UK beer brewing... and water!

It's been a very long while since my last post, and since then myself and family (wife and 2 little 'uns) have moved to the UK, and just yesterday has our "shipped stuff" finally caught up to us, including my WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery.

So in the meantime I have been drinking and keeping the 660mL bottles of the Scottish brewed BrewDog Punk IPA, which is pretty much a NZ IPA according to myself, due to the very well noticeable and quite agreeable Nelson Sauvin hop presence, although now I have approximately 2 dozen of these bottles I'm looking forward to a new beer!

Now I am almost ready to start making my first ever UK beer I am now thinking about the water more, especially since one of my very last NZ brews appeared to suffer from a Chlorophenol off taste,  probably brought about by chlorinated water.

This PDF gives a good brief over view of a few beer off flavours, including Chlorophenol.


And now I am thinking more about the major part of the 4 (traditional) ingredients that go into a "real beer" (never mind the craft label) this little blurb about different types of water makes interesting and hopefully useful reading, lets see what my next beer tastes like now I have bought some "Burton Water Salts" from www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk, although I think I now I need to find an almost pH neutral water source to make use of these salts properly.

To begin with I might buy 20 Litres of "still water" from a nearby supermarket and if this doesn't work and I have time I might go searching for a nearby natural spring, with many empty water bottles and a wife and 2 girls in tow most likely :)

Late and dry hopping with a WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery, the results speak for themselves...

Recently a request came out from the good people at WilliamsWarn for brewers using their equipment to send in best experiences of dry hopping using a WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery and so in this post I will share mine thus far.

As a lazy but cost conscientious home brewer (like many of us out there), I think the following method I used for more than a few of my most recent very well hopped creations, returns a very good bang for buck per gram of hops, whilst keeping to a minimum the amount of time and work required by the brewer.

A few of these beers produced in this way have been entered into both local (Nelson) and national (NZ) home brewing competitions and have resulted in certificates, ribbons and also a trophy!

My "dry" hopping method is still in development, however I will briefly outline the process I have been using, which some reading this may think introduces a risk of infection to your beer, but I can tell you that I have made at least 5 beers this way without any noticeable souring or other signs of infection.

As the title of this post indicates "late" hopping is also employed, which is always an optional addition, but one I have used in almost all my beers made to date as it suits my personal taste to drink a more aromatic beer.  

The very detailed and well written user manual for the WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery covers late hopping and the use of a coffee plunger (French press) for doing so, and I recommend any WilliamsWarn owner to purchase themselves the largest Bodum coffee plunger they can find as I think it is now an essential part of my brewing equipment.  

Why a Bodum? Because the cheap one I first tried was a waste of time and money!

So on with the dry hopping method please, I hear you ask...

Basically what I have been doing is boiling and steeping some of my hops and only steeping others and adding the liquid to my wort prior to beginning fermentation, then I save the left over hops in a refrigerator to add to my now fermenting beer a day or more later in a muslin bag.

Why?  Because prior to this when I was dumping the hops I had simply steeped to add as late additions to my wort I noticed there was still plenty of noticeable aromatics left in the resulting green muck and I felt bad throwing such goodness away so soon!

I thought that surely with such a small batch size (23 Litres) that these hops still had some purpose and flavour left in them?!

Of course I or anyone reading this could chose to not boil and/or steep the hops first, but add them completely dry in either pellet or cone form.  I did this with my first attempt at dry hopping a Pale Ale with acceptable results.

When brewing with extract and using a WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery, late hopping is essentially done by making a green tea out of the hop or mix of hops you have selected to add to your brew, otherwise known as "steeping".  To increase bitterness (IBUs) the brewer may decide to use a hop that is high in Alpha Acids and boil these for a set amount of time, then from this steep the resulting green hop mash to separate out the liquid, which is then added to the wort.  

There are a number of dual-purpose hops available that not only have a high Alpha Acid rating, while also having very good and distinctive aromatic qualities.  So if the brewer chose to use one of these types and did not boil them too long, their duality may be fully utilised and extracted.  If you are in NZ or you can get NZ hops I recommend varieties such as Nelson Sauvin and Waimea, but there are plenty to choose from worldwide.

If you wish to give this a go, I suggest the following method:

• Get a 1.5 Litre (12 cup) or larger coffee plunger (100g of hops per 1.5 Litre)
• Also get a muslin "hop bag" large enough to fit inside your new coffee plunger
• Now find a small plastic ball that will work as a float inside the muslin bag (50mm diameter should be fine up to 200g of hops).
• If you don't own any dental floss, please also add this to your shopping list.
• Decide carefully on the hops you want to use to match the style of beer you wish to produce.
• Boil any bittering hops separately to others, then steep the green muck and add to your wort (or directly into your sterilised WilliamsWarn).
• Steep any other late hops and add this to your wort.
• Save all the hops you wish to add as "dry" additions in a sealed or covered container in a refrigerator. 
• Begin the WilliamsWarn fermentation process with it's lid only just sealed and with all pressure set to be released (otherwise you may not get the lid off later as needed), so unwind the VPRV most but not all of the way out.

If making an Ale wait at least 24 hours and if a Lager maybe 36 hours, then prepare and add your "hop bomb":

• Sterilise your muslin hop bag as well as the float/ball and the tongs/fingers/spoon you will be handling it all with.  
• Also sterilise your WilliamsWarn 2 Litre jug plus about a 1 metre length of dental floss 
• Place all the saved hops into your mostly sterile hop bag, with the float/ball on top (line your 2 Litre jug with the hop bag, then scoop the hops into it).
• Tie a knot as close to the top of the muslin bag as possible, maximising the size of the bag.  Or from a large box of Rice Bubbles you can get a very handy plastic clip to do this job!
• Tie one end of the length of dental floss to the end of the hop bag, do it tight in precaution to your knot coming undone...
• Now remove the lid off your WilliamsWarn with your latest beer fermenting inside and place upside down in a clean location nearby (so do not put it down flat on the floor).
• Smoothly and quickly insert your loaded and sterile hop bag into the beer, which will mostly float to begin with.
• Allow about a 0.3m length of sterile dental floss attached to the top of the hop bag to remain inside the WilliamsWarn brewery and drape the remaining loosely over the back.
• Replace the lid to your WilliamsWarn and tighten it up as per normal and if you can help it try not to sever the dental floss to hop bag line.  It's not a problem if you do cut it as the hop bag should all stay sealed and float near the surface inside, the remaining floss will just make it easier to remove later.  Do not over-tighten the lid, just do it until a seal is formed but no more.
• Set the VPRV (Variable Pressure Release Valve) on your WilliamsWarn and monitor the pressure for at least the next 24 hours to ensure all is going well.

Once fermentation is complete and put your new beer into it's cooling phase in preparation for it's first clarification, get ready to perform a "hop bomb extraction":

• If you don't have one, get a bucket or large pot ready nearby to your WilliamsWarn.
• Unscrew the VPRV and release all pressure from your WilliamsWarn so that you may be able to remove it's lid.
• Remove the lid from your WilliamsWarn.  If it does not budge try releasing more pressure or obtaining larger arms.
• Using sterile tongs or fingers (please wash your hands), remove the heavier than before muslin bag full of wet hops, by pulling up on the line of dental floss.
• If you wish, use a clean spatula to squeeze out of the muslin bag some extra hoppy goodness (and some beer) back into your brew against the inside of your WilliamsWarn brewery before dropping the spent bag of hops into your nearby bucket (this will make your beer more cloudy to start with, but it should clear later).
• Replace the lid to your WilliamsWarn and screw the VPRV all of the way in before resetting CO2 pressure to meet the final desired level of carbonation in your beer.
• Continue as per normal and allow the beverage to fully cool before performing the first clarification, once you believe most of the yeast has flocculated and settled in the brewery's sediment bottle. 
• I have never bothered, but if you are concerned about oxidising your beer you could try manually inserting CO2 gas on top of your fermented beer while the lid is off, however I do not think this is required if you are swift in your actions and do not disturb the beer too much.

If you have read this far, I am pleased you made it and will be even more pleased if you tell me your results in attempting something similar, or different for that matter!

And as I eluded to earlier, some of my beers made this way have been "recognised" in competitions.  This includes my first ever Wheat Beer that I wrote about in my last post and also my very latest creation that was my first attempt at an Indian Pale Ale, which won me the "Ching Cup" for the Best Ale section at the very recent Nelson A&P Show here in the Craft Brewing Capital of New Zealand (as judged by local and world famous in NZ beer bloggers Fritz and Maria)

My first ever Wheat Beer was awarded a Bronze at the SOBA National Homebrew Competition!

It didn't score high enough for a gold or silver award, but bronze is pretty good for a first attempt at a Wheat Beer! (made from extract in my WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery)

You should be able to view the judging sheet here at the website for the Society of Beer Advocates (SOBA) 2014 National Homebrew Competition, where it was scored 35 out of a possible 50 points.

If it had of scored just 3 more points it would of resulted in a silver medal...

I think it was marked down for being too hoppy according to the notes, so next time around I will try the following recipe and method:

Equipment:

1 x WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery

1 x large pot (over 4 litres in capacity)

1 x kettle for boiling water

1 x large water jug (at least 2 litres)

1 x large coffee plunger (I use a 12 cup Bodum type)

1 x knife (the type you might use to butter bread with)

1 x kitchen stovetop or heat source

1 x kitchen sink

Ingredients:

1 x 1.7kg can of WilliamsWarn Wheat Beer liquid malt extract (LME)

1.0kg of light dry malt extract (DME)

0.5kg of dextrose

50g of Nelson Sauvin hops (pellets)

50g of Motueka hops (pellets)

a bag of ice

Prepare to hop:

1. Bring just over 1 litre of water to the boil in a reasonably sized pot and while stirring constantly, drop in the 50g of Nelson Sauvin hops and boil for just 60 seconds
2. Remove the boiled hops from the heat and empty them into your coffee plunger
3. Add extra just boiled water to nearly fill the coffee plunger if it is not
4. Let the boiled hops settle for a few minutes before attempting to press the plunger slowly down, which I find is best done on the floor so as to use your body weight
5. Drain the boiled and steeped Nelson Sauvin hops into your large jug and repeat the process using cold water
6. Next empty and clean out the coffee plunger and tip the 50g of Motueka hops into it, before pouring just boiled water over these, while stirring the hops with a knife in order to ensure all are mixed well
7. Let the hops settle for a few minutes before attempting to press the plunger slowly down
8. Drain the steeped Motueka hops into your large jug and repeat the process using cold water

Get ready the wort:

1. In a large pot that will fit in your kitchen sink and also one with a lid, (I use a 15L stockpot) dissolve the DME and dextrose in 2 litres of boiled water
2. Add as much of the LME from the can as possible to the pot, then with just boiled water fill and rinse the can to get all of the LME into the wort (you may need to refill the can with hot water more than once)
3. Bring the wort to a boil, while stirring every minute to ensure all is mixed and dissolved properly
4. Let it gently boil for 10 minutes at least, so at this point I recommend sterilising your WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery, which I hope you have cleaned already!  Don't forget the sediment bottle as we need this soon
5. Fill your kitchen sink with cold water and all or most of your bag of ice
6. With its lid in place, remove the large pot and hot wort from the heat and place it in the cold icy water in order to cool the wort down from near boiling temperature to close to human body temperature
7. While the wort is cooling pour in the steeped hop mix you have saved in your large jug and stir well

Just add water (to rehydrate the yeast):

1. Empty the contents of the dried yeast sachet into your cleaned and sterilised sediment bottle
2. Add 100-150mL of water that is close to or just above 25 degrees Centigrade 
3. Cover the top of the bottle with some clean cling-film, then place a hand on top of this while you swirl the bottle in order to get all the yeast to mix with the warm water
4. Let this sit somewhere at room temperature with the cling-film still in place covering the top of the bottle

Fill the brewery:

1. First pour in enough cold tap water to cover the lower cone part inside your WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery, which in mine measures to approximately 6 litres
2. Once you are satisfied your boiled wort mix has cooled sufficiently enough (close to body temperature is good), pour the entire contents into your WilliamsWarn with the 6 litres of cold tap water, then give this a good stir
3. Add more cold tap water to the mix, while checking the temperature is close to 25 degrees Centigrade (add a little boiled hot water if you think the temperature of the wort is too low)
4. Fill your WilliamsWarn up to the 23 litre mark, then take out at least 100mL in order to measure the original gravity (OG)

Prepare to dive:

1. Replace the lid of your WilliamsWarn and check a proper seal has been made
2. Give the yeast in the sediment bottle a gentle swirl then remove the cling-film covering its top before screwing this onto the bottom of your WilliamsWarn's fermenter
3. Slowly lower the lever that opens the seal between the fermenter and the sediment bottle and allow the bottle to half fill 
4. Wait 5 minutes then throw the lever down so as the sudden rush of wort into the bottle mixes the rehydrated yeast into the rest of the wort

Fire and forget:

1. Set the temperature of the WilliamsWarn to 23 degrees Centigrade and let it do its thing!
2. Wait at least 3.5 days before taking any specific gravity readings and at day 4.0 you may be able to put the cooling on
3. Clarify the beverage as normal, however as this is a Wheat Beer do not expect it to be clear (possibly only 1 clarification would be needed)

Enjoy and Cheers!

And on the 7th day the Gods rested, each with a beer...

Sometime last year I was told about the WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery and a very short time later I decided I had to have one.  Then on the 20th of March this year I put down my first home brew in about 20 years and only 6 days later I was drinking my best ever hand crafted beer.  

It is now 7 months and 15 brews later (#16 is currently on the go and will be my first Wheat Beer) and I have made quite a few best ever beers since that first Summer Ale back in March and I am so impressed with the WilliamsWarn and what it can produce that I felt inspired to start this blog.

I thought very carefully before purchasing the WilliamsWarn (or just the WW from now on), as at the time there were no "50 months interest free" finance deal available and so it was quite an investment, especially given the fact that it was still a very new product unlike anything else available on the market for the average or novice home brewer like myself.

And I did consider spending less than half of what the WW would cost on all the equipment to make and keg my own beer "properly" using all grain techniques, but with a small house with no garage that is home to the wife and I and our 2 very young girls (Tasmin 2, Eden <1), the WW was definitely a wise choice for time and space reasons.  And I'm no Albert Einstein or George Clooney as shown by this photo of me pouring a drink from my WW #124:

nice slippers

All the beers I have made so far have been from extract and I am sure that one day I'll attempt an all grain brew, probably with some assistance from a fellow home brewer who owns a large enough pot and burner.  However for the time being I am quite happy with the results the extract beers have been producing, especially since it takes considerably less time to put a brew together using extract (last week I did one before 1PM while minding both of my 2 girls for the morning).

With some of the beers I have made so far I have added extra ingredients such as steeped speciality grains, home made (Belgian) candy sugar and to my first stout I even added dark chocolate hand made by a neighbour, but now I am focusing on getting familiar with all the different brewers yeasts and hops available to the home brewer as these are core ingredients to any good beer!

Where I currently live (Nelson, NZ) has been an inspiration to me beer-wise as we are very spoilt for choice with the close proximity of quality pubs and real craft breweries, plus the bonus of NZ Hops being just down the road in Richmond as the hop growing region of New Zealand is just on our door step.  Even the closest pub to my front door (it is a Lion Nathan one so I don't go there) has hops growing in its beer garden!  

The second closest pub to home is a Sprig and Fern Tavern and not too much further away is the great The Free House.  Then about a 15 minute walk (even with 2 little girls) is the Founders Brewery and in the area we also have McCashin's Brewery, Bays Brewery, The Lighthouse Brewery to name just a few.  To see more in the district check out the NZ Beer Tourist website.

And look no further than my closest supermarket the Nelson Fresh Choice if you want to buy great beer with your bread, milk and nappies, or just spend 10 minutes or so browsing the options and reading labels...

I suspect that if I didn't get my WW back in March this year, that by now I would of probably spent close to half the total amount it cost me in beer bought over the bar and at supermarkets.  And in doing so I would of missed out in all the fun and joy of making my very own beers, while learning with every brew more about the craft of brewing, even if I am using extract and possibly the simplest and fastest piece of home brewing equipment in the world today.

With that I will end my first blog entry and introduction.  Later this week I plan to write more about the equipment I use and this will not be just about the WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery but also the odd bits and pieces I have found useful, including things found inside those Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs that my 2 year old daughter loves almost more than I love making and drinking my very own beer!

Cheers!

1 pint of MJ's Best Bitter contributed to this article, see picture below.