculate the fluid in the mash over a secondary heat source (outside of the mash tun) to maintain the mash temperature, or constantly recirculates the mash onto itself while direct heat is applied to the mash tun to regulate temperature. The fluid is pumped at a rapid enough pace to keep the temperature of the mash at an equilibrium and prevents the wort from being scorched or overheated.

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